Our good friend Toni has been getting Super Crafty lately, knitting new cozies for her Etsy shop, Semina Filligree! We thought you would all appreciate these lovelies, perfect for the cold months, and knit from super soft wool. Her inspiration for this collection includes vintage Chanel cloche hats, as well as Tatum O'Neal's cool headgear in the 70s movie Paper Moon. Love the wrist warmers, scarfs, and capes, too. And– do I even need to say it?– isn't her styling an inspiration?

Toni's Etsy shop is here– go and get these cutie-pie pieces before someone else snaps them up!

From Sasha

I am reading a fabulous book at the moment: Temptress: From The Original Bad Girls to Women on Top (my hunny works at an art book company, so I get to indulge in some great stuff). I just finished the chapter on Lola Montez, and I can't get her out of my mind!

Born Eliza Gilbert in Limerick, Ireland, Lola had a quick mind and a fiery temper, and the dramatic looks to match. The life of a dutiful wife in Victorian Ireland suited her not one whit, so she left her marriage and set off for Spain to study Flamenco dancing. There she picked up Spanish, and reinvented herself as "Lola Montez", the daughter of a matador. She correctly intuited that exotic dancing was her ticket to fame and freedom, and she took her act all over Europe, picking up lovers and shocking upstanding moral people along the way. It was quite a sensation in the 1800s to publicly demonstrate "sensuous" dance movements, not to mention the flashing of ankles and possibly even knees!

Lola had affairs with Franz Liszt, Alexandre Dumas, and many other rich and powerful men, but her most scandalous liason was with the King of Bavaria, King Ludwig I. Ludwig was so bowled over by her charms that he lost all control of his heart and the purse strings of the country's treasury, even building Lola her own palace– featuring a fountain that sprayed perfumed water! Lola ended up essentially ruling Bavaria in the stead of the aging and besotted king, and her liberal rule infuriated those who would flex their political muscle. Eventually her detractors did get the upper hand, stirring up a violent movement against Lola, and in the end Ludwig abdicated his very crown rather than severe his alliance with his controversial mistress.  Continue Reading... (560 words + 4 images, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

You all remember our Gunne Parade in Sacramento this past weekend, of course?

Here is the wonderful Atelier, one of the most charming clothing stores in all of Northern California. The ladies who run it have made an intimate, inspiring space filled with incredible vintage and one-of-a-kind clothing designs. It's true love right from the rosebush by the front door:

Hey, that's us on the sign! And recognize the clothes on that rack? It's our Trunk show! We just love how all the pretty dresses look hung up together…

(Every inch of Atelier is thoughtfully decorated, even the windows!)

Here is one of the Atelier "advertisements" for the Gunne Parade… none other than an exquisite Gunne, of course! And some more of the dreamy inside of the store:

The adorable children's section:

We were talking about how someone should do some kind of Gunne database… I mean, all of us agreed that we just keep seeing new Gunne designs all the time! How many dresses did this one company make? Here's a late 60s one that takes the cake:

Love those birds!

The Gunne Database might solve some of the Gunne Mysteries… like why these two very similar dresses (one is ours, one belongs to Atelier) have different labels. One is in the Bridal Collection, one is not. Huh??? (By the way that's Amber with Kara, one of the owners of Atelier. Kara also runs the fabulous Etsy shop Porkchop Rules! Check it out! Kara is wearing a Gunne skirt/vest set.)  Continue Reading... (544 words + 15 images, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)