THE KING OF POP

           We wanted to dedicate our blog today to the memory of Michael Jackson, and what better day to do so than the anniversary of his sudden tragic death.

            Born in 1958 in Gary, Indiana. One of ten children he rose to fame at the age of six when he was catapulted to the centre of attention with the Jackson 5. In 1975 Michael broke loose from the rest of his brothers and went solo. Releasing all time favourite albums such as 'Off The Wall', 'Thriller' and 'Bad', Michael soon became a worldwide phenomenon. "The King of Pop" reigned.

          Michael Jackson lead a very troubled personal life and while we may not agree with how he may have lived his life there is no denying his genius. He could entertain like no other with dance moves such as 'the moonwalk' he set the bar for generations to come - and to think he was predominantly self taught! His personal style was to us is, and always will be a constant source of inspiration, not to mention the hours we spend listening to his creations. A tragic loss to the world, Michael Jackson may your soul rest in peace.

Detail photo of one of our applique embellishments for our couture t-shirts collection.

Amazing style we are loving the over sized RayBan's and the most incredible military jacket, not to mention of course his statement embellished single glove - you have to love the extravagance!!

Incredible pose - what more can we say!

Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009 - Genius

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THOUGHTS OF GOLD.....

           

         So today we are going to talk about Gold - a befitting subject that we seem to be slightly obsessed with at the minute - this could have something to do with the glorious golden sunshine that is shining through the windows here at DHQ - long may it last!!!

           Anyway back to the topic of the day........ we seem to be drawn to Gold like magpies at the minute - gold jewelry, gold fabrics, gold leather bags, embellished gold sandals, gold art, gold sculptures - you name it we are obsessed by it (at the moment I keep saying as I'm sure we will be equally be obsessed by something else next week!!)

         So whilst our obsession continues we thought we would share with you a few interesting facts we have found out whilst we have been consuming our minds with all things gold.......

• The word GOLD comes from the Latin word AURUM meaning "shining dawn"
• GOLD dissolves in MERCURY but does not dissolve in NITRIC ACID (useful bit of info we know!!!!)
• The earliest mention of GOLD in any historical context is from the famous story of Jason & The Argonauts namely the story of the 'Golden Fleece'
• The Romans were the first to mine GOLD, but not in Rome in Las Medulas, Leon, Spain
• India is the nation that ranks number one in terms of what nation has the most amount of GOLD - apparently India accounts for one fifth of the worlds gold - in jewelry! Amazing!

This photo was taken in Barcelona outside the Loewe shop - what an amazing shop entrance this is, I love the way the whole building looks like all its weight is rested on the single gold pillar in the middle - beautiful.

A detail photo of one of our fabrics used on our art/craft side of life ......... we are loving the contrast of the dense black background with the intricate gold honey comb pattern and the pop of the burnt ochre. We bought this print from a market in Lagos, Nigeria. It is 100% cotton hand printed and chintzed, traditionally called Ankara

This image is from one of our favourite websites, "antique dress". It is a detail side view of an original 1920s scull cap apparently owned by the famous silent screen star "Theda Bara". The intricate pattern work of the gold threads reminds me of Egyptian patterned tombs and scrolls......... Egyptian pattern seemed to heavily influence the 1920's ............ possibly connected to the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922?

A detail photo of one of our trims drawers.


As you can see we are definitely feeling for gold this season!!

An Ode To Chanel......

When thinking of the word Chanel - two predominant thoughts come to mind: one of the luxury brand itself, and next of the woman who invented the brand, Gabrielle 'Coco" Chanel (1883-1971).

Both are to us an absolute constant source of inspiration. Coco herself with her never faltering determination to succeed (she worked right up until her death aged 87, never stopping), her own personal style (see below) and not to mention her dry, almost witty outlook on life. A favourite quote of ours from Coco would have to be.......

"A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future"

fantastic!!.....

Next the brand, Chanel, founded by Gabrielle Chanel in 1909, who reinvented the way women dressed giving a new simplistic sophisticated freedom from the restraints of the tight corsets and heavily layered dresses that were fashion B.C. 'before Chanel' (!), effectively inventing 'day wear' with women wearing trousers for the first time and not to mention as we all know and still love today, the little black dress.

But how could we talk about anything to do with Chanel without any mention of the genius who is behind the brand today. A recent quote from Hilary Alexander, Telegraph May 27 2010, referred to him (as we think most befitting) as

"fashions favourite Kaiser"

........who else other than Karl Lagerfeld - Chief Designer at Chanel and Fendi, Chief Designer and owner at Karl Lagerfled Couture, K Karl Lagerfeld, Lagerfeld Menswear, Karl Lagerfeld Parfums, Editor, Author, Photographer..............need we say more?

Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel, August 1883 - January 1971. We love her simple black bow hair band and her multitude of eclectic necklaces, so stylish and still so modern.

A detail shot of a piece we made clearly inspired by Chanel! We are loving the mix of the metals and textures of the stones with the black gros-grain ribbon. (for more photos of this piece see DECO HQ on our Flickr page)

A photo taken from one of our books "Chanel, The Metropolitan Museum of Art", of Yale University Press. This image is from the 1983 Spring Summer collection, a black silk crepe dress with trompe-l'oeil necklaces embroidered with gold seed beads, faux pearls coloured glass and coral. Note the opulent adornment of the simple black dress, such contrasts that work so well together.

Homage to Karl!

Thinking of Kimono's...

Today we have been thinking alot about Kimono's after sorting through research for our latest kimono doll. It brought to mind the traditions that follow the dress, the beautiful craftsmanship and the sheer opulence of being draped and swathed in so many amazing layers of cloth.......anyway we thought we would share a few of our favourite pieces that helped inspire our latest doll........for more pictures showing what continually inspires us see our flickr photostream.......as always enjoy!

Our latest Kimono Doll - gold leather hair & african print kimono, for now we will call her 'Flower Girl' created May 2010

This photo was posted by 'bookmice' and dates from 1938.

Kimonos became popular attire in Japan in the Heian Period (794-1192 CE), before the year 794, Japanese people wore separate upper and lower garments.

Detail photo from a small tin bought from Narita airport in 2007.......we think she is adorable, loving the little red flower on her shoulder!

We had to share this image with you we thought it was just beautiful! Perfectly capturing the contrast of textures between the purple paper parasol and the rich luscious golden and subtle pink tones of the jacquard Kimono and Obi.

Image posted on Flickr by 'manganite' entitled 'Kimono Girl With Umbrella' from the "Close your eyes and think of Japan' set

FINDING FLICKR....

DHQ were recently introduced (I know some of you may be thinking 'recently??') to the fantastic website that is 'FLICKR', and we thought it was so great it was worth sharing.

For those of you (who were like us not so long ago) that are not too familiar with FLICKR basically it is a portal for many creative people out there to upload their recent finds, makes and photographs to share with the world.

Here are just a few of our DECO 'Flickr favs'.........to see more of our 'favs', search for your own image library, or just to see some of our DECO makes and finds clink on our link across the page (top right).........enjoy!

"ART DECO DRAIN COVER" Emerson Street just inland from Marine Parade in Napier as posted by fOrbe5 / Iain

Detail photo of a Gitzo Art Deco shutter as posted by heritagefutures

Original Art Deco shopping centre in (former Eastern) Berlin as posted by peterpeers

DECO MANIA

Well it certainly has been a busy week in DHQ, we have been up to all sorts from creating more jewellery to add to our accessories collection to putting exciting plans into place for our upcoming pop up shop to be held in Lagos.

We would like to share with you today a short film featuring four of our monsters. This film was made by 2 of our fans - Amber and Amelia - DECO thinks this film is fantastic and thanks to you both, you certainly are stars of the future.

DECO STATE OF MIND

To continue with our jewelry obsession this week we thought we would share with you a few of our inspirational finds.......

Marlene Dietrich

Art Deco Gem-Set Devant de Corsage, Boucheron, Paris

Designed by Lucien Hirtz, this rare Art Deco gem set was sold at auction for $189,600 on Mar. 17 by Skinner Auctioneers & Appraisers in Boston

Art Deco Ornament- Art Deco ornamentation in the door reveal of the Carbide and Carbon Building on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois.

FOR THE LOVE OF DECO

DHQ do hope you have all been having (or are still having) a lovely Valentine's day. In keeping with the theme of the day we would like to share something with you that we love, our hidden gems as such! We invite you to take a look at a snippet of our latest jewelled brooches and head bands. Each piece shows our marvelous craftsmanship and attention to design. These accessories are guaranteed to give any outfit that extra bit of glamour. Enjoy!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY.......PRONUNCIATION

Whilst catching up with old friends at DHQ, we came onto the subject of a place called "Stanstead Mountfitchet". Now excuse yourself, if like us, you pronounced it phonetically. According to DECO's dear friend Bil, it's actually pronounced "Mountfishaaaaay" - hmmm does Bil have a case of Hyacinth Bouquet / Bucket?? Anyway whilst trying to dispute the pronunciation of this picturesque village (with the help of good old google) we stumbled across the Mountfitchet Garden Club and we think their photos of hedge sculptures are quite fantastic!.......have a look. Mountfitchet Garden Club, DECO salutes your finds!!

Profile shot of a "Hedge Face Scultpure"

Another shot of the "Hedge Face"

This one is our personal favourite - "Hedge Cat"

LOVE DECO

In keeping with Valentines Day, which is fast approaching, let us show you a few things we have created to mark the special day.......

Yellow, gold and purple print with red embellishment and ribbon bow details.

Red and yellow rose print finished with red ribbon bow.

CUPID'S HEART - Blue and Ochre print with red embellishment.

Black and gold print with gold, silver and bronze embellishment and a red ribbon bow to add the finishing touch.

Purple print with gold, silver and red embellishment