How gorgeous are these? Handmade quilts, designed by Jessica Ogden & Jean Touitou for APC. They’re made of material from past APC collections. Ummm… smart! Love the colors and that they combined more masculine fabrics with the ditsy florals. Each was done in an edition of approximately 30.

I’m thinking back to, oh, I don’t know, let’s say 2004. My now-husband and I were dating, and it was my birthday. We spent the day together, and made a birthday dinner. I hate to sound like I was waiting for my present, but I was waiting all day for my present. You know, when you’re first dating, a present is a sign that your significant other GETS you. So we had dinner and I just decided, okay, there’s nothing coming. I said I was going to go to bed, skulked off and climbed up into his loft bed (now that’s love!), and laying on the pillow was a tiny box. Jewels! My favorite!

I opened the box to find… a necklace with some sort of charm that looked faintly like a silhouette, but out of some bookboard-like cardboard, painted silver. I love costume jewelery, but this was taking even that to a new extreme. Willy explained that he meant to have HIS silhouette made in gold, but that he had run out of time. I had been collected old silhouette jewelery. Neat (albeit megalomaniacal) idea!  Seriously BAD execution.

Weeks passed. He didn’t get it figured out. And in what I now know is classic Meg-Willy-style, I found a place to have it made, he (finally! after weeks of prodding!) produced the drawing, and I had a charm in his likeness made.

Many people thought I was wearing the likeness of George Washington around my neck. Hilarious.

When it came to design our wedding invites several years later, we, in again classic Meg-Willy-style, butted our opinionated design-heads. I like vintage-y; I like bright colors. He: clean and usability-centered. It took MANY rounds and countless battles, but we finally came up with this:

It was perfect! The silhouettes reared their heads (tee hee) again, this time of both him and me. And we used silhouettes of our home states as well. We printed them at Willy’s letterpress shop, Swayspace, in Brooklyn.

They were so popular that they’re the only invite design Swayspace has printed AS many times. They’ve done them in pink, in blue, altered the fonts to be more Art Deco, changed the “wallpaper,” you name it. And so we became known for our love of silhouettes.

And so it was that when I started Love & Victory, in 2008, I started offering Custom Silhouette Charms, made in the likeness of your loved one. Here, my adorable nephews Sam and Gabe:

And I’ve always thought I should offer old-fashioned cut paper silhouettes. But other people were doing them, and I didn’t like theirs. I wanted them super old-fashioned-y. Like your grandma would have had. And so here they are! Our newest product! Custom Cut Paper Silhouettes! Of your children, a bride & groom, your folks, your grandmother herself. Give your boyfriend one of you for his birthday. Evidently, it worked for my spouse. Our daughter, Louella’s silhouette is pictured below, 3 chins and all!

I’ve become slightly obsessed with Petit Bateau children’s clothing for my daughter. My mother-in-law got her a few beautiful things for the summer, and she wore them to death. They’re perfectly classy, French-y, and they look like baby clothes, not adult clothes for babies which is a total peeve of mine.

Some of the things are so great, I wish that I had them in my size, though I’m not sure that Lou’s floral bubble suit would look quite as good on me, chubby thighs being adorable only on a munchkin. But now Petit Bateau has introduced some of their kids’ favorites for women. And they’re a little sexy. And I’m okay with that.

(Speaking of kids’ stuff for adults, have you seen the sexy Sesame Street costumes!?)