MAKE PARTY LIKE GATSBY

Happy monday mes petits chats, 

I hope you had a nice weekend running for your christmas shopping, hunting for the perfect present… I have to admit that I had some trouble this year to find present that’d hit the nail on the head but it’s not too late, I still have 9 days… Where there’s life there’s hope. Oh yes I hear you fine « She could make her own present ». Yeah that’s true but let me tell you something sweeties, I’ve been making them for 20 years, I say 20 years because let’s say that from the age of 5 I handled Crayola and quite soon after that scissors and glue: everything was possible. And to make it short, 20 years of Christmas gift x 10 (it’s about the number of people present on the day of Jesus’s birth) well that means I had 200 ideas (it’s an around number, I included birthday presents as well). I’m not saying I had 200 good ideas but I cleaned out the jewelry box covered with décopatch (easy-to-apply paper with patterns), the knives-holder in salt dough, making clothes, jewelry, frames, paintings… (in 20 years of making stuffs, you get better at some point). But you know what people, this year I’m out, I bought your gifts. I love you just as much but my brain is steaming.

So today let me introduce you to my « MAKE MY PARTY LIKE GATSBY » table, I had so much fun taking these pictures (I love my job!). I rented photography supplies for the occasion (like for the Sézane shoot), I knocked up the light and it was so rewarding to do it all, from the shopping for the table to the set while imagining little DIY I felt completely right, as if it was obvious that I had to go further, to push my limits by doing everything myself.

So. For this table I wanted a chic atmosphere but also quite dark, not creepy but more like a Christmas for grown-ups, also with a tad of seduction. A Gatsby Christmas table all in all, or more a NYE table actually… With golden, silvery, copper-colored, and of course with the black and white from a tuxedo. But I also wanted some Christmas tree branches, some babies’-breath and some wax to stay within natural and wintery tones.

You can download the little « shirt-collar and bow tie» place cards HERE. It really is easy, some paper and glue and it’s done, it’s cheap and it will definitely work. To write the name you can either use a gold pen or get inspiration from the Gatsby stationery from this article. 

Okay there I went a little crazy, I made « candle art »… So what is it ? Well my love it’s like nail art but on candles: some tape, nail polish and here you go… It’s very simple but I think it’s quite good for a quick DIY… Do you remember one of my first DIY, le serviteur silencieux ? I know, so much ground has been covered (especially regarding the pictures…), anyway I love using it for my scenographies, it gives height to the table and I used it here as a little Christmas tree covered in bulbs of different sizes mixed with little « craquelin » choux buns from Picard.

I’d like to mention that every pieces of tableware and the Christmas decoration was lent by Galeries Lafayette Maison. Btw if you’re in Paris next Thursday from 6.30 to 8 pm I’m showing you there how to ice your cake like a « bonnet de bain » (I can hear you think « she’s crazy »…). The cake recipe will be online next week.

PS. I’d like to set things straight about the fact that I used stuffed animals on set, because I feel like some of you will react. So yes, they are real animals, you can find it horrible, it’s fine. As for me I don’t mind, and here I wanted to integrate them because I wanted to set a weird aesthetic, like a cabinet of curiosities but I really don’t want to justify myself more than that… If I could have had a real penguin or a real heron that’d have been great but unfortunately I don’t have the same budget as Cartier to bring a baby tiger on set… That’s too bad. If is can make you feel better and avoid you sending me rocks or Brigitte Bardot, they are antics lent for the job and not animals that were savagely murdered for this shooting. They are kind of « second hand » if you will, and this penguin has a mischievous look that had been immortalized for posterity. I’ll not talk to you about where I stand regarding fur, eating meat, going to the MacDonalds, travelling by place of letting the water run when you brush your teeth today, but maybe it will come someday.