The Origin of Species

and the evolution of Mr Marc Jacobs

I'm all for a feelgood makeover. Who doesn't secretly enjoy a good old hair-dying, wardrobe spring cleaning movie montage scene resulting in a well deserved ego boost for the slightly self pitying protagonist?

There are cases when this "ugly ducking" sequence should be left quite alone. Ugly Betty is a good example of knowing where the boundries are, she has a refreshingly geniune dis-interest of the fashion world and you certainly wouldn't find her attempting to wriggle into a rubber rollneck dress ala Amanda. This is why viewers have been so drawn to a Queens girl who didn't lose herself in the big city.

I used to think that it seemed that Marc Jacobs didn't quite get the memo about this "ugly betty balance", and that instead he indulged himself in the ultimate transformation, selling out to the LA image of perfection and leaving more than few people a little baffled.

Out shuffled Marc, the uncool bespectacled librarian-alike who along with Wes Anderson (and more recently Adam Brody's Seth Cohen) made women realise that it wasn't a gay best friend or Hans the buff Euromodel that we want, but a charming nerd who donns a bow tie and knows how to please us in the wardrobe department.

In countless interviews, Jacobs has described himself as being terribly insecure; ("The thing is, I do base a lot of my self-worth on the opinion of other people. I’m not only what I do for a living, but it is a huge part of my life, so the opinion of others, whether critics, customers, or friends, does really affect me, and that is a huge breeding ground for insecurity.") he used to hate looking at his own reflection in the mirror and he used his own clothes as something to hide behind.

Well, "unfortunately" for us, uncool bespectacled librarian-alike Marc did turn into that buff, sunned model guy, and he went a step further and got Spongebob tattooed on this arm.

The transformation didn't stop here. Oh no. A spring clean of his muses went underway too. While Sofia is still a best friend, Victoria Beckham is now on speed dial, and the weird girls he proclaimed as cool in his adverts have now had to make way for his glossier ladies.

Although I want to hold onto that image of Jacobs the Geek, for my own selfish fairytale reasons, take a look at the Marc Jacobs of 2007, and you'll notice the confidence he seems to radiate. Instead of the shy blue-shirted Marc who reluctantly waved down the runway five years ago, these days Mr Muscle zooms down the catwalk, showing off his abs and more to the point his grin!

"The funny thing is.. [with] blogs, there’s a bunch of people who’ve said, “Oh, we liked the way he used to look, when he was grungy, and now he just looks like every Chelsea queen, blah blah blah,” and I just think, You know what, I’m just going to do what makes me happy. And I’m the same exact person, so if my haircut is too Chelsea for somebody, and if I’ve changed from funny awkward ’70s reading glasses to contact lenses, and if I’m tan now and in slightly better shape, well, it’s too bad. My behavior and my likes and dislikes are the same."

"You can stand over there and think about what you've done."

Last week's visual frenzy at the Seventh on Sale Gala and Dinner, where the likes of Kate Bosworth, Julia Restoin Roitfeld and the Olsens showed just how well they can scrub up, was highly satisfying, so I was rather disappointed this week when the most memorable outfits were Debra Messing's awful kaftan and some simple successes by the Gossip Girl team.

So celebrities, socialites, and members of the fash pack alike, as your punishment, the Best Dressed post will be M.I.A this week, because quite frankly, none of you truly deserved any recognition for the past seven days. This should teach you to come up with something more inspiring during next week, damn it!

I leave you with this snap. No justification needed.

I hate to leave things on a negative note, so lets be optimistic and heres to next week.

Sitting on the Fence?

This month, the blog has been somewhat of an Olsen extravaganza, and that isn't intentional, but they seem to be everywhere at the moment, more so than usual.

Mary Kate has bagged herself the cover of the Nylon January issue (eek, don't say 2008), though I think the shoot is generally pleasing, there are rather a few similarities with Ashley's shoot back in August 2006 (Nylon clearly love a wire fench; like, so edgy!) and I can't help but feel that Mary Kate is looking, well, rather Mary Kate.

I want to see her frolicking in the sand at the beach in a metallic American Apparel bikiki, looking polished and all 90's supermodel.

Still, you can't hate that green skater skirt, stoner's sweater and burberry heel look. The mask also features in the spring issue of POP (in their signiture nakeed shoot).

Preferences to a cover star? MK ou Ashley?

photographer is Jason Nocito.

New Blood

LA gets Cory, Paris gets Poesy and New York gets Leigh. Although Alexa may not have quite the same cult status as these ladies, she has certainly has the right wardrobe credentials and friends*, and lets face it, she's a much better prospect than her mate Peaches Geldof in the party girl stakes, so she may be in the running for the London cool girl title.

If there is anyone that can turn the phrase "model turned presenter" into a semi attractive notion, it's Chung, who after years of modeling and popping up in unashamedly cool ELLEgirl editorials has over the past year become more of a familiar face scoring exciting gigs like presenting this years NME awards and well as Miquita Oliver's replacement on channel 4's hangover TV show Popworld.

If her wardrobe of Zooey Deschanel a-like knee sock and shift combos and the often grungey indie girl tendancies don't make your knees weaken a little, then let me tell you a few things that will.

If you care.. No, I don't either, ahem.

1.) She is currently dating Alex Turner.*

2.) Klaxons' James Righton and cool photographer David Titlow are exes.*

3.) She's hung out and been snapped by the Cobrasnake crew many a time.*

4.) She's mates with Dev Hynes (Lightspeed Champion y'all) and The Like.*

5.) She genuinely knows her music stuff, no blagging here.

6.) For ironally value, she snogged Holly Valance (where did she go?) in a music vid.

7.) She has goofy moments.

*All of this sounds like she is cool supposedly because of who she hangs out with. Usually, the more uncool and nerdy someones friends, the cooler they are, but come on, Dev Hynes!

Best dressed of the week: Battle of Bosworth, Kate Conquers All

This week was a huge improvement style-wise from last week which was rather quiet and with fewer parties and little to report on.

This week however, has pretty much been all about Kate Bosworth who was out three nights in a row at various parties and dinners.

On thursday, she attended the Seventh on Sale Gala Dinner, as did Mary Kate, and wore one of the dresses from the SS08 Proenza Schouler collection, which made me very happy indeed. Naturally she carried it off with perfect grace and looked completely at ease, and made merealise just how perfect the piece is for her.

Kirsten Dunst made a return to the street this week, after what feels like months of being MIA with filming schedules. Wearing a girly sheer dress, Kiki looked as casual and street cool as ever, hopefully she's around to stay for a bit, as this issue of Lula Magazine hasmade me realise how much I "miss her".

Rachel Bilson wore a dress reminisent of that Brian Reyes dress that she wore last year, and verged on chav with oversize bling, but in a refreshing way.

Two people, who I was surprised by, and who I hesitated about featuring, purely because I've never talked about on Discotheque Confusion before are Keri Russell and Jessica "Yawn" Alba. Keri, kept things simple for her TRL appearance and went minimal and black. She looked radiant and ultra feminine in a wool black dress paired with dark tights and was very season-aware in PVC oxford booties. Julianne Moore also went to for a similar idea, though she was more adventurous in a frilled and pleated top, whichshe thankfully managed to pull off.

The reason for Alba? Though I find her hard to like, I thought the pairing of the Steve McQueen tee with the grey tulip skirt was very clever, and well, rather un-Albalike, and like Keri she opted for wooly tights and booties, a winning combination this winter.

Into the Mix

Mary Kate Olsen is a great example of a celebrity who is constantly mixing up their look whilst in keeping with their trademark look. Ms MK can always be relied on for a good fashion analysis, and she's never afraid to be disected (er, so to speak) by wardrobe critics, self declared or "professional".

So to say that seeing that Mary Kate has once again switched up her style pleasantly surprised me, would be a contradition...

Dressed in white, Mary Kate looked all the better for ditching the strict-black wardrobe that she seemed to have confined herself to of late, when she rocked up with Ashley to the Seventh on Sale Dinner in New York on Thursday evening. Dressed to kill in a supershort romantic dress and neon pink Giambattista Valli stripper shoes (or if you want to be proper about it, his "Victoria shoes", she gave Ashley, who opted for a Jil Sander a-like gown, a run for her money.

I suspect that her new dye job was because of a beach wedding that she attended last weekend, where she and Ashley were bridemaids. Despite the wedding's boho beach mood, she no doubt felt the need to smarten up a little and go more glam. Funnily enough, both Ashley and Mary Kate's bridesmaid looks were very similar to the dresses that they wore on Thursday; Ashley in something simple, well cut and very 1990s, while Mary Kate opted for something a little more experimental and romantic.

Let's have a look at the Mary Kate Hairstyle Timeline.

After that Harpers Bazaar editorial back in September, many people, including myself and deexdeexdreamer (of Pistol Whipped) have been left intrigued by the carrot wig that she wore and wondering how she would look as a fiery redhead.

MaKing Love

When there are so many soppy and irritating female songwriters out there, the likes of Joss Stone, Katie Melua and others not worthy of a mention, who have the tendency to de-coolify he image of female musiicans, a crop of superstar lead singers thankfully counteract these acoustic drones and with their wardrobes give two fingers; both in the form of a spice girl girl power revival and in the yeahh check out my wardrobe way.

Roisin Murphy, Natasha Khan and Lovefoxx are all examples of this Superchick.

Now, I'm not about to preach that our Lovefoxx is "one to watch" because quite frankly, she's been a top girl crush of mine (and I'm sure of you) for most of 2007, and if you haven't heard to of the Real Gisele, then pfft, go and read style.com.

Okay, no, don't come back! I didn't mean it, I'm sorry, I shall show you what I'm talking about if you haven't experience The Love yet.

Assaults of glitter, fringing, oversize tees, shiny leggings, skin tight jumpsuits air dunks, and rainbow visuals are all to be expected when the Cansei De Ser Sexy singer is on stage, and you must understand that this is all in an un-arts and crafts way. Judging from the pictures (I'm yet to see her live, though November 5th should roll round the corner nicely) she's bloody good laugh, frollicking around the balloon glad sets, eating cake and crowd surfing.

Part of the coolest coupling ever, (I really can't think of anyone who beat them..) she is engaged to Klaxons' Simon, and they prove that his and her tats shouldn't confined to the likes of Britney and Kevin. I want them round at mine for a good natter and midnight feast now, please.

pictures from lots of great pappers at flickr search.

The Face

Feline Features

Alien Face

Model looks change as often as the clothes that they wear down the runway. There's been the All American Girl Face, Unique Face, Eastern European Face, Heart of Stone Face, Alien Face, Cat Face all over the past couple of seasons, but more and more models with cat like features were cast for the shows for the SS08 season.

The Alien face has been a regular runway look with the likes of Lily Donaldson, Gemma Ward and Sasha Pivorova havin been hot favourites for so many seasons, but this alien face is new. Masha for example is about as strange looking as it is possible to be whilst still looking amazing. Some people just don't understand how she can be a model ( I myself am not one of those people) But which type of model do you like seeing walking down the runway most? Masha and her saucer eyes or the likes of Magdalena with her feline cheekbones and eyes?

Best dressed of the week: celebrity clique edition.

These girls stood out in what was a slow week style wise.
Lots of street wear went down, and SJP made an outing as herself, which makes a change after all the Carrie-ness thats been going down lately.
Did anynoe else get a peek of the photos of the filming of the Gossip Girl christmas special? I thought Blair's get up was very winter wonderland, and although the preppy look is certainly not a look that I usually embrace, well done to the wardobe team.

While I'm not really down with keeping track of what LA reality starlets are wearing, High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale was a pleasant interesting surprise this week in a cableknit cardy-come-coat and scruffy Olsen-esque booties topped off with a Chanel handbag. Not particularly adventurous, but she got my attention nonetheless. Lauren Conrad, usually Queen of the Bland and under-understated, stuck to her trademark of all things simple but for one actually exuded a small portion of glam.

Natalie Portman and Rachel Bilson both looked as hip and effortless as usual as they went for lunches with guy pals (Rachel) and hot BFS (Natalie).

Both Thandie Newton and Rachel Weisz shone in two simple red carpet looks. Thandie in particular has had some very successful looks recently, and here she wore a Giles dress (who else? They're tight n shit.) I wonder who styles her, possibly Lisa Michelle Boyd, as they were having a chinwaggle at Karl's Fendi Great Wall extravaganza. I'm afraid I don't know the designer of Rachel's dress, but hands up if you do!

Which teams put up the best fight for week's best dressed?
Thandie and Rachel W (The Brits), Lauren and Ashley (The Hollywood Teens) or Rachel B and Natalie (The Cools)?

Cherry Popper


POP's covers never fail to satisfy and amaze me.


Infact, thats an understatement, because an indepth read of the magazine cover to cover, and again, and again is what I really love at the start of the new season. The cover picture of Sienna Miller for the Spring Issue has made me all gittery and weak. Barely a month after the collection debuted, they have already styled and shot her in Marc Jacob's fantastic Nurse outfit design for Louis Vuitton. Hot stuff.


People may have been hit and miss about this years US Vogue September cover that she was on, but she has certainly made up for it with excellent covers for much more worthy titles (I won't waste my energy on Anna, you all know how I feel about her already. Oh by the way,

the hag with the dodgy shoes was her in the "Rumour Mill" post and the fresh lamb was Kristen Bell putting her to shame. Shit, I just wasted my energy..) Nylon and now POP.

This of you who are POP Virgins should definitely get your hands on a copy, especially those of you who don't like in the UK, if you can get a copy. It's bi-annular and so it packed with so much more candy than the monthlys and is only a fiver ($10). Expect lots of fanny flashing fashion shots courtesy of Missy Raider and piss take interviews with the likes of Miss Piggy and anti fashion stars like Beth Ditto and Courtney Love.

Trend in the Spotlight: Shoulder Structure

An influx of oversize tees and neon colours during 2007 may have set tongues waggling of an 80s revival, but shoulder pads and high gloss are the real deal and show that the decade of power will still be evident in 2008.

I'm almost hesitant to call this a "trend", because trends are mostly always flash in the pan looks that are overdone and tired out due to being worn by the masses. In no way do I see this happening to shoulder structure; sure, they're likely to become a main fixture on Facehunter, and in clubs across Europe but not in shopping centres across the country.

But this is something to love, the fact that those who are daring and adventurous with fashion can have fun without clones scrubbing away the novelty.

Strong juttings shoulders graced the runways at Maison Martin Margiela in futuristic form, whereas at Balenciaga the shoulders were structured but also round and volumous and John Galliano veered back in the direction of the 1940s with feminine war herione flicks and homages to Marlene Dietch at Christian Dior. Should-be-spokesperson for shoulder pads is style bitch Roisin Murphy, who whilst promoting her new album has been wearing as much structure to her shoulders as Ashley Olsen wears fur. Cate Blanchett came over all 1940s on the front row of the Armani Prive show.

The amazing Maison Martin Margiela, is one of the most fashion forward people in fashion right now, undoubtedly someone to watch, and it seems is a bit of a repeat offender too. Shoulder pads have made a strong appearance in his past collections too.

At Maison Martin Margiela:

Despite Murphy working both shoulder pads and neons to a tee, I still hold the opinion that this look works best with a simple colour palette of blacks, strong dark greys and whites. Instead of colour, mix it up with different textures. Anything glossy or with a bit of a shine is a must.

Further reading: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/main.jhtml?xml=/fashion/2007/05/16/efmower116.xml

Best dressed of the Week: City Edition

Bitchiness goes hand in hand with fashion and fame. So lets reunite the stars with some patriotism by voting for this week's best style city..

Liv Tyler gets extra points for actually looking good at Halloween, when she went trick or treating as Pochontas with her son Milo "Spiderman", but she proved that she can go from cute mum to sexy MILF at the launch of the new Givenchy perfume. Speaking of cute, Wes Anderson was cute as pie in his bow tie at the London premiere of Darjeeling Limited. Does the East Coast deserve the prize?

Despite still insisting on wearing black (thoughts on these Armstrong rumours, anyone?) Ashley still managed to look as effortless as always. Surprisingly, Elisha Cuthburt scrubbed up pretty well, but really she'd representing LA purely for those Miu Miu heels. And who would have thought that one of the city's most notorious party girls could become such a hot mama. I know theres been a lot of MILF talk, but I think we have another contender! Do these girls bring the standard to the top?

Sienna Miller and Kate Winslet both put in a good word for their city with their chic street wear. Despite the rain Sienna looked very sophisticated, and rather, well, polished! Kate showed how to dress for a long haul flight when arriving at LAX in style and Thandie wore that Luella SS08 dress to a Darfur benefit with ease. (Check out how Camille Belle also wore it in the post below..) Does Blighty's capital win thanks to these get ups?

The Rumour Mill

Can you identify the mutton and the lamb?


To counteract the inevitable furry teeth and headaches, seeing as it is the day after Halloween. Here's a treat... (pun intended). Comment if you think you can guess who these two ladies are.
Starring in a series that has had lots of tongues waggling about the wardobe, this actress showed that Chanel tweed isn't all about twin sets and pearls...

Exuding sophistiation (ahem) and ...dignity (ahemhemm), this 50 something has me wondering, yet again, how she manages to play such a supposedly influential part in the fashion industry.
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The new SS08 creations have started making their way down the red carpet. (See last post for Jennifer Connelly in Balenciaga) Both Thandie Newton and Camille Belle (who has that Barton-esque habit of looking good a lot of the time, but doing little else career-wise.) rocked Luella's liberty print dress. Camille looked all youthful and french with skyhigh platforms and sexyglossy hair, while Thandie looked usually chic and knowing.
Who rocked the best outfit for you?
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What are these internet whisperings that I hear? Kate will be modelling for the YSL SS08 campaign? I sincerely hope not; I love the current YSL ads; makes me think of a sexy parisian couple having an explosive argument with Gisele looking all pissed off and gorgeous. Would be rather ironic if Moss (at worlds 2nd highest paid supermodel) took over from the woman at the top of the game.
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In terms of Halloween, I had resigned myself to spending the night in, seeing to the Trick or Treaters and watching some shit TV, but got asked by some friends if I fancied a night out, so after a last minute rummage, I managed to concoct a DIY Wonderwoman get up, which made me rather smug. We all went to the local gay bar where we met the likes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Mr Incredible

What did you dress up as? Anyone as Amy Winehouse? Apparently lots of people did, she was the most popular "get up" it seems, this Halloween. In that case many people will have not only have suffered from sore feet today, but a stiff neck as well after trying to support that hair!

PS, It's November, and you know what that means, don't you? Ultimate girl-crush
Charlotte Gainsbourg has guest-edited the December issue of French Vogue. (Carine, I salute you for continually putting Wintour to shame.)