Chelsea Girls.

We have video on the brain these days. The rough cut of our COUNCIL S/S '10 short film just came in (with music by Au Revoir Simone) and we could not be any happier with it. The final version will be debuting early next week, so do your best to be patient until then...

Several designers have created short films to accompany their collections recently. This may be due partly to the fact that in these bleak times, we have to strive to go even further to generate excitement and translate our work to as broad an audience as possible. But, it seems like it is more than that. Film conveys movement, can possess a narrative, be filled with music, and create a real moment that the viewer can step in to.

Andy Warhol, credited as being the first artist to present film as art in 1965, was drawn to the medium for its ability to communicate with a potency unparalleled by other art forms. As Matt Wrbican, an archivist for the Andy Warhol Museum, writes on PBS's website about Warhol and his fascination with film: "He loved its immediacy". He captured intimate and authentic renderings of his subjects, simply by asking them to sit in front of him for a few moments and attempt to behave naturally. (Appropriating his 'screen tests' or video portraits might be a fun project for the shop, no?)

If you've never seen his screen tests, take a look at this gorgeous montage of some of his best known subjects for a start. This would also be a great time to plug the PBS American Masters Documentary on Warhol by Ric Burns narrated by Laurie Anderson (you have to see it!). It's somewhat epic but entirely worth the time.

And our film effort will soon be debuting before your eyes as well, we promise.

xoxo COUNCIL

Bombs away (pt. II).

Our latest and largest shipment of air plants has just arrived!

We are now hosting more than forty different types of Bromeliads and Tillandsias. These beautiful, otherworldly plants live on air and light and are wonderful conversation pieces. They make memorable gifts (even if it is a gift to yourself). Dip them in water just once a week and they will love you forever.

xoxo COUNCIL

To know her.

Born on Christmas, 1911, Louise Bourgeois has had (and continues to have) a long and prolific career as a working artist. Inspired in large measure by her childhood, she has often said: “My childhood has never lost its magic, it has never lost its mystery, and it has never lost its drama.” (PS - PBS is a tremendous resource for information about her - go and see here!)

A few of us Council-er's went and saw her retrospective at the Guggenheim in '08 and were so taken with her and her work. Her spirit simply beams through everything in her oeuvre. We especially enjoyed her collections of jars and glass vessels (window display??) and her Cells. Her groups of glass vessels, with their origins in the common and domestic, have a poignancy that is almost heartbreaking, working in tandem with their gorgeous aesthetic impact. Her Cells, delicate, intimate portraits of experience, are filled with all the aching bits, objects that contain a nostalgic value that is somehow wholly understood from the outside. The sensitivity that she brings to these arrangements underscores her over arching emphasis on the relationships between these objects, their symbolic and personal meanings, and the way that these meanings become embedded in us for always.

Anyhow, enough words, go enjoy her and her work.

xoxo COUNCIL

I'm with the band.

xoxo COUNCIL

Winona, forever.

A tribute to the work and style of Winona Ryder, from 1986 - 1994. 

Before the crazy eyes, before the scandal. The gamine/Johnny Depp era Winona. Starring in films including (but not limited to): 

Lucas (1986), Beetle Juice (1988), Heathers (1988), Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990), Edward Scissor Hands (1990), Mermaids (1990), Night On Earth (1991), and Reality Bites (1994).  

Click on the film titles to view some of our favorite moments from her heyday. 

xoxo COUNCIL

Back to school.

Ingleside.

Ingleside: a beautiful, homespun space where seeds were produced and sold; newsletters, catalogues, and packets were letterpressed; neighbors and customers stopped in for visits and purchases; food was procured from just outside the kitchen window; children scamped, scrimped, and worked; and a family lived a life that by today's standards is awe inspiring - the stuff of folk tales and fables.

An abbreviated post on a topic that deserves (and will, in due turn, receive) far more words. For now, enjoy a photo/watercolor rendering of a COUNCIL lady's family farm in Southwestern Kansas.

xoxo COUNCIL

the family farm.

Want that moment.

A COUNCIL wish that we wish to share, number one million and one:

Maira Kalman painting an interior of the shop. It might look something like this (except, of course, it would be COUNCIL...):

or this:

And the most wonderful part would be that we would get to meet her! And she might even have one of her sweet, poignant, whimsical, funny, Kalmanesque observations about our very own shop, and perhaps, even about us.

How amazing would that be?

If you don't know her already, you may begin to here.

Also, released a few years ago, The Elements of Style movie is lovely, and worth spending a few fugitive minutes on (if you have them to spend, of course).

xoxo COUNCIL

Against a New York summer.

Look for a star.

This post is shamefully late, really. But, better late than never...

Johnny Castle. You balanced masculinity with charm. Grittiness with grace. Fancy feet with strong arms. You set the bar too high for many a young lady.

Here's a tribute to Patrick Swayze in a role that would come to define him. We all have the quote tattooed in our minds: "Nobody puts baby in a corner." Not to mention the music (oh, the music!), an awkward slice of the '80's in the film's late '60's setting. For all that can be said about the film, though, it can certainly be argued that Swayze brought a dignity to Dirty Dancing (1987) that was perhaps not implicit in the script. And this must have been due to his heart - his heart that possessed a rare tempering of sensitivity with strength and simplicity with a knowing depth.

I don't know that any of us ladies who grew up with him from The Outsiders (1983) to Donnie Darko (2001) were what you would call attracted to him as much as impressed with him and all that he contained. He was special. And we will miss him.

xoxo COUNCIL

Lula Scrapbook.

Below we have pasted the lovely Erika Spring Forster's recent contribution to Lula Scrapbook. If you don't know about this site, you should! Follow the link below to view more entries.

xoxo COUNCIL

http://lulamag.com/scrapbook/

Tonight was the last show of The 2009 Au Revoir Simone Japan tour.

We played at the cutest bar in Nagoya and met so many sweet people.

Afterwards, we still felt wide awake, so Annie and I went with our new

friend Yoko to shop at a 24 hour supermarket.

The 2009 Au Revoir Simone Japanese tour

Nagoya, Japan

by ERIKA SPRING FORSTER

Eighteenth of September 2009

See more here

Shue in.

Most any child of the late '70's and early '80's grew up with an Elisabeth Shue fascination. Even if you did not, you wouldn't be able to deny her short lived ubiquity in so many era classics such as (and in no particular order): Adventures in Babysitting, The Karate Kid,  Cocktail, and Back to the Future II & III.  

Her vaguely pudgy cheeks, her kind of frizzy hair, her petite frame. She was less a fashion icon and more a familiar token of the benign, milk fed suburbs that many of us grew up in. Oh, and let's not forget, an excellent dancer.

xoxo COUNCIL

Don't look back.

Our COUNCIL ladies and gents ought to appreciate these precious relics from a member of MB's maternal clan, circa her college years at OSU.

The black & white. The photographs (no digital cameras in the '70's!). The style.

Oklahoma never looked so good.

xoxo COUNCIL

A room of one's own.

Our splash page is up and soon, soon, our full site ought to be up as well. Take a gander in the mean time: www.councilboutique.com

We also have all kinds of new email addresses:

For general inquiries: info@councilboutique.com

For press inquiries: press@councilboutique.com

For Plume: plume@councilboutique.com

For Miranda Bennett Design: mb@councilboutique.com

xoxo COUNCIL

A perfect 10.

Miranda Bennett Design & Plume Jewels S/S '10 Collections.

Please contact info@councilboutique.com with any inquiries, to schedule an appointment to view the collections, or to request a line sheet.

 

MB Shore Dress, Silk Georgette w. Silk Charmeuse Lining. 

Plume Lucite Necklace w. Grosgrain Ribbon.

Plume Denim Bow Belt.

MB Pier Dress, Linen with Contrast Straps and Silk Lining.

Plume Grosgrain Ribbon Accordion Necklace.

MB Sofie Dress, Silk Charmeuse w. Contrast Sash.

Plume Lucite Bauble Necklace w. Grosgrain Ribbon. 

Plume Bow Ring, Available in 14k Yellow and Rose Gold.

MB Umbrella Tank, Cotton w. Linen Straps. Moment Wrap Skirt, Cotton Satin w. Silk.

Plume Origami Necklace, Denim w. Grosgrain Ribbon.

Plume studs. Various Shapes. Yellow / Rose Gold, and Sterling Silver available. 

MB Cove Dress, Linen w. Contrast Straps. Silk Lined Bodice.

Plume Lucite Bauble Necklace with Grosgrain Ribbon.

Miranda Bennett Design & Plume Jewels S/S '10 Collections.

Please contact info@councilboutique.com with any inquiries, to schedule an appointment to view the collections, or to request a line sheet.