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Shop: Batteries not required at Kettlemuck's

new and notable

 

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Walls could talk 

Have you, like us, been thinking: I would kill to paper my exercise room in vintage Soviet-era art? WALLS 360 is a locally based business that specializes in stickable wall graphics—er, make that high-resolution, Ultrachrome digital ink prints on “premium self-adhesive re-positionable fabric paper.” That means everything from rose decals for a princess bedroom to life-size Star Trek characters for your socially awkward friend. The collection also includes 1920s advertisements, Art Nouveau prints, works by masters like Vermeer and Renoir, and yes, even vintage Soviet-era art—all of which would look great in a bohemian café or bridal salon. (Okay, maybe the Battleship Potemkin prints from 1905 would send the wrong message.)

Walls 360 is the brainchild of artist Yiying Lu and curators Tavia Campbell and John Doffing. You may know Lu as the designer of the Twitter “Fail Whale,” that painfully adorable mammal held aloft by little red birds that appears whenever the Twitter servers are down. Walls has received the attention from ThinkGeek, Laughing Squid and Conan O’Brien, but its printing presses are right here in town. In November, the company plans to launch additional licensed content. Eventually, they plan to provide custom printing as well. Info:
www.walls360.com, 1-888-244-9969. — Gigi Generaux

 

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All that glitters

 

If Old Vegas glamour had a Holy Land, that place would be Du Barry Fashions. Its Queen Sheba? Baroness Rita Bliss David. The former beauty queen and Chanel model’s company is named for Madame Du Barry, the last mistress of Louis XV. Prior to her death during the French Revolution, Du Barry had a reputation for color-matching her outfits to the last detail — from the flowers in her hair to the bows on her jewel-encrusted mules.

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It’s in that spirit of chromatic harmony that Bliss David organizes her boutique, with jewelry tables and clothing racks devoted to every hue, from vivid aquamarine to pale lilac to sumptuous gold. Nestled next to a British specialty shop near Chinatown, Du Barry’s strip mall location (3375 South Decatur Boulevard #14, 257-6085) belies the glamour within it.

It’s glamour in serious volume. Costume jewelry covers the walls; there are so many crystal and rhinestone knickknacks and accessories in the 4,000-square foot space (Bliss David estimates about 12,000 pieces), that it’s hard to hold a steady gaze without becoming a little dizzy. Silver and gold headpieces perch near the ceiling in rows. Crystal-accented minaudières fill baskets next to glossy compact mirrors and Leiber-inspired clutches. Lush feather boas cascade between colorful beaded gowns and explosively large fans. (And it’s not just jewelry and clothes. Du Barry’s hat customers include attendees of the Kentucky Derby and the Royal Ascot.)

“Any occasion you have to go to, we’ve got it,” Bliss David boasts. Around Thanksgiving, for three days only, the store runs its annual 50-cent special for items typically priced at $1—a perfect opportunity to load up on stocking stuffers like lipstick cases, compact mirrors and coin purses. — G.G.

 

Don’t Miss

The Golden touch

Nancy Golden’s funky, hand-crafted leather jewelry is perfect to adorn the necklines and wrists of youthful downtown denizens and saucy suburban moms alike. Golden creates each piece in her home studio in Summerlin, but her style has caught the eye of buyers from small boutiques in Aspen and the fashion mecca Barneys New York. But Golden’s artistic vision guides her to follow a less commercial path. “I don’t want to be in stores,” she says. Each piece she sells has to go to “the right person. I want to talk to the person. I don’t work for a living. I work for a passion.”

Coveting one of her creations? Visit her website  www.goldenwearonline.com or check her out Nov. 15 at a special showing with other local jewelry designers at Mastrioni’s Café in Summerlin. Fifteen percent of the day’s proceeds benefit a host of causes, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Keep Memory Alive.