Jordan Clarke (+ Vintage Circus Trend)
I was reading Daydream Lilly this morning and found a beautiful link buried in one of her old posts that I clicked and boom! into the rabbit's hole I fell! I found Jordan Clarke in Australia who has a delightful blog that I'd seen before but somehow forgotten but a new discovery awaited me -- Jordan's online shop!
About Jordan's work, "Fascinated by all things dark, whimsical and vintage her work is characterized by a collision of Victorian vignettes, rockabilly pin-ups, religious iconography, tattooing, 20th century circus and fairground lore, to name but a few."
I'll admit, none of these themes are ones that I am naturally drawn towards but somehow when combined they really interest me! Funny how that works. Jordan has a very curious eye and a delightful way of mixing things that is really fun to watch.
It's interesting to note how she mentions her work being inspired by 20th century circus and fairground lore. Did you see the new Anthropologie catalog for Spring which had some circus inspiration sprinkled throughout? And what about the recent film, Sherlock Holmes, also with a scene of a vintage circus. Same with animated film Coraline. Even the most recent Pink album and of course, Britney Spears. I find it so interesting how you'll begin to spot certain themes pop up - maybe in film, then fashion, then video, and suddenly you notice it in art or in home accessories. When I was watching Sherlock Holmes last night at the theater, I thought about how I'd love to see a vintage style circus come to town, wouldn't that be grand? Of course, only if the animals were treated fairly and if the clowns were not scary as I truly have a fear of wild-eyed clowns. But other than that, I can imagine a vintage circus being a very exciting event to attend - candy wrapped in decadent papers, gorgeous costumes, painted elephants, pointy tents... and then I start to wonder how this theme could be interpreted for the home through color and pattern -- all in very subtle ways of course.
Have you spotted a bit of a vintage circus love thing going on too? What do you think?
(images: jordan clarke)