poeta documenta

Paper Things, Part II

2010-01-18T12:35:00.000-08:00

Visual Poetry: paintings by photographer, painter, multimedia artist Linda Plaisted

Paper things, Part I

2010-01-09T06:22:00.000-08:00

I'm a stationary and paper addict, going back to 2nd grade and that wondrous big indian chief pad of ruled paper, just waiting for a novel to emerge. (Did I mention I wrote a sequel to Gone With the Wind in 4th grade?)

So chic book and journal covers:
Book City Jackets

Other paper lovelies for bookish types at:
McMaster & Storm
for Grande Paper Notebooks

Chic, Sweet, and a Bit of Glitter

2009-11-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

Rose Mille

125 Main Street South

Stillwater, MN 55082

Shop web at rosemille.com

Velvet Dress, La Belle Epoque

2009-09-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

Vintage lace from Lacis, ivory velvet, crushed satin....oh, and hours of beading...

Selvedge Magazine, an art director's dream

2009-06-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

Selvedge Magazine, published in UK, is an exquisite, eclectic magazine that explores—in high art and tactile detail — the craft and influences of this rarefied world...and the stylish musings in art and literature that inform fashion culture.

Vintage Blue and White

2009-06-21T05:00:00.001-07:00

Scene from my bedroom: Pale blue wall, my mother's mirror with her picture tucked inside, victorian heart pendant (fragile filligree filled with dusty velvet), off-center portrait in a tin frame of girl with bow in hair, tiny white box with a vial of my grandmother's perfume (Tabu), contact sheet nude of pregnant me, and a sprig of lily of the valley.

Daughter as Muse

2009-04-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

I am currently making my daughter's prom dress, and she is the most difficult client of all! Celebrities aside, teenaged daughters -- especially those who are much more worldly and sophisticated than me — make for quite a discerning clientele. But her beauty melts me.

A Dress for Courteney Cox-Arquette

2009-01-29T13:37:00.000-08:00

After a lost weekend of watching Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, and a season of empire gowns on the runway, we created an inspired white gossamer dress, replete with fresh water pearls and vintage crystals with corset lacing at the wrist, an empire waist and the slightest train of crinkle tissue georgette. I happened to mention that I thought it would be perfect for Courteney Cox — in that pale regal yet spunky gamine sort of way. A friend of a friend of a friend of Courteney Cox-Arquette told me to pack it up and she would see if she could get it in front of her stylist. I packed this particular gown up, plus another simpler black chiffon slip with deep teal chiffon overlay, and off they went in a custom Poeta box -- the packaging as gilded as the gowns themselves. And then I didn't think much about it, just hoping I might see the dresses again someday if she decided not to wear the dress. (We were always sending expensive one-of-a-kind dresses off for photoshoots, never sure if we would ever see the dresses—and all those hours of beading—again.) About a month later, I came home and turned on the answering machine to this message: "Hi, this is Courteney. Not sure if I have the right number, but I have your lovely dresses here, give me a call....."

See Willoughbyphotos.com for lovely archival images of Audrey Hepburn from My Fair Lady

A Girl After My Own Heart: Caroline Keith

2009-01-18T05:44:00.000-08:00

c keith vintage is a clever and poetic line of body care: Coriander Citrus, Green Lavender, and Heirloom Garden. The travel kits will be gifts for everyone I know this year, too darling not to give away en masse.

Holiday style, pale and snowy

2008-12-22T05:50:00.000-08:00

Still life from photoshoot in Bonnots Mill, Missouri

2008-11-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

Reviewing instructions with my patternmaker for a gown...

2008-11-07T12:06:00.001-08:00

Elle magazine photoshoot following release of the movie Titanic, 1997

2008-10-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

Since Poeta had a bit of the air of the Belle Epoque, right around the premiere of the film Titanic (noted for detailed costumes) we got a call from an editor of Elle magazine to do a photoshoot for a story around vintage-inspired clothing. Here are some raw images from that day of shooting. We flew in family friend/dancer Jennifer Hanna and recruited the stunning waitress from Gelato Vero on India Street in San Deigo to be our models. Joel Beeson is the photographer. As a documentary photographer, Joel was gracious to consider fashion photography as a favor to me, and it was his insistence that we use non professional models in the documentary style that makes his work so lovely.

How To Bead a Dress

2008-10-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

Vintage Swarovski beads, Czech, Venetian, and Japanese delica beads, seed pearls, freshwater pearls, silk embroidery threads, French silk tulle, charmeuse, chiffon, and hand-dyed vintage lace

Places Where Women Create: Poeta's Studio in San Diego

2008-10-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

One of Poeta's first photoshoots, inspired by Deborah Turbeville's Bath House 1975 series for Vogue

2008-10-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

With friend Lori Nichols, photographer Joel Beeson, and a Holga camera, we headed for the empty train yards of Birmingham, Alabama to shoot our part Deborah Turbeville , part Sarah Moon - inspired vintage scene.

The poem of the body as it moves through light

2008-09-30T16:02:00.000-07:00

In 1994, I started a company called Poeta. It began as a fashion company — romantic, sweet, a little bit bohemian/grunge inspired (I still love all that silkscreened, beaded, distressed grunge high fashion from the 90s, Ghost, Alberta Ferritti...).I had a generous benefactor who brought me this whispy gray, black and mauve tri-tiered chiffon slip with a little cropped organza shift from Soho, a confection of a dress. I wanted to make hundreds like it. Paul Poiret was a notable influence, both in style and substance -- he had a marketing model by which he presented haute couture work to clients through a theatre of alluring promotion. Poeta's intentions were similar: to create a landscape of poetic style with intricate promotions, beaded samples, hand-tinted photographs, vintage styling and an evolving poetic narrative. This is some of that early work.