Alice McCall

Of all the collections this week Alice McCall's had to be among the most desirable and it's unsurprising that this label has such a cult following in Australia. An ensemble consisting of what looked like painted organdie (white on white, heaven) paired with a lattice-work skirt was one of my favourites in the collection:

Afterwards my companion and I got to talking about the show and it came out that, while we both adored it and the label, neither of us owned any Alice McCall pieces ourselves. Trying to work out this riddle wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a vest, I concluded that while I'd give my [insert some body part which, when removed doesn't affect the drape of silk cropped pants] for a pair of these silk cropped pants...

... McCall's prices really are prohibitively expensive. When I am cashed up enough to buy something in her price range, I'd probably want to spend said imaginary money on some kind of statement garment. Her pieces are the kind of thing I'd want to wear everyday, to not be too precious about - if only le bank account would permit.

Belters.

A micro-trend that's emerging at RAFW is the partially concealed belt, seen here at both Gary Bigeni and Shakuhachi:

I really like this look and have done since Marni did it way back in their Spring '07 collection:

Very simple and chic - I hope some high street stores pick up on this soon.

I want to go to there.

One overheard-conversation that made me almost swooning with delight came from the Vogue Australia pozzy. Arriving after the bec & bridge show, the magazine's editor, Kirstie Clements, was greeted by a gaggle of her (rather sweet-seeming) underlings. Asking how the previous show had been, Clements was given the (entirely splendid) answer, 'We saw a redundant dart!'

It was all I could do not to pull a Bridget Jones and surreptitiously join their circle with a casual laugh.

P.S. More than likely the dart comment was tongue-in-cheek. I don't care. It's still awesome.

EDIT: So I've just noticed that vogue.com.au included the following in their Day 1 'Loving and loathing' coverage of RAFW:

Loathing

3.     Redundant darts on dresses. Please save the front row from over-exposure to side-boobs and make your darts work.

I must say this is a bit of a bummer, as it sounds like they really mean 'poorly placed' or 'ineffective', rather than 'redundant', and the latter is far more interesting. I guess I'll just go fan girl someone else then.

waves and ripples

Someone asked me what I thought of the Arnsdorf show and the first words to fall out of my mouth were, 'It was a cool breeze'. Yes, there was a lot of white, but I didn't get bored as a delectable pale aqua and pulsing hot pink came along for the ride too.

I'm not much of a shirt girl, but this collection might just turn me.

She comes in colors everywhere

I'm generally pretty mean to Alex Perry (see next paragraph) but I really do give him props for using some colour in his collection, when it seems that white (ho hum) is dominating everyone else's.

Of course colour blocking has been all over the international catwalks for the past few seasons. Jill Sander and Gucci were among the many fashion labels who presented collections in which seriously unlikely colours were combined, gorgeousness often ensuing. Unfortunately Perry's lack of restraint - evident in his choice of shot-fabrics as well as heavy sequin-beading- robbed his designs of the kind of clarity that colour-blocking demands in order to avoid becoming visually overwhelming.

Undoubtedly the best part of the show was when, heralded by the disco thuds of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", Perry himself came to take a bow (walking the entire circuit of the catwalk, of course). As some middle-aged woman might say, he certainly has a lot of 'tude.

RAFW Day 1: In which words were not my friend

Yeah, so I probably wouldn't have said, 'Don't be a dick, go to Arnsdorf', if I had known the cute European I was talking to was in fact Yvan Rodic, aka Monsieur Face Hunter. But I probably would have still have asked which part of France he was from (no part, as it happens, he is Swiss).

And if I'd had a little time to reflect on the vast array of adjectives the English language has to offer, I maybe wouldn't have described my own outfit to a Fairfax photographer as being, 'a little bit spastic, really'.

And if I hadn't been so distracted by the dual-polar pain of Balenciaga heels and an oversized topknot, I definitely wouldn't have let the words, 'Alex Perry makes clothes for club girls who have found a sugardaddy', pass by my lips.

Oh blergh.

I did have a nice photo of my shoes taken by Lee Oliveira, however, so it's not a dead loss.

Well aren't you just the cutest cute that ever cuted

I'm way too tired to write about fashion so I'll just say, how cute is this girl?

It's Amanda Ware, winner of the most recent Australia's Next Top Model, coming off the catwalk at Flannel. In addition to being adorable she has her dead sexy walk down.

Fuck yeah Australian Fashion Week.

Let's do this.

Regarding Tumblr.

What follows could be fairly classified as a rant, and I must admit that Tumblr tends to elicit a disproportionately passionate response from me. I have four main emotional stages of Tumblr.

1) Awestruckity                

The world is saturated with an almost impossible amount of extraordinarily beautiful images

Tumblr has enabled me to see an array of wonderful things (like the submerged room, above) that I may never have seen otherwise. HOWEVER...

2) Annoyance

Who took that photo? Where is it from? I have absolutely no idea because Tumblr is entirely shithouse when it comes to referencing, labeling or any kind of accreditation really.

3) Shock

Why do so many fashion gurls pepper their Tumblrs with super-explicit sex GIFs? Is it meant to be edgy?

4) Bewilderment

Yes that is Justin Bieber's gleaming visage sitting alongside a Helmut Newton photograph. I just... I don't get it.

but we love graven images...

I guess network TV was in biblical mode on account of it being Easter and stuff. The Ten Commandments was on and my parents and I watched the whole thing even though an intermission was sorely in need. Observation the first; regardless of what you thought of his (awful) politics, Charlton Heston was one fine piece of tail:

Secondly, this is one thoroughly gorgeous movie. The colours!

Bee tee dubs, these are blu-ray screencaps. I've never watched a blu-ray thingo but have heard the criticism that the image and sound become almost too perfect - I still don't know quite what that means but, yeah, these pics look a tad overripe.

boy germs

Excerpt from an interview with Edward von Bertouch and James St Johnson of the Sydney fashion label Beat Poet:

What place does colour have in your ideal wardrobe?
James: I believe the only colours that should be present in modern menswear wardrobe are neutral colours. The focus should always be on cut, fabric and texture, in that order. Colour is an unnecessary and distracting element. It has its place in art, not on the body. I feel the same about graphic prints; save them for the gallery.

Oh My God. Have you ever heard anyone in Australian fashion talk like that?

As a rule, I don't care about men's fashion...
but in this instance I might have to make an exception.

planets and stars

Oh wow. I've just watched the trailer for Lars von Trier's latest movay Melancholia, and... wow. It looks as visually beautiful, if not more so, than both Dogville and Antichrist - no small feat in my book.
And how's about this promo image:

The first reference that floats to mind is John Everett Millais' Ophelia:

But I think the hardness of Dunst's expression make von Trier's image roughly one million times more interesting. My mum has pointed out to me that the image of Dunst owes something to the shot of Cecilia in the bathtub in The Virgin Suicides:


It looks like Charlotte Gainsbourg is one of the few actresses who has returned to do a second film with the von Trier. I am keen to know how Dunst got on with the director during filming. If you are interested in von Trier's work, I highly recommend Dogville Confessions, a very candid behind-the-scenes short.


There is one amazing moment in which we see Dogville's star Nicole Kidman, chastising von Trier for his immature behaviour during the filming of a rape scene. Von Trier comes off as being the most terrible shit - but isn't that always just the way.

pining

Great googa mooga, look at this necklace I just found on Etsy:

I'll die without it, really I will.

Annie are you Oakley/ will you tell us that you're Oakley

A hoedown-themed shindig I've got coming up has led me to have a pretty serious revelation.

There are few things cooler than a cowboy, and there is nothing cooler than cowboygirlboy.

ageless

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting the Australian fashion stalwart Carla Zampatti, when we both attended (what was for me) a fairly swanky dinner. I've been pondering the sartorial elements of this little episode ever since.

To set the scene, I was dished up and feeling pretty sweet in this 1960s lilac sheath dress:

And then in glided (glid?) Carla. She was wearing this dress from her Autumn/ Winter 2011 collection:

It is a singular type of woman who, in her late-sixties can dress in such a way, that the only appropriate reaction is, 'dayum son'. And so -can you blame me- I began to feel a little fuddy-duddy standing next to this woman who put the you-know-what in sexagenarian. Her whole look brought to mind the dangerous glamour of Michelle Pfeiffer's Elvira in Scarface.

And then, all in a flash I remembered a 1976 Sydney Morning Herald article I had come across while researching an essay on Australian fashion of the era:

I find the contrast between the Carla I met and the mini-skirt opposing Zampatti totally fascinating in its incongruity. I'd love to know whether she ever came around to mini-skirts. Certainly I warm to the idea of one's taste in fashion becoming more liberal with age.

the last straw

Confession: I don't actually know the difference between raffia, rattan and wicker. I'm pretty sure I love em all, however, so what does it matter?

I get more compliments for this Estilo bag than anything else in my wardrobe. This doesn't stop my dad from referring to it as 'the picnic basket'. Philistine. 

Steven Meisel's photos for Prada's S/S 2011 campaign are all so beautiful, but the image of the raffia shoes is the best:

And how incredible is this dress?:

I suspect you would get a fair bit of chafe wearing it, so maybe this trend is best left to accessories. 

Uh Oh It Girls #∞

What an excellent babe Jesse Jo Stark is:

I don't understand What She Is and I don't really care but her whole vibe made me start humming 'Los Angeles' by Frank Black:

And that's such a good thing.

Oh, but none of us will see it.

If you haven't watched the TV series Downton Abbey yet, for the love of God, do. The show's creator Julian Fellows wrote the script for Gosford Park, and if that's not enough to reel you in, the clothes are gorgeous:

It kicks off with the sinking of the Titanic, and though I used to think of the years 1910-14 as being an awkward little Edwardian-hangover period, there are some really cool moments fashion-wise. There is such a high standard of costumes when it comes to Brit period dramas, and Downton Abbey is no exception.

Funny girls.

As if everyone doesn't have a crush on Gillian Jacobs.

I would definitely turn lesbian and have a longterm romantic relationship with her.

No homo.

ghost clusters

How fitting that with Jane Eyre about to be released, Vogue Italia's March 2011 issue included the Tim Walker editorial, 'Dreaming of another world':

Of course Jane Eyre isn't really a ghost story, and neither is Rebecca, another novel this shoot brings to mind. Still there's something so creepily beautiful about the spectre of the (other?) woman, in all three instances.

And don't let's forget Blithe Spirit:

Same deco-green and all, though I think I'd hang out with Elvira over Walker's mopey apparition.