My Little Belleville Jane Collar

So now that you've heard me profess my love for My Little Belleville and Michelle's cutesy creations, I'd like
to introduce you to one of her wearable gems, the Jane Collar. She sent two of her handmade hand collars for me
to photograph and I couldn't be more excited for the chance to work on something creative and productive.
Isn't it just so lovely? I love how delicate it feels, and the dainty posing of the fingers. It lays very nicely-
never too thick or too stiff, and doesn't come too high up on the neck, which I really like. It aligns really well
with most lady crew necks and instantly turns a normal sweater or something similar into a unique piece of art.
The pop of red on the nails is such a nice detail without being too 'loud' and so far I like it so much with any
colour.

It's definitely a great conversation piece, and the most perfect touch of whimsy. I also super love the white
stitching details along the border and fingers. Such a perfect balance of interesting, fun, and simple.
There's just something about hand print and hand themed things that I can't resist. Maybe that it represents the
most industrious part of the body, and how they are the tools of creativity. Maybe it's the slightly creepy
factor that they are disembodied parts. I love a good novelty oomph in my sartorial choices, and 'hands' feel
like a great route for not too girly or cutesy.











I originally wanted these photos shot in an apple orchard- I thought it would be perfect for autumn vibes, colorful,
and reminiscent of working hands. Hands plant and care for the trees, hands harvest the apples, hands use the apples
to make delicious seasonal things, etc. I had a whole weekend planned out to go to Yamanashi prefecture, which is about
two hours away and famous for it's fruit orchards and rural scenery. Unfortunately that weekend, several things happened.
First, our plans to rent a car and drive out were foiled when we went to register online and found out that in order to
drive with an international license in Japan, we had to have applied for a 1 year only license back in the states, and we missed
the boat on that and aren't qualified to rent a car or drive now( :( ). And when we checked the train schedule, the trip would
take 4 hours each way by railway as opposed to the originally planned 2 hours by car. Also it was forecasted to rain heavily all
weekend. Also I got hit by a monster cold/flu bug that totally knocked me out for 2.5 weeks straight. So many wrenches in the plans!

We ended up biking over to a nearby park and I just bought an apple since I was committed to a few images in my head and
really wanted to try to make them happen. Then, if you can believe it- I somehow ended up deleting the photos from my
camera, thinking I had uploaded them already, but when I went to edit....no photos. AGH! Luckily I had edited and exported
these above four images right away so Michelle could use them quickl, and
she was able to send them back to me. So these four images are all that remain from that whole ordeal. So to round things
out I made a second attempt at some photos with the Jane collar- this time with a different coloured sweater, and in a teahouse
in our neighborhood. I was excited for the tatami floors and traditional style tableware and teasets. Unfortunately we got
seated away from the window and under some weird light, so the colouring is a little off because of the strange mixture of
natural, tungsten, and fluorescent lights:( Kind of a bummer for photos, but still a lovely place to hang out in real life

We ordered green tea bavarian cream with azuki beans, and a hot sweet chestnut soup with mochi. Both had amazing textures
and flavors and were of course accompanied by some green tea. It was lovely pouring tea out of our own teapot and feeling our
drinks and food warm us up on cold, overcast day with chilly wind. It was a wonderful setting in which to enjoy some Japanese
flavours and aesthetics, and to showcase this lovely and unique handmade collar. The style definitely fits right in here in Japan.