Pristine memories

When you still love something ten odd years after first laying eyes on it, then you must know it is something truly special; a rare love affair, a timeless classic. I discovered Elsa Smith‘s heavy, bold jewellery when I began working at a jewellery boutique in Vancouver when I was fifteen. Knowing her personally I respected her work even more as I learned of the intense craftsmanship and love that went into creating the pieces.

She was doing two finger rings and crazy shapes long I first met them, her aesthetic was something ahead of the times -always designing against the current while simultaneously disregarding it. Her Jet line of curved geometric shapes is still so fresh today, the Jet bracelet in particular is a favourite piece of mine; the ingenius clasp links one shape into another in such a way that it can only be opened/closed at a particular angle so there’s no risk of the tragedy of loss.

I loved the pieces then and I love them even more now, perhaps because the hard lines are something I have grown into and have come to really reflect my tastes. There was a pyramid spiked ring in a tiny size 4 that lingered in the shop for years because of it’s miniscule size which I wore at the boutique nearly every time I was worked that I still regret not having bought.

Beautiful memories and the sense of regret -oh what a wistful combination. If this jewellery is capable of conjuring up such feelings, it truly is a remarkable line.

The show that got away

Cat Power solo at the Spectrum on July 2, but count me out – because I didn’t couldn’t get tickets. Boo. I am able to monitor my eBay auctions with such consistency, but don’t have the prolongued attention span to check the web for tickets. To my chagrin, I heard too late that they released an extra slew of standing room tickets last week, but I heard on Sunday and by then they too were gone.

I feel like Charlie Bucket after he learned the last Golden Ticket was found by a rich Argentinian. Hopefully I’ll have the same luck and perhaps learn that the venue has been changed to accomodate the demand. Fingers crossed. I must go scour Craigslist.

I’m sure the show will be breathtaking. She’s the greatest.

How deep is the ocean

(Olivia Morris paint-by-numbers boot as featured in Nylon Magazine, March 2003)

I have started a new category entitled, ‘the one(s) that got away’, in honour of those beautiful creations that I’ve let slip through my fingers over the years.

In this first installment, I recall the Olivia Morris DIY collection with the paint-by-numbers boot and sandal. This boot was featured in Nylon‘s March 2003 issue – at which time, I probably marvelled a resolute, “COOL!” I lost a couple eBay auctions from Australia on the sandal version (one auction wasn’t even my size) sometime after seeing them in Nylon, and I have been searching for them in vain since. It is almost as if they have vanished without a trace, the few made probably stashed in the deep closets of a few lucky shoe-lovers, destined to be rarely worn but highly prized, and never would their owners consider getting rid of them – to my dismay.

I couldn’t even find an image on the internet of the hallowed DIY “blank canvas” boot she did from the same season. I thought to myself, “She should re-issue them,” but then came to the conclusion that some things should be kept in the past and quietly pined for, gaining a kind of folkloric status over time. These shoes certainly would be deserving of that.

Since then I have carried on, settling for a lesser but no less worthy object of affection: a pair of bronze t-bar flat sandals from her s/s 2005 collection (that I’ve worn to death and even had resoled already).

Ah, love, in its many incarnations, invariably contains an element of tragedy, doesn’t it?