Eccentricity and life
Photography
2011 Year of Craft - Joseph Walsh
via yatzer
As part of a year long celebration of Craft in Ireland, I'd love to share with you some of the greatest craft talent Ireland has.
Furniture maker, Joseph Walsh has created some of the most intriguing and breathtaking objects I have ever seen. Based in Kinsale, Co. Cork he has mastered the art of transforming wood and giving it a new life.
Purity of colour, beautiful work by Helen Steele
"Art can question, educate, repulse, depress, anger, refresh, enlighten and uplift. It is a union of body, mind, nature and spirit. My work is not political analytical or intellect!ual. It is a purity of colour and flow"
Helen Steele
www.helensteele.com
Markets in Paris
I went to Paris for a few days last week..
From les Marches aux Puces de Saint Ouen to Marche aux Puces de Vanves, and casually finding one in the Place du Temple we spent hours walking and looking at all the treasures..
Temperature was freezing so I can't wait to go back in Spring!
(Was surprised most pictures weren't blurred by the shivering)
Thank you Jane!!!
Jane from illseenillsaid has been an ongoing support, almost since the day I set up this blog .
Being part of a larger community with common aesthetics and finding friends like Jane who are encouraging and supportive, especially in harder times has turned this blog from a playful experiment into an indispensable part of my life.
Today I discovered this post ...
Merci, my friend!!
10th collection fashion film revealed....
Director of Photography Rich Gilligan, www.richgilligan.com
Styling Aisling Farinella, www.aislingfarinella.com
Make Up Christine Lucignano using Chanel AW 2010
Hair Zara Cox at Queen, www.queenbe.ie
Model Caitlyn at Morgan The Agency
Editor/ Post Production Fergal Brennan
Title Design Conor & David, www.conoranddavid.com
Photography assistant Philip White
Stylist assistant Kieran Kilgallon
10th collection fashion film online launch
click on your blog of choice to see it
(here are some...technical difficulties others will be up shortly)
Dum tempus habemus, operemur bonum
A couple of months ago Oxfam Ireland invited a group of designers (fashion, graphic and illustrators) to create a T shirt for them.
The brief was climate change.
I have never, ever, done anything like this before and I'm not an illustrator nor graphic artist, I don't even use prints in my collections, so the project was a very interesting challenge..
My idea was to recreate through photography a fictional character which would represent humans choice to do good or bad.
Hence the Latin frase 'Dum tempus habemus operemur bonum'.. which translates 'With the time we have let's do good'
Combining my interest in silhuette portraits
As well as an obsession with old frames
and birds, as they represent the soul
I decided to do a shoot and translate the image into a shadow.
Annmarie O'Connor from Iblogfashion, not only did she very kinldy volunteer to model for me but she also organized hair, make up and photographer.
And this is the result...
Photo Styled by www.angelascanlon.com
Photographer Johnny Savage
Available from tomorrow from A-Wear..there is a wonderful selection of designs to choose from...
Special thanks to the team who made the photoshoot possible
Hair: Irene and Clare Devereux @ Ziggy's Salon 01 454 4030
Make-up: Ellen Quinn-Banville
Georgia Russell
Credit update on the 3rd of September 2010
The photographs on this post were commissioned by England & Co. Gallery
Wendy Bevan
Wendy Bevan, whom I've featured here and here before. Is one of my favourite photographers on earth. I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I saw the fashion editiorial of How to Spend It (FT) which was brilliantly styled by Damian Foxe.
Tasteful and timeless I wish we would see more of this in our press....
Am I asking for too much..??.... maybe... but it's worth a try..
Sarah Rickard
Probably one of the busiest stylists in Ireland, Sarah Rickard has organised some of the most beautiful shoots our press has featured. I welcome you to visit her website www.sarahrickard.com and check out her blog Suree Things, it's one of my favourite fashion blogs, she shares lots of images from 'behind the scenes' of her shoots, some wonderful tips and pictures of her travels.
Love affair
Photographs by Bela Adler y Salvador Fresneda
Can you keep a secret?????
Fashion bloggers are very frequently featuring their 'girl crushes'. I didn't want to be left out and thought I would share with you my no.1 crush ...Josep Font, who I have featured here and here before..
The first time I met him was 15 years ago...Was it love at first sight?..not at all...I was in love with him years before I met him.
I fell in love with his work as a teenager, but meeting him in person just confirmed my obssession would last for the rest of my days, and is as significant today as it was the first time I hid behind props to watch him perfect his girls on their way out to the catwalk
Have a wonderful weekend!
Eilis
Jeanne Eagels
Photograph by Baron Adolph de Meyer
"I played the grave-digger in 'Hamlet,' first, at the age of seven. They gave me the chance to play Shakespeare because nobody else of the tender age of seven would do so. They wouldn't say the rather amazing words...the other kiddies. I took it all quite seriously and said ALL the words without a quiver. Once I had begun I could not be stopped. I was ill when I was not on the stage. It seemed to me I couldn't breathe in any other atmosphere."
"I'm the greatest actress in the world and the greatest failure.
And nobody gives a damn."
Jeane Eagels
Absence
Vilhelm Hammershoi
'Absence extinguishes small passions and increases great ones,
as the wind blows out a candle, and blows in a fire'
François de la Rochefoucauld
The past few months have been wonderfully chaotic. My life has been taken over by exciting commissions and projects which are in the making and yet to be made. I have felt an overwhelming guilt that this blog has taken a back seat in the priorities of life and that I must explain my rather infrequent posting. I am still quietly visiting all my virtual friends and I try to say hello when I can.
But it has been very hard to keep up with the dedication required to be part of this online community. My brain is in need of as much quiet time as it can get, as it is in over drive with ideas for my 'non virtual' activities.
I hope life will get back to some normality in the next few months and my posting will become as dedicated as is has been since I started in September last year.
I miss you all but will be back every now and then..have a lovely summer!
x Eilis Boyle
RED
Photograph by Lili Roze which I discovered at beautiful blog Abundance
Red
The world burst out
Of its own maps
And gods changed their names
People talked till Babylon fell
While my heart grew
Into a bitter rose
That bled for you.
I handed you that flower
We did not feast on its perfume together.
It was given to me
By the winged master of Muses
To celebrate a most terrible union
That is called seperation
And is red torment to the
Hundreth power
That is purest and blackest of all
Judith Mok
(poem sent to me by an angel)
Beautiful Blogger Awards
Last month Kendra Boutell, author of the exquisite blog Porcelains and Peacocks nominated Silent Storyteller for the Beautiful Blogger Award.
It is such a wonderful gift to be included in a list with such inspiring destinations.
Her blog is such a visual feast and is one of my daily reads.
So it is now my turn to pass on the Beautiful Blogger Award to a few of my favourite blogs:
Beautiful Art
http://artinconnu.blogspot.com/
Beautiful Food
http://sunday-suppers.blogspot.com/
Beautiful Books
http://thepersephonepost.blogspot.com/
Beautiful secrets
Beautiful Marrakech
http://moroccanmaryam.typepad.com/my_marrakesh/
Beautiful Inspiration
http://anabundanceof.blogspot.com/
Beautiful Friend
Degrees of separation
I have never met, in person, the victim of this post. As I write this I really can't believe it though. Christine Lucignano has become so familiar throughout the years. She works closely with many of my friends and was such a sweetheart when I called her five years ago asking for help on my first shoot. Such an example of how one phone call can encourage or discourage a newcomer, and I will be always grateful for her kind words and patience, whilst she was probably paying huge roaming charges from her Swiss shoot location.
Self described as a mad Aquarian who must paint faces in order to breathe. She has travelled all around the world doing it for 27 years and will not stop until her last dying breath.
Her popularity in the industry is proof of what an incredibly talented professional she is. I can't wait to work with her someday, and I have a feeling it will be sooner rather than later... ; )
Degrees of separation
I have never met, in person, the victim of this post. As I write this I really can't believe it though. She has become so familiar throughout the years. She works closely with many of my friends and was such a sweetheart when I called her five years ago asking for help on my first shoot. Such an example of how one phone call can encourage or discourage a newcomer, and I will be always grateful for her kind words and patience, whilst she was probably paying huge roaming charges from her Swiss shoot location.
Self described as a mad Aquarian who must paint faces in order to breathe. She has travelled all around the world doing it for 27 years and will not stop until her last dying breath.
Her popularity in the industry is proof of what an incredibly talented professional she is. I can't wait to work with her someday, and I have a feeling it will be sooner rather than later... ; )
Dance of a Goddess
Isadora Duncan's half-naked, nymph-like movements changed the nature of ballet - and anticipated modern choreography.
Remembering Isadora Duncan in The Gaurdian by Judith Mackrell
Inspiration
"I discovered that what's really important for a creator isn't what we vaguely define as inspiration or even what it is we want to say, recall, regret, or rebel against.
No, what's important is the way we say it. Art is all about craftsmanship. Others can interpret craftsmanship as style if they wish. Style is what unites memory or recollection, ideology, sentiment, nostalgia, presentiment, to the way we express all that.
It's not what we say, but how we say it that matters."
Federico Fellini
What came in the post...
Heart Skips a Beat in Ireland
I was recently asked by a twitter friend, what I thought made a good show? As anything regarding taste, it so so relative.
Personally I detest shows that are load, in volume and in visual effects. I'm not sure if it's something local, as I've never experienced this type of show abroad, but in Ireland, too frequently, the show seems to be more about the visual effects and sponsors than about the clothes.
That is the first no no for me. A show should be about the clothes. FULL STOP.
The second show I'm rescuing from my memory archives... was in Ireland. Another incredibly talented designer, and certainly one of my favourites, Helen Cody, put on a show that left me enchanted for years.. I still get excited thinking about it.
In an abandoned building on the South Quays of Dublin's Docklands she delighted us with an event that could have been as memorable had it been in London or Paris.
The location, the music and above all the clothes left the audience breathhless. And for those of us in the industry...well... we left with hope and illusion that wonderful shows can be done in this country.....
Here are a few images of the collection she showed, taken in the venue by photographer Matthew Thompson
Black and white
I would love to send a huge thank you to Annmarie O'Connor from Iblogfashion who wrote a piece for today's The Sunday Times Style Magazine
Photographs by Eduardo Macias, Make up by Ivey Sullivan,
Hannah Corcoran and Julie Flyn from Morgan.
J'aime Simone
So exciting to see promising new talent flourishing in Irish Fashion.
To see her new collection
Knights and angels
To choose a career in the creative world is a curse and a calling, I may have mentioned this in some occasion before. There is no separation from work and life. Emotions fluctuate. This is just part of the deal. Sometimes it's hard to control the status of the spirit. But call it serendipity or coincidence, I'm lucky to have a handfull of what I could only define as knights in shining armour or angels.
Without knowing, they appear in my life when needed with small and not so small gestures that help renew the soul and keep me on the right path.
One of these angels/knights left a book in the shop last week and I have spent the past few days in heaven immersed in its wonderful images....
Merci!!!!!!
Q&A about Fashion
Last week I was invited by Emma Kelly from Elevate to take part in an industry talk organised by Nokia for the 2010 Young Fashion Designer Awards.
One of Ireland's leading stylists Sonia Lennon and myself hosted the afternoon and people were invited to take part in a question and answers session
Before we started I was given a list of very interesting questions, many subjects which we weren't able to cover so I thought it would be great to go through the list and share some thoughts with you...so here it goes...
1. what inspires you as a designer?
Everything and anything..music, film, fabric, colour, people...and if you follow this blog you will find many treasures that take my breath away and instigate the creative instinct
2. Is there anybody you would love to design for? Who would be your ideal client?
I dream of designing costumes for a ballet or dance company. I would also love to work in film...maybe with Jane Campion or Tim Burton???
If I could be in anybody's shoes at the moment it would probably be in Karl Lagerfeld's. I would like to experience the endless possibilities he has to develop collections with no budget restrictions and all those marvelous ateliers at his service
Ideal customer? That is a very difficult question, I have many ideal customers already who understand and share my point of view in terms of design, quality and integrity.
3.What is your opinion on the ethical fashion movement?
As Vanessa Friedman quoted..."it is a matter of common sense". Unfortunately I do not believe in the institutionalisation of the Ethical Fashion Movement. I think the public should be informed and educated in this matter but I fear many use this as a marketing gimmick and public have become misinformed on the fundamental intentions of ethical fashion..
I experienced this first hand when a women came into our shop in Dublin and mentioned she wanted a 'Fair Trade' piece for an event. The irony is.. What is more fair trade than buying directly from the person who has designed or made the piece? In this case profit distribution is beneficial to producer, designer and client. Carbon footprint is minimal as pieces are made locally, locally sourced fabric etc etc.. she insisted that the products in our shop weren't fair trade because we didn't have swing tags by an approved organisation.
There is an interesting video on the Luxury Channel called Going Green: the Future of Luxury
I will talk about this issue in depth sometime in the future...
4. How do you think social media has affected the fashion industry?
It has had a huge impact. Most companies recognise it has become an essential part of the communication strategy. It brings the brand closer to the customer and it has also broken down barriers and degrees of separation.
5. What are some of your favourite fashion blogs/websites?
Diane Pernet's Shaded view on Fashion. Before I even knew the concept of a blog I became a loyal follower of this dark and alternative view on the fashion industry. It was the first place I saw Gareth Pugh.
The Luxury Chronicles serious and intelligent stories which Helene feeds us daily
Style Rookie 14 year old Tavi's blog, I do love it. She reminds me of a younger version of myself. Her judgement sometimes is quite profound for someone her age
Limi Feu's blog, I'm obsessed with Japan so to be able to see how things are in Japan from someone in the industry is wonderful
Innewyorkparistomorrow, Blog by a fashion pioneer. Her blog is varied and poetic. Secrets stories of the past, she has many yet to confess.
6. Who is your favourite journalist?
I like Cathy Horn and Colin McDowell
7. How do you think the death of Alexander McQueen will affect the fashion industry?
Sadly I think the impact is more personal than on an industry level.
We have lost all the wonderful future collection and shows he would have done had he stayed on...We have lost one of fashion's greatest entertainers.
But history has proven that someone will appear... hopefully sooner than later... and will sweep us all off our feet, as McQueen did season after season
8. Where do you source the materials of your collection?
Many places, Italy, France, UK and India
9. Are you influenced by other designers?
Technically.. no. But growing up in Spain and with an interest in fashion, those designers who I looked up to in terms of style and philosophy are still part of how I work and who I am so these would be of some influence in 'matter' more than in 'form'.
Balenciaga, Sybilla, Isabel Berz..and the list does go on...
10. Where do you shop and what do you look for in a garment?
Paris, one of my favourite places on this planet. I buy very very very little and if I do I will wear it until it falls apart, so durability and timelessness are important. My purchases are driven more by my love affair with the piece than if it will or will not suit me...
11. What are you working on at the moment?
I'm working on a small resort collection for my customers in the US and also on the AW1o Exclusive Collection
12. What advice would you give to this years NYFDA's finalists?
Get as much experience as you can.
Ask questions, listen and watch. Absorb knowledge..learn learn learn
Keep in touch with your peers and keep building up contacts through the years.. it's a small industry and it helps to know as many people as possible..
If you decide to set up your own company..be true to yourself, be professional, keep your feet on the ground and work with integrity. It is hard to repair bad reputation so don't build your brand around a false image.
Treat everyone with respect, those who assist you now could be in a different position a few years down the line...and nobody is impressed by 'divaish' behaviour
Thanks to Emma for inviting me to do this and to Nokia for hosting it and kindly giving me a telephone
Nymphenburg Photographic series - Studios
Frank Sorbier, Paris
Igor Sapurin, Moscow
Gustavo Lins, Paris
Gustavo Lins, Paris
Thank you..... Rick Owens
Dear Rick Owens,
Inspired by one of my favourite blogs, the Luxury Chronicles, who regularly writes incredibly inspiring letters to different people in the industry. I felt compelled, after reading your interview in the Financial Times today, to 'borrow' her format and send you a small note to thank you for your contribution to my sanity.
In an industry where one's integrity is constantly challenged. You have been an ABSOLUTE inspiration for all of those who can't, or try not, to conform with the rules established by the powers that be, and make the fashion industry an almost impossible world to work in.
Thank you for your very precious interviews, which I keep in a safe drawer and read over and over again. Specially, when in doubt of my purpose in this field.
Kindly...a true admirer,
Eilis Boyle
Vanessa Friedman article in How to Spend IT
one stitch at a time...
Yves Saint Laurent
'Haute couture consists of secrets whispered from generation to generation'
Yves Saint Laurent
La Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent and le Petit Palais
Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville
will showcase Yves Saint Laurent's first retrospective exhibition
11th of March until 29th of August
I suspect a trip to Paris will be happening soon! When will we go Helen???
Ghosts
For who can wonder that man should feel a vague belief in tales of disembodied spirits wandering through those places which they once dearly affected, when he himself, scarcely less separated from his old world than they, is for ever lingering upon past emotions and bygone times, and hovering, the ghost of his former self, about the places and people that warmed his heart of old?
CHARLES DICKENS
Oscars
Via Iconicphotos
Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly
Backstage at the 28th Annual Academy Awards
March 21, 1956
The best news this week!
Today I learnt that the incredible visual storyteller/photographer
Tim Walker is working on his first film 'The Lost Explorer' based on a story by Patrick McGrath.
It promises to be a visual delight
To read the news click on Vogue
Have a wonderful weekend!
Jade
Impossible to imagine anyone, or anything, stealing the limelight from wonderful Chacha.
During this shoot Jade silently glided herself straight into the centre of the frame, seconds before snapping each shot.
She posed as if knowing, she was meant to be there
Thank you for such a beautiful shoot.
This post is in your memory.
The Great 'Dame' Jade
Elegance and the mind
Diana Vreeland by Deborah Turbeville
'The only real elegance is in the mind;
if you've got that, the rest really comes from it.'
Marchesa Luisa Casati
Marchesa Luisa Casati
'But her alchemy was much more complex, producing many other marvels. By what fire did she transmute the substance of her life into beauties of such moving power?
She demonstrated how true it is that all enchantment is a madness induced with art.
But what was the real essence of this creature?
Was she aware of her continuous metamorphosis, or was she impenetrable to herself, excluded from her own mystery?'
Gabriele D'Annunzio
Inspiration
Next month my 10th collection will be presented. The initial research and inspiration started during Paris Fashion Week, October 2008 on a regular visit to 120 year old Parisian shop Fried Freres.
Their back room is filled from floor to ceiling in old dark wood shelves overflowing with sequins and beads in every colour and shape imaginable. I left an hour later with empty pockets and bags filled with sequins. I immediately started to feed the subconsious with new ideas
A year and half later the concept has turned into reality, and a 10 piece collection to celebrate 10 seasons is in the making.
As with every collection I'm quite nervous and very excited.
Image Deborah Turbeville
My work
- Black and white
- Glendalough with Peter Evers
- Impossible dresses and soul savers
- Killeen with Patrick McHugh
- La Catedral Studios Shoot
- Laundry Lady
- one stitch at a time...
- Pieces is progress
- Secret Knitwear Collection
- Sneak Peak - Sunday Business Post
- The collection goes to Paris
- The first Spring Summer Collection, 5 years ago
- The Life of Yarn
- Winter
This is Couture
Not so silent ramblings..
Designers
Irish Fashion
Daily inspiration
- abundance
- automatism
- Bluetramontana Style
- Colin McDowell
- Couture and confection at Rue Vieuville
- Helen James
- Ill Seen, Ill Said
- In New York Paris Tomorrow
- le style et la matière
- LIMI's NOTE
- MRS TREFUSIS TAKES A TAXI
- Pista Clandestina
- Porcelains and Peacocks
- Sea of Shoes
- sfgirlbybay - bohemian modern style from a san francisco girl
- The Errant Æsthete
- The French Mouse
- The Luxe Chronicles
- the style saloniste
- up and down town
Irish friends
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