Cat-Eyed Vixen

Baaaaaaaaah. I'm dying a little bit inside with every exam... #3 out of 4 tomorrow, phew. But enough about that. May I present to you my current internet obsessions:

(1) Kinga Burza's photoblog, which I've been following for awhile now. Infrequently updated but inspiring much wanderlust when it is. Her photos of sunny LA are a ray of light in bleak exam times.

(2) Her amazing Graz x Ellery cat-eye sunglasses. They make me so envious, that I am almost glad they are sold out otherwise I might've blown all my birthday money on them. Eep!

And now back to the books, folks. Thanks for stopping by...

Topshop Unique

It's official - the first show of the season that has left me scheming on ways to make it all mine. Topshop Unique tends to be a little too much for me generally, but this collection, which screams of the wilderness and eccentric rusticity (with a lil' bit of military) is just right. I've mentioned my strange affectation for 'The Country' before, and with all the thick knits over diaphanous dresses, woodland creature prints and furry outerwear...sigh.

It's actually all the coats that have got me counting pennies. All that fur (a bit Opening Ceremony x Where the Wild Things Are collab, no?) and shearling (I'm still pining over my mother's real one) are now permanently inked in my mind. I cannot wait until September to consume unabashedly...

Well, clearly I can and will wait, and hopefully my consumption will be mild and reasonable but a girl can hyperbolize can't she?

It's Wednesday: Here's a tune by Twin Sister

Currently, I am sitting in a well-lit, rather overheated library, supposedly typing about legal and ethical intricacies of a morbid nature. And I am doing that... sort of...I swear. But as I sit, and I type, I also listen. I get distracted by the tiniest sounds in libraries: of a chair shifting, paper crinkling, someone's interminable cough. So headphones are a must, because for some reason, music never distracts. Anyway, currently on repeat is Twin Sister, another New York band with some dreaminess and shimmery-ness to them. I'm quite enjoying this song in particular and thought I'd share it... Course, I've never posted audio to blogger before, so if it doesn't work, there is also a link below.

Just press play!


Or if all else fails, click click click:
Ginger by Twin Sister

ps. The band also is a fan of sharing, and has their whole EP from last year available to download for free (!)And another EP is in the works for 'official' release very soon, so yay for that too.

Wanted.

I'm currently on a spending embargo after having a particularly frightening discussion with my mother about post-graduation realities. But that doesn't mean I can't covet, right? So it's a little unhealthy to be constantly eyeing and wanting, and yes, I am perfectly happy with all I have. As mumsy always says,"Want what you have, and you will always have what you want."

Bah. I say sometimes it's fun to want what you can't have...

Something like these:Or those...
If you too have the want or the need but unlike me can procure, then please do so right here at one of my favorite independent online boutiques.

Makes me feel all fuzzy inside

(via jak & jil)

The right shape, the right knit, the right colour. Dries Van Noten may have made the perfect fuzzy sweater.

One day, I will...

One day, I will have a library. Filled with books, from ceiling to floor. With a ladder for the most unreachable, but still desirable, tomes that grace the top shelf. Bugger off, Kindle.

Red Hot [Chilly] Pepper

I'm generally a big fan of autumnal/winter colours. Give me grey and navy blue anyday, any season, and I'll wear it happily. But I'll admit that it can be a bit drab, dour and, um, life-sucking to constantly match the weather. This is why I am absolutely in love with the Camille Bidault-Waddington styled (who else could do layers so perfectly?) editorial, The Big Chill, in the December issue of US Elle. It's all winter colours with a punch of red to waken everything up. Indeed another editorial in the same issue uses red as well to marvelous effect. I'll never give up my beloved greys, but a little spice never hurt anyone.


The Big Chill




The Exhibitionist



(source).

head to toe

This winter, I'm thinking of monochromatics and longer lengths. If I have to be completely covered up, might as well go all the way, with dresses and skirts that skim the ice cold ground.

dot dot dot

I'm feeling the polka dot at the moment...it's just one of those prints that is a bit childish and fun without necessarily being twee. Cause twee and I just don't mix - too much of that combined with my stature and it's all a bit 'aw, you're short, and wearing something dainty therefore I shall automatically deem you cute.' Non, merci.

(sources: cherry blossom girl, motionslow)

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)

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:

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)

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.

Behatted

(you can click, and it gets bigger!)

I love hats, and have a slight problem in collecting them and then not wearing them. A bowler, a cloche, a straw floppy, a felt floppy, a Panama hat, a fedora...my collection definitely does not lack in variety. But still, I have yet to find the 'perfect hat.' I am not quite sure what it entails, but I am constantly on the lookout. A hat can be a tricky thing to pull off without looking affected, but I am determined to find one that will sit pretty on my head, hide my uncooperative hair and make me look as wonderful as all these ladies. Ah, to dream the impossible dream.

Gig gig jig

I'm super awkward when it comes to things like sharing musical tastes, only because music is so subjective and personal and people can be incredibly snobby about it. So I generally go merrily along with my personal collection of randomness on my ipod, roaming the streets of London with no one the wiser as to what tune I'm boppin' along to, enjoying my music in solitude. All that aside, I've semi-recently happened upon two musical acts that were too good not to share...

Exhibit A: Local Natives -- just got back from their small gig and it was ridiculously feel-good/ amazing. Lush rising and dropping dramatic pop with crazy percussion and melodious harmonizing galore. Er, ok, it's the best description I could come up with in five seconds. Here's an acoustic version of the aerial 'Airplanes' ... Listening to the non-acoustic version on their myspace is a must.



Exhibit B: Marina and the Diamonds -- a little Kate Bush-esque, a lazy comparison but it'll do. While my favorite song of hers, 'Seventeen' has no video, I kind of love this video for 'I Am Not A Robot', if only for the fact that I secretly desire to be covered in glitter paint and camouflage myself amongst the night's sky. The remixes of this tune ain't bad either.

Faeries

I cannot get these two lovely ladies out of my mind. I wish I knew where these photos came from, so maybe I could find more (these ones were found here by the by). For some reason they make me think of fairies, which then reminds of that Ellen von Unwerth directed video featuring Zooey Deschanel from last year...remember that one? If not, here it is: