ambrosia

Portrait of Doris Day by John Florea, photographed in 1953.

Note Miss Day's very au courant sheer skirt, and pre-Tim Walker pastel pups.

As an aside, Doris Day sings my second-favourite rendition of the song Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be), in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much.  The best version is by Sly And The Family Stone.

Don't be sad, Dor. Ain't no shame in being beaten by the best.

A meek and forlorn flower, with naught of pride

I am currently lusting after the work of the American artist Nick Cave.

His incredibly tactile, densely embroidered and embellished works, some of which are constructed using human hair, are just too lush for words.

And it's nice to see that there seems to be a lot of chatter about him despite the considerable google-problem his name poses.

Bill Gaytten for Christian Dior

Wait... What?

Christian Dior, Resort 2013

Miu Miu, RTW 2008

The current Resort collection will be Bill Gaytten's last at Dior before Raf Simons takes over. I can only assume he suffered from some kind of brain explosion - that Miu Miu dress was by no means obscure, having appeared on several magazine covers and red carpets.

One can't help but feel for Gaytten. I don't think I've read a single article on him that hasn't contained the phrase 'big shoes to fill'. 

But don't let's end on a sour note. The resort collection also included this marvelous confection: 

No doubt it will look beautiful on Marion Cotillard.

Is this look a hint of what might have been had Gaytten had more time and less pressure? I don't think so. In fact during his tenure as head designer at Dior, Gaytten created a number of ravishing New Look-waisted ensembles, often incorporating some impressively un-frivolous tulle skirts (like the red one, above). He drew from the Dior archives and displayed the same spooky ability as his predecessors to make sensible women want to cinch their waists and pad their busts. For this alone, he deserves to be more than a footnote in the fashion house's history.

Etsy buys for under $1 billion

Contrast-lined navy jacket, $36:

Post and Beam

"Peeper" earrings, $10:

Brooklyn Frock

Lucite-handled umbrella, $24: 

Sugar Bank

Red Ferragamo low heels, $60:

Planet Claire Vintage

Diamante brooch from Richard Nixon's presidential campaign (it's an election year after all), $13:

Copy Desk

Fork You

Egads.

If I possessed one piece of jewellery half as lovely as this set of cocktail forks, I would be a satisfied woman. From etsy seller, TheJewelryTech.

swatch out

So who knew that Swatch made sunglasses in the 1990s?

Not I, not I.

They really are rather now, don't you think? Ebay is flooded with them and I've half a mind to buy a pair...

darkened by the heat of passion

I recently planted some dear little tulip bulbs in my garden (at precisely the wrong time of year, my father has helpfully pointed out) and shortly afterwards was struck by a troubling thought  - do I like tulips? Thank heavens for the internet which has reminded me; I do indeed.

House of Worth, "Tulipes Hollandaises", silk and metal cape, 1889, The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

Maker unknown, Kimono, 1910-1930, Japan, Machine-spun pongee silk woven with stencil-printed warp threads,  

The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Cover of "The Tatler", 5 May 1954, designed by Sigrid Hunt, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

the classics

Sorry for the ages-long gap in blogging. I am in a bit of a fashion funk at the moment, but anyway here is a nice reminder that it's not all bad:

Evening dress (1958) by Madame Grès, silk jersey, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

There's a good little piece here on the links between classical art and fashion. In particular the wet drapery of classical sculpture is echoed in many of Grés' extraordinary designs.

Unknown artist, "Muse Terpsichore" (Roman copy of Greek original), marble, 2nd century AD, 

State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

I spent a while looking for a good example of wet draping in sculpture before settling on this one of Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance. In the sculpture the 'fabric' suggests movement and the form of the wearer's body below. Conversely, Grés' silk creation seems to do the opposite, the dress conveying a sense of deep stillness - as if hewn from marble, I guess.

And just because I can't bear not to share this image, here is another example of fabric in sculpture:

Raffaelo Monti, "Veiled Lady", c. 1860, Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Gail Sorronda S/S 2013: Oh My Goth

If there's one story that'll break this little patriot's heart this week (well, a patriot as far as fashion is concerned), it'll be the tale of Tim Blanks (i.e. the world's best reviewer of contemporary fashion) and Bryan Boy (Celebrated person of some sort. This isn't about him.) being denied entry to Brisbane designer Gail Sorronda's presentation.

My god, are we trying to make ourselves appear provincial? The horror, the horror.

What makes things extra awful is that Sorronda is one of the most interesting local designers around at the moment. I would love to know what Blanks would have made of her collection, "Oh My Goth". (Not that Blanks has been particularly prolific in terms of reviews so far this week. Hey Australian Vogue, not getting your money's worth much?)

Quite the departure from her beautiful and austere black and white collection last year, Sorronda's palette this time around was all like:

Sweet but not saccharine. And though I'm no great lover of polka dots, Sorronda's manage somehow to avoid being too twee.

And quite frankly, at this point any respite from moody symmetrical florals is okay with me.

Photos stolen from Vogue.com.au

Romance Was Born S/S 2013: BERSERKERGANG

Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett presented their Spring/Summer 2012 collection on Monday this week, the product of a deal Romance Was Born inked with Marvel to gain exclusive access to the comic book behemoth's archives. Being nought but a lowly blogger, I was unable to wrangle an invite to the show this week, something I sorely regret as they clearly know how to put on a show.

In keeping with RWB's previous collections  - and especially fittingly given the Marvel connection - the show was driven primarily by print designs. Ben-Day dots were especially effective in referencing the comic book theme while remaining attractive and wearable:

Elsewhere the prints worked best when slightly abstracted, one piece bringing an unexpectedly baroque flavour to proceedings:

Romance Was Born has never had any trouble attracting column inches - the mainstream media loves a wacky designer about whom they can write tedious "What's all this crazy fashion stuff about" articles. Case in point.


The question is, do these sort of clothes sell? I for one hope so because when Romance Was Born are good, they're electric.

That said, there was some pieces in the collection that didn't pull their weight.

The inspiration for the collection being what it was, RWB were wise to mostly avoid designs that might bring to mind halloween costumery of the cheap and nasty variety. But a couple of pieces felt a a little too "Sexy Spiderman" for my liking.

And as for this piece:

Well, I kinda feel like The Blonds have a lock on this genre:

And given the impeccable fit of the New York label's garments, I'm not sure that the comparison is one that works to RWB's favour.

Photos stolen from Vogue.com.au

MBAFW predictions

So Mercedes-Benz Australian Fashion Week is approaching (yippee!). And what better way to wile away the hours between me and April 30, than coming up with some predictions and wishes for Australian Fashion's week of weeks.

What I'd like to see:
1950s/ 60s-style uniform floral beading a la this Mainbocher... erm, leotard, I guess?

Mainbocher blouse, circa 1950, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art 

Oh, the loveliness. For some seasons now a lot of designers have been taking a rather unsentimental approach to florals, particularly in fabric prints, wherein various blossoms have been pixelated, multiplied and generally distorted to look anything but organic. The kind of dense, repetitive beading often seen in 1960s shell tops would be a nice progression of this trend, methinks.

What I expect to see:
Mary Katrantzou-style symmetrical and digitally collaged prints.

Fall 2012 RTW, Mary Katrantzou

And to be fair, who could resist sneaking a bit of that delicious pie (...that's definitely not a phrase). Though it's worth noting that Romance Was Born have been playing with similar and similarly beautiful prints for quite some time:

Renaissance Dinasour, S/S 2010/11, Romance Was Born 

What I'd like to see:
Wide-yoke dropped waists. Not heard the term before? Well I kinda had to make it up. This is a style I've been sweet on since finding a vintage Cue dress featuring it some years ago. Unfortunately I can't find any images of the style that are both contemporary and attractive, so all aboard my time machine...

Sweet, eh? And so flattering. As I envisage it, the modern WYDW should not have as tightly nipped a waist as these from the 1940s and 50s. In fact they could act as a soothing transitional garment, gently paving the way towards the dreaded (regular) dropped waist. Speaking of which...

What I expect to see:
Diluted 1920s anything, Art deco, flappers, dropped waists, flappers, geometric beading, beauty and damnation, etc.

Chanel Haute Couture S/S 2010, photographed by Mario Sierra

Hey, I'm not complaining. Damned good era. But mark my words, designers, women are not buying it - yet.

It often astounds me to hear intelligent women describing certain styles of garments as being objectively unflattering. In my opinion, we currently see the drop waist as unflattering, or as being only suited to modelesque body types, precisely because it is not in fashion. I recall the hesitancy with which many of my friends approached the waisted silhouette when it came back into fashion (for the first time in our lives, or at least for the first time since we had actually developed waists), around 2006. It was suggested that one needed either a straight 'up and down' figure or a perfect hour glass silhouette in order to look good wearing one of those monstrously wide cinch belts that stores stocked at the time. These days the waisted silhouette is considered 'natural', feminine and universally flattering.
Don't trust your brain, ladies. It knows nothing.

All this said I think it'll be a few years yet before waists go properly out of fashion.

What I'd like to see: 
BISHOP SLEEVES (NO I WILL NOT SHUT UP ABOUT THEM, THEY ARE THE BEST.)

S/S 2012 Haute Couture, Valentino

There has been quite a bit of Gunne Saxxe/ Young Edwardian naffery wafting around for a while (helped, no doubt, by one Florence Welch). I can see the style appealing to a lot of local designers and it would nice to see it picked up. And if it is picked up, please Yahweh, let the bishop sleeve come with it. Let it billow. Let its cuffs be elongated. Let it be fire-hazard huge.

What I expect to see:
The pajama thing. Unless you're wearing these - 

Pajamas, 1939, Elizabeth Hawes,  New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

- wake me when it's over.

What I'd like to see:
Rounded shoulders created by a magyar or raglan sleeve.

Fall 2012 RTW, Jil Sander

This Balenciaga-ish style works better in thick and stiff fabrics so perhaps its a long shot for a week of Spring collections - but can't a girl dream?

vroom

Oof! I know I'm late to the party but, good gracious, Prada's Spring/Summer 2012 campaign video is nice:

Though, full disclosure, I'm a sucker for anything that features a lap steel soundtrack.

Also, I'm surprised to notice that Natasha Poly is letting the team down a bit in the video. She's so modelly. Girlfriend should stick to stills.

fairest

Apparently this stunning self-portrait by Helmut Newton is about to go up for auction:

Helmut Newton, Self-Portrait with Wife and Model, Vogue Studio, Paris, 1981

I want it.

I have been thinking about mirrors quite a lot lately (possibly due to the recent deluge of Snow White-related stuff). Did you know that during the Renaissance, French officials kidnapped some Italian mirror-makers in order to glean their mirror-making secrets? Someone make a movie of it!

Anyway I'm thinking of buying a nice little compact mirror.

This one's a little grotesque but, you know, I kinda dig that.

belters

A while back I sent out a call for a rigid metal belt, without much luck. Nowadays those babies are a dime a dozen*:

Matthew Williamson

Maison Martin Margiela

Sass and Bide, as worn by the beautiful Nicole Warne of Garry Pepper Vintage

Shakuhachi

*In a manner of speaking. There are a lot around but they're still heaps expensive. I thought capitalism was supposed to take care of this shit.

I ain't people.

Oh lordy, I just realised I've never done a Singin' In The Rain post. For shame, Pavement Frippery. I really dig Walter Plunkett's costumes not because they're beautiful (for the most part they're not, really) but because I love the idea of seeing the 1920s via the 1950s. Unsurprisingly, Plunkett sneaks in a few unlikely nipped waists and pointy busts:

One particularly spectacular scene is a fashion show-musical of sorts:

Quite a few designers have been showing drop-waists in the past couple of seasons. It seems to have accompanied the art deco trend which I think was largely ignited by the buzz around Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby remake. I personally have an enduring love for drop-waists but I'm not ready to say sayonara to my waist just yet.

Lina Lamont wins the award for best outfit with this very excellent number: