Brides On My Mind

I love designing jewelry for a bride and her bridesmaids.  To be honest, it is one of the more challenging type of projects to take on, but the most rewarding.  I go through small worries or fears for the obvious reasons.  I want everything for the bride to be perfect.  I have had a nightmare where the jewelry breaks and the pearls go streaming all down the aisle as she walks down.
Or maybe since Billy and I decided to skip anything 'wedding' like and eloped barefoot on a beach in Kauai, I don't feel as though I can relate to a bride's stress of wedding planning...and therefore I am out of my league.  And yet I know what it is like to want to look and feel the most beautiful.  To want to feel the most comfortable in yourself when it comes to making such a truly big commitment to your partner in life in one day. 
But on the other hand, I absolutely love helping a woman look her absolute best on the most special occasion, most likely in her life.  I love gathering all the elements of a woman's life, style, and point of view and creating something wearably symbolic.  And of course nothing will be exactly perfect.  Perfection is almost unattainable with each detail for a bride and the wedding, like a painting that will never be quite finished.  Small mishaps could and most likely will occur in any event like this.  But what is perfect is all of the details of the wedding that come together for those moments that will be cherished forever.  That all the planning and time and care taken makes for such a memorable event for everyone attending (or in my case, not attending).

So here is a toast to my brides to be that I am currently designing for...(and I hope there will more by the way). A toast to love, beauty and a low stress wedding.  And that the jewelry will be as perfect as you are!             

Top 10 Quotes of Style and Fashion

1) If there is harmony between ITSELF and his own BODY, a STYLE will born.
2) When you don’t feel to dress means that you are depressed.  You need a FASHION SHOWER.
3) If you like to be relaxed, you will never get the LOOK.  Fashion is always UNCOMFORTABLE!  (I respectfully disagree)
4) NO matter the size of your body!  FASHION to flatter every figure
5) Wear just NIGHT-CLOTHES in daytime.  It is UNEXPECTED!
6) Color me! ACCESSORIZE me!  shock me!
7) FASHION is such stuff as DREAMS are made on…
Fashion is a MUSE, you must seduce her.
9) Shall we dance? take your MUSE to dance, fashion loves music.
10) So between FASHION and STYLE?  Absolutely FASHION… is less pretentious, is authentic.
FASHION is declaration of own freedom.

Words of Wisdom from Anna Dello Russo

Thanks Grandma!

 

I recently got to take part in a very fun photo shoot with Johnny Truong Photography in San Rafael California.  The main goal was to have fun, create some fashion and jewelry shots and add to my model portfolio.  I haven't done a lot of studio shots before but had a blast jumping in front of a fan in heels.  This was one of my absolute favorite looks of the day.  I had decided to wear a beautiful nightie as a dress that my Grandmother Betty had passed along to me.  I'm not exactly sure as the age of the piece which came accompanied by a long lace trimmed robe, but in could be in the range of 30+ years old.  The fact that it reminded me of more of a vintage dance dress was what inspired me to wear it on the day of the shoot.  Thanks to whatever poly type blend of fabric the dress was made, of created wonderful shapes in the wind!

A Little Surprise

Toujours in San Francisco is one of the most amazing little boutiques you'll find in the area.  I've been lucky to have known the owner for over 15 years now and have been the stores model on select occasions for over 10 years.  This fun photo was from the Fillmore Streets fall walk to showcase select high end stores in the area.  It was actually quite a hoot to see the reactions of passerbys once the reality hit that it was not a mannequin in the window but a live person.  I was free to move in subtle ways as I liked and it was a blast to crack a smile at an unknowing shopper.

Love is in the air

Walking around the neighborhoods of my hometown on a beautiful spring day reminds me of the simple things.  The beauty of nature never has trouble showing its splendor.  Just when we all thought the miserable cold, damp times of the holidays would keep us indoors for months...the sunny weather joined us.  For the past few weeks the warm and mild days have drawn out people and flowers alike.  Allowing us all to breathe the freshness and soak in the sunshine.  The colors of the camellias and magnolias I have seen so much of these days certainly inspire my next jewelry creations!  

It's all coming together.

Well hopefully you aren't looking too carefully, but I will be honest to say it's been nearly 3 years since I started this blog!  I'm not sure why I never continued until this day...but I have finally reached the technology age where my website, facebook page and now blog are linked together.  I never thought I'd end up with all of these pages but they each have their own special purpose.
I feel like I have finally figured out this blog can be my outlet for all of my passions and interests...though there's a number of things I could add to the list.  We shall see how it goes...
Thanks for visiting and please check back soon!
http://ajasmart.com/

Fall 2008