The quote in the title is by American fashion legend, Bill Blass. Today Vegard was wearing a really nice pair of red suede loafers by Evisu and I just had to take a picture of them. They looked great with his rolled up skinny jeans. I think every man’s wardrobe should have at least one pair of red shoes.
Last week 2 ruffled-back-detail jackets caught my attention on streets, one is in jersey and another in leather. With iPhone being so handy, I’m really getting into this ‘stealing back-view’ mode. While wondering on the King’s road this past weekend I saw 2 Spring leopard prints being used in 2 different occasions.
Here’s the first one. I love how she mixed up the navy and poppy pink and with the leopard pencil skirt to jazz up the navy and tone down the pink. It looks like a peplum skirt contrasting with a pink top layer and a leopard pencil skirt layer to slim down, which is quite bold and Les Fauves, reminds me colours of paintings by Henri Matisse.
Then for this one she lightens up the black with a bleached worn mini skirt. Love how she kept her legs in those sheered tights which adds a level toned down from the true black on top. The leopard pumps really make the whole outfit fun and cheerful, just like the sun was shining out on the gorgeous Saturday afternoon!!
Right, so you could see from title when I set ‘vol.1′, you might sense that this would be/could be another regular feature. I had this idea many years ago when I read an article saying ‘handbag reflects women’s insecurity’. I think I sneered the topic then and it’s definitely difficult for me, an eleven year-old back then to understand how much women rely on their handbags. The article described a perfect example of a woman attending a dinner party (kind of more upper class social event type) carrying her hand bag with a book inside due to boredom may appear. And the second book in her bag is because she thought she might finish the first book at the Appetizer. Funny part is here, the third book she carried in her bag is due to —- ‘I might not enjoy the second one!!’
Now growing up I realize that I, like many female, without a handbag, feel absolutely naked! Still with the curiosity from childhood, I would like to dig in the scene of what handbag people would carry and their very own contents. Here I thank my colleague showing me her bag and to help me creating the very first entry of this topic.
I fell in love straight away with her bag since we first time met in January. She found her bag at Zara Sales on boxing day 2009 and had since held on it tight. It’s in a mid grey soft leather with wooden handle and a practical shoulder strap.
Most interesting thing caught my attention is a set of 3D playing card with different cats images. She’s a cat lover and enjoys playing card in the old man pub near where she lives. The cards are part of Christmas presents from her boyfriend (how sweet and thoughtful, all boyfriends take note here!)——-Rose Drops, random sweet given by BoyF for no reason because she loves rose.——-Prada Perfume No.3 Cuir Ambre 30ml——-Wallet by Amy Morris for Sara Berman.
Pink Mac Lipstick amplified / Elizabeth Arden 8 hours cream / Chanel Pressed Powder, she got from Selfridges because it was a shit day and needed something special to cheer up!
White 16G iPhone. She loves blogging and eBaying, but confessed to be a lazy iPhone user as only downloaded 1 App so far (which she hopes it’s growing slowly). But she got lots of music and currently listening to Florence + Machine and The History of Blues.
Luella CatsEye Sunglasses / Pens & 2GB USB Keys, she’s a designer as you could guess now / Turban for rainy day as she doesn’t like umbrella and hat. / Paracetamol, her quotes ‘need it’ just in case!!
Alexander McQueen Scarf, a birthday present from BoyF and surprisingly selected by himself after McQueen’s tragic news as he wants her to have something collectable of McQueen’s (all BoyF take note here again!!)——-’The Book of Other People’ edited by Zadie Smith——-Red Moleskine Notebook in which she got lots of random beads (a total designer thing)
And of course she got house keys plus bike lock keys, a little lucky cat from a Tokyo trip and this little metal house charm which turns out to be a tape measure!
–’How long do you intend to use this bag?’
‘I’m going to use it not until I’m bored of it, but until it breaks and falls apart!’
That’s how much she loves it.
And so do I !
This week is ‘press week’ in Oslo. Press week is basically a collaboration between all the fashion and lifestyle PR agencies in the city where we present next season’s products to fashion editors, journalists, stylists and (some) bloggers. All the different agencies have dedicated days and time slots where they present the new products and collections and ours is on Thursday afternoon. The past couple of days we’ve been busy taking down the previous collections and unpacking huge (read: humongous) boxes filled with new products. There’s stuff and boxes everywhere!
I took these snaps earlier today whilst packing and unpacking things. I will try to take some more pictures tomorrow and on the day of the event and post them on Twitter, so stay tuned for updates
Row upon row with shoes, sneakers and boots...
...box after box filled with shades and goggles...
...and rail after rail with jackets!
Well, I’ve been thinking, emmm….put this way wishfully…if one day…only if…this blog is getting to somewhere bigger (which is taking little steps each day), and it would be fun for people to claiming their lovely ‘back’ back! The reason of this is I have been taking action really quickly these days on snapping photos on the street. You might see me suddenly speeding up and set my iPhone ready and following someone for a good few steps. It’s mainly because I am always drawn to some people’s back view, which I have confessed in a previous entry here.
Here’re 2 examples that I’ve snapped recently, one is in Selfridges—I basically followed this girl for a good 2 blocks of handbag sections as she was walking really fast. I love how she loosely made a gigantic bun on top of her head and wearing a ruffle-back little number in grey jersey.
And this morning at tube station this blonde girl walking ahead me was wearing very washed-n’-battered leather jacket and with a similar ruffle-back. There’s also a special insert with gathering detail on shoulder area.
I would like to keep this topic fairly regular and it would be fun if one day people email me to claim ‘that was their backs’!
The words in the title of this post were uttered by American poet and author, Charles Bukowski. This post, however, is not a review of any of his literary works. Instead it’s about jumpsuits. Every now and then a trend emerges that just makes you think, what the hell were they thinking? One such trend that has been sweeping across Norway for the past few months is the jumpsuit trend. No, unfortunately we’re not talking about the awesome kind that one would expect to find on kick-ass sites like Unitard Universe (<3). Instead this is a type of jumpsuit that first became popular at afterski parties at Norwegian ski resorts like Hemsedal. The suits are popular amongst teenagers all over the country. They wear them at school, when they go out shopping, or when they’re just hanging out with friends.
The prices for these suits go from approximately 90 GBP for the cheapest ones up to 230 GBP for the more expensive ones. The fabrics used in these suits are usually fleece or sweatshirt jersey. The jumpsuits have a hood, a dropped crotch and pockets and a zipper in the front – a bit like something a toddler would wear to bed.
Every day when I go to work, I see at least 15 – 20 kids on the street wearing these odd garments. Now, companies like OnePiece, House of Hygge and Daffedresser that specialise in selling these garments is one thing, but what’s really weird is that recently some high street shops like Vero Moda have also started stocking them.
I’ve tried to understand it. I really have, but I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s some sort of counter-reaction to the whole skinny jeans trend, I don’t know. Why anyone in their right mind would want to wear anything this unflattering is just beyond me. It’s like the whole UGGs craze all over again. Luckily spring has finally arrived and soon it will get too hot for people to wear them on the street.
Back in March during Paris Fashion Week I had a blog about Phoebe Philo and Celine and couldn’t help showing my admiration of Phoebe’s credibility. So recently when I walked into Selfridges ground floor, again I was stopped by the big section of Celine handbag collection. The shop assistance at Celine section was very patient to show me one after another, even after I told her that there’s no way I would buy one in this couple of months, which I think it’s extremely kind.
The new It Bag is small and square and with a long strap… and is cleverly designed with a ‘stick-out’ buckle to press down to open, which is quite different from the traditional magnetic or twist-n-turn opening style. It has 2 different sizes and is made in almost any possible colour and material. The most interesting one is this one with a puzzled-looking surface. I had to request a further detailed explanation from the assistance.
It’s made of Shagreen and from Wikipedia explains it — ‘Shagreen is a type of leather or rawhide consisting of rough untanned skin, formerly made from a horse’s back or that of an onager (wild ass), and typically dyed green. Shagreen is now commonly made of the skins of sharks and rays.’ But it’s made sure that all skins are from farmed animals, which means there’s no rare or nearly distinctive animals being used. For example this one looks like a snake skin. It’s printed and stamped the 3D texture as snake skin, but actually it’s made of calf skin.
The collection is designed extremely thought-through. It’s been consider on some small details but so practical. This electric cornflower one is actually 3 zippy clutch bags snapped together, which can be separated and used individually.
Same detail is used on wallets — a little zipped coin wallet is clipped onto inside of a fold-up wallet — which can be detached and used like a little clutch on a night-out — and it’s contrasted either in colour or in a different material — for example the outside fold-up wallet is in washed black leather and inside zippy clutch is in brown sued. So clever, isn’t it?!!
There’re also some colour blocking leather totes. Orange on tan, black on tan, or most amazingly white sheep skin on black leather.
More pictures from Tommy Ton’s pictures during Paris Fashion Week can be found on Style.com.
I’m on a quest at the moment. A quest to find some nice black or dark grey tops to wear this spring. That is easier said than done.
I love spring and it is my favourite season, but I hate spring fashion with passion. Those who know me know that I mostly wear dark colours – dark greys and black to be more exact (I’m an autumn boy at heart). Therefore, what the shops have in store at the moment is a complete nightmare for me. This is the sight that met me earlier today when I went window shopping in my lunch break:
Left to right: Hugo Boss, DSquared2, Paul Smith, Bruun’s Bazaar and Filippa K.
I think autumn has just started in Australia. Maybe I should just order clothes online from there instead.
The May issue of Vogue Nippon has an amazing editorial shoot by one of my favourite photographers, Sølve Sundsbø. The shoot features Alla Kostromicheva and the styling was done by George Cortina. I love everything about these pictures; the light, the underwater setting, the clothes, the makeup – everything is just perfect.
Photo source: Fashion gone rogue/tfs
