Chrisrann: Spartan, art deco jewelry from JPG mag's creative director

Rannie Balias, creative director at JPG magazine, recently launched a unique and beautiful line of jewelry called Chrisrann (a combination of her name and her sister's name).

The pieces mix braided leather deadstock from the late 80s and early 90s (which Rannie was lucky enough to stumble upon) with strategically placed gold fill chains and links.

The aesthetic is Sparta meets art deco. and the colors are perfect against summer suntanned skin (but wear your sunscreen!). I have the breast plate, shown here—it's even more amazing once you put it on.

The line was partly inspired by Natasha Khan, the feathered, headbanded, war-painted lead singer of Bat for Lashes. She wore the Chrisrann spartan bangle onstage when performing at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall last June. "I about died," Rannie said.

You can buy Rannie's pieces at Shotwell in San Francisco, you can order online at the Chrisrann site, or if you happen to be in Ichinomaya Japan, you can find Chrisrann at me + buki.

• [mish]

  I about died when Natasha Khan’s white ass wore that godawful costume-store “indian” outfit too.

  http://jezebel.com/5516362/feathers-and-fashion-native-american-is-in-style

  • [Xeni Jardin]

    Yeah, I hear you. This post isn’t about that issue, but but the whole gringos-appropriating-native-american-regalia thing bothers me a lot.

    I dig the Chrisrann designs greatly, and want to make clear that I do not think this designer’s part of that boat at all.

    The line between eclectic artistic inspiration and ripoff is sometimes clear, sometimes blurry. I think you can create a super stripped-down, spartan, art deco piece like this and refer to it as a “breastplate” without being part of that crazy cracker train referenced in the Jezebel post.

• [subumbra]

  This is really lovely, mind you… but has no one noticed how much it looks like a luchador mask? All I can see is Strong Bad, smiling…

• [Pantograph]

  This is madness.