opposites attract

caroline's mode

No-one (wait.. shouldn't that be everyone) love's a rip off. And here's an H&M Spring/Summer 11 tote that everyone is going to love. Because it looks just like Celine, in that half easiness, half luxury way. Fake-glamour, canvas and soft leather. Celine is all about binary oppositions - creamy, milky white against jet black. The simplicity and efficiency of denim with fraying hems. And, as the purveyor of designer collaborations and the real hero of the high street, H&M knows a thing or two about binary oppositions. Here's hoping this tote is in stores by the time I get to Europe - and here's hoping there's still some left. Because I already know that next year when I cart my uni readers and lecture pads and A Short History of Medieval Germany around I want it to be in this bad boy. 

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denim dreaming

jak and jil

Lately one wardrobe item has been doing the rounds of my inspiration folders. The denim shirt. Whether it is a summer-tuned number with cut out shoulders and a itsy bitsy collar (Sportsgirl has a knock off as seen in the new RUSSH!), or your classic, well-worn chambray with pristine pearl buttons and sleeves rolled up to the figurative quick. I have many shirts in my wardrobe, many of them great. My acne one in softest pistachio silk is like a second skin, the topshop number I bought on a complete whim has become a wardrobe staple, it's caramel tones and double-faced cotton the perfect foil to dress down any outfit. But the perfect denim shirt still eludes me. I've dabble in my dad's wardrobe, where denim shirts abound in comforting starchiness that will forever remind me of my dad. But they are all too hard against my skin and they don't sit right - not like Holly Garber or Maya Villiger's ones. I've left thrift stores and Vinnies empty handed - not for want to trying - because the shirts are never quite right. They stretch over my chest, or they sit too high, or they don't flare out from the waist the way I like my shirts to do. They are too tight (or, somehow, even worse - too loose), the buttons are ugly, there is no pocket on the front, the sleeves are too closely cut. Just as with jeans shopping, jean shirt shopping is just as hard, the perfect one just as elusive. 

I guess I'll keep looking.

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once a hipster...

The first time I was in New York - on my school exchange - and living with the girl who has become the sister I never had with her family in Brooklyn, I learnt three things. The first was never eat something that comes from a cart on the street (a rule that was changed as soon as I met the Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice cream trucks in a later visit, and the mud coffee vans in the one after that). The second was wear crappy shoes for the walk to school and keep a nice pair in your bag. We lived about a 15 minute walk from the subway station, and then we got off at 86th street for the walk up to 91st and across to 5th. In slushy, mushy, new york winter weather it was not wise to wear your cute little ruby slippers. So I learnt to stash them in my bag, ready to change at the gates of the school in preparation for a hard day's work. The third thing was that Williamsburg was a hipster locale and not to be entered for fear of too much facial hair and plaid shirts. I remember hearing about shops I wanted to go to or cafes to visit that were buried deep in the heart of hipster-williamsburg and my friend and her parents succumbing to uncontrollable laughter. "Don't go to Williamsburg" they would say. "You'll never come back". "The hipsters will eat you". and so on and so forth..

It took a couple more trips to New York, and carefully testing the waters across Brooklyn to get into Williamsburg. I met Abby there for tea and soup with stars in our eyes at Roebling. I went to fashion boutique Bird and cooed over the PS1s. I tried, unsuccessfully, to take my friends to an australian cafe that had just opened over there, but we couldn't find it, and ended up back in our comfort zone in cobble hill instead. I don't love Williamsburg the way I love Cobble Hill - maybe only because I have spent so much time in that part of Brooklyn and I have such good memories of it that any other part won't be quite as magical. I never saw my first snow in Williamsburg, I never got ready for my ticket-holding first fashion show in Williamsburg, I never spent hours upon hours in Williamsburg cafes, plotting plans for future fabulous-ness and, even more exciting, dinner. And maybe I'm just not hip enough for it - the sad truth, but the truth nonetheless. A favourite haunt of Alexa Chung - who shares with you her Williamsburg fashion faves in the above video - Peaches Geldof et al, it is definitely the new Soho. Still, it is nice to venture in, every now and then, soak up some of that long-haired, grungey cool, and then swiftly retreat to more familiar territory. That's why I love this video, it gives me some tips for where to go next time I'm in Williamsburg. Who knows, I might even find that cafe... here's hoping!

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party party

james d kelly

In the midst of planning my birthday celebrations what should I stumble across but glorious black and white photographs of none other but Alexa's birthday bash. If everything turns out alright - if my friends can all work out their schedules so they're in the same place at the same time, if I can find the funds to get a couple of cases of okay wine, if I can find the time to formulate music playlists and snack-y menus - then I might be having a little party party at my house. Here's hoping that it is just as fun looking as Alexa's one. Plenty of fresh flowers in mismatched glasses, guests drinking their own concoctions from jam jars and pretty thrifted mugs, union jack balloons, drunken laughter on couches and that fantastic moment when everyone descends on your closet and starts trying on your clothes. If only we could smoke inside, then it would be a real party party. Still, there's plenty of time left for that, surely! When I'm all grown up and in my own place, maybe. But until then - three fingers of makers mark and a splash of apple juice, thanks, and let's all end the night curled up in blankets and ready for sleep, dear, sleep.

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swag

Currently loving: taking long, luxurious baths and reading my old favourite kids books (like the old kingdom trilogy by garth nix - sabriel is still one of my most favourite books, ever!) and then covering myself in Kiehl's Creme de Corps. My fabulous mum went to a christmas shopping night at David Jones the other day and scored me a right old Kiehls swag with a hefty discount (as well as my employee one on top of that!). She even sweet talked the sales assistant to throw in a couple of freebies for me to try, so right now am loving the freshness of coriander cleanser every morning. She got Creme de Corps for me because she saw it on my blog in the "wanderlust gift" post, and she said she wanted to treat me to an early birthday/christmas gift. Thanks ma! You're the best!

And to everyone for saying such lovely, lovely things about my On the Streets of Sydney role and site launch - Thankyou. You readers are the ones who really make my day with your witty comments and clever insights into the world of fashion. I am so glad that you like the site as much as I do!

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show and tell

In my world of late there has been some pretty big things happening. First of all, my little bro finished school and swiftly packed his bags for schoolies - the Australian way of celebrating the end of exams at high school by going to a beach far away and getting very, very drunk. Secondly, I got an internship at a magazine, starting this Thursday, for which I am both extremely nervous and extremely excited for (among other things, what should I wear, what should I wear?). I also just purchased my ticket (gulp!) to Europe in February, via Hong Kong to visit my grandparents, and am currently in freak out mode about my upcoming trip - where should I go, what should I do, what should i BUY hahaha. And finally, and maybe most interesting, I want to share something really exciting that has been happening in my world recently. About a month or so ago I was approached by Hayley to be the Features Editor on an online magazine she was creating. It was going to focus on street style and sydney specifically, with an emphasis on emerging designers and the fashion creativity that we all love about our city. It would be a magazine, but not as you know it - there wouldn't be pages to turn in the physical lay out of the site. There would be editorials, beauty, mens, fashion and features. 

Well, after a month of work, endless photoshoots, traipsing around Sydney to find the best shops, street style, talent and product, we went live this morning. We're still young yet, but there is great original content there (and even a little introductory feature from me, natch!) and keep watching the rest of this week for more features, editorials, beauty tips, street style and men's pieces to go live as we get going. It's really exciting to have your work published in this way - a way that is not on your blog or on facebook. On a real website that looks beautiful and celebrates everything that you love about fashion. I'm so happy to be working with this site where everyday is a new challenge and I'm meeting new designers, models and fashion talent that I'd never thought I'd meet. It's a real experience and I am so grateful.

So everyone, go check it out! It's a new look at Sydney's streets, and I am so proud to be a part of it.

On the Streets of Sydney

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great kate

Kate Moss "at home in the cotswolds" by Juergen Teller Self Service December 2010

Kate Moss will always be that girl. You know the one, she can talk you into trouble like none other - and swiftly talk you out of it once you get caught. She's always dressing up in her mother's clothes, cheeky grin set at high wattage. She's mischievous and simple and easily understood. Just like a child, all she wants to do is have fun. I guess I have a certain fondness for Kate because she's the model I cut my teeth on - I guess everyone my age cut their teeth on her, daria and gemma. But it's not just because she appeared in almost every Vogue UK that I bought way back when. It's because she reminds me of a child in that naive, sneaks-a-lick-of-the-cake's-icing kind of way. She just can't help herself. And we love her all the same.

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shop skip jump

zara

Seeing this only gets me even more excited for my europe trip in February. Knowing me I'll manage to squeeze in a spot of shopping in between tearful friendship reunions, squealing over the Eiffel tower and sampling the very best of french cuisine. And one of the first places I'm heading - after COS and Isabel Marant, natch - is Zara. Spoiled for high street choice in Europe, I just can't wait to get my hands on the Zara stuff of dreams. Glorious things like caramel coloured neutrals, cropped cigarette pants, sensible a-line skirts and fire-red suits. I'll be the envy of all my friends with my, "oh, i got it in europe" wardrobe and my (high) street cred. Lovely!

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love blogging

Vice Style - check out Stevie's fabulous YSL ring!

Vice Style's Love Blogging series is all about celebrating the rise of bloggers for their vision, creativity and street smarts. But they haven't picked the super giants Susie Bubble or Garance Dore, or Jane Aldridge from Sea of Shoes. Instead they've turned the lens of the camera onto 5 of the "most promising" current bloggers, including the industry insider DisneyRollerGirl and the cutesy Bip Ling. And they've just done a series on the lovely Stevie from Discotheque Confusion, who just happens to be a mate of mine. What I love most about blogging is that even though you can be separated by oceans and you might have never met before in real life you can still make friends. It's lame, I know. But I just know that with our shared love of wicker baskets, 70s and 80s Robert Redford and all things Venetia Scott, if we ever met in real life we would get on like a house on fire. Her blog was one of the first ones I started reading way back in 2006 when it had just started and I was contemplating my own blog. It was clever, creative and deliciously witty, and she loved all the girls that I loved (Kirsten Dunst and Chloe Sevigny!). In the video she talks about how a blog differs from a magazine because of the nature of the person behind it. You are faced with personality, personal choices, personal likes and dislikes when you view a blog in a way that you simple are not with a magazine. As much as I love magazines, there is always the lingering veneer of the sterile around it - stylists at the big publications are rarely styling from a personal level and not a publication one. With a blog you get none of that. Everything is about you. And that has been one of the biggest challenges of blogging for me, finding "me" and feeling confident enough to share that. Stevie does it wonderfully, who doesn't love her raptures on house plants, or francoise hardy and serge gainsbourg music, or her "style notes for guys" that regularly encourages a mash up of 90s sports jacket and chinos with The Beatles' tight-pants insouciance. Through the love blogging series we are shown the people behind the blogs, and it is truly lovely to see Stevie.
Watch the rest of the Love blogging series here.
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girls of summer

 the cobrasnake - i kind of love these images of tallulah morton, one of the most under-rated models, larking about with boost juices (THE drink of aussie summer, no?) and enjoying herself. This is what is is all about!

There is something magical about the first time you go to a beach each summer. Even if it's not technically summer yet those sunshine rays and that salty water and that never-ending blue is enough to excite thoughts of forever and ever. For the first time you can really put away your winter clothes, fish out the comfy breton tops, the ripped jeans, the easy breezy oversized tee shirts and get ready to do nothing - absolutely nothing - but lie on a towel and get sand in your toes. Even if you go swimming and you get dumped by a wave and the salt water stings your eyes, even if your fish and chips goes soggy in its newspaper wrapping, even if you get an unsightly burn all over your back, even if all your clothes end up having that chemical, school-lunch-time smell of sunscreen all over them, it doesn't matter. Because it's your first beach trip of summer, and next time will be different. Next time. Because you have three whole blissful, sun-kissed months to go brown, and eat juicy mangoes and build sand castles and lie around and do nothing whatsoever. And that sapphire blue, glistening hope is so magical.

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ps. dedicated to my friend G, who is an aussie girl of summer through and through, and is the real reason why I love summer, because she talks it up so much haha!

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fur real

Ah Sofia Coppola, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Is it the fact that you are much, much more than a well-shod hipster with your beautiful films and your intelligent projects? Is it the way you pull of gallic chic so well with your easy-breezy hair and your slightly cropped pants? Is it because you are the perfect Celine girl - a working woman with a real sense of style? Is it how you can pair girly separates like the spotted shirt and the bow-tie belt with simple accessories and one hell of a fur coat to make an outfit that is oh so chic? But you know what, Sofia? You are much, much more than the sum of your pats. Everything about this outfit is wonderful - but it is made even better by the fact that you are wearing it. Which, sadly, spells disaster should I ever try to recreate it. 

You are the definition of a style icon. Inspirational, exciting and captivating. But ultimately unachievable. Because no-one else is quite as, well, you, as you.

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giving

 What I love most about christmas time (and it's not my birthday) is giving things. I love giving presents, I'm one of the few people in my circle of friends who still give birthday presents. Why? Because I like spending money on people and giving them something that I either know they'll enjoy or I know that they will love. My favourite thing to do is give books, so many times I've read something and thought that it would be perfect for so and so, and when I give books I always keep this in mind. One of my great friends is so much like Catherine Norland from Northanger Abbey, and I was so excited to give it to her for her birthday this year. I hope she loves it. So in the spirit of gift giving, here are some of my picks for what I'd love to give (money being no object, of course), and what I'd love to receive this year. 

For the French Enthusiast

Diptyque Figuier Candle, my favourite scent in the world, A.P.C Birkin Patch Sweater in the sweetest of raspberry pinks, A selection of your favourite modern penguins for languid sunday afternoon reading, A macaron making masterclass at Baroque in the Rocks, Isabel Marant Etoile cotton voile plaid shirt, Aurelie Bidermann lace ring, and a couple of great french movies like Paris Je t'aime, LOL and Orchestra Seats for those days when you want to watch a crappy romcom so you watch a french one, because they're just that little bit more clever.

For those with the wanderlust

Smythson passport wallet in delicious hot pink, Cacharel keep-me-warm coat, The richly moisturising Kiehls Creme de Corps for those long plane rides, Wallpaper City Guides box sets, A softly, softly Kain jersey for comfort travelling, YSL ring for glamourous travelling, Country Road Men's backpack.

For your getaway car drivers

BRVTVS friendship bracelets, my favourite chocolate; mazet salted butter caramel, try to convert your best mates to long skirts with gary bigeni's glorious stam in sand, American apparel leather pouch, the best lip balm around, NARS lip treatment in Bianca, the darkest nail colour out Lincoln Park After Dark by OPI.

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a little bit fancy

I love costume parties. Even when I inevitably end up as Marie Antoinette, I still get a kick out of dressing up for things in a slightly wild manner - be it ball gowns or bears. This weekend I've been invited to a Disney themed party. I also happen to love Disney. I was that girl who, at aged 15, was enjoying things like movie marathons with best friends after saturday sport watching Aladdin and beauty and the beast and sleeping beauty... When my friends and I divvied up the princesses - the blondes were always Aurora or Cinderellas, the brunettes Belle, the red heads Ariel - I was landed with Mulan. Just because I'm Chinese! What I really wanted to be, however, was Pocahontas. Still one of my favourite Disney films (I even own the soundtrack!) I have always loved the story of Pocahontas. Even separate from the romance I love that sense of adventure and discovery and the new. It's no surprise that today I love reading ethnographic history and new world discoveries. That water, water everywhere and blue horizon and golden, hope-filled skies. I really can't wait to dress up as her, turquoise beads and feathers and all this Saturday.

The only thing is, what to wear? Should I go classic, Disney princess pocahontas (and the theme is Disney after all), or the decidedly un-Disney, epic film The New World Pocahontas, complete with feathers in hair and lots of earthy browns and middle part? The natural, carefree part of me is leaning heavily towards the latter, with a nice oversized oatmeal poncho over a long brown skirt, strappy brown sandals and loads of turquoise jewellery and knotty, messy hair. I love how earthy and simple the costumes are in The New World - one of the most underrated films, surely? - those simple off the shoulder tunics, the leggings, the beaded hair. Very earthen, natural and powerful. And besides, I think it would be easier to put that outfit together than it would be to find a perfect pocahontas costume (complete with that necklace) at such short notice on such a small budget. 

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