Posts Tagged ‘fabulosity’
hey everybody! i missed you!
sorry about that little unscheduled break. i started a full-time job which i love but has been taking a lot of my time and energy. but i have been writing and taking photos and travelling and thinking about fashion, because that is what i *do*. and now that i am feeling a bit more on top of things, i will be around here a bit more.
anyway. in amongst the other things i have been doing, i went to whanganui for the weekend. i spent my school days there and still have family there. so the rockstar and i jumped into my mg and off we drove. we met my mum and dad there. and we spent a very pleasant weekend eating, drinking, seeing family and having fun.
whanganui, like many small towns in new zealand, struggled a bit through the 80s and early 90s. but now, thanks to a thriving art school, it’s a cool place to visit. there’s enough kitsch (the huge plates of old-skool food at the brick house or charming afternoon teas at reflections cafe at virginia lake, a park around which i walked about a thousand times as a kid) and enough sophistication (the fantastic element cafe on victoria ave, where we had an excellent dinner and a truly amazing plum, blackcurrant and marzipan pie!) to keep any city-type satisfied. there are a lot of good antique shops and a really nice hotel to stay in. we had a lovely time.
anyway. how are you? i’ve missed you. it’s good to be back. and i’ll have fashion silliness next time i post. promise.
xoxo
from grunge to trashy; or, my auckland acquisitions
standard day-at-home uniform of grey AA t-shirt, calvin klein jeans, random metal belt and boots becomes ..
lunchtastic! faux fur jacket purchased last weekend at the terrific fast and loose vintage in karangahape rd, auckland .. with tom binns flying skull necklace and obligatory shades (from karen walker) ..
.. to the out-and-out ridic, avec crown lynn swan bought off trademe. which i did not take to lunch, just in case you are wondering.
the rockstar wondered aloud if i might be addicted to shopping.i told him i don’t think it’s that exactly. actual shopping? that endless trawl spending endless money for things you won’t wear, just for the sake of acquiring something new? a “leisure activity” as i think it’s considered now in britain? no. okay, i am not disciplined like the rockstar is, identifying something he needs, searching out a piece that is exactly what he wants, getting things tailored to fit perfectly, etc. i already have more clothes and shoes than i could possibly wear out in a lifetime, so one could argue i do not have a need to buy anything and that any item i purchase is a pure want, a compulsion even. so from that point of view, i suppose, i can see how he might say that.
but. here was my process on this particular day in auckland. i had been looking for the perfect faux fur jacket for a while, because i think it’ll be a useful alternative to heavy coats and parkas during this wellington winter that’s creeping up awful fast. as always, i prefer to buy second-hand if it’s possible. vintage clothes that have made it this far are likely to have been made in new zealand, rather than being sweatshopped somewhere; they will be well-made, having survived at least one owner; and they will not be instantly identifiable as something you purchased on lambton quay (which a waspish shop assistant described to me the other day as looking “more and more like an australian strip mall”, lol). one big disadvantage of shopping the high street in NZ: it has relatively few outlets, so everyone goes to the same places and everyone knows where you got a particular piece and how much you paid for it.
anyway, the vintage stores here in welli-lala had yielded pretty much nothing so far. so when i saw this beauty smiling at me from the racks at fast and loose (and let’s face it; something is always smiling from the racks of fast and loose) i thought, hello lover! it wasn’t so much a random grab as the end of a search for the exactly perfect thing. and as we know, vintage shopping is like that. send out your wish to the vintage fairies and, with enough patience and searching, your wish will come to you.
(as for the crown lynn swan, well. it’s an icon of new zealand design. i know they’re a little played by now, but i still love this kind of kitsch ceramic stuff. i have a big collection of those cabbage leaf plates in storage, in case you doubt me. what?)
i don’t think i am addicted to shopping, then, but i might be addicted to fashion. my eye is constantly searching out the new, the inspiring. it tires quickly and its desire for inspiration needs to be fed. this is why i love thrift/op/charity shopping .. you never know what you’ll find. go with an idea in your head, as i did, or a totally open mind, and have fun. because, after all, fashion is deadly serious but it should also be fun.
so let’s term it that way. i might be addicted to fashion. but in the end, all that is is an addiction to inspiration, to beauty, to fun. and in any case, addiction implies something that is damaging. i think in my case it’s entirely healthy. it makes me curious, creative and appreciative of the fabulousness of simple things, like the perfect colour of faux fur or the elegant sweep of a swan’s neck. and that, dear reader, is a good thing. well, i think it is, anyway.
the importance of beautiful packaging
as evidenced by my possibly-favourite-ever shoe manufacturer, melissa:
detail of the gorgeous box:
i have to say i am not *gagging* for the shoes themselves (although they could look pretty cute with jeans and a simple teeshirt) but the box is utterly precious. as the company themselves says, the total concept of a brand isn’t just restricted to the product itself but to the packaging .. because that’s the first impression a consumer gets of a product’s quality and its essence. i couldn’t agree more.
now, as for a pair of melissas that does make me go “ooh” .. check out these babies, the melissa ocean II (great heel height, right on trend, and i particularly like the bronze/gold combo, perfect for what the rockstar terms the perua rica or rich bitch look):
and then speaking of babies, well. this link may make you die of the cute, i warn you. but if you ever thought that vivienne westwood’s collaboration with melissa couldn’t get any better, it just has: dame viv + melissa for kids. check it. those miniature-sized lady dragons! eeeeee!!
(all images from the lojamelissa blog)
fashion inspiration: miss olivia
oh, come *on*. like you’d have got any further than the title if i’d written “fashion inspiration: olivia newton-john”. so olivia-ya-ya is not someone you tend to think of, fashionably speaking, unless you have a secret childhood yearning to be sandy from grease, complete with so-tight-she-had-to-be-sewn-in spandex pants. (did anyone else kind of really hate the message of that film, by the way? like the only way to Get The Boy and Be Cool was to turn into some kind of skin-tight cigarette-smoking minxtrel? i guess there were enough teen films before and after that saying that the only way to win at life was to just be yourself, maaaan, but it still pissed me off. possibly because i wasn’t allowed to see grease when it first came out and i first saw it many years later at the age of 13. for realz, i am so cool. anyway.)
but i want to put it out there that i think that olivia newton-john’s wardrobe deserves to be known for a little bit more than a rat’s nest of corkscrew curls and a pouty “tell me about it, stud.” she was a stylish dresser, you guys, for serious. as exhibit A, i refer you to this video. will you just look at that frock, kids, and the way her headband is invisible from the front but has this kind of cascadey thing happening at the back? and the black opaque tights? a more obvious person might have teamed that foxy dress and heels with fishnets or lace tights (especially in the early 80s) but olivia keeps it edgy with solid black .. a touch of solemnity just heightening the fabulousness of the frock. can the lady dress or what? i rest my case.
this next one, well it’s always sort of cited as the quintessential squeaky-clean-popstarlet-goes-sex video, innit. forget kylie: ONJ was years ahead. the tights! the headband worn just so! the colour combination in the first outfit, the clean white chic of the second! omg i’m having a fashion moment. and you can’t tell me dov charney doesn’t watch this scribbling down inspiration all the while.
(also, sidenote: i had forgotten how all the buff boys go off hand in hand with each other at the end! awesome. that’s got to be nearly a first in a rock video, surely?)
and then there’s this. the jumpsuit! the batshit crazy lyrics! i *loved* this movie, i had the tape and i practically wore it out. oh how i wanted to be kira, good at rollerskating and blonde, probably because in real life i am neither of those things, hee ..
(i tried and failed to take a screen shot of the jumpsuit but seriously, didn’t happen. this is from another HD version on youtube and dayum, this outfit is pretty good too. sequin strange half-leggings-half-harem-pants arrangement! yes and yes.)
anyway. from the excess of squealing (and hyphens) in this post, you may gather that ninetwelvetwentyfive is a big fan of olivia newton-john in her 80s starlet incarnation. forget grease, forget the laura-ashley-style frocks of the “i honestly love you” era: this is olivia at her fabulous best. now if you’ll excuse me, i’m going to try and get my hair to behave like that. it may take some straightening irons and enough elnett to choke an elephant, but dear *god* i’m going to try.
(all photos screenshots courtesy of youtube. obv.)
the off-courtenay film festival, part 1
so this weekend was very social. buzzcocks gig on friday night (where a mass of forty somethings relived their punk youth, moshing one minute, texting babysitters on their blackberrys the next) and then the football and an 80s-indie night on saturday .. after all that, sunday was a day for feeling slightly jaded and cuddling up in bed with DVDs.
i’ll do a separate post on the films we watched. but worthy of a special mention was that my all time favourite film wings of desire was on the rialto channel. just perfect, because when i thought about the berlin wall anniversary that’s the first film i thought about.
i find it very difficult to be objective about this film because quite frankly i think every single frame is perfection. i love it so. the beauty of the monochrome sequences, the angels listening benevolently and passively to the thoughts of the humans .. the unexpected charm of the scenes with peter falk .. bonus nick cave at his most tortured and beautiful, singing an ominous version of “from her to eternity” .. and of course, the aching yearning damiel feels for the trapeze artist marion, his conversion into a human and the joy he feels in the simplest physical pleasures.
(this is just after damiel has become human. cassiel is carrying him because they are behind the wall and suddenly he sees that damiel is leaving footprints in the sand. i think this is the most beautiful image in the film.)
ich weiss jetzt, was kein engel weiss. i now know what no angel knows.
oh how i love this film. even a few snatched minutes of it was enough to fill my heart with beauty. if you haven’t seen it, please please try. it truly is wim wenders’ masterpiece.
(all images are screenshots taken from the dvd)
style inspiration: toni halliday
so i am not sure if i have written this already, but even if i haven’t you can probably tell: i am a bit of an old goth at heart. i still wear a lot of black, pile on eyeliner and mascara and listen to dramatic music. it’s kind of sad, i guess, but i think we never really leave behind the things we loved when we were sixteen. and when i was sixteen, i lived in brasília where goth-rock was very big.
yep, you got it: a city right in the middle of south america, built of shining white marble soaring above the red soil and sheltering under the bright blue sky. full of goths. i think there was something about the drama that appeals to the brasiliense nature. you grow up around that architecture, it kind of comes naturally. i expect the rockstar wouldn’t necessarily like me to post this here (he doesn’t know i have this blog yet, haha) but his band were kind of emblematic of that trend and their brand of siouxsie/smiths/gang-of-four tinged rock did very well.
anyway. on to the stylish miss halliday. i can’t remember if i heard curve or saw toni first, but whatever it was, i was instantly in love. heavy crunchy guitars and reverb-laden vocals: yes please. and as for the sooty-haired sooty-eyed singer: wow.
(screenshots from youtube)
i know, right? she’s amazing. it’s kind of hard to get a clear shot of toni’s clothes because most of the videos concentrate on that incredible face of hers. but to get toni’s look, we are talking black. obvs. but not so much glam-goth as tomboy-goth. black t-shirts, skinny black jeans. hoop earrings, hair that just bit unkempt. statement boots. a perfect black leather jacket. possibly black-and-white stripes, if you want a bit of colour (ha). very balmain aw09, i think.
(that second video has bonus hilarious alice dellal-alikes at the start. love that.)
anyway. ladies and gentlemen, all hail the goddess toni halliday. now go and get your leather on.
shallowness
enough moody black and white! let’s get with some shallow.
1. i think i need this jacket. isn’t it just the most gorgeous thing? (yes, those are tails it has. swoon.) i would wear them with the towering cos wedge booties that i’ve been coveting. you know, in that parallel reality where i wasn’t about to move hemispheres and where i’m extremely rich. (photo from beyond the valley, natch)
2. there was a funfair near me this weekend and i took my new camera for a walk there. ooh, sparkly.
(you can see more here, if you’d like to).
3. today i smell of this layered with this. either i smell cool and autumnal, or like a head-shop hippie who’s wandered into a russian orthodox church. i like to think the former.
4. how exciting, there is a yayoi kusama exhibition happening in wellington right now! and i’m going to be there in less than a month!
5. lovely blogs: orangette, le blog de sushi and luxirare. (of course i had to mention luxirare. are you kidding?)
also
What is your greatest fear?
Dying on the same day as someone much more famous than me.
alan cumming is fantastic. i am dying to buy a bottle of his cologne for the rockstar ..
