gianni barbato

Gianni Barbato



It's so wrong that I don't eat land animals, but I wear them.

knits in my VPL

Aran Baik, who has her MFA in Fashion and Knitwear Design from San Francisco's Academy of Art, created these knitted wonders for VPL's Spring 2010 show. Her cream and gray pieces cradle and climb around the body in such an awesome way and pretty much need to be on MY body. Let's hope Aran does a Urban Outfitters capsule collection like VPL's go-to jewelry designer Lizzie Fortunato did.

s/s 2010 accessories - new york

rag and bone | Cynthia Steffe


Dennis Basso | Doo.Ri


Tory Burch | Willow


Marchesa | Prabal Gurung


Karen Walker | Vena Cava


Alexander Wang | Tory Burch


Thom Browne | DKNY

sporty spice

Alexandre Herchcovitch | Alexander Wang

albert paley

Recumbent (forged and fabricated steel, stainless steel, glass)


Hunter Fence (forged and fabricated iron)


Sideboard with granite (formed and fabricated steel, stainless steel, copper and granite, glass top)

Albert Paley



Bend and twist me in ways I can't force myself to.

ca-ca-colors

Back from Cali, back to school.

google yields great results

Awhile back I wanted a tattoo of a lion with octopus tentacles for its mane because I'm a Leo and I love the number eight. My brother was too lazy to draw it for me, so I Googled 'lion octopus' and this amazing creation was brought to my attention.

And because I love this fine illustration so much, I'm leaving it up while I'll be away in Los Angeles and San Diego! See you in a week, dudes.

with these hands

Knotted up this skinny scarf in the car on the way to eat sushi. Spur of the moment creations are always the best. After sushi I felt like making jewelry so I laid my findings out and put this necklace together for Sasha. First time using actual tools! All necklaces before that were forcibly linked and knotted haphazardly together when chains were lying around. It was not good for my nails.

put a rubber on

Not a material you'd associate with jewelry or comfort, but rubber creates an interesting texture when molded as a chain like the Eddie Borgo bracelets at top and appealing juxtaposition when paired with chains as seen in the Oak cuff in the bottom image.

transitioning

Summer was nice and lazy, so having to do lists makes me feel productive.
Though I'll probably be biting my tongue in a few weeks.

Also just realized that was my last full Hawai'i summer I might get in awhile.
WHOA.

genius flowers

I had no idea orchids were so cunning and sexually deceptive until I read this fascinating National Geographic article, written by Michael Pollan, about how they alter their appearance and smell to trick horny insects into doing the pollinating for them. I feel really immature for admitting this, but I loved every corny sexual innuendo and how Pollan makes sure that he quotes the pros on their wacky/stuffy way of explaining things. The article can be long for people with short attention spans, such as myself (though I did read all of it, yeay me!), so here's a snippet, along with Christian Ziegler's photographs. Let's learn about slutty orchids, shall we?


The real male bee alights on the beelike labellum and attempts to mate, or in the words of one botanical reference, begins "performing movements which look like an abnormally vigorous and prolonged attempt at copulation." In the midst of these fruitless exertions, the bee jostles the orchid's column (a structure that houses both the male and female sexual organs), and two yellow sacs packed with pollen (called the pollinia) are stuck to his back with a quick-drying gluelike substance. Frustration mounts, until eventually it dawns on the bee that he has been had. He abruptly flies off, pollinia firmly attached, in frantic search of more authentic female companionship.

There was something poignant about the bee I spotted, flying around madly with what looked like a chubby pair of yellow oxygen tanks strapped to his back. He'd been deluded by the promise of sex—bee sex—when in fact all that was on offer was plant sex, and unbeknownst to the bee, now searching for a second, more satisfactory liaison, he was right in the middle of that act. Botanists have been known to refer to pollen-carrying bees as "flying penises," but of course most of the world's bees perform in that role unwittingly, with food rather than sex on the brain.



In conclusion, I think orchids have brains.

very-awesome

The Viridi-Anne is a Japanese menswear label that I've just discovered and fell in love with. The pieces are strong individually, but they really pack a sartorialist punch when styled as impeccably well as they are here. For me, the styling is not just about the beautifully crafted clothes, but how they are enhanced by keeping with a monochromatic look and mixing lightweight and heavier weight fabrics.




And, of course, you know I have to check out their jewelry! Right now, I'm really into mixing leather with harder elements, so this crystal in a pod necklace is, also, very-awesome.

magnets / fish

it's not august 31

But I just bought Little Dragon's new album, Machine Dreams on iTunes. On their Myspace it says it comes out August 31 and on Amazon you can pre-order the CD and receive it in September. I feel like this is some secret slip or major fuck up. Nonetheless, I'm happy to finally have some new Little Dragon in my ears! I'm usually not into the whole electronic thing, but Yukimi Nagano's voice is so hauntingly beautiful I have no choice but to close my eyes and get lost in it. "Feather" might just replace "Recommendation" as my #1 Little Dragon song.



Oh, and Yukimi's boyfriend is Jose Gonzalez. Can there ever be a more perfect marriage of honeyed voices? They need to do some official duets!