In with the New.

January is notoriously slow on the retail front. The holiday insanity has come to a close, and the signs of life that return with Spring are a long way off. So, with a little bit of extra time on my hands, I decided to create some new designs. It’s my favorite part of the job, and lately, I’ve just been flooded with inspiration. In the coming weeks, my hope is to debut several new designs, but today, I’ll introduce you to the first two…

To Catch a Thief 

In 1915, Louis Feuillade debuted his 10-part silent film series, Les Vampires. Nothing of it’s kind had been seen before, and to peak people’s curiosity beforehand, one of my favorite movie posters (above) of all time was created. Playing the lead femme fatale, Irma Vep (a suspicious anagram of Vampire), was the lovely and haunting Musidora, the real life daughter of a first wave feminist mother and a socialist father. I suppose it takes one controversial woman to play another.

Contrary to what the series name would suggest, these short episodes followed a gang of thieves on their exploits in and around Paris, France, and Irma Vep’s piercing gaze and svelte costumes burned their way in to the public imagination. It’s thief meets ninja meets vampire meets femme fatale. Hallelujah!

What’s Your Sign - Aquarius T-shirt

I’ll be the first to admit that there’s no shortage of cheesy zodiac-related merchandise in the world. At the same time, I have a secret fondness for astrology, and wanted to create a new series of shirts that weren’t overtly astrological. So, I began experimenting with hand-pointillized drawings of constellations. The result is my new What’s Your Sign collection. First up: Aquarius.

More to come very soon. Stay tuned!

Filed under Blackbird Diary, Blackbird Tees, Heavens to Etsy |