only a game

"With Mike it was different. There was no pitying smile on Adair's face as he started his run preparatory to sending down the first ball. Mike, on the cricket field, could not have looked anything but a cricketer if he had turned out in a tweed suit and hobnail boots. Cricketer was written all over him - in his walk, in the way he took guard, in his stance at the wickets." 

P.G Wodehouse, Mike: A Public School Story

Isabel Lucas in Vogue Australia December 2013

Not only because I just spent the last year reading all about it, but I find cricket very, very interesting. The love of the game - one quote I particularly like is, "it was only a game... but it was life!" - and the historical legacy, spread out across the colonial diaspora, that sound of leather on willow reverberating everywhere from Sydney to Simla (and yes, even Hong Kong, as my thesis went into great lengths about), the sheer illogicality of it, its convoluted, elaborate, maybe, yes, archaic set of rules, and, most of all, the ritual. I remember that ritual well; watching my brother in pristine, freshly laundered whites, grubbied only by a bit of sweat and grass patches on the knees ('I had to dive mum, to get the catch!'), swapping his sneakers for shiny school shoes, donning his bright cerulean blazer, and walking into the hall for tea break with his team-mates. Gathered around a table, shaking hands with the opposition over cucumber sandwiches and early grey. Where did this sport come from? That year when the cup was in question and it took a whole day before the points could be accurately tallied up I remember my brother's tense, tightly wound psyche bringing us to the brink of exhaustion. 'It's only a game', I wanted to say, loudly, often. Oh, I didn't know then, not quite. It is only a game. But it is life.

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don't worry, be happy.

Margot Robbie in Vogue Australia November 2013, styled by Stevie Dance

Okay, things are about to get a little bit silly. Things to do if you want to be instantly, irrevocably happy. Watch About Time. Listen to Kiss You (I said silly!!). Read The Rosie Project. Go to The Noodle Markets. Eat popsicles. Think big.

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oranges

"The car slowed down. It had to take its place in the long line of cars that moved at a foot's pace, now stopping dead, now jerking on, down the narrow street, blocked by market carts, that led to the Opera House. Men and women in full evening dress were walking along the pavement. They looked uncomfortable and self-conscious as they dodged between costers' barrows, with their high piled hair and their evening cloaks; with their button-holes and their white waistcoats, in the glare of the afternoon sun. The ladies tripped uncomfortably on their high-heeled shoes; now and then they put their hands to their heads. The gentlemen kept close beside them as though protecting them. It's absurd, Kitty thought; it's ridiculous to come out in full evening dress at this time of day. She leant back in her corner. Covent Garden porters, dingy little clerks in their ordinary working clothes, coarse-looking women in aprons stared in at her. The air smelt strongly of oranges and bananas. But the car was coming to a standstill. It drew up under the archway; she pushed through the glass doors and went in. 

She felt at once a sense of relief. Now that the daylight was extinguished and the air glowed yellow and crimson, she no longer felt absurd. On the contrary, she felt appropriate. The ladies and gentlemen who were mounting the stairs were dressed exactly as she was. The smell of oranges and bananas had been replaced by another smell--a subtle mixture of clothes and gloves and flowers that affected her pleasantly. The carpet was thick beneath her feet."

Virginia Woolf, The Years

Julia Nobis // Stephen Ward // Jillian Davison // Vogue Australia October 2013

The new Vogue Australia is something of a revelation, or maybe it's just this beautiful editorial with Julia Nobis in it (do you love her yet Talisa???). I know the quote doesn't really go with the images, but ever since I read The Years for the first time I've been struck with that idea of the smell of oranges and bananas. I'll be smelling oranges for weeks after seeing this spread.

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so fine

"So fine was the morning except for a streak of wind here and there that the sea and sky looked all one fabric, as if sails were stuck high up in the sky, or the clouds had dropped down into the sea. A steamer far out at sea had drawn in the air a great scroll of smoke which stayed there curving and circling decoratively, as if the air were a fine gauze which held things and kept them softly in its mesh, only gently swaying them this way and that. And as happens sometimes when the weather is very fine, the cliffs looked as if they were conscious of the ships, and the ships looked as if they were conscious of the cliffs, as if they signalled to each other some message of their own. For sometimes quite close to the shore, the Lighthouse looked this morning in the haze an enormous distance away."

Virginia Woolf, To The Lighthouse

Vogue Australia August 2013 - Sofia Coppola

Sometimes the morning is so fine that you don't want to get up. Not slowly, not with cashmere, not at all. But you have to - despite all temptations otherwise - you have to. You have to get shit done. So you get out of bed, and you go into that morning haze and you don't look back.

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crafty

images: vogue us, vogue australia, harper's uk, harper's australia,

Stella Tennant in floaty Chanel Haute Couture, Repossi rings, vintage Jackie O and JFK, the alligator backpack from The Row, fabric swatches from Isabel Marant Etoile's resort collection and a few other things. Still working on my daily diary/inspiration notebook.

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marni mania

Belinda blog

Back in 08 when this blog was just a wee little thing I was knee deep in a sartorial phase that i now term "marni mania". I was obsessed with all things bright, colourful, structured and essentially marni-style silhouettes - boxy tops, big circle skirts, bright patterns and clunky jewellery. It came on literally out of nowhere and resulted in a lot of outfits that were essentially big tunics belted in over long skirts in contrasting, clashing patterns, heavy sandals and the piece de resistance - my marni bag purchased on sale in Hong Kong for a song. I have to say that I have truly graduated from marni mania. I still love the marni style, but kookiness and quirky eccentricity just isn't me anymore - such as I know "me" to be. Still, seeing these pictures of the Belinda and Vogue Australia lunch with Marni ambassador Carolina Castiglioni (daughter of my old style icon Consuelo Castiglioni, Marni creative director) makes me just a little bit nostalgic for the heyday of my Milanese wardrobe. Well, that and what looks like a glorious lunch with a beautiful table setting. If there's one thing I love more than clothes it is a very good lunch or dinner party - great food executed to perfection. Charming!

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orient express

the oroton blog

Interested in how to get that Chinoiserie look without going overboard on the Cheong Sams and Chopsticks? Think that maybe dressing head to toe in stuffy oriental silks and stacked wooden heels a la Marc Jacobs is taking it a step too far? The answer to all your sartorial questions is the Oroton Silk Road clutch, a mixture of vintage kimono silks, their trademark metal mesh and luxurious leathers. With faded burnt oranges and oily yellows, there is enough reference to the East without it being an overload on the costume drama. And I like that. I like that this clutch could work with a pair of chinos and a sweatshirt just as easily as a swingy dress. This one's going to be popular - already featured in vogue Australia April with a full page, deluxe spread, and now with a set of fantastic photos on the newly launched Oroton Blog that take you behind the scenes into this bag's fascinating production.  Sorry internationals, this one's just for the Australians. You guys have your COS, and your Topshop and your Zara, but at least we still have Oroton.  And, working at DJs - I get a staff discount. Wonderful!

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the launch

Dion Lee for Cue is officially in select Cue stores nationally today. The people at Golightly PR were good enough to send over a lookbook and boy - does this look good. The press Release highlights points that I was struck with by the images in Vogue, this is all about taking Dion Lee's innate skills at tailoring, draping, shape and cut into a "Real World" setting. Just like Olivier Theyskens at Theory - today is all about the real world, huh? - Dion Lee's designs sometimes have an air of the unreal about them. Not because they are overly romantic in the manner of Theyskens, in fact Lee's 'unreality' comes from the fact that his stuff is so architectural and, well, cool. You have to be a certain sort of girl to pull of his infamous pleat-tuck dresses or rorscharch ink blot prints. It takes confidence (body confidence, that too) and balls to wear a dress so obviously 'fashion'. The kind of confidence that you need for designers like Christopher Kane or Mary Katranzou. Evidently great tailors and masters of shape and cut, but with an added edge of detail and design that can scare most devotees of utilitarianism away completely.

I think this collection bridges the gap perfectly. Searching for the perfect white shirt, jacket or khaki skirt that can take you from the office to the party - which is, after all, Cue's bread and butter - look no further. These pieces are so simple and practical but stamped with the Dion Lee edge become so desirable. First of all, I can't get enough of that white tuxedo shirt. Buttoned all the way up to the collar - it's all about that slightly prim and proper look right now. And second, maybe I should ask myself how many utility jackets is too many utility jackets, but that parka is amazing. And the colours! Rich, Taylor Tomasi blues and that rasberry red mixed with stark whites (what Dulux Paints would call White number 1) and khakis. A mix of colours to slip perfectly into my newly renovated room and wardrobe - after a massive and I mean massive cull of clothes I have whittled my wardrobe down to one shelf. It's like a rainbow of neutrals in there with the odd smattering of pastel and jewel tones. Now, if only I had that parka, that blue trench, that white shirt and that red tuxedo jacket I'm sure my wardrobe would be complete!

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ps. more on my renovated room to come I promise! I came home to find my parents had completely painted my room and taken everything out. I'm still trying to sort it all out - my magazines are just overflowing and taking over the house. ahh!! But as soon as I can work out my camera/computer situation I promise to post pictures. It's so fabulous - a real grown up's room! But I think my mum accidently threw out my wall of Celine - I had lookbooks and had torn out Celine in editorial to make a big wall of love. Oh well, I'll just have to start a new one.

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