Friday, December 17, 2010

russian rhythms


Gotta admit, I shrieked with excitement when I saw Alina Kabaeva had landed the cover of Russian Vogue. I don't know why everyone's getting so uppity about it. Yeah, it's tacky, but isn't Russia kind of tacky? And her hair looks fucking fabulous. 

In fact Kabaeva and fellow Russian rhythmic gymnast Irina Tchachina have appeared in Russian Vogue before: 
Not wonderful, I think you'll agree.

P.S. There are a lot of rumours flying around regarding Kabaeva's alleged love child with Vladimir Putin. FYI the good members of the RSG rhythmic gymnastics forums remain skeptical about whether Kabaeva has even had a child. 
RG 4evs!

Monday, December 13, 2010

But I know, you wouldn't mind.

ha ha ha remember Queens of Noize's one and only single, 'Indie Boys Don't Deserve It'?



Well it's still very silly but I'm feeling renewed waves of adoration for Mairead Nash.



Along with having inspired the garage rock revival's sweetest song ('Golden Touch' by Razorlight), she currently manages Florence and the Machine.

But who am I kidding, I like her for the same reason Miss Ryan was my favourite teacher in year 2 - she's so pretty.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Sing To Me

The folk at 2threads and Altec Lansing want to know about the musicians who influence our style. As it happens, it's a topic for which I like to get out my lyrical wax...

Dedicated Leaders of Fashion

Staring from the cover of her seminal album Horses, Patti Smith is clad in suspenders, an un-ironed man’s shirt and jacket (complete with a lapel pin) casually thrown over one shoulder. P-A-T-T-I! She looks as chic as any supermodel to ever grace the cover of Vogue.

Fast forward thirty years and this writer is frantically searching for some super-chunky trainers to team with a 1950s prom dress, after seeing Lilly Allen rocking the look, while singing the worst swear words as sweetly as you might coo a nursery rhyme. Though on me this particular outfit was not the roaring success hoped for, I was not the first, nor would I be the last person to look to the music industry for sartorial inspiration.

Musicians, and particularly indie ones, often seem to have the edge on fashion. Take as an example the skinny-legged jean, a defining garment of the 1980s (currently enjoying a revival), which was in fact being worn from the mid-seventies, sperm-count threateningly tight, by members of punk groups like The Clash and The Ramones

Similarly in the mid nineties Courtney Love and her band Hole, helped bring the Babydoll/ Grunge style to prominence, their torn and mussied-up floral dresses giving the wearer the appearance of a dolly that has ended up at the dumpster. It was a look that would filter up onto the catwalks and indeed cluey fashion designers often use musos as their muses.

Hedi Slimane, Dior Homme’s former creative designer, was able to see past the scum, sweat and syringes otherwise obscuring Pete Doherty’s enormously marketable sense of style, and named him as a key inspiration (don’t scoff. Own a trilby or fedora hat? Well chum, ya bought into it.)

The concert stage offers musicians a forum for creative fashionable expression combined with a sense of theatre that is unlikely to be found elsewhere. From Kylie with her ten or more showgirl costume changes in one concert, to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O, whose onstage duds are works of art in their own right, musicians can bring the same kind of fantasy to fashion that the Paris Haute Couture shows do - and without the overwhelming sense of wankiness.

Indeed, in some instances a musician will have sufficient sartorial panache to distract from lacklustre musical talents - Patience, I’m talking to you. The Grates should consider themselves lucky you rock a tutu like Anna Pavlova.

Here are some musicians whose style I crave:
Patti Smith (der)

Janelle Monae

Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife

Adam Ant


suffering from centuries of tanning

I've never heard of Tangent magazine before, but this shoot from their latest edition is so good it makes me want to strangle a mountain ox.


Uh Oh It Girls - Aussie edition?

I'm not a fan of the various blonde-reality TV shows such Laguna Beach and The Hills, that MTV has birthed over the last decade (I only watched The City to drool over Olivia Palermo). I must admit, however, that I was mildly interested in watching the nonsensically titled Freshwater Blue. Touted as being the Australian version of those afore mentioned shows, this series is set in Sydney's Northern beaches and follows around a bunch of school-leavers as they live, love and learn, etc.

Well, I got around to watching the promo and let me tell you, it's deep.
Balls deep.
I literally couldn't bear to watch the 3 minute ad all the way through.

A while back a Daily Telegraph article claimed that a similar series, entitled 'Summer City', was in the works. This sounded more promising and those rumoured to be involved were not complete randoms, a la Freshwater Blue.

Without knowing much (read: anything) about Sydney's social scene, I have a few picks whose inclusion would make a show worth watching. Note: The following people have been chosen sometimes based on interesting lineage, but mostly because of the clothes they wear. This is really all I care about.


Nadia Fairfax, who was in fact mentioned as a possible for 'Summer City'. Killer killer killer outfit, give that girl a show!


Kira McDonough: I met this girl briefly at this year's Australia Fashion Week where she was manning a stall for her parents' label, Estilo. Again, a splendid sense of style especially with all that Estilo gear.


Christina Bou. Because my hypothetical show needs some colour and madness, and the truly sensational clothes she designs would mesmerise viewers.


DJ Georgia Magree [Pictured at far left], daughter of Greg Magree who co-owns Sydney's rather nice Piano Room. Dynasty!


Tully Smyth, whose blog I've blogged about before.


Sophie Lowe. Best hair. Am I wrong?
No, I'm not.

More if I think of them...

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

what a Classic

Every time I look at Karl Lagerfeld's 2011 Pirelli calendar, entitled "Mythology", I like it more. The first is my favourite of the lot - Abbey Lee is the perfect Eurydice to Freja's Orpheus.


Abbey Lee and Freja as Castor and Pollux

Heidi Mount as Aurora


Erin Wasson as Ajax

Anja Rubick as Hermes

Some of the photos recall shots from Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia, unsurprising given the Greco-Roman tone of both:
Anja Rubick as Terpsichore

It's the most wanky and yet least wankable Pirelli calendar I've laid eyes on.
And I've never seen landing-strips look so powerful.

Below is the making of video. I was tickled-pink to notice that 'King of the Bongo' by Manu Chao is playing in the studio during the shoot. Also amusing is Daria Werbowy waxing lyrical about her own profession; models, she notes, 'are kind of warriors... we're kinda like unearthly human beings.' Oh gawd, why are the models talking?

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Etsy yum yums $10 and under

Because... why not?

Ring from penorus, best green and I love how the stone protrudes so excessively:


Turquoise bracelet from Emma's Gems, with beautiful metal work:

Silk dress from jessieallyn, best colours:

Lemon heels from nemres, not on trend, perhaps, but lovely nonetheless:

Seriously but, someone needs to put me on Etsy's payroll.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Could we not dye it red at least?

The colours in the dance scene of West Side Story (1961) would be incredible as inspiration for a Summer RTW collection. I only just noticed that the Sharks and the Jets have colour themes.
Purples for the Sharks:


And mustard-y yellows for the Jets:


But it's all the colours in between that really make me swoon:


When I was little I felt sorry for the girls who were made to wear pencil skirts and thus missed out on this kind of fun:

Sad for them.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

muse musée

What to make of Muse magazine's Winter triplet-covers?




I know that the concept is reminding me a little of Russh magazine's October twin-covers:



And in both instances I wish they'd used flat-coloured text.
Still... They're not wrong about Edita.

None shall sleep

Kate Moss is looking phenomenal as a brunette in the December issue of Vogue Italia.


I've been trying to work out who she reminds me of, and it might be Maria Callas as Turandot:

But maybe not?