That’s nice

Let’s be honest, noone really likes NICE. Nice is almost an insult, it’s bland, it’s forgettable. Of all the adjectives in the world you can use to describe something, nice is so passive. It’s the default setting to describe something that does not offend you, but you don’t care enough to search for a better description. Fuuuck that.

When it comes to fashion, “nice” dresses are for people who don’t like clothes. You know them, the “sure why would i spend my money on the fancy one” people. The people who forget/don’t realise that everything is designed, and that everyone reveals an awful lot about their personality by the objects they choose to surround themselves with, no matter what level of design or style it is. Dressing to look invisible is as telling of a personality as dressing to stand out.

And given that fashion, at it’s best, is a visceral and joyous manifestation of art, feast your eyes on these looks from Spring Summer 2011 that are a whole lot more than nice….

 

Akris SS11

Celine SS11

Galliano SS11

Herve Leger SS11

Versace SS11

Valentino SS11

Burberry Prorsum SS11

Saddest.Summer.Ever.

Well, that’s a lie. It was a pretty awesome summer, but it’s well over now. But I’m pretty sad this week beause my iphone was stolen after I had it for like 2 days

One thing that has been making me happy and making the sad go away is The Drums, who are a delightful little band (*note: I have actually no idea as to their stature, they could be tall or rotund either, i meant little in the diminuitive and cute sort of way*). They are happy and sad at the same time. Have a listen…

I know that opinion on them is divided – most girls i know think they are cool, and most guys I’ve talked to about them think they are lame. So I dunno….girls are able to process two emotions at the same time and guys don’t like conflicting messages? go figure……

It’s my party & I’l cry if I want to

It’s my birthday this week. And while I have absolutely no idea what I would like in real life (with real life budgets), if I were to pretend that all my friends and family were loaded and wanted to lavish me with gifts, here’s what I would like……

 

The Tom Ford book…

image source

 

An Erdem Dress

image via Style.com

 

A Leica

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An Elie Saab necklace

image via Elie Saab.com

 

A MASSIVE necklace

image via style.com

 

One of these bad boys

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Alexander McQueen shoesies (altho you also need to make me a bit shorter for these ones)

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and Anything/Everything by Givenchy

image via givenchy.com

 

I really genuinely want to get a really HUGE necklace a la vivienne tam. They seem to be creeping up everywhere, I think they are pretty amazing, don’t you?

Designers Do it Better

I like to flatter myself by saying that one of the reasons I dress fairly boringly (is that a word? is now…) is that my lack o funds means I don’t have access to the amazing designer clothes. Now, you can argue in favour of the high street, and second hand and making the most of it all you like. Don’t get me wrong, I trawl through charity rails, I shop high street, looking for interesting, well designed clothes. But most of the time my style is quite muted and not that fashioney. Why? Well for one, I usually buy clothes based on the quality of the fabric (ie no polyester, no acrylic wool, no crappy cut garments or badly sewn seams), which rules out a massive amount of high street clothes. And also, and this one kills me when I find something i like, it’s because I HATE buying a really pretty/dramatic/fun/colourful dress and wear it out and see ten other girls in the same thing. I HATE HATE HATE IT.

Does that mean I think I am more original than I am? Possibly. But let’s be honest, the high street rips off designers, and often has their knock off versions in the stores before the designer collections arrive at their sales points. I hate that for many reasons. One of which is that they are essentially making FAR more money than a lot of designers, without having to take any of the design risks or innovative thinking. Which sucks for the designers. Another one is that the quality just isnt there in the high street version. Which sucks for the consumer – us. Aside from branding and exclusivity and all that jazz, part of the reason that designer clothes are so expensive is that they are made to really really high levels of quality. which means that they look better, they feel better and they fit better.

That’s not to say that you have to be loaded to look good, we can all agree that the ubiquity of street style blogs renders that a very moot point. HOWEVER, when it comes to wearing really striking clothes, like proper FASHUN, kick ass, omg-that-dress-is-freaking-awesome clothes, designers do it better. And personally, I would rather just not play the game than be the poor cousin to this lot….

 

Balmain AW10

 

 

Balmain AW10

 

 

Preen AW10

 

 

Proenza Schouler AW10

 

 

Pucci AW10

 

 

Pucci AW10

 

 

Versus AW10

 

 

Versus AW10

 

 

Vivienne Tam

 

Marchesa 4eva

I LOVE Marchesa. Well, it’s love in a really fantasy sort of a way. I know that I do not have too many social functions that require a dress as lovely, and that’s leaving aside the price tag. But still. I mean come on. LOOK AT THEM! They are just the most beautiful constructions. Super feminine, but still sexy. When I win the lotto I’m gonna buy one for all my girls so we can just swan about in them. Maybe we will drink cups of tea, just to keep it real, you know…

AW10

AW10

AW10

AW10

AW10

SS11SS11

SS11

Fur crying out loud

Fur is not everybody’s cup of tea. I know and respect that fact. However, this does not change the fact that it is available for sale, and that many designers choose to use it as part of their collections within fashion. The following post reflects my own personal views that I do not wish to force upon any person. Think what you will, but I wear fur. There, I said it.

Fur has always been a hot topic. Ugh, that’s actually a really terrible pun when you consider the warmth it provides in the cold. I apologise, I think I’m in one of those moods…But ANYWAY. Following on from my previous posts about winter coats, I decided to include a post dedicated to fur, simply because there was so much of it on the runway. So much of it that I felt the need to make some form of comment.

I’m not really sure what the message there is. Perhaps it’s a response to emerging markets and a desire for ostentatious displays of wealth. Nothing says “I’m loaded” like a filthy great fur coat and loads of diamonds. Or perhaps the anti-fur lobby has fallen out of vogue and fur is back in fashion. Or maybe, and I’m probably being far too generous here, but there is a small chance that designers are actually using fur because it is a fabric that brings real heat to the body while creating maximum visual impact. There is no denying that real fur keeps you real warm. And for the price of them, they are an investment, which makes them less expendable and therefore in a really weird way more environmentally friendly. Bizarre, I know. But you are far less likely to throw out your fur coat at the end of a season. Synthetic materials are cheaper, but I have made the mistake of trying to save a few euro on a cheaper winter coat – they just don’t work. And it’s just plain no fun when you’re freezing.

I know that synthetic furs have come on leaps and bounds in terms of quality in recent years, so if you don’t want the real thing, you have the choice. Here are some of the fur coats that I found remarkable from this years Autum Winter collections.

Antonio Berardi

Brian Reyes

Costume National

Dennis Basso

Gianfranco Ferre

Marc Jacobs

Michael Kors

Pucci

Roskanda Ilinic

Valentino

All images via Style.com