Holy Cow !!! is H.O.M.E.

Recently I've been following my passion for Antique eastern furniture and sourcing with my friends for a new shop opening soon in Aylesbury Bucks. The shop will sell everything that is beautiful for your home, its fair trade, recycled and re-purposed with a super cool colonial scandi shabby edge. Its fusion man !

Hope you like my photos and styling and if you find Holy Cow Home on facebook you can arrange to purchase some of these items for yourself.  I shall be inviting you all to the shop opening as well.

Vintage Circus Costumes and Clowns

The best thing about my life is that no two days are the same, despite my best efforts to just hibernate in the warm and take photos in my home studio, the unusual offer seems to haunt me like a shadow... and here's just one such instance.

I met the wonderful Ruth from Admiral Costumes on a photo shoot which I helped to style, Ruth had just taken over an established costume hire company not far from me up the country roads.

Ruth had come across a fabulous selection of genuine vintage circus costumes, and thought I might like to have fun with them. When finally we found a young lady small enough to fit into them, I set about building a little set and rummaging around for props. The final part of the jigsaw was finding that our student model Charlotte was best friends with another young lady who is training to be a makeup artist, the girls were fabulous, they really entered into the spirit of it. 

Ruth has been looking into the different types of clowns and we took some ideas from these.

There are four types of clown, there's Auguste who is the fool or joker, he falls over with his big shoes on and has makeup with white round the mouth and eyes which is outlined in black.

Hobo clown is a happy go lucky fellow who is always looking for work, typically he wears a bowler hat and tramp clothing, he has a dirty face due to his constant travelling.

Harlequin clown originated in France and wears an outfit made from triangles of coloured fabric with a ruff at the neck. Harlequin is nimble and performs stunts and acrobatics.

The Pierrot clown wears distinctive black and white and is known for mime.  He is a melancholy dreamer and hides his pain from his audience but reveals only a single tear drop on his cheek, under his eye.

We combined some of these clown ideas to style the showgirl outfits, the sort a bear-back rider would wear and another like a Jeanie.

With the addition of a few feminine touches like ballet shoes and veils, we twisted the idea from a male image to a female performer, albeit a rather sinister one, but I can't help but feel that clowns are a bit scary anyway. 

You can hire any of these items or some just like it from Admiral Costumes. Kerri Victoria Pocknell our MUA can be found through facebook or myself.  Big thanks to Charlotte our model too. 

Send in the clowns, don't worry, they're here...

Ready For Spring !

 



color ! in  our showroom
photo credit: Sabine Meiresone

Iris Apfel Collection
photo resource here

Fashion, art and interior are irrevocably linked. They affect each other in the broadest sense of meaning. There are many designers who indeed have designed their own interior line, and with success! The trendsetter here must undoubtedly be Ralph Lauren. His interiors have long been the inspiration for many of us ..... We have worked for years in the fashion industry and the establishment of our interior design company was actually a logical result. We still follow the fashion and although we do not create 'trendy' interiors , we do get influenced unconsciously  by fashion. Not only fashion but also art or an exhibition is for us a source of inspiration. For example last week we went to the exhibition of Dries Van Noten at Momu in Antwerp with works by Yves Klein, Thierry De Cordier, Victor Vasarely, Damien Hirst, Cecily Brown, Pol Bury, Christopher Wool, Hubert Duprat, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and James Tissot.. A stunning retrospective of the work of this inspiring fashion designer from Antwerp with worldwide fame. Look at the video here and enjoy a preview....
I took a lot of pictures there and would like to share them with you. Last weeks we've also been very busy updating our showroom. Hope you like our new look?
Enjoy and hope to see you soon again...
Sabine
XXX

Flowers in our showroom
photo credit: Sabine Meiresone



Jackie Kennedy: pretty in pink !
photo resourse here

color input
photo credit: Sabine Meiresone

Color !



Dries Van Noten at Momu - photo resource here

 



 

Work of Cecily Brown- photo resource here

 

collection 'Marchesa'
photo resource here









Dries Van Noten at Momu Antwerp- photo credit : Sabine Meiresone

 

Dries Van Noten at Momu Antwerp- photo credit Sabine Meiresone

 

Dries Van Noten at Momu Antwerp- photo credit : Sabine Meiresone

 



Clarks Orla Betty funky retro shoes!

A slightly unusual review from me today, but as most of my readers are ladies, I thought pointing out these new shoes from Clarks would be appreciated.

If you, like me, wear vintage or vintage style clothes and like the colourful and fun, then this new range of shoes designed by Orla Keily for Clarks will sure be a must have for your summer wardrobe. But be aware, these are selling out super fast, so whilst its not quite sandal weather I have bought mine now so that I don't miss out.

As is usual with Clarks, they have gone for comfort here, so despite it being a high heel, you don't feel like you are walking in heels, as the inside padding and the little platform put you in a comfortable position.

I think the strap is a little thin as it did tend to cut in a little bit but considering my first outing in them was walking around a vintage fair with bare feet, I didn't come home with any aches or pains and no rubbing whatsoever, which is a good sign.

There are so many great styles in this range, I also liked these in blue but it had sold out and there are some that do have a thicker ankle strap and are slightly lower, these could be a good second pair to have. 

The styles remind me of childrens shoes in the sixties and seventies, and Im sure I had a pair like these Orla Betty when I was at school in the 1970s.  Theres are so many cool pairs in the range, Bibi, Bobble and Beatrice all really appeal to me, so I may have to go and try these on soon. 

One last major point, Im a half size, (uk 4.5) and these come in half sizes, which is a great bonus.  

If you can't get to a shop, then order online http://www.clarks.co.uk/c/womens-orla-kiely

Far From the Madding Crowd

for this last month Ive been honing my skills in still life photography, something which I have to do a lot of when I work for others photographing their products.  Sometimes its just fun to play but as Im the sort of person who needs a nudge, the instagram challenges have proved just the sort of push I needed. 

So Im telling you here first about an Instagram challenge Im setting of my own, called #farfromthemaddingcrowd.

I read this book in the 1970s as it was on the curriculum at school for English O Level (gcse).  The books of Thomas Hardy had a big impression on me at age 14, I thought they were very tragic and they still leave me with a haunted feeling. 

This books title reminds me of my new life now in the countryside, getting away from the crowd in London.  But the idea and concept of being having some personal space, some moments of stillness and an escape corner of your house, can be beautifully captured in photos. 

So Im challenging over the next month for people to hashtag #farfromthemaddingcrowd and the entry I like the best will win a vintage copy of the book from me. 

Here are some of my favourite stills from the last few weeks ...

find me on Instagram janiceissitt_life_style

stacked for Kim Klassen

Moody Wednesday

Far From The Madding Crowd

floral for Lobster and Swan

from my kitchen

Silver for Capturing Colour with Capture By Lucy

Gathered Style for A Quiet Style