Moon Raven Designs

Moon Raven Designs is possibly my favourite shop on Etsy, and definitely the one I’ve given most money to directly or indirectly. They do handmade jewellery in solid cast metals and specialise in all things anatomy and animals.

The name makes the shop sound like it’s run by a middle aged hippy couple, and judging by the picture in their Etsy profile, it is! Which is charming, considering how on-trend and fashion-forward they are.

Being fond of all things Dead I have been sold on this shop since before I’d made my first purchase (a raven claw in bronze which I bough my own chain for separately because I like my necklaces/pendants absurdly long), which, while not cheap, is something that I have worn at least weekly for years since I got it. I am in love with bronze for jewellery and accessories, and happily this shop specialises in bronze (and silver, which is my second go-to for jewellery).

(Here is Some Celebrity I Guess wearing the same bird claw that has been my favourite for ages).

Also, can I talk about how long I’ve wanted their awesome, 3D anatomical heart pendant?

(Pictured is the white bronze, which I wasn’t aware was a thing until recently. Very shiny).

Courtney Love: Never The Bride

Courtney Love has an iconic style, she modelled herself after punk fashion icons (possibly most obviously, Nancy Spungen) and you can see a lot of the old in way she dresses, but she’s always tilted things just enough they become something new on her. She’s boho, babydoll, whore, punk and princess: sometimes all at once.

It’s a style I’ve admired since the first time I saw her (on television in the early 90s, at the very height of the iconic “kinderwhore” look, in her black babydoll with its white Peter Pan collar):

 

(The white buttons are forgotten on 90% of the numerous remakes that are in shops at the moment. I think ASOS does the nicest one, for anyone who’s interested in hunting on down).

But since her heyday and the peak of her infamy, Courtney has never actually stopped being incredibly stylish and original, something I don’t see people talk about very often. She recently put out a fashion line called “Never The Bride”, which is a flowing, boho, freak out in a vintage store collection of worn looking and beautiful things (again modelling her style on the old and tilting it just enough it’s new again). The dresses look as if they’re held together with then lace and attitude:

 

I found an article I won’t link to because it’s a deeply unpleasant pile of trash (or should I just say “a Daily Mail article”?) talking about her releasing “bizarre” pictures where she modelled some of her own clothing from the line. I am genuinely confused as to what makes the pictures bizarre, because all I’m seeing is someone doing an excellent fucking job wearing the clothes they’ve designed themselves straight from the heart (you can’t deny that Courtney isn’t someone who makes calculated or commercial music, and I think it’s the same for her fashion line. These clothes are Courtney. It’s fitting she shows us how to wear them):

 

What can I say, I love Love.

 

Haters may utilise the sinister egress, and enjoy the swift firm kick of my Docs on the way out.