I love how Facebook lets us join in with the chatter of our fan’s friends (and how personally it allows me to keep the spider’s thread of connection going with my old crew in Australia). And don’t get me started on how Youtube & Vimeo have beamed our little video to 36,000 pairs of eyes.
One of my favourite things about it, however, is the wonderful people I’ve met through it. Our website was build by clever Michael at Kopano Media who heard our cries on Twitter and offered to help. We’ve received invaluable advise and assistance from Miss Nini Baseema (social-media doyenne / Lost at E Minor contributor). And best-buddies Laetitia Wajnapel (the friendly, French fashion blogger) & Cate Sevilla (writer, and founder of the site Bitch Buzz) have proven to me that you can be brave, meet online contacts in the 'real world', and find that they are as inspiring and hilarious in person as on the page.
But enough of my whittering about the interwebs (hell, you’re blog readers – you know this already). This post is really an excuse for me to talk about two girl crushes of mine that I’ve not yet had the pleasure of meeting in person, but when I’m next in NYC I will be hunting down for a cocktail. (In a non-stalkery, uber-cool, not at all excited way, of course).
Blogger & designer friends Alexandra Grecco & Hannah Metz are two Brooklyn-based beauties whose sites I discovered recently and had me instantly charmed. I can’t recall which came first – Alexandra’s soft colours and 1930’s boudoir aesthetic gave me shivers of pleasure when I first I saw her Spring 2010 collection (inspired, in her own words, by “vintage lingerie, curves and pin up girls!”). And it was Hannah modelling the garments, whose winsome styling of the Pickford Onesie and Gish Bolero soon had me putting in my Etsy order:
(Image by Laetitia Wajnapel at MademoiselleRobot.com)
And what did I find? Alexandra was an absolute darling to deal with - coping cheerfully with my silly confusion over US sizing, and dispatching immediately as I had an event to wear the suit to. And in the ensuing email chain we soon moved from the business at hand onto chatting about music and London, and from that onto a possible musical collaboration to promote her future collections. All by the power of the world-wide-web.
Alexandra in her own designs.
Images speak louder than words when it comes to Alex’s prodigious talent – so check out the gorgeous promo film that Dan Estabrook (an incredible artist who deserves a post of his own) made for her Spring 2011 collection:
And these stunning stills below were taken by photographer and graphic designer Landon Metz– Hannah’s husband and the “Landon” of her blog own title.
Which brings me to the delightful Hannah – pre-Raphaelite red-head; purveyor of vintage clothing and life-envy. It’s hard to know what to say about her without seeming like a total stalker (that’s not me outside in the bushes Hannah, I promise!), but I’ll unashamedly confess that when I found her blog I slowly made my way back through all of her posts. The photography, the romantic subject matter (both in the artistic and personal sense) and the insight given into their married life are just gorgeous. And done with such an unpretentious tone that they don’t seem at all the ‘New York Hipsters’ they could be accused of being by those that didn’t bother to read beyond “Brooklyn artists.” Instead your feeling for the love-birds is simple admiration – and would you believe that they themselves met online on Livejournal?
Hannah's also a poster-girl for the power of the web when it comes to commerce – taking a growing online profile and using it to raise money for her burgeoning lingerie line The Loved One with the glamazonian Elvia Lahman (click here to their Kickstarter page to donate - the world needs more fancy pants in it!).
Photographs by Landon Metz.
Lingerie by The Loved One.
Bottoms by Hannah Metz & Alexandra Grecco.
And well, if that (and those curvy bottoms) didn’t convince you - Justin Timberlake even knows who they are. I’m sorry, but if The Trousersnake even knew my name, I think I might die of a teen-crush-coronary. Let alone what he has to say about them:
“The thing is, in this day and age, this blog is pretty much as close as we can get to a Shakespearean love sonnet...
Like if their blogspot pages had a smell, they would be vanilla and the smell of baked apples and wood that may have drifted from your grandmother's apartment. Or maybe cinnamon in a hot totti.
In other words, it is sweet but not saccharine, comforting but not cloying. It makes you want to fall in love and/or escape into their world.”
Like if their blogspot pages had a smell, they would be vanilla and the smell of baked apples and wood that may have drifted from your grandmother's apartment. Or maybe cinnamon in a hot totti.
In other words, it is sweet but not saccharine, comforting but not cloying. It makes you want to fall in love and/or escape into their world.”
I couldn’t agree more, Justin :-)
I’ll leave you with a very cute portrait of my cat Sophie and I that Hannah sweetly drew when I told her I was planning a post on her & Alexandra. Oh, did I not already mention that she’s also a talented illustrator in her own right? Yep, she can draw too.
I’ll leave you with a very cute portrait of my cat Sophie and I that Hannah sweetly drew when I told her I was planning a post on her & Alexandra. Oh, did I not already mention that she’s also a talented illustrator in her own right? Yep, she can draw too.
*sigh*
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oh wow, this is so lovely, thank you!!
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My pleasure, Hannah!
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