Quirky Collections by Fashion Designers

 

We are quickly leaving the season called Pandemic Life behind us (God willing), so I thought a look back is appropriate. What memorable or quirky item(s) brought me joy during this uncertain time? I bought these dainty juice cups/tea glasses made in Romania for MacKenzie Childs. Gold rimmed. Hand-painted. Black & white. Red roses. They became sweet and pretty additions to our family's weekly Sunday Brunch table. They also double as tiny flower vases. Luv! ❤😊💛💮❤

Fashion Designers Share the Quirky Home Objects Getting Them Through Quarantine 

-  DOMINO Magazine, BY 

LYNN YAEGER

Published May 20, 2020

Fashion designers, like the rest of us, have been stuck at home for some time now. With the fashion industry in flux — the Met Gala cancelled; fall fashion weeks up in the air — they are looking for inspiration and comfort right in their own living rooms. I talked to some of my favorite design friends, like Anna Sui, Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, and Brandon Maxwell, to find out which household items they are cherishing in lockdown. Here, they give us a peek inside their homes and share the unexpected things — silly mugs, quirky clocks, sentimental pillows — that are bringing them joy now. 

Anna Sui, designer of Anna Sui, at home in New York

pc: Anna Sui

“These are some of my Gemma Taccogna papier-mâché objects. I love her work; it always makes me happy when I look at it. The exuberance of her colors, that 60’s palette, the fact that they are hand-made — I love when you can see that someone has touched these and made them with their hands. I remember seeing these in 60s magazines and movies.” 

Erdem Moralıoğlu, designer of Erdem, at home in London

COURTESY OF ERDEM 

Painting is signed EINAR NERMAN, oil on canvas glued to panel, signed, dated -08.

“This is a painting that I bought just before lockdown, from an auction in Sweden. It gives me great joy. I’ve been addicted to auctions for a long time. I have flare ups: When I’m stressed, I often have several things on the go from auctions. I love my mustached friend and his pensive stare which keeps us company during lockdown. It’s nice to have a new guest in the house. There is something about him that reminds me of life before all of this.”

Irene Neuwirth, designer of Irene Neuwirth jewelry, at home in California

COURTESY OF IRENE NEUWIRTH

“This time has made me reflect on all, but feeling extra grateful for my business and team and friends and family. My home is filled with so many things I love that I have collected my entire life, so it’s hard to choose. My mom painted me the most glorious yellow and pink painting that is my absolute favorite. Oh, also: the pillow Pam Shamshiri gave me for my birthday of Teddy’s beautiful labradoodle face, felted.”

Read the full Domino article on quirky collections --->> H E R E

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AIRBNB: Darmstadt, Germany

 Throw Back Tuesday Time!   This may have been the occasion that further promoted my love for skylights, large windows, and free-standing bathtubs  😀😁😃

❤💙💚💛❤

Our very first rental though AIRBNB! We arrived safely from Chi-town, and this gem was our destination for our first 2 nights. We rented a whole apartment located on the 3rd floor. 

Frankfurt

The apartment itself had 3 levels of living space. There were enough beds to house 4 guests. Complete with kitchen, full bath, wifi, cable, and plenty of windows to let the sunshine in.  Its real appeal to me was its modern vibe and airiness; along with its reasonable rental cost. The whole building is owned and designed by a friendly architect married to a hairdresser wife (her shop was in the basement). They also happen to live in the same building, one floor down. 

Front of building facing the street.  

That's our bedroom and balcony on the third level.

Metal stairs to the apartment's  upper level and catwalk. 

Entry/Front door on left

Upper level kitchen

Upper level sitting area; same level as the kitchen. 

 Rooms connected by catwalk

Steps to loft area, uppermost level.

 View is facing catwalk to the kitchen from upper-level sitting area.

Bedroom (ours), lower level 

Another view of the bedroom; balcony, mirror, floor-to-ceiling window.  Faces the main street.

Bathroom's bathtub area, lower level

Outdoor view from kitchen, upper level

Looking down at the backyard from the same kitchen. 

We saw a cat "fishing" at the little pond

Flower pot in garden

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Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris: Singer, Jim Morrison's Grave

 TBT! This famous spot was on my bucket list. Did not realize the many other famous people were also buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery  Well-worth your day while in Paris, France!

Free.  Cheap entertainment while in Paris.  Note: Many Cats reside among the tombs also 🐱🙀😺

Protects the tree, yet allows people to leave personal gum

Protecting Morrison's gravesite with a metal gate

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TBT: Barack Obama Was a Paranoid President

Remember? Obama So Paranoid Over White House Leaks He Used Invasive Procedure on Staffers - Conservative Tribune

Former President Barack Obama (Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock)

Apparently, the president being against leaks is now not only unpatriotic but a sign that he’s a paranoiac — at least, so long as Donald Trump is in the White House.

Axios  reported Thursday that because of the leaks — including ones which found their way into a Bob Woodward book and a  New York Times Op-Ed — Trump had become an “increasingly conspiracy-minded president.”

“He would basically be like, ‘We’ve gotta get rid of them. The snakes are everywhere but we’re getting rid of them,'” one source said.

“Trump would often ask staff whom they thought could be trusted. He often asks the people who work for him what they think about their colleagues, which can not only be uncomfortable but confusing to Trump: Rival staffers shoot at each other and Trump is left not knowing who to believe,” Axios reported.

“When he was super frustrated about the leaks, he would rail about the ‘snakes’ in the White House,” a source said.

“Trump would often ask staff whom they thought could be trusted. He often asks the people who work for him what they think about their colleagues, which can be not only uncomfortable but confusing to Trump: Rival staffers shoot at each other and Trump is left not knowing who to believe,” Axios reported.

“When he was super frustrated about the leaks, he would rail about the ‘snakes’ in the White House,” a source said.

“One day, after one of those meetings, he said, ‘Everything that just happened is going to leak. I don’t know any of those people in the room.’ … He was very paranoid about this.”

Wow, horrifying. I wonder what would happen if anyone else did this. Say, Barack Obama.

Because of course he did this, and of course the answer was “nothing.”

Yet, the Obama administration prosecuted leakers and gave staffers lie detector tests, as the  Washington Examiner  reminds us. In fact, the whole thing had to be reported by the  Committee to Protect Journalists, whose 2013 report received almost none of the kind of play that Trump’s “paranoia” is getting these days.

“U.S. President Barack Obama came into office pledging open government, but he has fallen short of his promise. Journalists and transparency advocates say the White House curbs routine disclosure of information and deploys its own media to evade scrutiny by the press,” the report said. “Aggressive prosecution of leakers of classified information and broad electronic surveillance programs deter government sources from speaking to journalists.”

“This is the most closed, control freak administration I’ve ever covered,” said David E. Sanger, longtime chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times.

The administration called its efforts against leaks the “Insider Threat Program” and implemented plenty of invasive methods to stop it.

“The Insider Threat Program being implemented throughout the Obama administration to stop leaks — first detailed by the McClatchy newspapers’ Washington bureau in late June — has already ‘created internal surveillance, heightened a degree of paranoia in government and made people conscious of contacts with the public, advocates, and the press,’ said a prominent transparency advocate, Steven Aftergood, director of the Government Secrecy Project at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington,” the report said.

This included lie detector tests.

“The director of national intelligence, James Clapper , announced on June 25, 2012, his own internal steps to stem leaks,” the report said.

“Employees of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies — including the CIA, NSA, FBI and Defense Intelligence Agency — would be asked during routine polygraph examinations whether they had disclosed any classified information to anyone. And the new inspector general for the Intelligence Community, with jurisdiction over all its agencies, would investigate leak cases that had not produced prosecutions by the Justice Department to determine what alternative action should be taken.”

A contemporaneous article from USA Today said the report “portrays an administration gripped by strict policies about information flow and paranoid about leaks across all executive branch departments.”

Yet today? Nothing.

But the paranoid one is Donald Trump. Right.

- Cillian Zeal 
link:  POTUS, Barack Obama, was so paranoid

pc: the White House

C T Commentary

Flashback: Obama prosecuted staff leakers, gave lie-detector tests, ‘paranoid’

Obama Administration Prosecuted More Leak Cases Than All Previous Presidencies Combined

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