bluestocking chic

An Education // source

I am in the throes of my 'mountain lockdown' as Stephanie from I Love Mr Mittens termed it, and I've been thinking about study style. Sure, I've been doing some actual study around all this thinking, but in my downtime (mostly as I lay in bed and dread having to get out of the warmth into the cold, cold kitchen where the table is) I've been musing on matters of what I have decided to term 'bluestocking chic'. You know, intellectual style. That distinctly retro, 1960s university gal look that brands like A.P.C and Thomsen have made their own. It's all Carey Mulligan in An Education - cropped cigarette trousers, fuzzy angora sweaters and white shoes before labour day. It's Anna Karina with the bouffed up hair and a tartan coat. It's Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face, the most beautiful book-seller in the world, resplendent in frumpy tweed and turtleneck sweaters. It's not really suited to my body type - the reed thin girls with long legs and straight hair work this look like it's nobody's business - but I admire it anyway. I tweak it so that it fits better on me. Maybe the sweaters aren't so slim cut, maybe I take my jeans with a side of distress. But I think that as a university student with my nose stuck in the books in the middle of the cold, cold country I'm pretty much the definition of bluestocking chic, whichever way you want to look at it. 

Bluestocking chic three ways

one

 The Row backpack // Serge Lutens FIve O'Clock Au Gingembre // Van Rycke necklace // Organic by John Patrick shirt // Prism glasses // Sylvain le Hen barette // Dieppa Restrepo loafers // Organic by John patrick sweater // A.P.C jeans

two

Peter Jensen cardigan // La Garconne Moderne blouse // Sylvain Le Hen pin // Cutler & Gross glasses // Porselli ballet flats // Diptyque 34 // Daniel Wellington watch // VPL trousers

three

3.1 Philip Lim coat // A.P.C sweater // Uniform Wares watch // Byredo Rose Noir // Prism glasses // A.P.C skirt // Mulberry bag // Porselli ballet flats

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ps. I did a little q&a with Kate from Modette blog, see it here!

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back to school

"Oxford - submerged now and obliterated, irrecoverable as Lyonnesse, so quickly have the waters come flooding in - Oxford, in those days, was still a city of aquatint. In her spacious and quiet streets men walked and spoke as they had done in Newman's day; her autumnal mists, her grey springtime, and the rare glory of her summer days - such as that day - when to chestnut was in flower and the bells rang out high and clear over her gables and cupolas, exhaled the soft airs of centuries of youth. It was this cloistral hush which gave our laughter its resonance, and carried it still joyously over the intervening clamour."

Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

1-2, 5-6 by me, featuring my 3.1 Phillip Lim 31 Hour Day Bag, Michael Kors watch, Dieppa Restrepo loafers from My Chameleon and Benah Limits Cuffs in Brushed Gold // 3 // 4 // 6 // 7

The start of uni - going back, buying books, that fresh paper smell, that feeling of levity and a supreme sense of confidence in your abilities - is something quite marvelous. Somewhere in the third or fourth week it spirals downwards as assessments pile up and classes take a turn for the worst, but at the start, on the first day, in that first step back onto campus after a blissful summer holiday it seems like anything can - and will - happen this year. It's a feeling that is somewhat magnified when you're in your last year of study. In second and third year when I started it was with a sense of "getting shit done", I was here to slog out the year and get it over with and that was that. There wasn't a sense of the magical so much as there was the mundane. This was routine. But in my first year - and now, in my fourth and final - I arrived on campus with something I can only describe as elation. When I was freshly 18 it was the elation of tertiary study and the first steps into adulthood and of borrowing books from the storied Fisher library and making intelligent conversation in tutorials. Some of you who have been reading long enough will remember my first day of uni. (my, how so many things have changed! how so many things have changed...)

 But fourth year is a different kind of elation. It's not an aching happiness in the knowledge that you are finishing; that would be relief, and I haven't felt that, not quite yet. I want to finish but I won't be relieved when it occurs. I happen to quite like university, that is, I happen to quite like learning. It's an elation that holds a strong sense of satisfaction. I've stuck it out with something that people thought I wouldn't - or shouldn't - do. I've made it through the hard and the easy, the fantastic subject choices (Jane Austen and her contemporaries and American Indian Holocaust question-mark?) and the not-so-fantastic (I still regret that damn Medieval Germany subject from second year, that was a mistake). I was elated when I first walked onto campus three weeks ago because I finally felt comfortable and like I knew what I was doing, at least in some small respect in regards to my education. I may not have any idea about what's going to happen when I finish or even what's going to happen this weekend, but when it comes to education I know I made the right decision four years ago to go somewhere where I could learn something about media and journalism but also balance it out with my favourites: English and History. These things have kept me sane these past couple of years as I have battled with learning html for online media, or how to operate a marantz recorder, or struggled with the ethical implications of press releases. I had a real feeling of success. And, on that first day, I had the feeling that anything could happen. If you talk to me now - especially today - you might hear something different, but I felt pretty happy back then.

I think it has something to do with how bloody good Sydney Uni looks. I took these photos on one quite spectacular day last week when the sun was high and there wasn't a cloud in sight and Sydney was resplendent in sandstone and mossy green. The Quad at Sydney Uni couldn't be more perfect in its loveliness. Even four years in I can't shake the feeling that this is the way that universities ought to look. It has that "cloistral hush which gives our laughter resonance". Its age makes our youth - my youth - remarkable. A couple of other things that add to the university experience. A new bag for carrying all those books and pens and apples and magazines and water bottles around. Comfy walking shoes, buttoned up shirts and something to keep the time (although to be honest it doesn't really work - I've been late every day this week, for shame). A gang of friends to walk down Eastern Avenue with - perhaps not as cliquey as Emmanuelle et al, though. And a bike. University isn't university unless you can bike around in cable-knit sweater and your sleeves rolled up like Charles and Sebastian in Brideshead Revisited. I still remember the first time I watched the television series. I had just finished school and my parents had gone away for the weekend and left me with some pastabilities four cheese ravioli packets and the 12-episode series of Brideshead Revisited. I watched it all in one go and was enchanted. Enchanted by Jeremy Irons' dulcet tones, by champagne saucers resting on fountain edges, by getaways in Venice, by the "thin batsqueak of sexuality" that Charles felt when he lit Julia's cigarette for her, and by the possibility that at uni, if everything went right, it might be always summer.

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ps. That last clip and the screenshot above are from the movie version with Hayley Atwell and Mathew Goode which is also excellent, but the TV series is even better.

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mood

fancy oats made by Siri on the Benah blog // symmetrical gardens in Paris as seen by Talisa and Rohan // all the beautiful shades of beige on cubical refugee // If the rain keeps coming down I'm going to need me a yellow fisherman's jacket like CBK (source unknown) // 3.1 Philip Lim 31 hour day bag (this shit never gets old) // and Columbine Smile's perfect, perfect, perfect teddy bear coat.

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Soho

one. when we were at Ruby's there was just a bunch of fresh chrysanthemums sitting on a table. It was comforting. That, and the Australian accents that swarmed all around us. two. still Christmas trees. three. gorgeous fresh flowers at Dean and Deluca. four. the in-store water feature at Me and Ro only added to the ambiance. five. land of the cakes. six and seven. Cafe Gitane is one of those places that is worth the wait for a table. Hand ground peanut butter and, on another day, a shredded carrot salad with iced hibiscus tea. Delicious. eight. streetscapes.

Soho is definitely one of those best of times, worst of times places. It’s got all the good shops and all the great cafes, but also crowds of people, wait times for tables and the constant fear that you will, at some point, hemorrhage money while you are there. Is that the price that you pay for spending time in this hip New York neighbourhood? Perhaps. 

All the best times that I had in Soho – consumed a petit dejeuner complet at Café Gitane with hand-ground Peanut Butter, enjoyed a three course lunch at Balthazar and an endless dinner of soft shell tacos, empanadas and ceviche at La Esquina brasserie. Shopped for presents for my mum at Purl Soho and Dean and Deluca. Spied Ruby Aldridge leafing through the racks at Zara. Celebrated a belated Australia day with vegemite toast at Ruby’s Cafe. Popped into Isabel Marant and Theory, 3.1 Phillip Lim and APC, Kirna Zabete and Opening Ceremony. Laughed away whole afternoons in nameless cafes over bottomless cups of coffee. Shared a bottle of wine and a mushroom pizza with a great friend at Rubirosa. Fell in love with beautiful slip-of-a-thing rings and necklaces at Me and Ro. Sat in starbucks and watched the snow fall one white afternoon. 

 All the worst times - you know, there really weren’t any. Even when I got lost wandering one afternoon and I had to draw my coat right up around me for fear of hypothermia it was alright, because eventually I found the Tribeca Taco Company street stand, and I bought some quesadillas, and I sat down on a bench with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and I read for a little until I had worked out what to do. Soho’s great like that. When it all gets too much it throws you a curved ball and wills you to catch it. And you do. Every single time. 

 Notes (for the record this includes Nolita as well. I just can’t be bothered to split them up, sorry!):

Lafayette House - 38 East 4th St (at Bowery)

The Bowery Hotel - 335 Bowery (at corner of East 3rd St)

The Smile -  26 Bond St (between Bowery and Lafayette)

 Peels - 325 Bowery (at corner of East 2nd St)

Bowery Coffee Company - 87 East Houston (between Bowery and Elizabeth)

Rag and Bone - 73 East Houston (between Bowery and Elizabeth)

Billy’s Bakery - 268 Elizabeth St (between East Houston and Prince)

Me and Ro - 241 Elizabeth St (between East Houston and Prince)

Le Llabo Fragrance - 233 Elizabeth St (between East Houston and Prince)

Steven Alan - 229 Elizabeth St (at corner of Prince)

Cafe Habana - 17 Prince St (at corner of Elizabeth)

A Detacher - 262 3Mott St (between East Houston and Prince)

Cafe Gitane - 242 Mott St (between East Houston and Prince)

Ruby’s Cafe - 219B Mulberry St (between Spring and Prince)

 Rubirosa - 235 Mulberry St (between Spring and Prince)

Lombardi's Pizza -32 Spring St (between Mulberry and Mott St)

McJs books - 42 Prince St (at Mulberry St)

Lafayette Smoke Shop (great selection of international magazines) - corner of Lafayette and Spring St

La Esquina - 106 Kenmare St (at corner of Lafayette)

Balthazar - 80 Spring St (between Broadway and Crosby)

Dean and Deluca -  560 Broadway (at corner of Prince)

3.1 Phillip Lim- 115 Mercer St (between Spring and Prince)

APC - 131 Mercer St (between Spring and Prince)

Barney's Co-Op - 116 Wooster St (between Spring and Prince)

Kirna Zabete - 96 Greene St (between Spring and Prince)

Isabel Marant - 469 Broome St (at corner of Greene)

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream truck - Corner of Prince and Greene st

Acne Studios - 10 Greene St (between Canal and Grand)

Jumelle - 55 Grand St (at West Broadway)

Lucky Strike Brasserie - 59 Grand St (at West Broadway)

Grandaisy Bakery - 250 West Broadway (at Walker) - kind of in Tribeca, I know I'm cheating haha

Theory - 151 Spring St (at West Broadway)

Opening Ceremony - 35 Howard St (between Broadway and Crosby)

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NYFW photo diary

one. my mates Peony, Pete and Candice, ever the glamorous lot, two. the calm before the storm, three. the plaza, four. a cute girl who had come all the way from Sweden to soak up that addictive atmosphere, five. 3.1 Phillip Lim 31 hour tote bags, six. Celine, what else? seven. Karen Walker's punchy finale, eight. beautiful structured dresses at NOMIA's debut presentation, nine. the most surreal moment of the entire week. I'm never going to throw out this show list and invitation.

Nothing I write could sum up any better than this what it's really like to be at New York Fashion Week. Why do I even try? What a week. What. A. Week.

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sneak peek: wild at heart

Last week I had a first look at the new 3.1 Phillip Lim that has just arrive at The Corner Shop Strand Arcade, and oh my, is it good. There's a lot of bright colours and cute, Alexa-esque flat sandals and cosy knits and, well... an amazing leopard-print pyjama suit that everyone kind of went a little bit crazy for. So wrong it's right? So awful it's delightful? Or just plain amazing? You decide.

Check out this post for The Corner Shop here.

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