Finding Inspiration.
The 10th Day of Classics' styling this Christmas.
Finding inspiration, especially new inspiration can be a little frustrating when you live rurally, are watching the pennies or just can’t get in the right mood but gaining confidence in any styling, whether it’s for a business, your home, a community project, a garden, an outfit or a shop like ours, starts with the fun of finding your inspiration.
Honestly, the places I find most inspiration for styling is with my friends and in particular their homes. They, after all, have spent a lifetime being inspired themselves, and their homes are a carefully considered curation of everything that they’ve noticed, admired, collected and love. You may not have the same taste, style or colour scheme but there will always be inspiration. Looking for photos for this blog I realised I don’t have any from inside my friends’ houses and that seems ridiculous as I’m claiming they’re the best stomping ground for inspiration. Next year I’m going to make a considered effort to ask my friends if I can take photos when I’m in their homes and gardens.
The next best place for me to find inspiration for styling is in buildings that have free or very cheap entry and Museums, shops, public buildings, libraries, galleries and plant nurseries like the wonderful Hill House Nursery are all amazing year round sources of inspiration.
I’ve had the chance to visit museums in Florence and London this year which was wonderful but close to home and free, I’ve visited The Box in Plymouth which is great for a pop in between getting the chores done in the city. Just go and have a half hour mooch, take some photos and have a coffee. I promise you’ll leave inspired.
A day trip to London, whilst I didn’t buy much, left me brimming with inspiration from a mooch around Liberty, The National Portrait Gallery and just streets in general. Doorways, porches, windows in homes, windows in shops, arcades and stations all give me ideas about shape, size, colour, perspective and position.
My trips to France inspire me in very subtle ways and if I’m honest, it’s hard to know exactly what inspires me but the French have a very authentic, honest and grounded approach to styling their homes and themselves. There is a dischord for me if I’m honest between the way the French (in general) style their gardens and themselves compared to their homes. I rarely go in a French home and think "Wow!” I’ve yet to work out why yet but I think it’s got something to do with the complete electicism I experience here in Britain amongst my friends’ homes and the pace at which they seem to absorb culture, art, design, colour and trend, no matter what the budget. The homes in France I visit seem stationary. This sounds offensive and I don’t mean to be because it’s clear so so much of my own home, garden, shop and personal style is heavily influenced by France and the French style. But there’s the distinction. France influences me. Influcence is different distinctly to inspiration. Finding inspiration can just be a fleeting moment or a part of something you’v seen or experienced.
Find out more about Chateau Oiron
A short drive from our place in France is the amazing Chateau Oiron that is a National Monument to Contemporary Arts. I’ve been a couple of times and am always amazed at the combination of the complex history of the building with the visions of current day artists. Enormous buildings with incredible amounts of space are great places to find tips and tricks for styling. Of course if you have big spaces with no general household clutter, it’s easier to style them but we can learn and copy alot from these considered places. Again, like other people’s homes, there are whole teams building a vision for YOU so throw yourself into their creation and pick the bits you like. Take photos, make sketches if it’s your thing and don’t be afraid to just walk past the things you don’t like and don’t take inspiration from.
I take alot of photos and have always enjoyed looking back at them and editing them. I used to work in Photographic libraries in my 20s and had a career working on a Picture Desk of a couple of tabloid papers and spent all day long researching and looking at images. In those days we were looking at negatives, prints and transparancies (slides) rather than digital images and editing was a long and complex process. The Adobe software we use is now pretty standard on free editing apps for your phone and I really enjoy taking pictures and using the editing tools to find different perspectives. If you’re a Pinterest fan then putting together an inspiration board can really help you develop your personal styling style and I often look back on my camera roll when I’m looking for inspiration for any project , whether it’s the shop window or a sewing project or even ideas for my home.
Inspiration often comes from embarking on a new hobby and if you’re keen on styling and being creative then learning a new craft can, before you know it, start influencing the way you create in other areas of your life. During the pandemic I started watching home sewing videos on Youtube and now am a very keen home sewer, trying to make clothes for myself. I always loved haberdashery and fabric, made the occasional scatter cushion but now I’m keen to make my own clothes. I digress. The point is that immersing myself in my new craft has exposed me to new inspiration. I am more interested in the role of Fashion Designers, Patten Cutters and Creative Direction and if I was young again…well, we can all have those dreams. Styling ANYTHING gives you a chance to dip in to worlds you didn’t necessarily get the chance to work in and you don’t have to be an expert. You can just enjoy the liberation of letting something else into your identity and playing with it.
I’m really happy to learn from those that are more seasoned, confident and accredited at pretty much anything. My family tease me about how prepared I am to learn something new but in my experience, learning takes away self doubt and builds confidence and when it comes to styling and creativity, learning from experts can be one of the quickest and easiest ways of making personal progress. It’s often surprising how generous people are at giving away their hints and tips but THEY DO!
Genius of styling Michelle Mason
One of the genius’ of styling vintage is Michelle Mason who founded the stunning shop Mason & Painter. Her ability to create a scene and style it is incredible. She has a particular talent of placing flowers in her scenes that perfectly echo the colours and moods in her shop. I’ve been to her shop and sell her books in mine and she’s a gentle, generous person that inspires me alot. You’ll find that…the people that you take inspiration from are often gentle and generous. Just like your friends; so if you take nothing else from this blog, take the gentle reminder to visit your friends in their homes more often and after complimenting them, take a photo, revisit it in the future and see how it inspires you!