Jewelry Crush: Tom Binns

If I could date a piece of jewelry, it would without a doubt, be a Tom Binns piece..so yummy!Straight out of Northern Ireland, this master of jewelry design knows how to make real pieces of art. Since he graduated in 1981, he's been heavily influenced and inspired by the Dada movement, which began during WWI and concentrated on anti-war politics through a rejection of the popular standards in art through anti-art cultural works. Tom's collection of "Object Trouves" was revolutionary, and his collaboration with Vivian Westwood and Malcolm Maclaren began his "Punk Couture" collection...a unique and fabulous style, which he is now so well-known for.

I first began to really notice Binns' designs popping up all over magazine spreads and on celebs' necks on red carpets (including our first lady MObama), just this past year...and I've been drooling over every single piece he's designed ever since! He has a number of different collections, which you can view extensively on his website, however my ultimate favorite is his Couture Collection (surprise, surprise). I mean, absolutely exquisite, magnificent, one-of-a-kind, to die for luxury jewels...bananas! My ultimate favs are the necklaces, I love a good statement piece, and if you're looking to make a statement, please..do so with a Tom Binns original! Admire the provided photo montage of his beautiful masterpieces, and head to his site to see all the other goodies he's whipped up! j'adore

http://www.tombinnsdesign.com/

Vogue Italia's Wraps up 2009 with Twitpic Cover Story

The media has caught a peek at the upcoming 2009 cover of Vogue Italia, which has a much different look to it than the traditional front page photo. The cover is a collage of models, shown taking pictures of themselves. These photos are supposed to be an ode to Twitpic, the Twitter picture application that allows users to upload pictures to attach in their tweets. Even the type on the front page is in twitter font style and format. Models featured include Kasia Struss, Lara Stone, Natalia Vodianova, Christy Turlington, and an about-to-pop Gisele Bundchen (who chose to not shoot her baby bump for the editorial). This is not the first time Vogue Italia has payed tribute to a new digital media trend, Steven Meisel devoted the Jan. 2007 issue to webcams and YouTube. Surprisingly, the cover seems to acutally have turned out looking pretty cool (much better than Vogue USA's horrifically photo-shopped November issue...so bad..). Models around the world have really embraced the use of Twitter, and TwitPic has allowed these beauties to show that they are not only good at being in front of the camera, but they also have some skills behind the cam as well. Way to keep with the times Vogue Italia, embracing social media... j'adore! (or, as they say in Italian, "amore")