El Dia De Los Muertos

I have to say that our Halloween costumes were a huge success last night. Here is where I got my inspiration for our Day of the Dead costumes and the final outcome. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

 

Gotta Love That Martha Stewart

Feast your eyes on these Halloween themed cupcakes from Wonder Woman herself. Not sure I could bring myself to eat the last ones though....

The Voice of the Common Man

One ceaseless trend that has continued for many years and is evident not only during Halloween but year round as well, are skulls. You find them everywhere from jewelry, to tattoos, to fashion, to pottery. One such cartoonist, Jose Guadalupe Posada, created numerous skeleton illustrations that were published in a Mexican local newspaper called El Jicote (The Bumblebee). During his time, the majority of the impoverished population in Mexico City were illiterate. However the lower class were able to understand the jist of what was going on in their community through Posada's political cartoons that were placed alongside articles. His satirical illustrations strongly influenced the masses who were accustomed to corruption of the government under the reign of dictator Porfirio Díaz. Of course, the esoteric did not appreciate Posada openly poking fun at themselves so to avoid censorship or even persecution, he drew all of his subjects, regardless of class, in skeleton form. It was said that he chose to do this so that the politicians he was targeting could not be outwardly identifiable, thus avoiding censorship. However, everyone knew that his calaveras in regal costumes were meant to be the rich and powerful upperclass. Posada's illustrations became a medium of which he would show the government and people just exactly how its citizens felt about their authorities. As Posada's art was becoming an outlet for the lower class to protest the powerful politicians and upperclass, it was quickly shut down. His illustrations which were meant to make a religious or satirical political statement later became associated with the Mexican holiday "Dia de los Muertos" or "Day of the Dead." 

Coolest Pumpkin Carvings

I hope you all are just as excited as I am for this upcoming Halloween. In anticipation of the holiday's weekend festivities, I thought I'd share some of the ridiculous pumpkin carvings I came across. Please feel free to send in photos of your own to merm@itsyourkismet.com and I will post them on KISMET's blog. May your week be freakishly spooky!....in a good way

KISMET at WERK in Lower East Side!

I am so very pleased to announce that KISMET is now carried at Gersamtkunst Werk Boutique as well! You can visit this sweet little shop in the Lower East Side of New York at 9 Clinton Street between Stanton and Houston. The minute I walked into this shop I knew I had to have my designs sold here. Not only is store owner, Allie, super cool and uber friendly but her shop impresses me almost as much as she does. Each and every time I walk into this cute, almost hidden boutique, I get super distracted and have to do a quick scoping out of all the pieces of art, jewelry, accessories, knick knacks, stationary, you name it around me. There are not even just one or two look at me pieces! Its as though each and every item Allie chooses to be in her boutique screams for attention which is why I feel VERY honored to have been chosen to sell my collection there. The great thing about this store is there is something for EVERYONE! The first time I walked in I thought "okay I'm coming back to get this, this is what my best friend would want, my other best friend would love this, I should tell her about it...." Its the perfect place for gift giving to others and especially gift giving to oneself :)

To find out more about Werk click here.