Head in the Clouds, Heart in the Mountains: Ariana Barnstable's Lazy Cowgirl isn't just a painting. She's a philosophy.
There's a cowgirl on the wall at a boutique hotel in Aspen. Another one at a bar someone's been to twice but can't quite remember the name of. One in a friend's apartment in RiNo that you've stood in front of longer than you meant to.
You might not have known her name when you saw her. But you knew her immediately.
Her Body Is a Canvas, Too: Haute Couture has spent centuries defining beauty. So why is my friend still waiting to be included?
I have always loved watching haute couture.
The drama of it. The construction. The hours, sometimes thousands of them, folded into a single garment that exists for one person, made by hand, made to last. There is nothing else in fashion quite like it. And for a long time, sitting with that feeling of awe was uncomplicated for me.
Then I watched my plus-size friend look at a couture collection and say, quietly, that she thought it was beautiful. The way you say something is beautiful when you've already accepted it isn't for you. The way you describe a dream you've stopped expecting to actually have.
And I thought: why?
Breakfast Couture: What butter yellow, bread-shaded pantones and a plate of eggs have to do with the most interesting color story in fashion right now.
Ok so… what if the most compelling color palette of the season wasn't on a runway?
What if it was on your kitchen table at 7am?
This week, ouyi Creative's color theory series is exploring something we're calling Breakfast Couture; and the further we go into it, the more obvious it becomes that this parallel has been sitting right in front of us the whole time.
A Little More to the Left: Allyson Amanda Coan debuted her solo show at Maison du Solstice.
It's the day of "a little more to the left" and "I need waters" and the kind of laughter that fills a room before the guests do. It's the day the work goes up on the walls and the space stops being a space and starts being something else entirely… a world someone built by hand, hung by instinct, and stepped back from just long enough to know it was right.
The Maker in the Room: McCall Morrow of To:morrow Leather is building something that lasts — one handcrafted piece at a time.
Walking into McCall Morrow's studio felt like being pulled back into a version of myself I hadn't visited in a while.
Her name is literally in the brand. To:morrow — a play on Morrow, her last name, and tomorrow, the direction she's always designing toward. It's not a gimmick. It's a thesis.
Maison du Solstice: Building Infrastructure for Colorado's Next Creative Era
I'm building a VIP activation for 35 people in Denver.
Not 350. Not 3,500.
35. On Purpose.