Sitting Pretty

Great article by the NY Times (honestly, who can't get enough of their reporting) on the politics of the front row at fashion week. I've been wondering for days which cast  members of Entourage requested front row seats...Also a bit of entertaining gossip about what's been going on at Conde Naste.

Portrait of a Lady

So this is a post I've been wanting to do for a while. People occassionally say fashion is art.  I'm not sure how much I believe that but I do know I've gotten alot of sartorial inspiration from the art world. Colours, layers, moods all of it goes some way into training your eye. Sometimes the thing that will strike you the most is the juxtaposition of two shades you never thought would complement each other so well, or the fold in a dress, an elegance in posture...

The Clown Cha-U-Kao by Toulouse Lautrec. 

Primavera by Botticelli. This one really needs to be bigger. You can click on it for a larger one but really go google the details, look at the hair, the folds of silk and most importantly the colours (of the landscape as well as their robes). 

Blue mountains by Vasily Kandinsky. 

Woman with a Black Boa also by Lautrec. 

Empress Elisabeth of Austria by Franz Xaver Winterhalter

St Jerome in Meditation by Caravaggio...That deep, deep red. 

The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai. The blue sea and the white foam. 

Bertrand Russell

'Not a gentleman; dresses too well.' 

Bertrand Russell on Anthony Eden

Seventies Style: A Love Story

The last one has a skirt that is so Michael Kors. See below. I think my favourites are the girl with the blue neckerchief and the little blue miniskirt girl with the camel top. Also possibly the girl with the green skirt in the same pattern. I truly truly love sewing patterns. It's vintage they way they wore it - great inspiration. And the seventies isn't even what I think of as my decade. You should see how I get with forties and fifties patterns!

My Grandmother's Ring

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about vintage rings. Most of my truly fabulous ones come from my grandmother's closet. And, honestly, Gran had great taste. Most of her day to day rings were big bejewelled glamourous cocktail rings.

Turquoise surrounded by diamonds, amethyst surrounded by diamonds, Pearls and diamonds. Basically take what you like and surround it with cubic zirconia. One day I'll make myself one; coral - surrounded by diamonds.

(Not my grandmothers ring but seriously beautiful. Found here.)

There's nothing better than your grandmothers closet for big beautiful vintage jewellery - rings, necklaces, earrings. Admittedly, wearing the full sets might be a bit much day to day - but just take one piece, wear it sparingly and simply and feel like a cool fifties movie star...

Bratz

In a master-stroke of what I hope will be a new line of children's plaything - artist Andrew Yang was commissioned by Barney's NY to make Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington dolls! They look AMAZING! You can see them here.  They're to celebrate Vogue's Fashion's Night Out on September 10 and my aren't they just doing the job. 

How much would you prefer to give these to your niece or daughter than yet another Bratz doll? Then when she turns 16 you get her a copy of The September Issue and a subscription to Vogue. It's a lifetime's worth of presents sorted! 

Knock-off's, Fakes and Fashion

Seriously great article by The New York Times on the knock-off industry. Takes you to the factories where they produce them and to the police trying to stop them. You'll never think the same way about fashion again.