Winifred Wikkeling http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog On Things of Beauty Thu, 31 Jan 2013 23:36:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Was it Lais or Jean Paul? http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2013/01/31/was-it-you-lais/ http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2013/01/31/was-it-you-lais/#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2013 23:35:38 +0000 Winifred http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/?p=1202
At first we were struck just by her.  The eyes, the lips, the hair, the colors against her skin.  We were even struck by her form, and how there seemed to be something conspiring about it.  As if she were daring us to stare, to drink her in.  Like some forbidden elixir.  Stare we did, first at her, and then the clothes.

Lais Ribeiro for Jean Paul Gaultier

The draping, the fabrics, the sensuousness mixed with the appeal to our gypsy sensibilities.  Then came another surprise – accessories.

Yasmin Warsame for Jean Paul Gaultier

Stronger than we would normally like, but so feminine, still refined.  Armor, but of the seductive and mysterious kind.  The mood suits us.  Couture swept us…

]]> http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2013/01/31/was-it-you-lais/feed/ 0 In praise of the hat… http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/12/13/in-praise-of-the-hat/ http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/12/13/in-praise-of-the-hat/#comments Fri, 14 Dec 2012 01:10:24 +0000 Winifred http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/?p=1195

A Stolen Life

There are three obsessions we have not yet shared with you:  Hats, Bette Davis, and classic films.  We love it how all three come together in the beautiful stylings of Orry Kelly in A Stolen Life. There is the structure, the texture and the angles.

A Stolen Life

A dramatic look, made all the more dramatic by expressive eyes that deliver as much of the dialogue as anything else…we are obsessed with that. We will share more of that.

]]> http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/12/13/in-praise-of-the-hat/feed/ 0 The Fisherman of Saint-Louis http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/11/25/the-fisherman-of-saint-louis/ http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/11/25/the-fisherman-of-saint-louis/#comments Sun, 25 Nov 2012 23:11:57 +0000 Winifred http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/?p=1190 Vivian Sassen is in her photography, interested in raising questions, she says. 

We questioned the effect that her photograph had on us.

The fishermen of Saint-Louis by Viviane Sassen

via NY Times

We are riveted by the tangled legs, the colorful clothes, the endless water.  The shadows even more marvelous than the men giving it shape.  We are transfixed, our eyes traveling the image over and over, stirring us with an overwhelming and turbulent beauty that washes over us, pinning us in our seat.  We don’t know what it means to us exactly, we know it feels personal and that with every glance we feel at once joyous, satisfied, tranquil, surprised, and always grateful.

]]> http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/11/25/the-fisherman-of-saint-louis/feed/ 0 Super Cuts http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/11/13/super-cuts/ http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/11/13/super-cuts/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:53:11 +0000 Winifred http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/?p=1178
It was the Chanel Couture show that awed us with the possibilities of paper…
Katsuya Kamo had taken two of our favorite things,
flowers and hats,
and used paper to create beautiful and unusual forms.
Via Hatsmate
We love that Ingrid silakius has stretched our imagination once again, with Super Cuts for T- magazine.
Via New York Times

What if we commissioned a super cut of our logo?  Two Ws interlinked.  Throughout there would be the cuts of different shapes; a hand fan, a tiger tulip and a silhouette.  The silhouette would be of us.  We would be wearing of course, a hat.



]]> http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/11/13/super-cuts/feed/ 0 Lotus Dome http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/10/22/lotus-dome/ http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/10/22/lotus-dome/#comments Tue, 23 Oct 2012 02:31:01 +0000 Winifred http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/?p=1170 The Lotus Dome is made out of hundreds of aluminum folded flowers which unfold in response to human behavior.  Positioned in the shadowy interior of the Sainte Marie Madeleine Church, the flower leaves remain motionless, that is up until a visitor approaches. Initially, they open up one after the other, letting their light glow from inside.

Lotus Dome by Studio Roosegaarde

Via Yatzer

As they walk around it, the light of the invisible, almost living creature, breathing in and out, obediently follows them around, casting intricate reflections around the dark church’s walls.

Opening up, letting one’s light glow…perhaps the Dome ought teach us about that.

]]> http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/10/22/lotus-dome/feed/ 0 À une Dame créole http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/27/a-une-dame-creole/ http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/27/a-une-dame-creole/#comments Mon, 27 Aug 2012 17:15:05 +0000 Winifred http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/?p=1168

In the perfumed country which the sun caresses,
I knew, under a canopy of crimson trees
And palms from which indolence rains into your eyes,
A Creole lady whose charms were unknown.

Her complexion is pale and warm; the dark enchantress
Affects a noble air with the movements of her neck.
Tall and slender, she walks like a huntress;
Her smile is calm and her eye confident.

If you went, Madame, to the true land of glory,
On the banks of the Seine or along the green Loire,
Beauty fit to ornament those ancient manors,

You’d make, in the shelter of those shady retreats,
A thousand sonnets grow in the hearts of poets,
Whom your large eyes would make more subject than your slaves.

~ Charles Baudelaire

]]> http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/27/a-une-dame-creole/feed/ 0 Decadence http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/23/decadence/ http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/23/decadence/#comments Thu, 23 Aug 2012 21:39:44 +0000 Winifred http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/?p=1164 It requires 23,000 spiders to produce 1 ounce of silk.  Spider silk is in fact, the finest silk, and was no longer produced after the 19th century, until Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley decided to revive the art of weaving it.  Three years and 1.2 million golden orb weaver spiders later, from the highlands of Madagascar, came this:

It would be greedy for us to covet an entire cape,

but if we had an audience with Messrs Peers and Godley,

we would gently request a hand fan,

with a tassel dangling from its nape…

Via Yatzer
]]> http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/23/decadence/feed/ 0 About Face http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/10/about-face/ http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/10/about-face/#comments Fri, 10 Aug 2012 18:32:01 +0000 Winifred http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/?p=1149 All the faces were there, Beverly, Christie, Paulina, Isabella, Pat…The photos stunning, the memories even more so.  But one stood apart from them all.  One was as alluring, captivating, dramatic and as glamorous as the photos promised.  The shock of platinum blond hair, swept to the side, the waves fanning out, yet trailing her.  Her face, prominent, announcing itself, regal in its every expression.  The elegant hands, long delicate fingers, perfectly long fingernails – shade of polish, nude.  A pinky ring (we adore them)!  The black shirt, unbuttoned, multiple strings of necklaces cascading from a long, erect neck.

At the end, wearing a checkered bell sleeve coat, she twirls, a perfect, ballerina-like, twirl.

To be a woman has never looked more beautiful.

Carmen Dell’Orefice
Photos via NY Times, Daily Mail

]]> http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/10/about-face/feed/ 0 Eiwit Zeep http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/03/eiwit-zeep/ http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/03/eiwit-zeep/#comments Fri, 03 Aug 2012 20:59:46 +0000 Winifred http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/?p=1142 We had heard rumors.  It was not only one of our favorite food items, it was also beautifying.  Stir, apply, let it harden, then rinse.  That is what we heard.  But we found it messy.  It seemed the kind of effort one makes once, but can never quite work into a routine.  But suddenly, it appears, there might be a way.  Moisten, lather, then rinse.  No drip, no cracks, no drying, no waste.  Wouldn’t it be delicious if perhaps it also had a nice scent?

Eggwhite Soap

Via Everbrite Mercantile Co
]]> http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/08/03/eiwit-zeep/feed/ 0 Biomimicry http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/07/23/biomimicry/ http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/2012/07/23/biomimicry/#comments Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:50:39 +0000 Winifred http://www.winifredwikkeling.com/blog/?p=1131 We have to admit this particular trend never quite swayed us.  We did not find it elegant or even feminine and were shocked at how some we have admired seem to have latched on to it for life.  We save our most ardent disapproval for those over 5′8 who rather than becoming statuesque, appear simply to be in drag.  The platform heel has for us reached a level that can now be considered nothing short of vulgar.

So, for sometime now, we have chosen to avert our eyes, to cross this blight on fashion out of our field of vision - to see no evil.  For us, these have ceased to exist.  Except for one moment, when we slowly, with fingers covering our eyes, allowed ourselves the quickest peek and discovered, that our obsession with 3D print design, can turn even us skeptics, us who have vilified and called for burnings at the stake,

Biomimicry Shoe by Marieka Ratsma and Kostika Spaho

by Marieka Ratsma and Kostika Spaho

into lovers…

Via Dezeen
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