Thursday, October 24, 2013

a good hair day.......






 Shirt: Cotton On Mens / Pants: Sportsgirl / Shoes: Siren

I was having a really good hair day last Friday week. But I was too tired to appreciate it.

It got me thinking, later of course, after my brain and body had had time to sleep, about how often good hair and good sartorial choices seem to appear when we are thinking least about them.

Friday morning I so desperately wanted to crawl back under the covers and sleep for another twelve hours. Instead I got up and shuffled off to work. I happened to take a quick glance in my rear-view mirror and if not for the fact I was already parked, I probably would have crashed my car. Damn my hair was looking good. 

And damn I could hardly summon the energy to think that. I did tweet it though.

It's like that lazy Sunday afternoon when you throw on the closet things you can find, hoping to avoid all unnecessary human contact and spend the day reading and eating popcorn....oh is that just me?

Instead, what you find is every person who you see compliments your outfit. Because, of course, when trying to avoid human contact you find yourself, in fact, surrounded by members of the species.

It's like when you're not thinking about it, when you're not considering the chances of streetstyle fame, when you're not wondering if ADR would approve, you can actually get it so right. So you.

I haven't studied near enough psychology to work through this in any kind of real way. But here's my thoughts.

The less you think about it, the truer it is to you.

Simplistic? Yes. Somewhere in the vicinity of having some truth attached to it? Maybe. Will this new found realisation stop me standing half dressed in front of my wardrobe pondering what sits and hangs before me like it's my freakin' hobby? Yeah, nah. 

xx

*These shots are a re-enactment of sorts, too tired to take ones on the actual good hair day!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

is this fate?........





Shirt: Vintage Yves Saint Laurent / Leather Skirt: Vintage / Shoes: Converse

I have this weird notion of fate when it comes to my sartorial choices.

Weird because I'm loathe to leave anything else in my life up to the whims of something so elusive, so devoid of concrete evidence of it's existence. Something that contradicts every logical thought that runs through my mind. Fate. What the hell is fate?   

But, like I can't help but feel strongly about tweed, I can't help but feel strongly about fate. Of the sartorial kind that is.

Because of this strength of feeling, I've been known to leave something behind, as a way of testing the very fate I believe so wholeheartedly in. I did it last week.

I fell upon a denim shirt. A men's one, (of course), with a yoke and collar of a tan suede. Sigh. And on sale. And I walked away. In hindsight, total dick move. But my supposition that if I'm supposed to have it I'll have it, gives me this kind of bravado.

Yes, I can walk away from perhaps the most important denim shirt of my life, (is that even a thing, can you have an important denim shirt, rhetorical question because the answer is yes), and know that if it's supposed to join the growing pile of shirts already in my life, it will.

It wasn't. I went back and it was gone.

At this point, without my ridiculous belief that fate rules my wardrobe, I'd be curled up in a corner somewhere sobbing.

I mean, suede yoke people, suede!

But I'm not. Because, you know, fate.

Luckily fate was on my side when I scored this (Y)SL shirt and vintage leather mini. They were, obviously, meant to be. 

xx

Thursday, October 10, 2013

hanging by a chain.......





 Shirt: Vintage Wrangler / Jeans: Dotti / Sunglasses and Chains: ASOS

Accessories have, for me, always been ornamental. Extras, toppings, things that don't offer much more then something sparkly or shiny or nice to look at. And most days I struggle to do much more then wear a watch and the earrings that are seemingly melded to my ears. And even then, once I start tapping away at this keyboard I'm at right now, the watch gets booted and I'm down to the earrings.

I know Coco said we should always take one thing off before leaving the house, she was clearly opposed to the over accessorising movement, (I'm looking at you arm party), but surely my non ornamental look is taking it a bit too far. If I have to take one thing off, I'd be likely heading out sans pants.   

But I think I've finally found an accessory that meets both the aforementioned criteria, shiny and nice to look at, and somehow gets around my apparent aversion.

Sunglasses chains. Or as I like to call them, Nana chains. Cause, you know, my Nan wears them. I'm hooked, another pair are on their way to me now. And I'm scoping out optometrists to score a clear plastic pair. Which reads so much weirder then it sounds in my head.

At first I tried to pass off my chains as a kind of retro throwback, but then it dawned on me why I've been able to jump that hurdle of aversion and embrace the chains. They're useful. Yes, they serve a purpose. More then any arm party or knuckle ring ever could.

Accessories with purpose, that is my kind of fashion.

xx

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

(Y)SL redux.......


I'm loath to add yet more words to the seemingly never-ending chatter about Hedi Slimane, (Y)SL, Saint Laurent and even Yves himself. But, I have opinions, like some people have feelings, and I also like to share. And tendencies like that will overwhelm any sense of loathing all day every day.

So here's the thing, I was never a Hedi hater. And I'm not now. While I may have felt a little sadness when the Y was dropped, I quite liked Slimane's debut collection for Saint Laurent with it's wide brimmed hats, pussy bow blouses, cigarette pants and yards and yards of sheer. And while the grungy nineties Courtney Love rocker looks he sent down the runway for Fall 2013 weren't exactly my game, ok maybe the tartan was, I was partial to quite a few looks. And now with Spring 2014 and Slimane's insistence on time travel, there are, again, quite a few looks that I like.

Of course, there are plenty of critics.

But what's happening with Slimane and Saint Laurent right now seems to be a collision of high fashion and retail. Because as much as some critics may be lambasting what Slimane is doing, the clothes are reportedly flying off the shelves. Slimane's version of Saint Laurent is garnering many a fan. A fan prepared to part with significant dollars to wear his threads.

And high fashion or not, isn't that the aim of the game?

I have to wonder if some of the finger pointing and head shaking is coming from a place where fashion, particularly high fashion, is not supposed to appeal to the masses. Is the Hedi hate fueled by a little of that fashion snobbery that might just linger along the Tuileries? Maybe, maybe not. All I know is those eighties inspired shoes have buy me written all over them.

Thoughts??

xx

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Philo rocks my world.......


I'd imagine by now you've seen the Celine Spring 2014 collection?

So you know that Phoebe Philo is a shoe whisperer then?

Cast your mind back to Spring 2013, remember those fur covered flat slides, reminiscent of a cross between a Birkenstock and an old school Adidas shower slide? Yep, well they spawned the Birkenstock obsession that currently has the whole world gripped with rapt admiration.

Of course she did it again with the chunky platform wedges of pre-fall 2013. And then yet again in Fall 2013 with the minimalist, bordering on severe (ok severe), boots in all the colours of the rainbow. Providing, of course, that your rainbow featured grey, burgundy, black, taupe and chocolate brown.

But she has really tripped my switches with this collection.

A mash up of chunky architectural heels, half circles and silver spheres in everything from black, chocolate brown and an old school yellow-taupe leather, to purple suede and a tweed/tartan hybrid that has me chomping at the bit - or more accurately my credit card.

I've no idea how she does it, and frankly I don't care to know. Details tend to spoil the magic, and I'm all about the magic. So keep the specifics fuzzy and just throw the shoes my way, all of them.

xx