Macabre Gadgets

Just happened to stumble over a very cool jewelry designer - Macabre Gadgets. The handmade pieces in their collections have this blend of beauty and the macabre I love so much, and they are created from diverse materials like pressed coral, pressed bone, industrial polymer plastic and inlaid precious and semi-precious stones, pearls and metals.

"Macabre Gadgets is inspired by the infernal aesthetics of the dark side, which is inherent by the world view of mankind at all times, epochs and styles, from the early Middle Ages to progressive postmodernism."

Some favorites of mine:

Coral crown ring. Pressed coral, cultured pearls.

Bifacial skull ring. Polymer plastic, amethysts.

Raven skull ring, black. Polymer plastic.

Carpathia collar, black. Polymer plastic, silver, caoutchouc.

Black snake earrings. Polymer plastic, silver.

Octopus ring, white. Pressed coral, cultured pearls.

Caprinae notebook. Leather, paper, polymer plastic.

To see what else Macabre Gadgets has to offer, please visit their website here!

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Fabergé Friday

Today's Fabergé object - a lorgnette - was made by workmaster Henrik Wigström, sometime between 1908 and 1917!
 

The lorgnette is made of two-colored gold, and has spring-hinged lens mounts. Part of the handle is enameled in cerulean blue over a guilloché ground, and decorated with husk leaves in gold. When closed, the length of the lorgnette is 5.5'' (14 cm), and the price for it is 18,500 USD. You find it at John Atzbach Antiques. 

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Christian Dior's New Look

I think most of us are familiar with the explosion in fashion that was labeled the New Look, and how it came to be the birth of one of the worlds largest designer brands - Christian Dior. LIFE Magazine was there to document the beginning of this revolution in fashion, and in their archives I found some lovely photos from 1948 of the man who writer Jeanne Perkins called "a timid, middle-aged, insignificant-looking little Frenchman named Christian Dior", and his work.

Dior in his fashion salon.

Dior fashion show, Paris.

Dior fashion show, Paris.

Dior fashion show, Paris.

Dior fashion show, Paris.

Dior fashion show, Paris.

Dior fashion show.

Dior and his seamstresses.

Paris seamstresses gathered around their boss.

Dior in his home.

Dior dress.

Top photo: Frank Scherschel
All other photos: Mark Kauffman

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Moonlight Sonata

I can't believe it's already a month since I performed at the 4th International Stockholm Burlesque Festival! Wonderful events like this sort of linger on in your body and mind for some time afterwards... Every act was filmed, and as I just received my video, here it comes! I did my Moonlight Sonata act, to the beautiful piece by the same name, by Beethoven - but here remixed by E. S. Posthumus. I managed to slip on something on the floor once, but when I saw it on the video, it looked like a much smaller slip than it felt. Haha!

Photo: John Paul Bichard

Fabergé Friday

It's Friday again! Amazing how fast the weeks go. Feels like I'm constantly writing these Fabergé posts. Oh well. Can't get enough of pretty things! And here are three more - three shirt studs, made around 1910!

The studs are made of gold. The front is covered in translucent white enamel over a guilloché sunburst pattern. In the middle sits a lapis lazuli cabochon. The whole thing is surrounded by reeds bound by two colored ribbons. The studs are 0.6'' (1.5 cm) in diameter, and they come in their original fitted holly wood box. For 14,500 USD they can be yours. You find them at John Atzbach Antiques.

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Outfit Post

I love seeing what other people wear on their blogs, but I'm really bad at doing outfit posts myself. Sorry... But here is one! I rarely wear pants, but with the cold season now starting to get a grip on us, I thought I needed some pants!

I found the perfect pair made by Swedish retro designer Emmy. They're called The 40s Work Pants and are made of black bengaline. They're really comfortable with a high waist, flared legs, and has pleats in the front.

The top is vintage 40s, and that one I found at the latest Bureskloppis (Burlesque Flea Market). I've been looking for one of these small knitted 40s tops for a long time, but they're always too big for me. So I was really glad when I found this one! It's brown, with icy blue snow flakes. As you can see it also makes it look like I have boobs. Yay! Haha! Sometimes I'm a bit worried when it comes to putting black and brown pieces together. But I think this works quite well.

Sven Boqvist - Paris & Cote d'Azur 1957

About a year ago I did a blog post called The Penn Pals (you can read it here). This is a project by photographer and Photoshop wizard Pelle Piano, in which he created a fake book based on newly found photographs taken by the fake photographer Sven Boqvist in 1955. Several made up persons were featured in the book, and I got the pleasure of posing as the imaginary ballerina Tatiana Baronova - sister of Irina Baronova, who actually was a real ballerina back in the day.

Now Mr Piano has created a new book - Paris & Cote d´Azur - with more of Sven Boqvist´s photos. This time the story takes place at the Cannes Film Festival that took place in 1957. Here Sven meets both old and new friends who end up in front of his camera - one of them being Tatiana, who he's a bit infatuated by... This meant I got to portray this fictional ballerina again. The shoot took place in Pelle Piano's studio, against a blue screen. Before this Pelle had been to France and photographed the backgrounds he then inserted me in. And here is the result!

The Wall Dance.

At Versailles.

Sven and Tatiana at a museum.

Weird to see my back without a tattoo...

While in Paris Tatiana was also painted by a famous artist, as you can see in the pic above. For more info about The Penn Pals, and this new project Paris & Cote d´Azure, please go here!

Photo: Pelle Piano