Tag: sewing button

Beauty and haute couture buttons

Cate Blanchett is above all a renowned actress, I’m not telling you anything new; her playing is as perfect as her beauty. From Elizabeth through Blue Jasmine to name a few, she embodies a natural beauty and elegance.

The apotheosis of her innate class is even stronger with the picture of Cate Blanchet published in The Guardian: a radiant face, Persian eyes simply accompanied by a huge pure black haute couture button on a beige silk muslin; a beautiful and elegant button as Cate Blanchett is. What a lesson in style where the haute couture button displays a pure sobriety and adorns more than a jewel, a simple silk blouse! Thank you Mrs Blanchett for this superb lesson of universal elegance. Your taste is flawless and just divine as you are!

Woman wearing a tunique in V shape with pearl buttons
SS 2016 Collection – Courtesy of Aouadi

It is not surprising that you have allowed us to discover, for the promotion of the movie Carol, one of the rising stars of tomorrow French Haute Couture: Yacine Aouadi. His latest Spring-Summer 2016 collection is as beautiful as light with sublime pearl buttons!

woman wearing a a long silk dress adorned with pearl buttons
SS 2016 Collection – Courtesy of Aouadi

A crazy work and a style that celebrate women and love as these dresses decorated with pearl buttons asked one by one, which required hundreds of hours of work! An exquisite set of Haute Couture that could have been inspired by Cate Blanchett herself! A tribute to two talented personalities!

     

Netsuke button: a stich in time

bouton en ivoire sculpté petit homme avec enfant sur épaule
Bouton Netsuké en ivoire © BUTTONS PARADISE

Initially, I did not know what this small carved figure of a man represented: a samurai with a child, but what was the feature of this beautiful object? It was equipped with two holes, one of one centimeter at the base and the other, smaller, on the back. And it is these holes that intrigued me. After searching on the Internet and taking the time to test if it was ivory, I was rapidly convinced that this carved item was the distant ancestor of our sewing buttons and that it was Japanese: the Netsuke. Indeed, the Netsuke is an extremely refined carved button. Did you know that all its surfaces are smooth to avoid damaging the fabric of the kimono, much less hurt the man that wears it? Did you know that they often featured human figures, life scenes or animals? Besides being functional, the Netsuke also symbolized a social rank, sometimes a trade or expressed for some of them, among the most rare, a carved love scene!

 

bouton japonais en ivoire vue de dos
Bouton Netsuké vu de dos, en ivoire © BUTTONS PARADISE

And all because kimonos have no pockets, the Netsuke was simply the button that allowed its owner to attach a box (sagemono) to the kimono by a string, containing his belongings. So refined, a button really deserves a name to the delicate pronunciation of Net-su-ke!

bouton japonais en ivoire vue de sa base
Bouton Netsuké en ivoire, vu de sa base © BUTTONS PARADISE
     

Original buttons novelty by BUTTONS PARADISE

We often talk about innovations on the Internet. But what about haute couture buttons? How do you define a genuine novelty for sewing buttons? Are they mainly similar or radically different? Whatever kind of buttons they may be, they are key fashion accessories that will make the difference to enhance your outfits and to create this difference, we should refer to them as original buttons. This is what BUTTONS PARADISE wishes to offer you when we speak about innovations, we think originality above all!

boutons colorés sur cuir et feuilles
Galaxie Pop © BUTTONS PARADISE

And for this winter in particular, innovations relate to ultra-chic and tailor-made sets of buttons; here are some examples.

bouton en bois et résine pastelle sur tweed
Bouton Galaxie Pop © BUTTONS PARADISE

The Pop Galaxy button series is handcrafted and ultrafine. These fashion buttons have a delicate roundness and they are composed of colored resins inlayed, in a wood from New Caledonia: the Pittosporum Pentandrum. This wood is extremely lightweight and its colors range from very light beige-pink to intense brown. Its veins are fine and delicate: a pure delight-sewing button for chic and ‘tangy hues’ outfits. The Pop Galaxy buttons can be made in four different sizes: from 20 to 50 mm.

Bouton beige en plusieurs couches de nacre
Bouton Placuna © BUTTONS PARADISE

Also new in this collection: the Placuna button. It is made of mother-of-pearl from an oyster as round as a circle, the Placuna Placenta. This oyster is sought after for its pearls and the quality of its MOP, so fine that it lets the light come through. This is why our ancestors, a few hundred years ago, used this oyster instead of glass, as its shell is translucent. The Placuna button is made of 6 mother-of-pearl layers crimped with gilding at the ends. It captures the reflections of the fabric and it is as beautiful as sunshine. It is a divine jewelry button to wear on a party outfit, a top or jacket in all seasons. Like any luxury handcrafted button, the Placuna button is made to order and is available in two sizes to better highlight the purity of its mother-of-pearl: 40 and 50mm diameter.