new wardrobe friends

I’d like to introduce some recent new friends of mine. These are my new favorite earrings, from Poplin in Stockholm. I don’t remember the designer, but they cost 149 kronor, and I love them. Poplin is a very nice little store for different designers, both accessories and clothes, and you’ll find it on Hökens gata 7, just between Götgatan and Mosebacke. It’s not exactly thrift store prices, but a lot of the items are one of a kind, or made from vintage fabrics, which I like a lot.



Speaking of vintage, my dear friend Linda very kindly donated this gorgeous white 60’s dress to me last week. It’s adorable and I’m thinking of bringing it to London next week and wear it there for the first time. I sort of think maybe that’s where it originates from anyway, the swinging London in the 60’s?



There are silver threads in between the white, so beautiful. It’ll need some colourful accessories though, so it won’t look like a wedding dress, but that’s no problem. I’ve got plenty of colourful tights, and a few belts and loads of scarves and necklaces. I guess it’s more about not picking too many of them at the same time!



Here’s my favorite thrift store find of late: a perfect jacket from Topshop via Emmaus (charity shop), for a mere 150 kronor. It’s in perfect condition and has a completely perfect fit, which isn’t the easiest when it comes to jackets, in my opinion. It’ll be my best spring accessory for sure.



I love the little details of it! This one is definitely going with me to London next week.



Another piece getting packed for London is this red skirt from H&M that I just got. It cost 249 kronor, but I had a coupon and got it for 199 kronor. I’ve been wanting a red skirt for a long time, I’ve got one in curdouroy that’s not really suitable for summer, but this cotton one is perfect with it’s high waist. It comes with the little belt, which I’m not wild about, to be honest. But I guess it works for some things.

Now all that’s left to do before going to London, is deciding on what else to pack (not too much though, since I plan on doing some shopping while there, obviously), and recovering from this dreadful cold and fever I’ve had since Monday. Am getting pretty tired of spending all days on the couch, especially since the sun has been constantly shining outside, and the temperature has gone up considerably. It’s not fair.

dreams of spring and dresses

Spring is still struggling to take over winter, but warmer degrees are promised for the weekend. Meanwhile I’m bringing spring to my ears with the new Noah and the Whale album Last Night On Earth, and dreaming of new dresses that I most likely won’t buy from Sivletto. If I would splash out on myself, I definitely would start with this green beauty from Tara Starlet. It’s such a nice every day dress, and I’m very much feeling the green nowadays. Could be the whole spring thing.



This isn’t as much a spring fling dress, but when do you not need another perfect black dress? In fact I hardly have one as it is, the best one needs a visit to a tailor actually. I don’t really know where to go for that, but I guess I should just find that out before I start buying new dresses to ”replace” an almost perfect one. This cute wiggle dress is called Stella and is from Steady Clothing.



The last one I would actually prefer in red with white dots, or even more preferably in red gingham. It’s from Heartbreaker Fashion. But if someone wanted to just give it to me, I definitely wouldn’t turn down the black one either, it is rather lovely too. I happen to know there are quite a few shops in London that carries these or similar kinds of retro 50’s and 60’s clothing, and if I happen to stumble upon one of them, and if they happen to have some items on sale, and if these items happen to be my size, they might just end up in my suitcase. I’m just saying.

Shaun Tan: winner of the ALMA award 2011

Winner of 2011’s ALMA award (The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award) is Australian illustrator Shaun Tan. I have only seen parts of his already awarded picture book The Arrival (2006), and been very impressed. Just take a look at this one picture, which is from that book. Amazing.
From the press release:

Shaun Tan is a masterly visual storyteller, pointing the way ahead to new possibilities for picture books. His pictorial worlds constitute a separate universe where nothing is self-evident and anything is possible. Memories of childhood and adolescence are fixed reference points, but the pictorial narrative is universal and touches everyone, regardless of age.

Behind a wealth of minutely detailed pictures, where civilization is criticized and history depicted through symbolism, there is a palpable warmth. People are always present, and Shaun Tan portrays both our searching and our alienation. He combines brilliant, magical narrative skill with deep humanism.

Sounds pretty good to me, and a worthy winner. I must get my hands on that book now, before it sells out.

exceptional book covers: oceans

There are few things online I find more relaxing and rewarding than browsing The Book Cover Archive. Today I decided to share a selection of ocean related beauties, just because. Maybe I’m secretly dreaming of a beach somewhere far far away. Although I actually live on an island here in Stockholm, so there’s definitely no lack of water around here. Not that many whales around though, or shells. This first book is designed by Leo Nickolls.



Next up is one by Allison Saltzman.



Followed by brilliant typographer Marian Bantjes, who I admire big time.



Another book on fishing, this one designed by Helen Yentus, whose portfolio is very impressing indeed.



Finally a book designed by John Fulbrook III. In our Durban home we’ve got a small beautiful ceramic bowl, which was part of a wedding gift, filled with tiny shells from a beach on the North Coast outside of Durban. Always reminding us of a wonderful weekend spent there in June 2009. It was truly one of the strangest experiences I’ve had, because as soon as we arrived there and parked the car, time slowed down in the most remarkable way. I’ve heard of sleepy seaside villages, but I don’t think this was what was going on, at least I felt very much awake. And completely relaxed the entire time. We spent probably 2 hours shell picking or just sitting on the beach, watching the sea, but it felt like an entire day. I wish myself back to that feeling.

particularly pretty and tasty penguins

I’ve got a serious craving for colour at the moment, partly because spring is finally about to burst for real. This new Penguin Classics series definitely fits that need. Now I’m hoping they will be available in April, when I’m going to London for a few days. They are designed by genius Coralie Bickford-Smith, just like I needed more reasons to adore her. Well I do. One day maybe I will live in a house big enough to decorate an entire room with Penguin Classics. It would be the most beautiful room ever.

ragnar persson: bats, birds and beasts

A few years back I saw one huge drawing/artwork by Swedish artist Ragnar Persson, in a collective art show. His piece was the only one that made an impression on me that lasted. His use of pencil, and drawings of birds, owls, bats, beasts, trees and skulls, among other things, just speak directly to my eyes and my heart. It’s both beautiful and slightly haunting, the best combination I know when it comes to art. Yesterday I went to see some of his work that’s currently being exhibited at Kulturhuset, The Culture House, in Stockholm. Turns out they’ve put him in a corner, and mostly glued printed posters so high up you can’t even see them. Disappointing to say the least, but I did enjoy looking at what I could.

















Ragnar Persson’s website isn’t up yet, but it will be found here. You can read a short interview with him here, and see some more pics. And if you happen to be in Stockholm, the corner where you can see his works is the furthest one to the right at the bottom floor, next to the library.

Dokument Press, a small Swedish publisher, has had the good sense of publishing a book with Ragnar Persson’s drawings, called Feel the Darkness. I think I need to get it.

one more beautiful book cover

I hardly have anything to add to this gorgeous cover, to me it’s so obvious why I love it. It’s published by Vintage, and genius art director John Gall has made it. Just go and check his work out here, and then tell me he is not one of the most brilliant book designers ever. I dare you. Looking at this piece of beauty makes me not care so much that it started snowing again.