last days

Summer. That time of year that we all wait for, long for, yearn for, is almost over. Course, living in the UK, it never really feels like it begun (minus the two-day heat waves). But still, there were some lovely days spent doing lovely things, summery things like reading in the park, sipping ice coffees while strolling through Soho... I even went rowing! Well, I sat in a row boat while someone else rowed...turns out I cannot row, my coordination just simply isn't effective enough for proper oar maneuvering. And now September is 'round the corner and I'm left wondering, 'Is it really time to say so long sweet summer'?

mociun, aw09 :: [mo-shen, eh-doubleyou oh-nine]

I don't think there is much to say other than I WANT EVERYTHING. Mociun makes me greedy.

One to love

(photos, and full editorial, @ fashion gone rogue)

There are few editorials that really make me swoon nowadays. I mean editorials that are really inspiring, which to me, means staring at the images for hours on end, dissecting and soaking in the styling and actually thinking about how to incorporate it into my own look. Recently, I find myself quickly flicking through most editorials, uninterested and uninspired. I guess it's because I am less interested in the current trends of 80s-blah and balmainia-blah, which leaves me feeling rather blah all around. But, even in fashion, there are certain looks that will never cease to inspire, and one of them is Diane Keaton in Annie Hall. While not the best reinterpretation I have seen of it, it is something to get me through while I wait for the fashion pendulum to swing my way again.

red

(images via Starbucks and Jane Austen)
I've wanted to dye my hair red since I was a wee lass, but unfortunately when I was 11 I found out that I had psoriasis, a genetic autoimmune disease that affects the skin. While I was lucky enough to only have it on my scalp, where it is easily hidden (but most annoying for medicinal application), it meant that I could never do all the things that I wanted to do to my hair when I grew up. No dyeing, no perming, nothing. So I've left my hair au naturale, letting the sun do its bit every summer, but I've recently been hankering to switch it up. I fear what the chemicals of permanent colour may do to my skin, so I think I may try a semi-permanent rinse of some sort, in a red of some sort, though perhaps not quite as bright as the above. Baby steps...

Missoni FW09

While Missoni is never really a brand that comes to mind when I think of my favorite designers, the Fall Collection makes me weep with happiness and love. It made me weep when I saw it in February, it made me weep when I saw it in the August French Vogue, and now it makes me weep even more in the new campaign shots by Ryan McGinley. The palette, textures, layers, knits - seriously, weep.



(all images from the fashion spot)

Wish List In Shoe Major

I know that there is a stereotype about women and their shoes. I never really thought of myself as fitting into that stereotype merely because shoes never excited me as much as other clothing items such as knitwear for instance... big, cozy, comfy knits, jumpers, cardigans, will always warm the cockles of my heart. Though important, shoes are secondary, I thought. I survived plenty of years with under 5 pairs. My shoe apathy may have been due to the fact that I was living in Montreal where, if you don't take care of them, the snow and salt will destroy any pair. I couldn't be bothered to care for shoes, and so kept my collection to a minimum.

But upon moving to London, with only the rain to stop me, my shoe collection grew...quite spontaneously, so that now my hallway is a long line of shoes, 25 or so which are mine, 4 which are not. It seems, that I too, have a love of shoes. Not the crazy-love that some people have, you won't find me cooing over Choos, but a simpler love for well-made leather boots and um, everything Rachel Comey thinks up. These are my current shoe cravings for Fall... a short but carefully curated list.(#1- Frye, #2 Rachel Comey, #3 LD Tuttle, #4 Rachel Comey, #5 Frye)

play

I just dropped by to say, that if you must be on the internet rather than outside squeezing every last bit out of summer, then I suggest spending some time at a self-declared 'website for play' - thisissand.com - it's a digital sandbox (and art project that began in 2008), where anything is possible.

Some pretty awesome things can result from a little play in the sand:

text

hello there.

it's been awhile. but not the normal it's-been-awhile-because-i'm-uninspired-and-sometimes-blogging-is-boring. nope, it's been awhile because everything in my life is currently broken: my headphones, my toaster, my tv is on the fritz, and more importantly -- and relevant -- my router. i have been sans internet since monday, and spend each day scurrying down the steps to find...nothing. the mailman has bypassed me. so then i have to slowly climb the stairs back up to my flat, only to come through the door and see my current broken router, staring at me with unflinching, laughing, deceptively happy green lights.

and so that's why i haven't been around...i actually have things to say (!) but am currently in a computer lab far far away from all my images and folders. so when i get my internet back, hopefully i won't have forgotten the posts that have been milling around in my brain, and this blog will wake up.

ta ta for now.

Charles Anastase

(a mélange of his ss09 and aw09 collections ... click to enlarge)

Charles Anastase is definitely one of my favorite designers at the moment. I think it is because his particular brand is a perfect mix between the whimsical and the feminine and something darker and grungier. I adore his use of layering and the balance between romanticism and edge, so that everything is sweet without being saccharine. He appeals to my own competing tendencies in dressing, where I am drawn to the dainty and sweet and yet prefer (and often end up looking) a little bit scruffy and never too pristine.

PIG magazine recently visited him at his Shoreditch studio and interviewed him (which you can read on their site, either in Italian or with Google Translate). All I can say is (a) I can't wait to see what he dreams up next and (b) I want his sweater.



(photos via pigmag.com)

peek-a-boo...

... I see you! So while sorting my closet this weekend (it's now be-yoot-iful and so organized!) I decided that I do not need anymore t-shirts and so vowed to not buy any for awhile: I have no need, no room, no desire. But-- there is always a 'but'--I might have lift the tee embargo temporarily with this bad boy from Altru Apparel.

print preoccupation

And now to onto something that I definitely know I like...


There seems to be a preponderance of southwestern prints about lately and ever since seeing the Opening Ceremony-Pendelton collaboration look book, I cannot get them off the brain. And then when I saw the vintage fabrics Ellen Van Dusen used for her line, I knew I would have to do something about it.


And so I have been officially inspired to go on the hunt for native american fabric/prints, so that I can have my very own little collaboration with my dear mumsy - the best seamstress I know. Once I get my hands on the print that currently only exists in my mind, I hope to gently coerce her into making me a skirt or maybe a jacket of some sort (but that's a bit ambitious). You're all witnesses, the plan has been laid down...

of questionable taste

Ok - so I can't decide whether I think these leggings from ASOS are horrendous or wonderful. I don't know what draws me in exactly, it certainly isn't the styling, which is definitely on the hideous side of things. Maybe it's the recent crop of photos of 'Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony' that have popped up and left me pondering her line's own fairisle pants. I was undecided about them when I first saw them in February, but I am warming up to the idea (though that may just be the Chloe effect).



Back to the ASOS leggings, I just don't know how you could get away with wearing them without feeling like you are wearing long johns. On one hand, I am very drawn to the woodsy, country look for autumn, and 'folksie leggings' seem to fit into that category. On the other hand, I always have, and forever will, think leggings as pants are one of the great downfalls of society. I've lamented it as a trend from the beginning, and so if I did purchase the above, how would I wear them? Definitely not as pants, but would it be a bit much under a dress? These bad boys have left me in a state of sartorial confusion: are they ugly, how to wear them, etc. Too much thought for a piece of clothing, but I tend to overthink just about everything, so there you go.