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Something old, something new, all in blue

My something old, something new are both in blue and alas, I have nothing borrowed on but fortunately I'm not getting married or anything so it's all okay. As I said before, shopping has been eluding me somewhat lately and when I do get the opportunity, I suddenly find that I've become increasingly frugal. Still, a Sunday walk around Brick Lane meant popping into The Shop on Cheshire Street and picking up a blue straw boater hat where the straw's colour has faded to a seal-grey but the grosgrain remains ish-vibrant.

Then onto Shop at 172 where I bought what my sister later labelled...'Honky Pants'. Now the debate has gone around a bit on the internet about harem/aladdin/dropped crotch/MC Hammer pants and disgust/criticism has been heaped upon them. To the point where I got pretty bored with it just purely because, to go back to the totally non-derogatory term that my sister coined, this type/shape of trousers/pants are completely normal in Hong Kong. I haven't been back in a fair while so I can't comment on the present but three years ago when I was there, they were sold everywhere...in the $10 cheapie shops, the mid-range places, in all kinds of fabrics and styles, all focusing on a larger hipped shape tapering down to slim calves and usually with some manner of dropped crotch thrown into. Teens wore them, mums wore them, hell I even saw a granny wearing some aladdin pants.

So it was a little amusing/odd to read the very predictable comments on other people's blogs that rarely veered off the 'Oh you look like MC Hammer/you've pooped your pants/you're wearing nappies' scale. A little harsh for a pair of trousers that I consider completely normal and if anything are just another pair of trousers, much like skinny, bootcut, flares etc.

Anyhow...enough of the justifying... I'm loving Shop 172's rosta of designers yet again and these trousers by Orphan will be available to buy online SOON when Shop 172 launches their new website and they too are available in all kinds of fabrics and I don't think I'll be the only one who doesn't really mind looking like they've pooed their pants (see I've bought into you people's phrases already...even though what I actually think is that if you technically did poo your pants, trousers wouldn't ACTUALLY droop that low... but technicality schmelicality, eh?)

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Harsher Ruffles

Another week, more ruffle-spotting and remembering. I had to take note of Emma Cook's shoes last week, when I was trailing Cathy Edwards (fashion director of Another magazine) who was styling Emma's SS09 show. I took note because currently in Topshop, the chunky AW08-9 biker boots are in stock which means next season, her ruffled shoes that I snapped below will be put into production and sold in Topshop as opposed to a lot of the mind blowing show shoes (Christopher Kane's rhino horn shoes par example...) that just won't be available to buy for love or money.

Then Helena Horstedt whose work I've been a staunch follower of and whose SS09 collection lookbook will be out VERY soon, and her AW08-9 origami-filled collection popped into my head. Of course Emma's simirlarly zipper-edged ruffle dress makes a lot more sense as a pairing but I love the softer muted colours of Emma Cook's SS09 shoes acting as a balance to Helena Horstedt's sculptural black.

(Background illustrations by Louisa Lau - keep it in the family, yo!)

Fringe Out...

I kno I know...shonky and lazy post here but I did chuckle a bit as I wrapped my Tim Ryan black fringe scarf around my waist and realied that I'm doing an update on that thing that everybody did in the late 90's, when people were wrapping sarongs/scarves or some sort of hip coverage over jeans/trousers etc. I even remember girls being berated on quite recent episodes of America's Next Top Model for committing said fashion sin and the girls not wanting to let go of their hip coverage for fear of making them look bigger. I can't say I was ever into the hip wrapping thing the first time round, but at least I have a viable alternative to a grass skirt on hand....

Where is it RIGHT NOW???

So Meadham Kirchoff along with Louise Goldin, Todd Lynn, Emma Cook and Peter Jensen have quite quietly done some more goodies for Topshop. Just the way I like it...no great fanfare and therefore all the more to go round for everyone. Meadham Kirchoff's SS09 collection culmination however is something that I WANT NOW and have been wondering why nobody has done a version of as yet... lace is big, biker jackets are popular...why not bloody combine the two to get something as fantastic as this??? The lace looks destroyed and not too perfect, there's a lot of sheer going on and the cropped shape is just the way I like to wear my biker jackets as bigger ones swallow me up. I was half tempted to go backstage and plead quietly with Edward Meadham and Benjamin Kirchoff about the possibility of doing some sort of advance spring summer buy it now deal.... blame it on the beautifully burnt black lace...

A Morning Cheer...

In a continuous vein of feeling good about British style, I picked up Teen Vogue yesterday to find a particularly wonderful shoot; 'Across the Universe' shot by Nick Haymes and styled by Beth Fenton. So both are from British stock but it was still surprising to see very very niche labels being used in the shoot, that could not possibly be accessible by most of Teen Vogue's audience. I'm thinking particularly of these Natasha Lawes butterfly and leaf masks available at Luna & Curious, which I got the chance to model for the Fashion156 shoot I did back in May. A teensy tiny shop on Brick Lane that sells the most intriguing objects by independent artisans, who don't have the usual PR machines working behind them, and these masks now make it to Teen Vogue, a sort of strange widespread exposure for both Natasha and Luna & Curious... I beam gladly at this sort of fashion globalisation.

The Best of the LFW Deets

So no, I didn't venture out to as many shows as I had anticipated but at least my beloved other child is looking very healthy and I haven't felt like a total lemon slash waste of space. The upside though is that I've spent my days going through images and REALLY looking at things as opposed to speeding through shows on catwalking.com or even speeding through the shows in real life. Yes, it's a bit of a silly comparison. Of course pics are never as good as the real thing but I don't think I would have gotten the same perspective without the fantastic photographers who have been feeding me images day in, day out and allowing me to indulge, fantasise and even make realistic S/S 09 plans...

Quite possibly the most fantastic hoisery of S/S 09 at Eley Kishimoto S/S 09. Or the fact that they match the dresses/skirts and match AND clas with the shoes in such a perfect way helps the cause. I suppose I'll have to buy into the ensemble as a whole but I do declare that the undulating gradiated scallop tights are quite genius.

Nathan Jenden threw up a few surprises as he let loose a lot and went into a frivolous direction that I sort of liked. Style.com was doesn't love you Nathan but I still dug the bow-tipped sunglasses that were probably a collaboration with Linda Farrow (they do EVERYBODY's glasses it seems...)...

...and the cocktail umbrellas and origami squares decorating the dresses. Fun, silly, a little bit cheap and gauche is what is being thrown at me for S/S 09 and I'm down for that...

British Style Genius

I'm not a ranting kind of person especially not on this blog when there are so many others that rant better than I do. Instead, I'd rather wait for the positives to come around and then I'll sing song in a hopeful tone. If there was one subject however that I could happily rant about all day long, it is fashion on TV. No, not Fashion TV per se even though that particular channel is for me, mindlessly dull and unfruitful. I am however referring to British TV programmes that are supposedly to do with fashion and how fashion is treated as either something to throw cliches out to the unassuming public or make people feel bad for constantly getting 'it' wrong, 'it' being fashion/style and thus giving fashion a bad rep. "Darling, that jumper has GOT to go..", "Oh my god, what a faux pas!" and "This dress is band on-trend!" - all that kind of bollocks.

What's wrong with just a back to basics, straight forward programme that CELEBRATES fashion, not using it as a tool to make people feel inadequate and small about themselves. Well, I'm apparently in luck as this autumn sees BBC2's new five-part one hour series called British Style Genius air, which takes a look at what makes British style so individual and influential. Yes, the patrioticism is slathered on in abundance and the trailer below makes no bones about that. But at the end of a London Fashion Week where Style.com has heavily heaped on the criticism on the London shows (not deservedly so in some instances...), something like this is a fairly harmless pick-me-up which rings partially true in what it's saying. Most importantly, fashion is treated as a decent and proper subject as opposed to a snobbish tool or a complete farce. It starts airing in October and alas, only Brits allowed (when will BBC sort out an international verison of their iPlayer...?) but I'm looking forward to cosying up for an hour and not feeling like I want to gouge my eyes out and throw them at the telly.

London Fashion Week S/S 09 Day 3-4: Trousergate

No I haven't split my trousers or done something disastrous in the trouser area... I'm simply noting the fact that for two days in a row, I've worn...*gasp* trousers. For those of you not in the know, me and trousers have a love/hate thing going on. We embrace each other when the trousers in question are perfectly formed and/or are quite strange/unique. Otherwise, mundane, plain trews are just a pain to try on and a bore to wear.

Ok, yesterday I was cheating. There is a grey tutu over the Raf Simons trews but still, the sweatshirt on the top could have morphed into a skirt to be a poofy tunic so I'd still count that as trouser wearing. The Pierre Hardy x Louise Goldin shoes were apt as it was the day of the stupendously cool Louise Goldin show. French blogging royalty Garance and Geraldine are in town (it's so odd seeing them in Old Blighty...) and they very kindly snapped me (yes I am a leacher of other people's great photography skills whilst not being able to develop my own...)...

Today, I changed three or four times, beginning with a dress, then adding these trews and in the end shedding away the dress to opt for these Preen trousers and the very comfy Tristan Blair wedges. The zipper collar is also NOT at all heavy (to those that asked...) and I even added more weight with some Paraphernalia necklaces.

By the by, I head these posts with London Fashion Week, though the reality is I've barely been to any shows but instead have had to enjoy fashion week secondhand through other people's pictures and text... it's ok... I keep telling myself that in about a week's time I'm going to be all over Paris like a messy, dishevelled rash that just won't go away, so it's fine.

**EDIT** Lovely Geraldine has just put her pics up and has captured my cheesy smile... I know people are far preferring the 'slicker' second outfit....but I do so love the self-created Aladdin pants effect with the Raf Simons trews... by far my favourite trews of the year (say it with me..elasticated waists are GOOOOD!)

From fur to face...

What the f*** was I thinking as 15.15 ticked by and I had missed the Christopher Kane show (and Louise Goldin for that matter...) despite having an invite and promising friends that I'd be going and saying 'See you there!' to them.... oh that's right... I wasn't thinking... I was zombied out at my desk in the office... doh!

Still, people will gush and rave tomorrow about it and I'll just look at Catwalking.com with a glum face. I'm undecided yet about the collection as a whole until I see the stuff in person but for now... I have decided that I'm going to transfer my unhealthy fixation with black goat fur or "monkey fur" as it's better known, instead to monkey face. More specifically GORILLA face... how brilliant is this dress? It's scary, odd and beautiful, all at the same time. From afar, the face looks like a seamless print and it just sort of oozes into the dress and the pleated black in a very subtle way. With the high waisted girly shape and the frou-frou undulating sleeves, fronted by this vicious gorilla face staring back at you, it would just be hilariously perplexing to people.

The Grainy Attraction

I was not going to post this video that I had taken at the Charles Anastase SS/09 show on Sunday as when it had uploaded onto Youtube, it became a grainy mess that made Anastase' sheer mini-crinos over stockings and the girls themselves look shonky/wonky. In reality the show was something that I defy even the hardest, most bad-ass, edgiest die-hards to not like. Testament to Anastase's popularity, I hadn't even publicised the video and it's already been commented on Youtube.

The show itself lived up to all those expectations that were pre-conceived; the whole Lula magazine gang were out in force, gaggles of Charles Anastase wearers in the audience and the girls came trooping out with long slightly unkempt (but not messy good lord!) hair, geeky glasses (courtesy of Linda Farrow) and bundles of girliness and French spirit. I was going to raise my eyebrow at the predictability of it all. But by the end of it, it was clear Charles Anastase had played his trump card; that he had stayed true to those cliches and made them his own. He owns that niche. His clothes DEMAND that they be worn by the Valentine Fillol Cordiers of the world, dancing in front of an SX-70 camera, twirling around with a cat umbrella or some such whimsical prop with Au Revoire Simone playing in the background. Why fight it when that is what the clothes are made for and perfectly at that.

Moreoever Anastase has made sure his clothes are weighted down and more rooted, so as to not become a silly pastiche; a shot of denim/leather here or there, black stockings that are more sexy than girly, cycling shorts under the sheer organza skirts, some of Anastase' trademark grafitti/illustration dotted around and most noticeably the SUPER high shoes (a collaboration with Natacha Marro).

When I interviewed Anastase backstage after the show, and he said he loved my cage dress, it did give me hope that despite being sans geek glasses, vintage sailor dress and navy battered loafers, I too can take a piece of Anastase or two and play around with it... in my own messy way of course.

Pics by Kate Rodgers and Rod Edmonds from DD which I think show up the details the best of all the pics thus far of the show.