Apr

1

The Cool Cat in the Hat

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Ricci cap

I know I would look entirely ridiculous attempting to pull off the above look, but I am coveting the “cutaway cap” shown on the Nina Ricci runway for Fall 2009.

Really. I am. No April Foolin’ here.

IMAGE | Nina Ricci | photographer unknown | Fashionologie | 5 March 2009

Mar

18

Bow Knows

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Bow montage

The Cat-astrophe M·A·C-Hello-Kitty post (and this will be the last of my meanderings on this theme) has got me thinking about bows lurking in all kinds of places. On hats and cats; Minnie and GaGa.

The style blogs are agog with the hair-raising (well, more hair-placing) accessory ever since Leighton Meester’s character, Blair Waldorf, from television series Gossip Girls has been donning them, episode after episode.

I confess, I’ve never watched the series, but judging from the pictures available of Meester’s looks online, it appears the bow-band (consider that trademarked!) offers a sense of class, (in every sense of the word) to two variations of the same haughty attitude: I have money and I’m flaunting it with my overpaid for appropriated wardrobe part bubby part Bergdorf, or I’m better than all these private school uniform clad students who are like the speed bumps of life. Argh!

Mischa Barton, from The O.C. (the other Josh Schwartz calorie-wise programming), tried to revive the headband earlier, in an exclusive collection developed with accessories designer Stacey Lapidus. Although the selected bands remain for sale online, the press has been more critical towards the actresses new turn in career, and front-row attendance at fashion shows, than the line itself that I’m hard-pressed to know if the collaboration has been successful. Read more

Mar

9

A Cat-astrophe in the Faking

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Hello Mac Kitty

I told myself many times I would not blog about M·A·C Cosmetics’ partnership with Sanrio’s Hello Kitty. The line already garnered a ton of attention from media and retail outlets. Also, the collection will most likely be sold out at the time of this post. So, who needs a review on the kawaii Kitty Kat from me?

However, against my own position, here I am. The reason for my little rebellion? The makeup giant’s campaign took on a whole new level of ridiculousness that has gotten under my skin instead of on top of it.

Again, somehow M·A·C successfully imposed their idea of “made up” into another version of their famed androgyny. (This might be an easy transformation to accomplish with previous M·A·C spokespeople like RuPaul, Pamela Anderson, Boy George, and Shirley Manson, but how the art department managed to get their little hands on Hello Kitty–a cartoon no less!–and un-kitty-ify her can only be the work of M·A·C magic!) I’ve always been a bit torn by this cosmetic wizardry, only because I feel it celebrates the other, more than the self, which is what I feel make up should do. (Bring out the best; not bring out the rest.)

In all fairness however, what started out as M·A·C’s polemic and representation of men in makeup, and incredibly stylized women, now nearly seems to be the norm. That is, in embracing one’s own fantasy, outwardly and visually, people have become more like one another, and have also learned, they are like one another. So I will give M·A·C credit on being the revolutionary foundation (not concealer!) in at least how manipulating our appearances externally, society in general, to an extent, has come to accept one another’s actual being, now.

Then explain how such a forward-thinking company managed to approve a recycled concept for their cinematic short promoting the Hello Kitty line? My reaction is not unlike the models’ facial expression screen-captured in the above image. WTF? (As in, What the Feline?) Read more

Mar

4

I Castellane a Spell on You

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Diorette

My fascination with colourful enamel bauble is not new. However, my interest in seeing the way enamel jewelry is made today, is. Luckily I have two illustrious resources, behind the career of one particular artist, to consult.

Victoire de Castellane was with Chanel for 14 years before moving onto her current post as Creative Director of Fine Jewelry at Dior. From a lineage of aristocrats, Victoire was exposed to many people and places at a young age, when she first discovered her love of jewelry–her grandmother’s, Sylvia Hennessy, pieces–and melted her catechism medallions to create charms. By 11-years old, Victoire was sending her designs to be made at ateliers.

I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the ateliers used, at least while at Chanel, was the famous Desrues; now, part of Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel “satellites.” Established in 1929, Georges Desrues transformed the company into a highly-specialized outfit for costume jewelry and buttons for fashion designers, by way of introducing metalsmithing techniques such as “engraving, polishing, and gilding.” In the past, Desrues’s clients include, Lanvin, YSL and Dior. However, the majority of the work done now appears to be predominantly for Chanel. Read more

Feb

13

Happy Valentino Day

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Valentino dress

A Valentino Day haiku for you:

Sweating between sheets,
Extreme bliss lost in pleats, I
Achieve fashion feats.

Hands trace a body’s
curves; My fervent desire
Arouses lost verve.

Soft skin seduces,
And fashion induces; I
Father the world, chic.

OK, so I’m not going to be a poet anytime soon. You can still have a Happy Valentino Day regardless! Oh. And if you feel the need to send a little Valentino my way, I’m not going to stop you. (Don’t let anyone else either!) xo

IMAGE | Greg Kadel | Hand Maiden’s Tale, Once upon a time, women were fickle. Sometimes they were girlish. Sometimes they were boyish. Sometimes they were half and half… | Valentino Plissé tulle diamond embroidered gown, $85,000, to order at Valentino stores | Mokuba ribbon (worn as belt) | The New York Times Magazine | 25 February 2007

Oct

17

Fashionably Slate

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Fashion Now 2

Taschen’s Fashion Now 2 is pages and pages of designer interviews and fashion photography. Full colour and written in three languages: English, French and German. Insanely affordable! A must!

My small criticisms of the book? The text is impossibly small. (See above regarding three languages.) My young eyes may help me now, but later, I may have to hunt for the “large print edition.”

Also, the tome is missing a few names I would have liked to see included–Heatherette, Isabel Toledo–at one point for Anne Klein, doo-Ri, and others. However, the 160 international profiles that are featured is a definite opportunity to learn about many designers I know nothing about.

i-D is responsible for the book’s select designer overview. Entirely different than the 20th Century Fashion: 100 Years of Style by Decade and Designer, in Association with Vogue. Although both books are good, i-D’s take on fashion is brave, unpredictable, discerning without being judgmental. Vogue’s view is in keeping with their mag: a bit high brow, a bit conservative, and maybe more classic than cutting-edge. (Oof! I know a lot of people are going to hate me for that comment!)

Fashion Now 2 has officially become my bedtime reading book, but my all-time reference. I can’t help it. The couturiosity is killing me!

Sep

25

Stella’ sale at LeSportsac!

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Sportsac montage header

The Stella McCartney Spring 2008 Collection for LeSportsac is on sale! Pretty ridic! What’s more ridic is that the line didn’t sell, or really, sell out. (Think Gwen Stefani’s limited edition 2004 L.A.M.B. collection.) I figure it must be the colour combos and print Sir Paul’s daughter chose to do the line in, since Her fall collection is a huge departure from her spring works–all solids, in tame fall-fashion colours–purple (“silence”), black (“night”) and greige (“bark”).

Stella is however still adding a charm to all her bags and carryalls. The spring bunny is now being replaced with a fall deer. (Very Alison Goldfrapp.) And for those who want to hop on the animal bandwagon (I couldn’t help it!) the old bunny backpack is a new deer rucksack–screenprinted perhaps to look less Donnie Darko (Stella’s bunny bag missing facial details; entirely creepy) and maybe more Robert Bateman (all details, illustrated as an artist’s working sketch).

Despite the real-life rendering, I still can’t imagine how the deer rucksack will work. Not even on the runway. Not even on the oilily runway. Am I not haute couture enough? Tell me! I want my idea of the world of fashion to grow. I’m just not sure if I want it to grow into a deer rucksack.

Well, there is definitely one sure way to find out. The next LeSportsac stella’ sale! Take tote! (I’ll stop that now.)

Aug

4

The Blues, Mean Reds, and Deep, Deep Purples.

Filed Under Product Whore | 6 Comments

Purple bags delish

Lately, for no apparent reason, I’ve been feeling down. Nothing is really wrong; I just can’t seem to escape the dark cloud I’m under. (Truthfully, I think I’m coming down from a big adrenaline kick in trying to deal with too much all at once.) All I know is, it feels like I’m having a delayed February reaction in the middle of summer and that just doesn’t seem right.

Believe it or not, colour is usually what cures it for me. Actually, I think that’s why I can’t handle the grey of overcast days (even though it’s the BEST for taking photographs). I think it’s because grey skies tint the landscape into a dullness where life once was; buried, blanketed, and bed-ridden. (B.C., are you reading this?) Just a little bit of poppy pink, flecked-hosta green, and candy-orange tiger lily are the exact things that perk me up when I’m down and dumpy, rabbit hole and all, and what feels like light years away (and then too close) to planet earth, the hearth, and all of it.

Since the weather has been acting funny in them these parts, the summer blooms have been coming and going at an alarming rate, rarely in sync with other flora, and so the palette I’m hunting for hasn’t really happened as expected. I’ve been cheating however. I’ve been spending time at Sephora ogling at all the pretty eye shadows set in sleek, black display cases. I’ve been zig-zagging my way through the accessories section at H+M and looking at what hit of “pop” can make the old feel new again. Oh, and I’ve been hanging around Williams-Sonoma; looking at the Emile Henry sets that are on sale, patting down orange-and-green striped dish towels, reading the ingredients on the back of the Sprinkles pre-made cupcake mix containers, and foolishly bringing up scented liquid soaps–completely sealed in plastic containers–right up to my nose, thinking that I’ll get a whiff of Meyer lemon and lavender amazingness if I just inhale hard enough.

So, I’ve been shopping, but on a leash. I call it RRT: Restricted Retail Therapy. (I’m trademarking that too!)

Sounds so medical doesn’t it! That’s because it is! Read more

Apr

16

Handful or Handbag: The Beginnings of Relationsham

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Apple Ashley and Accessory

Over the weekend, I was persuaded to accompany a friend to a small fête attended by people I hadn’t seen in almost ten years. The get-togeth was incredibly fun; catching-up with old friends, picking up where we had last left off as if no time had passed among us.

Well, for some of us.

For some of us, not only was there time among us, but a baby too. Big, beautiful, sighing, gurgling, sleepy-eyed babies, shaken and stirred, to stay up past their bed times with the rest of us.

Throughout the eve the babies, were coddled, caressed, cooed, blown on, bobbed and twirled around in front of the childless, for amusement. The men especially held the fort with folded arms in makeshift swings for baby, moving around the party in total jubilation of their new pride and joy.

That’s when the disconnect happened. Seeing boys with babies instead of married couples with children. Seeing boys with accessories instead of new families. Read more