If you really loved your cat…

Cardboard cat costumes. Suck UK does it again!

No, no one needs this, the chorus chanted and I was all, Cleary you don’t make your own Christmas cards.

I think Cagney will like this one best:

Lust: Tatty Devine + Rob Ryan necklaces

I’ve been talking about my love for Rob Ryan’s amazing paper cut-outs for a while now.

Lo and behold, I swing on over to check out the latest at UK’s Tatty Devine (after seeing Laura Marling last night at the chapel, it’s cute UK day here in my heart), and TD is offering necklaces inspired by Rob Ryan designs. Oh shit!

Don’t wear the same bird/plane necklace as everyone else (like I do, guiltily but IlikeditwhenIgotitandhadn’tseenityet,man!) I tried to get this amazing dinosaur necklace last year but they were sold out during the summer and I’m just not into necklaces over turtlenecks.

But isn’t it great? Next spring.

Swing Girl necklace now on sale for 20 pounds! Buy it before that means like $100!

Rob Ryan’s Other Planets Can Not Be as Beautiful as this One.

Go to Rob Ryan’s Etsy shop here to see more of his amazing artwork.

If you dig that, check out Philly’s own Joe B.’s amazing delicate noir cut-outs. Less p/optimistic–the birds are likely crows or vultures, not little lovebirds and sparrows–so there’s a bird for every kind.

Project Runway Episode 10: Workin’ That 9 to 5

True story: When I started interviewing for internships, my mom made me buy an uptight Banana Republic suit, because she thought that was the only way to appear professionally dressed. I wore it to my interview at PW. Now, two years later, I can see how silly it was to dress that way for a casual job. (I wore the suit once more, to a funeral, and haven’t put it on again.)

This week’s challenge was to give a recent graduate a head-to-toe makeover. Turns out, most of the remaining designers think the same way my mom did.

We’ll start off positively. Jerrell designed this garment for an artist’s assistant. It’s cute, but also sophisticated. But more importantly, it’s job appropriate.

Joe, on the opposite end of the spectrum, designed this Working Girl business suit for a young graphic designer. I could go into a huge rant here, but instead I’ll just direct you to any bar in West Philadelphia where one in five patrons works in graphic design. Very few dress like this.

Evil Wench Kenley lucked out and got to design for her doppleganger, an assistant buyer who loves all things vintage. (And also, bears a striking resemblence to MTV’s The Paper antiheroine Amanda. )If she’d dressed anyone else in this outfit, the judges would’ve nailed her for designing the same damn thing for the tenth time. Fingers crossed that she goes home next week.

The judges seemed to dig this garment, which Korto designed for a budding biologist. Cynthia Rowley ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the burlap jacket which I thought made an otherwise lovely dress look bulky, especially on a decently cleavaged girl. I suspect shoving her tatas into a high-necked top was a method to mask them for professionalism’s sake.

This picture really doesn’t do justicce to the adorable poly-cotton dress Leanne designed for her elementary school client. The judges loved the dress, but thought the jacket was ill-fitting and frumpy. Here, here! Short girls in structured cropped tops look boxy and Leanne should’ve known better than to dress her client that way.

Like Korto and Leanne, Suede covered up a perfectly acceptable dress with an ugly jacket. During a uncharacteristcally catty (albeit hilarious) moment, Leanne commented that the sleeves made her look as if she should be on the set of Selena. I couldn’t have mocked it better myself.

+++

Challenge: Post-College Makeovers
Guest Judge: Cynthia Rowley
Winner: Jerrell, quickly becoming our fan fave
Loser: Joe.
PW Style Blog MVP of the Night: Jerrell. Mostly because he won, but also because he mocked Joe so mercilessly for his use of the pocket square.

Confused: Juliette Lewis

Often I cringe when I think about Juliette Lewis. Sometimes she seems like a strong, intelligent eff-you woman, sometimes like a spoiled psycho. Same with photos: Sometimes she looks terrible, and sometimes she looks gorgeous, and I think the truth lurks somewhere in the middle.

In this feature published in the Guardian, she starts off strong–the subtitle is “I’m a man-loving feminist” and then spirals into the Scientology stuff a bit, always an alarm. Then she describes herself as “the biggest cynic of all time” when it comes to politics, right on, and then continues keeping it cool:

“She calls herself a “man-loving feminist” and says that she wishes more women would concentrate on what they have to offer aside from their looks. “I want girls to start thinking about what they have to say, what do they have to contribute to their families, to other people, to society? … It’s fine if you want to be desirable to your man, that’s sweet. But when people are carving their skin and putting plastic, or whatever, synthetic balls in their chest, to be more desirable, against this fucking facade of ‘Oh no, it’s for me. It makes me feel good.’ Well, really?”"

Airbrushy promo shots:

Shit’s crazy in Shanghai

You already know we’re really into LV knock-offs, so we were fascinated with this NPR story about how 12 pigs were tattooed with LV logos and Disney characters but the pigs weren’t allowed in to the show so the artist designed a tatt for a guy and had the guy stand there and someone bought it, under the provision that he’ll cut the tattoo off when dude dies.

Wim Delvoye, the Belgian mastermind artist: Get the fuck over yourself. The guy had a say in this but–the poor pigs!

Philly Women: In Palin Nation?

Cassidy Hartmann, contributing writer at PW, took the streets to find out. Check Video here.

Above: Get a “Happy Uterus” (via Rare Bird Finds) while you still can! There’s a chance supplies will be limited soon.

Abortion Offer to Bristol Palin

OK, so even though there’s some horrendous PhotoShopping going on here (of which I’m a fan), comedian Doug Stanhope’s text is worth reading: he’s making Bristol Palin an offer she just might refuse.

Kanye digs Philly artist AJ Fosik

Kanyeunivercity, the supposed personal blog of Kanye West if, you know, Kanye had all the time in the world to blog full-time, shows the love for Philly artist AJ Fosik.

AJ on MySpace, where there’s lots more pix of his art.

See also AJ in Swindle mag.

Lust: Marimekko textiles

When you have textiles on the brain, it’s time to laptop shop the latest at Marimekko, the Finnish textile company.

Marmeladi pattern, 100% linen.

Metsänväki, 100% heavyweight cotton

My fave: Kevätjuhla, 100% heavyweight cotton

The Cow pattern is printed all over all different kinds of kitchen accessories at Unica.

Also score Marimekko at Finnstyle, and CB2 always has interesting Marimekko wall hangings.

Jaime takes the crap out of scrap

I love crafts yet I am a terrible craftster.  Poor eye-hand coordination coupled with a short attention span leaves every project glue smeared and unfinished.

Thank goodness for the new wave of scrapbooking.  It’s digitized! Intstead of attacking patterned paper with pinking shears and ribbon, you’ll be resizing, dragging and dropping your memories int pre-designed templates. Once you’re satisfied, print the page or submit several pages to your favorite photo book service (I prefer MyPublisher).

To embark upon your hi def scrapbook revolution, visit Shabby Miss Jenn. It’s a shabby chic dream and ready for you to pay a few bucks and download scrapbook page templates.  You’ll find some freebies there too. Check the pic above. That’s my new desktop compliments of Shabby Miss Jenn.  But I’ll take credit for the scrapbooking…I did drag and drop the pics of my dogs, after all!