Trew Trio

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I've always expressed my gripes over trouser-hunting.  Actually I'm now thinking rather than it being an real gripe or annoyance, it is in fact my laziness.  Given that I rarely try on things in store choosing to buy online or zoom into stores in super fast speed and shop n' go, this of course has contributed to the distinct lack of trousers in my life.  

Lately though,Replica Eyepatch Sunglasses, a trio of bottoms has come rushing in to up the trouser count, in an attempt to try and one up on the skirt quota which at one point I counted came to 250 +.  The yard sale I had of course depleted that number heavily and could there be a point that trousers vs. skirts will in fact be even stevens???  Surely this landmark needs to coincide with something significant in my life.  I am going to officially be entering my late-twenties in December and perhaps all along, the creeping number of trousers in my wardrobe is a metaphor for the growing weight of my years.  Handy to know I guess.

Along with trouser-life metaphors,beats solo headphones, I'm going to cram in some flat shoe buys that have also coincided nicely with the trew acquisitions.  Sadly they have nothing significant to say other than they come in handy when walking around town during tube strikes. 

Alas, I cheat a little as two of the three would be classified more as 'treggings' (I'm not even sure this word should even be floating about anymore...) rather than trousers.  Take these Shape Shiftr mustard riding trousers.  They do have a zip and a button at the top but they are heading into legging territory as well.  I love that the leather patches on the knees instantly add protection.  Like built in shin/knee pads for icy slip-ups (scrapes on knees are a weekly occurence for me...).

(Worn with Limedrop cloud print blazer, vintage shirt, vintage lace top with DIY beading, shoes from charity shop)

If you're not into riding or walking around with well-protected knees, Shape Shiftr's S/S 11 collection is a soft silk georgette-filled affair - all cut-away blouses, loose long skirts/dresses as well as a comeback from linen.  I'm having mine wrinkled because steaming the stuff can be a bitch...

The second pair of trews are even more dubious.  They are in essence leggings but I promise they are good and thick and feel adequate as trousers.  They're by film/fashion/art and fellow Hong Kong-er Makin Jan Ma, who's stocked in Beyond the Valley.  Supposedly they're for men but me thinks his clothes can definitely cross gender borders.  It's good to have stripes not going in one collection or in chevron-motion but traversing all over the place as they do here...    

Worn with COS leather sleeved jacket, vintage Breton top, Monki sheer stripy dress underneath bunched up, E. Tautz Breton jumper stolen from Steve and...

...a pair of JUICY red Rupert Sanderson patent loafers.  I'm going to be confronting my fear of red head-on very soon but these shoes are the wussy baby steps.  Plus I think the black studs are making a face at me when I look down on them. 

In other Rupert Sanderson news, I spied these pale blue python brogues that are NOT going into production for S/S 11 alas... it's a texture/colour/shape match made in heaven which is sadly not to be...

They also have a pair of shoes with a ponyskin print that can't be anything but a lava lamp in motion.  Come on, how many did you break?  Wasn't it sort of weirdly fascinating to see all that colourful gunk turn into an oily non-descript liquid in one shattering...?  Much like many disappointing teenage experiences, eh?  We're going ker-razy with metaphors and euphemisms here today aren't we...

Ah ok, we finally get down to the business of a PROPER pair of trews and I'm glad it was bStore who were the able providers.  They required zero trying on and because I'm not obsessed with trousers that do wondrous things to my arse or my thighs, I was happy to slip into these pleat-fronted and comfortable entities.  I think they're supposed to be unisex (I THINK these are the closest match...) which will balance out a lot of the girlier/frillier things going on up top...

(Worn with Moustache belt, Toga patent jacket, Whistles shirt, Topshop hat)

In other bStore happenings, the third issue of their in-house magazine has jsut come out where I get to see Darya and her mean-but-cool eyebrows plus Danielle Scutt A/W 10-11 being used (come on... we need to get Scutt back on the agenda...!).  Bless also shows that they can do some mighty chunky knitwear...

bStore's burgeoning moodboard in their store is threatening to extend to the ceiling... still I do love that they have one and diligently add to it...

The final note to this convoluted post are these studded and tongued brogues from Church's.  Studded and tongued makes it sound like I'm conjuring a lewd vision.  I stopped and gawped when I walked past the Church's store on Conduit Street as they pretty much reach some dizzy heights when it comes to the realm of brogues.  It's interesting that as Church's is owned by Prada, that Prada came out with semi similar brogues for menswear a couple of seasons ago and Miu Miu also have some mens studded brogues in at the moment.  Sharing the Church's love around the company is no bad thing though when you get studded brogue version 3.0 beta babies like these.   

Romance Reigns

I'm going to be deja-vuing over the next few days as I'm blogging for Sportsgirl first before it goes up here but actually, meandering about and re-thunking my words for my own blog, may add an ounce of clarity... or complicate matters depending on the show.  I've got down my initial thoughts on the Romance was Born show in a fit of excitement and fortunately the excitement hasn't subsided and if anything has deepened over the course of a day.  I don't think I could have gotten such a dynamic and impressive start to what has already been a heavily eventful day.  Except posts on said events to go up slower alas...

I think I may have thrown out the phrase 'cartoon couture' when I last wrote about Romance was Born.  Granted at the show last year, there were dinosaur sound effects and smoking boulders.  Still,Lady Gaga Headphones, I hang my head in shame and retract that phrase because their latest S/S 12 show we saw at the Mitchell Library yesterday (they were hellbent on using that space hence why the show had to go slightly off-schedule...) had definitely elevated beyond being cartoonish.  The collection entitled 'The Oracle' was a vision that fused so many elements together that actually whatever seemingly outlandish elements they employed (mainly towards the end in the more costume-like pieces) made complete and utter sense by the end of the show.  Perhaps the layers of baby's breath adorning the library were an indication of the lighter but ultimately more emphatic touch that Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales had given their collection. 

The Never Ending Story, the kohl-rimmed femmes of the jazz age in the 1920s, then 30s Art Deco patterns, early 20th century aristocratic eccentrics like Marchesa Luisa Casati, imaginary mystics as illustrated in fantasy novels and fictional empresses and from the ancient world - all of that comes together in a collection where certain details can be picked out as being derived from the 1920s but you never get a fully clear picture of their direct influences and that's probably why a dropped waisted dress in the hands of RWB looks mysteriously renewed and rejuvenated.  This partly is thanks to the prints of course which has always been a RWB feature and this time the hand paintings and digital prints are by the Australian contemporary artist Neil, in line with RWB's ongoing collaborations with local artists.  The prints glint with the surface detailing of amulets and precious jewels as well as Aztec-looking pattern formations, Art Deco skyscrapers and printed pearls, which actually makes the clothes decorative in an approchable way, in that you want to wear and share their superbly focused vision.  There's also a newly found lightness in this collection where embellishment derived from pure fantasy never feel heavy-handed or for want of a better word, clunky...

The dramatics of course amplify over the course of the show and I get the feeling that Anna and Luke are never going to fully fall in line with what is expected of them as a selling fashion label but instead their one-off pieces and costumes that really tell a tale to spectators live on in this collection,coach purses on sale, inspired by the magical land of Fantasia where the Empress' magical talisman Auryn represent two worlds.  You almost want an accompanying graphic novel with Romance was Born's collections because their tale is told only through intricate surface detailing.  Still the show itself played its part in telling their story as it was accompanied by the Sydney Youth Orchestra as well as an Australian Youth Choir which added pomp to these Queens, Empresses, Contessas and Maharanis that emerged as a triumphant end to this show. 

I hate beginning sentances with "You really had to BE there to see it..." but honestly, seeing the final line-up of models at the back of the library honestly reminded me of a tableaux vivant... like something that might have graced the Windmill Theatre except of course the models aren't nude...

I could also boil this post down to this one picture where one of the models from the latter half of the collection emerged from the library to meet a sea of photographers and onlookers magically crowding around her, fallen under the Romance was Born fantasy...

I'm not usually one to point out celebrities at shows but I had to with Cate Blanchett, who isn't one of those types that turns up to everything including the opening of an envelope... she's a long terms supporter of Romance was Born and yes, I did want to say to her... "OMG - I rewatched Elizabeth the other day and holy crap, I keep forgetting how utterly brilliant you were in it,wholesale soccer jerseys!"

Splash Around In Ink

>> I was going to pair these pics with the previous post because I did think it was slightly hilarious that I turned up at Rad Hourani, where the fans were dressed up in the slickest sea of black,coach outlet handbags, all elastic leggings, pvc, leather and blocked out sunglasses and I wore...

... this Tina Kalivas beauty that comprises a frilly tie-dye dress with a matching wool harness and the Louise Gray fluffy pink mohair coat...

Inappropriate?  Perhaps.  Happiness-inducing?  Most definitely.

Photos by Phil of Street Peeper

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In Bloom

I'm not sure we're living in an era where we still blush at a nude form.  So when I saw Gemma Slack's collection that focuses on her interpretation of the 'femme fatale', her sexuality communicated through her body - which physically manifests into photographic prints that either has nudes dancing across layers of organza nad silks, another take on flora and fauna covering up private parts and straight forward trompe l'oeil nudes on swimsuits - there isn't necessarily a gasp moment but instead I'm more interested into whether the nudes are there to add aesthetic value or there just there purely to make a point.  Gemma Slack has always worked the darker side of female sensibility in her clothes and that despite the leather, the black, it never goes too hard, making the clothes hard to feel close to.  I can attest to that with a particular printed crop top that I wear to death and the more I wash it, the more the colours of the print seem to want to run into bleed into each other.

For S/S 11, together with Not Just a Label, she's launched another crop top as well as a swimsuit/body that are available to buy already.  Using the nudes has actually been Slack's way of introducing colour into her collection and with the hues of bruised pink/purple, the torsos look impressionistic rather than straightforward photographic (thoguh the prints are derived from photographs by Kristin Vicari). On the crop top when the blue rose covers the nipples, which becomes another motif in the collection, it becomes even softer...

The use of chiffon trappings, used to enlongate silhouettes, was all over the shop for S/S 11... anything that's sheer and looks pretty blowing in the wind is a thumbs up from me...

A more menacing take on Little Red Riding Hood antics with a leather bonnet... 

I love this collaboration with milliner Noel Stewart - the wider the brim the better and this one doesn't floop into your face either... the roses from the prints become leather rosettes which is another sign of Slack softening up and deliberately contrasting more feminine elements with tougher ones...

I particularly love them trailing on this chiffon piece... again, the whole err...sheer thing wafting in the wind...

Here the nudes become more blurred or slightly abstracted.  There's even a slightly photographic and more macabre version of the Miu Miu S/S 10 'nude bods' shirt that was so well-loved, again laced with leather detailing.  I love it particularly when the print does get more and more ambiguous, becoming a pattern not a form or a colour mish-mash of every nuance of flesh...

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