As promised, this week is the beginning of a beautiful new feature, result of letting my love burst for all those artists and designers out there who make the world prettier.
This time, the lovely Vanda from Paraphernalia answers my questions.
You’ve all seen her creations on these pages or elsewhere, and as she is a bit of a jewelry genius I am sure her designs will continue to appear everywhere.
❤ How would you describe your personal style?
Quite simple, really – I always wear my pieces, usually the stranger ones, so I like them to stand out. I tend to wear a lot of gray, black, white and red, as well as having dozens of jeans of varying lengths. I work from home in my studio so I’m usually in jeans, t-shirts and flats or converse! I seem to have developed a slight obsession with waistcoats lately, and you’d be hard pressed to find me out and about without one. I have dozens of coats too – they seem to do it for me more than shoes or handbags! Also, I like small ruffles, stripes, and interesting cuts and details in clothes.
❤ What are your inspirations? Designers / artists you admire most?
Doing what I do I get to indulge in my obsession with vintage illustrations, and a lot of these include old dress patterns – while you’ll never find me in dresses (they just don’t do it for me), I made a vow a while ago not to buy any more “basics” and boring clothes, and I think it comes from the beautiful details of previous centuries’ costume design that just make utilitarian, minimalist clothing a bit too “blah” for me.
As for designers and artists, they’re too many to mention! I tend to pay more attention to independent artists than to established, big name fashion designers, and my walls are full at the moment with prints bought from Etsy artists – Magic Jelly, Allison Sommers, Matt Cipov and Caitlin Quiet remain firm favourites.
❤ Which of your creations are you the most proud of and why?
Sometimes I think that if I never have to make another Heart or Goldfish I’d be a lucky woman, but they remain some of my favorites and the Heart seems to be the one I wear the most anyway. I love the Moving Collection – it was an idea I had, while (rather unglamourously) walking to the supermarket, and that took me a while to put up for sale. The Migration Collection was extraordinarily cathartic, as I was going slightly mad from cabin fever at the time!
❤ Which trends do you think will be big this Fall? Which ones will flop?
I think originality and individuality will start to be even bigger. I hope to continue to see Fairtrade and independent design gaining a foot hole in people’s consciousness. While I appreciate the economic Lipstick effect of buying something cheap and cheerful to cheer oneself up, I’m hoping that people will finally realize that buying mass produced, low cost items costs a lot more in the long run (ethically, personally, and environmentally speaking) than buying something with quality that has been lovingly designed. I love the rise of street fashion websites, individual fashion blogs, and communities like wardrobe_remix on Flickr as they are blessing and a breath of fresh air! I also love to see the combinations that get made with my items on Polyvore, and hope more people will start using it – I love the creativity of it.
❤ What’s the most fashionable city in the world at the moment?
Stockholm and Helsinki are setting trends every day, and photos from regular people on their streets are a joy to look at. Tokyo fashion is a wee bit too superficial for me, to be honest, and I think Paris and Milan have long lost their crowns. London, while it has a lot of quirkiness to offer, is perhaps a bit too trendy at the moment as well (sorry!). Originality trumps all for me 🙂
❤ Which websites do you go to regularly?
I have 130+ blogs on my Blogroll, so there are many! Honourable mentions include Design*Sponge, swissmiss, NOTCOT, bits and bobbins, design is mine, design for mankind, poppytalk, and mirror cities, which combines photos of my favorite cities in the world – Lisbon and Tokyo!
❤ What would you wear on a date?
Show up naked, bring beer? Hah! I’m married, but I guess wide leg jeans, wedges, an interesting top, my Heart necklace and the Moving Kiss brooch would be a good combination!
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did!
xxx Mademoiselle Robot
ps – I am so stoked, Vanda is a fan of my blog. YAY!