Floral Couture

I write this with a throbbing face, cheek really I guess. My tooth had been aching and I had to go to the dentist. I made my last minute appointment thinking, "oh this is no big deal... I can do it in the A.M, have the whole day to work and then I can still make that Design Salon event I've been looking forward to in the evening." So I went, shed a few tears (you would too if you had 18 teeth pulled as a young one), and when I was leaving the (wonderful) dentist said to me "so once the Novicain wears off this is going to hurt at least twice as much as that root canal you had. Here, go get some Vicodin." Oh it appears I gravely miscalculated my procedure. Which is why I'm sitting at home with a throbbing face.

To take my mind off that (and how I really can't buy a M.J bag from the employee sale cause I just dropped the equivalent at the dentist) I thought I'd write a bit about the beginning influences of the Loire Valley pattern. Well, it was all those flowers over flowing the Spring runways. I mean they were EVERYWHERE! I could have filled an entire sketchbook with inspiration, forget just a few pages. Here are a few glimpses of my floral sketchbook pages.

Matthew Willamson, Prada, and Balenciaga. Balenciaga was the big time influence. All those cool floral patterns, and those crazy black and white gladiator sandals totally inspired the Chester, England pattern (I want those sandals, I know... where would I wear them... but I want them anyways). So here, take a look.

Introducing Loire Valley

Soooooo.... I need to note that right now I am sitting in the studio with all the windows open getting a fantastic cross breeze of warm air. So warm that when I walk through the kitchen I check to see if the stove is on, I've been doing this all day. The scent of a neighbor's BBQ have been wafting in... I've been waiting for this weather to return since November.



A while ago I wrote about what was inspiring some new patterns. The first new pattern to be released is Loire Valley. She is French and very bright (as in colorful, though if she was a person I think she'd also be very smart and clever), and just bursting with flowers. The pattern was inspired by the flowers that flooded the Spring 2008 runways (especially the Balenciaga collection - swoon), a few chateau gardens in France and the idea of a colorful fruit basket (not sure why but that popped in my head the whole time I worked on this pattern).
This is also the first release of the new Thank You card line, which Loire Valley graces on the Merci card which you can see here. The cards are sold as singles as well as in packs of 6 and they are all enviro friendly as mentioned before.
This pattern had so many great inspirations and I can't wait to share them all. I know posting has been a bit light. Sometimes it is tricky to get pumped up about the inspiration for patterns I did like 18 months ago, so I'm really looking forward to sharing the 14 new patterns I have with you!

On another note my dear-dear-dear-lovely intern Alston is leaving me in Mid-May so I'm on the lookout for another talented design intern. If anyone is interested please email me at jhilldesign (at) mac.com for more details. One of the big projects for the summer is the rework of the Studio's website which will soon have a wonderful database driven shopping cart (adios paypal buttons!). Good experience and fun :)

An African Sarong

I returned home from Cabo to a big ol' pile of mail. I passed over the kajillion credit card offers (some for a cards I already have - I don't get that...) and opened a package that was addressed from my dear friend Ryann. Ryann and I were BFF in high school, she went on to great things which currently includes working for good in Africa. It had probably been about 9 or so years since I had talked to her when I stumbled upon her blog "Dispatches from Salone" which is the documentation of her life and work in Sierra Leone. After getting back in touch we tried to make plans to meet over Christmas back in NH, but our schedules couldn't meet up. She said that she wanted me to see some of the fabrics from SL, that she thought I'd be inspired by them. So she sent me this lovely sarong (which fits perfectly, I was just modeling it for Mr Mischief) so that I could see a bunch of different fabrics in one piece. I asked Ryann to tell me a bit about it and here is what she sent:

Women will often wear one piece of fabric (the standard 2-meter piece is known as a "lapa") wrapped sarong-style around the waist, or a bit higher over (or under, as toplessness is still a-okay in the villages) the breasts. Another (sometimes matching, often not) can be used to wrap hair (you've seen the elaborate West African headdresses? I love them) or hold a baby on your back. The individual fabrics included in that patchwork are definitely day-to-day wear. The cotton factory prints (which are common throughout africa) are the cheapest and therefore the most common, and I must admit are often made these days in China. None are manufactured in Sierra Leone. The shinier fabrics are (I think) more common in West Africa, but are also likely manufactured outside of Sierra Leone. The local prints are either batique or tie-dyed (known as gara-dying), and printed by hand. I believe there are some of all in your mix, though I'm having trouble picturing it now.

People do make clothes out of the same sorts of fabric, but that takes money so is more usual for special outfits or wealthier city folk. The patchwork fabric is sometimes used for clothes. (Imagine a big African man in a one-piece patchwork tunic down to his ankles, often with matching trousers underneath. Spectacular.) But it's often foreigners who prefer the patchwork, and the sarong I gave you is definitely designed for a foreigner -- hence the extra strips to tie it around your waist. I thought it was a good way for you to see lots of different patterns.

Isn't that so interesting? I think it is absolutely beautiful and Sasso and I are talking about framing it. Though that will look very nice with my black bathing suit.... perhaps I'll have to get another one to wear. Regardless, this did inspire me and I'm currently working on a Sierra Leone print. This is good for me cause all the first things that pop into my head when I hear the name Sierra Leone (besides Ryann) are Kanye West and Blood Diamond. I'm going to do some research and poor through Ry's blog, I suggest you do the same thing at http://dispatchessierraleone.blogspot.com/

Out with the Uggs and in with the New

I interrupt these Shodoshima postings to bring you my new favorite slippers. Yes, I hate breaking up a post series but I had to show you these. I got to spend a lovely morning with the lovely Maryam of My Marrakech and she brought me 2 very lovely pairs of Moroccan slippers. Sasso will be thrilled to see these on my feet instead of my ugg slippers which are quite old and beaten to hell - and I admit, kind of gross. Aren't they just beautiful! These could inspire a whole new Moroccan pattern. Maryam is working on opening an online shop, and I can't wait to see what she will have there, it will all be beautiful I'm sure.
It's been a very nice day, besides getting my new slippers the Red Sox won game 7 last night and are in the World Series. We are all "wicked" pumped here (and very sleep deprived) and looking forward to 2 more weeks of baseball. Go Sox!

Fez (the pen)

So a few years ago I got the pleasure of working with some great people while designing collateral for the Cross stores here in the Boston area. Perfect, (and dangerous), for me because I LOVE stationary (duh) and pens. During this time Cross was producing limited edition pens with the talented designer Rafe. Together they created some really cool pens, for example this one, The Fez. I adore this pattern. Really, I do. I've used it for over 2 years and have yet to lose it (though she is currently out of ink). I've checked the Cross site and ebay but it seems that they don't sell these pens anymore - which is a big, big shame. Their pens no longer have patterns, so sad. Luckily I stocked up on the Rafe collection when it hit the shelves.

Skulls and Flowers

For the Mexico City print, (part of the 2007 calendar), I wanted to do something about The Day of the Dead. Well, you can't just look at a print of skulls for a month without it getting you down However, there is nothing depressing about quirky Mexican skulls with eyelashes and big ol' grins. Combine these with bright, bright flowers and it's almost joyful, (almost).
These AMAZING tank tops by Megan Odabash and this cut-out necklace inspired thoughts of graphic flowers. Now why WHY! did I not buy one of these tank tops last summer. Well, maybe it was the $200 price tag, but I'm sure I could have figured out some sort of justification for that.
Here is her website, though it only has her contact info on it. Ok, hold that. I just found them online at HornFashion.com. Now how many calendars do I need to sell to get one of these lovelies...

Oh Miss Scarlett...

As mentioned my Elles, Vogues, Luckys and the occasional InStyle, (as Shaniqua understands I don't read that magazine regularly... too big and too hard to follow), always end up sliced to pieces in my sketchbook. I'll be inspired by the color, the texture, the jewels etc...
So... Miss Scarlett Johansson had been sitting in my sketchbook, (I have one where i save clippings for later and one where do the sketches for the patterns), since she walked into the 2006 Venice Film Festival in that AMAZING vintage creamy yellow gown topped off with the perfect red lipstick.
Honestly when I saw it I just though "Savannah". I also thought, "I need to run out and buy ANOTHER tube of red lipstick immediately... that will sit in my bag barely used".
I'll confess, getting the color right on the Savannah print was very tricky. Especially for the 2008 Calendar. It's hard to do something functional, like the calendar, in really pale colors. Doesn't work out so well. So I couldn't match the colors to Scarlett's dress exactly, but I hope I got the feel of it across.
Check out the print here and the new calendar here.

Surrounded by Ice (the bling kind)!

So last season Marc Jacobs did this whole accessories line with gemstones. Big, cartoonish, over sized gemstones... and they were fabulous. I am a bit of a Marc Jacobs junky, (did you ever read letters to Marc Jacobs? so great), so I it was no surprise that I was head over heels for this. If I could have gotten my hands on those thong be-gemmed sandals or even the headband without having to sacrifice my rent money i would have. the moment I thought of those I said bling = ice = icebergs... floating gemstones. That was going to be the Finland pattern. Forget diving into a sea of mini icebergs, lets talk about diving into a sea of gemstones!
The above collage is from my sketchbook, with images from Elle, Teen Vouge and ThisNext.