For those of you that didn’t know, 90 is the new black. With chic, edgy fashion blogs like Advanced Style showing us older New Yorkers rocking killer style, the kind of personal style that most of us are not even capable of embodying at this stage in our lives, some of us wannabe fashion mavens in the younger set (under 90) are feeling a bit left in the dust.

Iris Apfel, one of today’s most current and unexpected style icons is quite the talk of the town. After the success of her 2005 Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition displaying her vast, eclectic collection of clothing and accessories, Rara Avis (Rare Bird): The Irreverent Iris Apfel, the self proclaimed geriatric starlet’s image and presence has been in high demand.

Since the Met exhibit, Iris has modeled for the 2008 Coach ad campaign, designed a line of jewelry for HSN and for the über-hip Yoox.com, launched a makeup collection for MAC cosmetics, and has been filmed for a documentary by filmmaker Albert Maysles of the critically-acclaimed Grey Gardens.

In addition to those feats, the very busy trendsetter’s presence has been requested as guest of honor for numerous highbrow fashion events in the last year. And although she is retired from her former 9:00–5:00 of co-owning the renowned Old World Weavers textile firm with her husband, she is still constantly on the move, consulting and lecturing across the country on fashion and related topics. We would need a ginseng smoothie and some caffeine pills to keep up with this woman.

Apfel has the kind of personal style that will stop people in the street. She says that her mother “worshipped at the altar of the accessory” and thus she “got the bug.” Iris finds the accessory to be the most important part of her wardrobe—and it would be easy to make this assumption at a quick glance. She is known to often layer chunky, beaded necklaces and stack bangles of all shapes and colors on both arms from wrist to elbow. Her iconic extra-large, round, thick-frame glasses are her signature stamp, making everything she wears that much cooler. Apfel loves ethnic apparel and adornments, and has picked up most of her beloved pieces while traveling across the globe.

A New York native, Iris grew up in Queens, the daughter of two local business owners. Her mother ran a fashion boutique and her father owned a glass and mirror business. Raised in a household with an appreciation for the finer things, Apfel naturally chose a career focused on the arts and design. Studying art and art history in college, her first job out of school was an apprenticeship as a copygirl at Womens Wear Daily for mere $15 a week. She didn’t see much of a chance of moving up the ladder at WWD and found that interior design would be a bit more lucrative. Iris followed in the footsteps of her parents and began her own firm.

After working on several projects, she noticed that she was having a difficult time finding the fabrics she kept imagining for her designs. It was at this point that she and her husband Carl decided to launch the legendary textile firm Old World Weavers. During this time period, she served as the interior decorator for 9 presidents in the White House. (And Carl by the way, is also quite stylish—a couple peas in a pod, these two).

Iris and Carl’s three-bedroom Park Avenue home in Manhattan is a clear reflection of the adventurous, cultured, and elegant life they have built together. Intricate brocade fabrics as well as antique furniture, art and accessories from around the globe fill every square inch of their posh pad. Like all of her garments, every item in her home exudes her personality. As she puts it, “throughout history clothes represented who you were; they are a great vehicle for explaining who you are.” 

It makes us happy to see such an accomplished individual receive so much praise and attention for her looks and style, even so late in her years. As we are currently living in a world that is so youth-obsessed, it’s refreshing to find an inspiration in someone like Iris. We can’t wait to see what this true original does next.

And if you aren’t familiar with Ari Seth Cohen’s Advanced Style blog, we highly recommend you take a look. An Advanced Style documentary is in the works, set to debute this summer, and if features our girl Iris! Please take a momet to watch the trailor below. We are totally digging how whole heartedly Cohen is embracing the fashionable endeavors of New York City’s older set. Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWKTfqivbRQ

Katherine Tyznik.HighStreet.New York

It is the time of year when blustery blue Winter ever-so-slowly recasts herself into the green-breath of Spring.… a moment when we might feel the pull to run off to an exotic land and reinvent ourselves as well. New York-based designer John Robshaw has a knack for inhabiting this type of fantastic life transforming adventure on a regular basis while developing and producing his exquisite hand-printed textiles. One minute he is block printing his designs with local artisans in Japuir, India, or perhaps sipping Turkish coffee in Beyoglu, the next he is dancing in the Philippines with T’boli Sikat Schoolchildren — teaching them painting techniques and donating books to encourage reading.  Robshaw’s keen eye mixes and matches multi-cultural influences to create block-printed bedding and textiles that are modern in spirit and globally soulful. So if you can’t get away from your office deadlines for a few months, no worries. India need not wait. Robshaw brings the breadth of his traveler’s lifestyle beautifully into your home. And, of course, we carry a lovely array of his adventures in gorgeousness right here at your favorite store, HighStreet.

Twig Terrariums

Terrariums are THE hot trend in the interiors community these days. As the rejuvenating spirits of Spring near, now is the perfect time to delve into this rediscovered phenomenon. The clamor for these creations is in part due to their broad appeal — a hybrid of fine art, biology, design and horticulture. This crossover essence is why — as you may very well guess — HighStreet people do dig them. These labyrinthine concoctions satisfy prevailing trends of locavore, Victoriana, and found-object. “In a laboratory of living design, we conjure art and science to create unusual living objects of wilderness — inspired by far-away landscapes both discovered and imagined.”

HighStreet currently carries a collection of fabulous terrariums by local artist Amy Bogard. We would be remiss; however, to not mention that these wee little worlds represent a realistically attainable DIY project. Do not be intimidated, after all these objects are simply re-purposed old apothecary jars, dusty light bulbs, moss, twigs and figurines, right? Best of all is the fact that even the most concrete-encased urbanite can collect the majority of required materials during a quick stroll around the block — no consumerism needed. From the humblest of beginnings, whether refined or whimsical, most anyone can create a visually stunning, independent and self-sufficient microclimate.

As previously mentioned, terrariums are not a newfangled craze. The prosperity of Victorian era Britain resulted in many women and men with much spare time on their hands. One of the egalitarian hobbies of the time was collecting plants — particularly ferns. Like many greenery-obsessed Victorians, Nathaniel Ward was a London doctor by profession who had an intense enthusiasm for botany.

Installation by Paula Hayes

Dr. Ward’s plants, particularly his ferns, were having difficulty surviving the polluted air of 1820s London. It was intensely frustrating for a passionate collector to not be able to keep the plant of the moment alive. While puzzling over the problem with his ferns, Dr. Ward noticed that the plants placed in his covered insect jars (for studying moths and caterpillars) were actually taking root in the soil. It was a moment of clarity — Dr. Ward realized that his miniature greenhouse could actually protect the plants enough so that they would thrive. Soon after his display at the Great Exhibition in 1851 London, where he flaunted a vibrant fern that had not been watered in 18 years, a Wardian Case (the precursor to the modern terrarium) was promptly nestled in every decorous home.

Terrariums enjoyed a revival in the 1970s in America — picture kitschy and kooky giant brandy snifters dangling in macrame hangers. The creations of today, in contrast, possess a cool and sleek sophistication. Nathaniel Ward could not have dreamed of the fantasy worlds birthed by Paula Hayes, the “high priestess” of terrariums.  Having elevated them to objects of art with her ethereal creations, she is generating some serious buzz in today’s design industry. Hayes, originally from Concord, MA, is an artist who has showcased her works in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide. Her pieces have been seen in The New York Times, Artnet, Elle Decor, Interior Design, Garden Design, Vogue Living Australia, and more. What we love about her work is the modern approach of blurring the boundaries between indoors and outdoors while creating magical atmospheres. She refers to her primordial little worlds as verbs rather than nouns.

Although most famous for her exquisite, high-end art terrariums of organically shaped, handblown glass — her affinity for all things green extends to full gardens as well. She has created over twenty full gardens for private clients around the country. Hayes’s popularity among art collectors and the public has swelled dramatically over the past few years. Her installation in the lobby of MoMA, Nocturne of the Limax Maximus, garnered much critical acclaim and landed her a feature on CBS Sunday Morning.

What really sets the modern terrarium apart from its’ predecessor is the functionality that artists are bringing to the work. A prime example of this concept can be seen in the Furnibloom line, clear plexiglass furniture, designed by landscape architect Dagný Bjarnadóttir, that cleverly houses plants of all sorts.

Furnibloom

Terrariums make wonderfully thoughtful gifts and are smart weddig centerpieces.

These terrariums are surfing the wave of  interest in handmade crafts and do-it-yourself fever. Workshops are popping up in cities across the globe. Some of the better resources available online that provide instructions and inspiration are The Slug and The Squirrel, Twig, and Botany Factory. We at HighStreet believe that these multifarious little art objects are stunningly seductive. It also seems that the creative process wondrously soothes our need to nurture while offering fantasy and escape.

That is no small feat.

So if you didn’t know, there still are many artists out there making amazing music videos. We think it’s such a shame that many of these videos don’t receive the proper exposure they deserve.

Check out the latest from Arcade Fire. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains), is beautifully directed by Toronto based Spy Film’s Vincent Morisset. It’s set in the suburbs, and feels like a mash up of a zombie movie, an avant garde fashion show, and a contemporary art film. What more could you ask for in a music video?

Arcade Fire didn’t just make a cool video for all of us to enjoy. They also made it interactive. If you go to the video’s website, you can play the interactive version, where you can dance along with the video. The faster you dance, the faster the people in the video move. So go on, get your zombie on.

HighStreet.Cincinnati.

There was something really sexy about the Industrial-Victorian Era.

We’re not sure if it was the laced corsets, the candid facial hair, or perhaps simply the excitement of an ever-evolving world, but there was something attractive about this period of constant discovery. Turn-of-the-century science-fiction novelists capitalized on the rapid pace at which society was transforming and so descriptively gave life to visions of “the future,” we are still intrigued– 100 years later. Our generation seems to have tapped into a nostalgia for the futuristic devices and aesthetic of the 19th century, a nostalgia that has seeped into all aspects of modern design. In the spirit of H.G. Wells and H.P. Lovecraft, the style of “steampunk” (also referred to as the New Victorian) celebrates the Victorian Era on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution. This romanticization of the era is evidenced in reinvented turn-of-the-century fashions, retrofit electronics, and interiors with gizmos and gadgets a-plenty.

One such interior is the converted-warehouse Chelsea loft of American Filmmaker, Jeremy Noritz. Inspired by his own research into the birth of photography and aviation during a time when “strange blimps floated gently through the sky against early industrialized landscapes,” Noritz created a zeppelin-inspired world all his own. Described as having a Jules Verne meets Tim Burton sensibility, the apartment’s main features include a 32-foot long technicolored zeppelin suspended from the ceiling and a green deep-sea submarine entry door. Lining the walls are gears, gizmos, and gadgets, some decorative and others functional– like the intricate pulley system that lowers a Murphy bed from the wall.

While we admire his enthusiasm — and without question, would love to rock out in a space that cool– we also appreciate steampunk in smaller doses. Industrial statement pieces can be just the thing to contrast a clean and modern look; The raw materials and machine-forged detailing from eras past stand out against a polished contemporary backdrop, casting them as both functional and sculptural elements. Pieces such as a Dickensian drafting table or copper wash tub could stand alone as art, their intricate and whimsical  mechanisms speak for themselves.

We adore Madame Voila’s (Katrien Van Der Schueren) “Handelier”, an avant garde chandelier handcrafted from perforated vintage aluminum glove molds. With a 12″ old-school Edison bulb suspended inside, light sparkles through the punctured holes in the aluminum and dances around the room. Completely genuine, there is nothing else like it– both because it was made from reclaimed materials and because, well, only Madame Voila could pull it off.

Therein lies the beauty of the Industrial Age: it was an age of exploration, invention, and experimentation that was reflected in the advances in machinery, making the impossible, possible. Man had only dreamed of such crazy notions as flying, or exploring the ocean floor, and here was a time where these dreams came true– it’s easy to see why we’re homesick for a time where such “magic” took place.

 Sarah Pytlik. HighStreet. Cincinnati.

BIRTHDAYS: April Eighth, which is why my new kid’s music project is called “April Eight.” There is no doubt that I am an Aries Aries Aries for better and for worse.

WORK: I write songs and I sing them– it is pure joy and I have finally allowed myself to commit fully to doing it. My harmony music project with Laurie Burnham and my brother James Combs is called Honneycombs. My song “Little Moon” was placed on HBO’s True Blood last summer.

HOME: Columbia-Tusculum.

MOTIVATION: The word motivation for me feels like pushing a boulder of projects up a gigantic hill.  I worked so hard for so long pushing that boulder that now the mere thought of it makes me want to take a nap. Now the only way I can move forward on anything is to feel completely 100% compelled to do it — like a wild horse couldn’t stop the flow of inspiration spurting out of me.

OBJECTS OF AFFECTION: Well, I’d really rather not do without my spectacular husband, Michael Mann, and my sweet girls, Lyla and Mia. Nama Rococo Wallpaper. Eames Design: The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames. Pintrest.com. Cream Puffs from Take the Cake. Gina Weathersby photography — Kiwi Street Studios.

OTHERWISE OBSCURED FACTS: Most people in Cincinnati have no idea that Michael and I used to be in a raucous alt-rock band, Arson Garden, back in the last 80’s/early 90s. We toured all over the US and Europe, record at Prince’s Paisley Park, John Mellencamp’s Belmont Mall and at Pachyderm, where Nirvana made their last album. We also did a Peel Session for the legendary John Peel on BBC Radio 1, were on MTV and played Lalapalooza. It was seriously FUN!

MY HIGHSTREET: Is it too cheesy to say that HighStreet makes me feel like I’m still part of the rest of the world? The aesthetic is so smart and so gorgeous.  I’m always surprised, delighted and amazed when I walk through the doors. And the wondrous book section — thank God for the book section! Having done the International Contemporary Furniture shows in NYC with my sister Karen, I am pretty up on “Design”. HighStreet makes it all fresh and relevant to the Cincinnati home. I don’t know how they do it, but I love that they do and that they do it right here in Cincinnati, Ohio. We are so lucky to have them!