The End

But welcome to a new chapter: Explosive Kiwi, my labor of love for the past few years, is growing up and becoming something new. Gone are the days of aimlessly wandering yarn stores and grabbing at whatever caught my fancy, causing my yarn stash to get wildly out of control too fast. Also gone are the days of...shudder...100% acrylic yarn on scarves and cowls, pieces meant to offer comfort and warmth to your neck when it's chilly outside.

Instead, say hello to Threadbare Supply Co., the more grown-up, thoughtful version of Explosive Kiwi. With Threadbare Supply Co. I offer pieces that work harder for you, from keeping you warm to looking great paired with even more of the things you already own. You'll see the change between past and present in the carefully curated collection for Threadbare Supply Co., making its premiere later this Fall.

In the meantime, please visit threadbaresupply.com for all-new posts and updates on the fall/winter collection. It's a "soft" site release for now, but you'll be able to see it grow I'll be ceasing any writing here, but you can find all my new adventures in all the following places:

Official site: threadbaresupply.com
On Twitter: twitter.com/thrdbrspply
On Flickr: flickr.com/photos/threadbaresupply

Hope to see you there!

Vertigo-inducing Prints

Vertigo: not just a great thriller/mystery by Hitchcock. The other vertigo: a condition I recently discovered I have. Compared to Jimmy Stewart's, mine is less agoraphobia and more good-god-make-the-world-stop-moving-why-won't-it-stop-moving. So after getting over the fact that it's totally something I can live with and not as significant as say, cancer, my mind immediately went to fabric. Specifically, clothes with patterns for which I would risk bouts of vertigo.
Admittedly, these pieces aren't as ridiculous as they could be. However, I tend to be conservative when it comes to prints. Wearing them has always scared me a bit—there's an image in my head of attempting a pattern on pattern ensemble as suggested by all those fashion blogs, but it goes horribly wrong and results in blindness.

But prints (particularly in/on accessories) have the great ability of introducing color into an ensemble without dropping cash on that eye-searingly electric blue dress that you'll wear once. Take, for example, the Painterly Clutch from Anthropologie: It's got a bunch of colors working harmoniously that can be mixed and matched throughout various outfits.

And until I can overcome the vertigo and face even crazier prints, I'll take one of each from above: 1. Twist and Shout Dress by Mink Pink, 2. Camo Cat Dress via Nasty Girl, 3. Painterly Clutch by Stephanie Johnson, 4. Vigg Raincoat by Gudrun Sjödén, 5. Burnout Squiggle Stripe Tee by Truly Madly Deeply

In Good Company

Like that guy last night on "Top Chef: Just Desserts" said, when you make something it becomes your baby, and you hope everyone else think it's as wonderful as you do. And maybe, just maybe, Julie of Elliven Studio thinks the same.

She recently featured my Alexandria Legwarmers in a lovely post highlighting some knit items she has discovered on Etsy. I'm delighted to have my legwarmers included among such lovely items (I particularly LOVE that gray cowl/shoulder warmer)—thank you, Julie!

You can read her full post here, or check out Elliven Studio's Etsy shop here.

Giving plastic wrap another chance

I've only ever known saran wrap to be evil: getting caught on itself as you're trying to roll it out of its box, refusing to separate itself from itself as you struggle to cover a tray of freshly baked brownies, getting entangled in your hair in what your Puerto Rican mother claims is a family secret to hair straightening. Then I came across the only thing that could make saran bearable, even cool:


Kate Cusack took rolls of these clear plastic sheets and created a series of Marie Antoinette-esque updos for a Tiffany's window display a few years ago. The French queen was known for making her wigs high and dramatic, and Cusack hasn't disappointed her—these things are huge! The artist pulled off over-sized curls and braids in a finicky material, and all those layers of saran perfectly mimic those powdered wigs. Major props to Cusack for once again taking a mundane material and transforming it into something unexpected and ingenious.

See more pictures below, and read more about the project on the artist's website.



Images via ecouterre and Kate Cusack.

Swooning Over: Tomato Red

With Fall not-so-sneakily arriving, it's time for some Summer colors to get a little more serious. So say hello to Coral's replacement, Tomato Red:
Everyone's familiar with that Crayon Red color, with its cheeriness and in-your-face-ness. But add a tiny bit of yellow and you get Tomato Red, a cheerful color with a little bit more interest. It works just as hard as regular old Red, but the hint of yellow/orange makes it feel a bit more playful.

Though it's been around for a while appearing every now and then in mainstream fashion, lately it's been making quite the resurgence. A huge benefit is that it mixes easily into any wardrobe, adding a playful contrast to any neutral. Add accents of it here, layers of it there, and it adds a pop of color and some intrigue to what could otherwise be a pretty uneventful look.

Keep a lookout for Tomato Red this Fall, or you can start adding to your collection with the pieces featured above: 1. Canyon Messenger Bag, Madewell 2. Moroccan Market Scarf, Madewell 3. Flower in My Pocket Dress, Need Supply Co. 4. Lula Magazine S/S 10 5. J. Crew Editorial 6. Knotted Leather Ring, Urban Outfitters