SISTER MIDNIGHT

Cover me in midnight blue and I’ll do anything for you. Tommy Ton has finally revamped his blog and it’s back to image thievery for ladies of all ages with an internet connection. Although hardly weather appropriate for the impending snowfall showers in London, the above images are pretty much all I’ve been living in – Denim shirt, white jeans, leather jackets and trainers… when I can get around to making the big switch from Vans to New Balance that is… still not entirely convinced that its a move I’ll look back on in a few years without a slight cringe, non?

 

 

GARÇONNE

Anja Rubik for Vogue Paris May 2011.

I love how beautiful Anja can make this undeniably manly look so delicately feminine. This is Man Repelling is done on a whole other level – confidence, rather than costumes. Going to get me a masculine smoking tux and haunt Parisian corners ASAP.

BUT CAN YOU EVER JUST BE WHELMED?

You know the part in 10 Things I Hate About You – the highly quotable and offensively unforgettable exchange between Larisa Oleynik’s character Bianca and her slightly less sartorially fortunate sidekick Chastity? The meditation on the topic of like and love between the two went something similar to as follows:

Bianca: You see, I like my Sketchers, but I love my Prada backpack.

Ironically named strumpet Chastity: But I love my Sketchers?

Bianca: That’s because you don’t have a Prada backpack.

I feel like the Prada SS11 Raffia/Leather/Foam situation is the cobbled love-child of this tete-a-tet. Not so much the backpack element, but who didn’t own a pair of Sketchers following the 1999 release of the movie everyone first fell in love with Heath Ledger in? So how ideal would it be if Miuccia’s inspiration behind these dreamy kickers was actually this seminal piece of modern cinema.

Imagine!

Now I really do have to find me a boy with a size 40 foot and a penchant for sharing his amazing footwear with me. One day..

CASUALLY PERFECT

Freja Beha Erichsen with her Céline shearling zip Cabas tote and Proenza Schouler Black PS1 – schooling women everywhere on how to get your loot from A to B in the best way possible.

POP

After years of pining over a monochromatic palette, I’m itching to colour every part of my life. My hair is now the most luscious copper red and I’m determined to not let it or my mood fade. Moving somewhere that the sky is almost always grey could also have something to do with it – and it doesn’t help that the SS11 collections from Prada, Proenza Schouler, Jil Sander, Celine and Isabel Marant are vibing on vibrancy more than ever.

Images from THE COVETEUR, FASHIONGONEROGUE, Net-A-Porter, and SophomoreNYC’s tumblr.

ACNE F/W 11-12

Like you’d expect anything less.

 

SCARLETT (I DO GIVE A DAMN)

Every time I repost Tommy Ton’s images I feel like the ultimate sellout/internet wastoid. In saying that, it’s the mindless right-click + save > upload motions that keep everyone’s favourite man with the crisp-image producing DSLR in a job which quickly acts to dissipate any guilt one has over plastering his or her own page with his handiwork.

Mindless posting – with the odd cheeky exception, that is. This week I’m celebrating the scarlet hue being huge because I’m about to join the raven-red hair clan. Not going as far as Rihanna red, I’m planning on taking it down a few carrot-flavoured notches to auburn. I’m mildly terrified – not of the colour I’ll walk out of the hairdresser’s with, rather the colour it will fade to after I get lazy and refuse to respect the rules of redhead upkeep… I may chicken out yet, so a red wardrobe could be in order if the locks don’t get painted as planned.

All beautiful images by Tommy Ton of Jak and Jil for Style.com

WHOA by THE ROW.

New York Fashion Week has wrapped up for another Fall-Winter season, and it’s time for everyone to be the mean girl and pick the MVP for her all-star winter wardrobe. Luckily for this season, there’s just too much variety to be so nasty as to whittle the options down to the collection you’d least like to adorn your limbs – so let’s just take a short cut and say who my first pick would be for my sophomore year as a snow bunny.

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s FW11 presentation for The Row has been by far one of the stand-out collections of NYFW around the internet, receiving glowing reviews to reblogs left, right and centre. The floods of praise all come deservedly so, as the twins upped the ante as serious designers while remaining true to the luxurious simplicity of earlier collections.

It’s all so deliciously la garconne, if your androgynous-femme were to embrace her inner animal-hide-and-evening-sparkle-wearing girl every once in a while. The crisp blue shirts and mustard suiting juxtaposed with heavy burgundy alligator skin, sheer black silks and fur of all kinds has covers all the bases of an essential (luxe) winter wardrobe without the wearer ever having to feel like she’s being a little repetitious and boring – as some winter staples become after having a coat thrown over them every day for months on end.

The accessories, are also a beautiful mix that makes for a surprising compliment to most of the garments. Those loafers! The tassle earrings! The dark lips! Clearly it’s a bit naive to be impressed by an Olsen’s styling game but the smaller, subtle pieces chosen for the presentation made a prodigious difference on the final product. Also, the model’s cheekbones are also making a cameo appearance at the top of my The Row wishlist.

The Row FW11 ticked all boxes from [virgin] mary to man-repeller-meets-Fantastic-Mr-Fox, and if the masses’ disposable income gets in the way of owning some of this season’s offering – at least the high street has been given a damn-good starting point.

STEPPING BACK TO THE PLACE WE LOVE

Alexander Wang Fall-Winter 2011.

I’ve been debating with one of my friends whether the collection presented in New York today was a step backwards or not for Wang, and we’re still on agree to disagree terms. One thing we can not be more on the same page about is how much more we like this FW offering compared to last year. While the Wall Street-gone-wanton held a strong cohesive aesthetic, it wasn’t neccessarily a look that suited many. The mules, the pinstripes, the velvet, the lace were all given Wang’s signature touch but weren’t quite enough for even the more devoted Wang girls to hand over the cash like they had in previous seasons. I fell in love with the red velvet vampire queen cape dress in a Harvey Nichols fitting room back in September, but where was I going to wear a sheath of blood-red fur and black lace in Sydney? For 800 pounds? However, I DID see it on sale on Opening Ceremony a few weeks ago..

I digress. It seems for a while Alexander Wang’s offerings lost the zing we fell in love with. His knits remained luscious, but the throw on silk tops and day to night draped dresses kind of disappeared. While FW11 isn’t exactly heavily laden with these luxe staples, we all know the ever expanding T line more than likely will be.

Enter the leather and fur details on biker jackets I’m already counting on saving me from the London chill next Christmas. The ponchos, or socially acceptable blankets that are made to be worn outside of a 10 metre radius from your couch, are such a perfect lush-out upgrade to the Pendleton one I left in the UK last year. I missed out on the hand-painted Proenza Schouler jeans this season, and couldn’t deal with leather cropped pants by Isabel Marant in 40 degree Sydney summer heat but those electric blue glittery pants are ticking so many boxes for my pins come September 2011.

I’m gushing, and I don’t care.

Wang’s knits will never disappoint; just look at the delicious side splits and gradient colouring down the back-side. There’s a point to consider too: COLOUR! While SS10 was sans-black, FW11 is hardly monochrome. Creamy cashmere beige, snowy smoke grey, metallic rust, and muted blood red that are all so decadent yet versatile in that they’re not only timeless, but suit beauties pale, tan and dark.

I don’t know if its the slight drop in degrees celcius here in Sydney, but this Fall-Winter collection has got one summer baby excited for her first winter of sleet, snow, and sunless weeks on end – provided they’re spent wrapped in cashmere, fur, and leather.

BLACKJACK, HENDRICKS, CUCUMBER.

My beautiful friends from INCU spoiled me rotten this birthday! While none of us in the company are strangers to lavish gifts (we each received a luscious POSTALCO leather travel wallet and travel guide for Christmas from our lovely bosses), the trademark HERMES orange gift bag on the desk last Thursday was enough to get the heart pumping in even the most spoilt of brats. A twin set of Hermes playing cards is pretty damn special.

I was only saying a few days prior that it’s a new years resolution for me to learn important life lessons this year – like how to play Poker and Chess, perhaps simultaneously? -and now I’ve got the silver-edged luxe-illustrated means to do so… well half anyway. Valentines Day is next week right? Hey Prince Charming, wanna buy me a fancy french horse-oriented Chess set?