the gentlewoman

I can't wait to get a copy of Fantastic Man offshoot, The Gentlewoman. Intelligent, refined, it's all the things I'd like to be. I love the fantasy and "better self" aspect of magazines, and thinking of how my reading taste has evolved as I get older, and shift from wanting to emulate what I read in the pages of Dolly to well, this one.

Anyhow. I read a wonderful interview with the editor, Penny Martin on Ponystep this morning.

On women: Personally I find it really easy to fall in love with women who aren’t constructs, women who are trying really hard. These are the women that break my heart. Passive, cool women, women that dropped from the sky perfect - they don’t interest me particularly.

On covergirl Phoebe Philo: Phoebe’s quite a serious woman, she wants to be taken seriously, but then she will drop her guard, come out with some vulgarity and howl with laughter. Those moments seem really precious. I love this contrast, the professionalism and seriousness, and then just, ‘Hah hah!’ I think that this is much more consistent with women’s characters than the bon viveur, raconteur figure of Fantastic Man.

On their fashion pages: It’s a modern aesthetic, and it’s about maturity, not in the sense of being old, but in terms of graphic contours, silhouettes and fabrics. I love the sort of fashion photography that allows you to be sartorially precise. We are not talking about a mood or a lifestyle, but a garment. The story of a buttonhole - I love that kind of thing!

gotta have faith

park life

there were people from the city havin' lunch in the park // i believe that is called al fresco

take care

joanna newsom

I love these images of songstress Joanna Newsom by Annabel Mehran. Long hair, bodysuits, heels and hats.

I'm on a boat

I got some navy and tan Pointer for Karen Walker boat shoes, and they are pretty much the best - and most sensible - shoes I have ever bought. Now I want every colour, plus the desert boots too.

dries up

Dries Van Noten, Fall 2010, as shown in Paris yesterday. To quote Christina Aguilera, this is what a girl wants, what a girl needs. Simple, casual, beautiful - and enough full skirts to make me swoon. See the rest of it here.

old fashioned

"For me, fashion shows are not for the public, they are trade shows for the press. It's time for the press to understand the collection and then spread the information. That's more interesting than just the image. Everyone wants to be first. It's too too much. There should be privacy and mystery. There is no excitement about anything anymore as everything is available immediately and all the time - you don’t have to wait for anything.

I don't like the idea of being flooded with image and information. I don't belong to the generation of spending time on the internet. I think it's too fast and too fake. It's like going to a museum on the internet - where is the pleasure? It's sad because everyone is running after everything, but after what? Everything is too quick. There is no room in your heads for all this information. No one retains anything." - Isabel Marant, Grazia UK

I've been a bit dark on the internet over the past few days. It's mainly the "way too much information" aspect of Facebook and Twitter that does my head in - I really don't need to know every single thought and/or thing that happens in the day of someone who I'm not even really friends with. A rather ironic attitude for someone who has a blog, I know.

It may be an old fashioned attitude, but I can see where fashion designer Isabel Marant is coming from. What do you think? Is she stuck in the dark ages? Or do you agree that the Internet has made things too fast and too fake?

PS. I don't really know what photos of flower fields have to do with this post, but I do know that they're pretty.

feeling free

you'll never be lonely again

There's nothing more powerful than knowing you are wearing very cute underwear. Whenever I'm in the first flush of something new, I always wear matching knickers and bras. I love bows and lace and everything nice, like a little secret. Zoe and I love Lonely Hearts - this is a sneak peek of their new lingerie collection, Lonely. Too beautiful.

en masse

Groups of beautiful things.

first day of autumn

Karen Walker / Marc Jacobs / Alexa in Gloverall / Ruby

Some people are obsessed with stripes, others with sombre black tones and others still with crazy high heels. My shopping addiction? Coats. It is an expensive habit, and also a rather impractical one - Auckland rarely ever gets that cold, so having more than two in your wardrobe is probably quite pointless. I currently have five, and I have my eye on all of the above as well. Today is New Zealand's first official day of autumn, and while everyone else is moaning about the fact that "summer is over", I'm excited because it means that very soon, it will be my favourite season: cool, snuggly coat season.