Black Velvet

Guess who just got a hold of her all-time favourite shoes?

Me! It was me! They are black velvet and red lacquer wedges, by Yves Saint Laurent (Tom Ford-era and Fall 2004 RTW, to be exact). Oooh yeah, life is good.

p.s. The feet in the photo belong to Hana Soukupova, who was apparently rocking the hairy leg look at the time. More power to her.

NSFW. Possibly just NS.

In the past week I've watched three films; feature length British horror flick The Awakening (2011), the music clip for Zebra Katz and Njena Reddd Foxxx's song, "Ima Read" and Agent Provacteur's video short, Fleurs Du Mal. Only two of them were scary.

I live in hope that one day someone will create a horror film as perfectly suited to me as The Others (2001). You know - eerily beautiful, with a good twist and strong child actors, set in the interwar period, starring Nicole Kidman... I'm not too picky, am I?

The Awakening actually ticked a fair few of those boxes, obviously borrowing from (or paying homage to) The Changeling (1980) and (like The Others) Henry James' short novel The Turn of the Screw and The Innocents (1961). Now, as sources of inspiration for horror film go, that ain't a bad bunch. Unfortunately The Awakening just doesn't lift off. I guess you can't simply reference your way into making a scary movie.

Far more freaky is this ad for undies:

Apparently its director, Justin Anderson, took inspiration from the Hammer House of Horror TV series:

Watching it I also felt the influence of Michael Haneke's Funny Games (2007, I haven't seen the original. Boo, hiss.) and the rape scene in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971). Disturbing stuff.

Finally here's the video for "Ima Read", a song which has apparently exploded since being used as the soundtrack to Rick Owens' Fall 2012 RTW show:

I'm calling it - scary is the new sexy.

Rodarte Fall 2012

Clem Bastow has written an interesting article on Rodarte's use of Aboriginal prints (or, more to the point, Aboriginal-esque prints) in their Fall 2012 collection.
It's a tricky issue but I do on the whole agree with Bastow when she says that there's no excuse to go the 'vaguely inspired' route when there are living, breathing Aboriginal artists with whom Rodarte could have collaborated. As a side note, and by some great coincidence, I have discussed Rodarte in terms of nostalgia for a national landscape before.And just to preemptively respond to an annoying counter argument that always seems to crop up, no, using fake Aboriginal prints and labelling your Made In China plastic dreamcatcher earrings 'Navajo', does not compare to the occasional fad for kilts. As far as I know there haven't been any government-sanctioned attempts to decimate Scottish culture in living memory - the same cannot be said for the Australian Aboriginal and Native American people.I must take issue with one point of Bastow's, however. She describes the collection's silhouettes as being 'Victorian-inspired'.


Babe, please. That's 1930s all over. AND ANOTHER THING. How could you write a commentary on that collection without mentioning the shoes?

Yes, those are sand bottle heels. Please Rodarte, just do more of this kind of stuff and less with the staggering cultural insensitivity.

Oh ho!

A dress from Alber Ebaz's Fall 2012 collection for Lanvin:

And its doppelgänger from Romance Was Born's Spring 2011 collection, 'The Oracle':

I'll take one of each. Cheers.

Pleasure never is at home

Dion Lee's Fall 2012 collection has earned him a really lovely review from Style.com's Maya Singer.

Personally this is not my favourite of Lee's collections to date. I kinda wish he would use less of that cute cocktail dress silhouette - I associate it with a certain breed of pretty and wealthy Sydney girls (whom I of course loath and envy) and find it detracts from the more interesting aspects of his designs.

Sheer geometric inserts recalled Versace's Spring 2011 RTW show, though I preferred the PVC used in that collection to Lee's isabelline mesh.

Versace Spring 2011

That said, Singer's review suggests that one of the collection's greatest strengths lies in Lee's innovative used of materials and I'd imagine that his are garments that you simply have to see in the flesh, so to speak.

Finally, how's this for a gorgeous appraisal of Australian fashion:

But what makes Lee really interesting, and eventually, perhaps, significant, is that his intellect doesn't work at cross-purposes to the unavoidable sexiness of his clothes. There is something deeply Australian about that: For whatever reason, designers from Oz seem to have a totally non-vexed relationship to sex and body-consciousness, and Lee embraces that, mitigating the potential aridity of his designs by integrating vampy notes.

Oh Maya, you do make a nation blush...

how ordinawy

Last Tuesday (Valentine's Day) a rose was delivered to my house.

"A Class Worth Taking" by Brooke Shaden

A week later I still have no clue who it was from. Now isn't that just too much?

Glebe Markets!

I am setting up shop at the Glebe Markets tomorrow (Saturday 18 February) so do come on down and say howdy. I'll be the one selling this dress:

It's the only thing I've priced exorbitantly ($100) because I really can't bear to part with it. It was to my great surprise that it arrived in the mail one day, as I had no recollection of ever having bought it. Checking back over my paypal account I noticed that it was paid for at four in the morning. I think I might have actually been sleep shopping and apparently my nocturnal alter-ego is a Las Vegas show girl.

Anyway come along tomorrow, be you awake or no.

Silver Vixen

Joyce Bryant doesn't have a Wikipedia page, which is weird because, well, look at her:

Photo by Philippe Halsman

Colour photos by Carl Van Vechten

I mean, how much fabulous does a girl need before earning herself a place in The Free Encyclopedia? An excerpt from Andrew Hamilton's All Music Guide is the only bit of biography I've found on the 20th century American singer. It's not amazing but does include this factoid:

Bryant's hair was naturally black, but not wanting to be upstaged by Josephine Baker at a club, she doused it with silver radiator paint, slithered into a tight silver dress and voila: the Bronze Blond Bombshell and even Baker was impressed.

Given that Bryant began performing in the late 1940s, I think she must have been considerably younger than Baker but I do hope the story is true.

Oh and then there's this from Life magazine's 12 October 1953 issue:

Ha ha, Sterling ya old prude.

Hell Yeah Indochina

I recently returned from a heavenly holiday in South-East Asia during which most of my time was divided between beach-lazing and market-browsing. My main man Michael took all the photos I was too lazy to, and so it's thanks to him that I have some pictorial evidence of the marvelous markets in Luang Prabang, Laos:

Photos by Michael Krasovitsky

As I understand it, the extraordinary metal necklaces are made by the Hmong people in Laos (I remember seeing similar stuff for sale in Vietnam when I went a few years back). Unlike the jewellery sold in the Camodian markets, none of this stuff appeared to be made from precious materials (namely silver) - just the way I like it. I actually didn't end up buying one of the necklaces because I found myself quite overwhelmed by the sheer number, beauty and monumentality of the pieces. No surprises, I have lived to curse my lack of shopping prowess. Note to self: grow a pair.

Won't You Charleston With Me

The Blue Shoes!

Moira Sheara in The Man Who Loved Redheads (1955)

I have a serious, ballet-related thing for satin shoes paired with white stockings. They made an appearance in Christian Lacroix's Spring 2007 Couture show, incidentally one of my favourite Haute Couture collections ever:

Swoon.

bella cipolla

Chanel Iman and Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2012 on the cover of L'Officiel, February 2012:

Just showing everyone how it's done.

long and lean

Remember this moment, friends.

Natalie Portman's Lanvin dress probably won't be the most talked-about one worn to the 2012 Golden Globes but I reckon it might be a bit of a game-changer. At first glance the gown looks like a slightly cheesy nod to the famous pink Travilla gown worn by Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. On closer inspection, however, I think one can detect the influence of some of Christian Dior's Y-Line designs of the mid-1950s:

"Dovima with the Elephants” by Richard Avedon, August 1955. Dress by Christian Dior

For some decades now voluminous skirts and fish-tails have dominated the red carpets. Here's hoping that Portman's dress marks a return to the very sophisticated line of structured and slim full-length skirts. God knows it's time for the fish-tail to take a bow.

p.s. Yes Jonathan Saunders! Yes!

Jonathan Saunders Pre-Fall 2012

covers

I've more or less stopped buying fashion magazines (what with the internet and all) but these two covers could tempt me back into the fold:

Under/current, Issue 06

Used, Issue Two

The puce hair seems very correct to me.

mystic baked goods

As someone partial to the occasional [box of] fortune cookie[s], I find myself tickled pink by American designer Diana Eng's adorable coin purses:

And they're all made from recycled leather. Delicous!

click click wind

An announcement to anyone who has any interest in fashion, photography, women, beauty, New York, clothing history, history history, style or French street sweeper garb; Bill Cunningham New York is a documentary that you simply must not miss.

Photograph by Scott Schuman

Now in his eighties, Cunningham began his career as a candid fashion photographer in the 1970s, flitting between shnazzy events and the sidewalks to find his subjects. He is still working, now for the New York Times, and his enthusiasm for fashion along with his vigorous approach to capturing it on film (yup, no digital here) are enough to delight even the most jaded fashion types.

Before becoming a photographer Cunningham was a milliner, selling his wares under the label 'William J', as his family didn't approve of the venture. I've had a look on the webs and only found one example of his wares, here.

Innocuous enough a piece, you'll agree. But check out the inside:

I'm such a sucker for hidden treats.

Oh and here's one for the fashion nerds; you may notice that the spectacular I-don't-know-what, Iris Apfel (who has been photographed by Cunningham on numerous occasions over the years) is interviewed in the film wearing a rather fabulous toucan brooch. This one, in fact:

Or is it this one?:

I'm not sure because they look exactly the same, and therein lies the problem. You see, one of these brooches was created by the french jewellery designer Hanna Bernhard and subsequently bought and worn by Apfel herself:

The other was sold as part of a collection that Iris Apfel 'designed' for the Home Shopping Network. Hmm. I'm guessing (based on time stuff) that Apfel is wearing Bernhard's original in the movie. Who knows, maybe Bill Cunningham New York will be used as evidence in a copyright case - and honestly if that means more people will watch the film, I'm all for it. It's the best thing I've seen all year and manages to be funny, inspiring, joyous and astonishing all at once.

Edit: Hanna Bernhard informs me that the lower Toucan is her creation, and that Apfel's naughty birdy num num was removed from the HSN collection after those Texan beauties and defenders of justice, Jane and Judy Aldridge broke the story.

front on

Can I get a hip hip hooray for David Sims' Miu Miu Resort 2012 campaign starring Guinevere van Seenus:

As always van Seenus exudes a sort of regal severity. Elizabeth I anyone?

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by John Bettes

And the colours bring to mind Rogier van der Weyden's Portrait of a Lady:

The only let down, tragically enough, is the jewellery. Toi, toi, toi, let this be the first and last time I speak ill of Miuccia.

Obviously doctor, you've never been a 13 year-old girl.

Serious question: Was Danny DeVito more hilarious as a doctor in The Virgin Suicides -

or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia?

It's a close-run thing.

The Opium Bores

Yves Saint Laurent have released their latest campaign for Opium with British actress Emily Blunt having been chosen as the perfume's latest junky:

Upon seeing this image I took a deep breath, ready to unleash a torrent of sanctimonious criticism on its creators - something along the lines of, 'Boring! Bland! Brit girls shouldn't do Opium! Boo too all things contemporary and let us mourn every wonderful Opium campaign past.'

But then I trawled through a few blogs and realised that every fashion bitch on the internet had already written exactly the same thing. I decided that I would have to think something different.

So here's the question: What were the good Opium ads again? How did they go?

Let's have a look at some of Blunt's predecessors.

Kate Moss

This is a weird one - I really think there was some mix up at the YSL offices and someone accidentally smacked the Opium logo on what was meant to be an ad for Parisienne.

Mélanie Thierry [technically for Belle D'Opium. Settle down.]:

Well, she's wildly beautiful AND French (Dieu merci!) but the video short that accompanied this photograph is so hugely embarrassing that I can't even begin to take this campaign seriously. That dancing gives me shame tingles.

Malgosia Bela

Blah. I feel like she's trying to seduce me into flying Air France First Class (yes, Bela is Polish. Settle down!)

Kate Moss (again)

Well this is quite beautiful but if I'm going to nitpick - 'Sensuality to the Extreme'? Shame tingles (again).

So, given Opium's less than incredible track record one may well ask why the latest campaign has been met with such earnest disappointment.

Well, you see, we have been tricked. Tricked by the sneaky Steven Meisel, tricked by that awfully clever Tom Ford and tricked most of all by beautiful, beautiful Sophie Dahl. For have ever you seen so enticing a fashion image as this?:

It's an ad so good as to be a curse on the Opium brand, rendering all the perfume's campaigns before and since inferior and superfluous. No tacky Oriental/ Asian/ Tribal props. No bong smoke. Just the most ravishing advertisement you ever saw. And it has hoodwinked us into thinking that there is some great dynasty of Opium campaigns when really there's just this one, very sublime photograph.

So of course I don't like Blunt's turn in the den - the smoking suit and necklace are cheesy, the 'oriental' (ugh) atmosphere contrived and Blunt herself just such an odd choice for the product. But I'll grant that she like the other Opi-ettes have not benefited from the reflected glory of Dahl's effort.

I'll finish off with an excerpt from Luca Turin's review of Opium the perfume, published in his and Tania Sanchez's book, Perfumes - An A to Z Guide, which, incidentally, is one of the best anythings I've ever read:

Opium illustrates better than any other fragrance the peculiar phenomenon of love followed by rejection, known as fashion. It is unquestionably one of the greatest fragrances of all time, not only in terms of its phenomenal success, but in having deserved it. Yet I would hate it if anyone wore it near me today.

Ha! And it's just the opposite for the ad campaigns. Life!