Lanvin for H&M

Love, love, love Lanvin collection for H&M!!! In store from today (... and I'm sure will sold out very soon!)

images all H&M

Festive tartan and a giveaway at Rue!

Already this time of the year when it feels so good wrapping ourselves in a warm plaid and swapping florals for tartan! That's a nice thing about winter!
The Tartan Gigi purse was featured in the holiday issue of  Rue magazine. Rue is an inspirational design magazine launched this summer by founders Crystal Gentilello and Anne Sage.

And guess what! There's also a chance to win a bagatelles & co goody of your choice with a $55 gift certificate as a giveaway!!! For details, check out page 295 of Rue magazine.

Almost 500!!!

Hurray! bagatelles&co’s etsy shop is approaching its 500th sale!!! Yay!

Thank you all for your trust and support in bagatelles&co!!!

We want to celebrate with you by offering our 500^th sale for free!

How does it work?

The lucky buyer who gets our 500th sale at www.bagatellesandco.etsy.com will get 100% refund for their purchase:

* Valid for the 500th sold item only (not for the whole order if you buy more than 1 item)

*Refund will exclude shipping cost

*Refund will be issued to you via paypal within 24 hours from your purchase

*To benefit from this offer, the transaction must be completed with payment due right away (this is the only way to make sure you are the 500^th)

bagatelles&co in Get Married magazine!

Hello!
Thank you all for your lovely messages about my etsy featured seller interview!!!
It's been a blast!
While I'm trying to catch up with orders, here is a nice feature of my Confetti Lili clutch on the Winter issue of Get Married magazine!
This clutch is now sold out but I still have 3 left of the coordinated Gigi purse. This is a very popular one, so I expect it to go fast...

Etsy featured seller!!!

Heee yes it's bagatelles&co's turn to be the featured seller on Etsy today!
Thank you Etsy!

I was quite thrilled when I received the news from etsy admin this summer. So exciting to be part of this great feature! I read each interview and have always been inspired and motivated by previous artists featured. It is an honour!
The hardest thing was to keep quiet all this time! Pheww...

New collection!

Et voila! The new collection is now ready. I already listed some of my new designs in my etsy shop, but there's more to come over the next few days....
For this season, I'm introducing new sizes:

• the Kitty mini coin purse, the tiniest of all.
• the Fifi medium clutch, a smaller alternative to the Lili, coming with pleats or simple.
• the Lizzy clutch bag, a roundish bag, inspired by the twenties, with an additional chain strap.

Kitty mini purse

Fifi clutch

 Fifi clutch

Lizzy clutch bag

Photos credits:

Photographer: Emma Innocenti
Make-up Artist and Hair Stylist: Stephanie Stokkvik
Model: Zoe
Styling: me

Back to blogging!

Oh la la, it's already been three months since I last posted in this blog.
I got litterally overwhelmed by the growing amount of projects and as my shop was also getting busier, I completely lost track of this little blog. As the time passed, I found it more and more difficult to come back to it...
But I was missing it, and now that I managed to improve my organization and sort out a few work things, I'm back to it, and this time I hope more seriously!

So since July, lots of wonderful things have happened:
I became an aunt for the first time (yay!), have been designing and cutting a range of outfits for a new doll clothing company (will be posting some images as soon as their website is completed), my little shop was featured in a number of lovely blogs (thank you so much to all the blog owners who liked my work), as well as in Daily Candy (re-yay!) and have been working on a new collection and organized another photo shoot...
While when starting this company, I knew it would require a lot of work, I must admit I wasn't prepared for so much work! This past year, I became not only designer, but also seamstress, product photographer, marketer, pr, accountant, merchandiser, sales manager,  and so on!!! It has been really great to learn more about all these fields and feel very grateful, even though I find it difficult at times to juggle them all...
I realized I needed to organize much more my work as well as my work space, and try to do one thing at a time in order not to stress out too much!

And now, here is a sneak peek preview of behind the scenes of our shoot last week:

Stella McCartney resort collection

Stella Mc Cartney Resort 2011 via Nancy Z (images from Style.com)

I love the contrast of the big bold retro flowers and the ultra neat and sharp cut. It makes for a very strong statement! I wouldn't say no to a few of them!

Happy Fete de la Bastille!

Today is Bastille Day, and it's bank holiday in France. I remember when I was living in Paris that every fireman station was holding a great party on Bastille Day eve and these parties were somewhat the talk of many many young (single) Parisienne! I never attended one myself, but I did go to a "Bal populaire" on the Place de la Bastille (where the famous jail used to be). There would be accordionists and other musicians dressed like in the 30s playing typical Bal musette songs, and people would dance and dance around all night... Many people would go dressed in retro attires or even wear the little cocardes (little paper/fabric flowers with blue/white and red stripes). And of course, all this would be followed by beautiful fireworks on Bastille Day!

I came across this amazing work on Design Therapy. The artist exploded and contained live fireworks on paper, resulting in burtst of saturated color overlapping into abstract compositions.

Check out Design Therapy for images of artist Rosemarie Fiore in action and a video where she explains her process.

I could really see this as stunning prints on silk!!!

Happy Happy!

Lanvin bridal book

My friend's wedding was a great success! And I finished the dress on time, yeah! I was a bit stressed that it wouldn't fit perfectly as my friend is pregnant and we couldn't know for sure what would be her exact measurements... But as it happened, our guess and calculations proved right, and the dress fitted perfectly! The bustier part is in fact a "corset" type of bustier, with boning and interfacing to shape it and support the chest. The outer fabric is a beautiful handpainted tulle; I used meters and meters of it!

Sneak peek of the work in progress in my studio.... This is the slip with petticoat, realised with tons of cream and white tulle. It was quite a thing to cut it all and sew it together on my small sewing machine!

I'm back in London now and working on several new projects, including some new bag designs for this autumn...

A promising weekend and a lovely feature

I can't believe it's already the end of June! This month has gone so fast, I even didn't have time to do half of what I had planned, but I'm really grateful to everyone who chose to trust bagatelles&co and to all the wonderful bloggers who featured my work in the past few weeks! Speaking of which, I had a lovely surprise over the weekend to see my Azulejos clucth featured in pretty pretty blog Creature Comforts.

One of my best friend is getting married this weekend in Paris, and guess who's making her dress? ... he he it's me! I have only a few days left to make sure it's all fine and fitting well... (oh stress!)  and to complete my last orders for the month. I'll be leaving for Paris in a couple of days, I can't wait to meet up with all my friends and family, and of course, cherry on the cake, to see my friend wearing "my dress" on her big day! I'll be posting photos of the dress when I'm back next week...
On this note, I leave you with some pretty wedding inspiration found on Pinterest...

via decor8 on Pinterest

via green wedding shoes on pinterest

via project wedding on pinterest

... and my Azulejos clutch in Creature Comforts ( unfortunately sold out by now...)

We Make London Summer edition

Oh la la !!! It has been so busy this week that I completely forgot to mention I was participating to  We Make London summer craft fair tomorrow...

I will be mostly selling my little brooches and Gigi purses, although I'll still bring along a few of my bigger bags. There will also be cute bows made of Liberty fabric to wear as a brooch...
Etsy is the main sponsor and will be organizing a raffle so it should be fun!
I know it's really hard to think about staying indoors on a Saturday afternoon with such a nice weather but it should be a nice event with lots of nice Designer/Makers ( 80!!! can you believe it!!!?)
Anyway, I'm looking forward to it!

Coeur de Pirate

Since I recently discovered Coeur de Pirate, I've been listening to them everyday! This particular song keeps humming in my head... I love the lighthearted retro feel to it... Perfect to start off the week!


Coeur de pirate || Ensemble from Dare To Care Records 

Summer is coming...

Cannelle et Vanille

Princesse Tam-Tam

Butter London

Oh Miss Flower!

Beautiful photos by Bo-Lee for Vogue Korea via the Fashion Post

I love everything: the colours, the flowers, the accessories, amazing styling and the girls are so cute!

Pretty things: feeling crafty

via Oh Happy Day

via butterflyfoodie

diy pom pom via once wed

Nadinoo

Today I would like to share with you the work of one my favourite Etsy designer: Nadinoo
Nadia, the designer behind this cute label kindly lent me some of her pieces for my photoshoot: here, here and here.

"Celebrating the lady from era’s gone by, Nadinoo invites timeless silhouettes and detailing to create it’s vintage felt collections. Designs include boastful bows, flirtatious frills and beautiful bell shapes in sumptuous silks and cottons from Liberty of London prints."

So here she tells us a bit more about her and her work:

Where did you grow up and where do you currently live?

I had grown up between Lancashire, England and Tripoli, Libya; I currently live in East London.

What, if any, formal training have you had in fashion design/dressmaking?

I studied a 4 Year Fashion design and Technology degree at Manchester Metropolitan University.

What do you find is the most challenging in your work?

Fitting everything I need to do into my day is always tricky, I still haven’t managed a full weekend off this year.

What three words spring to mind when you think of your lovely clothes?

Pretty, Cutesy and Playful..

Where do you find your inspiration?

Everywhere really, I don’t think I ever switch off as I’m inspired even by my dreams on the occasion. I love scouring vintage stores and flea markets through dusty rails to find forgotten treasures, I’ve found so many pretty detailing and silhouettes that filter through into Nadinoo designs. I like my collections to have a hint of inspiration from all my favourite eras, so there is a little something for everyone.

If you could be a piece of clothing what would it be and why?

I think I would be my big Velvet Orange hat with fruit on it, I think it’s nuts but makes me smile when I wear it :)

5 things you love?

* My Fiancé

*Fish & Chips

*Books

*Cups of tea

*Sunshine

What is your favourite material?

I love working in cotton it is so nice to handle cut and sew giving you a perfectly finished garment each time.

What does the future hold for you and your shop?

We hope to open up our first Nadinoo boutique in London early next year with adjoining atelier. I have really enjoyed the contact and conversations we have had with our customers over the internet but to do it in person will be even more fun!

Fore more info, Nadia's website and lovely blog...

Summer in Purple!

I was having fun this morning matching some of my bags/purses with real clothes... here is the result!

From left to right and from top to bottom:

Hoss Intropia Violet Dress

Pink Flower Detail Hair Clip

Purple Paisley Gigi purse

Dalila flat espadrille sandals

Jovonna Bib Layer Dress

Hoss Intropia Yellow Fabric Bracelet

Confetti Gigi purse

Diane von furstenberg shoes

Cream/Purple Floral Frill Playsuit - Playsuits/Jumpsuits -...

Hoss Intropia Petal Brooch

Pink Flowers Mimi handbag

Floral Undertones Wedge

Purple haze...

Some new purple designs in my shop...

Oh and last week, lovely Joy featured my little Gigi purses in her inspirational design and fashion blog Oh Joy!