KAPOW!

  Mixed prints, colour, texture, perfectly cut cloth, oh how I adore thee. I have an unapologetic love for it all – mixed up – thrown on, unsymmetrical or daringly cut, it stops me in my tracks. 

Perhaps I can trace it back to Patricia Field’s costume design on Sex and the City and gasping for air whist watching Carrie Bradshaw strut the streets of New York. This was magic to me, a new way of breaking the best fashion rules, hues on the wrong side of the colour wheel, fur and sneakers, birds worn as hair accessories…yes there is a lot to thank Field for.

Recently I inwardly cheered whilst watching Iris Apfel play and pile on her gems in the documentary Iris. “I like to improvise,” she confessed near the start of the film. Individual and authentic style is far more exciting, showcasing a personality before a word is even spoken. 

As I look at some of my favourite images over the years, I realise that the most iconic and powerful are those that feel organically put together. Love or hate them, they make you feel something and that to me is art.                    

    

 

Om…face in the sun

As the sun shines on my body this morning, I am experiencing a real sense of a change coming from within. There have been too many dark moments in the last couple of years but the shift feels real, feels positive. 

It is goes hand in hand with the present change in season and I am reflecting on just how special a Melbourne Autumn really is.

It is that time of the year when the morning light can trick you into believing it’s warmer outside than the actual 10 degrees it is, and just as quickly as you exist home, you have to return for one final layer. Autumn gives us crisp fresh mornings, beautiful sunsets, the occasionally rain and that horrid wind, but this is quintessionally Melbourne – the peeling off of layers as the day warms up only to have to add more and more in the late afternoon. 

The best part is we can wear boots with bare legs (and show off the last of that Summer tan!), wear dresses with coats, add a scarf or hat and get imaginative with our cooler weather items before they get packed away for Winter. It really is magic. 

Change is ok, we just have to adapt and go with it. Embrace it fashionably…and mindfully.  

    
    
    
   

Seasons change but favourites remain

I’ve been thinking a lot about bags lately. As the hues of the season change, both in weather and fashion, my eyes begin to feast on the runway collections and the forecast on accessories. Timeless elegance and golden eras are having their moment on the arms of ‘it’ girls and celebrities, as are quirkier takes on small purses with glitz and chutzpah. Embellished and sparkly, fringed or fluffy like an alpaca, the later are bringing fun to the street style scene.

Then I begin to wonder what I will covet next. Summer has gone in a flash and now I’m looking to purchase my ‘it’ bag. However, I can’t seem to let go of one of my favourites, my oldie but goodie. It’s soft buttery leather, the perfect stripe inside that makes me smile every time I delve in to reach for my keys or lipstick. The perfect soft straps that hang from my shoulder and rub against my body softly. The swish of the bag as I walk, not to mention the memories that belong to this bag…dates with girlfriends, floors of clubs dancing, the markings of fun.

So as I look to the new season, perhaps I should spend my money on some warmer clothing and once again pull out my favourite…after all timeless elegance they say, is all the rage right now.

Nostalgia

Inspiration – Casual Friday

Loose layers, great accessories!

Jackets that finish outfits. Upturned cuffs make for casual, a beautiful jacket still says you’re in work mode!

Casual hair, flawless make up.

White shirt, layered jewels…yes, great for any day of the week.

How Annie Hall!

Love love love. It’s a mix of French, pixie, Audrey, 70’s and modern. All of my favourite things for my favourite day of the week!

Jumpsuit…military green….more of my favourite things!

Architectural in form and wonderful in it’s simplicity. Adore this look!

The finishing touch in case casual Friday takes you to Friday drinks – flawless hair & make-up.

Margaret Howell

by Mark C O’Flaherty

It’s all about hair!

The Edit

A little thing I’m calling The Edit. Just some cool things on my mind this month!I can hardly contain my enthusiasm for the new Wes Anderson film – The Grand Budapest Hotel. You only need to reel off the names in the cast and I’m in running for the ticket box! Featuring Bill Murray, Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Edward Norton, Léa Seydoux, Jason Schwarzman, Tilda Swinton (aha) and many more! I adore Wes Anderson’s films (you can take them or leave them) but for me it’s the visual treat of the sets and costumes that leaves me in awe. Today I watched this new video which reveals one of the key ingredients of his visual palette: centering. Amazing! However, if you only watch one short video from these links today, do yourself a favour and watch the featurette on the making of the hotel in The Grand Budapest Hotel here.

So there’s music too! I keep scanning tickets for Devendra Banhart’s Australian tour…there really isn’t a reason not to go especially as my local barista told me that I wouldn’t be disappointed having been to Banharts’s last tour down under. Last year I spent the Summer doing Yoga and riding around on my bike listening to his music feeling all zen and invincible. Devendra Banhart is all dreamy and broody and he has the sweetest lyrics to boot. Hippy folks giving him an Indian name just makes him even more intriguing! I’ve harped on about his lyrics on here before but swoooonnnn…..

Shabop Shalom :

Our story begins on a sunday afternoon
Just between halfway tree and spanish town
Where a young boy
Not yet the cock o’ the walk that he would soon become,
Was lying on the grass and takin’ in the sweet and sensuous scent of hibiscus
That languidly lilted along the summer breeze

….

Now that I’ve got my culture on…film, music (yes there’s room for more and I could go on about the Art Deco fashion exhibition I recently saw but I’ll save you…) I love when my two passions collide. Fashion and interiors. Add to that contributing editor at US Vogue and the co-founder of online fashion retailer Moda Operandi and you’ve got Lauren Santo Domingo. LSD, an inspiring business woman with impeccable style – this image gets me every time. Amaze. Adore her fashion sense and getting a glimpse into her home was so exciting. Check out a fun feature of LSD on The Coveteur here. Pink sofa – why wouldn’t you have one? Fashion week street style. Need I say more – it’s my addiction!Stella McCartney – Fashion Week 2014 – I’d have blush everything, yes! Plus she gets to hang out with all the cool kids…is she still friends with Gwyn?  Interior spaces with unexpected twists.I’ve been to weddings and celebrations of late and seeing this lovely Elie Saab dress made me wish I had something so pretty in my wardrobe!Last but not least- Elle Australia. For as long as I can remember I have loved nothing more than buying the latest edition of my favourite magazines hot off the press. I was a goner in my teen years when my mum brought home my very first magazine. Fascination, intrigue, inspiration. Scanning glossy pages with what seemed like the impossible attainment. Dreaming up outfits and longing for adulthood and my own right to fashion. Then something happening. I started being less inspired and feeling somewhat deflated as I turned the last page shut. All of a sudden I could see it all online. The net was so fast and just as inspiring that a monthly publication was just so old! Don’t get me started on the ads. Grrr argh! Then came the street style blogs, Scott Schuman, Tommy Ton, Garance..on and on, blogs upon blogs of real women in their clothes. I was in love. Then just like many things in life, we come full circle and return to the good old days. A real fashion magazine! I opened Elle magazine last month and stood and smiled…and flicked…and stopped and READ it. A layout that reminded me of the cool Japanese magazines in Tokyo, beautiful clothes and a truly great layout. I’ll be bolting out to the newsagency next month and hoping that for that same rush!

‘All pressed up in black and white’