Charlotte Blau

In February of 2010 I came across this photo in the State Library of Victoria picture archives:

Little information was supplied save for the subject's name and occupation - she is Charlotte Blau, an Australian fashion designer. There was much about the image I found interesting (not least the gown Blau is shown working on) and my inability to find further information on Blau was a puzzling disappointment.

Imagine my delight then, when yesterday I received an email from Blau's grandson, who has been kind enough to share some additional information about his grandmother.

Before World War Two Blau studied architecture at the famed Bauhaus school in Germany. From the 1950s to the end of the 60s Blau created garments for her label, Charlotte Fifth Avenue Gowns. Apparently she was the first Australian designer to display in all windows at Saks in New York (neat!). Winning the Wool industry gown of the year award five times, Blau's work was photographed by Helmut Newton, Athol Smith, Bruno Bernini.

Blau's life seems so fascinating, I can't wait to learn more!

edit: It seems like some of the photos in the Powerhouse Museum collection might feature Blau's work, but I'll be darned if I can figure out their captioning system:

Ksubi's first Fauré into film. Shut up.

Watch this. It is outrageously beautiful and probably the best Australian film since forever.

Every time I watch a movie that features the Bach/Gounod 'Ave Maria', I wish that Fauré's 'Requiem' had been used in its place.

Shit son, Ksubi don't put a foot wrong, huh?

Face down ass up, that's the way...

Image stolen from the SMH website

Ruby Rose was looking damn fine at the ASTRA awards. It's nice to have some interesting fashion moments on an Australia red carpet.
She reminds me of Leila Hyams in Tod Browning's The Freaks:

Let's go surfing. Now.

Here is a photo from the October 1967 issue of Vogue Australia (scanned from In Vogue: 50 Years of Australian Style):

The girl is Marisa Berenson, who you may know from such films as Barry Lyndon and, well... nothing else I've seen. Interesting Berenson fact, her grandmother was the insanely awesome designer Elsa Schiaparelli. Also, she was the first model to appear on the cover of TIME magazine.

Here is Abbey Lee Kershaw's cover from March this year.

Gotta love changing representations of beach culture in Vogue. It's evolution, baby.

True Romance.

I had my Romance Was Born 'oh now I get it' moment when I saw this purse. There is something very sweet about them having chosen Washingtons over Benjamins. You can buy it for a song here.

I know I came massively late to the RWB party, but I'm here now and ready to dance.

It's damn exciting to see concept and execution so tight.

killer scene

Oooh, look at this dress by local label Sulkenka. The designer, Angela Fredericks, studied at East Sydney Tafe:

I love the whole sexed-up, dirty-California look, and the fit of the dress looks pretty impeccable. I think the high-waisted pants worn underneath save it from becoming too Balmain.

The vibe of the dress makes me think of the Queens of the Stone Age video for Go With The Flow, incidentally the greatest video clip ever made:

So freaking sexy. Look out around the 00:56 second mark when they run over the bug. The poor beast's splattered body spells out 'Shynola', the name of the company who created the video.

Pretty Polly.

Polly van der Glas' jewelery is a sight to behold:

That's human teeth, people! Her website specifies that the teeth are donated (yay) and sterilised (phew). Am I a massive wimp for admitting the knuckle dusters are still a little too freaktastic for me? I think the lariat necklace (on her website) might be a better way for me to ease myself in to the world of human body-part accessories. I do think van der Glas has succeeded in turning a potentially icky concept into some exceedingly beautiful pieces of jewelery.

If I could have one piece of hers, it would be the oxidised cast human hair plait earring:

Stunning.
But how about a Sydney stockist, muthaflippa?!

Sapphic Chic.

This is hardly news but it just occurred to me how many lesbian fashion models there seem to be around the shop these days, and so many of them Australian. Something in the water, perhaps?

I don't know about you, but I reckon when you've been as genetically blessed as these here girlies, it is your responsibility as a member of the human race to procreate.

Lolcats, just kidding. Lez on, ladies.

1) Abbey Lee Kershaw, pictured here with rumoured lady-love, Freja Beha Erichsen, on the set of the new Chanel campaign:

2) Everyone's favourite bogan from Logan, Catherine McNeil, who has been linked (what an awful word) to Ruby Rose, below.

3) Ruby Rose, recently showed off some serious modelling chops in Australian Vogue. And that bastion of jounalistic integrity, The Herald Sun, even coined the phrase 'Celebra-dyke' to describe her. Christ.

4) L-O-L-A Lola. I'm just going by that Herald Sun article, so don't take this one as gospel. She may have never ever kissed a woman before.

5) The third player in the Ruby Rose/ Lola story. I can't say I've ever heard of Lindsay Anne (I'm going to trust her agent, Chadwick's, spelling of her name over the Herald Sun's) before reading the article.

6) Tully Smyth, whose blog I quietly adore:

But she once fell through the street.

Last night I attended the combined launch of Karla Špetić's AW2010 collection and an exhibition of artworks by Caitlin Shearer. The two have collaborated on several garments:

The designer and artist were drawn together in part by a shared love of Sofia Coppola's films, which Shearer describes as being 'imbued with a sense of feminine languor'.

This has to be one of the best descriptions of Coppola's work that I have ever read.

For the most part Shearer's artworks are almost impossibly pretty. Now and then, however, there are some darker pieces and I must say I find these to be the most interesting:

Postcards from the edge.

We Are Handsome's swimsuits are lovely and amazing.

My favourite is the Delaware, though all the styles are rad, limited edition and made to order.

"No sales tax. Good one, sir!"

So very dear.

Now look at me forgetting I hate polka dots.

From the National Library of Australia archives.

Tim Walker

lizzie lace lace

I would kill a man for this Poppy Lissiman lace dress:

And then it would probably just hang in my cupboard forever.
Still, neon and lace... It's just so... yes.

Time Warp.

Look at this beautiful photo shoot and guess when it's from.

Wrong!

It's from the April 2001 edition of Australian Vogue. Dip-dyed hair, lolly-coloured nails, high-waists and cut-outs?? Did they have some kind of future-telling device?

2001! Who'd have thunk it? Not me. Definitely not me.

room with a veux

This is a sweet idea. Veux is a website that only stocks clothes made by emerging Australian designers.
Ok, full disclosure, I think a lot of the stuff kinda miss the mark - though this might be due in part to the dodgy photos.
Here is one rather cute dress with crocheted details from Katie Jales:

In her 1964 book Elegance, Genevieve Antoine-Dariaux wrote 'The truly chic woman never wears black before noon'. This advice isn't entirely relevant to me as I rarely make it out of bed before 1pm but I take issue with its fuddy-duddy sentiment nonetheless. Jales' dress would look totally bangin' for a brunch date

I can feel my life, you know?

Recently I have been perusing the local online store, Alegorie. I have decided it is now time for winter. I'll take these two scarves, thank you.

Alegorie was created, if I am not very much mistaken, by a rather lovely Miss Ghost, who also runs the rather lovely Sea of Ghosts blog.

Charlotte Blau, who are yau?

I am intrigued by this photo I found on the State Library of Victoria website but the only information I can find on the woman is that she was a designer. The print on the satin is lovely, as is the photo itself - do you reckon the white-out was an old school photoshop technique?

leave home

I've posted before on what I think was one of Ears' artworks, so I was pretty chuffed to hear the guy has his first solo exhibition coming up at the Oh Really gallery. I must say that I hadn't checked out his website for a while when I heard about the exhibition and it seems like his style has changed quite a bit. Something in the eyes, funnily enough.

Are you ready boots?

I stumbled across the work of the Australian photographer Stef Mitchell quite accidentally. Here is one of her photos:
You know what I want to see? An Australian fashion label running a campaign like this.

Just get the guy to button up (what I think is) his flippin' V-neck t-shirt. I hate those things.
Update: My mum likes the photo too.

How ironic. Now he's blind after a lifetime of enjoying being able to see.

While on the whole it pisses me off when magazines show underage models smoking in photoshoots, it does give me some pleasure to see Cassi van den Dungen lighting up for Oyster magazine.

It seems a good way to stick it to the hypocritical ANTM judges who were on her back all season about quitting. Sarah Murdoch in particular was apparently quick to forget how she modeled on a Morrissey catwalk with a durry in tow.

Girls Talk.

What did I see at the Big Day Out? Bellies, bellies everywhere. Big ones, little ones and flabby tummies abounded and the bikini top/ denim (hipster!) shorts combo defs emerged as the crowd favourite. It was dumb.

Boys did better though. Look at these juicy man-colours:

And Devendra won everyone over with his mismatched socks.

It didn't even feel like Christmas.