Tufted Furniture like 1800's

Time and Life, Getty; John Chillingworth, Getty; Knoll; Herbert Gehr, Getty

It goes from old-school glam to modern chic, boudoir shots to Grey Gardens -- this trend fits in anywhere.

Before searching for tufted furniture on eBay for The Inside Source, we took a look at where the trendlet came from.

Its Roots: Where exactly did tufting begin? Could it have been a whim of a bored seamstress who brought her needle and thread inward? We know that it was popular enough in the 1800's that an actual apparatus for tufting cushions was patented in 1899. And that in 1901, House Beautiful recommended the style as perfect for low long couches: "Stuffed until they look positively apoplectic". (Attractive, no?) Like any good trend, it's also spent time on the outs -- an aging Edith Wharton referred to herself as "the literary equivalent of tufted furniture and gas chandeliers" after hot young thing F. Scott Fitzgerald sent her a signed copy of The Great Gatsby in 1925. Luckily, only four short years later it was back in vogue: Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe debuted his Barcelona chair, turning glammy, luscious tufting into an icon of modernity. And since then it's been a staple in chic homes and movie star portraits (our faves: Leslie Brooks and Helena Rubenstein).

Sweetiepie; AMC; Peter Stranks, HBO

Seen in: One of our favorite New York City restaurants SweetiePie, where the walls are lined with electric pink tufted banquettes. It can be seen on the cover of House Beautiful magazine's July/August issue, as well as in Sex and the City-writer Candace Bushnell's Manhattan apartment, as featured in Elle Decor. Tufting is also a favored look for movie and TV sets -- we think the most famous luscious tufted headboards belong to two very different, very iconic families: the Beales of Grey Gardens and the Drapers of Mad Men.

Loved by: Gwyneth Paltrow, to start. While she may not have included any girly tufted pieces in her temporary Nashville home,the mom of two is a fan of the cotton-candy sweet tufts; "Sweetiepie is my favorite find for grown-up/kid hybrid paradise," she wrote in the GOOP newsletter. When it comes to designers, the list of fans is long but certainly topped by Kelly Wearstler, known for her over the top Hollywood Regency rooms. And of course, like all trendlets we cover, tufting is loved by ShelterPop! Amy has a tufted sofa and headboard while Allison has her eye on a few tufted pieces from Urban Outfitters -- yep, they've got some stylish stuff. Our not-so-secret feelings have led us to cover DIY tufted headboards and a cactus chair.

Want to see more amazing tufted furniture pieces? Check out The Inside Source for more of our eBay favorites!

Then check out our past collaborations with The Inside Source here.

http://www.shelterpop.com/2010/07/15/tufted-furniture/?icid=main|main|dl5|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shelterpop.com%2F2010%2F07%2F15%2Ftufted-furniture%2F

Janet Jackson Fur Controversy

Janet Jackson's Blackglama Fur Fall 2010 Ads Upset PETA

by Katie Hintz-Zambrano (Subscribe to Katie Hintz-Zambrano's posts), Posted Jul 16th 2010 at 6:10PM

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Jackson snuggles up in black mink for Blackglama's Fall 2010 ad campaign. Photo: Courtesy of Blackglama

After tapping a string of models (including Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Gisele Bunchen) to front its most recent campaigns, furrier Blackglama is back to using celebrities for its classic "What Becomes a Legend Most?" ads.

This year's girl: singer-actress Janet Jackson.

The 44-year-old superstar joins a list of Hollywood elite, such as Audrey Hepburn, Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Liza Minnelli, Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, and Lena Horne, who have starred in the black-and-white ads during the past four decades.

"If someone would have told me later in life that I would be alongside such legendary entertainers, I would have never believed it," Jackson said in a behind-the-scenes interview at New York City's Milk studios, where the campaign was produced. "When we did our first shot, that's what was going through my mind."

Showing off her newly cropped hair and signature sky-high cheekbones, Jackson wears several all-black ensembles with pieces of black mink, which the star holds up to frame her face in most of the shots.

Of course, this being fur Jackson is wearing, PETA has already issued statements on the matter.

"You told me that you were always aggravated at photo shoots when stylists would try to throw fur on you and that you were even wary of wearing fake fur out of concern that it might actually be real or look real in photos and send the wrong message," PETA Senior Vice President Dan Matthews wrote to Jackson in a letter obtained by Black Voices.

"You were very straightforward and sensible about it. What happened?"

Jackson herself has stayed mum on the issue, instead choosing to talk about what the campaign means to her.

"What makes a legend, to me, is someone who has made a major mark on the world that lasts forever. Not just with their art, but for example, Elizabeth Taylor is a legendary actor, but [there is] also her humanitarian efforts, working with AIDS and AIDS research," she says. "That, to me, is what really makes someone a legend. I have too much to accomplish to consider myself a legend."

Expect to see Jackson's Blackglama ads in the September issues of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and W, among other fashion magazines, as well as on a billboard in Manhattan's Times Square.

In other news, check out Pamela Anderson's new ads for PETA, which were deemed too hot for Canada.

Lebron Heat

Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley Question LeBron's Move

7/19/2010 1:07 AM ET By Jerry Bonkowski

Michael Jordan said Sunday that in his prime, he would not have done what LeBron James did by joining up with some of the other greats of his era on one team.

"There's no way, in hindsight, I would've ever called up Larry (Bird), called up Magic (Johnson) and said, 'Hey, look, let's get together and play on one team,'" Jordan said during an interview on NBC after playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada (photo right).

But, Jordan added, that was a different time and the NBA played a different type of game during his heyday.

"Things are different," Jordan said. "I can't say that's a bad thing. It's an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys."

James left the Cleveland Cavaliers after seven seasons to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat. While many believe that move has elevated the Heat into the team to beat in 2010-11, others aren't quite so sure, particularly since James will have to share the ball much more with his new teammates than he did during his time with the Cavs.

Much like the Bulls were Jordan's team when he played, the Cavs were James' team. Now, he'll be part of a multi-star team that some believe will not be able to coexist and share points and minutes equally.

Jordan, who is now chairman of the Charlotte Bobcats, led the Chicago Bulls to six championships in the 1990s. James announced on July 8 in a nationally televised hour-long special that he was leaving Cleveland and "taking my talents to South Beach (Miami)."

In an interview last week on a Miami radio station, TNT analyst and former NBA star Charles Barkley criticized James' move to Miami.

"He'll never be Jordan," Barkley told radio station 790 The Ticket. "This clearly takes him out of the conversation. He can win as much as he wants to.

"There would have been something honorable about staying in Cleveland and trying to win it as 'The Man.' "

Barkley later added, "LeBron, if he would've (stayed) in Cleveland, and if he could've got a championship there, it would have been over the top for his legacy, just one (James' being the Cavs' big star) in Cleveland. No matter how many he wins in Miami, it clearly is Dwyane Wade's team."

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/07/19/jordan-barkley-question-lebrons-move/?icid=main|main|dl4|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fnba.fanhouse.com%2F2010%2F07%2F19%2Fjordan-barkley-question-lebrons-move%2F

Little League Coach Hero

First-Class Little League Coach Meets Tragic End

7/18/2010 7:31 PM ET By David Whitley

• • National Columnist

Darin McGahey did not intend to die a hero. He was just a regular guy who liked to do regular things.

That's how he ended up at the beach that day. McGahey was a youth-league baseball coach, and his team had traveled from Georgia to Florida for a big tournament.

A few kids got caught in the Navarre Beach surf and started yelling for help. McGahey couldn't have known what would happen next. He just did what came naturally and dived right in.

"He loved to help kids," his brother, Jeff, said.

He helped pluck them out of the water. Then the waves swept him away.

"Man, I can't tell you what a tragedy this has been," said Bubba Smith, a USSSA tournament director.

It's been tragic for McGahey's family, of course. And tragic for all his friends around McDonough, Ga.

It hasn't been tragic for the rest of us. It is a shame that it takes a hero's death to appreciate people like McGahey.

"He was just a simple guy," Jeff McGahey said.

He loved baseball and the Alabama Crimson Tide. He was a pretty good pitcher in high school, just not good enough to get noticed by scouts.

So like millions of other guys, his dreams of being a sports star were replaced by the reality of hustling for a living. He became an electrician. It was a good living, but the 42-year-old McGahey wanted more for his wife and three kids.

So he had 10 rental houses around McDonough. Keeping them up took a lot time, and what leisurely hours he had went to baseball.

Like Little League parents, Little League coaches sometimes get a bad name. But for every power-mad man stuffed into a polyester shirt who thinks he's Tony La Russa, there are hundreds of guys like McGahey.
He coached every spring and summer. This year was special because he got to coach his 11-year-old son, Noah.

Like Little League parents, Little League coaches sometimes get a bad name. But for every power-mad man stuffed into a polyester shirt who thinks he's Tony La Russa, there are hundreds of guys like McGahey.

They spend countless hours teaching kids lessons about sports and life. They spend their vacation money on equipment and pizza and gas. All that, and parents sometimes still ream them for not batting Little Jr. in the cleanup spot.

If McGahey had that kind of problem, you wouldn't know it.

"He was just one of those guys that you never heard a negative word come out of his mouth," Smith said. "And you never heard a negative word said about him."

The irony is that if McGahey hadn't been such a good coach, the Locust Grove Razorbacks wouldn't have been in Florida. He was an assistant for the All-Star team, specializing in teaching kids his old knuckleball tricks.

They had to get through qualifying tournaments to make the USSSA 12-and-under World Series near Pensacola July 7-11. The website showed pictures of a little boy playing with a shovel and pail in the sand, gentle waves rolling ashore, and two baseball players hugging after a big win.

It all looked so harmless. But when the surf kicks up just a little, the undertow is tricky. A few days before a local man had drowned trying to save two teenagers caught in the surf.

It was about 6 p.m. on July 7 when a handful of players ventured into the water. Lifeguards were off-duty at that hour, and the boys found themselves being pulled into deeper water. McGahey and a few other adults ran in to get them.



The kids actually had found relative safety on a sand bar. As they were helped back to shore, McGahey said he wanted to make sure nobody else was out there.

"Then he got caught in a riptide," Smith said.

McGahey was a decent swimmer, but the natural reaction is to paddle directly toward shore instead of swimming parallel to get out of the current.

"They were yelling at him to swim at an angle," Smith said. "A large wave came on and toppled him over. He must have swallowed a lot of water."

He bobbed to the surface about 25 yards farther out to sea. He was unconscious when rescuers got to him. They administered CPR on the beach, but McGahey never regained consciousness. More than 500 people showed up at his funeral last week. His brother placed a neatly folded Alabama football flag in the casket, along with a Crimson Tide scarf and golf ball.

All the little Razorbacks showed in their uniforms. It's hard enough for grownups to make sense out of these things. How must it have been for a bunch of 11-year-olds?

Hopefully one impression they took came from Smith's eulogy.

"If we all treated each other the way Darin McGahey treated everybody," he said, "the world would be a better place."

If only we could all be such regular guys.

http://www.fanhouse.com/2010/07/18/first-class-little-league-coach-meets-tragic-end/?icid=main|main|dl4|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fanhouse.com%2F2010%2F07%2F18%2Ffirst-class-little-league-coach-meets-tragic-end%2F

Renowned street artist Banksy tags Detroit, ignites controversy — Autoblog

Renowned street artist Banksy tags Detroit, ignites controversy — Autoblog
It's just a little graffiti, and yet its existence has caused a firestorm of legal wrangling as to who actually owns the work and the building that once housed it. Seems rather odd, until you take a closer look at who is responsible, where it was created and why it exists in the first place.

The Location

Of all the derelict buildings filling the city of Detroit, one of the most famous is the former Packard automobile plant. As much as the city of Detroit would like to do something about the the 3,500,000-square-foot facility, nobody seems quite sure who owns the dilapidated building... nor is there any consensus on who should foot the bill for the massive clean-up project... (click link to title above for full article..)

Banksy's graffiti before it was removed from the Packard plant – Click above for high-res image gallery

Kylie Minogue sells halter dress for AIDS charity

AP – Australian singer Kylie Minogue attends to the Amfar dinner, in Paris, Friday, June 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Thibault …

By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Associated Press Writer Jenny Barchfield, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jun 26, 7:48 am ET

PARIS – Kylie Minogue proved that in the name of charity, she's capable of selling the shirt off her back.

The petite Australian pop star auctioned off her black halter dress at a swanky AIDS benefit Friday night on the margins of Paris' menswear week. The Jean Paul Gaultier number, which bristled with little plissed spikes, fetched euro20,000 ($24,770).

Other lots included a lambskin vest by California-born designer Rick Owens and a 1980 photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe titled "Leather Crotch."

The soiree raised $180,000 for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), a nonprofit organization that supports HIV/AIDS research.

Held in Chez Maxim's restaurant and club in central Paris, the dinner auction attracted top names in the French fashion scene, including underwear designer Chantal Thomass, model Mark Vanderloo and Gaultier — the one-time enfant terrible who gave the world Madonna's pointy cone bra.

____

Online:

http://www.amfar.org/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100626/ap_on_en_ot/eu_france_fashion_aids_benefit

Fluid shapes, liquid beauty at Stephane Rolland

AP – A model presents a creation by French fashion designer Stephane Rolland, as part of his Fall-Winter 2010-2011 …

By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Associated Press Writer Jenny Barchfield, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jul 6, 11:30 am ET

PARIS – Stephane Rolland looked to the ocean for a fall-winter 2011 haute couture collection Tuesday of sculptural gowns in deep sea blue adorned by oblong appliques that evoked the smooth, wave-caressed shapes of beach stones.

It was a pared-down collection for Rolland, who last season delivered dresses that bristled with mosaics of plexiglass spikes, like a dinosaur's armor. Where that collection was all hard lines and edges, Tuesday's was about fluidity and liquidity.

Floor-length capes that were built into the long-sleeve sheath dresses fluttered like gently running water as the models walked. The train on a slate-colored evening gown jiggled like liquid mercury.

A short navy dress covered at the hemline and the cuffs by glinting black oblong shapes — made from rhinestone-studded plexiglass — looked like the deep blue sea washing up on a volcanic beach.

Rolland, who is among the most artistic of Paris couturiers, said he looked for inspiration to dancer Martha Graham and to the rounded, hermetic creations of Indian-born sculptor Anish Kapoor, as well as to memories of a youth spent on France's Cote d'Azur.

"As a kid, I collected everything, and I used to come back from trips to the beach with my pockets full of these round stones, whose smoothness I really liked," he told The Associated Press in a preview in his atelier.

Asked if a recent trip to the sea had brought back the childhood memories, Rolland responded. "It's in me, so deep inside me that I don't need anything to jog my memory."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100706/ap_on_en_ot/eu_france_fashion_stephane_rolland