Seeing Red

After walking around my local area for about six hours, getting light sunburn on my cheeks and waking up with a horrible searing pain on my shoulders I have resolved never to deliver catalogues again. Though it was good for the fitness, it's not worth all the repercussions. I may just hand in my resume all over the local shopping centres and try my hand at that rather than intense manual labour. And the whole ordeal stemmed from me wanting a little more cash on the side to buy nice things. I guess being money-hungry and just plain greedy can turn you in to a bit of a monster.

In my defence I need to save what money I can before my term deposit matures and also there's a range of book bags I want to buy at the store I work out- they look just like the penguin classic book covers in simple horizontal colour blocking design and they come in purple, green, orange and pink. I want them all! There's also luggage tags to buy, iPhone covers and a whole bunch of goodies I'm planning on making a part of my 'back to school' stationary shopping.

 

While there are several rose bushes and climbers hanging around my house we have never really grown this cheery bright red colour. There's been bright pink, pale yellows, pale yellow with tints of pink at the edges as well as a single dark, deep blood red rose. But I quite like this cheery red colour, a symbol of a high romance- I wish we had roses like this around my garden. Then again I may just be going through a large phase with bright red, I can think of a red bag I want as well as a vintage quilted jumper to match. I've really just got red on the brain.

Another proof of my current madness and love for red is the effort I went to adopt a chair abandoned early for hard rubbish collection- it took a blue lifting trolley and careful balancing to fit the rather large chair onto the bottom and walking down two streets earning myself curious looks to put it away safely in the garage. Unfortunately today it's raining and I suspect there will be some mud on the bottom, the garage has a tendency to flood a lot these days. Still, at least I didn't leave it out about and in the open. It's the kind of chair I've been thinking of buying with a large wing back at the top and an upholstered look. It's only red vinyl and ripped in quite a few places but it also reclines so I'm happy.

I love the drama of red and the holiday spirit associated with it as we are know left in the wake of Christmas 2011, which has left us behind. A colour for boys and girls and I have tried to combine the best of the two together; for example the second photograph of the red lion sweater is a mens sweatshirt but I'm itching to try and get my hands on it for myself. I find great comfort in wearing baggy and loose red jumpers- my Literature teacher once advised me that when one is sick, one tries to cheer oneself up by wearing red. This held true for me when I was sick for about the first time in five years and wore a red jumper I favour quite a lot on my trip to the doctor.

I don't even care that it might be a wig- I love the colour coordination of all red clothing with blue hair lying against a red and blue rug. It's a very healthy and homely look and I wouldn't mind getting a rug for my room when I find the room and the time to rearrange everything. I have the perfect rug in mind- it has a moon on if and it's from Urban Outfitters but it is quite expensive and well- it would be nice to have the space waiting for it before I order it. Otherwise if it's just sitting around and waiting to be used it's a waste really.

Tomorrow I get to catch up with all my high school girls and watch Disney movies and eat garbage junk food! I'm quite excited, I've been really slack and haven't seen anyone since schoolies and it's been even longer since I've seen my closest friend. Luckily everyone else has been much the same and this is our first major gathering I guess since study scores were released and it's the Thursday before our University offers come out on Monday. I expect to hear some lovely gossip and see everyone giddy with excitement. The friend's house we're going to is tripped out with a home cinema, heaps of beanbags and pet ferrets! It will be a very good day indeed.

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of an American Apparel blouse in white and a resin necklace I bought on eBay- you may remember my post about the brand 'This is Make Believe'? Well within just one search I got a red rose necklace for only $60 including shipping. I'm very excited; when it all comes in I'm going to try and have my armchair in my room by then and I'll take photographs of my reading books in it and wearing my red American Apparel cape. So there will be a lot of red around when all that comes to fruition. I could also throw some red lipstick into the mix as well- but I think wearing the blouse and my red rose necklace with lipstick and maybe plain black jeans or slacks would be quite enough colour coordination.

A Kind of Guise: Kilim Project Bags

 

A Kind of Guise are a brand that specialise in menswear, but their bags are great unisex pieces imitating an ethnic mood and are crafted from the finest of leather. My favourite bags are part of the Kilim Project which are reminiscent of the vintage backpacks made of a tapestry material; sort of like your grandmother's moth-eaten couch. By that euphemism I mean it in the most charming and endearing manner because the materials used for these bags are not recycled second hand goods.

 

The patterns of the materials as well as the texture is really quite popular in terms of the festival scene, and the structure of the bag is a kind of a bucket shape, with a flattened bottom made of the finest leather and a trim around the edge and the rest of the Kilim Project bags are made from hand knitted carpets. Although the patterns don't have a specific nationality or ethnic pattern to them, the use of hand knitted carpets as a material really reminds me of luxurious Persian goods. There's also a leather pocket in the interior of the bag to keep your keys and mobile phone safe and another feature is the cotton straps and drawstring rope at the top of the bag.

 

The bags are each an individual piece and all of them are already sold out on the A Kind of Guise website, fetching 280 Euros each, the equivalent of $360 Australian. I do love the design and shape of the bags as well as the hand weaved carpet but I personally wouldn't be willing to part with so much money for a bag of this shape; I'd like to see myself using hand bags more at this stage of my life and getting a little more mature rather than reverting back towards backpacks.

 

Boasting a length of 60cm and a width of 25cm, the bags are perfectly suited towards days of fun in the sun, particularly if you're Australian and there are lots of Summer music festivals to look forward to in the coming weeks and months. Made of 100% leather and wool, there's no expenses spared in the crafting and creation of these bags making them built to last and durable in some of the most luxurious materials money can buy. Just look at the rich chocolate brown colour of the leather on the bag above in contrast to the different and intricate patterns of the wool carpet.

 

My favourite design of all the bags and the one I regret not being able to get my filthy mitts on is the rose motif bag in contrast to the leather at the bottom of the bag. The contrast of white, green and red is also very festive and suitable for this time of year and I would have loved being able to wear this bag around my back or shoulders but alas, someone else got to it first and now I just have to sit and wait around to see if a similar bag with a floral motif will be created. I'm not holding my breath or anything but I am hopeful and trying to be optimistic. It's just a really gorgeous, feminine and romantic bag and a great gift for Valentine's day if there was a bouquet of roses hiding within the pouch of the bag as well.

 

Like a lover whispering comforting words in your ear, on each of the Kilim Project bags as part of a Kind of Guise range is the leather badge with the words AKOG and 'No worries, We've done this before'. How cheeky but slightly iconic. I like the close up photographs of the quality of the bags rectangle logo as well as the detail of the knotted wool all done by hand. It's enough to give you sympathy pains and arthritis just looking at the detail and love that has gone into each of the bags.

 

More of the great detail of each of the roses and leaves for my favourite bag of the Kilim Project, just named '33/100'. It makes me heart ache a little knowing that each of the bags made is unique and individual and that my favourite bag off all of them has already been sold. There will be more of the bags coming soon and the website advises fashion hungry masses that they are temporarily sold out and more will be coming but I'm not too sure as to what other flowers may be knotted in carpet and then chopped into making fashionable bags. It would have been nice and I would have worked to buy it, but it's gone and there's nothing more that can be done about it. Wearing it around town in a long black dress would have been great though, to make the contrasting colours of red and green stand out even more. The shade of leather in the deepest and dark brown would have also suited my long dark hair and brown eyes but if I am lucky they will incorporate this shade of brown leather in a future bag.

 

A close up detail of the clean cotton cords used to tie up the Kilim Project bags for AKOG and keep everything neat and tidy in your bag without things spilling out. My favourite bags are the ones that have a matching leather used with the hand knitted carpet; the overall look seems so much better for it and there's unity promoted by matching the wool and leather colours. You can't have it all though and the patterns of the wool as well as the high-standard of their creation are breath-taking when seen from up close, I can only imagine that running your hands over it in person would be an even better experience to the touch as well as the aesthetics of the bags.

 

 

Your limited edition and one-of-a-kind Kilim Project bag comes with its own dust-cloth bag featuring a drawn carpet like the one your new bag is made out of. I can't wait to see their stock be refilled and more of these great bags put out using their high-quality leather and wool carpets. It's not often you see a vintage style of bohemian backpacks recreated to such a high-standard and aimed at the festival target audience. If anyone from their company is reading this I do hope you make more of the rose bag or feature floral patterns; their not just for guys, girls love these kind of bags too!