Fabergé Friday

Next pretty Fabergé item up for view is a little scent bottle. It was made sometime between the years 1896 and 1908!

The 2'' x 2.2'' (5.2 x 5.7 cm) size bottle is covered in mauve enamel over a guilloché ground. It is decorated with laurel swags tied with ribbons in two-colored gold. The center of each ribbon holds a small rose-cut diamond. The hinged lid is topped by a radiating gold flower that also has a diamond in it's center. Since 1953 it has it's place in the Royal Collection.

I rarely take time off from blogging, but now I feel I need a week of vacation from this. I'm in the middle of a three-week rehearsal for Folkoperan's (The People's Opera) staging of the opera La Traviata, where I play a nude model/extra. I also have a shoot scheduled in the middle of it all next week, and feel "slightly" tired right now... But I'll see you all again Monday September 8, and if you still want too keep up with what I'm doing, please follow me on Facebook or Instagram. See you soon!

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Kalabalika Taxidermi

I love antiques and obscurities of all kinds, and part of that is the art of taxidermy - as long as the animals used died a natural death that is... Not too long ago my friend Amelie started Sweden's first taxidermy store - Kalabalika Taxidermi - where she sells taxidermy, skeletons and jewelry made with dead bugs and parts of dead animals. The shop only deals with animals that died of natural causes, or are vintage.

Here is beautiful Amelie herself, modeling one of her fantastic head pieces that makes you look like a mysterious forest creature. And here is a bit more of what she has to offer:

Skeleton of a chevrotain.

Framed zombie bat.

Rings and pendants with bat skulls.

"The Thief King" - Skeleton of a crab eating macaque.

Raven.

Bat skeleton.

Eurasian eagle owl.

Even though Amelie is in the bottom picture, I would just like to point out that she does not come with the bird if you decide to buy it! For more of what she has to sell, please visit Kalabalika Taxidermi's web site here, and her Facebook page here!

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Louboutin Nail Polish

I guess most of you are familiar with Monsieur Christian Louboutin's amazing red-soled shoe creations. But recently he has also designed the most alluring little bottle, containing the perfect shade of red nail polish! The red sole was born from red nail polish. I am giving back to nails what the shoe took from the nails many years ago, he says about his new creation.

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The bottle was inspired by Louboutin's The Ballerina Ultima shoe, pictured with the bottle above. And the nail color offers an ombré effect unique to his signature red soles.

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The signature red nail polish you can find already find for sale at for example Sephora, but the rest of the thirty shades will be available from August 31 (throughout the US), according to Catherine Roggero, general manager of Christian Louboutin Beauté. The new beauty company is a collaboration between Christian Louboutin's fashion company and the New York-based Batallure Beauty. At 50 USD a bottle I just hope it's worth it's price. It would be nice to try it out, but as I ruin myself on pointe shoes, I think I have to wait a while...

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Fabergé Friday

For today's Fabergé Friday we have a desk seal. Made sometime around the year 1900!

The seal is carved out of a piece of rock crystal as a square-sectioned column with canted corners. From a gold border around the top hangs laurel swags of red and green gold. Each corner is set with a cabochon ruby. The desk seal was acquired by King Edward VII, and is now part of the Royal Collection.

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Jessica Rabbit

I think most of us know who Jessica Rabbit is. The über sexy woman in a red, curve-hugging dress, strutting around in the Roger Rabbit movies. Here she is!

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What you might not know though, is who the real Jessica Rabbit is - or more correctly, who was the inspiration for the cartoon character. Here she is!

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Her name is Vikki Dougan (born 1929), a model and actress. In 1953 publicity man Milton Weiss came up with the idea to promote Vikki by putting her in backless dresses. And so, throughout the 1950s, she became famous for appearing at Hollywood social events in these very low-cut dresses, which earned her the nickname The Back. In June 1957, and December 1962 she also appeared in Playboy magazine. Ralph Crane photographed her for LIFE Magazine, and here follows some of his shots.

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Love the look on that old lady's face! Haha!

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Les Femmes de L'Avenir

In 1902 A. Bergertet in Nancy, France, printed a series of pin-up cards featuring Les Femmes de L'Avenir - The Women of the Future. These erotic cards show women dressed up as soldiers, students, lawyers and journalists - professions mostly taken up by men in those days. Today we might not see how titillating these pictures seemed back in those days, but I think they are really cool, and the women look so proud in their outfits!

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Fabergé Friday

This Friday I have a something really beautiful for you! Although most Fabergé objects are wonderful, there are still a few ones that shines even brighter in the eyes of the beholder. Like this pendant for example. It was made sometime between the years 1899 and 1908!

The pendant is 3.7'' (9.5 cm) high and shaped like a quiver of arrows. It is made of white gold, with a large aquamarine in the center. Around it hangs two laurel swags set with rose-cut diamonds, that ends in a tied ribbon at the top - also set with diamonds. Beneath the aquamarine hangs a heart-shaped diamond. From the diamond-encrusted ends of the arrows sticking up from the quiver runs a chain set with a tied bow, decorated with even more diamonds.

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Photographing Fairytales...

Russian-based photographer Margarita Kareva's work comes straight from another world. A world inhabited by fairytale princesses and witches. Kareva finds her inspiration in fantasy books, and then combine Photoshop and real props to create magical photos. As she started to photograph only three years ago, I'm very impressed by her portfolio. Here are some of her lovely photos!

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