lover

Pssst! there's a sale on over at Lover! All of these lovely pieces have been reduced, so now you may channel your inner sailor/ french schoolgirl/ midwest farmer/ dowdy librarian to your heart's desire and still have some leftover pennies in your purse. Hurrah!

alexa chung

well, hasn't miss chung been on fire recently?

pics, the fashion spot and big pictures

but it's just art

Because hasn't everybody dreamt of being an artist or at least the lover of an artist at some stage?

Kristen McMenamy takes a turn as a paint splattering beauty in a supplement for Paradis #5.

pics, fashion copious.

brill update

an open letter to jen brill:

"oh, jen, where have you been of late? nobody does the bright postbox-red lippie and glossy hair combo quite like you. remember the days when I would check your fashion spot thread almost morning? and now the page can go for weeks without news. is it true that you and terry richardson broke up? I'm hoping not, but if it is, then I guess hey, that's life. but I don't see that this should make you any less of a style crush. here's hoping the latest Sophomore lookbook has some more cheeky snaps of you. I like these two preview pics which have filtered from god knows where. who knows, brill, maybe this is goodbye, maybe we'll be seeing less and less of you. i hope not, but if so then hey, maybe that's life too."

filippa berg

Filippa berg; muse to Lover, blogger for Swedish ELLE and all round general regular on the Stockholm fashion scene. she's also a living and breathing homage to whichever era may take her fancy. a modest flapper dress here, perhaps a modern twist on the 1940s Katherine Hepburn androgynous look there. Add some John Lennon glasses and a collection of cutesy straw hats and you have a human museum of style through the ages.

Why don't you take a scout around her blog here. Who knows, you may pick up some ideas. Or in the very least a little Swedish..

ring ring

if wearing your heart on your sleeve is the ultimate way of declaring your love, then surely slipping onto your finger an ode to the cities that have stolen your heart is the next best romantic gesture.

with my current state of travel dreaming (ie, I must go to cuba, stockholm, savannah, berlin, rekjavik and fast!) and love of fingerware enrolled, st martins and parsons graduate matina amanita's globetrotter collection was always going to be right up my street. or should I say beaten track? there is nothing quite like the romance of falling in love with a city, having late night encounters with locals in cafes, taking pictures of interesting cornicing or architectural details by day. and having a little momentem to remember these times is just as lovely. the only thing not quite so crush inducing is the inevitable price tag. I daren't ask..

matinaamanita.com

coquette moss

Miss Dior Cherie trailer..

inspiration on a wednesday

it's the girls who aren't afraid of a packet of hair dye that have been inspiring me lately.

valentine and charles

"oh these guys? why, they're just my awesomely sartorially talented friends."
Photograph from Pig Magazine's lovely "Valentine Fillol Cordier hangs with Charles Anastase" piece."

russh issue 30

fancy a leaf through the latest issue of russh magazine? i know i do.
two days until the issue drops.
in Oz that is; good luck to the rest of us getting our hands on a copy!

carine roitfeld encourages lara's evolution

The September issue of Paris Vogue is testament to what a radical difference an eyebrow tint and a packet of hairdye can make. It is also testament to the fact that a more demure side of Lara Stone exists, beyond that nipple baring, lips agape, Brigitte bardot-esque writhing sex creature as she is so often portrayed. She just needed somebody to spot that suppressed alterego and drag her out. Please, a round of applause for Carine Roitfeld, photographers Mert and Marcus and their creative teams for doing so.

rachel ballinger

just someone i've been crushing on lately. oh you know, another downtown nyc social type. friends with harley viera-newton, jack siegel, chrissie miller; the usual..

three reasons to crush on miss ballinger:

1. her childlike eyes are enhanced by those refreshingly unkempt eyebrows, like a schoolgirl who hasn't yet come into contact with tweezers.

2. her tendency to wear simple vest tops sans-bra, modest button ups and general boyish clothing combinations; jeans and a white tee here, or a blazer slung over layered cardigans and breton stripes.

3. and something that in my eyes is paramount, miss ballinger smiles for the camera. no dead eyes, and no moody "hey, i appear to have a fag in my hands, well, i guess that makes me pretty progressive" stares. if she's having a good time, she'll show it with a flash of her gnashers. and a swipe of orange lippie adds extra "i love you" points.

have a look at her fashion spot thread here. particularly like her opening ceremony spring 2009 lookbook snaps..

two x two

Chloe Sevigny's second collection for Opening Ceremony has landed over at the OC website.
The styling is a touch of genius, taking the unisex labelling completely literally whilst reacquainting us with that "I wish I was a twin" mentality that many of us experienced as a small child. Ready to grab yourself a (delete as applicable) boyfriend/girlfriend/sidekick to dress head to toe for the rest of your days with?

See the collection here.

victory dance

me and the girls looking especially special with our A level results.
no joke, we were all expecting a sprinkling of C's, D's and the possible E. in addition to a week of avoiding eye contact with our parents and a life of general disappointment. we were resigned to the fact that this is what we would deserve after minimal revision and that day we went to have a picnic in the park instead of reading through history notes.

but we all did good! and I got ABB. can. not. believe. it.

thank you john bate, dan parry-jones and colin upton. and God.
pft, joke, god totally didn't keep up with his end of the deal. and for that he can kiss goodbye to his capital G.

inspiration on a wednesday

it's been a while..

and good luck my fellow A level students who come the morning shall be nervously gripping results envelopes. Hey, look at this way. If you tried, you'll do well. If you didn't, yeah, it sucks, but education shouldn't be a race, if you have a uni to get into and don't think it'll happen after seeing your results, go off and see some of the world. read some great books, meet some people to have late night and thought provoking conversations with and if you're really passionate about the course, it'll still be there for you on the other side.

friday night saturday morning

this weekend I will be running away to london with two of my best mates.
playing around on my new phone and mailing the overseas BFF.
crushing on rachel ballinger.
shopping for vintage boots and trying to find a velvet skirt.
housesitting for my aunt in finsbury park.
dreaming of interiors.
cooking a stirfry and possibly trying out some cocktails with the girls.
attempting to get past the 10th page of em. forster's howard's end.
digging around in my bag for my notebook to jot down what everyone is wearing.
trying to hunt down a copy of russh magazine.
et toi?

pic, the fashion spot

yeah

feeling a wee bit uninspired blog content wise at the moment.
so bare with me while I get my mojo back!

and one thing

so today I bought myself a belated birthday present.
a "i'm 18, I want to be able to look down at my hand years down the line and remember how much fun I was having, ps, I've been working hard to save" treat, if you will.
had a lovely chat with the woman at the counter while I bought it. her nametag said Grace. we exchanged stories about Topshop and Harvey nicks (where I bought it) and discussed how Reiss isn't what it used to be and how Philip Green is a scary mofo.
i know, i know, it's a ring that many a people have but i've wanted it for ages now.
and it makes me happy.

nailspiration

I'd love to be the kind of person who has the discipline to leave a little money aside each month for strict "getting my nails did" purposes. [but alas, I am not. and any spare money goes straight to funding my etsy.com addiction instead..]

I'm a Barry M-at-home kind of girl and so these incredible nail designs by talon queen Sophy Robson are next on my to-do list. Now where is that masking tape..

sophyrobson.com

love loves blood

Proof that the somewhat small Vampire trend is on the up; LOVE magazine's latest issue had dedicated itself to all things Blood Luxe. The theme is "New Blood, The Young & The Reckless." Make that Kristen Stewart (duh), Evan Rachel Wood and uh, the Jonas Brothers? (Well, Katie Grand always was good at indulging in popular culture.) The above image is a sneak peek from the inside the latest issue, so we'll have to be patient to see who has made the cover.

I'm still waiting for someone to produce a Robert Pattinson interview with an originally styled editorial. Less of this open-shirted, scruffy-booted business, if that's how he looks when I fantastise about him (which I do, there is your DC fact of the day..) then I'm hoping for something a little different on paper.

I think Grand is the woman to do it, but sadly his absence from the latest issue tells me she didn't fancy it.

legacy

.

I mentioned StylelikeU.com last week; the blogging brainchild of Elisa and Lily who, armed with a video camera go through the wardrobes of creative New Yorkers and give us a slither of insight into each individual's style.

Legacy is the latest "case study" to have caught my eye, and her collection of clothes is as envy inspiring as her badass name. Look out for her feather-print peplem dress and her wrap dress; evidence that the Diana Von Furstenberg look can work for people besides 40+ Upper East Siders.