Sarah Burton's Queen Bee World of Alexander McQueen S/S 2013

Sarah Burton’s Alexander McQueen spring 2013 collection is a knockout. David Sims lenses Raquel Zimmermann in these striking images of the collection’s clothes. In Private Studio, we share a more overtly sensual view of the same campaign starring Manon Leloup.

In a refreshing take on “femme fatales”, conceived in Britain which is deep in diagnosing reasons for the global collapse of honeybees, Burton created a deeply sensual theme of female empowerment, control, rigorous architecture, sex and nature dedicated to — Queen Bees. 

Sarah Burton’s honey bee collection for Alexander McQueen is a splendid example for us to show readers how a wide variety of Smart Sensuality issues and concerns link together at AOC. 

Organza and lace suits embroidered with hexagons and honey bees set the tone for McQueen’s spring 2013 collection. Beekeeper hats in laser-cut patent leather and crystal wedge heels offered perfectly stylish renditions of Queen Bees on the catwalk. 

The Queen Bee runs the show in Burton’s world, and the designer embraces femme power without the ambivalence that dominated the brand’s namesake founder Lee McQueen. Moving from mermaids last year to honey bees this one, it’s clear that Sarah Burton mines not only nature but mythology and female archetypes for her creative inspiration. 

Because we are Smart Sensuality women, the McQueen honey bee collection intrigues us, but so does the real world story of nature’s imploding honeybee populations. To link this science into the cerebral, we share an AOC front page update on honey bee news from our archives, as well as new research. 

We share an incredible video on honey bees entitled Bee Dancer | Bee Queen. Nature, sexuality, science and style all come together at AOC. We have Sarah Burton to thank for threading this needle so completely. ~ Anne

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GlamTribale Gifts Adds Planters & Ceramic Coasters 4/$25

I had such a wonderful feeling yesterday, seeing a new use for my Carversville and Bucks County photographs. Our coasters have been so successful that I’m working on an expanded gift selection of planters and perhaps a tray.

Bucks County Coasters 4/$25

These items will also allow us to enter juried home and garden shows, starting with a wonderful spring show in Chestnut Hill. 

Our coasters are $8 each and a set of 4/$25. The $25 set will be sold on the GlamTribale website and is delivered in our khaki burlap bag w/gold GlamTribale seal. What a perfect hostess gift or way to share beautiful, natural inspiration with a friend. 

Trivets are a bit more complex because our current process of sealing the tiles doesn’t take the highest of temperatures above 200-degrees. A pot can come off the stove with a bottom that is this temperature and higher, leaving yours truly looking for a solution. 

The planter came together smoothly, looking great for a first try. We bought 6” tiles that match our lightest color coasters. Using my high resolution images of the gorgeous Bucks County countryside, I created a set of coasters pictured above and then matched the visuals on four sides of the proposed planter. Burlap and bamboo, with a strong adhesive, hold the tiles together.  The planter isn’t priced yet.

I may be the rare person who shoots a cuff bracelet next to a flower pot. This ‘Gaia’ cuff bracelet ($250) is best suited for a large-boned woman like myself. It looks as if a flower garden is growing on my arm. Because ‘Gaia’ is the goddess of all of nature and our entire ecosystem, it seems fitting that her influence should touch a wide range of products at GlamTribale. 

These new gifts join my ‘Gaia 1’ collage portfolio now on sale for $300 at Giant Steps Gallery in Philadelphia. 

Our Freja Collection is on display until Valentine’s Day. Themis will be joined by Lilith in the near future. Giant Steps is located at 229 S 20th St; hours are 11-5, Tues-Sat. The jewelry is selling very well at Giant Steps and we’re brainstorming new collaborations for the future. Getting my first check was such a pleasure!!! ~ Anne

Truth Serum on Goddesses, Religion & Women's History Leaves Me Nowhere To Hide

‘Lipstick Junkie’ by artist Lisa LittleToday is one of those “I’m dancing as fast as I can mornings”, when a strong cup of French Roast has me plunging into the essence of Anne of Carversville and the voyage we’re on in my little digital boat.Note also that I haven’t had a drink since Tuesday. The following constellation of events actually happened today.

Into the Subterranean Depths of Women’s History

This latest adventure was triggered by my earlier-in-the-week reference to the African goddess Mami Wata in the Lais Ribeiro editorial that follows.

Moving over to my Sensual Rebel column where I write frankly about female sexuality and its intersection with popular culture but also religion, I felt compelled to republish and update what was the founding 2010 meditation for GlamTribale: Aphrodite Joins Yemaya & Mami Wata for a Swim in Human Consciousness.

The rest of the week has been unstoppable with obligations and a workload that prevented me from returning to Sensual Rebel until the middle of the night, when all the goddesses began calling in at the same time.

Perhaps the string of incredible coincidences came because I finally finished individual banners for all the goddess collections and categories on the GlamTribale website yesterday. I don’t know the answer, but when I awoke at 1:30 am and lay in bed for an hour, I decided to open my laptop and start writing.

More questions are asked than answered in Did Goddess Dione Precede Hera As Lilith Preceded Eve As Adam’s First Wife?

To be honest, a goddess named Dione — aka Gaia — was news to me. Gaia is not news. She is one of our GlamTribale goddesses. Reading about Dione — with many more references in my new out-of-print books, I’m sure — I was a bit speechless to find her roots in the region of Greece away from Athens and near the Ionian Sea. My own night rocking in a small sailboat in Ionian Sea is one of the most important nights of my life as detailed in Sailing to Ithaca.

To assert the provocative punch line, this momentary shipwreck came as I was writing about Venus fly traps.

The original essay that launched GlamTribale Aphrodite Joins Yemaya & Mami Wata for a Swim in Human Consciousness dealt with mermaids and sirens — those eternal bad girls responsible for a seductive swindle of men’s best efforts.

Unable to sleep with a cacophony of goddesses tapping on my brain, I reread the 2010 essay and responded to a reader who was getting mermaids and sirens off track, as they impact the birth of Aphrodite, in a sea foam of castration complexes.

Artistic Archetypes of Women’s History by Ronit Baranga

My night journey could have ended in this moment, but I plunged deeper into a short meditation on the ceramic art of Israeli artist Ronit Baranga. I felt a soul sister on my radar, an artist telling women’s history from the epicenter of the struggle for women’s bodies, which is a major theme of AOC. Read Tears in Our Teacups: The Devouring Women of Ronit Baranga.

GlamTribale is at Hidden Treasurers market in Lancaster, where I’ve been asked if I’m a missionary. Lancaster is a gorgeous place in America, one that represents a place where extreme social conservatives and creative progressives coexist in relative harmony. (Note: As of March 1, 2013 GlamTribale will be located at Building Character, 342 N. Queen St. Read all the details.)

What binds the people of Lancaster seems to be a love of nature and appreciation of the land.

I Can Run, But I Can’t Hide

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Lais Ribeiro Is a Bahia Beauty By Michael Roberts for L'Officiel NL February 2013 As 'Toda Menina Baiana'

Model Lais Ribeiro is a great looking birdie in this Michael Roberts editorial for L’Officiel Netherlands February issue. Monica Pillosio styles Lais in ‘Toda Menina Baiana” (strut your stuff), a celebration of the upcoming Bahia carnival.

I can’t look at these wonderful images of Lais celebrating Carnival and not think of our GlamTribale goddess Mami Wata. One of the most kick-butt goddesses I’ve come across, she is the patroness of GlamTribale and my forever connection to Africa and the disapora of Africans on the slave ships.

(Read: Aphrodite Joins Yemaya and Mami Wata for a Swim in Human Consciousness and also Heading to Washington DC for a Meet & Greet with Mami Wata )

Working on my first photo shoot for GlamTribale last night, I explained that Mami Wata traveled the high seas as a defiant but spiritual force on the slave ships. She made her way through Haiti and on to Brazil, where Mami W is deeply revered.

Let’s look closely. She may be behind the scenes in this editorial. ~ Anne

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India's Women Need Goddess Lakshmi To Fight for Women's Rights

Hindu goddess Lakshmi, painted by Raja Ravi Varma 1948-1906I was surprised just now to read that the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi — like Aphrodite — emerged from the ocean, standing on a lotus.  This key goddess in India is considered to be the goddess of prosperity, providing all the riches and resources humans need for a complete life.  Lakshmi isn’t only concerned with materials possessions. She is also known as the goddess of purity.

BBC Religion explains that Lakshmi left the world of the gods and entered into the Milky Ocean, angry with the arrogance of Indra, the warrior god who she protected.

Without her, the gods were no longer blessed with success or fortune.

The world became darker, people became greedy, and no offerings were made to the gods. The gods began to lose their power and the asuras (demons) took control.

Indra asked Vishnu what should be done. He told Indra that the gods would need to churn the Milky Ocean to regain Lakshmi and her blessings. He then told them the Ocean held other treasures which would also help them. This included the elixir of life, a potion bestowing immortality, which would enable them to defeat the demons.

This Churning of the Ocean took 1000 years to bring Lakshmi back to India.

To this day, it’s believed that Lakshmi supports those who work hard, but leaves when these qualities are no longer abundant in her people. She is particularly worshipped during the festival of Diwall, the Hindu festival of lights, which will be celebrated this year on Nov. 3.

Lakshmi is one of our GlamTribale goddesses. My decision to choose Lakshmi was made out of great respect for her mythology and a sincere desire to introduce her to a Western audience. My choice was also guided by a fierce comment and article that I wrote Hindu Shiv Sena Protests Swimsuits; How About Bride Burning?

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Anne Discovers Jozi Maboneng Johannesburg's Artistry & Enlightenment

Watching this GlobalTribe video featuring Creative Visions’ Amy Eldon, I’m having a eureka moment about my own productivity and inability to officially launch my newsletter ‘Engage’.

STOP!!!!!, Anne. You don’t need to find new material for ‘Engage’. Your life and websites are overflowing with newsletter material. Stop this relentless pursuit of more perfection and mine the rich editorial landscape at your fingertips.

Just now I found this inspiring video above,  after posting this very chic editorial:

Ross Garrett Captures Artistic Chic in Jozi Maboneng for Elle South Africa January 2013

Because I’m never just a poster of materials blogger, I wanted to understand the meaning of ‘Jozi Maboneng’. After a quick search, off I went to this special district in Johannesburg — a place that is dedicated to peace, humanity, understanding and artistic creativity.

Maboneng Precinct - Place of Light

Consider this little adventure another digital safari. Now that my life is so absorbed with Dan Eldon’s, I’m employing a new search technique.  I found Kathy’s PBS video by searching Dan Eldon + South Africa. This weekend I pieced together amazing intersections in my writing and Dan’s life by assuming there was a connection and then searching for it.

I will reveal those intersections in ‘Engage’.

Given the richness of editorial soil that exists at AOC, I have NO reason not to launch our weekly ‘Engage’ Newsletter before the new year. Besides, I have three new writers starting — an investment that will hopefully free me from so much responsibility for the daily posts.

Subscribe now for ‘Engage’ and start off the new year with me, as GlamTribale and I conduct our own digital safari Dan Eldon style. ~ Anne

GlamTribale Shop at Hidden Treasures Market Lancaster, Pa

Anne of Carversville is jumping off into new spaces each day. I shared Tuesday that two of our collections each month are now in Giant Steps gallery in Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia.

GlamTribale at Hidden Treasures Market in Lancaster, PA.

I’m thrilled to announce that we are returning to Lancaster, Pa — the first place we showed GlamTribale jewelry this summer — as a founding member of Hidden Treasurers market.The space at 225 N. Prince St — located in the heart of the art gallery district — will formally open for first Friday on January 4, 2013.

Hours this weekend are at Hidden Treasures Art & Crafts Christmas Expo 2012:

Fri: 12/21 10am-9pm

Sat: 12/22 10am-5pm

Sun: 12/23 10am-4pm

A Lancaster plan is in motion for both GlamTribale and our lower price collection Tribale2. I’ve had such a warm reception in the community, with Hidden Treasures owner Steve Groff and manager Macajah Brown very commited to our expanding GlamTribale concept.

These images are the first of our permanent booth in Hidden Treasures, 225 N. Prince St. Lancaster, PA. After this weekend, we will return again for the grand opening celebration the weekend of January 4, 2013. Join us there to celebrate the new year in style with a special fashion show and many other artistic events.

Dan Eldon: Muse to GlamTribale

My life is in a very special place with so many events happening at once. People that I’ve touched very personally with the evolution of Anne of Carversville are very close to me today in unexpected ways.

No one has influenced the spirit and conscience of AOC more than Dan Eldon, the young photojournalist who was covering the famine and unrest in Somalia in 1993 and was killed when an enraged crowd turned against Dan and three other western journalists, killing him in a brutal attack.

Read the incredible story of how Dan Eldon and I have intersected now, in a new relationship with Dan’s mother Kathy Eldon and the Creative Visions foundation. GlamTribale Takes Muse Dan Eldon to Hidden Treasures Lancaster Market Opening. ~ Anne

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