Aoi Kotsuhiroi

These incredible rings by Aoi Kotsuhiroi are a combination of silk thread, Japanese urushi lacquer and a variety of stones such as black garnets, phantom and vanadinite crystals and black diamonds. 

Available at NOT JUST A LABEL.

Vionnet: Resort 2010

"Madeleine Vionnet (June 22, 1876 - March 2,1975) was a French fashion designer. Called the "Queen of the bias cut" and "the architect among dressmakers", Vionnet is best-known today for her elegant Grecian-style dresses and for introducing the bias cut to the fashion world". (Wiki)

This Resort collection you're seeing is by Rodolfo Paglialunga who was a designer of womenswear at Prada for 13 years before coming over to Vionnet. I think it's gorgeous and it's obvious he's paying homage to Vionnet's past. Versatility was also "a key Vionnet innovation, so some of the frocks can be worn back to front, while the capelike sleeves of a shirtdress can be tied behind the back to create a different, more casual silhouette". (style.com) 

I love that the collection has an array of color, from deep blacks to jewel tones to powdery pinks. Similarly, there are gorgeous gowns to slightly harder edged mini dresses and range of looks with flowing, gauzy materials to structured banding and gathering. What strikes me is the complexity of the collection yet it still achieves an overall unified feeling. This is huge since this flexibility means there is more likely to be a little something that appeals to everyone while maintaining the integrity of the brand. See the full collection here at Style.com.

Mia on Milwaukee

Always cute, I love this outfit that Mia has put together. The shirt is a pretty take on a classic summer shirt, mashing pin stripes, seersucker and bold stripes together. Pairing it with a darker, slightly purple blue skirt and cinching it all in with a rich, textured brown belt makes the proportions very flattering. The red shoes are an adorable addition and make this outfit sing with personal style.

If she's not biking around the city on her pretty cruiser, you'll find stylish Mia at Brooklyn Industries.

Peter Pilotto

This is a selection of beautiful looks from Peter Pilotto's last two collections. I love the shapes, textures and colors but I think the tall patent leather boots take away from some of the looks. Maybe a thinner silhouette of a boot would be more complimentary. It seems to overtake the elegance of the clothing as well as the gorgeous patterns and colors.

"Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos are the designers behind the Peter Pilotto label. Pilotto is half-Austrian, half-Italian and De Vos is half-Belgian, half-Peruvian. They met whilst studying at Antwerp's prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the year 2000.

Pilotto is focused toward textile and print whereas De Vos concentrates more on silhouette and drape. However the duo work beyond their individual perimeters to create something new, their process being very organic and beyond an integration of the two fields."

Kanye West: Paranoid video featuring Rihanna

Overall, I think Kanye's videos are amazing. Given the generally boring state of music videos these days, Kanye's are refreshing, different and truly interesting to watch. I just love this latest video, Paranoid, directed by Nabil Elderkin. There is a ton of press for this video that centers around the use of Rihanna as the main character. Though all of the things written are true, she's stunning and it's a timely use of her given her personal life, I'm surprised that no one has written about the amazing aesthetic style of the video, the cultural quotes and the haunting qualities of the narrative. If I'm mistaken, please pass along a link to the article!

Objectified by Gary Hustwit

"Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the designers who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability.

Through vérité footage and in-depth conversations, the film documents the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential product designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves?" (from Objectifiedfilm.com)

Thanks to Nina for the link!

Mikimoto: Eternal Love Window Display

I love the dramatic yet airy quality of this Mikimoto display. The blustery tornado of petals, mimicking the shape of a wing, draws the eye down to a beautiful sheet of stone (I believe that's what it is) where the jewelry is delicately displayed. I think it could do without the floating cherub with a fountain pen; this could be swapped for a little more accenting on the jewelry in the window in the form of height/color/lighting. (via NOTCOT)

Ronan + Erwan Bouroullec: Clouds + North Tiles for kvadrat

Clouds and North Tiles are two products by my favorite industrial designers, the Bouroullec brothers, for kvadrat, an innovative textile company based in Denmark. Both Clouds and North Tiles are, well, tiles made up of a single element that are customizable by repeating, mixing and re-arranging.

Richard Hutten

Richard Hutten's beautiful Silla Cloud chair, modeled after what appears to be the complex interaction of soap bubbles, is aluminum cast and nickel plated. (via notcot)

London Fashion Week: Richard Nicoll A/W 2009

"With every season, Richard Nicoll's work has been steadily becoming more solidly convincing and wearable—while also getting more inventive each time. It takes some daring, for instance, to make a winter collection more or less entirely in cream and shell pink, and even more to carry it off into the kind of structured clothes, like trenchcoats and streamlined dresses, he's never really made before. But the coats, with their exaggerated storm flaps, and the slick overlays of PVC and sly references to corsetry, looked so chic they could shine on any runway of New York or Paris. And as for the color combinations, well, isn't the world already pleading for some alternative to black and gray?" (Style.com)

The blurry, black and white pieces feature prints of Fifties pin-up girls – a collaboration with the British artist Linder. (WWD)

Check out Richard Nicoll's site.