Photo: Daan of MaandagDaandag

THIS inspires me! Daan's beautiful, crafty work on her beautiful, magical child.

ps - I have been sick for a month and a half (!!) and working very hard on some big projects, so please forgive my absence in this space. More soon!!

Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

Everyone always focuses on Jackie, but have you taken a look at Eunice's early style?
Her elegance truly comes from within.
It's not just about the fashion. OK, it's a bit about the fashion. But she wears the clothes...they don't wear her.

And that smile.


You can't fabricate it.

I am feeling inspired today by this wonderful shadow play, posted by Daan at maandagdaandag.

The work of photographer Tamara Muth King.

The Royal Tenenbaums.
I guess I have a thing for natural history museums.

The spectacularly beautiful illustrations of Swedish painter Carl Larsson (1853 - 1919).
My favorite collection of his illustrations is never far from my drawing table.

A vintage circus poster...
Painting by Kailish Raj...
Indian elephants and...
...the exquisite photography of Nick Brandt.

I am often inspired by fashion photography. Though I am not a huge fan of sartorial trends, I am a fan of those stylists and photographers who make fashion, at its best, the grand illusion that it is.
Fairy tales are told in fashion photography all the time. It is, of course, a whole team who creates these images...but what an art!
I wish I knew who took these two stunning photos of Devon Aoki, but they were not attributed when I found them. If anyone knows, please let me know so I can add the proper attribution.

Any catalog of the things that have inspired my work over the course of a lifetime would be incomplete without the inclusion of Deyrolle. I can't entirely explain its magic, or why it is so intricately woven into the fabric of my imagination, but one of my earliest clear memories is of my parents taking me to Deyrolle for the first time when I was a toddler. It instantly set a spark to my imagination.

You might think that a taxidermy shop would be a bit much for a toddler. But if you have never set foot in Deyrolle, I can only tell you that this is no ordinary taxidermy shop. Deyrolle is a taxidermy shop in the same way that Mary Poppins is a nanny. Within moments of my first setting foot inside its doors, vast fertile vistas of fragrant soil opened like a magic trick inside the corridors of my mind. I saw possibility there. I heard the sound of a billion fluttering, translucent, onionskin pages of stories waiting to be told. I saw mysterious continents, forking rivers, great shimmering oceans of wonder just waiting to be explored.

On that day, my parents bought me a blue Brazilian butterfly with iridescent wings which still occupies a room in the chateau in France (since it would not pass through customs), as well as a dusty corner of my eternal dreams.
Not long ago, someone told me that Deyrolle had been destroyed by a fire. I felt the bottom drop out of my heart. Of course, all of France rallied at its side, and before long it had been restored to much of its former glory (the New York Times did a wonderful article on its phoenix-like fall and resurrection, whence all of these photos). Upon seeing the photos from after the fire, I have to say that in their own way they are very nearly as magical and inspiring as was Deyrolle intact.
There is no way for me to accurately describe the alchemy of Deyrolle's effect on my life, from the paint colors to the cabinetry, from the orderly glass cases of insects to the marvelous expressions on the faces of the shop's erstwhile denizens. So let this, in brief, serve as my little love letter to 19th-century entomologist Jean-Baptiste Deyrolle and his legacy.
Thank you, Jeanne-Baptiste. Who would I be without you?

Ziegfeld Girls.

This may seem like a less than obvious source of inspiration for a series of children's illustrations...but different things inspire in different ways. Here, it is the artfullness of a pose, so evocative of the glamours of a certain era... the eloquent turn of a disdainful shoulder, a wistful and vulnerable ankle...something in the drape of the fabric, the deep shadows under a chair, the fragile facade of a painted screen concealing the harsher realities behind the scenes.

photos via pixdaus.com

via ffffound.com
Alice, by the Dalziels.

This girl, from Milk Magazine's own street style section, look de rue, keeps popping into my head, and one of these days I know some part or essence of it will pop up in my work.

My grandparents:
My grandmother Christiane (with her new husband, left, and his equally-towering brother) on their wedding day in Italy.
She was:
- elegant
- stubborn
- impetuous
- difficult
- eternal beloved of her husband
- a perpetual student and collector of art
- an eternal aesthete
- famous for her personal style (her closet was something to behold, and she had her own standards - for instance, she never once in her life allowed a pair of pumps or heels to adorn her feet. Ballet flats, spectators and espadrilles only.)
- the best cook I ever had the pleasure of both watching and enjoying
- born in France, educated in Florence, married to a Dutch man
- a brilliant self-trained interior designer
- possessed of the finest eye for color I've ever seen in one human being
My grandfather, J. Constant "Jack" aka "The Captain"
He was:
- kind
- brilliant
- refined
- ever-humble
- soft spoken
- a conoisseur of his wife's French desserts
- a philosopher
- a problem solver
- a dedicated follower of Buddhism (which he employed in his workplace if not - as you can see - in his personal style)
- a self-made man and world-respected inventor/engineer
- Born in Holland, educated in the UK
- a profoundly-beloved icon to those who worked under him
- a philanthropist
- a fan of ham radios and fine European cars

This is my grandmother, my mother and I in Brissac, Herault, Languedoc, the year that my grandparents were in the process of restoring their 11th-century chateau (you can still see sky through some of the upper windows, but the restoration was well underway).
My mum and I in the orchard below.
My grandparents' style, their grace, their philanthropy and philosophy of living, and their appreciation of art and literature have been and will always remain a profound influence on me.

Amelia Earhart.
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers." - AE
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - AdS-E

"Each man must look to himself to teach him the meaning of life. It is not something discovered: it is something molded." - AdS-E