Blogger's Favorites -- Clare Vivier + An Awesome Giveaway

The giveaway -- One of Clare Vivier's awesome wrist wraps... Yep, it's the very same one that was featured in the December Real Simple Magazine.

L.A. based handbag designer/creator and blogger Clare Vivier is pretty much, well... fabulous. I love her personal style, but I'm really in awe of her utter fearlessness (the woman boldly cut her gorgeous YSL boots into booties and the end result was even better than the originals.)

And then there are her bags. Her bags make me swoon. Big time. (If you're a regular reader, you know I've long coveted that killer messenger tote...) They manage to be simple and interesting and luxe all at once -- pretty much perfect.

So yes, her favorites are as cool as she is (Frida Kahlo and French Vogue -- yes and yes.)

Oh and did I mention she's also offering one of her insanely cool wrist wraps (above) to one of my readers. Just leave a comment on this post by Midnight CT Tuesday December 8th and I'll announce the lucky winner on Wednesday!

So without further ado, herewith Clare's favorites. Enjoy and have a lovely weekend!

*****

It was so fun to think about my favorite things and what I wanted to include here today. It should go without saying that my favorite things are my family, especially my husband and my son Oscar and my stepson Simon, but also my parents and siblings; and my friends and things that make me laugh, hiking in LA, good food, Mexican art, Frank Rich and the Sunday New York Times, memories and exciting things to come, but somehow I came up with this list mostly with my day-to-day things I love. But I'm so thankful to Joslyn for having this lovely blog where we can reflect on things we love!



Random home still lifes with flowers, especially dahlias and tulips, stacking books with pom poms or bud vases, catch-alls with odd bits and little things.


Charlotte Gainsbourg. Just. Because.

Artist Sister Corita. Because she was a radical, bad-ass nun who was also awesome with text, image and color.

Frida Kahlo - artist and style icon. And I love the book Self Portrait In A Velvet Dress - Frida's Wardrobe. Priceless inspiration.

Paris Vogue with a Loire Valley wine or espresso, for me is divine.

This is what I'm digging wearing these days: H&M faux leather quilted jacket, YSL scarf and my own remnant winter white leather clutch.

I have been stuck in my black ankle boots phase for a while now and the Marni's (front right with brown foldover) are fulfilling a giant urge these days.

My Tropezienne bag - this one a sample in another veggie-tanned Italian leather. I love the simplicity of the design and the fact that I try to give materials the best format to speak for themselves.

I'm really loving my wrist wrap and the packaging and also just addicted to this picture for some reason. I like that I took it on my desk with a piece of paper taped to the wall and you can see that, I love the way the navy blue ribbon looks so crisp and pretty but the shiny silver leather is a bit out of focus.

I love love love my friend Simone Shubuck's artwork. It is colorful, meticulous, genius, hilarious, precise, insane, skillful and Rain Man-esque - in a good way.

For a little inspiration I can always turn to husband's family vacation pictures from the 70's in Spain. They make me very happy.

My mother just produced a concert of the late cellist, Pablo Casals music in St. Paul, MN. I didn't know who he was until she did this. Now, while we work, my assistant Jocelyn and I like to listen to his music.