spotsandstripes

The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes

From the first chapter of The Devil's Cloth : A History of Stripes:

In the medieval Western world, there are a great number of individuals — real or imaginary — whom society, literature, and iconography endow with striped clothing. In one way or another, they are all outcasts or reprobates, from the Jew and the heretic to the clown and the juggler, and including not only the leper, the hangman, and the prostitute but also the disloyal knight of the Round Table, the madman of the Book of Psalms, and the character of Judas. They all disturb or pervert the established order; they all have more or less to do with the devil.

[...]

In the Middle Ages, Fortune, who turns the wheel of destiny for man, often wears a striped robe. Today, on a playground, the schoolchildren in striped clothes always seem more active than the others.

Thanks to the frequent wearer of stripes, Rose Gowen.

Yayoi Kusama's Polka Dots

These polka-dot-covered tree trunks that lined Singapore's Orchard Road for its Biennale in 2006 were by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Kusama began hallucinating dots, nets, and flowers in childhood and now lives in a mental hospital in Tokyo. She often works with polka dots and has said, "...a polka-dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots become movement... Polka dots are a way to infinity." Kusama was interviewed for BOMB in 1999.

Marilyn Monroe Polk-Dot Paper Doll

From Polka Dot Paper Dolls by David Wolfe, who has written a short history of the polka dot.

Topless Striped Shirt

Stripes are going to be big for Spring 2011. When aren't stripes big, I ask you? Note that the number 2011 is itself striped. Kristen McMenamy, the model wearing the striped top above, is not actually wearing a top at all. Louis Vuitton designed her, uh, outfit. He's got lots of vivid stripes that are printed on pieces of fabric for next spring, too.

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

While he eats his lunch, Luke reads The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. Vashti thinks she can't draw, until her art teacher tells her to "just make a mark" and sign it. She does, she makes one little dot in the middle of a blank page, and the next day she sees that her teacher has framed it in gold and displayed it behind her desk. Once Vashti's taken that first step, she becomes an inspired dot artist, an obsessed one even. This is a lovely story about creativity, inspiration, and hard work -- a good one for grown-ups as well as kids.

A Zorse, Of Course

 Udo Richter photo CC.  

This is a zorse called Eclyse who lives in Germany. She's the prettiest zorse I could find. (See more photos of her.) A lot of them have rather muddy-looking coats, although the stripes are still visible. I'd never even heard of a zorse until I read this story about hybrids a couple of weeks ago in the New York Times. But apparently zorses have been around since the 19th century. Check out the names various zebra/equine combinations (zebroids) have been given: zebrula, zebrule, zebra mule, golden zebra, horbra, hebra, zebrinny, zebret, zony, zetland, zonkey, zebonkey or zebronkey, zebrinny, zebrula, zebrass, zedonk or zeedonk, zebadonk and zedonk-a-donk-donk. Okay, I made that last one up.

Majili Illustration Prints

Up in the Sky, The Reader, and The Princess and the Pea are illustration prints available at the etsy shop Majalin.

 

Vintage Striped Buttons

These vintage striped buttons are for sale somewhere on the internet but I have lost the link.

Scott Jarvie's Drinking Straw Furniture

Scott Jarvie's clutch chair and clutch light, both constructed from thousands of striped drinking straws.

Craig Frazier's Lots of Dots

Craig Frazier's new children's book Lots of Dots has just been added to our wishlist. Frazier talks about the genesis of the book on his blog 36 Pages.