Beach Sunday

We were meeting some friends at the beach today and for some reason, I chose Venice beach. For those of you who don't live in LA, Venice beach on a Sunday during nice weather is nothing short of gross. Somehow I'd forgotten this fact.

I was quickly reminded of it when we stepped onto the boardwalk to look for a restaurant. 

However, after an hour wait for a mediocre lunch at one of the only outdoor cafes (why aren't there more??) we came upon the disco roller rink and suddenly all the rats/albino snakes/bad tattoos on peoples shoulders and smells of bad incense, washed away with the good times that were being had on 8 wheels.

Untitled from clare vivier on Vimeo.

Here's my iPhone video, check it out! I could have stayed here for a long long time watching these people. They are fantastic and talented and you cannot watch without a huge smile on your face.

 I love the palm trees in this picture.

 This lady's t-shirt read: Skate Lisa. Dogg Team 2012. You gotta love those skates. And if you couldn't tell, yes, she was a badass on rollers.

 I coulda stayed an watched them all day, Oscar had other things on his mind: 

like digging sand ditches with Diego. Venice beach is not that bad after all. Nor, perhaps, is a Sunday in late January at any ol' beach.

Recent Images I love

Recently I've come across a few pics I love, some I've shared here before, but most I haven't: Lovely Matilde visiting from Belgium, carrying a pink CV fold over; white Trops under a Kyle Fields; the vitrine at Steven Alan Tribecca with CV bags front and center; a model with the blue suede Simple Tote; Kee and I shoe shopping in NYC; Heather carrying a turquoise flat clutch whilst wearing a fierce diamond bracelet; the linen, striped bucket tote; Jeana Sohn and Allison Miller shooting the new Wren/CV Spring reversible tote; Jesse Kamm striking a pose in a trench coat with a printed leopard CV fold over; Mar in her gorgeous white fur coat with her white knit scarf; and others, maybe they're not the best photos, but there's something about each one I adore- perhaps it was just the moment lived. 

CV On The Move

As the Eastsider blog recently reported, we've moved studios! Just two doors down from our old store front, we've temporarily moved our studio into our future flagship Clare Vivier storefront. 

 It's a beautiful, light-filled corner location in Silverlake, I'm so excited to be working here.

However, there are a few drawbacks to working in light filled spaces: from approximately 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. I cannot really work at my computer. A little issue of window coverings has yet to be addressed. 

As you can see we are still in full set-up phase, but here's my desk, which faces out into the room and the work table covered with leather and 

 inspiration pictures for upcoming collections.

 Still lifes around the space include our little hemp twine, rope and webbing collection.

 A few lovely books on the drive-me-crazy-cute-green shelves.

 Boxes are still being sorted through but everyone's hard at work. Opps! We need one more chair, it's true.  Poor Ted!

 Art work has yet to be hung, photo shoots happen on paper on the floor - work goes on, even in chaos.

When night falls, the palm trees are beautiful against the azure blue sky...I'm so happy working in this space as a studio, but it is going to be an amazing store.

GG Getaway

It's a total accident that some of my favorite people are bloggers. But it just so happens to be true and this past weekend I got to spend serious quality time with one, two, three, four of my absolute favs during our weekend getaway in Ojai. 

 We were there to celebrate Jeana Sohn's birthday, which is actually today, and it was just the (much needed) rest and fun that we all craved.

Happy Birthday Jeana! The tire swing was magic.

 Joanna wrote a pretty good synopsis of our weekend here, but she forgot that most of the time we just did this: devour fashion magazines while chatting away.

 Heather managed to get in a little weaving time, (all the while counseling me about work.) I like her new printed pants, perfect weekend getaway attire.

A little bubbly toast to Jeana! 

Cocodot in my Kitchen

Cocodot, a new website which champions all things celebratory and helps you manage your party, whether it be yours or one you're attending, came to my house yesterday morning to do a photoshoot with me. They'll be selling my bags come Jan. 16 and when they launch it, they'll include an editorial piece on me and the CV line, accompanied by pictures shot by Cocodot founder and photog extraordinaire Amy Neunsinger. 

Here are my outtakes from the shoot.

It was so much fun to work with them, they were such a well-oiled team. 

They prop styled my kitchen, but I get the feeling this is seriously what it would look like if I didn't have a husband and child to look after...

Photog, asst, prop stylist, make-up artist, and creative director - a real shoot! And everyone a pleasure to have in my home. I kinda didn't want them to leave.

They draped and drizzled CV bags all over the kitchen- on the coffee maker, hanging from the pan rack, over the fruit - it was so cute. I can assure you, Amy's pictures will look nothing like these. They were stunning. I was just trying to shoot some images to remember the day by, but the only real camera I had on hand was le Mari's newest toy the Fuji X100 and, while it's a pretty little thing, I had no idea how to set any preferences on it, so images are not the best.

 That's Kate, the prop stylist, waiting for the shot. She came in and first thing in a.m. made a perfect stack of pancakes on my griddle for the shoot. It smelled so yummy, I can't tell you the last time I made pancakes. My poor son. In the shot of me, I'm holding the stack of pancakes on the griddle in one hand and my iPhone in the other. Ahh, the harried, working mom...

 Pancakes, coffee and clutches, no better way for you to start the day.

 I'm super excited to see the real shoot. Her pictures were amazing.

 One of the funnest parts for me: make up artist! I may not be smiling in this shot, but I was thrilled on the inside! I tried to document my falsies she individually applied to my eyes. I cannot believe I had no where to go last night with all that fun eye attention. I wiped the rest of it off after the shoot, but I'm keeping the falsies for as one as I can.

The Last of Venice

OK, these are the last photos of my trip, I promise. All but one of these I actually took - with my iPhone, the only camera I had on me the whole time. Try to guess which one was taken with a professional camera. At the end I will reveal the lone photo.

 The most beautiful cafe in Venice, Florian. Well, I didn't go to all the cafes, and I know there are other amazing ones of course, but this one is pretty special. But I'm sure this was the best hot chocolate in Venice. ;)

Here are our Bellini's at Harry's Bar and these were the best Bellini's in Venice. Guaranteed. Fresh peach juice. I could have drank them all. OK it's too obvious. This is the one. :)

 Sexy wooden taxi in the foreground. The Rialto in background.

 This was taken at Murano island. Behold the calm Adriatic Sea.

 It's called a Rio, not a Canal. There are two canals in Venice, the others are rios. I learned that.

 The black laundry made me take this pic. I love that there's a goth living in this beautiful building.

 Crooked door.

 Classy doorbells. 

Sunsetting on Grand Canal

Venetian New Year

We're back from our European holiday in sunny, (too warm!) LA and massively jet lagged. It feels like we haven't slept in days, but we're trying our hardest to stay awake and go to bed at a reasonable hour so we just may sleep through the night. Le mari took some amazing photographs of Venice.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Oscar running through an alley, scaring off the pigeons.

Our favorite restaurant we stumbled upon. This pasta was tossed in the cheese wheel - it was so, so good. 

 These lovely sights are at every turn, it is so hard not to photograph everything. 

Although is the most touristy thing to do, yes, we took a gondola ride at Oscar's begging. But we were so happy we did. It's such a lovely and peaceful (once you're off the Grand Canal) way to see the city.

These taxi boats are the sexiest taxis in all the world. Never thought you'd here those two words together, huh? Sexy and Taxi. Go to Venice.

We discovered a small leather goods company called Officine 904. One of the owners, Omar, who I'm talking to in this picture was interesting - he makes bags out of Italian leather in Italy, we make bags out of Italian leather in LA - it's a very different endeavor. He was excited that our one Italian store is Luisa Via Roma, because he said it was one of, if not the best store to be sold at in Italy. Yay. We just shipped them, so hopefully it will do well. 

I also drooled over some better known Veneta leather goods stores...of this one in particular, I can't help it, I'm a huge fan.

This was the candy stand at the market on the square outside our apartment. I liked the lettering. Oscar liked the goods.

I love the way the red stands out on this dreary Grand Canal picture. It looks like a painting.

Oscar's look pretty much sums it up for all of us: we were in awe of this beautiful city with such a rich and complicated history it seems it would take years and years of study to understand the how and why of it all.