A Work In Progress

Jeanne-Claude, who collaborated with her husband, Christo, on dozens of environmental arts projects, notably the wrapping of the Pont Neuf in Paris and the Reichstag in Berlin and the installation of 7,503 vinyl gates with saffron-colored nylon panels in Central Park, died Wednesday in Manhattan, where she lived. She was 74.

Like all of their projects, these were intended to be temporary, a quality at the heart of the artistic enterprise. Whether executed in oil drum or brightly colored fabric, the art of her and her husband, Jeanne-Claude said, expressed “ the quality of love and tenderness that we human beings have for what does not last.”

Heartbreaking.

You might know that the tantalizing combination of peanut butter and jelly you’re eating between two slices of bread was named after a certain Earl of Sandwich, but how many other words that we use every day are named after real people?
How about galvanize? Silhouette? Leotard?
These words — called eponyms — and many more fill a new book called Anonyponymous: The Forgotten People Behind Everyday Words,written by John Bemelmans Marciano.
Some of the people who donated their names to history did it by accident.

This was my favorite story; the history of the word frisbee.

“There was a woman named Mary Frisbie who made pies in Connecticut,” Marciano tells Renee Montagne. “Students would throw around her pie plates after they had finished her pies, and kind of like you would say, ‘Incoming!’ they would say, ‘Frisbie!’ just to give people the heads-up that there was something spinning and flying coming at their head.”

Meanwhile, the Wham-O corporation, producer of the hula hoop, was having trouble selling its own flying disk, awkwardly named “The Pluto Platter.”

“They went around to college campuses, knowing that this was where trends started,” Marciano says. “To their surprise, in the Northeast, people were already throwing flying disks, and they had this name ‘Frisbie’ for it.”

For trademark purposes, “Frisbie” became “Frisbee,” and a sensation was born.

Seems like a fun book.

Expectations are particularly high for this Saturday’s launch of a limited edition Jimmy Choo collection at H&M because shoes, the signature of the Choo label, remain an obsession for many stylish women - recession or not.

In previous collaborations with Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney and Comme des Garcons, shoppers fought over pieces - literally tugging at two ends of the same sweater when Victor&Rolf introduced its H&M line at just 12 locations. H&M has turned budget-conscious designer shopping into a competitive sport.

(There’s an undefined line between “cheap” and “budget-conscious,” but starting at $79.95 a pair, the Jimmy Choos seem to fall into the latter category, even if a regular pair of Jimmy Choos may sell for more than US$1,000.)

The Jimmy Choo collection will be sold at 200 stores, including four outlets in Canada - flagship locations in Vancouver and Montreal, and two stores in downtown Toronto.

The collection includes heels, flats and over-the-knee boots, plus suede and leather dresses, jackets, leggings, studded bags and animal-print clutches. The men’s line is built around slim jackets, boots, cashmere sweaters and casual pants. Prices start at $29.95 for accessories and $59.95 for clothing.

Heck yes, I will be there amongst the ravenous Jimmy Choo shoe fiends. It’s so worth losing a limb over.