Fabergé Friday

There are so many Fabergé objects out there I could probably do these Fabergé Friday posts for the rest of my life. Haha! And today's object is a pendant, made by workmaster Alfred Thielemann, sometime between the years 1880 and 1890.

The pendant is designed as an Imperial double-headed eagle set with diamonds, mounted in silver and gold. It is 2.6 cm and in 2013 it was sold at Christie's. 

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Maria Nilsdotter Jewelry

Swedish jewelry designer Maria Nilsdotter creates pieces inspired by a mysterious and dark fantasy world, often drawn from folk tales and mythology. The design is characterized by symbolic figures, unexpected twists and thought provoking contrasts... After graduating from renowned arts college Central Saint Martins in 2007 Maria started her brand right away, creating all her jewelry by herself. Since then her business has grown as demand for her pieces increased. In 2012 Maria was awarded the prestigious Guldknappen Accessoar for accessory designer of the year by Swedish magazine Damernas Värld, and today her jewelry is made by skilled craftsmen in Sweden and England, and is being sold by shops in several different countries, with her flagship store in Stockholm.

If you want to stand out in a crowd by wearing eye catching jewelry, Maria Nilsdotter's designs will certainly make people notice you! As usual, I have picked some of my personal favorites to show you, but to see it all, please visit Maria Nilsdotter's web site here!

Moon Earring

Spider Diamond Earring

Spider+Fly Chain Earring

Weird Necklace

Rose Thorn Neckpiece

Raven Ruby Ring

Jaw Stone Ring

Bat Ring

Jaw Cuff

Feather Tiara

Pearl Dagger Headpiece

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Fabergé Friday

It can be really annoying when you have sat down for dinner, and realize you've forgotten to bring the ketchup! For moments like this, all you need is a butler, and something to call him with - like this Fabergé table-bell for example! It was made sometime between 1896 - 1908.

The bell is made of silver, and has a handle of engraved yellow gold covered in oyster enamel. The handle is also decorated with red and green gold swags and bows, finished off by a cabochon ruby at the top. It's dimensions are 8.2 x 3.6 cm, and since 1953 it belongs to the Royal Collection.

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Enoch Bolles

American pinup painter Enoch Bolles (3 March 1883 - 16 March 1976) was one of the earliest and most widely circulated glamour illustrators. But he also worked a lot in the advertising industry, creating hundreds of illustrations for different products, including Sun-Maid Raisins and Zippo lighters. Ha studied at the National Academy of Design and was first published in 1914, on the covers of joke books. He then went on to paint covers for different spicy pulp magazines. Today he is mostly known as a pinup artist though, so here are a few of his colorful, salacious women!

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Fabergé Friday

Last Friday I showed you one of Fabergé's brooches, and here is another one! It was made by workmaster Alfred Thielemann, around 1910.

The brooch is made in Art Deco style, of silver-topped gold.

It is set with a big faceted aquamarine, one brilliant, and many rose-cut diamonds. The length of the brooch is 6.2 cm, and it has been sold at Romanov Russia.

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Ulyana Sergeenko Fall 2015 Couture

If you've been following this blog for some time, you know that I LOVE designer Ulyana Sergeenko, and have a desperate need to post about her new creations. Well, she doesn't disappoint with her Fall 2015 Couture collection either... She did her first couture show three years ago, and earlier this year the Chambre Syndicale made her an official guest member. As usual she finds inspiration in her native country Russia. This year her designs focuses on Saint Petersburg's Soviet-era communal apartments, where the huge homes of the rich were divided among their once-grand owners and sailors, peasant families, KGB officers and army men. Here are my favorites. To see the whole collection, go here! 

Notice the very fluffy bag and matching shoes with pompoms!

Again - look at the bag! This time shaped as an ice cream cone filled with fluffy ice cream!

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Fabergé Friday

I'm pretty bad at wearing brooches. I have quite a few of them, but for some reason I always forget to pin them on me. If I owned this one by Fabergé I probably wouldn't forget about it though... It was made by workmaster Alfred Thielemann, around 1910.

The field of the oval brooch is covered in translucent rose over a guilloché ground The border is made of gold in a ribbon-tied reed pattern. in the center sits a faceted citrine, from which stretches gold leaf decorations. The length of the brooch is 3.2 cm, and it was sold at Sotheby's for 15,000 USD.

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Prostitutes of Storyville

Photographer John Ernest Joseph Bellocq (1873 - 1949) was born in the French Quarter in New Orleans. In his earlier days he was a bit of a dandy, but during the later part pf his life he lived alone and got a reputation for being eccentric and unfriendly, with little interest in anything than his photography. He earned his living mostly by shooting landmarks, ships and machinery for local companies, but he also photographed the hidden life of opium dens in Chinatown and of the prostitutes in Storyville - the latter which I want to show you some pics from. All the Storyville photographs are of women, posing either naked, clothed or wearing masks. These pictures were all taken in the beginning of the 1900s, and give you a bit of an inside look at how the prostitutes lived in New Orleans in those days. Many of the faces has been scraped out, but it's not certain who did this, whether it was Bellocq himself, or his Jesuit priest brother, who inherited the photos after Bellocq's death. Here are a few of them...

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Fabergé Friday

And today's Fabergé object is - a scent bottle! Made by workmaster Mikhail Perkhin, sometime before 1896.

The bottle is shaped like a lyre, and made out of engraved smoky quartz. It has mounts of red gold set with rose-cut diamonds, and the lid is covered in translucent pink, finished off with a pearl finial. The bottle is 2.5'' x 0.9'' x 0.7'' (6.3 x 2.4 x 1.7 cm), and since 1953 it has been part of the Royal Collection.

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