Alison sent me the Spring lookbook for her lovely accessories label Grace. she also carries a scarf called the Diana, which literally has my name written all over it.
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Scout & Catalogue Spring 12
i asked Anabela of the newly revamped Fieldguided – nice work Kate! – if she’d care to share the lookbook that she & her partner Geoff recently shot for Scout & Catalogue. i really love Anabela’s visual aesthetic, and particularly enjoyed her behind the scenes photos from the shoot. Shop the collection here.
I first met Bre of Scout & Catalogue a few years ago when she was selling items from one of her earlier collections at a holiday market. As I mentioned on my blog, when she first asked if Geoff & I were interested in shooting her spring 2012 lookbook, I was nervous and tempted to say no, but I’m glad that I did. We shot this lookbook mostly on film, and even though it was the dead of winter, we ended up with a spring-like vibe that made me long for the blossoming of the magnolia trees. Luckily that will be happening soon enough.
This collection is so beautiful that I couldn’t help but pick up a leopard-print clutch for myself, although it took me weeks to choose just the thing that I wanted!
Photography : Anabela Carneiro + Geoff Piersol (Fieldguided) / Art Direction : Breanna Musgrove / Hair + Make-up : Elena Pacienza / Model : Monika Chelchowski
Jewelry Designers to Watch
Jessica runs her own PR company & showroom called The Shiny Squirrel that represents & showcases up-and-coming artists, designers and creative businesses. if you wants to know about new designers, shops and other rad things head over to her blog.
A round up some really amazing designers that I have been seeing that would be good for people to watch and buy from!
The Red Dress
today’s guest post is from Mallory of Where The Lovely Things are. we share a love of many things, but we really bonded over our shared love of Melvin Udall in As Good as it Gets.
I’m Mallory (I mostly blog here, but also here & here, plus I tweet & pin) & every season I’m compelled to at least glance at every designer’s collection who presents during fashion week. I have no reason to do this (thus why it’s a compulsion). Do I work in fashion? No. At a magazine? Nope. Could I ever hope to buy something from a collection? Ha! Yes, I sometimes blog about my favorites, but I don’t look at the collections because I’m going to blog about them, I blog about them because I spent all that freaking time clicking through each look. I think – “I might as well throw together few posts. Don’t totally waste hours of your life, Mal”.
A week or so ago I lay in some sort of zombie-daze state looking through collection after collection and I realized that I got a little jolt of excitement every time I found an awesome red dress. I realized (or at least I tried to convince myself) that that was why I ended up scrolling through all these fashion fests when I should be sleeping: I’m looking for red dresses. Because I looooooove red dresses.
When I was a little girl and my mother dressed me, red dresses were always prevalent. When I started dressing myself they cropped up just as much. My favorite dresses I ever wore to dances in high school – red. If I’d been invited to the Oscars I’d have worn the color of the carpet. And when I get married someday I may wear white, but only for a little bit (if at all) then it’ll be… yeah – red.
So, for this guest post I thought I’d put together some of my favorite red dresses from the Fall 2012 ready-to-wear collections as well as some of my favorite red dresses from movies (because I love movies as much as I love red dresses). Here we go…
Felder Felder / See by Chloé / Imitation of Christ / Emilia Wickstead
Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna in Inglorious Basterds
Karen Walker / Monique Lhuillier / Jonathan Saunders / Calvin Klein Collection
Alicia Silverstone as Cher in Clueless
Matthew Williamson / Michael Kors / Marchesa
Grace Kelly as Margot in Dial M for Murder
Thakoon / Jonathan Saunders / Michael van der Ham / Christopher Kane
Stockard Channing as Rizzo in Grease
St. John / Tadashi Shoji / Monique Lhuillier / Sachin + Babi
Nicole Kidman as Satine in Moulin Rouge
Sophie Theallet / Monique Lhuillier / Imitation of Christ / Monique Lhuillier
Marilyn Monroe as Lorelei and Jane Russell as Dorothy in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Emilia Wickstead / Reed Krakoff / Jil Sander
Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins in (obvs.) Mary Poppins
Finally, I had to include Helen Hunt as Carol in As Good As It Gets because one of the reasons Diana is awesome (other than her amazing blog) is her ability to recognize quotes / references from this movie. I’ve encountered few people who know what I mean when I say “Good times, noodle salad”, so I totally appreciate when I find someone who does. Sadly for Carol the Waitress, Melvin insults her lovely red dress when they go out on their date. But then to make it up to her he tells her “You make me want to be a better man” and she says it’s the best compliment of her life, so it’s all okay. For a few minutes, at least.
Fashion Month Favourites
as you’ll see in her disclaimer (haha) kate does not actually work in fashion – but you might think she does considering that she occasionally styles mini-editorials, frequently updates her fashion-fueled tumblr, contributes to wearing the pants and writes cool pieces for local blog it’s what i’m into (including a Q&A with current street style it-girl eleonora carisi). we often gab on gchat and twitter, she’s an absolute favourite.
I should probably start off with a disclaimer: I know nothing about fashion. Except that I look at it. A lot. I’ve been working on this post for about a week, actually, maybe two. And with every day and every show it gets more and more difficult to edit myself. There’ve been a ton of collections with stuff I would wear (let’s face it I’m not one to turn down designer gear), but if it’s made it onto this list it means I really liked it. And when I say “really liked it” I mean it filled my heart with pure, unadulterated fashion joy! In keeping with Miss Moss’ fashion week rules, I have decided to limit myself to 4 outfits per collection, because otherwise things would get crazay. So, here we go!
I am a huge fan of Miuccia Prada. In fact, I may name my future daughter Miuccia (even though I have no idea how to pronounce it), that’s how cool I think she is. I mean, the lady was born in 1949, but season after season she creates these fresh, unimaginable women. A little bit classy. A little bit quirky. Always left of centre.This season’s eccentricity came in the form of an army of bad-ass steam punk villians. It was like Dr Evil meets Willy Wonka. Purple, green, tan, yellow & orange sat side by side in perfect harmony. Even the black ensembles didn’t bore. Miuccia, ti amo!
Fashion and art collide on the runway with a collection that, according to vogue.com, was “borne of the fantasy of a girl walking through a museum filled with sixteenth and seventeenth century art and stealing things off the wall and out of the display cases for her wardrobe”. I like that. A lot. The first time I saw this collection, I literally started chanting “Carven! Carven! Carven!” in my head. I went all tingly inside and I couldn’t breathe. It was very strange and I’m a bit worried about my mental health. I think I went temporarily crazy for Carven.
Personally I don’t think liking Proenza Schouler needs any explanation. Have you seen how cute they are? Dream-boat designer boys aside, I thought their Fall collection was pretty cool. At first, I just liked the hair. But the closer I looked, the more I liked. In fact, I think one of those satin Asian inspired padded jackets has punched its way up to the top of my Dream-On Fall 2012 Wishlist. (You can throw in the sweaters too).
Marc’s collection fulfilled all my schoolgirl fashion fantasies. Although undoubtedly the least flattering skirt length ever, I couldn’t help but fall in love with his prim & proper, post-war appeal; complete with it’s very own technicolour dream kilt.
Sonia Rykiel’s collection appeals to the part of me that wishes I dressed like a grown up. Or a lady. Or a grown-up lady. Super chic knits graced the runway in cream, a colour I would never dare to wear because of my tendency to spill things on myself. The black headbands added a cool flapper charm and kept the luxe looks from taking themselves too seriously.
Marni was back with a Bang! (Hair Pun!) I’m not gonna lie, the white tights threw me a bit. They reminded me of the medical kind you have to wear to keep varicose veins under control… I think they call them compression stockings? Anyway, back to the runway… I love the combo of red and baby blue, and the fact that the red came in the form of a cape to rival all capes was an added bonus. The embellished tee & matching bag was a feast for the eyes. And #3 reminds me of a colouring book slash pajamas, which looks super fun to me.
Kenzo, so cool. I know it’s sad, but that’s all I can think of when I look at the Fall collection that was worn by the 50 models who travelled up and down escalators in a 4-storey high building for the audience at Paris Fashion Week. Tiger print sweaters tucked into satin column skirts. Tasseled shirts & skirts that turn to armour. Tablecloth prints and monochrome clashes. It’s bold, without being ridiculous and totally 100% wearable, if you’re that way inclined.
So I think I’m done. And, as this was a completely subjective look at Fall 2012, I encourage you to head on over to vogue.com to check out all the collections and pick your own favourites!
Images via Vogue
L’amour Fou
as i mentioned in my post a week ago Mariah blogs over at Quite Continental, and i was thrilled when she sent me this post because one of my favourite things to delve into at her blog are stories of great loves – you also need to read her post about Winston Churchill & Clementine Hozier.
In February, my mind frequently turns to great love stories: stories of grand gestures, of passions that burned brightly and then out, of couples that stayed together for years, of couples that could not live without each other. Coincidentally, I finally saw L’amour Fou this month, a documentary detailing the 50 year relationship of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, and the record-breaking auction of their massive collection of art and objet d’art that ultimately totaled €342m in sales.
A heart-breaking, quietly mournful story, you easily glean a sense of how hard a man Saint Laurent was to love and the fact that Bergé never stopped loving him. At the time of Saint Laurent’s death, the two had actually been separated for some years, but married a few days prior to Saint Laurent’s passing, in a final symbolic gesture of their relationship: Bergé would be left to handle the tidying up the details of their long partnership and life together.
“I remember your first collection under your name and the tears at the end. Then the years passed. Oh, how they passed quickly. The divorce was inevitable but the love never stopped.
I don’t know how to say good-bye because I can never leave you. We will never watch a sunset together again. We will never share the emotions together before a painting again. Someday I will join you under the palm trees of Morocco.
I want to tell you my admiration, my profound respect and my love.”
- Bergé at the funeral of Saint Laurent
Yves Saint Laurent became an apprentice to Christian Dior at the age of 18, and became the head of the fashion house at the age of 21 when Dior suddenly died in 1958. In 1960, Saint Laurent and Bergé founded the fashion house that bears the Saint Laurent’s name, which is where he would design his tuxedo or “Le Smoking” for women and many memorable collections. But by 1976, Saint Laurent and Bergé had ended their romantic relationship. Remarkably, they remained business partners and close friends.
One of their most special places can be found in Marrakesh, Morocco: the Jardin Majorelle. A botanical garden that dates back to the colonial period when Morocco was a protectorate of France in the 1920s, it was designed by French expat Jacques Majorelle and was a favorite place of Bergé and Saint Laurent. Open to the public since 1947, when the garden was in danger of being purchased and converted into a hotel in 1980, Bergé and Saint Laurent simply purchased it so that it could remain a public place. Their foundation maintains it to this day. After his death, Saint Laurent’s ashes were scattered in their beloved garden. Bergé will one day join him.
L’amour Fou is an exceptionally well-done documentary that examines one of the greatest names in modern fashion through the eyes of the man who loved him fiercely in life and now mourns him quietly in death. It traces their relationship from the first painting they bought together to their first trip to Morocco to the last fall of the auctioneer’s gavel. I cannot recommend it enough and I hope one day soon I will walk through their bright blue garden in Morocco.
Bumper Fashion Special No.29
i thought of covering some of the recent fall runway shows, but instead i’m leaving that up to kate who will be doing a little round-up as part of a guest series that’s going to kick off later this week! i’m moving into my new apartment this week, so i’ll be pretty busy packing, moving and unpacking – and i’ll be without internet for a while until i get my new home connected. luckily for me, and you, some of my favourite bloggers will be contributing guest posts while i’m away.
here’s a little bumper fashion special in the meantime…
kate profiled bag maker tim adam over at it’s what i’m into:
glass tower – a shoot for vamp photographed by kent andreasen:
cheralee featured over at refinery29:
madewell’s style profile of caroline de maigret:
brookes boswell millinery, handmade in brooklyn:
my eyes almost popped out when i saw the charlotte taylor a/w 2012 look pook over at honey kennedy:
milleneufcentquatrevingtquatre scarves at 30 cancan:
baron wells via wolfeyebrows:
vish! also via wolfeyebrows (thanks cath):
and the loved one’s hannah photographed for audrey and grace:
frances baker via banana meet-cute:
new stock at no.6:
russh magazine editor jess blanch looking great with that coat thrown over her shoulders:
… as does lauren remington platt:
nonoo s/s 2012 via honey kennedy:
and, solange knowles has a stylish blog:
Of A Kind Giveaway: Iacoli & McAllister
the giveaway is now closed, the winner is stephanie – congratulations!
today i’m really excited to offer one lucky reader the chance to win this beautiful Nude Necklace No. 8 by Iacoli & McAllister – one of only 35 designed especially for Of A Kind. i actually blogged about Iacoli & McAllister’s necklaces before, and i’m truly jealous that i can’t enter this giveaway myself!
When movie characters work in art galleries, they wear impossibly cool necklaces like this one. Composed of nude ultrasuede and super-lightweight, boxy brass beads, it doesn’t need much to make your look special – a crisp white shirt, maybe, or a silk top. And some tortoiseshell glasses would really hammer home that whole smart-and-stylish thing you’re going for.
all you have to do to enter is subscribe to the Of A Kind Newsletter and leave a comment below *
the giveaway is open to anyone anywhere in the world as Of a Kind offers international shipping. readers outside the US must please note that, as with all international shipping, you may be subject to your country’s customs charges / import duties upon arrival. the giveaway ends on Friday 2 March, and the winner will be randomly selected in a lucky draw.
* if you’re already subscribed to their newsletter make sure you leave a comment to guarantee an entry!
Kristina goes to LFW
yesterday i got completely lost in Kristina aka Kris Atomic‘s beautiful photos covering London Fashion Week.
all photos by kris atomic
Katherine Hooker
the second i saw this first look by katherine hooker i thought out of africa – which is kind of appropriate since katherine was born to american parents in cyprus, raised in north africa and moved to england at the age of 9. she creates timeless handmade pieces using only the very best tweeds for winter and silks and linens for summer. pieces can be custom made or bought from her ready-to-wear range.
