The Accordian Skirt

Accordion or Crystal pleat:  Pressed along the entire length with folds resembling the bellows of an accordion.  These pleats are usually done by a commercial pleater. 

Then:

Now:

Club Monaco's Pamera Skirt

On the Street:

image sources:

1. grey

2. blue

3. mint green

4. purple

The London Train

I've been guilty of judging a book by its cover on more than one occasion. But book design and packaging is supposed to make you want to read it.

That said, I've been perusing the internet for new titles and am enchanted with this gem. It's just been longlisted for the Orange Prize, so it's not just a pretty read, but presumably a good one, too.

The London Train by Tessa Hadley

Other books to admire/read:

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda
Claudine at School by Colette
Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan
A Room With A View by E.M. Forster

Filling the Void

Now that Boardwalk Empire is through it's first season and Mad Men is on (indefinite?) hiatus (and because Glee is just plain unwatchable), I'm thanking my lucky stars that the HBO 5-parter Mildred Pierce starring the incomparable Kate Winslet has appeared.

The first two parts aired Sunday night and I managed to stay up to watch the full two hours.

There's nothing at all flashy about this drama. They've struck the perfect chord of Depression bleakness, especially in the drawn out scene where Mildred takes refuge in the diner after being humiliated during her job search.

image source

Image via the Artforum interview 'Daughter Dearest' with Todd Haynes.

Below are posters from the 1945 movie with Joan Crawford as the title character (she won the Oscar that year) and the new HBO series:

image source

image source

Cake Fit for a (Future) King

The Royal Wedding has an official website, and on this site they have now posted about the wedding cakes that the bride and groom have requested. Prince William's choice is a cookie cake - that's right, a cake made with McVitie's chocolate biscuits. Classy. And I say that without a hint of sarcasm, that cake looks delicious. And covered with chocolate? Even better.

I am hugely, unabashedly excited for this wedding. There hasn't been anything like it during my lifetime and I'm hoping it will be every bit as glamourous as Charles' and Diana's. Luckily I don't work on Fridays, but I know of some people who are already requesting the day off work so they can watch it live. April 29th. Maybe I'll have to bake a cookie cake for the occasion??

Image of Grace Kelly's wedding to Prince Ranier III via Vanity Fair's slide show 

Tiers of Joy: Royal Wedding Cakes

Weekend Purchases

Saturday (while cold) was a nice day, so I ventured to the farmer's market with my sister and our baby niece for some fresh air and to check out the scene. We were planning to pick up some sourdough loaves from my favourite bakery but figured that walking around in the cold might harden them - so instead I picked up these two cacti to brighten up my room. My new low-maintenance pets now have me thinking about planting some succulents in amongst my herbs this year.

After walking around a bit and stopping in at David's Tea to meet up with a friend, we then stumbled upon a shoe sale. Wedges are by far my go-to shoe and I couldn't resist this canvas lace up...and also this open-toe leather crisscross sandal! I wore the leather Dolce Vita's to the ballet on Saturday night (with a pair of socks so as to prevent freezing). I'm predicting these to be my summer staple.

Chelsea Crew Canvas Sari Wedge

Dolce Vita Pela Leather Wedge

The Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket

The four iconic stripes on the HBC Point Blankets have become a quintessentially Canadian design and household staple - and one that is highly coveted by nearly everyone I know. These wool blankets are something I usually have on my mind in September/October when the weather is cooling, but warmer weather won't exactly be coming my way any time soon so my thoughts are still straying towards things that are warm and cozy.

I went searching for HBC-inspired wares after coming across this chair (also below) in the online magazine rue. The chair is actually upholstered using a vintage Witney Point Blanket (Earley's of Witney wool blankets and the original HBC blankets were manufactured in the same factory in England, hence the similarity).  It reminded me of these two coats (also below) that were on display during the Olympics in Vancouver last winter. The HBC blanket coat by Smythe was one of the most coveted items to come out of the Olympic fervour (FTV's Jeanne Beker and actress Rachel Bilson both were spotted around town wearing them).

Image created using Polyvore

The Point blankets are definitely an investment piece (ranging from $300-$500) so, sadly, it is unlikely that one will be coming my way any time soon. But I do love the various incarnations that I've found online made from vintage blankets - the trapper bag below, for instance.

Vintage HBC blanket Trapper Bag by Rebecca Ray
image source

Architectural Fantasy Dream Come True

This photo of the Kansas City Library is blowing my mind. It brings together two of my favourite things - civic architecture and book spines! I only wish I could have been privy to the design process and deciding what books were worthy of representation. Are the spines taken from actual books, or were they designed by the architectural firm? Did the library propose this to the architect or is the architect a bibliophile who was just waiting for the day when he could create a facade of book spines? So. Many. Questions.

It seems as though the front of the library are Classics and the books in the second photo, which I'm presuming to be the back of the building, are more contemporary novels - I see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

Image source

Image source

The Kennedys Miniseries

The 4-part miniseries airs (in Canada) on April 10th! The History Channel in the US pulled the plug on this a while ago and I don't know if a new network has been found to air it - check out here for the dirt on this and how the Kennedys are presumed to be behind pulling the plug on airing it in the States.

I saw the preview on tv for the first time the other day. Like most people I'm interested to see if Katie Holmes can rise to the challenge of playing the First Lady - the voiceover and the still images are really good - the clothes! Can't wait for this!

Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy

Image sources: here, here and here respectively

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And on a (sort of) related note - I came across this feature on Vanity Fair's website from their April issue. It's an excerpt from actress Christina Haag's memoir, a former girlfriend of John F. Kennedy Jr.

Note To Self

On the Hunt for Sunglasses

With the arrival of Spring comes the requisite turnover of accessories from winter's protective layers to lighter spring wear. It doesn't exactly feel very spring-like yet, so I'm thinking of changing things up with a new pair of sunglasses for now.

Images created using Polyvore

My search for retro shapes and tortoiseshell prints were inspired by this image I saw on The Coveteur's profile of WhoWhatWear's Hillary Kerr:

This Week on The Sartorialist

Scott Schumann says very little in his posts, text being rather redundant to his work. This week though two of his posts really made me laugh - both of them of the most impeccably dressed men - but it's the caption that really says it all.

all images are details from the original posts on The Sartorialist's blog.

Around the Web

A few things that have caught my eye:

• It looks like LONNY (the online decorating mag created by a former Domino Mag editor) has spawned some other really great online magazines, as mentioned here. 

• Gruyere cheese (and mini gherkins!) elevate the quickest and easiest of dinners, here.

• I love home/apartment style profiles. This one is really good - with an eclectic Scandinavian/boho vibe. Makes me miss The Selby. Did he just get busy and stop profiling spaces? 

• I found out about this EPA (environmental protection agency)-sponsored project from the 70s called Documerica here - much of the photos have been digitized on the US National Archives flickr site. Unbelievably cool window into 1970s America.

And finally - 

• pretty things...lots and lots of pretty things:

svpply.com

Colour Coordinating

My obsession with colour blocking my books started over a year ago when I got distracted from thesis writing by the chaos of my bookshelf.

This is my goal:

image found on flickr 

This is the state of my bookshelf as of today:

It's an ongoing process of editing and reorganizing...and a great excuse to justify new books, always (especially if it's a Penguin Modern Classic - love that row of white with the little penguin icons).

Spring Fever: Hot Soup In Anticipation of Warmer Weather

I swear it was Spring just two days ago, but now the winter wind chill is back and so I'm fighting back with french lentil soup.

Saturday morning after whipping up a batch of brownies at a friends', she threw together a delicious lentil soup and now I've got it on the brain to do the same. This recipe from epicurious is pretty similar to the one we found in her Joy of Cooking cookbook. I'm excited to taste what the dash of balsamic at the end does for the overall flavour. I'm also kind of tempted to add something spicy to give it more of a kick, but since I hate to deviate from a recipe that I haven't made a hundred times already, I probably will just add extra pepper.

Image from Bon Appetit magazine (via epicurious.com)

Industrial Desk Lamps

I really like the vibe of this work space from the 2010 Ikea catalogue. I was reminded of it a while ago after watching a Taylor Swift video that featured a vintage desk lamp similar to the one in this photo, and now seeing it again is making me want to rethink my workspace.

Love how this space has been curated from the March/April issue of LONNY.

This one is from Graham and Greene, a UK store. I love the 'bulb cover' and the use of chrome (anything shiny is good in my books), also that it is free-standing and not a clip-on like the one from ikea. It's on sale too.... 

But this Roving Rays lamp from anthropologie (which I think might be the same one from TSwift's video) might be my favourite: