Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Driftwood and Shingle

I'm a big fan of vibrant colour, regal purples, garden greens, hot spice route colours of turmeric and saffron, the peacock blues of Iznik tiles... you name it. Gorgeous saturated colours.

However, lately I've been increasingly drawn to quiet colours. The shades of pebble beaches, slate and flint, grey-green dry garden succulents and sun bleached shingles and driftwood.







I always think of these colours as European colours, colours that work with the cool grey light of the Northern Hemisphere. Colours that probably work their best here in Winter, rather than the hot gold light of an Aussie Summer. But I'm curious to experiment with some of these colours, maybe in the form of bleached linen and faded grey denim. Lightweight cotton or linen scarves knit in pale yarns with interesting textures. I think a mixture of textures and subtle patterns is key to working with these sorts of quiet colours.


Photo collage by the very stylish and talented Camille of Childhood Flames


Fashion by Nygårds Anna


Japanese silk and stainless steel knitting yarn at Habu

Now that I have the space for a spare room to sew in, a new (vintage) mannequin to fit on, and ideas rattling around in my head, I might spend some time this Spring and Summer making some things for myself to wear.

6 comments:

Michael said...

I was just looking at pics from the Marc by Marc Jacobs show this morning, and thinking that I can't wait for Spring! Of course, barely Autumn here.....

Lightweight cotton or linen scarves knit in pale yarns with interesting textures.

That sentence makes me tingly.

Mel said...

You're right. Those colors are so very Maine.

The Other Andrew said...

Tingly? That's you in a nutsack. I mean shell. Nutshell.

:)

Cecilia said...

As always, gorgeous pictures--and I'm not even a quiet colour kind of person!

Looking forward to seeing what you create. Are you going to get into Habu?

The Other Andrew said...

Cecilia, I think it's a yes to the Habu. I really want to try the stainless steel yarn, I love the effect. I have a couple of big Christmas gift projects to make though, so when I'm not sure! :)

Anonymous said...

I want that Nygards Anna outfit; greys are my colours. Christmas is coming up ;-p