9 Top Credenzas

You may remember me mentioning that we've lost about 95% of our furniture this month.

The low teak dresser in the first photo below is what we used as a credenza in our living room. My dad and I refinished it two summers ago, and I'd just completed giving it a once-over after our hot summer. We used to put our television and West German pottery on it.

My task in the coming months is to find replacements. 

Below are nine credenzas that are tickling my fancy at the moment.

Our old teak credenza/dresser

Style Inspiration - Pierre Clémenti

Pierre Clémenti - Actor
1942 - 1999

Quote of the Week - Diana Vreeland

Elegance is refusal. Diana Vreeland

Interior Design Show West 2009

Last night my husband and I went on a 'double date' with Rockelle and her spouse. It was fantastic to get out after being trapped for nine nights by my psyche, an uninhabitable apartment and a hotel room designed around polyester hues of sage and Tuscan sun. After sushi at Kaide we headed down to IDS West, which, after losing 95% of our furniture in the last ten days, was highly anticipated.

Design shows in Vancouver = superior craftsmanship (particularly woodworking), the environment, pastels, and clean lines.

stacy reynaud

Kurt Dexel fresh off the pages of October's DWELL.
The table would go perfect in our new place.

BoConcepts 'side table'. I call it a cat bed.

Rockelle's pics of the show.
She left with a Dyson cat hair picker upper.

FRAME commissioned a booth from Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Interior Design Program.

stacy reynaud

The work of Oregon's Christopher Marley

stacy reynaud

Designing Inside the Box

Designing Inside the Box

Brent Comber

Fin

Vintage Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent 1980

Related Posts: 

Vintage Hermes Vintage Versace
Yves Saint Laurent Fall Winter 2009

Design Lover: The Camel Stool

rosewood and blue leather

Reminiscent of the work of Brazilian designer Jean Gillon, this particular camel stool was offered up for auction in 2006. You can buy a similar piece here.

Related Posts:
Design Lover: Frank Ligtelijn Globe Lamp
Last Week's Vintage Treasures
Jean Gillon Collector Alert

The Smoking Slipper vs The Evening Pump

(l) Cecil Beaton in black patent leather evening pumps
(r) David Niven in velvet moccasins

So, which is it?

The velvet smoking slipper, originally designed for the Victorian gentleman's smoking room, has stepped out from the chamber and onto the Fall Winter 2009 runway. In my part of the world, smoking rooms have returned. Smoking slippers and denim, perhaps.

Dolce & Gabbana velvet and grosgrain moccasins
Buy them here.

The black patent leather evening pump, sometimes referred to as the opera pump, was once reserved for black-tie affairs and silk socks, yet like the velvet smoking slipper, it's sashayed its way onto the Fall Winter 2009 runway.

Both the opera pump and the smoking slipper were in vogue in the 1930s. During the Great Depression men took the shoes and paired them with more casual attire, a sentiment to the dire economic situation of the time.

Fashion repeats itself.

Tom Ford's black patent leather evening pump
For stockists

A great history of the gentlemen's smoking costume can be read on Cigar Aficionado here.

Related Posts:
What became of the men's pinky ring?
The Loafer

Quote of the Week - Epictetus

Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly. Epictetus

Related Posts:
Quote of the Week - Vivien Westwood
Quote of the Week - Christian Dior

Arsenic and Black Lace

Susan Ann Sulley of Human League, Ava Gardner in Christian Dior, Exene Cervenka of X

This post has nothing to do with arsenic other than the fact I couldn't think of a title so I played on words of the black comedy Arsenic and Old Lace. Although, some black lace could be potentially fatal if worn correctly.

Most commonly associated with elegance and seduction, Christian Dior warned of its potential to appear elderly if worn after a certain age.

When it comes to lace I take mine black.

Who's doing women in black lace for Fall Winter 2009:
Alberta Ferretti
Chanel
Christian Dior
Christian Lacroix
Valentino
3.1 Phillip Lim
Doo.Ri
Dolce & Gabbana
Jill Stuart
Jasmine di Milo
Jo No Fui
Kinder Aggugini
KOVA&T
Lanvin
ANNA SUI
lna
Marchesa
Opening Ceremony
Roksanda Ilincic
Stella McCartney
Temperley London



Related Posts:
10 Men's Boots for Fall Winter 2009
What style is your lifestyle?
How to Dress to Look Heavier

Vintage Lane Furniture

Lane

Vogue Fall/Winter 1970

Melancholy and the effects of AM radio

The posts have been few and far between this week as my husband, two cats and I have been displaced from our home of ten and a half years by situations beyond our control. We're all in a hotel. I'm listening to AM radio, he's at work and the cats are trying to find comfort in polyester surroundings.

Just when I think my mood is perfect sandwiched between Cat Stevens' The First Cut is Deepest and Trooper's Two for the Show I'm layered with Gordon Lightfoot's Beautiful only to be garnished with The Stones and Paint it Black.

Genius.

Makes me want to order up some Sinead O'Connor with REM sprinkles for dessert.

Please enjoy Gord's Beautiful, which is actually my favourite song, below:

Beautiful - Gordon Lightfoot @ Yahoo! Video

Quote of the Week - Christian Dior

... it is by her feet that you can judge whether a woman is elegant or not. Christian Dior

Urban Decay and Abandonement

Urban exploration, sometimes referred to as abandonment exploration, is trespassing on abandoned properties to capture the architecture and beauty of decay on film.


The explorers become anthropologists. Their photos a historical record.




Each one, not only depicting what was once important to society, but also the mindset of the current generation.


All of the photos in this post are copyright of Underground Ozarks , a site I first explored in 2006. The site, like the places it chronicles, has now been abandoned.

For a breathtaking set of abandoned and decaying culture check statlerhotel's The Stonecutters on Flickr.

How to Do a High Bun Updo

How to tie a bun:

1. Bend over, shake your head so all your hair hangs down.
2. Run a comb over it to smooth out any bubbles.
3. Still bending over, grab all your hair and pull it to the top of your head.
4. Wrap an elastic around it. Don't pull your hair through into a ponytail.
5. Stand up straight. Gently pull as much hair as you can but don't pull it all the way through the elastic.
6. Smooth out any bubbles.
7. Pull through whisps you want framing your face.
8. Gently push on the top of the hair creating a doughnut shape.
9. Bobby pin the doughnut down around the edges.
10. Hairspray and smooth with the palm of your hand. Pay close attention to the back.

How to do a low bun: follow the same instructions but make the doughnut lower on your head.

Related Posts:
The Updo - 1979 vs 2009

Parisian Folk - Joseph Leon

Short 2:30 clip Joseph Leon "One In, One Out"
by Diese_Records

More Joseph Leon

Last week's vintage treasures

I've been lucky enough to have my bud Rachel as the designated thrifting road star while my husband and I looked for a car. The past two treks out to the burbs have been profitable for both of us - I'll let her tell you about her vintage medical canisters. Here are some of the goods I picked up. In a later post I'll show you the goods I had to leave behind as, unfortunately, my shop is still imaginary.

© stacy reynaud

As shown: signed Jere inspired iron wall sculpture vintage anglepoise 75 table lamp old growth stump table with iron base faux broadtail shrug vintage Tony Lama boots Thanks again Rachellita!

Looking into your home

image © Leonard Frank

Long before the popularity of peering into the homes of artists, designers, musicians and other creatives became an online sensation (see Art Studio or The Selby), Alfred Hitchcock presented us with a mid century marvel entitled Rear Window (1954). Pick it up, the homes the photographer peers into are marvelous. There's just something about looking into another's home that's fascinating.

image © Leonard Frank

If I had the opportunity to shoot someone's home for this site it would be this one, Maison Guiette, belonging to a Belgian fashion designer whom shall remain nameless. The closest I can get to the Le Corbusier designed home right now is through photos of a model shown on Mini Modern.

image © Mini Modern

I know I take Charles Shultz's words to heart.

Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is.

Give me a tour of your home! Drop me a line.

Quote of the Week: Bonnie Cashin

Chic is where you find it. Bonnie Cashin

Vintage Design Lover - Achille Castiglioni 1974

Castiglioni ceiling bulbs circa 1974

Each one is unique and slightly irregular, Castiglioni's hand-blown bulb lights glow like candles, making you even more beautiful than you already are. Try Flos for something similar.

Vintage Bill Blass

Bill Blass
1970

Don't Sacrifice Your Image for a Bargain

The fabulous Vintage Vogue boutique in Calistoga, CA

Don't buy much, but make sure what you buy is good. 

Christian Dior

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to put together some new outfits for Fall. 

Living in a climate with only two seasons—the cold ones—my Fall wardrobe is pretty much worn year-round.

As someone who's made a living buying and selling vintage clothes, accessories, and footwear, there are certain mantras I live by. It's one thing to put together a collection for a show, but it's a whole other story to put together a collection for myself.

If you're going to shop the bargains, and by bargains I'm including thrifting, make sure the piece fits. 

• Don't be like me and try it on over your clothes. 
• Go in the fitting room and be natural. 
• Put your belt on and keys in your pocket, sit down and cross your legs. 
• Is it tight in the butt or thighs? 
• Button up and walk around. 
• Does it cut up under your arms, show off those private bits, pull across the chest? 
• Put a sweater on under that jacket or coat and raise your arms to see if it's comfortable in motion. 
• Stand in your natural stance, which I've noticed is air guitar for quite a few people. 
• Do you feel like you?

When you've finished with the physical part run these words through your head:

• Debt is not cool.
• Cash is the new credit.
• Need not want
• No acrylic
• Black
• There's a reason it's on sale.
• Regret
  
• Walk away
  

Why I'm Boycotting the September Fashion Issues

My first September edition 

Vogue 1982

from my personal collection

I'm not buying one September issue this year. I'm boycotting. I bought my first September issue in 1982. 

I didn't know what kind of magazine I was buying as I was eleven years old. I simply bought it for the Marilyn Monroe article as I was a star struck young fan. 

Over the past twenty seven years I don't know how many September issues of various fashion magazines I've bought but it's been many. What I do know is that over this lifetime of buying those issues I've been increasingly suckered in to buying 90% advertisements. Sure, there were ads in the '82 issues but nowhere near as many that there are in my '08 issues. Of course, I definitely agree, that you wouldn't exist if you didn't have advertisers but there's a fine line that's drawn that some of us like to refer to as quality over quantity. If one of the editors of the world's most popular fashion magazine has to go on television touting how great the September issue is and why I should buy it the first thing I think is trouble is brewing at head office. Advertisers pay premium dollar for spreads in this issue. Publishers want you to buy this ad heavy issue simply for their stats. These stats are then shown to advertisers as a sales tactic to increase potential ad revenue and garner top dollar for premium spots for particular months. Hold your head high but don't take your readers for granted we can see right through it.

Quote of the Week - Norman Mailer

Charm gives life.
Norman Mailer