did you know yesterday was book lover’s day? what better day to announce that we would like to start a free people book club! first, we want to know straight from our readers if that is something you guys would like to participate in, and we also want suggestions! have you read a great book lately? let us know…it might be the first book in the free people book club!
if you’re in the portland area this weekend, the 3rd annual siren nation women’s music and art festival is taking place through sunday. this year’s festival includes an art and craft sale showcasing women artisans from the northwest, an art show featuring local portland artists (female of course), a film festival featuring documentaries about four female pioneers in politics, performance, poetry and partisanship, and a music festival featuring an all female lineup.
siren nation’s mission is to inspire and empower women of all ages to create their own art and to highlight the many achievements of women in the arts. the organization showcases and creates performance and exhibition opportunities for women throughout the year, and it is the only women’s collective that produces an annual festival showcasing the original work of women in music, film, performance and visual art.
for more info check out their website.
one of my co-workers sent me this really cool video from the chanel spring/summer 2010 show during paris fashion week…they put a spy camera in the model’s hair before her runway walk! it’s really interesting to see from her perspective…
i love the one-of-a-kind patched bf jeans we just got in, but i love ‘em even more now that i know the story behind them. read on for merrie’s story about the inspiration behind these unique, one-of-a-kind jeans.
“we recently met a young woman from kutch, a desert area in the state of gujarat in india. she had a huge collection of tribal embroideries, which we bought to piece with delicate embroidered net from a market in Delhi and patch onto vintage denim.
we have always loved making clothes out of vintage pieces, cutting them up and adding bits of trims from another era, some tribal embroidery or some old denim. we had already created a small workshop in india where we make most of our store fixtures…embroidered hangers, cane stools, dressing room curtains, beaded chandeliers…etc. adding a few sewing machines to that set-up seemed the next step.
now we are able to find assorted fabrics in the markets, collect trims we love, and put them in the newest silhouettes for the stores within a month or so of the initial inspiration. the assorted fabrics keep that one-of-a-kind feel, while making several of the same silhouette allows us to keep the prices reasonable.
we’ll send a photo of our happy workshop soon. on any given day, there might be: men sitting under the mango trees, hand weaving cane stools for the showroom in new york…tailors sewing prototypes for our next fp one season…wood carvers making doors for our newest fp store…pinwheel makers sitting in the grass making hundreds of paper pinwheels for our next display…anshu the gardener’s son studying his abc’s…it is quite a group effort!”
thanks merrie! can’t wait to see some photos!
2 of our knits designers recently traveled to tokyo. while they were there, they met up with their friend ryohei, a very talented artist.
he offered to do paper cuts of them during dinner, and they captured this awesome video of it.
the artist’s name is ryohei tanaka. he has some really amazing work on his website. check it out by clicking on the image below.
by the way, the song in the video is “happy endings” by pizzicato five.
kayte terry, the crafty author behind the blog this is love forever, will be holding an appliqué workshop and book signing tomorrow at jimmystyle in philadelphia. the workshop takes place from noon to 1pm and participants get a hands-on demo with kayte and a kit with materials for three woodland animal-inspired felt ornaments like that cute owl above…then have her sign her new book appliqué your way!
for more info on the event and how to register for the workshop, click here.
check out kate hudson wearing our gianna jacket out to dinner in nyc…
she looks great, i love that coat.
have you seen our new november catalog? it’s so pretty and full of light…
the inspiration behind this catalog, with the holidays quickly approaching, was the play of light and color in the images. i like it because instead of feeling dark and cold like a lot of holiday stuff, it feels very warm and soft.
to get these cool effects they strung christmas lights in front of the camera…something i might have to try.
you can view the entire catalog here.
there once was an artist who really wanted to encourage the neighborhood to get to know each other. so, he decided to help them. he gathered all of the neighborhood doormats and brought them to a gallery. the neighbors were stumped by the mysterious thievery. then, each neighbor received an invitation to come and get their property. later, they arrived at the gallery and saw that their doormats were much prettier together than apart. they began to talk and get to know each other – at least i hope that is how it turned out for the sake of kevin harman, the artist behind the installation…
http://www.kevinharman.co.uk/doormats.html
i was in nyc this weekend and my friend/go-to for new music introduced me to lykke li. she exudes creativity and beauty. so far, “little bit” is my favorite song. hope you enjoy her as much as i do…
“keep on rockin’ in the free world”
– neil young
(the spectrum’s final farewell…10/31/09)
