By Covers Alone.

It's ok, you can judge these books by their covers. We all--as a US school system educated cohort--know their insides are classic literary goodness, but no matter. Aren't they pretty on the outside? Penguin publishers produced a series of tried and true tomes with a little jacket design help from fashion illustrator (and I want to wear it. favorite) Ruben Toledo.

You think I can figure out how to wear those jackets? To get yourself some picture book classics, head on over to Barnes and Noble.

Adopt Me, Please.

Isabel and Ruben Toledo are my dream fashion parents. I want them to adopt me and re-parent me so that I can be indoctrinated into their stylin' hippie-ish universe. I have this idea of their home being a crazy playground of sorts, where nothing is normal sized, where every surface is drawing paper-covered, and food is edible artwork. I also think that when you wake up in their house as their adopted 27 year-old child you get your clothes for the day designed and sewn onto your body fresh daily. If that's not how it is, I don't want to know.

Isabel hard at work (l), Ruben's hard work (r). Click images for source information.

Isabel is a superbly talented maker of things. She's not just a designer. She imparts her style and spirit into everything she produces, which makes it all wonderful. Ruben is an artist with a flair for the surreal and a style as distinctive as his wife's clothes are wonderful. Together they are kind of magical. Watch them talk about their art and each other. Watch him keep a part of her skirt on his leg and her wrap her arm around the back of his chair in this interview. Watch them take the term Soulmates and apply it to real life.

Ok, now go see my Mama Isabel's mid-career retrospective at The Museum at F.I.T., which is on display through September 26th.