The Doily Duck's Top 3 Fashion Favorites: 2013 Golden Globes

Award season is officially under way! And it's that time of the year where I love to see celebrities dressed their best on the Red Carpet! For this year's Golden Globe Awards, I was honestly not too WOW'd by most of the ladies' fashion picks. Of course, I did have my favorites of the night for both the ladies and gentlemen. 

Below are my top three fashion favorites of the 2013 Golden Globes. Ladies, first, of course!

LADIES - Top 3

1. Anne Hathaway

Anne, my lady crush, looked simply stunning in her white Chanel gown. Encrusted in glittering crystals, I loved this two piece ensemble with structured corset top and long skirt. Also, I'm still enamored with her pixie cut hair style and applaud her choice of minimal jewelry. (Photos: Getty Images/NBC Universal)

2. Michelle Dockery

 Michelle Dockery of 'Downtown Abbey' wore a gorgeous gold and white couture gown by French designer Alexander Vauthier. What made me totally fall in love with this dress was it's gold intricate, semi-sheer golden bodice with high collar and bold shoulders. It was just the right amount of romantic, Baroque-style detailing on top of a simple white crepe gown. (Photos: Getty Images)

 3. Rosario Dawson

Rosario Dawson wore a simple pale blue peplum dress by Antonio Berardi. First, I thought the color of the dress looked beautiful against Rosario's warm skin tone. And second, I thought this gown was delightfully fresh and modern. Also, Rosario's jewelry by Lorraine Schwartz was gorgeous...I love that ring! (Photos: Getty Images/Pichaus)

GENTLEMEN - Top 3 

1. Robert Downey Jr.

 Robert Downey Jr. just gets more handsome every year. He looked smashing in his Armani suit and I loved the texture, the color, and especially the bowtie! (Photo: Getty Images)

2. Leonardo DiCaprio

Leo looked very sleek in his classic Tom Ford tux. (Photo: Getty Images)

3. Robert Pattinson 

Rob Pattinson kept it classic and looked dapper in his signature black Gucci suit. (Photo: Getty Images) 

I hope you enjoyed my 2013 Golden Globes Fashion Favorites! I am so looking forward to the upcoming S.A.G. Awards at the end of January and especially the 85th Academy Awards Ceremony in February. I can't wait to see who I will give the soon-to-be coveted 1st Annual 'Golden Doily Duck' Fashion Award for Best Dressed Duck & Drake exclusively for the Academy Awards Red Carpet runway!!!

So, who were your fashion favorites at this year's Golden Globes? Love to hear them!

My Latest Paper Dolls

A great way to start off the New Year is by making new mermaid paper dolls! Here are my latest mermaids and their inspirations.

My Mermaid Paper Doll No. 75 "Toledo Gold" is inspired by a couple of my favorite jewelry pieces made using the "Damascene Technique". Damascening is a process where precious metal, like gold or silver, is applied in a decorative pattern over the top of a non-precious metal, like iron or steel. Toledo, Spain is the world's largest center of production of Damascene. With my finished mermaid, I wanted her to have a very dramatic look, high in contrast and pattern, just like many damascene designs.

Mermaid Paper Doll 75 - Toledo Gold

My vintage pair of damascene jewelry, "bird & flowers"and "bull" pins.

Carlos's damascene bolo tie from his family trip to Toledo, Spain in 1990. Bolo ties first became fashionably popular in the 1950s then had a big comeback in the 1980s. Just a random side note: the loveable Duckie Dale rocked these "shoestring ties" throughout the '80s movie "Pretty In Pink" (see below). Maybe someday I'll get Carlos to wear a bolo tie in some form of fashion!

Jon Cryer's Duckie Dale sporting the bolo tie.

Mermaid Paper Doll No. 76 "Suvannamaccha" or  "Golden Mermaid" is based on the mermaid princess in the Cambodian and Thai versions of Ramayana, a timeless and enchanting epic of India. My Golden Mermaid is a modern take of the mermaid princess. She is, of course, adorn with her golden jewels yet fashionably fitted with beautiful patterns & rich colors reminiscent of Thai silk fabric.

Mermaid Paper Doll 76 - Suvannamaccha (Golden Mermaid)

Suvannamaccha the mermaid princess. (Source: fckyeahcambodia)

Thai Silk Fabric (Photo: Greg Vaughn Photography)

Mermaid Paper Doll No. 77 "My Sweet Sushi" is derived from a couple of influences: Kawaii and Sushi. Kawaii means "loveable" or "cute" in the Japanese culture and I wanted No.77 to carry a bit of that sweetness to her look...soft colors, hearts, flowers, and butterflies. In addition, some of my favorite Kawaii drawings are that of Sushi characters shown as cute animals or just plain sushi with simple faces. So to carry over that concept of Sushi into my mermaid, I gave her custom-fitted gown the look of being wrapped in seaweed. Although her seaweed (wrapped around her waist and above her tail) is more of a teal green color rather than black!

 Mermaid Paper Doll 77 - My Sweet Sushi

Cute Sushi Animal Characters (Source: A Little Kitty Deviant Art)

Another Kawaii Sushi illustration (Source: Meowza)

Mermaid Sushi. (Source: Honey and Tea)


Seaweed wrapped Spam Musubi (Source: Cooking Hawaiian Style)

Valentine Heart Sushi (Photo: Isriya)

Mermaid Paper Doll No. 78 "Golden Sparkles" is inspired from the flowing fins of the Siamese fighting fish also known as a Betta fish. My boys recently got a pet betta fish (named "Sparkly") for their new aquarium. We were all impressed by Sparkly's beautiful colors (ranges from purple to blue to red) and his large, flowing fins. I thought it would be neat to make a mermaid based on Sparkly. I imagined for this mermaid that she would have hints of golden sparkle as well as the dramatic appearance of swimming eloquently through the ocean waters draped in a flowy gown. 

 Mermaid Paper Doll 78 - Golden Sparkles

A golden-yellow Siamese Fighting Fish similar to our purple Twin Tail Halfmoon betta, Sparkly. (Source: fnzas.org.nz)

Mermaid Paper Doll No. 79 "Shanghai Sea" is my version of a 1920s Shanghai Calendar girl wearing the traditional Cheongsam dress. The cheongsam dress was first created in Shanghai, China in the 1920s.

 Mermaid Paper Doll 79 - Shanghai Sea

Vintage Shanghai posters of Chinese calendar girls (called yufenpai) circa 1920s - 40s. (Source: Sleevey Wonders Blog)

Mermaid Paper Doll No. 80 "Embroidered Hand Fan" is largely inspired by my love of Spanish culture. For this mermaid I fashioned her in a gown reminiscent of a traditional Spanish hand fan with delicate cloth webbing. I also gave her a hair ornament similar to the decorative Spanish hair comb known as a peineta . A peineta is usually worn under a mantilla, a lace veil worn over the head and shoulders.

Mermaid Paper Doll 80 - Embroidered Hand Fan

Spanish Fabric and Lace Hand Fan (Source: Lands Faraway)

A Spanish Peineta. (Source: Lands Faraway)

Spanish Basque painter Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabeleta's (1870-1945) portrait of aristocrat and socialite María del Rosario de Silva, Duchess of Alba. She is wearing the Spanish mantilla and peineta (comb) and holding an embroidered hand fan. (Source: porcelainsandpeacocks)

I hope you enjoyed this in-depth look at my latest paper dolls! Also, I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to their New Year! Cheers!!

An Ode to Scissors

I love cutting paper and I love the sound of scissors cutting paper. But even more, I love the shape of a pair of scissors. There's something so elegantly beautiful about the shape of scissors. And, if I could, I would have a drawer full of them.

Here's what my dream drawer of scissors would look like:

Shears by Shozaburo scissor company from Best Made Company

Marguerite Scissors from The French Needle

Allex Non-Stick Scissors from The Shop at Cooper-Hewitt

Antique Stork Scissors from The Vintage Universe

Double Face Scissors (Photo: Colleen Abbott/Pinterest)

9 Inch Fabric Scissors from Spartan Shop

Brass Scissors from Hay

1.8" Black Utility Ceramic Scissors from Kyocera

 9" Studio Teflon Scissors by Merchant & Mills

My Melody Scissors

(Photo: Pack Rat Memories Blog)

I leave you with a poem by Pablo Neruda.

Ode to a Pair of Scissors

Prodigious

scissors

(looking like

birds, or

fish),

you are as polished as a knight's

shining armor

Two long and treacherous

knives

crossed and bound together

for all time,

two

tiny rivers

joined:

thus was born a creature for cutting,

a fish that swims among billowing linens,

a bird that flies

through

barbershops.

Scissors

that smell of

my seamstress

aunt's

hands

when their vacant

metal eye

spied on

our

cramped

childhood,

tattling

to the neighbors

about our thefts of plums and kisses.

There,

in the house,

nestled in their corner,

the scissors crossed

our lives,

and oh so

many lengths of

fabric

that they cut and kept on cutting:

for newlyweds and the dead,

for newborns and hospital wards.

They cut

and kept on cutting,

also the peasant's hair

as tough

as a plant that clings to rock,

and flags

soon stained and scorched

by blood and flame,

and vine

stalks in winter,

and the cord

of

voices

on the telephone.

A long-lost pair of scissors

cut your mother's

thread

from your navel

and handed you for all time

your separate existence.

Another pair, not necessarily

somber,

will one day cut

the suit you wear to your grave.

Scissors

have gone

everywhere,

they've explored

the world

snipping off piece of

happiness

and sadness

indifferently.

Everything has been material

for scissors to shape:

the tailor's

giant scissors,

as lovely as schooners,

and very small ones

for trimming nails

in the shape of the waning moon,

and the surgeon's

slender

submarine scissors

that cut complications

and the knot that should not have grown inside you.

Now, I'll cut this ode short

with the scissors

of good sense,

so that it

will

fit in your pocket

smoothed and folded

like

a pair

of scissors.

Mermaid Love

"I must be a mermaid...I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living" 

- Anaïs Nin

I really do love mermaids. These intangible, mercurial creatures are my muses when making my paper doll art. There are no rules and no limits to my imagination when designing my mermaids.

I was once asked in an interview on the blog "I Am a Mermaid" what the appeal of mermaids was to me and I simply stated,

"I am forever drawn to the ocean. I find the ocean mesmerizing, dangerous, and calming at the same time. Maybe it's the vast unknown that is attractive. So to me, mermaids embody the ocean and all its mystery, danger, and beauty. There's something about mermaids that is devastatingly romantic and elusive".

So when I sit down to make my paper dolls I mix a little of my hopeless romantic side with a bit of my love for haute couture fashion and the end result is always something different.

My latest mermaid paper dolls are my holiday-inspired creations. 

Mermaid Paper Doll 70 - "Chrysanthemum Joy"

 Mermaid Paper Doll 71  - "Blue Swan"

 Mermaid Paper Doll 72 - "Ghostly Sea Dragon"

 Mermaid Paper Doll 73 - "Red Barnacles"

Mermaid Paper Doll 74 - "Sweet Plum"

And that's my mermaid rap! Thanks for stopping by and go live deeply!