Your faithful beauty detective is back on the beat after a 4 month hiatus as she got her papers (more or less, mostly less) in order to return a italia!  And not a moment too soon because there is some serious beauty happening in northern Italy!

Have you spent any time fretting about what is to become of the famed Italian passamanerie now that we are living in the 21st century?

No, you haven’t?

You mean it’s just me?

Well, regardless, I am undeterred and I’ve got great news for all lovers of a good trim shop everywhere.

As spotted today, Italian artisans have obviously regrouped and adapted their designs for the modern connoisseur.  And not a moment too soon if you ask me!

As clothing has become more deconstructed so, it turns out, has cutting edge trim!

Take these modern twists on linen drapery fabric available by the meter.  In one sample, not only are various shades of chartreuse loosely stitched in various widths to the linen, but the very trendy color of gray is also to be found sewn onto a background of beige linen. In a third design, 4 warm shades of terracotta are stitched to the linen, followed again by a row of hot chartreuse.  All three applications are very pretty and feel quite modern.

Also, not to be left in the dust bin, are updated tassels.  What, you might have been worrying, can be done to modernize the traditional tassel?

Well, not to worry, because as it turns out, just by reducing the number of hues contained in a tassel and then simplifying the knot, a modernized profile is achieved.  And then, as if to offset the simplicity of the knot, how about adding a ceramic button decorated with a graphic sun design in simple black and white?

Done!  You’ve got yourself a modern tassel!  And you thought tassels were so 20th century!

Another modern approach to the tassel is to keep the knot a simple monochromatic creation.

It turns out that a slate gray is all that is needed to produce a solid yet lovely tassel, topped by a smooth knot of a contrasting tan color. Add a squat disk covered in the same gray as the tassel and top it with yet another elongated yet smaller hit of tan, attached the braided gray cord, and voila! you’ve got yourself a thoroughly modern tassel!  Just what you have been waiting for!

You could then throw a rectangular pillow, decorated with profiles of 20th-century apothecary artifacts, mainly in black and white but with an occasional understated hit of color, onto your sofa or divan and you have a tres chic, and very modern, salon!