Of Stingray and Salmon leather

Quite frankly I don't know what to write about stingray because nothing in particular led up to it, I've just been thinking about it a lot lately. Perhaps the snakeskin of spring led to the stingray of dismal weather? Whatever the case may be, this stingray bangle from Alkemie Jewelry (I'm going to have to do another post on this) is enough to cheer me up on the gray day.

I also like these bangles.

According to style.com, Hannah Marshall used stingray in her Fall 09 collection. If that's true, methinks the 

two looks below employed stingray in the line down the waist and the detail around the bust, respectively.

The clutch that initially sparked my interest in stingray, and is absolutely gorgeous to boot:

And matching flats:

And as for salmon leather?

A few days ago I went to the Cooper-Hewitt and saw several inspiring exhibits, among them "Fashioning Felt" (perhaps I'll explore this some other time) and "Design for a Living World". "Design for a Living World" was comprised of ten artists working with sustainable, underappreciated materials to create something useful. Isaac Mizrahi used white salmon leather 

pailletes to create a dress, cape, and shoes. 

(picture source)

The salmon industry throws away ridiculous amounts of perfectly useful salmon skin every year. Unlike some cow leather, salmon leather is actually a byproduct of the salmon-eating industry. And I don't know about you, but I love some good salmon. (Its at times like this I'm glad my blog is not all that popular, because it if was, surely I'd be subject, at this point, to cries of "you cold-hearted animal killer!" And I don't think I would ever become vegetarian, but I might become pescatarian.) I've actually heard that salmon leather lasts longer than regular leather because the fish's skin must be ultra-tough to withstand the constant treks between salt and fresh water. The Irish Salmon Skin Leather Company actually has a small range of products, including this and this:

I'd happily wear either. The texture is fabulous! Sort of a subtle snakeskin.