Hortense Jewelry
Long before French-born Hortense Bonneau was designing her line, she was a kid with an eye for jewelry. “When I was five, I went to Florence with my dad. There’s one street with jewelers on both sides, and I wanted to go inside every store,” she says. “Then, at 10, I went Place Vendôme in Paris, spending hours looking into the windows of Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier.”
But she ended up working as a photo editor at a magazine for years before realizing she had an itch. “I wanted to do something with my hands, but I didn’t know what. So my husband sat me down and asked me what I liked in life,” she recalls. The first thing that came to mind: jewelry.
When she moved to San Fran with her movie-animator man, she made the switch. “I washed dogs. That’s how I made money to buy a bench and tools,” she says. One year later, Hortense registered at the Academy of Art and the Alan Revere Academy, and after working as a metalsmith for other designers, launched her own fine-jewelry label in 2007. Over the years, it’s evolved as her life has—taking a pause when her daughter Lola was born, making the move to L.A. when she did, getting daintier when the mood struck her. “Step by step, that’s how I grew.” —alisha prakash
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Weather Vain: Paris, France - 52 With a Chance of Rain
Even when it’s rainy there, we’re itching to be in Paris. I mean, we aren’t fools. Here’s what we’d wanna be wearing if we were so lucky today. —erica
Clockwise from top left:
+ A black Hope button-down that, with its asymmetrical hem, is so much more.
+ A glam Kelly Wearstler cuff that will make you even more bummed that you missed The Sporting Project’s latest pop-up dinner series (a good reason to book another trip!).
+ The sort of easy necklace by Gabriela Artigas that won’t get in your way in the French Trotters fitting room.
+ This Gryphon trench will keep you dry..and motivated to make the walk to La Pâtisserie Des Rêves.
+ Nothing’s wrong with a little flash—especially in the form of these stroll-ready, Marais-friendly Dieppa Restrepo shoes.
+ Try not to empty this Clare Vivier wallet at Merci. Just do your best.
+ Iris & Ink leather pants the color of the wine that’s bound to fill your belly.
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Of a Kind
The French brand Thomsen makes dresses that are just screaming for a picnic (possibly at the Square du Vert-Galant). —erica
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Of a Kind
Now, here’s something impressive: The French label Sessun has the power to make this getup seem completely approachable. —erica
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Of a Kind
Damn, this embroidered tunic from April, May—a French line with a thoroughly Southwestern thing happening for spring—would go so well with some Hatch chiles. —erica
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Of a Kind
Is this not the moodiest visor you’ve ever seen, from the Frenchie line Paname? —erica
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Of a Kind
How prim and proper is this Sessun look? But then, you know, not at all? —erica
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On Vacation with Fortune Favors the Brave
These two globetrot in the name of their work.
The photo above—taken by Arnaud de Rosnay—pretty much sums up the duo behind the silver-fueled jewelry line, Fortune Favors the Brave. The shot of two carefree girls in braids, which is hung in Shannon Davenport and Julia Wilson’s immersive Brooklyn loft, doesn’t depict the two, but it may as well: Julia (brunette) and Shannon (blonde) travel the world looking for treasure—ideally in the form of inspiration for their line—as often as possible. “Shannon and I are escapists,” Julia says. “We’re always dreaming about living on an island or moving to the desert or the woods.” Here, the girls sift through photo albums of past trips to get to the root of some of their designs.” —alisha prakash
Shannon taking a dip in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland: “This first picture is a natural spring—it’s the one thing you do in Iceland—and the color is a crazy milky blue. We really like opaque stones because it’s a way to have color without being super glitzy.”
Julia hitting up the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris: “While I was there, I was thinking about how a lot of architecture in Europe is inspired by religion. There were cool shapes that we wanted to apply when we were going through the new collection. The cross pendant necklace is very clean and it’s got a nice square shape to it.”
Shannon getting wild in the desert in Namibia: “The desert was a really big inspiration for us in general—the arid, tough, isolated feeling.”
Julia soaking up the sun on an island off Railay in Thailand: “In Thailand, there’s gold everywhere. When I was there, I also saw so much texture in the landscape. We wanted to infuse that blend of gold and texture into our collection.”
Shannon horseback riding in Mozambique: “This was taken when I lived in South Africa for a little while. I got a lot of cool jewelry while I was there—basic, chunky, copper cuffs that were the inspiration for pieces like this one.”
Get the inspired, easy-to-wear (and gift!) earrings that the duo made for us here.
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Meet Clare Vivier
The inspiration: a laptop that needed some protecting.
It all started in 2006 when Clare Vivier, then a journalist, couldn’t find a sturdy, stylish sleeve for toting around her computer. So, she decided to make one. “At the time, computers needed more protection. You know—when they were new, we all wanted to be really careful about our laptops,” Clare explains. “Now you can practically throw them around.”
After experimenting with all sorts of padding and quilted fabrics, she started working in leather, landed on her pared-down, sophisticated aesthetic, and got into the bag business. “I loved Bonnie Cashin-era Coach when I was young, how minimal the company was in its leather goods. Then I went to France and saw things that were just beautiful in their simplicity, without much hardware and other things going on,” she says.
Clare lived in Indiana, Minnesota, San Francisco, New York, and Paris (where she picked up a French husband and corresponding last name) before landing in Los Angeles. The city has proven to be a good home for her no-nonsense line of saturated navy messengers and slightly retro shoulder bags—she can do her designing from home (which means less time away from her seven-year-old son) and work with local factories. But lest you think she was always an ultra-polished sophisticate, you should know that Clare co-owned a hip-hop-inflected clothing store with an in-house D.J. in Haight-Ashbury during college.
Get on our email list to make sure you don’t miss Clare’s second edition for Of a Kind! It’s major.
