show off

Hello! If you are interested in reading our thoughts on New Zealand Fashion Week, which begins tonight, please read Grazia Daily and The New Zealand Herald. We'll also pop a few things up here too. The picture above is from a Chanel show in the late 1950s. We're hoping that a leopard print skirt suit with matching helmet will make an appearance this year. If you have anything in particular you would like us to write about, please write a comment and we'll do our darnedest!

patently obvious

[Image by Vanessa Jackman for Grazia Italia]

Shiny shoes and shiny hair. And eyeliner.

shoe of the week

I am head over heels in love with these zigzag wedges from Chaos and Harmony.

lazy photo post

A few fashion photos that have caught my eye this week, from Vogue Australia, Vogue Italia, Vogue Italia, and er, Vogue Australia...

All from Fashion Gone Rogue.

french dressing

"Big breasts and lips. No! I hate those girls. I hate famous women. My ideal woman is Serge Gainsbourg. Not that he was a woman." — Isabel Marant

[Isabel Marant in Russh Magazine]

I really, really love Isabel Marant's line of clothing. And her diffusion line too, Isabel Marant Etoile. While this article in the New York Times is certainly on the money (and thank Christ for an honest fashion critique - neither sycophantic nor full of misguided rage), it hasn't quelled my obsession with her silk miniskirts, her loose dresses, her sloppy mohair jumpers, her suede ankle boots. And, perhaps, it's her lifestyle that is appealing too - her holiday house where she spends each weekend, her views on the internet, the way she hardly wears any make-up or does her hair. We all want to be French, insouciant and a bit dishevelled yet artful and pretty. I think. As her artistic director Arnoldo Garon writes in Hobo Magazine, she "has brought about an idiosyncratic universe, a world where femininity and elegance is paired with neglect and effortless androgyny". In non-fashion speak, rejoice slightly scruffy girls who like drinking wine and hanging out more than they do blow-drying their hair. It would appear there are quite a few of us, given the difficulty in snaffling a pair of her cult 'Dicker' boots.

[Isabel Marant's holiday home, images from the New York Times]

Marant on the internet and why she doesn't really dabble in social networking (her clothes have also only recently become available to purchase online): "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

           

 

And Marant on the annoying designer infatuation with retro-fitted story concepts for each and every collection. We get it! You watched a movie... It's okay to just make really nice stuff!

Arnold Goran: There’s this thing too, more so in the fashion world, that on television you always hear designers telling these stories. At least, I always have the impression they’re feeding me stories. “Women this year are so. This year I see the woman like this, or this year she is very frivolous...” Bullshit, she’s no more frivolous than any other year! You, I don’t have the impression you’d be into that.

Isabel Marant: No, it’s true, I’ve got a bit of a problem with that. Actually when I started I did have themes somewhat, often around travel, the exotic – you do tell yourself stories. I find there is something a bit false in it because, me, I still make real clothes, wearable, everyday clothes, and there is a naive and childish side to wanting to recount Africa or India, even if ultimately there are connotations that arise. I work more around the attitude, the woman, the silhouette that I’ve started to instill in my collections. Starting off and sticking with a story at all costs doesn’t interest me. I think it’s interesting to have a universe to depart from. I imagine a silhouette, I know I’d like to have a girl with legs, with certain shoulders; or even her posture, the way she stands can interest me, all of a sudden I’ll think of a certain top that will allow me to bring this out. The more I evolve in my work, the more I have subtle inspirations around how to create this attitude that I like, how to make things that are feminine but not too girly. I tend to ask myself almost philosophical questions around clothes. I feel that side of it, clothes-as-kleenex, and that doesn’t interest me. I want to make real clothes that you keep in your closet a long time, that you don’t tire of, and that you can juxtapose with the next collection.

dead meadow

Last night, I went and saw Jason Simon of "heavy psych" band Dead Meadow play. 

It was really beautiful. That's all. 

confirmation kate

I bought this amazing 'Confirmation' dress last week. Black lace, red lips, highest of the high black heels - failsafe. I think of Spanish sirens, of weeping widows, of Stevie Nicks. Thankyou for making it, Kate Sylvester.

P.S. It would appear it is well loved by many, and has sold out in black. I could quite easily love it in white, too.

patch up

close up image from rag-pony

I love Karen Walker's patch print for spring/summer 2011.

elsewhere: sleep deprivation & stories of my bullshit youth

It's not all sweetness and light, is it? I like Jen Hanley's concise online collection of Ksubi, motorbikes, hot girls, shoes that look like they'd be the perfect fit for a Led Zeppelin groupie, art, monkey fur and The Black Ryder, The Doors, Patti Smith and Motorhead.

warm fuzzies

I'm not really one for viral Youtube clips of animals (in captivity no less!), but for this I will make an exception.

cake stall

I'm so in love with Talita's blog.

sporty spice

photos from: the independent & fashion gone rogue

It isn't often that I get excited over sportswear or sneakers, in fact, I think the last time I showed an interest would have been when I was about 16, going through my skater girl phase. I don't really exercise; something that I think may need to change now that I am closer to 30 rather than 20. But, I do really want a pair of classic adidas Superstars. I'm not sure if they would inspire more exercise, but gosh, don't they look cool? Especially with stripey socks and a snooty stare.

manifesting

This is how I want my life to look, only my hair won't be short.

Hobo Magazine shoot by Sean Ocean Dogimont found here.

penny sage

My dear friend Kate makes Penny Sage. This is her range Golden Blue, and it's full of beautiful pieces that I can't wait to wear this summer. I love that she handpaints pieces, that she does her own fabric dying, that she uses natural fabrics like linens and silks. I can't choose what to order - the blue grey jumpsuit? The short, maroon jumpsuit? The outfit with a soft blue grey shirt and blue shorts too. AHH! What do you think, do you like the collection?