Love, Lulu Mae is a couture line of vintage and vintage-inspired hair accessories – and they are all feathered. Each piece is hand crafted by designer Agnes Miles in her Chicago studio. Agnes is inspired by “the strong and glamorous women of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.” To keep that spirit alive, Agnes uses vintage fabrics and brooches whenever possible. Many pieces are one-of-a-kind, and custom orders are welcomed.

Love, Lulu Mae’s accessories run the gamut of modest (like the red and black hair clip I am modeling) to the more flamboyant (like flapper and Frida Kahlo-inspired headbands). Recently, they launched their Bridal Couture service, where they will work with you to design a custom headpiece for you – even incorporating your own heirlooms into the piece. Had I only known about them for my own wedding – I may have been enticed to wear a veil!

Lulu Mae? We love you right back.

LoveLuluMae.com

Photos from Style.com

Chic Gems – Pearls are classic, but expensive. Chic Gems offers a wide variety of… well, chic jewelry, using semi-precious stones and high-end materials. We love the pieces using glass pearls – all the glamour, a fraction of the price. Pieces are customizable, too. Through May 31, Chic Gems will be holding an online trunk show, with a portion of proceeds going toward breast cancer research. At checkout, enter the code TEAMA. 20% of your purchase price will go towards sponsoring Team Assassin in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Plus, you will get 10% off your purchase. Help them reach their $40,000 goal!

Spark Designs – Check out Spark Designs for something a little more playful. Spark Designs uses fashion and horror movies as inspiration, and the results are a girly look with a punk edge. Somber cameos, crystal-adorned skulls, and vintage tattoo-inspired designs make up the Spark collection.

Kristinit – Beautiful dresses. Sexy without being slutty. Retro without being old-fashioned. We love Kristinit’s designs – but we also love their design ethic. Fabrics are organic and sourced from indigenous communities around the world. Designs are hand-sewn in Los Angeles or outsourced to fair-trade artisans in Brazil. Kristinit also donates a percentage of profits to organizations
like the Pachamama Alliance and One Percent for the Planet.

KC Tees – KC Tees is a line of graphic tees and tanks that are emblazoned with original, positive Latina-inspired images. Simple graphics make Spanish words for “Beauty,” “Faith,” “Hope,” “Love,” and “Strong” really pop, and it is a great – and inexpensive – to say you find her “Encantadora” (enchanting).

Passport Panties – Perfect for carryon luggage, your gym bag, or your purse, the Passport Panty is a pair of panties tucked discreetly into a faux-croc passport case. Don’t be caught off guard when your date goes better than expected. The base set comes with a pair of panties and a cleansing towelette. Other passport sets pack necessities like manicure kits, chocolate, breath mints, and body lotion.

Jewelry by Rosalina – If you hit the lottery this Valentine’s Day, consider a piece from Jewelry by Rosalina. Sold exclusively in select Neiman Marcus stores, Rosalina’s exquisite jewelry is hand crafted in gold and platinum, and studded with precious gems. As you can guess, this stuff is pricey, but we are in love with the animal-shaped cocktail rings. Rosalina has also teamed up with Grammy-winning songwriter Jamie Jo Harris to create a unique interlocking heart key pendant, with proceeds going to the Diabetes Research Institute.

Shashi – Inspired by an Indian tradition that sees similar bracelets given as a blessing, Yuvi Alpert and Danna Kobo created Shashi bracelets. These unisex bracelets take childhood friendship bracelets to the next level by offering a wide variety of color and crystal combinations to create a look unique to your personality.

Heidi and Scooter give us the run-down on their line.

Tell us about your background. How did you get started designing?
Heidi decided against becoming a doctor in favor of attending fashion school in LA while Scooter, a commercial SCUBA diver, decided to begin a career in aerospace in LA. We met, got married, and started Blue Platypus clothing after doing a couple of costume design projects and an internship.

What is the philosophy/inspiration for your line?
Our goal is to create custom garments. We employ custom sewing, dyeing and printing, and featuring 100% original graphics on our original silhouettes. Also, we love the fact that we produce everything right here in Los Angeles. Our quality is superb.

We have many inspirations. We love vintage art, album covers, mid-century furniture and color combinations of different eras. We love textural elements and try to incorporate many of them, like flocking and foil, into the line.

How did you come up with “Blue Platypus”?
We wanted something memorable and intriguing. The platypus, it turns out, is an extremely interesting animal– it’s an egg-laying mammal with fur (very unusual), the female has a poisonous spike on the back of her hind legs (can kill a small dog), and the platypus just generally seems like a wonder of evolution. We feel it mirrors our unusual approach to things– yes, we’re a t-shirt line, but it’s more than that. We wanted to combine wit, whimsy, wearability, and a childish sense of wonder in our pieces.

Do you have a favorite piece>
Probably the Dandylion. She is our classic flower/afro girl. We have done her in 1-, 2-, and 3-color flocking, woodgrain, polka dot, paisley, and now florals…

Who are your favorite designers?
Our favorite designers include Ray and Charles Eames for their fantastic furniture and textiles; Nanette Lepore; Oilily for their use of color; and Ben Sherman for men’s stuff. We also love Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry’s architecture.

What is coming up for you?
Some cute trompe l’oeil pieces with flocked bows, collars, sailor details, and foil sailor buttons, and more crazy Dandylions and paper-cut inspired artwork.

With price points starting at $20, Blue Platypus tees are a great piece of couture that fits any budget. Head over to Blue-Platypus.com to order yours.

• If you are going to make a direct donation, do it to the Red Cross. They are one of the most trusted charities in the country.

• Kid Dangerous Grime Couture in Los Angeles has created this special T-shirt that “builds upon the Haitian flag, featuring the Haitian coat of arms.” All proceeds will go to One Dome at a Time, a charity that was co-founded by Haitian musician Won-G to provide safe, green, and clean housing. Right now they are working on rebuilding Haiti.
• Josie Maran will donate 50% of cosmetics sales to Red Cross Haitian relief through the end of January.
• Jewelry designer Carlee Santarelli will be donating 100% of all sales to Haitian relief funds. In addition, she is in the process of designing ID jewelry for boys and girls should future disasters hits.
• Refinery 29 and The Luxury Spot both have lists of fashion lines and shops that are donating portions of their sales to Haitian relief.
• Mix My Granola will donate $5 to earthquake relief for each special Haitian pre-mix they sell.
• Through February 15, perfumery Bond No. 9 will donate 10% of sales to earthquake relief.

Know of other fundraisers? Leave us a comment!

We don’t usually do a lot of news pieces here on Spork, but this article – which has been making the rounds on Facebook – just nauseates me.

I dislike H&M, but this is downright despicable. Who is with me on a complete boycott of H&M?

About New York – Clothes Discarded by H and M in Manhattan Are First Destroyed – NYTimes.com.

The Box Bra was developed to keep your expensive lingerie safe and stylish while traveling. Shaped like a bust line, the Box Bra is made of hard EVA nylon with molded cups for your molded cups and is designed to keep your bras from getting crushed, twisted, or otherwise mangled while residing in your suitcase. An interior pocket has room for perfume, sunglasses, and other fragile belongings. My favorite part is the removable divider insert that can be used to hang and dry bras and swimsuits.

It’s a great idea, but in this day of high baggage costs, it’s not 100% feasible. I do my best to only bring carry-on luggage when I travel, and the Box Bra takes up a lot of suitcase real estate. That said, it is great for longer trips where you are going to check baggage anyway. It is also great if you have mastectomy prosthetics that you wish to travel with. Additionally, there is a molded handle at the top to make it easy to take along to the gym or a club. Personally it is a little too risque for me to want to carry around, but it is super-cute. All the Box Bras are themselves decorated in bras that are pretty enough to wear. My favorite is the frilly Pink Allure (shown here).

Box Bra is currently available in five designs and can be purchased at BoxBra.com

Luxe Knits: Couture Designs to Knit and Crochet by Laura Zukaite
Knitting isn’t just for grandmas anymore. This collection of designs are youthful and stylish. “Shawl Sweater” mixes heavy and light yarns for a graceful drape. “Butterfly Sweater” takes a basic sweater and adds a head-turning design. “Cowl Tank” is something that could have stepped out of a Nanette Lepore collection. “Lacy Halter” is simple in the front, party in the back. This book is not a knitting tutorial, so newbies may want to wait a bit.

Born-Again Vintage by Bridgett Artise & Jen Karetnick
Talk about going green – this book offers some great ways to reinvent wardrobe pieces that don’t fit or bore you. The book is divided by season and offers projects from easy to experienced. An old turtleneck and skirt become a sleeveless slipdress. A sweatshirt and a tunic combine into a high-waisted skirt. A skirt and a scarf become a strapless blouse. An old blazer becomes a corset-style belt. Some of the ideas are a little lackluster, though. A knit cap over a baseball hat becomes – shock! – a cap with a visor. A long jacket can be turned into a cropped jacket – but the example they give isn’t even flattering on the model. Overall, Born-Again Vintage is a great place to start your DIY career.

Switch Craft by Alison Lewis
Go techno-chic with these 20 projects that make your fashion functional, too. Each project has an experience rating for both the craft and tech side, as well as an estimated cost level. A chapter at the back gives you all the basic tech skills you need for the projects. Some highlights: a beaded cuff that lights up; a pillow with a headset in it, allowing you to hook up your phone and talk late into the night in comfort; a tote bag with removable speakers; a hoodie with secret iPod and ear bud pockets; a laptop bag that lights up when you are near a wi-fi hot spot; a voodoo doll that vibrates when you stick a pin in it; a chair cushion that lights up when you sit on it; an evening clutch that lights up when opened; a skirt swirled through with electroluminescent wire; and much more.

The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry Making Techniques by Vannetta Seecharran
Rather than giving you a list of projects to copy, this book offers you a step-by-step guide to every jewelry making technique you can think of – and a whole bunch you probably can’t. Cutting, piercing, and filing metal are pretty standard, but I have never heard of pickling, quenching, and annealing metal. The book is separated into chapters by material: metal and wire; plastic and rubber; fabric, fibers, and leather; paper and paper pulp; and “other” (wood, glass, concrete, ceramics). A great place for beginners and experienced jewelry makers alike.

101 Wire Earrings by Denise Peck and Chain Style: 50 Contemporary Jewelry Designs by Jane Dickerson
These volumes are focused on metal jewelry; specifically pieces that use wire and beads. Both offer a brief chapter on technique, but the emphasis is on step-by-step instructions for creating specific projects. These are great for beginning designers who are just discovering their style and learning technique.

My Wonderful World of Fashion: A Book for Drawing, Creating, and Dreaming by Nina Chakrabarti
This massive book is like a coloring book for grown-ups. There are page after page of half-done drawings for you to complete and color in. Patterned shoes and intricate henna drawings beg for color. The empty outline of tote bags, bows, and tights scream to be patterned, with cues and ideas written above. Completely blank pages ask you to draw things like the highest platforms in the world. For anyone desperate to create but lacking in a lot of the technical skills, this is the perfect distraction.

Felting for Kids by Gry Hojgaard Jacobsen and Sif Hojgaard Hoverby
These simple projects are great for adults or kids. They can be created with pre-made pieces of felt, or, for more fun, you can make your own felt out of old sweaters agitated in hot, soapy water. The book offers complete technical instructions, with patterns for dozens of projects – everything from baby mobiles to slippers to tote bags to throw pillows to plush toys.

For the fashionista… we love XCVI Wearables. We have featured XCVI here before. Their pieces are soft and cozy, and have flattering fits and unexpected details that take their pieces way beyond everyday loungewear. Right now, we are relaxing in the Bodice jacket, which has 3/4 sleeves, a ruched front, and a beautiful lace-crochet panel on the back. It’s still cold out, but we already have our eyes on the Spring collection.

For the eco-concious… we love Playback Clothing. Rather than just going organic, Playback makes all their apparel with at least 70% recycled materials – and may are 100% recycled. Their hoodies are made out of recycled fabric scraps from other factories that would otherwise go in the garbage. Their tees are so soft you would never guess they were made of recycled RET bottles – but they are. Head over to their website to learn more about their process, their business practices, and their ecological mindset. While you are there, pick up something cozy to wear.

For opening presents around the tree… we love Stellina. These super-soft ringspun cotton jammies are designed to go from bed to errands and back again. While we do not condone never changing your clothing, just because you just woke up doesn’t mean you have to look like it. The pants have an elastic waist rather than a drawstring, so there is nothing to tangle yourself in. The top is slightly fitted for that flattering blouse fit while still being cozy. The coolest thing are the sleeves, which are designed to be easily bunched up after too much eggnog has warmed you thoroughly!

I am fascinated by Twisted Silver’s new Tapestry bracelet. The slender cuff bracelet is made entirely of brass, yet it has the subtle look and texture of heavy woven tapestry.

Twisted Silver doesn’t shy away from heavy metal, and you shouldn’t either. We have teamed up with the jewelry brand to give away one of their newer creations: the Hinge bracelet. It’s big, it’s bold, it’s shiny. It’s certainly not delicate.

One lucky winner will receive a Hinge bracelet – give it away or keep it as a holiday gift to yourself. Go ahead – we won’t tell.

Not the lucky winner? You can still buy these and more at Twisted-Silver.com