Stag / Dog & Pony

Last week I pulled Bekah & Markus out of the studio for an afternoon of visits that had become long overdue. Our first stop was Polvo's for ceviche and micheladas. With our belly's full and our heads a little lighter, we strolled over to Stag to drop off a Dust & Drag shirt for Bobby Johns.

Although he wasn't around, we had the opportunity to chat it up with Steve Shuck while he received lots of sweet puppy love from Markus's new baby girl Romero, named after the horror director George Romero.



Stag is quintessential for any man of style with an array of clothing, accessories, and scents that is sure to make even the most feminine woman wish she were a man.



Every corner of this shop is perfectly merchandised with the
warmness of a desert cabin nestled in the mountains of West
Texas.




Ha!!! Check out my reflection in Peter Fonda's hair......







Being drawn to masculine scents, more so than the sweet floral-like feminine ones, for as long as I can remember, it came as no surprise that I absolutely fell in love with the synthesized musk by Malin + Goetz. Bekah was drawn more to the dark rum and was ready to purchase the entire line, but settled on the soap for now.








I left stag with the "Bison" Alchemy tee(sorry no photo)for hubby Aaron, and he absolutely loves it!!! Will be back again very soon for more Holiday shopping!



Now off to make good on a long promised visit to the super stylish and sweet owner of Dog & Pony...Star Lee!



Star opened up her shop right around the same time we opened the LWR brick & mortar store. It took us quite a while to finally meet, but we found ourselves instantly sharing our love and challenges of opening a new business during this trying economy.




We both discuss how Austin's fashion scene is changing...how we see more openness to progressive style and silhouettes. These changes makes us excited and we find ourselves inspired to pioneer more plans for the future!

Soooooo...we have decided to work on a collaboration after the first of the year. Please stay tuned for more details!



Star also recently collaborated with artist Xavier Schipani and jewelry designer Rima Hyena for a killer window display @ Austin's Beauty Bar.



The stylish boutique is cozy and well merchandised. Star also has a lovely line of vintage pieces studded by herself. I was pretty damn upset with myself for not trying any of these pieces on while there...I guess this means I need to get my butt back in asap! Bekah and I did walk away with some stunning rings by jewelry designer Species by the Thousands...Photos of these to be posted soon.

Check back for more visits to some of our favorite local shops + a new "Get Laced" post coming soon!!!

words by Stephanie Villalobos-Fellabaum
photogs by Stephanie Villalobos-Fellabaum

Alchemy / Feathers Boutique Trunk Show

Hello LWR readers, lovers, patrons and general badasses. In an effort to connect with you more, we've partnered with Katy Ballard who will be writing blog posts based on various events around town that LWR deems awesome. Katy will keep you posted on behind-the-scenes product shoots and studio sewing sessions. She will occasionally write mini profiles on Austin style eccentrics, business owners and so forth that inspire and intrigue the LWR crew. We'll also be starting a new series, Get Laced, which photographs real girls in three outfits from the store coupled with a mini Q&A. And expect Giveaways! -- quite possibly one of the more exciting pieces of news for our readers. Stay tuned, be engaged, and visit us!

Here's a run-down from the Alchemy Trunk Show at Feathers Boutique Katy attended with the LWR ladies, Stephanie and Bekah:



Friday night kicked off a busy weekend for us. Feathers Boutique hosted a trunk show for their latest collaboration with Alchemy Design, an Austin-based print graphic duo with a touch of mystic. It was an intimate affair as people -- mostly other Austin vintage-heads and style aficionados -- gathered in Feather's cozy quarters to browse the designs of Ed Davis and Christina Simon aka the minds of Alchemy. The Feathers-Alchemy line of shirts and tanks is without name, but the designs speak for themselves. Geometric patterns and ancient Egyptian symbols set on hand-dyed shirts evoke a sense of mystery and power, as though wearing an Alchemy design will embed you with advanced universal understanding. The inspired designs consist of the Eye of Horus, a symbol for protection and good health; the Hamsa, which is a universal sign of protection; the Horus Falcon, one of Ancient Egypt's oldest dieties; and the Ajna, the sixth Chakra associated with the Third Eye. It's no wonder half the show's attendees were wearing Alchemy's shirts or stocking up. We'll let you in a little secert too -- LWR is scheming on a collaboration with Alchemy. Check out their digs @ (www.thealchemystical.com) + the resent editorial styled by Emily Hoover of Feathers Boutique and shot by Alexandra Valenti @ (www.feathersboutiquevintage.blogspot.com)


Ed & Christian / Alchemy Designs



Horus Falcon


Eye of Horus


Indigo Echo




Alchemy Geometric Tank / Dust & Drag Crochet Robe

I must admit, I did love seeing the D&D + AD combination!!!

Also, stayed tuned for a behind-the-scenes product shoot with LWR model, Sara Cummings and photographer, Matt McCoy.

Stephanie & Bekah

A portrait of Stephanie Fellabaum and Bekah DuBose, the creative minds and skilled hands behind Dust & Drag

PHOTOGRAPHY Bobby Scheidemann

PHOTOGRAPHY Bobby Scheidemann
WORDS ©EmilyAlyse.com

The Magpie

"My name is RIMA SHEEGOG.

I was born to a horse trainer mother and a pilot father in a rural area north of the Houston swamp in Texas. I grew up running around barefoot, catching snakes, making art, and riding horses. My parents nicknamed our homestead the 'funny farm' because we had everything from peacocks to alligators. My mother said that when I was little I was constantly building things she called 'alters'. To this day, any space I'm in for awhile I fill with small objects. I'm on the boarder of being a hoarder, but I think 'magpie' is a nicer way of putting it.

I have been working as a traditional jeweler and goldsmith for ten years. I earned a Master of Arts degree in metalsmithing and sculpture from Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas. While attending college, a local master jeweler took me on as an apprentice. That is where I gained a more refined touch for the miniature and developed the classical skills of a bench jeweler. I believe I had to become a fine jeweler to find my own voice. Finding your own aesthetic, that 'voice', takes many years.

I actually never thought I'd be a jeweler because I was always an artist of other media, of painting and sculpture. Ironically, I did in fact have a pretend jewelry business during my elementary days starting at around age seven. I would display my creations--mostly beads and bones and such--for relatives and friends to possibly purchase for under a dollar.

I am currently burning the candle at both ends working 9 to 5 as a custom jeweler and metal caster at a high-end artisan shop in Austin and designing my line RIMA HYENA & THE CHILDREN OF THE COMING BRIGHT DAY. The work I do in the artisan shop is so highly refined and traditional that I can't wait to break the rules of size, design, and finishes with my own work.

I like the odd, old and sacred, even if it only looks sacred because it looks odd and old. I like to give my work narrative even if its only implied. As I get older, music plays a bigger part in my inspiration. The lyrics. The memories associated with certain songs. I am also inspired by symbols and imagery. Another rich source of inspiration for me is my humble inquiry into existence, nature, science, music, literature, art, mysticism, and even theories in physics, and philosophy.

I have become a purveyor of trinkets for the modern mystic. I build headdresses, talismans, amulets, jujus, hoodoos, and objet's d'snake spit, and continue to build my own symbolic vocabulary. I make jewelry for people who want something special, who feel something special when they see it and wear it, not because it matches their outfit.

With a healthy dose of humor and magpie curiosity, I make make make."













Laced With Romance is proud to collaborate with Rima on the Dust & Drag Fall 2011 Lookbook. Selections from RIMA HYENA & THE CHILDREN OF THE COMING BRIGHT DAY are for sale online at www.lacedwithromance.com or in the shop at 1601 S. First Street, Austin, Texas 78704.

WORDS Rima's own
PHOTOGRAPHY Bobby Scheidemann

The Sculptor

MATT McCOY said he never wanted to be a foundry man. He said he never planned on being a sculptor.

Today, he's both.

We recently visited Matt at his home in Driftwood where he lives alone in a stone cottage on a rugged expanse of Texas Hill Country. The shelves in his adjoining studio--a disheveled room with dirt floors--are crowded with the grotesque, clay forms of his works in progress. When they're ready, Matt will cast them in bronze using the lost wax process, a process older than the ancient Egyptians.

To be honest, we expected Matt to be some kind of neo-luddist, a man whose forlorn attempts at escaping modern innovation had forced him to live in a backcountry exile. Almost immediately upon our arrival, however, we learned that modern technology is at the core of his creative process, and the plight of contemporary culture is a continuous source of inspiration.

MATT, WHAT DO YOU DO?
I've been pouring bronze at the Michael Hall Studio Foundry in Driftwood, Texas for the past five to six years. We work for a lot of artists in the area doing their castings. Mostly it's a lot of large-scale, indoor sculptures. I never wanted to be a foundry man, but the trade off is well worth it. I get to use all of the foundry's resources for my personal work.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO SCULPTURE?
I was a computer science major in college and had to take an elective, so I signed up for sculpture and decided it was more fun. I graduated from Texas State University in 2001 with my art degree.

EXPLAIN YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS.
Basically, I start right here at home with clay and take those forms to the foundry and cast them using the lost-wax process.
I also use 3-D software and create real world objects using my "foldable paper method." I haven't really named it yet…I'm pretty sure it's my method. The different dotted lines I create in 3-D tell me whether to fold paper convex or concave to make a certain shape.

SO, YOU USE MODERN TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE YOUR DESIGNS THEN YOU CAST THEM USING AN ANCIENT PROCESS?
Yes, I've always been really fascinated with computers. There's great detail that can be accomplished with computers. I can zoom-in on a drawing indefinitely. I think technology can be a great tool for art. But, I believe the one thing that separates me from other artists today is craft. I still have traditional skills and appreciate the discipline of my skills.

DESCRIBE YOUR ART.
My work's been the same since I was a kid. It's a collection of things that fascinate me.

WHAT IS IT THAT FASCINATES YOU?
People. I have a theory that everyone is really weird. I grew up very Pentecostal, so I know there's a possibility that the uptight woman in line at the grocery store is going to go home and speak in tongues to rid herself of demons. Knowing how freaky people are in private, especially the really square ones, is really interesting to me.

HOW DO YOU TRANSLATE THIS FASCINATION INTO YOUR WORK?
Lately, I've been sculpting plain people in surreal environments.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY AND ART?
To me, art is a science. It is a big experiment. Sculpture is a very advanced form of art that I still have a lot to learn about. However, one thing I would like to tackle is the commercial art world and the advertising world. Though it's not something I'm going to conquer in bronze. There are too many rules and standards in that world. I'm this guy that has refused things my whole life. I've never worked a normal job. It's been a thorn in my side to try to escape those rules and standards. I found a way to escape that world in my own art and through my job at the foundry.

SO, WHAT YOU'RE SAYING IS THAT COMMERCIAL ART & ADVERTISING SNUFF OUT CREATIVITY AND STREAMLINE THE DEFINITION OF ART?
Yes. There's a part in Chuck Palahniuk's novel Diary when a group of people see a piece of artwork so awing that they burn to death. The building they are inside of catches on fire and they are so awed by this piece of art that they don't even notice. I think that kind of art is still possible.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, HOW ARE YOU INVOLVED WITH LACED WITH ROMANCE?
I've been the product photographer for Laced With Romance for four years, since the very beginning. Stephanie hired me when she was still modeling the clothes herself on the eBay store.













"Matt has played a huge part in the development of Laced With Romance over the last four years. We have spent many late nights after photo shoots chain smoking, philosophizing about life, about the future, and about how we would do things differently. He is an original and by far one of the more interesting thinkers I know. It is very evident in his work and in the way he lives his life." - Stephanie

INTRO & INTERVIEW Emily Bradford
PHOTOGRAPHY Bobby Scheidemann

The Hatter *

JOEL GAMMAGE is the fourth generation hat maker at Texas Hatters, the family legacy that's topped everyone from Willie Nelson to Ronald Reagan and created the iconic looks of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Duvall in Lonesome Dove. The Joel Gammage + Laced With Romance collaboration (available HERE) is a line of restored vintage hats reformed into new, modern shapes.

We recently visited Joel at the Texas Hatters studio in Lockhart, TX - where he works alongside his mother, his stephfather, and his grandmother - to talk about his craft and to experience at first hand the scrupulous hatmaking process from start to finish.

JOEL, DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A CRAFTSMAN OR A DESIGNER? IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?
As a designer, I interpret a person’s character and predetermine what would look good on them. I consider a person's height, shoulder width, shape of the head, the nose, the mouth, and the distance between the eyes. As a craftsman, I’m concerned with the maintenance of the hats and the tools.

THE TOOLS YOU USE ARE AS OLD AS THE TRADITION OF YOUR CRAFT. WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?
All the equipment we use was passed down from hatter to hatter as their businesses closed or bought from museums by my grandfather. The crown iron is 150 years old and each block was hand-carved from poplar wood over 100 years ago. The laundromat machine [which is used to clean dirt and oil from vintage hats in the restoration process] is over 100 years old. I bought a couple of old flanges at an antique store once that were labeled as picture frames!

WHY ARE YOU KNOWN AS THE DANCING SALESMAN?
My mom used to go dancing, even when she was pregnant with me, so I guess I’ve always been in a state of motion. I started hanging around the Broken Spoke when I first started making hats about seven years ago. Soon, instead of sitting around and talking to the old cowboys, I was dancing. Not only was it a creative outlet for dancing, but when people realized I was making hats, people started buying my hats.

THE HATS YOU'VE MADE FOR LACED WITH ROMANCE, LIKE THE VINTAGE FEDORA YOU RESHAPED INTO A TOP HAT, ARE VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE REST OF YOUR WORK. WHAT ABOUT YOUR COLLABORATION WITH LACED DO YOU ENJOY MOST?
There's been very few times I've felt challenged in making hats. Laced With Romance is a huge creative outlet for me where I find myself trying new things.













INTERVIEW Emily Bradford
PHOTOGRAPHY Bobby Scheidemann

* The Hatter is the first in a series featuring the big Texas talents who collaborate with Laced With Romance.