After Hours.

Have you ever heard it? Its this wonderful little song by the Velvet Underground, sung by their Drummer Maureen Tucker-- Not Edie Sedwick (contrary to popular belief). Thats two references to the Velvet Underground in one day.

You know what else After Hours is...?

Its this wonderful editorial from the November British Vogue, Photographed by Lina Scheynius.

I want the stylist to marry me.

I want Jessica Stam to marry me based on this.

I want to be the woman in this shoot.

Oh, it is LOVE!!!

It's very "boredom chic", perfect for the upcoming school holidays, its also SO INCREDIBLY SIMPLE. It's not poesy or "glamor", this whole shoot could have been stills from a documentary from the 60s, which is why I love it (I also really love the house it was shot at). The last photo is my favorite, but they're all amazing.

This isn't current, so I was hesitant to blagg about it-- but fashion and photography that stacks up well should be able to look wonderful even a couple of months or weeks later. So as of NOW this blog is totally non-linear in its content.

Ring, ring why don't you give me a call.

I think my distinct lack of cool, has something to do with me getting this song stuck in my head:

Speaking of rings...

(and bracelets, and necklaces).

Take a look at these!!!

A collection of jewelry from: House of Harlow, MANIAMANIA, Disney Couture, Forever21, Topshop, YSL, Dannijo, Pamela love and Low x Luv. I also found some of these by typing "amber ring" into google, but that should cover most of it...

Also, I love the new MANIAMANIA campaign:

Reminds me of the footage of the Velvet Underground performing at the Factory with all the projections on them...

Uninspired.

WARNING!

TEENAGE RANT ABOUT THE HSC AND LACK OF LIFE AHEAD.

TERRIBLY UNINTERESTING.

HSC is difficult, people say it every year, yet I thought they were just over exaggerating. I thought I'd be one of the people who don't have a life and just manage their time around school work, surely thats how you survive without exiting High School with a paranoia complex about school assessments being due. But strangely, I've actually had a life these past couple of weeks, which means style.com isn't getting the attention it usually receives. I'm going to a black and white themed Film Noir event at the MCA tonight, I'm not sure how it will go-- anything that promise free "mocktails" sounds a bit dire, but I'll probably go anyway-- assuming I get my beautiful assignment over and done with, which at the moment is sitting in a pile on my desk looking a bit like this.

Also Louise Brooks is gorgeous. Prompting the question "what would Louise do?" when I'm behind on school work-- thats probably not a very good approach as I'm sure Louise would just say "damn the work load" and go to some swanky club, drink swanky drinks and dance the Charleston.

oh my.

Yesterday, purely by chance I ended up in the new Sydney Westfield, it happened to be the opening day and it seemed like everyone in Sydney was there, and honestly, I can see why. I'm not actually a big fan of shopping malls, I like individual shops off streets, I'm not the "all in one place" type of shopper, or you know... a shopper at all-- but theres something about Sydney Westfields that makes you want to spend a heap of moolah. Zara is opening up in there, so is Miu Miu which sort of takes out the desirability factor of those shops--I spent a lot of time in Zara when I was in Europe and I dragged my Mum into the Miu Miu boutique when we were in Melbourne. Now they are relatively close which gives me an excuse to actually consider buying the clothes that have caught my eye, making it plausible for me to own them. The shops they have are a nice combination of cheap chain stores and high fashion, which means if you're a a poor teenager who isn't good at saving up to buy something special, its quite nice to say you actually bought something. But even the cheap chain stores are decorated and done up to look just as nice as the expensive ones (interior wise), the window displays all look as though someone had put a lot of thought into them (which I suppose they had, because it was someone's job, and the first day of opening). So at the end of all this, did I buy something? No... my friends and I were in too much awe of the space odyssey esque building and the amount of people to go into many shops. But I plan to go again when all the shops have opened, armed with Christmas money and gift cards, and not on a weekend either.

So, without knowing exactly all the shops in Westfield Sydney, my wish-list goes as so:

Front-Pleat Trousers (Zara) $40

Hadley Clog (Rubi shoes) $40, I'm not quite sure why I like these.

Zelda Ring, $79, Tilkah

I was going to add to this but looking at what's stocked in the way of "luxury" is depressing and not at all achievable.

&Sloe

Some lovely stills from the autumn 2010 campaign of Japanese brand &Sloe.

You'll want to click that for a larger image, my editing and blogging "skillz" suck.

Anyway, so I came across this little brand on Haco a lovely Japanese I suppose "Urban" fashion site. Its pretty wonderful but hard to navigate due to it all being in Japanese but eventually you come across some jems like &Sloe. Don't you love the daggy-ness? This campaign fills me with a lot of hope knowing that somewhere in the world my "style" that is lazy is kind of fashionable... I'll leave that hanging and presume you have raised eyebrows.

Also, its a lot like the frankie editorials... and if I can bring your attention to this blogs background, that means it's a good thing. Now I feel like drinking tea and pretending to have a bunny rabbit.

Hard Cover Books

Yves Saint Laurent

Florence Muller & Farid Chenourne

The Velvet Underground: New York Art

Kugelberg, Johan, Reed, Lou

The Selby is in Your Place

Todd Selby

My Favorite Dress

Gity Monsef, Samantha Erin Sager & Robert de Niet

There's just something about hard cover books that feel more special then their paperback counterparts. Perhaps its the fact that they don't fit in book shelves, or hands, the fact that they smell nice (creepy yes.) and use lovely grainy paper. Since when did "coffee table book" become a bad word? when did it suddenly mean the books had no substance? Sure you can't read them on the train, but the only reason their on the coffee table is because their too big for the shelves.

I love pulp fiction paper backs, for all the opposite reasons as to why I love hardbacks, but this post would be 5 pages long if I was to photo montage all the paperback novels I love. Also, I know this is... kind of old news but, I love that Penguin and Virago Books have started using covers that have this sense of oldness to them, or in the case of Penguin-- returning to the oh-so-trendy "no frills" packaging, it makes me feel like I'm buying books in the 1950s.

Lie to me and tell me that those book covers didn't make you a little excited...

I utterly disagree with the statement "never judge a book by its cover".

Les kooples m'incitent à vouloir être français.

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When I was in Paris at the beginning of the year I noticed 2 things (actually I noticed a couple of things but only 2 are relevant to this post). Firstly, French people wear black, A LOT of black, more then most people i'd say, and secondly French people look cool, wearing black and acting nonchalant all the time while they walk around being better then everyone because their French, hey its true... I wish I was French so I could justify being arrogant.

French label 'the Kooples' seemingly have a lot to do with this. I mean who doesn't want to evil eye the camera man with your armed wrapped around some hot guy when you're both wearing amazing clothes? The Kooples is a chain store in France, their on almost every big street that isn't inhabited by French high-fashion-- or thats what I noticed. Also, they always have pretty inspiring window displays (the one on George V featured an array of birdcages for a couple of weeks in January). The clothes are simple, barely venturing out of the 'essentials' category and mostly in black, white or grey, however there is something about the label that make people like me so curious... maybe its the fact that they use unconventional "models" like these guys:

(YAAAAAY AWESOME OLD PEOPLE)

Or maybe I just love the Kooples because of the way its marketed, the use of actual couples, the unconventional campaigns against the sometimes conventional clothing and that fact that the name isn't a profound word or pretentious. None the less their new collection is out and available for male order in Europe (if unlike me you have a European post box, in which case you should send me over a pair of "Pantalon Ciggarette" PLEEEASE).

I'm currently loving:

Their accessories are also mighty fine, such as these:

and the bondage inspired bags and shoes:

And lets bring back the winklepicker...

(The Horrors want you to)

That will be my last post for while, I'm in the middle of exams and need to ~focus~ Pfft...

I might consider studying after this, but now that I'm the resident Francophile I'll be listening to some wonderful French music on my ipod (cue: Second Sex, the Tatianas, BB Brunes, Eiffel, and the Parisians)

Sexy French breathing song.

aka. Nico Teen Love by the BB Brunes, you get it? its a pun... yeah... well it took me a while..

The Black Swan

If you thought Center Stage was scary...

I came across a couple of pictures whiles googling Rodarte after hearing on the grape vine that they did costumes for a ballet (ballet costuming is my dream job and Rodarte are amazing). I didn't even recognize that it was Natalie Portman, I thought it was an actual production and she was a ballerina. But no. I really can't wait to see this movie. Oh and Winona Ryder is in it too :)

Band Of Horses-- Sydney Concert

I saw Band of Horses on Thursday night at Enmore theatre, and I'm still buzzing from it three days later. "Why?" you may ask, WELL not only was it brilliant, amazing and excellent, and not only was I right in front of the stage, but I'm pretty sure that its the best concert I've ever been to (yeah, I said it) a title previously held by Kings of Leon.

The sound was great, it helps if you're in front of the bassist (who looked like Adrian Brody and changed his bass after every song) and seemingly the 'man-of-the-moment' Ryan (guitarist and keys) who was met with many a drunken audience member such as the "RYAN! RYAN! 2008 MAN! TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHTTTTTT! legend" guy.

The crowd was great, not full of (many) pretentious hipsters, which meant my friends carefully styled mohawk wasn't the elephant in the room. The crowd even rebelled against the security guard attempting to prevent one person doing the lighter trick to a slow song, by flashing a torch in their eyes, however, once (lead singer) Ben Bridwell started serenading lighter-person a third of the audience and their lighters joined in.

Just a side note, (guitarist) Tyler Ramsey looks like jesus:

But back to the this pathetic excuse for a review...

The stage looked great with the slide shows of landscapes and tour pictures, really suited the music and created a great atmosphere. All their songs were great, the songs they chose from their previous two albums blended into the rest of the set perfectly, this included-- shall we say "popular favorites" like Ghost and General Specific, which is still one of their best ever, I'm glad they played it. Their song 'the Funeral' was the highlight of the concert, it was the song everyone was waiting to hear and everyone knew the words to.

However, there was a slide guitar sitting in front of Ben (first name basis as of now) that wasn't even touched during the concert. I'm partial to a bit of slide guitar and was hoping I'd see and hear it being played... but no apparently not.

Oh and the support band (the Gentlemen of Fortune) were... they were alright. The keys player needed a Broadway Danny Rose sober-special to get him to play the right notes but other then that they were quite good, they sounded kind of seventies actually-- like the Rolling Stones circa '78 (ooh musical pretentiousness).

But yeah, this "review" does the concert no justice, you need to take my word (yes me, a stranger who you don't know but you stumbled upon my blog while trying to find stills from Alice in Wonderland so now you're entitled to listen to my opinions) for it.... because it seriously was sooo goooooood.

The Harvest.

The Harvest. Film trailer. from LOVER® on Vimeo.

I diss Australian fashion quite a bit, but there are some labels I just love (Dion Lee, Something Else, Romance Was Born, Ksubi, Injury, Lonely Hearts and more). I think sometimes designers in Australia have the tendency to make "wacky" clothes for coverage (we're a season behind and far far away from Europe) and sometimes it works, in the case of Romance was Born. But other times an aesthetic is based upon European collections, which really shouldn't be mimicked unless you are a European brand. Sometimes the styling of Australian collections gets me, because you can see that individually a garment is extraordinary, or detailed or... just beautiful. But again, it will be paired with something that doesn't complement it in order for it to be kooky or what not.

I know I'm ranting, and that I'm in no right mind to voice an opinion on Australian fashion as a dorky, school uniform wearing, teenager with hippy parents. But I just feel that Australia has so much potential to be different or cutting edge more often in terms of fashion and branch out instead of trying to be 'alternative' or look like a Stella McCartney show for the poor man.

Thats why I loved this Lover collection. Its not trying to look European, its focussing on drape and colour and fit. Its also quintessentially Australian at the same time as appealing to a person in France who may be freezing their ass off and need a beautiful pink sweater for winter for example. And you know, it touches on looking off-beat without it controlling the whole collection, it complements it-- its the kind of styling that makes you think about construction of each piece. Also, the whole campaign has never made me more certain of wanting to live in an isolated rural area with long brown grass and have an eloquent vocabulary.

Menswear Spring 2011

John Galliano

Charlie Chaplin and fashion.. who would have thought?

Jean Paul Gaultier

These looks actually made the Sydney weekend newspaper, embracing the 3d fabric. I love the fabric and the colours, his colour sense is just amazing. I especially love the outer space fabric and the kimono jacket.

Everything in this collection seemed so detached, like there were parts to the show that didn't really make much sense together, but it was so... I dunno... fluid-- the transition between each.

There are too many pictures I want to post so heres a video instead, it isn't the full show that you can view here.

Issey Miyake

All I can say is COLOURS!

And thankfully a lack of harem pants.

I don't think this hoodie was a good idea though:

Remind you of anything?

Speaking of Menswear:

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Food for thought--How did I get from Charlie Chaplin, To a KKK reference to Dr. Who?