christmas 2010

A few top notch quality pictures from camera phone snapped over Christmas in Manchester, Brighton and back home in Bristol. Just as the holidays should be spent, with snow and friends and family and board games and meal after meal.

a few

benetton jumper/ verdant flats/ elizabeth of move slightly 's anorak/ a standard, current snowy sight (ph. india doyle)/ my fern print blanket/ low boots on eBay/ favourite paris vogue cover: carolyn and andre/ shameless pottery/ chunky socks from toast.

chloe

image: chloe sevigny in purple magazine

There's a brilliant interview with Chloe Sevigny in the January Playboy which I've been meaning to post about as it's very interesting indeed and worth a peruse. Lots of frank talk about how she views her style status, how strong lumberjackish men will always beat arty hipster types (amen), and familiar tales of boys not texting back. Girl after my own heart. It's pretty much the best possible result you could hope for from a game of 20 Questions and refreshingly not watered down by PR spiel, it's all thoroughly Chloe- honest and witty and sharp.

Read the article here

merry christmas!

Merry Christmas all! Here's to a day of (bread) saucy gluttony and cosiness.

On this perfectly crisp and quiet Christmas Day here is a quote from Rose in I Capture The Castle which I always associate with the festive season, dreaming about living in a cold, crumbling English castle from the comfort of a blanket on the sofa and the simple enjoyment to be had from a new lipstick and a roast. Our Christmasses are pretty modest since I've got older, we'll exchange a book or two and something to eat and drink and after this routine over the past few years a brand new lippie rather appeals.

"I'd sell my soul to the devil...

...for a roast-beef dinner and a Tangee lipstick."

Hope you're all having a cracking Christmas (oh no I didn't..) yourselves. What did you get?

oh dear

It's probably worth pointing out that my posts will be sporadic over the next week or so. I very stupidly left my laptop charger in Manchester (up there with the Top 5 Blogger Nightmares, I'd say) and unless I fancy forking out £60 for a new one (the answer is no) then I'll have to beg, steal or borrow computers where I can..

pammy

Simon Hattenstone's article in yesterdays Guardian has reaffirmed my absolute love for Pamela Anderson. And in turn my absolute love for this series of photographs taken by Juergen Teller for the Vivienne Westwood SS09 advertisements. You can imagine the fun that Vivienne, Pammy, Juergen and Andreas (Mr Westwood) must have had messing about at Anderson's trailer park home and creating photographs. My favourite from the series (which sadly I can't find on the internet..) is of Pammy deep in concentration with her nose in the pages of Plato, her nipples just in sight at the bottom of the shot under some sheer knitwear. Apparently Viv's husband had a copy and she insisted on being photographed with it. Girl knows exactly how to control her image-she also stood behind photographer Perou on the Guardian shoot and made him delete the shots she didn't like.



I suppose Pammy has been on my brain over the last week after reading Chuck Klostermann's appalling chapter in his 'low culture manifesto' Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Pops which was deeply offensive and punctuated the whole way through with statements about how lots of intellectual men love that Pamela Anderson is a slut because it means they can fantasise about her 'lecherously and ironically.' Except that Klostermann misses the point entirely because Pamela Anderson is an intellectual match to any of the men who pine after her because it helps them to feel more clever. Either way, before this turns into some pop culture Pammy essay, I think she's great. Mostly because she is a true representation of human beings and as much as people judge her or make perceptions about her personality, she will always slip out of the way and avoid being pigeonholed. She proves that you can never make assumptions about other human beings, and that really you don't need to. Easier said than done but it's an important one to remember.
God Bless Pammy and God bless America.

resignation for the nation

Weep, Dasha Zhukova and now Carine Roitfeld have within the space of a month each resigned from their roles as Editor in Chief at Pop Magazine and Paris Vogue respectively. My, oh, my. I'm never great with change, maybe this should be seen as an opportunity for each to go on and indulge in some new and exciting projects. Roitfeld, who has been at the helm of Vogue Paris for a decade I can understand slightly more (itchy feet and all that..) but Zhukova has been at Pop for less than two years and as a die hard of Pop Magazine under the leadership of Katie Grand before her, Zhukova's Pop actually surpassed my love for Grand's and I was really enjoying the different direction the publication was taking. Dang. Will be interesting to see what 2011 has in store for these two magazines. In honour of two of my favourite fashion publications and their Editors, here are two of my favourite editorials from each. 'Jasper and Zippora Seven + King and Justine Crawford are Brothers and Sisters' from Paris Vogue November 2007. And 'The Channels' from Pop Magazine Fall/Winter 2009.

monday

Bought this little knitted flannel vest in the Northern Quarter last weekend. It reminds me of the sort of vests that would have been styled into ELLEgirl editorials back in the day with Mary Jane heels and metallic socks and a young Alexa Chung wearing an army hat. Ps, do you like my ultra lovely university bathroom? Manchester University is alll about the public toilet aesthetic. And for your Monday evening listening pleasure, my favourite LCD Soundsystem track.

fern print

I found this fabric during the Summer in a charity shop just down the road from my Granny's house. It's about 1x2 metres, not big enough to do much with besides lay at the end of my bed over my grey lambswool blanket. Which is fine because the lush greens look lovely against the grey and I like having it somewhere I can always see it. I just wish I had more of it as the cheese plant and fern print is perfect; I'd love to make a collection of matchy matchy go-to pieces for myself. A cheese plant print mini dress, a pair of slacks, or some shorts to have as a summer core uniform to be alternated each day and worn with straw hats and leather sandals or orange lippie and grey trainers for a winning tangerine/jungle/schoolgirl grey colour combo. Henry Holland's Summer 2011 collection has done absolutely nothing to quell my general desire for all things cheese plant related, in fact he has invigorated it fully with gorgeous little shirts, bags, flares (you name it!) in an uncannily similar print. I'm now wondering if there is someway of copying and reproducing my fabric in mass in time for the Spring.. Thinking cap on.

yesterday

What I wore yesterday: simple black vest, suede trousers, beige cardigan, espadrilles.

This week has been pretty busy as the first semester winds down before Christmas. Not before a smattering of deadlines though; earlier in the week I submitted an essay about Holden Caulfield and Archetypal American Adolescents (think Ferris Bueller, Benjamin Braddock, Huck Finn..) and now I'm scurrying around to meet the deadline for my study abroad applicatiom, reading through all of the amazing sounding modules available across the pond. 

I went to see Somewhere yesterday and (I say this with a heavy heart because I'm a huge Coppola fan) found it quite disappointing. Visually it's brilliant and very true to the Sofia Coppola aesthetic; especially with the shots of Chataeu Marmont and it's white body peeking out from the Hollywood greenery and Elle Fanning gliding around an empty ice rink in a lilac costume. But the lacking dialogue couldn't be justified though in my eyes and the characters were nowhere near as developed or interesting as they could have been. There were lots of touching moments between the Father and Daughter characters but when it finished I felt like there was so much more that could have been explored and that the film only touched the surface of it's own potential.  Chris Pontius (yes, Jackass's Party Boy-you have to give Sofia credit for brilliantly bizarre casting) was hilarious as Johnny's best friend. To me he was the perfect incarnation of the type of cool friend of your Dad who would tell naughty stories and swear in front of you or maybe give you a brilliant album or really crappy food to eat and be the kind of adult company that seemed ultra cool and delightfully irresponsible compared to the array of sensible teachers and figures of authority otherwise surrounding you. Equally the repeated scenes with the embarrassingly bad twin strippers were very entertaining but all in all I want to shake Coppola by the shoulders because lacking in development and that's bearing in mind that convential 'Hollywood development' doesn't at all apply to her style of direction.
I'm curious to know what you all think of Somewhere, especially as the blogosphere is awash with Coppola and Lost In Translation lovers.

inspiration on a wednesday

the mood in the air and the things on my mind: student protesters/ashley smith/simon jessica in the shower, paris by nan goldin/socks and sandals.

in the fold

Have you seen what Susie Bubble's ultra pretty snakeskin Carin Wester wedges can do? They can ruddy well fold in the middle! More shoes need to have this as a function. And may I reiterate how marvelous a pair of shoes they are? The wedge sort of reminds me of the texture of an egg box, how pleasing..

perfect

this is probably the closest visual depiction of my ideal outfit right now. if I could only apply the same dedication to earning some money as I put into compiling outfit formulas then maybe I'd be onto a winner..

cardigan, play by comme des garcons/ gloves and bra, monki/ cord skirt, toast/ birkenstock sandals/ socks, happy socks.

cheers now

Just wanted to say a quick little thank you for all of the lovely comments left in response to the Vice Style video. I really had been nervous in the lead up to it going online and getting such a warm response made me feel even more gushy (if that's possible) about the blogging community. I love finding out about all the interesting and charming people that read my blog by reading the comments left and sometimes it'll even lead me on to discover brilliant new reads (in this case Samantha of Zelig and Jessica i'm looking at you).

To those wondering the nail varnish I was wearing (and which is still chipping from my fingers as I type-though that says more about my lazy reapplying skills than the polish itself) is Rimmel London in Rose Libertine. Sadly I've no idea what I was wearing on my lips. Maybe just a gloss? And the leopard number was a cute skater dress they had for sale at Dirty Blonde, the shop I was nosing around. 

Eenyway, once again thank you, you lovely bunch!

winter

clockwise from left: a sweetiepie redhead modeling chloe sevigny for opening ceremony, suede gloves, pot plants, gemma arterton in i-D magazine, cool guy in a duffle, knitwear, socks and sandals from 'more dash less cash' september vogue, my dad.

found this little collage squirreled away from the summer. ah, god bless those days when I had hours to spend lying on my bed with the window letting in a warm breeze and crafting winter wishlist collages..

and now a few items on my mind. gorgeous little knit cardigan (look at those lovely square pockets!) some men's boots from  a.p.c and a vintage hair comb (which I think could make a suitable stocking present come christmas.)

students dance and students shout

I spent a lovely night on Friday with my dear Joanna. It was my first time visiting Leeds and we replicated the many dinnertime noodle routines we enjoyed when we traveled around America together in the Spring and got incredibly excited about the nighttime snowfall on our way back from a long night of dancing. Joanna has been so brilliant at involving herself in various groups and societies since starting University and this morning we went along to an action meeting at the University about the proposed rising student tuition fees (she's been involved in  occupying a lecture theatre there over the last few days (as many groups of students across the country have been doing) and had stories to tell about sliding around beautiful empty university buildings in the middle of the night. She sent me back home armed with a recommended read (Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman) and renewed sense of drive to take a leaf out of her book and to scream and shout more about the Higher Education cuts. I think it's very easy to passively go about your daily routine and for some to fall into the trap of viewing the tuition fee protests as some kind of political agenda pushing, but the truth is this is something that will affect everybody and after attending the meeting it was reassuring to feel the sense of unity amongst students and the wider public too.

this tuesday sees more walk-outs and demonstrations in opposition to the proposed rise in tuiton fees. I know missing lectures and seminars to be involved can take it's toll but have a word with yout tutors and see if they're willing to reschedule. They're all on our side!

thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all across the pond-ers and fellow lovers of all things American and pumpkin spiced. I'm making a big feast with around 20 friends tonight (around a quarter of us are American Studies students and one is a real life Texan which very much permits a foreign celebration) I am deliriously happy that the tinned pumpkin we ordered arrived just in the nick of time. My evening shall consist of peeling sweet potatoes and sampling for the first time the ultra odd combination of marshmallow with sweet potatoes. Nom nom nom.

kate moss

I think Kate Moss and Juergen Teller will always be a bit of a swoon-worthy combination in my eyes. Juergen's no-nonsense style is perfect for Kate, who always looks at her best when unkempt and messing about. I'm never of a big fan of a glossy Moss editorial. This one is a real gem from the December Self Service (issue #33) though it looks like it could easily have been taken back in 2005. This is the Kate we all know and love.

loveblogging

Holy macaroni. I've been so nervous about seeing the results of this Love Blogging video that I shot with Vice a month ago. Danielle who is the mastermind behind the project has done such a great job on all five videos. As somebody who has been blogging for a long time (and the fact that it feels completely second nature) it's quite easy to plod along without really thinking about what it all means to me and these videos reiterate that; the fact that the focus these days is on real people -blogging has helped fashion to become more diplomatic and to champion the individual and that's such a brilliant thing. Aye, spiel over.. 

Don't forget to play word bingo if you watch my video, I'm going to have to find a way to scrap the phrase 'kind of' from my daily vocab.

You can watch the video here.

a little bird told me

"I remember the two of us being mischievous: we’d do all sorts of stuff. Once we hid a Dictaphone and recorded our granny peeing, then played it back to the whole family. Actually, that was just me — I don’t know why I’m trying to blame him!" Tammy Kane on being naughty with brother Christopher.

november 18th

This is what I've been wearing this afternoon, indoors at least. There is still a lot of trial and error going on as I acclimatise to not only the onset of winter but a proper manchester winter which, let's not beat about the bush, is bloody cold. Maybe I'll start a daily layer count to make it a fair test. Yesterday I wore one vest, and today I upgraded to a vest and a tee under a big jumper. All very well being smug about layering until you realise half way through a tutorial that you're a sweaty wreck.  And so the trial continues..

tourist

Tourist is in my eyes, and likely in the eyes of many of you the 'online magazine of the moment'. Each issue is consistently filled with creative and well shot photo stories; editor Sanna Helena Berger and the contributors have a real knack for creating editorial that feels very now and caters to what we as readers (and lovers of blogs) want. The whole magazine taps into society's current fascination with well, other people-the message of today is anything personal is always better and Tourist agrees. An image of a girl bent over beside her front door, searching for keys in her bag (because how many times a day do we do that?), an ode to a favourite magazine, contributors' holiday snaps are what you can expect from an issue. Hell, it's nothing groundbreaking so to speak, just pretty cool and pretty nice and sometimes that's all that's necessary.

Here are some of my highlights from Issue 11 which has just been released:

juergen teller

Great clip from MTV in the early 90s about my absolute fashion photographer hero Juergen Teller.

Watch him shooting Kate Moss with his then-wife Venetia Scott, talking about Courtney Love and PJ Harvey and the beginnings of his career working for record companies.

that time again..

Every year I tell myself that I'll be one of those terribly organised types who has all of their Christmas present shopping completed before December 1st. Well, I'm not going to lie to myself this year but I will probably be choosing everything online and from the comfort of my room or at least somewhere that doesn't involve optimum stress, a few layers of deodrant, and sharpening of elbows aka 'real-life shops'. 

While on the one hand Christmas shopping can be a bit dreadful it's also really rewarding to be able to choose cool gifts for your friends and family so here are some ideas and stocking fillers to kickstart the process..

Oversized Cashmere Boutique Jacket, Topshop/ The Gentlewoman Magazine, Magazine Cafe/ Stella Mccartney Days of the Week Knickers, Net-a-Porter*/ Black+Blum Lunchbox, Amazon/ Classique perfume by Jean Paul Gautier, Amazon/ Leather Kent shoes, Topshop/ Quince Jam, Turkish Supermarket.

*Days of the Week style is sadly sold out (boo) but the Tourist style is similar..

Saddle Crew Cashmere Jumper, Margaret Howell/ Colette 'voila' lighter, Opening Ceremony/ O'hanlon Mills marl socks, Urban Outfitters/ Wrights Traditional coal soap, Amazon/ The Daily Show 'Indecision 2004', Amazon/ Black+Blum lunchbox, Amazon/ Toothbrush, Paul Smith.