taking stock

1 and 3 - Miranda Kerr by Alasdhair Mclellan for Vogue UK September 2013 2 - Fashion Guitar

If I still wrote wardrobe planning lists - maybe I should bring them back, hmmm? - miranda would be on the top of the agenda. Not miranda herself per se, she's a babe and all, but she's just a little bit too perfect. I mean miranda in this editorial. This summer I want an extra piercing in my ear (sleepers, natch), tousled, beachy wave, the kind of tan that glows and a pair of double strap birkenstocks - in classic black or a washed-out taupe - for wearing with everything and nothing, jeans and tee shirts, and never taking them off.

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once you pop

Closet Visit // Inside Closet // Jeana Sohn

you can't stop. because one is never enough.

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maximum

My first pair of ballet flats were the kind you actually needed. They were tiny, smaller than my hands are now, little shoes for little feet to go with little leotards and little tights. They were baby pink. I was baby pink. I was joining the ranks of little girls the world round and taking my first ballet class. I have vague recollections of getting those shoes - softer than the softest puppy dog, softer than my mum's pillow in winter - from a ballet shop in Randwick, where you got to sit on a high chair like a real princess and find the shoe that fits. But really, it was never about the shoe. It was always about the tutu (I was five years old! what do you think). I'd like to think that I loved ballet flats from the start, that it was enduring, passionate, overwhelming love but to be truthful I never really started loving ballet flats until I owned my first pair of Porsellis. 

Some things just never sink in until you're older. I recently mused on the fact that for the first 10 years that I watched Sound of Music I never really realised that the bad guys were Nazis and this was all set in the midst of the third reich and in the lead up to world war two. I honestly thought that Herr Zeller was someone who didn't want the family Von Trapp to win the singing competition, and they were chasing after them to take back their trophy. Trophies are very important to five years old. Of course the whole kefuffle would be about a trophy - who would want that take away from them? I'd climb every mountain to ensure that it wasn't, that's for sure. Well, now that I'm older (and wiser, with someone telling me what to do) I know a few things. I know what happens at the end of the Sound of Music, I know that you have to follow a skincare routine, and I know that investing in quality really does make a difference. Which is why, when I was in Milan, I snapped up a few pairs of Porselli ballet flats (my favourites) to add to my collection. Ever since I eschewed heels altogether a few years ago (another grown up thing, or maybe a childish thing I've claimed as a grown up?) ballet flats have become the cornerstone of my style. I wear them in summer and winter, and they are the perfect foil for university, work and weekends. Like beloved sandals in summertime, ballet flats are indispensable because they completely, wholly embody that feeling of relaxed, effortless comfort that I actively search out in all aspects of my life. As Lindsay summed up in a recent post, style is about so much more than the sartorial, it is about discovering how it is that we want to live our lives. Well, I want to live mine in simplicity and comfort and ease and - as for me this follows unquestionably, inevitably, without any shred of a doubt - contentedly. So thank you to Porselli for allowing me to do that.

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ps. I recently found out that my favourite online store My Chameleon will be stocking Porselli very soon. This is exciting news for fans like me who lament over how difficult it is to get hold of them. I really cannot wait!

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la marinière

Armor-Lux bretons from The Standard Store - The original and the best.

The first one was an impulse buy, and you didn't really think too much about it. It was raining and you rushed in because you were cold and you bought something to warm you up. That's life. The second one was more considered, an out-of-the-way trip to find a present and you walked out with something for yourself. Woops. The third one was planned. You asked them for it, and they delivered (and how!). It was even better than you imagined: the comfiest thing you own, something you haven't taken off for three days straight. It's so easy it's as if you're not wearing anything at all. Bretons are, to me, ringers-in of spring. Slip into one and you're sleeping lightly under jacaranda trees, eating mangoes barefoot, buying flowers from the market. I prefer my bretons extra wide, with lots of room to breathe. I shrug them on over denim or cropped trousers and I don't even have to think about it. In Spring, and then in Summer, I like to wear clothes that don't require any thought at all. They don't need you to plan ahead, they don't need you to co-ordinate accessories. I like clothes that you can pull out of the cupboard in the morning 15 minutes before you leave.

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ps. don't forget to enter my Shopbop giveaway!  
 

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cinematic style - Kirsten Dunst in Wimbledon

screencaps

This is a very silly movie, and I am very fond of it. It's not great, and it's not going to go down in history as the "Pretty Woman" of our generation, but it's a bit of fun and I like it. I like Peter, Peter Colt and Lizzie Bradbury's relationship, fun and firty - Americans and British, thrown in the mix together - all set against the background of Wimbledon. Naturally, there's some great athletic gear in there, tennis whites and tracksuits and brightly coloured trainers. But it's the off-court uniform that looks best. From that first floral dress, whimsical and pretty, in the suite at The Dorchester hotel, to her array of A.P.C-perfect blazers, flippy skirts and strappy sandals, silk shirts and denim jeans, wrap around leather Hermes watches and all the spoils of strawberries and champagne glory.

I'm sure that it's all of this hot weather, but I can't get enough of clothes like this at the moment. Unfussy and uncomplicated. I love Lizzie's wardrobe on their getaway to bath - stolen rugby jerseys and big blue shirts - but I also like the prettiness of her off-duty clothes. It works because Kirsten herself is that kind of Maria Sharapova-esque blonde beauty, she's athletic but not muscly, and she works well in pastels and prints. She's very pretty, but she's still edgy. She's not saccharine or sweet. She's just... Wimbledon lawns with strawberry and champagne.

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boyfriend

lagarconne

Well I know what I'm wearing tomorrow. I only wish I didn't have to cuff my jeans and they were already hemmed at the perfect cropped height. Maybe it's time to whip out the old sewing machine?

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it's here!

I want to thank all the women who have worn my clothes

I-D August 2008, Pierluigi Macor/Anastasia Barbieri

That Organic by John Patrick trench coat that it seems like everyone - well, maybe just me, Talisa and Georgia, but still - have been waiting for has finally landed at My Chameleon. It's perfect in so many ways, but here are a few. It has a beautiful line that drops from the shoulder, it's oversized, and it is that perfect, perfect trench coat shade of milky tea. What could be better? And it is on my summer shopping list, you know (it even made it through the revision!). The perfect trench coat has eluded me for so long - and I still despair that when I did have it, a vinnies find and a steal at $10 I let my trend-driven self CHOP THE SLEEVES OFF to make a sleeveless trench (why WHY did I do that, WHY?). This one is shaping up to be the long-awaited replacement, perfection personified for someone who has just been making do for so long.

In my crime history class we've been learning about the origins of the private detective, and the perils of the modern city. There are a few things that I have always wanted to do, purely for drama or image's sake. The first is to catch a train to Russia up through China and drink vodka martinis in a gilded dining carriage with a plate of caviar. The second has something to do with expensive hotels and fast cars but the third is totally achievable, and soon! It would be to wear a trench coat with the collar upturned at night-time. Sure, Sydney is no downtown New York or windy Chicago, but looking the part is half the battle, really. I used to have this book that charted the history behind 10 of the most iconic pieces of clothing - the LBD, the red lipstick, the high-heeled shoe, the denim jeans - and, of course, the trench coat was one of them. I loved reading that chapter, of mice and men and Audrey Hepburn kissing George Peppard in the rain. I'm a bit hesitant to link to this, but I can't believe that it's been almost 3 years (a long 3 years, so long) since I wrote this post about the trench coat. How things change and how they stay the same!!!! It's funny re-reading things you wrote, especially about items of clothing that you are still interested in seasons later. 18 year old me was all about the glamour, the excitement, the mystery of the trench. I thought I had grown past that, with my sensible shoes and my comfy clothes and my boring, casual style. But then I just re-read the paragraph above and it would seem that I haven't. Maybe that has to do with the trench coat itself? That it's the type of garment that inspires a little bit of imagination? And that only makes me want one more.

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today

I'm wearing: my Amy Kaehne hand-knit cardigan, jeans, sneakers and a washed-blue tee shirt.

I'm reading: From Russia with Love (why not?)

I'm watching: Puberty Blues

I'm listening to: Des que j'te vois by Vanessa Paradis

I'm thinking: that it's too lovely outside to go to work.

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always

eefje de coninck

I saw this on damn fine coffee, who in turn saw it on Prêt à Porter P, and I wanted to have a crack at it too. After I did it I thought how hard it was to think of the nevers, just because I couldn't stand in front of my cupboard and see them hanging up there like I could with the always. But it was an interesting exercise nonetheless (I mean how many synonyms for the word oversized are there, really?) and it helped me get dressed this morning. To ring in this beautiful September spring weather I've got some tapered pants with pockets, oversized blue tunic shirt and sandals on.  I really am that predictable.

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go for gold

1,2 - Jeana Sohn // 3 - Ilana Kohn // 4 - Childhood flames // 5 - me

Public service announcement. I am never, ever, ever going to get tired of delicate bits of gold jewellery. I balance it all out with my blingin' watch, but in truth I love little things the best. Little rings, worn doubled up above the knuckle or jammed against the hand, tiny and simple and true. A little bit of a bitch to take off when you wash your hands, but I made this bed and all that. Little bracelets, layered against each other, one, two and three. Little necklaces with tiny little gemstone flower pendants. And little anklets, just because if you're going to serve cake you might as well ice it. I must be such a girl, because nothing makes me quite as happy as jewellery.

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summer wardrobe planning - 2013: continuing thoughts

into the gloss

1. A massive, so-big-you-look-kind-of-homeless, wrap-around-you-three-times trench coat in the perfect shade of tobacco brown.

2. A plain black swimsuit with thin straps, low scoop back and a high leg. 

3. A leather backpack  Coach Legacy Duffle instead!

4. The perfect hat

5. An oversized smock dress, long-ish, like maybe calf length, with pockets and a boat neck in a nice neutral brown colour.

 

It's not often that I reflect on my shopping list before I've actually purchased anything, but there are few things I wanted to mull over. Firstly, I read this article on Into the Gloss by ex-WWD writer and current Into the Gloss Associate Editor Alessandra Codinha defending her decision to wear one-piece swimsuits. As a fan of the one-piece myself I have to agree with everything that she says. I am reasonably self-confident in my body, flaws and all, and that really has nothing to do with my love for the figure-hugging, full-coverage maillot. For me it is always - has always - been about glamour. I love that streamlined silhouette of a black one-piece, the kind of classic, no-nonsense sensuality of someone who knows who they are. Someone like Elizabeth Taylor, or Bo Derek, or even Farrah Fawcett with all those blown-out curls and that million-dollar Playboy smile. I haven't changed my desire to get a one-piece swimsuit, in fact, quite the contrary. Reading this article has only made me want one even more. 

Secondly, I think I'm re-thinking my desire for a backpack. I still like them objectively, and I still think that if the right one comes along (probably vintage) then I would snap it up without hesitation, but at the moment a different kind of bag is holding court over my imagination. The Coach Legacy Duffle - I think in navy blue!! The colour is so rich and intense, and I think it would look beautiful against the neutral shades of brown and khaki in my wardrobe - is the one. As I mused recently, it would make the most perfect travel bag, just the right size for everyday. The only problem - as far as bags go I've got a pretty complete collection. I don't really need another bag. So I'm going to cross off the backpack and add the Coach bag, and also sell a few of my existing bags in order to make room for another. One in, one out. That's only fair!

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it'll do

It's not the perfect trench, but it'll do for now. The weird zippers at the collar kind of annoy me, but it has plenty of swagger and swing, and I've been throwing it over everything recently. The past couple of days in Sydney have been cold - especially at midnight when you're heading to the premiere of the Avengers!!! - and I couldn't be more excited. Any excuse to dig out the shearling and the wool and the tweed and the cashmere and all that. I guess it was for that reason that, even though this trench was one of my favourite jackets about a year and a half ago, it has languished in my wardrobe for a little while. There were too many other winter candidates vying for attention. But in this in-between weather we've been having I've found it to be the best thing. Sleeves pushed up and collar slightly turned and belt tied in a haphazard knot at the back. It goes so well with the forget-me-not blue of this fantastic Thomsen shirt, and the inky blue of boyfriend jeans, and the navy blue of ankle-strap sandals. Beige just goes well with blue, I find! No wonder everyone loves trenches so much. You can literally just throw it on over everything. And it works so well, so easily, every single time.

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cinematic style - Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail

screencaps

I always thought that You've Got Mail was what living in New York would look like. Walls full of book cases and fresh daisies every day and a light-filled apartment big enough for two on the Upper West Side. How wrong I was, but how right Kathleen Kelly's wardrobe is in this movie. It's that 90s minimalism that invaded everything post-Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, when all anyone wanted to wear was turtlenecks and beige slacks and a man's white shirt. I love that this style is having a resurgence, it's clean and crisp and fresh as a morning in spring, something so simple that you look twice for what you've missed. It's slightly out-sized, like too-big pyjamas and cosy grey sweaters, but the skirts are always fitted and the tee shirts tucked into belted trousers. It's like the slightly more modernised Annie Hall - another fantastic New York City living movie. No bright colours, no bells and whistles, just simple cardigans and shirts, tunics and jeans, and one or two great coat with fur on the collar. The kind of stuff that Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren peddle with baby-faced models in the ads, but it's still good, you know? Healthy and fine-boned and raised on milk and corn. That's what Kathleen Kelly looks like.

My favourite scene in this movie is when Joe Fox (F.O.X) turns up at Kathleen's absolutely wonderful, book-filled apartment unnanounced. She's sick and wearing a pair of stripey pyjamas and so she throws on the nearest thing - a gloriously beige trench coat - and shoves the piles of tissues in her pockets and belts the whole lot. I loved that look. I loved how massive the trench was on her, and how the pockets seemed neverendless, and how great it looked with the collar of her pyjama shirt poking through. My godmother has a trench coat just like this. It's Burberry and it's the most perfect shade of greige and it has a removable lining. She let me borrow it when I went to Scotland many years ago, and I've been longing for something as perfect for a while now. It's one of those things, you know, either a trench coat is perfect, or it's not. I think I'll be holding out for the TOME one next season.

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cinematic style - Robert Redford in All the President's Men

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Okay - here are two slightly shameful things. Firstly, the reason I first decided I wanted to become a journalist was because I watched All The President's Men. And secondly, I have major jones for Robert Redford. Actually you know what, I stand by that second one. So I'm really only ashamed of the first one. While I may have waved those dreams of investigative reporting a fond farewell - unless some kind of deep throat incident occurs in the fashion industry, in which case, count me in, trench coat and all - I still love the way that this movie evoked those classic ideas of the journalist and the art of reportage. The journalist as some kind of lone maverick wearing very fitted camel pants and shirts striped to perfection. The journalist as an upstart Yale alumnus whose only sign of stress is in the unbuttoning of the top collar. 

For guys there's nothing remarkable about what Robert Redford (I think I'm unable to refer to him by just one name) wears in this film, it's stock standard 9 to 5 wear, no? But there's something about the shapes and the colours that has always drawn me in. I love that he wears so many different tones of brown in the one outfit, from a honey-soaked jacket to a dark molasses pair of pants. The mix of prints is also so awful it's delightful, like how a paisley tie somehow finds its match with a striped shirt. I know some of the boys who do my degree could learn a trick or two from Robert Redford. Journalism isn't quite journalism without a thick leather belt, a rolex submariner and a trench coat with the collar turned up. Some of it is nostalgia for a bygone era. The golden age of journalism - such as it was - where you smoked in the office and you had a notepad with a spiral along the top and you tucked it in the front pocket of your shirt.  Boys wore their hair long - too long, maybe - and they all had signet rings and they spent hours on the telephone "chasing down leads". But it's clothes like this that make those scant few truly tense moments of modern journalism okay. In a low partioned office, with a stack of papers on your desk, how else do you make that tedious business of sorting fact from fiction look good if you can't wear a double breasted nubuck blazer? And, oh, doesn't Robert Redford look good in classic camel and blue?

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ps. the first and last screencaps don't really have anything to do with style, but I love the cinematography in this film so much. The symmetry that is set up, in the office, in the library of congress, later in the parking lot when Bob meets deep throat is so great. It creates the tense environment that the film thrives off.

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