You haven't truly lived until you've made a pom-pom. Furry, fuzzy, and just plain fabulous; these little guys aren't exactly the hardest thing to produce. Just take a ball of wool, two round circles cut out of an old egg carton, and proceed to wind to your little heart's content. (FYI: here's
a handy instruction video if that homemaker inside of you is feeling ambitious.)
Turning the humble pom pom into a high-end style accessory is a different story, however. Nobody wants to look like the kid that got attacked by Mum's craft glue (safe-to-eat flour based, duh) at the next fashion show. Enter Argentinian designer Ailin Bisi: she makes pom poms, but she makes them so good that her label's totally getting away with charging double digits for them.
Judging by her portfolio, this young talent - who was discovered on Latin America's version of Project Runway – has lived a thousand times over. She makes earrings. She makes brooches. She's even made see-through tops with weird Sergeant Pepper shoulder pads. The amazing bobbled bags are the highlight, which is probably why they've already sold out online*.
Here's Ailin's video for her first mainline collection.
And here's her Project Runway entrance video. To be honest we have no idea what's going on here, but it involves pom-poms which is clearly never a bad thing.
More at
ailinbisi.blogspot.com.
*Don't even think about putting your name on the wait list. The next bag she makes is all ours. Sorry.