Fashionable Furnishings: Wallpaper Whimsy

Quotes to Live By: All women become like their mothers...

“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his.”


Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

Seven Local San Francisco Artisans and Vendors Create Modern Great Gatsby Inspired Photo Editorial

Seven local SF artisans and vendors banded together to create a photo editorial inspired by the days of speakeasies and Fitzgerald. With Baz Luhrmann's the Great Gatsby launching at midnight last night, they wanted to take advantage of the media's focus on the Deco era to showcase their products and service. The photo shoot took place in the Mission's Trick Dog Bar, where bartenders wear Zelma Rose bowties and pocket squares. A female model wears one of San Francisco's only handmade lingerie brands Honey Cooler Handmade while rocking her Elizabeth Street, the only lipstick line inspired by San Francisco itself, Franklin Street lipstick.

CREDITS:

Quotes to Live By: Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy...

Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald 

Emerald City: Explorations in the Color of the Year

Emerald Green has been named Pantone's Color of the Year.

 Here are some images I found inspiring.

Get your own emerald:

Cinco de Mayo: Pink and Orange

Get your own pink and orange:

Quotes to Live By: Good humor is one of the best articles of dress...

Good humor is one of the best articles of dress one can wear in society. 

William Makepeace Thackeray 

Fashionable Furnishings: Elegant Living Spaces

Quotes to Live By: Power has got to be the most intoxicating thing in the world

Power has got to be the most intoxicating thing in the world—and of all forms of power the most intoxicating is fame.

Diana Vreeland

Sunday Evening Soliloquy: Can we revisit the past?

My apologies for the lack of updates in the last few weeks. I actually started my own PR company and am now self-employed, which doesn't leave as much time for my hobby, this blog. The next time I write, I'll write about all of the new changes in my life, and what I do. However, tonight I will write about something that's been on my mind for awhile... The Great Gatsby.  Not the movie, or my favorite book, but the themes that emerge from the story. The themes I wish to explore in this Sunday Evening Soliloquy (even if it's Monday) are just as relevant and timely in Fitzgerald's world in 1925 as they are today.

I was reading the other night, and this excerpt stood out to me:

“And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning——

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

There is something very real about the excitement you get from seeing a glimmer of an old love or crush that you haven't seen in years. As human beings, we often romanticize our memories and create unrealistic expectations of people who once held a special place in our hearts. In the Great Gatsby,  Gatsby is not only in love with Daisy Buchanan but more the idea of what Daisy Buchanan represents to him, a better time in his life. I'm not sure about you, but I have a tendency for nostalgia.  I think that sometimes when I look back on times in my life, I forget the struggles, loneliness or  frustrations that took place and only remember the good. Have you ever romanticized a love lost or a crush? Are they really the "person" that you have created in your head or are they "human" and flawed like you? Looking back it's hard to remember why things didn't work out in the first place and the reasons you do remember become oversimplified until you forget the reason why things didn't work out altogether.  In Gatsby's case, he creates a glamourous lifestyle and a new "improved" version of himself to please Daisy. However,  Gatsby's idillic Daisy he has created over time leaves out  a clearly flawed and superficial Daisy Buchanan that is apparent to everyone except for him.  It's the concept of Daisy that Gatsby has fallen in love with, not Daisy herself. He can't see that her desire for material wealth and a title are only symptoms that expose her shallow nature. 

The next poignant theme explored in the quote asks if "we can ever really revisit the past". In the line "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past",  it shows the difficulty and struggle that takes place revisiting memories or a world that was once familiar.  I think many of us find solace in the idea of going back to a place or person that feels like "home",  however, as time and circumstances change us, we often forget that they change "home" too.  Can we ever go back to something that once was? Probably not.  However, I think we can create something new with someone or someplace old.  I believe the trick to change, is remembering that it is constant and evolving. You can't hold time or people still.  In our world, it's important to have nostalgia and remember what was once important to us, but we can never expect to have what we once had again. 


Best, 
Camille

Fashionable Furnishings: Thistle Thrones

Erin Hiemstra's Apartment 34 Office: Assisting in the Rue Magazine Photo Editorial

So as any other blogger with aspirations, I follow the pros on Twitter and their blog feeds ie. Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere, Blair Eadie from Atlantic Pacific, Camille from Camille Styles and Apartment 34's design expert Erin Hiemstra. Well a few weeks ago, Erin resorted to Twitter to request an intern for a day in order to assist her with getting ready for her big photo-editorial with Rue Magazine of her Potrero offices. I jumped at the chance to help out, and see one of my blogging idols in action.

I arrived in the Potrero neighborhood near the Mission with a chair I picked up from Fillmore street. I was a block away from the Heath Ceramics factory and a Blue Bottle Coffee (score!).  I was greeted by a vibrant Erin and her very friendly pups Chloe and Bailey. Erin is blonde and statuesque and constantly flashing an ear to ear smile. Also, in the room is Rue Magazine editor and marketing associate, Kat McEachern, who's reddish wavy locks hit just grazing her shoulders. Everyone is excited and rushed as Erin tries to keep the dogs off her newly lint-brushed black carpet. Soon arrives raven haired New York-based photographer Emily Johnston Anderson who arrives with coffee in tow and we get to work. Erin's Apartment 34 office is bright and white with modern elements including a copper hanging lamp, a chalkboard closet and metallic desk.

The Room

These are photos taken of my tiny personal use Nikon camera and not so great, so I recommend you see the amazing pictures that Emily took and the accompanying article about Erin's Space by Kat McEachern, check out this month's issue of Rue magazine.  Also, Erin posted Emily's outtakes on Apartment 34 here.

Behind The Scenes

Photographer Emily Johnston Anderson and Apartment 34's Erin Hiemstra chat behind Erin's desk. 

Erin unplugs some unsightly wires as her French bulldog Chloe looks on.

Photographer in front of the camera. 

Emily photographs Erin's wall which includes a photograph of Erin's wedding shoes and an Italian language print from Etsy.

Emily photographs Erin at her desk.