Nirvana

nir-vah-nuh

• a state of perfect happiness; an ideal or idyllic place 

Nylon doing MK doing what she predictably does best. Hope they didn't pay a stylist??

Black Magic

What to wear to all your holiday parties? I think I've been inspired by the man himself, Alber Elbaz. Always seen in nothing less than a classic tuxedo with bow-tie - it suddenly seems de rigeur to march-like-a-penguin. 

Bow-tie optional - my own take on it will be an off-white Filippa K jacket, grey tank and hopefully some leather-like black pants? I adore how Alber recreated his own look at the end of his runway show this season. Hell - even Kate is doing Le Smoking and not to mention casual tux style as seen on The Facehunter. 

As per usual net-a-porter must be ca$hing in? If you think you can do better - send me your tux-inspired pics and they might just land on The Glossy pages! Bisous.

Shoe Wars

Two girls, two fotologs, two pairs of black shoes. Balenciaga or Marc Jacobs??? That is the question.

Speed Shopping

Alright...so I was up at 4am this morning, flew to NY, pulled off my meeting and then skipped lunch in order go SHOPPING! All that being said - I don't know if it was my fried brain from getting up so damn early but I was a little off my shopping game.

Those reading this blog that know me well will be somewhat shocked by this because I'm pretty much a glorified professional shopper. I've logged more shop time and credit card bills while completely jet-lagged than any one person really should. Anyhoo, of all silly things to end up buying in NY I bought! (shock and horror) a piece from the Kate Moss collection! Believe me it had nothing to do with Kate Moss - it was more of a Rick Owen's moment in the fitting room at Barney's. Oh yah - and it was 50% off. That helped.



What got left behind - some serious Drie's booties that I may still have to track down.

Is anyone thinking what I'm thinking?? You know it -- mean girls!

Help! Smells Like Teen Spirit...

I fully did the 90's grunge thing the first time around and I'm wondering why I'm apparently having no problem doing it again?? I've been on this weird bender buying plaid, black leather and ankle boots. (I even saw Daisy Lowe doing the Dr. Marten ad campaign today and thought it looked vaguely appealing?)

Of course Meghan Collison could probably make anything look good - but what I liked about this British Vogue spread was that she looks like she might during her down-time.

Anyhow, can someone pls. clarify this strange situation for me? Why am I yearning for a Nirvana t-shirt and somehow can't satiat my appeal for plaid? Help!




Pics Britsh Vogue .

Wild Winter Warriors

Coco Rocha and Meghan Collison getting primitive for Vogue Italia Nov 07. Cover shot by Steven Meisel.



Pic from models.com.

Love All, Trust A Few

'Going to the races' is one of Australia's favourite pastimes. As two of the biggest race days, the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups respectively, have just passed I thought I might take a moment to give a quick history of race wear and share my thoughts on the latest discussions regarding what is and what is not appropriate.

As always, we start with the glorious past. In the olden days, race wear consisted of full length dresses, accessoried with hats (proper hats), gloves, handbag and matching umbrella. It was beautiful and elegant, but a little bit dowdy (and hot!).

This evolved into skirt suits with sleeves that went past the knees. Then in the 1960's, famous model Jean Shrimpton attended the Melbourne Cup wearing a simple shift dress without a hat or gloves. Heaven forbid! However, it was the fact that the dress came above the knee that made the most headlines and so Australia was introduced to the mini skirt... About three years after everyone else, god we are backwards.

Gosh, she looks amazing! Extra props for the shoes. The pillbox on the lady behind her isn't too bad either.

Onwards to the seventies and eighties where, for the most part, proper race wear attire and ettiquette rules were abided by. Bless the eighties and their glorious shoulderpads.

That brings us to today, and again I will lament the lack of style that people have today. Tell me if I'm getting repetitive. I'm sorry, I really am, but I will continue to shout my disappoint from the roof tops until somebody listens. Sometimes it seems as though 88% (an exact figure, I know) of Generation X have been born with out any style or any wish to put in some effort regarding their appearance. Why?

Anyway, back to the present. There has been a call in recent years for a dress code to be established which dictates what should be worn to race days. This is meant to prevent faux pas such as this occuring.

Some people may be asking what is wrong with this. I'll tell you. It's not suitable for people to get their goodies out at a race day. It's best to choose race day attire with the same care you would if you were attending a church wedding. Cover up! Just because you have breasts doesn't mean that everyone else wants to see them. The other 'trend' that saddens me a little is the rise of the fascinator. Sure, they are pretty, but what occasion other than the races actually calls for a hat these days?

When Paris Hilton attended the Melbourne Cup a few years back at least she got the hat right. Her clothing however, left a lot to be desired.

NOTE - The guy with her is 'Millsy'. I think he got to the top ten of one of the rounds of Australian Idol. When she was here, they shared an incredibly staged pash on the balcony of one of the hotels she stayed at. Totally dodgy.

I think that these two ladies, who won one of the Fashion in the Field rounds, get it right. Interesting hats, suitable cleavage and arm covering attire, with just a hint of leg to keep it modern. Nice gloves too.

However despite all the talk of implementing dress codes, I don't think that this is the way to go either. Dress codes tend to stifle creativity and everyone may end up looking like variations of a theme. They are also hard to define. After all, how much leg is okay, how much decolletage is right? It really depends on the person.

I attended the races this year as well. While they aren't as big an occasion in my small-ish town, most people still go. I decided on the day what I was going to wear, so I'm no where near as well dressed as the girls above but I think (and hope) the I wore something that was appropriate and modern.

I wore a thrifted lace dress, lots of necklaces, purple tights and a vintage pill box hat with lots of little silk flowers on it. In my defence, I did have a jacket but it was too hot to wear it. Again, a long, long post. It seems like I write too much or not at all.

The Gods Too Are Fond Of A Joke

What a busy couple of weeks it has been.

Firstly, Halloween... Oh, it is the best holiday. It's not well patronised in Australia but recently, people have been getting increasingly into it, especially the costumes.

I went as a Native American, inspired partly by Natasha Khan (see last post), this girl on Cobrasnake (below) and the lovely Kime Buzzelli over at The Moldy Doily (super below).

Below: appreciating nature, it is quite wonderous. I made my headdress about four weeks ago or so. The top bit is made out of the bottom of a leather skirt that I cut to make shorter, the 'beaded' bits are bits of dry pasta on string (like those macaroni necklaces that you used to make in kindy) covered with wool. Finally, I finished it off with a million feathers and a few Marc Jacobs-esque gems to keep it au courant.

Twas quite the night. Full of laughter and scraped knees.

Barney's Girl I Am

I'm flying into New York next week for a precious few hours (business of course). Meantime - my brain has gone into over-drive trying to 'schedule' in an hour of shopping in the Big Apple. For those of you that haven't heard the Canadian dollar is at an all-time high (on-par with the US dollar!) so all of a sudden my waredrobe seems a little barren. Let's have a look at what I'm missing....

....Holiday parties in the near future. Need something fringy and fabulous....

.....something to keep me warm during the longggggg Montreal winter (other than the boyf)...

....shoes. Not too soft, not too hard....

......ok and these are just for fun.....


Considering I will really only have ONE hour I'm thinking I'll focus my efforts at Barney's. Advice?