When the paper company Arjowiggins unveiled its new fancy paper line Curious Collection, they wanted to do something with a lot of impact to announce it! With the help of French photographer Grégoire Alexandre, they did! Aren't these pictures incredible?! See some fun behind-the-scenes video here! (Along the sidebar.)
Via Design*Sponge.
I love Kirsten Harper's sweet illustrations! Especially the book alligators, they're so cute- my favorite! Check out her site for more!
I need one of these! Mangekyo means "kaleidoscope" in Japanese, and this one projects colored moving shapes and lines on your walls and ceiling! I love it! Get one here.
Via CubeMe.
Remember Carrie's cool time-lapse video from yesterday? She videotaped the lobby from down the hallway for quite a few hours to create a time-lapse view of the creation of our lobby garden!
However, leaving the camera recording the hallways for so long meant she caught some other interesting goings-on as well. You guys will love this clip of one of our production designers hamming it up! I wish I could dance like that...
These gorgeous prints are screen-printed on fabric by Mark Hearld. Too dreamy and soft! Check out this site for more.
Via Love Forever.
If you are in the Philadelphia area you have to check out the The Lawn Chair Drive-In! It's every Tuesday at dusk, and it's free! They show all kinds of cool movies, as well as vintage previews and cartoons before the movie! Tomorrow night they are showing The Bad Seed - check out their website for the schedule for the whole summer! See you tomorrow at dusk!
Liberty Lands Park
3rd above Poplar
Philadelphia Pa
I came across two really sweet stoppers for your drain today - I am not sure which one is cuter! I love them both!
Paperboat Plug. (Made of canvas.)
Via Share Some Candy & SwissMiss.
For a very long time, we had a funny little patched round bench in the center of our lobby, with an umbrella over the top of it! At the end of last week though, we were all very interested to see a giant sea-green box sitting in the center of our lobby instead! You can see the lonely umbrella awaiting its fate in the background. (Don't worry, its fate is probably just to get used somewhere else.)
We had an idea of what might be next when we noticed that they were filling the box with dirt! You can see I've been spotted by the cute dirt shovelers...
They came up with a better idea of how to move the dirt - a golf cart!
Next came the plants!
Wow! Look at that vibrant little garden! Practically a forest!
Ah! I love having this new green around! It's soo relaxing! Now, what's way cooler than the pictures I took is the video Carrie took! She set up a camera in the hallway and made a time-lapse video of everyone putting the garden together! It is really funny to watch it all sped up! Check it out!
I love these shots from a set posted over on KnightCat. The layers and embellishments are fabulous! And the vests! Do any of you know what magazine these photos came from? Looks like maybe French Vogue, but I couldn't say... See more pictures from the set on KnightCat!
I'm really enjoying Erin Morrison's otherworldly mixed media pieces this morning. Just drop me off in one of those landscapes... I'll spend Monday there!
Via Beautiful/Decay.
Aren't these embroideries pretty? I really really like them! I feel like I've never seen any needlework like that before! I would love to have a shirt or a dress with any of the above designs on it! They were all created by the talented Renilde Depeuter. Sweet!
Via ~O~.
I know this picture has already been making the rounds on lots of blogs lately, but it's so cute I couldn't resist posting it, just in case you hadn't seen it! The photo is by David Sykes, who tells us about the photo on his site:
This latest piece of personal work is all shot in one shot on 5×4 transparency. I comissioned a model maker, Ridley West, to make a giant plate that we could attach to the wall, and with the help of Jennie Webster who sourced some amazing balloons, this shot was the result.
Those balloons really are amazing!
Via SwissMiss.
These sculptures totally amaze me! I wish I could touch one! They're made of tussock grass, cordyline, and linen thread, by Australian artist Beth Hatton.
Via NotCot.
Brooklyn-based artist Steve Keene not only creates numerous paintings, but he also makes fabulous plywood sets and props! Recently he has collaborated with the Silver Jews, Pavement, The Apples in Stereo, Soul Coughing, Dave Matthews Band and Merzbow to create album art, video sets, stage sets and posters - so you can imagine our delight when he agreed to make the props for our latest site video! The video will be appearing on our main website on Monday, so make sure to tune in and watch for Steve's props! Don't miss it!
Are you the queen or king of Facebook and Twitter? Do you read all of the coolest blogs? Or do you write your own? Do you love fashion? Are you super passionate about Free People? Are you an amazing communicator?
If you answered "yes" to these questions, then we have the job for you!
Free People is looking for a Social Media and Communications Coordinator to work in our Philadelphia based home office.
A little bit about the job:
Overview: Conceptualize and execute innovative social media campaigns to better engage our online customer with the Free People brand. Drive internal communication improvements between home office departments, stores, and showrooms to streamline brand efforts and keep everyone working as a team. This is an interesting new position at Free People that will require tremendous energy and excitement, and an ability to organize diverse groups of people and align them towards a common goal.
Sound good? Are you interested? Click here for all the details!
I've been getting lost in an awesome photostream of work by fashion photographer Tom Palumbo this afternoon. I love his compositions, and just the feel of his work in general! So inspiring!
Check out the Tom Palumbo photostream here.
Via Booooooom!
"Look, our toenails are the same color!"
"In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe."
I've been really into this blog Artist Quote of the Day. The quotes are typically from visual artists, and the entries feature images of their work and some brief brographical information. But today was Michael.
For part of her ongoing series Methods & Apparati for Social Facilitation and Mood Elevation, Keetra Dean Dixon has created this anonymous hugging wall! It's such a cool idea- I wish we had one here in Philly! Read and see more about it here.
Via The Laughing Squid.
I am crazy over this gorgeous editorial featuring Emma Watson in the July issue of Teen Vogue. The rich colors and luscious materials are doing me in! Bring on the tea cup skirts please!
Via Design Dig.
Free People's Fashion Illustration Contest ends tomorrow at 11:59pm! Make sure to get any mail-in entries shipped by tomorrow, and if you're entering via email, make sure you send it in by 11:59pm tomorrow night!
The winner will receive a goody-box filled with all kinds of awesome surprises from all of us at Free People, valued at $100! For all the information about the contest, check out this post!
Good luck everyone! I can't wait to find out who wins!
It's Thursday Poll time everyone!
Last week we looked at our collection of denim shorts, and the favorite by quite a bit was the FP Studded Denim Cut Off Short with 138 votes! Today, it's extremely hot here in Philly, which might be why I am looking at our new dresses - light and comfortable! Which one is best do you think?
First up is the Beaded Gallery Dress in black!
Next is Pattra's Criss Cross Dress in sky blue!
Shown below is the Lost and Found Shirt Dress in black!
Next check out the Sexy Ruffle Dress in peacock!
Finally, have a look at the Seams To Be Dress in violet below!
So which dress do you like the best?
Aren't these little chair socks by Chris&Ruby funny? I can see how they'd be useful though, if you didn't want to scuff up a nice floor or something. They look pretty cute!
These amazing pieces are from the graduation collection of Irina Shaposhnikova, who apparently just finished attending the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. The collection was called Crystallographica, and all the geometrical shapes and lines drive me wild! I'm dying to know what the clothes are made of - and how hard is it to take a seat in those pants?! So cool!
Via Today & Tomorrow and NotCot.
Today and tomorrow we are offering free shipping on orders from our website for you, our blog readers! All you have to do to get the free shipping is enter FPBLOG in the promo-code field when you check out! It's that easy!
We just wanted to do something to say, thank you reading our blog!
Happy shopping!
xo
I love these messy-pretty paintings by Jeannie Weissglass! See more here and here!
Via Dear Ada.
Hecuba "Suffering" [Official Video] HD from Hecuba on Vimeo.
This video makes me want to find a boy with greased hair and a dirty motorcycle!
by Hecuba
Using controlled detonations of fireworks on paper, Rosemarie Fiore creates these:
From the artist herself:
I bomb blank sheets of paper with different fireworks including color smoke bombs, jumping jacks, monster balls, fountains, magic whips, spinning carnations, ground blooms, rings of fire, and lasers. As I work, I create imagery by controlling the chaotic nature of the explosions in upside-down containers.
When the paper becomes saturated in color, dark and burned, I take it back to my studio and collage blank paper circles onto the image to establish new planes and open up the composition. I then continue to bomb the pieces. These actions are repeated a number of times. The final works contain many layers of collaged explosions and are thick and heavy.
See more of Rosemarie's fireworks drawings here!
Via Craftzine.
Susie at Apartment Therapy came across a fun little tool on Paper Source's site: the colorscope!
The colorscope seeks to explain a bit about your personality based on the colors you like the best. Who knows where they came up with the personality traits you supposedly have if you like, say, plum, but it's still really fun!
Here are the ones I picked!
I thought mine were pretty right for the most part, but I'm a sucker for anything that professes to tell me about myself from my palm, or my birthday, etc...
At any rate it was good fun! Check out the colorscope for yourself right here. Does yours fit your personality?
EricGjerge has an amazing set on Flickr where he has uploaded images from Owen Jones' book The Grammar of Ornament. I could look at all the prints and patterns forever - there is so much inspiration on each page! Check out the whole set for many more awesome pictures like the ones above, in bigger sizes too!
Via FFFFound.
one of our creative directors, merrie, just sent this photo to me...
merrie spends a lot of her time in india. recently, she took some photos of some kids there, when their grandma started yelling at her "hey, why r u taking THEIR pic!?! take my pic, I am beautiful, I can sing, I can dance!!"
awesome.
This nail-polish bottle design is so darn smart! I have needed a bottle like this for years! Plus, the word is that Karpati polish is free from toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate - some of the more nasty chemicals usually found in nail-polishes. Sign me up!
Via Design*Crush.
Nope, this flower isn't rotting, that's how it grows! It's the Trichosanthes, a flowering plant native to southeast Asia.
I came across a funny little article about odd flowers on Metafilter, and saw some really unique flowers like these:
These hanging lovelies are a type of Bolivian Fuschia.
Some pretty pink Puya.
Check out more odd flowers in the article.
Via Metafilter.
I love these gorgeous shots from Chris Nicholls fashion photography set An English Rose. They're just so so pretty! See the whole set right here, on Chris' site.
Via Oh Happy Day!
These vintage Smokey the Bear nature posters are great! Wouldn't you love to have one for your walls? Amy at Apartment Therapy was able to find one on Ebay after a little bit of searching, but for now, get bigger computer versions here.
Via Apartment Therapy.
Flickr user Straatis has a really interesting collection of photos of New York City in the 1940's. There is something so amazing about a photograph from the past, and actually seeing what was like 70 years ago! Not to mention seeing the Big Apple 70 years ago! Check out the set if you've got a little bit of time!
I love paperdolls, so as you might expect, I love these fun fashion paperdolls! I Love Mel has created paperdolls of supermodels Agyness Deyn and Kate Moss, as well as one of British pop-star Cheryl Cole. So fun! You can get a better look at the paperdolls here, and buy one if you feel so inclined. If that's not enough Kate Moss for you, they also have Kate Moss coloring books!
Via Refinery29.
I'm loving Leontine Greenberg's work right now! Her little birdie paintings are so whimsical and sweet! The bottom one in particular puts me in mind of Dr. Seuss! Check out her blog and Flickr for more watercolor goodness.
Many of you may have already seen photos of the fantastic hats at Royal Ascot last week, but I couldn't resist posting just a few! If you haven't seen any of the pictures yet, there are good slideshows here, here, and here! You should totally check them out - as you can tell from the sampling above, the hats were outrageous, wonderful, and rather inspiring!
i just got a new phone on friday...spent all weekend taking photos of things that mean a lot to me, which are namely my roommates. see below.
so i thought it'd be fun to see what pix my friends and co-workers keep on their phones...what's important to them. here's just a sampling...
These portraits by Laura Adel Johnson are awesome! Why have I never thought to create pictures with tiny holiday lights? I'm kind of amazed at how much detail comes through, too. Check out Laura's blog for pictures of a few more pieces.
Via InsideOut Blog.
Skip Disneyworld. Go to Huntington Gardens in LA. I went there when I was in Los Angeles visiting our Free People stores last week. It is a beautiful cactus garden and greenhouse. Definitely worth visiting.
This video makes me want to take a vacation! Watch as the pretty clouds floating atop the Alps seem to flow like waterfalls in this little time-lapse clip! So pretty...
Alps / cloud-waterfall shot in time-lapse from munich time-lapse on Vimeo.
Via The English Muse.
How delicious do these chocolate banana pops look?! I'm getting ready to try and make some! Katie Goodman has a really simple recipe for them Craftzine that I'm going to use! Hooray for cold chocolate banana treats!
There's only one more week to turn in your entry for our Free People Fashion Illustration Contest! The winner will receive a goody-box filled with all kinds of awesome surprises from all of us at Free People, valued at $100! Click here for all the details!
I love the simple and interesting compositions of these photos by Yamamoto Masao. I think that the simpleness and calmness of the photos makes them all the more striking. Check out more here.
Another great find from Dear Ada.
I don't know whether I like the clothes or the set better in these photos! The clothes are by Peter Jensen; they're part of his 2010 resort collection. The set was created by Charlotte Mann - I love how it's all drawn! It reminds me of the Sharpie marker basement from a little bit ago. Check out Style.com for a slideshow of all the photos in this set!
Via Simple+Pretty & StyleBubble.
These honbachi, or book pots, were created by graphic designers Tokyo Pistol. I really like how they look! I feel like it would be really easy to make one on your own with an old disheveled book, but one perk of buying one from Tokyo Pistol would that the old book you got would be in Japanese! Check out the bindings on the books stacked in the picture! Pretty sweet...
Via Spoon & Tamago.
Aimee Kick, an aspiring designer from Missouri, created the prom dress above for herself out of coffee filters! I think it looks awesome - I love it! I once made myself a dress out of duct tape for a party - not a very original idea, but it was really fun! If I ever find any pictures of it I'll post them here, though my duct-tape dress wasn't half as good as Aimee's coffee-filter dress! Have you guys ever made clothes out of unusual materials? How did it turn out?
Via Neatorama.
Look closely at these shoes by Lauren Milroy. They're made of colored pencils! How cool!
I am in love with the color palette of Camilla & Marc's Fall '09 collection! The shoes are fabulous too! What do you guys think? Head over to the always-awesome KnightCat if you want to see more photos from the show!
Pretty much all of Jane South's work totally amazes me because it's made primarily of paper. Yes, paper! They're visually interesting enough on their own, that just makes them even more impressive! Check out Jane's site for more incredible art!
Welcome to our Thursday poll!
Last week we checked out some of our hoodies, and our favorite by far was the We The Free Thermal Hoodie! It got 41% of the vote with 259 people picking it as their favorite!
It might be because it's been raining all week, keeping me in pants, but I have been eyeing our shorts a lot lately! The jean shorts in particular! Check them out with me!
First scope out our FP Acid Wash Cut Off Short.
Now have a look at the FP Studded Denim Cut Off Short!
Next up is the Blank Studded Short.
Below is the Siwy Madeleine Short.
Finally, check out the Siwy Camilla Short!
So what do you guys think? Which pair of shorts do you prefer?
These gorgeous images were all taken using infrared photography, which uses an image sensor or film that is sensitive to infrared light, as opposed to normal visible light. The way various objects reflect infrared light is quite different from how they reflect visible light, which is why the green on the trees turns white, and the sky looks much darker. Learn more about infrared photography here and here!
Photos by: (from top to bottom)
MichiLauke
Roie Galitz
Bruna Marchioro
MichiLauke
Scott Pruett
Via TutzTutz!
This will wake you up right! A group of dancers wearing hammer pants rush into a random store and surprise everyone with an awesome dance!
I am obsessed with these collages by Sarah Ogren! I love animal heads on human bodies. I don't know why, they're just really appealing - don't you agree? Don't miss Sarah's blog, and check out her Etsy shop too!
Via the super-awesome Penguin & Fish.
I don't quite understand how, but apparently this cool garden on top of an aquarium serves as the filter for the water! I already thought it was a great design just from the photo, but when I read that I was extra-impressed! It's so pretty! This idea was by Benjamin Grandorge, with some help from Duende Studio.
How would you like to live in one of these painted apartment buildings in Russia? I love all the eye popping colors! Check out this blog for many more great photos! I think my car needs a paint job like this...
Last night our Free People kickball team had it's final game of the season. Though we lost to Urban Outfitters with a score of 8 to 7, the FP team competed admirably, and had a lot of fun!
Some members of the team get psyched for the game!
Heather gives the ball a good hard kick.
Watch out! Elena is coming to get you!
Bob makes a sweet catch.
Was she out? No?
Kevin displays his killer throwing abilities.
Ever since Lark About posted a few shots of British supermodel Jean Shrimpton the other day, I have been on a kick, collecting images of her! They're great old fashion photos, and she has such a classic look! Love!
I'm really excited to try out this tutorial from ThreadBanger- it shows how to knit your own bikini top! They go along very slowly and explain clearly what to do! The only thing is that there is a quick advertisement in the middle, but it's worth it because the tutorial is good. If you need a little basic knitting instruction first, check out our learn-to-knit videos here, here, and here!
Our friend Lisa at Bazaarvoice, (the company that hosts our product reviews for our site,) used this fun generator at Wordle to make the word collage above. She took all of the product reviews on our website from the last few months or so, and entered them in the generator. The more a word was used, the bigger it appears in the image! It's pretty fun! Plus, it made a cool visual of what our reviewers are saying.
Use the generator here to make your own word collages! It would be fun to take all the text on your Facebook profile, for example, and see what words come up the most!
These collages by Sarah Bridgland really caught my eye! To make them she uses all kinds of discarded paper, stationary, old books, newspapers, comics, you name it. The old staple boxes used for these particular pieces are really cool too!
Via Design*Sponge.
I've enjoyed browsing through Polanoid, where these pictures are from, for a good part of this morning! Polanoid is in the process of building the biggest Polaroid-picture-collection on the planet to celebrate the magic of instant photography. I don't know that it beats Flickr, but I like it! Check it out if you are a fan of photos!
Via William Horberg.
These little brownie burgers and sugar cookie fries are so adorable! And tasty looking! Bakerella has a fantastic tutorial that you should definitely check out if you're in a baking mood! She even has templates to create the tray and french fry holder! I can't wait to try it out, maybe this weekend!
Via Craftzine.
How cool is this wallpaper by Gallant Tales?! To me it looks kind of like someone drew on the walls with a Bic pen! I don't know if it was that guy's Sharpie marker basement decor that put me in the mood for it, but I really like it!
Via Oh Joy!
This picture may not look very exciting, but scroll down...
Keep scrolling!
Awesome! This sweet little hideaway was created by Helen Nodding - click here to visit her site, where there are many more secret worlds...
Via Apartment Therapy.
These inspirational images are all by Jessica Eaton! Don't you love them?! I could loiter around on her blog all day...
Via I Heart Photograph.
I love these book purses by Rebound Designs. Each purse is hand-made using a vintage hardback book and fabric. My only hang-up was, as an avid reader, I was a little bit sad to see the old books gutted to be purses. (Even though I want one!) However, Caitlin, the woman behind Rebound Designs, reports that most of the books she uses have already been damaged anyway. So hoorah! I'll take the Nancy Drew purse please! Check out Rebound Designs' Etsy shop here.
Awesome song, awesome video - created with chalk and chalkboards, and that's it! Enjoy!
Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.
Via Doodlers Anonymous.
I'm finding some inspiration today in these cool pictures from Hedi Slimane Fashion Diary. If you've never visited it, definitely check it out! It has enough fashion photography to keep you busy for hours and hours!
This awesome tree house was built on a redwood tree a bit north of Auckland, New Zealand. It houses a restaurant, and was designed by Pacific Environment Architects as a marketing promotion for New Zealand Yellow Pages.
I've never seen a tree house that shape before - it reminds me a bit of a nautilus shell! It looks so pleasant! I'm ready to go there and live now! Many more pictures here and here.
Via CubeMe.
I was really struck by this editorial posted on KnightCat earlier today - but what really gets me is the make-up! Everyone at KnightCat was commenting on the hair. Her hair is great, but that eye make-up is just incredible! If I thought I could ever apply those gorgeous eyelashes in the first picture (without poking my eyes out) I would in a second!
What do you guys think? And does anyone happen to know what magazine these shots came from?
I am loving these prints of work by Jen Corace! They are so simple and pretty. Design*Sponge spotted them for sale over at Philly's own Art Star! (The gallery that sponsors the cool craft bazaar every year.) Small world!
Twins!
These pieces by husband and wife team Apak Studio are really adorable, but also really pretty! I love the sort of see- through/ethereal quality they have - especially the yellow one! As always, their site has much more!
Via My Love For You.
I'm not sure I can explain The Uniform Project any better than the woman herself, so here is a quote from the website:
Starting May 2009, I have pledged to wear one dress for one year as an exercise in sustainable fashion. Here’s how it works: There are 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week. Every day I will reinvent the dress with layers, accessories and all kinds of accoutrements, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies. Think of it as wearing a daily uniform with enough creative license to make it look like I just crawled out of the Marquis de Sade's boudoir.
The Uniform Project is also a year-long fundraiser for the Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots movement that is revolutionizing education in India. At the end of the year, all contributions will go toward Akanksha’s School Project to fund uniforms and other educational expenses for slum children in India.
So freaking awesome! Check out all her outfits so far here.
Via Metafilter.
Earlier today, Debbie Schramer, the creator (along with her husband) of these delicate fairy houses, was kind enough to comment on one of my posts and leave her website! I am so glad she did, or else I may have never seen these lovely little creations! Aren't they so cool?! I wish I was tiny enough to live in one! They are amazingly detailed as well. I highly recommend going to her blog and clicking on the pictures she has posted there. They are huge, and do more justice to all the carefully created interiors! (She also has a lot of great photo inspiration on her blog!) I can only imagine the time and effort required to make these pretty homes! I love it!
Thanks for the heads-up Debbie!
Thursday already!? Hooray!
We looked last week at the Fan Club Tube and our favorite color was Hot Coral, by a lot! It got 233 votes out of 566!
This week I have been checking out some of our latest sweatshirts. (It may have something to do with how rainy it's been here lately!) We have a lot of cute styles, and I'm interested to see what tickles your fancy! See a few of our sweatshirts below!
First look at the We The Free Thermal Hoodie in Turquoise.
Next is our Draping Crochet Hoodie!
Now check out the Divided Highway Pullover in Melon!
Finally, here's our Long Sleeve Zip Up Hoodie in Ivory Heather.
So what do you guys think? Which sweatshirt is your favorite?
I'm really enjoying the set Demoniac Babble by Estelle Hanania! Partly it's because I like the costumes so much - wow. I'd love to walk around in one of those! The pictures have a really interesting feel though - click here for more!
Via Urban's blog!
I love the little bits and pieces that make up these acrylic on panel paintings by Beau Chamberlain! Check out his site for many more!
Via Beautiful/Decay.
Ah! I love finding treasures like this on YouTube! Here's some footage of The Jimi Hendrix Experience playing Hey Joe and Sunshine of Your Love on the old British television show It's Lulu. It's pretty clear for being old and on YouTube, and it's absolutely mesmerizing. Enjoy!
I love the way Mario Sughi uses bright colors in his fashion illustrations! I really enjoy his drawing style too, the lines seem to fall really casually, yet they are clearly thought out. Check out his site for more vibrant illustrations!
Via Love Forever.
Luren of our visual display team is part of a really cool and special exhibition going on at Copy Gallery right now! It's called A Room - A Loom, and you are all invited to come take part!
Some words from Luren:
The gallery has been converted into a giant loom. It stretches from one wall to the other and spans corner-to-corner. There is no space for you to move without becoming part of this huge apparatus!
The loom itself is really simple, and anyone can be taught to to use it in about 5 minutes.
You are invited to gather together the material of your choice and to contribute to the weaving of this collaborative textile.
A Room-A Loom began as a site-specific weaving experiment by Julia Sherman at workspace, a small project space in East L.A. Materials used thus far in the L.A. loom have included weeds, old clothing, Halloween costumes, computer cables, bubble wrap, plastic bags, John Baldessari's toilet paper, Sheep Dog fur, raw wool, yarn, pants, jeans, blankets, burlap sacks, palm fronds, pom-poms and more. In mid-June workspace will host an reception to exhibit their final piece.
Copy is the first of several project spaces spanning the country and beyond to undertake A Room - A Loom. Eventually, there will be a group exhibition with all of the weavings from the various participating spaces.
Check out this link for a Google calendar with times that you can come and weave!
Luren and other members of Copy Gallery will also be available at other times - contact info@copygallery.org to make an appointment!
Copy Gallery
319 N. 11th St.
3rd Floor
Philadelphia PA
June 5th - 29, 2009
Here is the next installment of our video from the Company of Thieves show last weekend at We The Free! This song is called The Fire Song. See the first video here, and our fun interview with them here! Enjoy!
You may remember a bit more than a week ago when these shorts appeared in one of the Office Style posts. They are vintage by Steel Jeans, and quite of a few of you asked about them - I really liked them too! As you can see above, Courtney, the owner of the shorts, lent them to me for a day so that I could look them over and prepare to make my own pair! I did, and it was super easy! Here's how I did it!
First I color-copied Courtney's shorts, so that I could have a real-sized pattern of the patches on the front. It also really helped to have a guide for placement! I have posted the pictures I used on Flickr so you can use them too! Click on the picture, then original size to get the whole huge picture! Print them out and you have the patterns too!
Next I went home and picked out a pair of shorts I wanted to alter, and some pretty fabric for the patches!
You might notice that my fabric is very wrinkly! I highly recommend ironing any fabric you use for this project, but I don't have an iron, so as for me, I just had to wing it! I folded the fabric I chose for the patches in half, and then drew an outline of one of the patterns on it. You could also use each pattern and draw each side separately.
My shorts are quite a bit bigger than Courtney's, so I drew my outline out a bit from the outline of the pattern to compensate.
Then I cut the patches out, and pinned them to the shorts! I used the color copy of Courtney's shorts as a guide.
Next, I sewed them down! I used a sewing machine for this part, but I think it would also be very easy to sew this by hand. With the sewing machine I had to be very careful not to sew down the pockets of my shorts!
Halfway finished!
Ta Da! Finished!
They turned out pretty good, right? I love them!
If any of you make shorts too, send us a picture of you wearing them at blog.freepeople@gmail.com! I would love to see how yours turn out!
These geometric mixed media pieces by Jeff Perrone are really interesting. He uses all kinds of things to create them - mud cloth, buttons, sand, wood, etc... I really like the buttons especially. See more here!
Via Dear Ada.
How cool is this amphibious bicycle created by Li Jin? She attached old water jugs to serve as pontoons and added what are essentially paddles to the back wheel! You can see her riding it on the water in Hubei Province in China above. Reportedly the bike is still usable on land too, without further modification. I want to try it!
Via CubeMe.
These fun pictures are all from the awesome photo comic My Milk Toof. It's really really sweet and really good! You should definitely check it out for a hefty dose of cuteness!
Via NotCot.
Watch our team as they encounter a few difficulties constructing the rope swing for our Summer 2009 video! Hee hee!
Above by Margaret Clark.
Above by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite.
Above by Pixie O'Harris.
These beautiful illustrations were all created in the early 20th century, and all the artists are Australian. I love them! I wish I could just dive right into one of them! BibliOdyssey made a fabulous post featuring these and many more gorgeous illustrations - very interesting and inspiring! Check it out if you feel like taking a little trip to fantasy-land!
I love these soft photographs by Anders Linden of Sweden. They really suit my mood this morning! Check out his site if you like them too!
Via The Best Part.
As many of you know, we were delighted to have Company of Thieves play at our We The Free store in Brooklyn this past weekend! Our Assistant Art Director Carrie popped up to see the show, and she took some great video of it! Here's one of the songs below - they sounded great! Check back later this week for more video of the show!
Thank you Company of Thieves! And thank you Carrie!
Charlie Kratzer started drawing on his basement walls right in the middle, with a drawing of a painting by Picasso. From there he figured it wouldn't be too hard to extend the drawings out to the edge of the walls - one thing lead to another, until he had decorated all of his basement walls with his drawings, using 10 dollars worth of Sharpie markers!
I'm almost surprised at how cool it looks! It's amazing! Head over to Kentucky.com for more information.
Check out our dreamy new Summer 2009 video clip, featuring the song Back Down To Earth by the Photon Band!
Style Bubble posted these shots of Alice McColm's amazing collection from a recent show. All the pieces are so inspiring - I love the delicate knits, and the colors are just perfect! I searched for Alice McColm, hoping to find a designer site or some kind of information, but I came up with nothing! Do you guys know anything about this designer?
These guys were too cute not to post! I love them! They're created by Marnie Vollenhals of J.AustinRyan. Check out her blog and Etsy for more unbearable cuddliness!
Thanks to Penguin & Fish!
These earthy paintings are by Lisel Ashlock. I really like the feel of them, and that they are painted on wood! Check out her site for more paintings, and a few sweet drawings too!
Via My Love For You.
I love this pretty new packaging designed by Sarah Walsh for Mallard Tea Shops in the UK! Why can't all packaging be this cute?
Via The Dieline.
I know we've seen many stop=motion videos, but this one is so darn cute, I couldn't resist sharing it! I really enjoyed the credits at the end too, because they show how they made the video! I've never really seen any behind-the-scenes on a stop-motion video before, so it was really interesting! Enjoy!
These fancy cupcakes were photographed by Therese Aldgard and styled by Lisa Edsalv. They were reportedly inspired by Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Christian Louboutin and Betsey Johnson, but I couldn't find any shots of the Betsey Johnson ones, rather I found the Agent Provocateur cupcakes on Lisa's site. So perhaps my source had it mixed up! At any rate, I would love to have a print of one of these photos! The Chanel or Louboutin shots especially would spruce my apartment right up! After these and the fashion lollipops, I wonder what kind of fashion foods are next!
Via High Snobiety.
Style Bubble posted these amazing hats by Carianne Moore, and I love the pictures as much as the hats! I would never have an occasion to wear such a hat, if I ever got my hands on one. I'd wear it anyway though. The first one especially catches my eye - it's like an outrageous harp crown.
Also, check out these funny hats I saw on Jezebel today! Too cute!
Don't forget - tomorrow at our We The Free store in Brooklyn, Company of Thieves will be doing an intimate acoustic set at 5pm! This is free! Come check it out if you're in the area, it's sure to be a blast!
Here's the address of the We The Free store in Brooklyn:
We The Free
113 Smith Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 250 - 0050
Click here to Google map it!
Click here to read our recent interview with Company of Thieves!
See you in Brooklyn!
Good morning! This song, Melody Day, by Caribou is the perfect way to start the day! If you haven't heard Caribou I bet you will like them! The video is pretty neat too! Enjoy!
I love these beautiful silk screen prints and drawings by Daniel Moraes! I love the lines and the colors! It's so abstract and delicate! Check out his Flickr photostream if you are enjoying these too! I have the top picture as my desktop background now. Ha ha!
Via BettyJoy.
It's Thursday already, and it's time for our poll! Hooray!
Last Week we scoped out a few summer dresses, and the One Shoulder Banded Bottom Dress ended up as the favorite, with 157 votes!
This week I am kind of obsessed by our new Fan Club Tube, which is basically the printed version of our fun Solid Banded Tube. I love all the prints, and I am interested to know which color you guys like the most!
First check out the tube in Sky Combo.
Next is the tube shown in Hot Coral Combo.
Finally, here's the tube in Deep Indigo Combo!
So which color do you prefer?
We had another Free People spotting over at Perez Hilton - this time it's Kelly Clarkson! I really like her! She seems like a real sweet woman. She is wearing our Poets Society Gauze Top in teal.
(FYI, this top is only sold online - it's not in our stores.)
Ah! Kelly looks so cute, especially in the "say cheese" shot! Jessica is the designer who created this top, and when I showed her the Perez article she was so excited! She told me this is her "first celebrity", as in the first time she's had one of her designs worn by a celebrity! Too cute! Here's Jessica below, being happy!
Via Perez Hilton.
These beautiful works are by artist Mars-1, a.k.a. Mario Martinez. Don't you love them? Check out his site, it has a blog-like format and much more unworldly art!
This staircase is amazing and I've never seen anything like it! It was designed by HŠH architects, and is made of 10mm thick sheet metal. I'd love to see it in real life!
Via Neu Black.
I'm really entranced by these pictures from the show for Chanel's resort fashions. I keep coming back to them! The hairstyles seem to call back to the early 20th century, or at least, they do to me! Every time I look at them I'm reminded of the flappers, or even faintly of the Gibson Girls.
A sweet flapper woman. Via.
Another pretty flapper. Via.
Some Gibson Girls. Via.
The clothes seem kind of inspired by these eras as well - is this just me? Do you guys see it too? What do you think?
I saw this gorgeous set on The Moldy Doily. (She always posts awesome pictures!) Head over there to see many more shots from this show!
I am totally pumped to announce our second Free People Fashion Illustration Contest!
Create an original fashion illustration that includes at least one of the following three items:
the One-Shoulder Banded Bottom Dress, Lace Tulip Mini Skirt or Jacquard Princess Cami.
(See pictures of these items at the bottom of this post and on our site.)
Entries will be judged based on creativity, originality, artistic rendering, and appropriateness to the Free People aesthetic.
The winner will receive a goody-box filled with all kinds of awesome surprises from all of us at Free People, valued at $100!
A Few Guidelines
-Your illustration must be your own original design.
-Illustrations may be created with any two-dimensional medium.
Examples of two-dimensional mediums include crayons, markers, paints, pen and ink, computer imaging, chalks, pastels, colored pencils - basically anything that is on paper or computer.
-Illustrations should be no larger than 11x17 inches, or no larger than 6336x9792 pixels.
-Illustrations must include at least one of the following items:
One-Shoulder Banded Bottom Dress,
Lace Tulip Mini Skirt
or
Jacquard Princess Cami.
You do not have to use all three items. For the items that come in multiple colors, you may use any color you like in your illustration. You may also include any other Free People items that you like.
-You may enter more than one illustration, but if you choose to do so, each illustration must be entered on its own, as a separate entry.
This means if you are using snail mail to turn in your entries, they can all be mailed in one envelope, but each illustration needs to have your name and information attached to it.
If you are emailing your entries, each entry needs to be in a separate email.
-You must be at least 13 years old and a resident of the United States of America to enter.
To Enter:
Email us your entry at freepeoplecontest@gmail.com.
Mail us your entry at:
Attn: Pruitt Shutt
Free People Fashion Illustration Contest
5000 S. Broad Street Bldg. #15
Philadelphia, PA 19112
Be sure to include your name, age, address, telephone number, and email address with your entry!
The contest ends on June 26th 2009.
All email entries must be received by June 26th 2009.
All mail-in entries must be postmarked by June 26th 2009, and received by July 3rd 2009.
We will announce the winner by July 15th 2009.
Make sure to check out the official rules as well!
Please feel free to post any questions in the comments of this post, or email us at freepeoplecontest@gmail.com!
Below, find pictures of each of the items featured in this contest!
One Shoulder Banded Bottom Dress
And don't forget, if you need inspiration, check out Kris Chau or Adrianne Lee's work! So pretty! Here's a lovely piece by Kris below...
Good luck everyone! We are all so pumped to see your wonderful creations!
I love these pensive photos from Renate Aller's set Fixed Coordinates! They are so expansive and soothing! Each picture was taken at the same point on Westhampton Beach, hence the title of the set. It would be awesome to have a huge huge print of one of these - or even wall mural sized! See more of her work on Ruby Beets, or her site of course!
Via Apartment Therapy.
Using fiber-optic technology, French company LumiGram has created a cloth that glows! It's not glow-in-the-dark, rather it actually casts a soft light - each clothing item comes with a battery pack that will keep your clothes glowing for around 12 hours after each charge. Interesting, no? Check out all their styles here.
Via Jezebel.
Watch Evelien turn her notebook into a computer! It's so cute!
Noteboek from Evelien Lohbeck on Vimeo.
Via Very Short List.
French artist Bernard Pras recreates pictures and portraits with found objects. His work is totally amazing.
An explanation from the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna: After an extensive and wide-ranging training, the artist Bernard Pras slowly began to focus on portraiture while experimenting with many different techniques. We were particularly interested in his photographed “composite portraits” of famous, frequently long-dead personalities... for which he selected composite elements that helped explain the sitter’s character or the reason for his or her fame. However, Pras adds an extra dimension of complexity: he distributes the individual elements that constitute his portraits in rooms - frequently locations chosen with great care - that participate in the creation of the composite artworks. ...in the end it requires a camera lens to bring them together in a photograph, and to turn them into recognizable portraits.
Fantastic! Head on over to If It's Hip, It's Here for more (and bigger) pictures!
These awesome pictures (from Getty Images) were taken at the L'Oreal Color Trophy Final 2009, which took place earlier today. I want to have fuzzy baubles in my hair very much now! It looks so pretty! The makeup is really cool too. See the whole slideshow here on Seattlepi.com.
Give our newest store playlist a spin! It's really upbeat and fun! Enjoy!
These are from a set by Brock Davis in which he explores how things that don't shatter might look if they did shatter. A simple idea, but I like them - especially the coffee cup! It's convincing.
See more on Brock's site or Cyana Trend Land.
ScarlettCat found these gorgeous pictures on !?, which is a Tumblr just filled with inspirational fashion photography. A great find! Check it out if you enjoy fashion photos for sure!
P.S. I also just found ScarlettCat, (thanks to Penguin&Fish!) and I love her! Awesome!
I would love to just dive right in to one of these paintings by Jen Lobo! Something about them just drives me wild - do you guys like them too? Be sure to check out Jen's blog as well.
Via Penguin & Fish and ScarlettCat.
You might recall a while back when I posted the video for Oscar Wilde by Company of Thieves. We got such a fabulous response from you all! We were psyched that you guys are into Company of Thieves too - so when we were able to catch the lovely lead singer Genevieve Schatz for a quick chat before their appearance in Indianapolis, we went nuts!
Meredith (who works for FP) and Genevieve talked about the band's new album, Ordinary Riches, fashion, traveling, and peanut butter! And, as if that weren't enough, we are pumped to announce that the band are going to do an intimate acoustic set in our We The Free store in Brooklyn this very Saturday at 5pm! Don't miss it!
Until then, check out the interview below!
So how is the tour going?
Actually we just got home from a west coast run. We are about to leave in a few days for about a month and a half (tour) so I hope it's going to be fabulous!
Did you have a very steady tour schedule so far this year?
Definitely. We left at the end of January and went out for about two and a half months with Thriving Ivory, came back for about a week. Then we went to the west coast to have our own run of headlining shows and it was just amazing to be out there. I'd never been out to Seattle or Portland or San Diego and places like that. It's been a really wild ride. I've gotten to the point that I'm more comfortable on the road than I am when I come home!
Better with dirty laundry than clean clothes?!
Yeah! You become part of the earth! It's a totally different rhythm that you sink into.
I love the webcasts you did on Youtube from the road! They're so cute and they made me feel like one of your friends, watching you bopping around while you traveled.
Haha! That's awesome! That's the whole point! We want to always include our fans, our friends in what we're doing. We just always want to share it.
Were you happy to share when your van got broken into at SXSW (a music festival)?
Well, it's cool to show all sides of the game because a lot of people are under the impression that, you know, it's always a very glamorous lifestyle. You have your ups and downs just like anything.
Your latest album, Ordinary Riches, is clearly very influenced by Oscar Wilde. Are you often influenced by other arts than music when you write songs?
I always have been. It's something that isn't really sought out for me, I kind of always end up in the middle of... I don't know! A lot of things open my eyes constantly. I've always been very aware and conscious of what's going on around me. It's always been hard for me to keep it out, I always let me fill me up! And so the whole album is really based on personal experiences and also sometimes being in the center of a lot of commotion just by the nature of living in a major city and being in a lot of crowded areas and coming into contact with other people and relating to them and things like that. It's kind of an album about a coming of age.
Have you been writing on the road?
Absolutely! Every day!
Are you getting a different tone with being out of the city and in these new places?
Yes yes! I would say... How do I explain it... It's much darker but much more focused.
The thing I find interesting about this album is the lyrics are fairly dark and introspective but the melodies, though not necessarily "pop", are definitely accessible and often upbeat. I found it weird to find myself happily bopping along to a song and then realize what I'm singing along to.
I think that's something that I've come to really embrace is the fact that, for me, I feel like the painful things in life and the joyful things in life have a lot of similarities and the physical effects of feeling overjoyed or feeling deeply deeply hurt are very similar to me - just the weight of the world. That's kind of what our songs, even our new ones, have that tone where there's a contrast going on with a shared vein.
So what is the dynamic between you and your bandmates on the road?
As far as the three of us go, I feel like Marc (Walloch, guitarist) is the guy who is the problem solver and will just bulldoze through anything and be a soldier. Mike (Ortiz, drummer) is the guy that makes sure everyone keeps calm. He seems impervious to disasters. It's really funny - he has this energy level that's super calm of just "It's all ok. We're going to get through this." And I'm the person who... well everyone jokes that they see the little girl in me all the time. It's because I'm definitely the explorer. I'll be like, "Let's go on this adventure! What's this?! Let's do this thing!" They'll turn around and I'll be climbing a tree or something, shouting "Come here! You guys have to see this!"
What is some of the stuff you've discovered while you've been traveling that's been exciting for you?
Honestly, one of the coolest things was a town in Tennessee called Tallulah. We just wrote a song about it. It was a town that has been almost completely abandoned and every single building, the school house, the post office, the homes and store fronts, were completely left. There were a only a few human beings in the whole town. You know, at first I was really scared and I couldn't believe that this happens. But when I realized that this is what happens when people leave, nature just comes in, I had this glee. When I looked closer there were vines coming up from the earth and wrapping around buildings and taking them back in. It was almost like nature trying to say that nature prevails and things change. I found that comforting.
I'm really excited that you guys are going to be able to do an in-store set for us. But you also recently did a set for another "store" of sorts- Etsy.
Yes! Oh my gosh!
How did that come about?
Well, a few months ago I was talking to the band saying that I feel that we're at a time in this industry where independent arts really does have a huge window of opportunity and there's a lot of presence. I'm really into supporting other independent artists so I was like, why don't I incorporate pieces in my wardrobe that are very personal to people that they've spent a lot of time and put a lot of heart into? That's what I do with my life so I should have a full circle representation of that. I started getting into Etsy because there's a local artist in Chicago that I buy a lot from, dresses that no one in the world has but me and it feels so cool to wear them on stage! So basically we contacted Etsy about it and talked about different things we liked and performed for the creative people on Etsy. It was so cool to be able to do that!
Yeah, Etsy really is a great platform for a marketplace. It's amazing how quickly it's taken off and all the talent on there.
Definitely, and also a lot of unexpected surprises. I found this person who makes these wooden peg figures of casts from Wes Anderson films. It's so hilarious! It's like a child's toy but who would ever have thought that someone would think to spend their time doing that, and it's great that they do and it makes them happy.
Are you a fan of fashion? Do you look out for trend or do you have your own vibe?
I definitely have my own style but I'm a huge fan of fashion! It's obviously a representation of the greater picture of the world that at least can be broken down into personal perspective and I've always loved that. I really believe in expressing yourself through fashion. I do believe it's an art.
And your song was on Gossip Girl...
That was crazy! I didn't get to see the excerpt because I don't really watch television but I heard about it the day it was happening and I was kind of blown away! To start off I didn't know how I felt about it to be honest but it was a very cool opportunity for us to get exposure.
I always think it must be quite surreal the first time you hear yourself on the radio or on TV.
I still haven't heard us on the radio! I hope that if it ever happens it will be like the That Thing You Do moment when we're all screaming and running from different parts of the city and meeting up just as the song ends.
Now I have all my stupid questions...
Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?
Wait what? Oh, crunchy.
Innie or outie?
Hmmmmm... innie?
Pink or black?
Black.
Spots or stripes?
Stripes definitely.
Ocean or country?
Oooooh ocean.
Winter or summer?
Summer!
Wow! What an awesome interview! Thank you Genevieve! And thank you Meredith for your interviewer skills! I couldn't have even imagined a better interview than that!
Check out more from Company of Thieves on their Myspace - and don't miss their in-store appearance, this coming Saturday afternoon at 5pm at We The Free in Brooklyn!
Many of us who work at URBN Inc. have little brothers or sisters through the local Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. They have a wonderful program where they even bus the children to our office from their school, twice a month to eat lunch with us! After lunch, Bigs and Littles just hang out together and do their own thing, or they can do whatever the fun scheduled activity is for that day.
At the end of last week, our Littles came, and the activity was so fun! It was a newspaper fashion show! Bigs and Littles made outfits out of newspaper and then walked the runway! There are so many adorable and funny pictures from it, I couldn't resist sharing them with you! I'm sure you'll get a kick out of them too!
Such a blast!
This video from Petra Storrs is really fantastic! It's a little bit Alice in Wonderland, and much paper-craft! Check it out for yourself and see!
