Your Top Ten Most-Loved Objects this October

Pin It
Another-Loves-GIF-v4

Asymmetry, Art Deco and experimental shapes... This month’s AnOther Loves edit is brimming with design curiosities

As it gets darker and more dismal outside, direct your gaze towards the beauty of interiors on this month’s @anotherloves feed. Whether sipping from copper martini glasses or reclining on a pale pink cloud sofa, your most loved pieces imply you’ll be doing so in luxurious style, decked out in richly dyed velvet, the antithesis of a grey sky. Here are our top ten. 

The omnipresence of velvet in the A/W16 collections can only reflect our desire for its warming, sensual opulence as the season becomes starker, and there’s something inherently luxurious about a velvet shoe. These dramatic Miu Miu boots also evoke another seasonal craving: the warming haze of red wine. Miuccia Prada, used the words "nobility and misery" to describe the collection she designed for the label, and the former certainly matches the history of the material, which after its first emergence in the early 14th century, was reserved for ecclesiastical, royal and state robes in the medieval period, owing to its unusual texture and elevated cost of production. The abundance of the sumptuous cloth formed an ode to the designer’s motherland, the earliest sources of European velvets being Lucca, Genoa, Florence and Venice. Nowadays, velvet is far more widely accessible, and we think you’ll agree that there’s nothing miserable about that.

This 1980s coffee table by Italian design masters Fontana Arte simultaneously satisfies a lot of interior design obsessions. Its pale turquoise tint seems to be pipetted from a Wes Anderson palette, whilst its rectangular glass panels are pleasingly geometric. Reminiscent of the Memphis Milano-inspired interiors that were so popular in the 80s, these two design trends are enjoying a renaissance today. Take inspiration from Richard Gere’s clean-lined contemporary apartment in American Gigolo, and place a carefully-curated photobook selection upon this timeless piece.

Consuelo Castiglioni’s A/W16 collection for Marni presented an Italian glamour that fused rich colours with organic geometric shapes, for a simple yet decadent aesthetic. As we've come to expect from the brand, the bold patterns that featured in the line were heavily art-inspired, with bold, computer-enlarged prints and digital swirls sprayed onto fabrics. The Art Deco design of these earrings follows from the key characteristics of the 1920s artistic movement, combining modernist style with an intricate craftsmanship and rich materials. Eclectic luxury at its finest. 

Timothy Han is not a trained perfumer, and arrived at fragrance via an unconventional route, starting out as John Galliano’s assistant, then moving on to creating scented candles, before his first foray into olfaction. His debut fragrance, ‘She Came to Stay’, was inspired by Simone de Beauvoir’s 1938 novel by the same name – or ‘L’Invitée, to be precise – a semi-autobiographical, fictionalised account of her volatile relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre. It is this mood and sentiment that Han wanted to capture with his fragrance – uncertainty and volatility interpreted as a fougère [or 'fern-like'] scent that opens with geranium, basil and lemon, with a base of patchouli, vetiver, oakmoss and cedar, and a warming spicy heart of Indonesian clove and nutmeg. “The perfume on the same person could smell quite different day-to-day – that was the story,” explains Han. Each bottle of the unisex fragrance is still created by hand by Timothy from his Dalston apartment, and happens to be one of those scents – a little bit like Chanel No.5 – that seems to appeal to everyone, perfumers and passers-by alike.

Vladimir Kagan was a pioneer of modern furniture design in the mid-20th century, often accredited with having made furniture sexy, prompted by the pneumatic curves of his designs. This Serpentine sofa, very similar to his signature ‘Cloud’ design, was Kagan’s first model, and immediately earned him renown. Despite its sensational appearance, Kagan insisted that his priority when he had made furniture was comfort, claiming that he “created what I call vessels for the human body.” Kagan never mass-produced his furniture, making his pieces incredibly rare to come by (and even more desirable). 

Asymmetric cuts were a recurring motif in Stella McCartney's A/W16 collection – lending a sharp, unconventional slant to skirts, jackets, blouses – and, perhaps most charmingly, these off-kilter earrings, one of which is anchored by a tiny globe. 

Named ‘Monolith’, this brass chandelier with adjustable sconces certainly lives up to its name, but in an eye-catching – rather than imposing – way. Each sconce is adjustable, making the chandelier flexible for changing angles, so that light can shine on every part of your room. New York designers Refine Limited combine brass and matte navy blue, making the inherently luxury chandelier design more edgy, like something you’d expect to find in a sleek Manhattan studio. A beautiful feature in both grand and minimal rooms.

This ‘Plum’ martini glass set by Tom Dixon is made from copper plate and blue glass, part of their ‘Plum’ series of barware which aims to "rework cocktail culture and update drinking traditions." These slick glasses are mouth-blown and hand-cut, and are so delicious that, whether shaken or stirred, your mixology effort will appear masterful. 

Valentino’s A/W16 show was a themed exploration of ballet and the modern dance movement, taking inspiration from Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Diaghilev, and the Ballets Russes. The show was accompanied by a live pianist, and the clothes embraced dancers’ elegant silhouettes, with models’ shoulders accentuated by bardot necklines and turtlenecks, waistlines cinched in, garments layered in a style reminiscent of dancers’ warm-up clothes, and tulle and velvets crafted into tutu-like skirts and evening looks fit for an opera house. This champagne silk velvet dress was one of the standout evening pieces, and is a shining example of post-performance ballerina elegance. 

Has a blue check shirt ever looked better? Probably not. Marques'Almeida has a clever knack of whipping up cult pieces that become the stuff of exhaustive eBay searches and Vestiaire Collective alerts – and this buckled showpiece is a case in point. To note, it looks especially good when cinched over a long silk slip and platform boots.