Saturday, January 30, 2010

Dior Fall Couture 2008.

















I was having a conversation with someone I hadnt seen in a while the other day, and was excitedly showing her my beautiful couture books I'd just collected. She was failing to 'oooooh' and 'ahhhhhh' sufficiently so I snapped the books shut and enquired after her health. Turns out she was a bit aghast at the oppulence of the designs "given the state of the world" and finds couture offensive and un-ethical.
I found her Ed Hardy tshirt offensive but thought it wise not to say as much.
Couture, un-ethical? Ummmm. Right. Arms dealing is un-ethical. Slavery is un-ethical. Chooks in cages is un-ethical. Harvesting organs from the homeless in Moscow is un-ethical....... Couture, on the other hand, is the word of God in fashion form. Amen!!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Zadie Smith.






People often comment that I'm quietly very opinionated, like its a bad thing. What's wrong with knowing what I do and don't like?
Take reading. Reading is one of the freaking most awesome things you can do with your life. It's sensational when you discover a new writer or gain tremendous insight into the world through another's perceptions. Words are so powerful - they can bind us or uplift us or stupify or hurt us. People remember words - read or heard, indefinitely.
I just got Zadie Smith's new book "Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays". I'm typing this and looking at it. I'm so excited to read it tomorrow- I'm saving it for a treat. Zadie Smith is one of my all-time favourite women of all time. I just adore her writing; it feels like listening to the wise words of a cherished older sister or girlfriend.
Here are some quotes from her different books, and some of her opinions.


"Any woman who counts on her face is a fool."
— Zadie Smith (On Beauty)

"But it makes an immigrant laugh to hear the fears of the nationalist, scared of infection, penetration, miscegenation, when this is small fry, peanuts, compared to what the immigrant fears - dissolution, disappearance. "
— Zadie Smith (White Teeth)

"time is how you spend your love."
— Zadie Smith (On Beauty)

"The greatest lie ever told about love is that it sets you free."
— Zadie Smith (On Beauty)

"When I write I am trying to express my way of being in the world. This is primarily a process of elimination: once you have removed all the dead language, the second-hand dogma, the truths that are not your own but other people's, the mottos, the slogans, the out-and-out lies of your nation, the myths of your historical moment - once you have removed all that warps experience into a shape you do not recognise and do not believe in - what you are left with is something approximating the truth of your own conception."
— Zadie Smith

"The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life."
— Zadie Smith

"And so it happened again, the daily miracle whereby interiority opens out and brings to bloom the million-petalled flower of being here, in the world, with other people. Neither as hard as she had thought it might be nor as easy as it appeared."
— Zadie Smith (On Beauty)

"She hopes for nothing except fine weather and a resolution. She wants to end properly, like a good sentence. "
— Zadie Smith (The Autograph Man)

"She loved you in the morning because the day was new."
— Zadie Smith (The Autograph Man)

"If religion is the opiate of the people, tradition is an even more sinister analgesic, simply because it rarely appears sinister. If religion is a tight band, a throbbing vein, and a needle, tradition is a far homelier concoction: poppy seeds ground into tea; a sweet cocoa drink laced with cocaine; the kind of thing your grandmother might have made."
— Zadie Smith (White Teeth)

"Some people--Samad for example--will tell you not to trust people who overuse the phrase "at the end of the day"--football managers, estate agents, salesmen of all kinds--but Archie's never felt that way about it. Prudent use of said phrase never failed to convince him that his interlocutor was getting to the bottom of things, to the fundamentals."
— Zadie Smith (White Teeth)

"The past is always tense, the future perfect"
— Zadie Smith

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A reading from the Book of Shoes.











I'm a foot and shoe nazi. I work in a shoe store part time and see an alarming amount of foot and shoe abuse. My mates at the store and I are often left spluttering at the condition of some of the hooves and footwear we see.
Seriously - here's a few things that really need to be noted:

1) I realise that they are your favourite pair of all time, but for the love of God - they are done! They are dead, they are falling off your feet! It looks like you've hitched from Alice Springs, then hiked through a bog in them. FOUL! Put them in the bin and get a new pair. NOW!

2) If you cant walk in them - dont. If you fall over in the store, chances are you wont make it down the steps and into the cab come Saturday night. Women sashaying round in heels is sexy, heels sashaying round wearing a woman is not. And other women will be mentally placing bets about how many more tottering trips to the bar you can make before face-planting. Wear some cute flats instead.

3) Unless you are going for a Guiness World Record, tame those talons STAT! And nail polish costs like, a couple of bucks, so buy some!! No Excuses! This is not "Survivor: Barnucle Island".

4) Platform thongs: NOT EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO WALK ACROSS BURNING COALS. Nothing, nothing screams 'Bogan' more than a pair of bloody Juicy Couture platform pluggers. On that note - be VERY carefull with your choice of pluggers: no jewels, no slogans, no patriotic flags, no floral adornments.

5) Ladies of a certain age need to be considerate of their choice of footwear. I know those buckled/strapped/studded platforms look hot on the 20 year old who just bought a pair, but the saying "mutton dressed as lamb" is the only thing you will fit if you insist on wearing them. Seriously - over 30 and you need to reconsider your look. Got crows feet? Well get something more sophisticated on your feet. Wear the highest heels by all means - but those thigh high boots say one thing and one thing only: SLAPPER.

6) Please, please, please DO NOT WEAR SHOES AFTER YOUR HEEL TIPS HAVE WORN DOWN. Get them replaced!! Its freaking easy - any shoe man will do it for next to nothing! It will save the shoes from ruination and nothing, NOTHING is worse than seeing a broad slip and slide round the pavement trying to stay upright on the steel spike of her heels.

There, I've said my piece. I have stylist extraordinaire Camille Bidault-Waddington to thank for the inspiration for this post. She recently described herself as a 'fashion-fascist' before reeling off a list as long as your arm of what not to wear, ever, in Dazed and Confused mag. I think it was D & C anyway. Also- this post is dedicated to all my friends at work. Death to unkempt feet and inapproprate shoes!

Twelve Beauties, 1947

Monday, January 25, 2010

Slim Barrett







John Galliano A/W RTW 09/10








Katsuya Kamo











THIS is the extraordinary work of the genius Katsuya Kamo for Chanel Spring Summer Couture 09. These headpieces are made entirely of paper. PAPER people!
Kamo seems to be somewhat of an enigma: he's a renowned hairstylist who has worked extensively with Chanel and Junya Watanabe amongst others.
Did I mention they are paper?? Apparently Kamo made more than 7000 to create the headpieces for the show. 7000 paper roses!!
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