laced

LED Love

2012-02-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

Sea of Love

2012-02-03T13:29:00.001-08:00

Rose Courts

2012-01-26T08:59:00.000-08:00

smoke show

2012-01-12T10:56:00.001-08:00

big city Prayer

2011-12-20T14:14:00.000-08:00

kaleidoscope Eyes

2011-12-20T14:08:00.000-08:00

Drive

2011-10-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

Desire

2011-10-03T13:54:00.001-07:00

"........"

Catch!

2011-09-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Garden Party

2011-07-21T21:54:00.000-07:00

Cosmic Disco

2011-07-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

She loved her chips and gravy

2011-07-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Waiter Please

2011-03-30T05:18:00.001-07:00

Room service here.

Cool Water

2011-03-10T19:58:00.001-08:00

Lillian Bassman

Why do you look so sad?

2011-03-10T17:26:00.000-08:00

Because you speak to me in words

and I look at you with feelings.

Exit

2011-03-10T17:22:00.000-08:00

Turn out the lights?

2011-02-21T04:50:00.001-08:00

Aurélian Arbet et Jérémie Egry

Wang Chung

2011-02-21T04:37:00.000-08:00

Firestarter

2011-02-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

Trompe La Morte

Maciek Pozoga

Licorice Allsorts

2011-02-03T01:14:00.000-08:00

Sandra Freij for Mixte.

American Pie

2011-01-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hedi Slimane

Dune

2011-01-14T20:53:00.000-08:00

Esteban Cortazar x Exito

Shabop Shalom Baby

2011-01-12T21:21:00.000-08:00

The Eternal Coca Cola of the Spotless Fries

2010-10-26T01:29:00.000-07:00

Hermès by Matt Irwin

Cod Liver

2010-10-26T00:53:00.000-07:00

Mathias Sterner.se

L.A. Herzog

2010-10-26T00:48:00.000-07:00

R J Shaugnessy "L.A. Herzog" xx

www.rjshaughnessy.com

look into my eyes

2010-10-20T06:29:00.000-07:00

Because he will make you smile

2010-10-20T06:27:00.001-07:00

Call Sheet

2010-10-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

Tom Ford S/S 2011.

Oil Spill

2010-08-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

Loving...

2010-08-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

Model Photographer Julian Schratter

Abbey Lee

2010-07-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

Abbey Lee par Hedi Slimane pur Vogue Chine

Vogue UK plays B+W with Anja Rubik

2010-07-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

Pool Party!

2010-07-22T23:57:00.001-07:00

From the archives: Steven Klein for US Vogue 2005

Miu Miu F/W 2010/11

2010-07-19T02:11:00.000-07:00

Berlin Baby

2010-07-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

David Tomaszewski F/W 2010

Gimme Gimme...

2010-07-18T17:00:00.001-07:00

Givenchy Resort 2011

New York City Boy

2010-07-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

Jose Duran S/S10

Reality Bites

2010-07-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony

Block Party

2010-07-12T20:50:00.001-07:00

Chanel Iman cuts through Viktor & Rolf ruffles on the latest issue of Block Mag

Preppie Porn

2010-07-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

Nipp-on

2010-07-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

Eniko Mihalik through the super-sexed lens of Camilla Akrans for Vogue Nippon

Write me a love song?

2010-07-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

Noble Farewell

2010-06-28T23:55:00.000-07:00

Vogue US July 2010: Tribute to the late Alexander McQueen, shot by Annie Liebovitz.

Images through livejournal

La Donna-Drappeggio Stile Anni '40

2010-06-28T23:40:00.001-07:00

Angelica Huston by Avedon for Italian Vogue 1971

Banshee Beat

2010-06-28T21:53:00.000-07:00

Collages by Shelby DiMarco

Loving...

2010-06-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

Kate Lanphear

Images through tfs

Ship of Promises

2010-06-23T02:09:00.000-07:00

Beautiful stills from Kathryn Ferguson's clip for the new Villagers track, soon to be released be Domino Records.

Images through **K

Thoughts?

2010-06-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

Jil Sander S/S 2011 by Raf Simons

Baby I'm Yours

2010-06-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

Breakbot - Baby I'm Yours from WIZZ on Vimeo.

It's party time...

2010-06-08T00:20:00.000-07:00

At the Jersey Dog Show.

For the Sneaker Freakers.....

2010-06-07T04:27:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I love you....

2010-06-01T21:36:00.001-07:00

...but I do.

Christian Louboutin A/W 2010

Crystal and Mesh

I said "Is there fire on the mountain?"

2010-05-31T19:23:00.001-07:00

You replied, "Well that all depends."

Animal Farm

2010-05-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

Magdalena Frackowiak by Horst Diekgerdes

Boom!

2010-05-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

Legendary Tony Ward wraps himself around the cover of RUSSH (and Ieva Laguna).

Shot by Will Davidson, styled by Stevie Danz- literally white hot editorial- "Bunny 'Ain't No Kind of Rider".

Images stolen from Pedestrian.tv...thanks boys ;)

RAFW Dion Lee S/S 2010/11- Let there be light

2010-05-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

Master Tailor - Meet Printmaker

It's rare that I am speechless, but I feel this collection is truly exceptional and, honestly, it made me more than a little proud of the incredible young talent we have in Australia. Another of the '4 boys', Lee found success from that first group show several years ago and has since shown solo with high profile support -Belinda Seper being one of the first to pick up his pieces. Best known for his edgy razor sharp tailoring that splits open and rides off and on the angles of the body at strategic points, and impeccable pleat-work, S/S 11 was a high octane concentration of his skills, marked with a new sophistication, femininity and softness lent by the prettiest gelato palette and truly beautiful new prints from Shane Sakkeus, who has been the brain behind the prints at Josh Goot for several years. The fact that despite what really is a lot of detail, every piece is light, clean and modern- even when Sakkeus' Rorschach prints bloom into violets and turquoise, the tailoring is pulled back to perfect simplicity. All I can say is that if the stunning knot and pleat work of this dress doesn't make your jaw drop....

...then you are beyond help.

Images courtesy of JakandJil

RAFW Konstantina Mittas S/S 2010/11

2010-05-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

You know a show is going to be different when it opens to the stringy strains of a 4-piece, and opera singer and a performance artist. Before the lights go up.

Konstantina Mittas has always been one to watch, one of those standout designers that transcends trend and prefers instead to present something more conceptual, while still managing to produce wearable pieces. This collection, 'The night of Enithromon's Joy', evoked images of a mystical classical mythology, a sensual stylistic birth, placed somewhere in the future. Mittas slips back and forth across the line between design and art in a less obvious way than artist prints collaboration, or by tailoring a circus-like silhouette- provocative themes, however, are always present. The architectural forms constructed across shoulders, that hugged hips, or framed the face in a theatrical curl, are always conscious of the body. Far removed from the distressed, decayed pieces of 2009/10, these were smooth silks, devastating black ruffles and ruching, a mustard-gold fabric of indefinable depth and the heavenly flash of light delivered by cool whites and the perfect cornflower blue, which drew the eye up to the pale eyes and Grecian/Marie Antoinette hair of these lithe goddess/sprites. Fierce ankle boots embellished with jet-onyx beading brought it all down to earth.

If you want pieces packed with power, the subtle sequin-less show stopper that won't sacrifice an ounce of femininity, this is where to get it.

Image courtesy of Fashionising, footer my own.

RAFW Phos Phoro S/S/2010/11

2010-05-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

From designer Spencer Webber, whom you may remember from the 2008 group show '4 boys', a beautifully coherent debut solo collection that played on texture, with wonderfully light cottons and chiffon slipping against rich blue or red velvets, beautiful broderie and rick silks. Prints in the form of spot, stripes, a digi-check and pretty floral maintained the energy, while more than a touch of nostalgia came from the twisted fedoras complete with carnations, and the very cuts themselves. Also a move into stricter tailoring than we are used to seeing from Webber- a definite progression from the looser, more organic forms of his earlier pieces. Particular favourites include the backless jackets, a sweet pair of diaphanous striped shorts that played at gingham with the underlay, and the black and white floor length number with pleated peplums. On a beauty note, the coiled coiffs and strong brows were perfection.

More on Phos Phoro later in the month with the special attention this fresh designer deserves.

Images courtesy of Getty.

RAFW Sara Phillips S/S 2010/11

2010-05-08T21:27:00.001-07:00

A little bit country, not much rock 'n' roll.

In her third year at RAFW designer Sara Phillips presented a western inspired collection that was a little bit retro rockabilly, softened with that washed out 70's feel that RUSSH was once so fond of, in this year's popular palette of neutrals, pinks and blues. Seen here again was a lot of nude suede and leather, high waisted short shorts, and a number of well fitted silk pants with pleated side panels, and light skirts with pleated ruffles and origami folds. No big complaints, after all I'm rather partial to a ruffle and a pleat, the collection hit all the major trend notes (suede, nudes, shorts, cropped tops and one-shouldered dresses- even double denim), all very wearable and will probably sell quite well because of it, but is unlikely to make the same waves as those who swim against the tide. Pretty printed silk pants, a whisper light NYC skyscape printed dress and panelled high waisted swimsuits added originality. While the clothes themselves were well finished, prints and pleat work require time and skill, but I could have done with a little more polish in the presentation given last season's prism studded styling, striking graphic print and the promise of a laser-cut lavender suede dress. Cowboy hats aside, a well-styled shoe wouldn't have gone astray and, as fashion director Jean-Luc Francaise reminded me- with a look of horror I might add- that one model was sent out with a precariously slipping strapless top with cropped stockings. The 2-4-1 kind. That said the little design touches, like a coiled grey felt detail at the neck of a cropped tobacco suede tank, the same in silk on a chiffon blouse and pleated wings on the pockets of pants and shoulders, were lovely.

On a beauty note Redken 5th Avenue hair director Richard Kavanagh pulled all the right moves with a 'Greasers' coiffed silhouette softened with woolshake and a textured mousse to create a looser feminine texture that would look just as good on a V cover as my favourite men's mag Fantastic Man.

High point? MOTM Julia Nobis pulling round the zig zag runway in a white silk blouse with her name spelled out on the back in true country star style to the strains of Dolly Parton's classic "Jolene".

Images: front row through the vine backstage my own.

RAFW Camilla and Marc S/S 10/11

2010-05-04T02:10:00.000-07:00

For a seaside coastal town that just happens to be a buzzing international city, visitors always seem to notice the sporty glamour that Australians do best, and this is where to get it.

To a slick soundtrack slipping through the stilt-like columns at Boheme, Camilla and Marc kicked off Day Two of RAFW with a highly wearable collection of pieces that seem to perfectly define Sydney style.

In a sweeter colour palette of soft nudes and shell pink, sky blues and dove greys that tempered into olives and neutral tones- texture seemed to be a key point. The show opened with a fitted outfit in boucle, which crept its way across a few fitted dresses with sandy satin, and a pale blue look with sheer lace top, and then softened into white silks with ruffles and clean lace details on body conscious mini-dresses; somewhat a signature move. But where I feel their strength lies is in the tailor and the drape- the perfect blend of hard and soft. The draped skirt that runs through the collection, along with a whisper of a white dress on model Louise Van der Vorst, a strapless jumpsuit, and a low-slung madras pant hinted at the exotic - nights by a moroccan pool, holidays in Tangiers or Africa, driving up dunes. Beaded accessories, nose rings, turbans and tribal/ desert prints in sheer shirts and a slim cut pant harden up the looks and continue the ethnic feel, but stripped of the heaviness and over-layering that the ‘global wanderer’ looks were once so guilty of. It’s all lightness; clothes that work with the body, not against it, given an urban edge with well-tailored leather skirts, jackets in olive leather and suede with gold hardware, and a particularly popular coffee coloured dress.

TechNote: The buzz words in fashion coverage these days seem to be “live streaming”, and indeed this collection was, but the label went one step further by launching a Blackberry application on the morning of the show, enabling guests and subscribers to order pieces immediately. The application will cover exclusive events and offers, and allow users access to buy pieces only available to Blackberry -

Download the Ap here.

Images through FabSugar click through for full show.

Get Your Fash-On!

2010-05-04T01:57:00.000-07:00

Don't forget- Susie Bubble, Garance Dore, The Sartorialist and countless other street style bloggers are traipsing around town this week, so even if you're just popping out to get that second "last packet" of cigarettes- get your Fash-On!

Humor Chic: "Toilet Chic"- Are you ready for an exclusive super cool front row?

2010-05-03T04:31:00.000-07:00

As RAFW gets into gear, and before I start putting up bits and pieces of the fun down at the OPT, I thought I had to share with you this little gem from aleXsandro Palombo of Humor Chic. For the next week on Palombo's blog, fashion's front row will be getting the toilet treatment, but beware- it comes with a warning...

"We discourage anyone who is lacking in Humor Chic from viewing "Toilet very chic"."

Kicking it up a notch...

2010-05-03T04:19:00.000-07:00

Rodarte's S/S10 latest collaboration with artist Todd Cole, shot at Paypal founder Elon Musks Space X jet lab in Hawthorne, California......the final frontier.

video through DailyMotion.

The moving picture is the future of fashion communication...

2010-04-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

Everything's Just Wonderful

Peggy Time!

2010-04-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

The unstoppable Lara Stone channeling the incomparable Peggy Guggenheim with Karl Lagerfeld for

Harper's Bazaar.

I always knew math would be useful one day....

2010-04-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

....finally stats that mean something

Spotted at JahJahSphinx.

Back on the Ranch

2010-03-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

I think we all knew what was coming when we saw Carine in a poncho....

Paris Vogue goes gaucho for its April 2010 issue.

I'm reserving judgement for now- perhaps it's an early antidote to the ruffled gingham ellie-mae look....and after all, I've nothing against a crisp shirt or two and denim is eternal, but somehow it doesn't feel fresh. I can imagine a young Christie Brinkley running around on this ranch, and I would have loved La Roitfeld to turn out a Western Wonderland....or Space Cowboys.

Doesn't look bad though, does it....

Natasha Poly by Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin for Vogue Paris

Double Vision

2010-03-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

Portuguese twins Andreia & Alice Contreiras shot by Jamie Nelson.

Picked up by Q and hitting NYC- expect big things.

Images through Fashion Copious.

Baptism of Fire

2010-03-13T21:17:00.000-08:00

Fashion's last Romantic John Galliano takes a bow after his Paris Fashion Week showing.

Brilliant image by Denni at The Chic Muse.

Tracing Paper

2010-03-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

This beautiful little piece of contemporary art is actually mouse patterns on a screen.

Image through Feltron

The Tempest

2010-03-01T00:33:00.000-08:00

Young designer and definite one to watch; after two years under the exceptional Giles Deacon William Tempest didn't disappoint with his off schedule S/S 2010 collection 'A View to a Kill'. A seductive set up of slinky metallics, structured satins and an original graphic print was inspired by Rita Hayworth in the tragic 'Gilda', old 007 films and Paris' infamous Crazy Horse. Already picked up by Brown's, you can check out the full collection here.

Images by Nick Dorey for PonyStep.

Rolling Stone

2010-02-22T15:59:00.000-08:00

Lara Stone hung by Ludivine Poiblanc and shot by Mert and Marcus for Interview's March 2010 edition.

Perhaps a little more provocative than they expected given fashion's recent tragedy, but isn't it what we always hope for from Interview?

Style note: bleached out brows and neckbraces.

images through fashionising.

Sascha Fierce

2010-02-17T04:37:00.000-08:00

Sascha Pivovarova by Craig McDean for Interview February 2010

Kind of makes me want to paint everything white and start scribbling.

God Save McQueen

2010-02-13T23:32:00.000-08:00

It seems so strange there isn't more noise, that the passing of a giant could go so largely unnoticed and that possibly the most irreverent voice in British Fashion should be so simply and suddenly silenced. It has almost become a small piece of news passed around for the most part with the same sort of detachment and feigned interest as a foreign conflict-honestly, I've seen more despair over interest rates.
Ofcourse there are the tributes; the "seven wonders" at NYFW- the pieces lent to the Haiti benefit show put together by Naomi Campbell but if we were to be brutal we would have to admit the show would have received far less international coverage had it not been slightly perfumed by tragedy. The only genuinely fitting tribute has been from the Daphne Guinness, whose tear stained face has been veiled in mourning since McQueen's death, while she leaves flowers at his London store or offers the press personal insight, all in an extraordinary silver scaled couture catsuit and most likely the last piece the designer was ever to have made. This is the kind of suitably eccentric farewell one would expect of the designer's muse and dear friend. Perhaps it is the eccentric in me that longs for an operatic funeral; an Alexander McQueen extravaganza, leather and lace and sky-skimming Treacy headpieces, Scottish highlanders leading empire rajahs on elephant back, punks comforting underwater Raphaelites, all in a fragile mirrored box filled with butterflies.

It is hard to imagine fashion without his imagination.

Well known as the rebel of the British fashion scene, McQueen was always carrying the past through the present in order to propel us further and further forward, looking even to our technological and evolutionary future. To say he was a designer who resorted to shock tactics would be to diminish his extraordinary talent - McQueen was a visionary, constantly breaking ground...sometimes we were ready, sometimes we were not.

Lee Alexander McQueen was the son of a taxi driver and a social science teacher, Joyce, the strongest influence in his life and a constant fixture at his shows. He grew up with five other children in a council flat in Stratford and at school he was already making dresses for his sisters - aware of who and what he was in every way and just waiting, wanting to be it. With the support of his mother he left school with one O level and begun apprenticeships on Savile Row, first at Anderson and Sheppard and then at Gieves and Hawkes, famously scrawling "I am a c***" in the lining of a suit for Prince Charles. If it is clear that this is where he learned his impeccable skill for construction then his next move, to theatrical costumers Angels and Bermans, is also a telling one. Then over to Milan to work for Romeo Gigli before arriving at Central St Martins in 1994 via an unconventionally backward route and without any of the standard qualifications.
Needless to say, they bent the rules, and his graduate collection was bought in its entirety by the late and great Isabella Blow, another of the three women around whom McQueen's sun orbited. Famous not only for recognising and championing most of the modern scene's talent but also for her own creativity and distinctly bold style, usually punctuated by an extreme feathered headpiece by Philip Treacy, another of her prodigies whom she had set up in her basement until he could learn to fly. It was Blow who convinced McQueen to go by his middle name Alexander and start his own label.

In '96, alongside his own ventures he signed a five year contract with LV head Bernard Arnault at Givenchy, where his first efforts were not lacklustre, but inappropriate. Where other designers in similar appointments have thought to pander to the tastes of the house's existing clients, McQueen's pieces, although technically brilliant and beautifully detailed, didn't fit in with the image of the brand. Like many artists he saw beauty in danger and danger in beauty, rarely presenting one without a sense of the other, and in his early collections relished in making his audiences exquisitely uncomfortable, aroused and outraged. Naturally, it didn't hang well with the twinset set and he was accused of irreverence and rebellion. In truth, he saw the founder as "irrelevant" and used the post as a tool essentially to gain backing and coverage for his own design house, and a technical exercise in Haute Couture. Although Arnault had nervously given the rebel-child free reign, both parties seemed relieved to finally part ways, both having achieved what they set out to- a new life and relevance for a previously flat lining Givenchy, and Italian conglomerate Gucci group had acquired 51% of Alexander McQueen, opening stores in London, Milan, New york, then L.A and Vegas. Fragrance and Beauty followed with 'Kingdom' and 'McQueen' and the first collaboration with MAC, inspired by Liz Taylor's Cleopatra.
With Gucci's seemingly bottomless pocket, and McQueen's limitless vision, anything was possible, and by 2010 he had survived the loss not only of Isabella Blow to suicide in 2007, and later his own aunt, Dorothy, and mother, Joyce, to produce his most realised dream yet- Plato's Atlantis.
His acclaimed last show, a digital underwater world somehow equally at home in space, or the National Portrait Gallery, was like all his collections, very much about evolution. Heavily constructed dresses scaled with silk and weighted by crystal barnacled python shoes set off two motion sensitive robotic cameras on the runway as each piece was immediately propelled into the stratosphere.
He was again changing not only our perception of fashion, but his live streaming was changing the very way the world consumed fashion.
McQueen understood the potential of the runway, the opportunity not only to present designs but also to include, or to exclude the audience; to provoke immediate emotional reactions, and lasting thought.
So who do we look to now, just as mass media makes the very attendance of fashion shows a questionable necessity? He was incomparable in terms of the theatre of it all- Galliano certainly has flair, but he has always played the Romantic to McQueen's Revolutionary and lacks the electric unpredictability that made him great.
And what now for Gucci Group, can Alexander McQueen really continue on without it's creative steering the label wildly into the future? Or is it worse, then to dissolve what he had worked so hard to create? In the end I suppose fashion is a business, and it will ultimately be a decision made by business men.

It is just difficult to believe there will be no more...

McQueen is dead. Long live McQueen.

Neon Dream

2010-02-10T16:33:00.001-08:00

More from fashion's current favourite; Josh Olins dreams of Freha Beha Erichsen in technicolour for Vogue UK's March issue.

Strawberry Kisses

2010-02-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

YSL S/S 2010 Manifesto VI will be handed out in New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Milan and Berlin next week, so if you're lucky enough to be in any of the big cities keep your eyes open, the run is very limited. This year's will be handed out in a tote printed with a pixellated strawberry to echo this season's prints by Creative Director Stefano Pilati.
New York 16.02.10
Worldwide 20.02.10

image and more information at YSL Manifesto

Falling in LOVE Again

2010-02-06T23:49:00.000-08:00

If you could judge a book by its cover, or in this case eight covers, the much anticipated third issue of LOVE magazine has been worth the wait. Sharp shooters Mert and Marcus and editrix Katie Grand managed to get half of Elite's books butt naked for a set of covers sure to become a collector's item.

Because they will make you smile

2010-02-06T23:28:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I love you....

2010-02-06T23:17:00.000-08:00

But I do.

Triskaidekaphobia Tooth Spike Cuff in White Metal/Gold Plating

available at Revolve

Incidentally, it means a fear of the number 13.

In Vogue

2010-02-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

So good to see Vogue Australia celebrating what we have to offer- Abbey Lee shot by Max Doyle where else but Bondi. Jade nails, coral lips and pink tips- perfect for right now.

Vogue Australia March Issue now on stands.

Snake Eyes

2010-02-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

Alexander McQueen S/S 2010 campaign.

Those armadillo shoes are still a source of fascination.

Chanel-o!

2010-01-31T16:20:00.000-08:00

13 yr old fashion blogger Tavi and Alexa Chung at the Chanel S/S Haute Couture 2010

Pavilion Cambon Paris.

Image courtesy of TFS

Sports luxe...

2010-01-27T22:02:00.001-08:00

still on the treadmill.....

Model of the moment Karlie Kloss by Patrich Demarchelier for Vogue China.

Carve It Up

2010-01-27T01:32:00.000-08:00

I know the Dazed and Confused February 2010 cover has an edgy beauty all it's own- and I'm loving the concept, but make sure to have a look inside. The story has a mood that's so rare in conceptual fashion; underneath the cold edges of the carved up sculptural Viktor & Rolf pieces is a warmth and spirit that makes the mille feuille of tulle seem light as a feather.

Magdalena Frackowiak by Josh Olins for Dazed and Confused

February 2010

Colab Heaven Part Deux

2010-01-18T19:58:00.001-08:00

Latest drop from Sonia Rykiel for H&M.

Phone a friend ladies, it's worth the postage.

For the Sneaker Freakers...

2010-01-17T16:00:00.000-08:00

Givenchy S/S 2010

Paris: Le Baron

2010-01-17T15:42:00.000-08:00

30 ml grey goose +

60ml puree de fraise frais

dans une coupe de champagne.

Le baron
8 ave Marceau 75008

Paris: Colab Heaven

2010-01-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

Burberry for Colette.

213 rue Saint-Honore 75001

01 55 35 33 90

www.colette.fr

Paris: Germain

2010-01-14T19:13:00.000-08:00

The latest from the Costes boys, Le Germain has just about taken over one of my favourite cross-sections at rue de Seine and rue de Buci to face off with rolling favourite Le Bar Marche but with decidedly more flair, bringing the modern Costes signiature right into the heart of St Germain. While the people watching has always been the major drawcard at Le Bar, let's be honest- mustard yellow dungarees and a red gavroche do not a chic uniform make, and have always managed to put me off a solid breakfast. But then the food is hardly the point. Germain is cutting edge design wrapped in an 18th Century street; a monument of what is now truly more a Parisian thing than many bistro/brasseries, which have become charicatures of themselves. Interiors by Iranian born- Parisian based designer India Mahdavi, with the main feature being a Xavier Veilhan sculpture, 'Sophie', who stands on the ground floor and grows through the ceiling to the second.

Paris: Paul's Chocolate Cake

2010-01-14T17:47:00.000-08:00

120g beurre
100g sucre
140g chocolat (noir)
2 oeufs

1. beurre + chocolat a bain marie

2. oeufs + sucre

3. 1 + 2 au four +/- 20 min 180

Paris: I have a theory...

2010-01-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Why is it that, for all the delicately arranged deshabille of the Parisiens, they still look more put together than anyone else?
I have a theory. I stumbled across it early one morning, and by early I mean midi, as I emerged from a deliciously long hot bath and casually strolled through the living rooms. Past six full length windows. In a towel.
Between my courtyard neighbours and those across the street- never mind the renovators dreaming on the corner- I may as well have wandered outside and ordered a coffee, if I had wished to add exposure to the elements to that of the indecent kind, in the middle of a European winter.
My point is this; despite the courtesy that apartment dwellers in a city that is well rehearsed in apartment living offer one another- ie the courtesy of categorically ignoring the half naked person across the way while you studiously attend to breakfast, suspended in the disbelief that they can't see you either- from the moment you pad across the parquet, you're on display. Suddenly you're dressing for dinner and looking longingly at lounge suits?....or learning to throw a well cut blazer over the perfectly smudged black liner and launching out the door with a cigarette in hand.
If all this is in the mind as your eyes are opening, by the time you walk out the door, you've probably got it together. Or should have in any case.
Or perhaps the thrown together look that Parisians have perfected is just that- the result of a need to dress and whatever dress was on the bedroom floor.

Whatever it is, it works.

Image of Scarlett Johanson and Javier Bardem by Norman Jean Roy.

Paris: Windows Galeries Lafayette

2010-01-04T19:59:00.000-08:00

Paris: Chanel Directed Windows at Galeries Lafayette

2010-01-04T18:18:00.000-08:00

Paris: Windows Bon Marche

2010-01-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

Paris: St Germain in the Snow

2010-01-04T17:06:00.000-08:00

Paris: Morning from Pont Royal

2010-01-04T14:53:00.000-08:00

Someone asked me what it feels like to arrive in Paris.

Like turning to face someone you truly love.

Gagosian goes GaGa

2009-11-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

Lady GaGa by Damien Hirst

What do you get when you give a celebrity obsessed Italian artist free reign and full pocket to throw the party of the century?
"Ballets Russes Italian Style (The Shortest Musical You Will Never See Again)"
The 30th Anniversary Gala for the Museum of Contemporary Art LA was the product of a bold move by chairs Larry Gagosian and Maria Bell to hand over the event planning to artist Francesco Vezzoli, and the immense creativity of the heavyweights who collaborated on the night.
For those of you that don't already know, Vezzoli is an Italian new media artist who is generally preoccupied with the glamourous iconography of cinema, whose resume already hosts rather impressive collaborations with actors Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett and Anita Eckberg. The "Ballets" concept was originally conceived in a proposal to Dasha Zhukova's Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture, but hadn't seemed a feasible project given the economic climate. A year later, with a lot more thought and seemingly endless funds, the performance of sorts finally took place.
An enormous tent was erected outside the Arata Isozaki designed museum, draped entirely in red velvet and filled with chandeliers and Constructivist posters of Vezzoli and Lady Gaga- who later performed the 'musical' ("Speechless") on a Steinway Grand painted pink and covered with butterflies by artist Damien Hirst, in a hat engineered by Frank Gehry surrounded by Bolshoi ballerinas costumed by Miuccia Prada.
Inspired.

original costume sketched by Muiccia Prada

All Wrapped Up

2009-11-23T03:15:00.000-08:00

Weighing in on the Body Con trends...

Peter Pilotto

Is a body con bandage dress only as good as the body it bandages?

And do you want the dress, or the body in it?

Boys, that one wasn't for you.

After several seasons of being able to get away with a waist, a face and a dash of wit, the scale is now tipping in the gym junkie's favour with sky-high hemlines and skin-tight lines. There are so many things in that last sentence that scare me- the most of which is the outrageous graphic reference to -gasp- exercise. Why, you may ask, would I ever suggest such a thing?

Though these dresses hug the figure, they do little to support it, and short of resorting to some kind of terrifying strap and strangle support garment or, god forbid, anything with Ricki Lee Coulter's name on it, I suggest you try to break a sweat at least once a day. I don't care if EVERY starlet at the Oscars says she owes her slim figure to Nancy Ganz, we all know she owes it to starvation and a PT, not that box of a thousand Nanna knickers in her basement being listed on eBay as we speak.

Lets face it- this season, the clothes are worth it. If you plan to invest in a strong shoulder and a strong shoe, you're going to have to skim the body somewhere or run the risk of looking like a fashion-forward Front Row Forward, so blame yesterday's Alaia and Leger, blame today's Decarnin, blame women who have spent hours on a stair master/tai-bo/yoga-chi-lates-whatever and want to show it off, just be aware that this summer you're going to have to shape up because these looks are here for a while. If the pieces above aren't inspiration enough, stand in front of a four-way mirror.

All that said, designers are doing all they can to soften the sport of a slinky dress. Cross-over draping in slip-thin jerseys and silks, sequining and tapestry detailing, ruching, ribbing and wrapping in nudes and ochres, accented with aquas and acid and punctuated with basic black, feature heavily with personal favourites such as Peter Pilotto, Yigal Azrouel and Rodarte, and it seems to add an intelligence and femininity to what is essentially a fairly sexually aggressive silhouette- more assertive than suggestive, the ultimate accessory ofcourse being the bod.

Now about that sweat...

Yigal Azrouel

Images courtesy of Style.com

Bang Bang!

2009-10-22T22:26:00.001-07:00

I know these Chanel heels are old news, but they're still good news!