sylvia's cute outfit-rainmac and apc sweater (note corbusier's cow print chair, too.) / ashley helvey's always delicious looking meals (and crockery!) / film still from the ballad of jack and rose/ jen brill's lovely pink lipstick via tales of endearment/ heels on the street at london fashion week via anywho/ photograph by william eggleston.
Beyond wearing a ring or two everyday, I'm not a huge jewelry person. This necklace was a present from my Mum a few birthdays back-I wanted a simple gold chain rather than a necklace as I knew I'd probably be fickle and change my mind and this way I can change the charm every few months or so whenever I fancy something different. In true fickle form I haven't worn it for the last year or so while I went off necklaces. But today it's come back out. At the moment it has one of those spinning 'I Love You' Marc Jacobs pendants from the Bleeker St store in New York and I've just added a little ringpull which I found on the floor of my bedroom. I feel like Simone Rocha or one of Lulu Kennedy's Fashion East crew produced a simple ringpull necklace on a chain but I can't for the life of me remember who it was? Either way they were lovely and probably the reason at the back of my head that I threaded a ringpull onto my own chain. It's also a cheap way of adding a bit of interest to a slummy saturday afternoon outfit, not bad, not bad..
The things you could cook (cinnamon rolls!) the people you should be (all of the above!)
T. C. Boring, Greenwood, Mississippi by William Eggleston/ Nick Cave and Susie Bick/ Band of Outsiders Spring 2011 lookbook/ a painting set via Where They Create/ Daniel Day Lewis and Camille Belle in The Ballad of Jack and Rose/ Kaj Franck's crockery and feastful delights at Nordic Bakery via Antipodeuse.
And a little bit of 'Baby It's You' by Smith which alongside Is This What You Wanted by Leonard Cohen, A Thing Called Love by Johnny Cash and Civilian by Wye Oak has been continuously looping on my spotify playlist most of the week.
Wow. Naomi Campbell covering the latest issue of Pop. Quality wise Pop is probably one of my favourite magazines. It's just frustrating that the title didn't get more of a chance to grow under the editorship of Dasha Zhukova as I've really loved the direction it's taken favouring a more arty approach than Katie Grand's focus on glossy celebrity. I just hope it doesn't suffer too much from the erratic changes in staff. Katie Grand and now Dasha Zhukova out of the door in two years. Still, free sticker sheets ease the pain somewhat.
Aren't these nice? A minty-white raincoat from Weekday (causing me to ponder the economic viability of flying to Stockholm just to get my hands on their current stock) and a wooden bead hair bobble from Sasha Diez.
Hawaiian shirts had a bit of a moment last summer. They coincided with a summer soundtrack from bands like Best Coast and The Drums with their lashings of musical 60s-Cali-Beach Boys-surfer vibes. Oversized Hawaiian shirts with their billowy armholes for optimum armpit ventilation and easy to throw on nature seemed to perfectly compliment that mini moment. My own shirt which I bought when I was traveling across the states to reinvigorate my traveling wardrobe which was getting both repetitive and a little bit smelly would probably have stayed tucked away this Summer if I hadn't seen Central St Martin's graduate Maarten Van Der Horst's collection and been inspired to wear tropical prints in a slightly different way.
This time sees the tropical prints in a smarter setting. Well cut trousers and matchy-matchy suits reminiscent of the starched pyjama sets 'proper' people (ie, not me) own seem a more mature alternative and the larger botanic prints- Birds of Paradise and large palm leaves pick up where Stella McCartney, Prada and House of Holland left off with their fruity, leafy Spring collections. The collection has that grown up air and comes off as remarkably 'simple' despite the huge prints. And despite the collection being a Winter one, the clothes themselves seem to be adaptable for summer. Associating Hawaiian prints with warm July breezes and the feeling of sunshine on your skin is perfectly justified in my books, and imagining wearing a pair of tropical slacks with leathery sandals and a bikini top on a beach is the epitome is excitement on a february day.
Sadly where Prada-related accessory inspiration is concerned, donning a real banana won't do. Unless you're down with brown bananay mash. Which I don't think any of us are. There are only so many 'oh for gods sake' moments you can take-when your hand meets the oozy fruit which has squelched its way around the contents in the bottom of your handbag. But I digress. This is mainly one big excuse for me to coo over the Tatty Devine bananay 'homage' (ahem) and to, dare I?, admit that I actually prefer it to the Prada versions purely for the fact it's in brooch form and (as far as I know..) Miuccia didn't dabble in that department. Ah but Tatty Divine you really know how to put the kibosh on my happiness.. £45 you say? That's almost a fortnight of food in my world. For, oh the irony, an inedible foodstuff smaller the size of my little finger. Try chowing down on that. I know Carrie Bradshaw gushed that sometimes she skipped dinner and bought Vogue instead because it 'fed her more' but I'd like to see that put into practice. You can grill the pages of Vogue with as much haloumi as you like, but that is still the most bullshit quote I'll heard under the rumbles of my empty belly. So, yes, better look from afar..
This is one of the London Fashion Week looks that has stayed in my head so far. A berryish red ponyskin coat at Charles Anastase.
Is there a clothing equivalent to onomatopoeias? The sort of items that jump out at you straight from the runway before you've had a chance to see them up close but that seem so vivid that you can imagine how the fabric would feel against your fingers long before you touch it. Well, this coat does exactly that for me, especially the ponyskin texture-the sort of fabric that reminds me of lying on my Great Granny's carpet when I was little and making patterns in the thick pile by rubbing my hands back and forward over it, changing the nap of the fabric and creating changes in the colours as I went.
The A-line cut of the coat has that wonderfully classic and fuss-free quality-the sort of coat good for burrowing hands into and with the flexibility to pile scarves and wool layers underneath. But going back to the Ponyskin-it's been on my mind since seeing this and then after the Unique show I noticed Grazia's Paula Reed wearing something similarly horsey in black. Also appealing are ponyskin skirts (I think I recall a Topshop Boutique one on the website not long ago before it speedily disappeared) though they don't have that same 'hey, I can wear it everyday because it's a coat' excuse. Shame that Ponyskin isn't an easily attainable fabric, I have a hunch it will take me a while to suceed in this new mission..
I do like a big show-offy finale with the models marching out together in one big unorganised gaggle. Aside from the fact it looks brilliant I'm always amazing they manage to do it without treading on each others toes or cutting one another up. Here is the big finale at Unique yesterday. Fingers crossed much nicer photographs to come once I've had my film developed.
A few sneaky purchases made at Topshop last week. The cropped grey jersey has remained attached to my body for most of the weekend. It's easy to throw on and nicely ribbed which assures me I'm wearing it out of choice and not laziness. I only have two bottoms which come up high enough to wear it with (it's february-of all the months I'm least likely to wear my belly on show, which I probably wouldn't aside from the beach, this is it..) so I have been alternating between my brown suede trousers and the new blue skirt. Which to the discernable eye (see those creases!) has also been worn lots this weekend. In fact I wore the two together to the Unique show yesterday. And finally the off-yellow silky shirt with a sweet bonsai print. I see yellow as the trickiest of the colours to pull of and maybe it's for this reason that I've always had the desire to be able to wear it well. I attribute this to my Mum whose skin is just a shade darker than mine meaning she can call herself Olive and look fantastic in sunshine colours while I, sadly, don't look quite so 'wow'. Another precursor to this yellow desire-the historical moment (in the eyes of my 13 year old self ) when Chloe Sevigny wore that Yves Saint Laurent dress in 'cold tropicana for breakfast on a tropically hot morning' yellow. Gloriously refreshing and bright and not at all nauseating.
This week has been an odd one mostly punctuated by me randomly falling over in public and being left with the kind of palm grazes you have continuously between the ages of 4 and 6 or sitting in lectures and just feeling a bit teary and sorry for myself. Clearly something is in the air as Michelle from Cheapskate Chic has has a similarly shoddy week! But having a Style.com tab permanently on my computer screen with incoming catwalk reports has been a nice distraction and with London Fashion Week kicking off this weekend it's a good excuse to let cyber people watching via style blogs monopolise my brain.
I usually find the Winter collections more appealing, perhaps this is just because seeing an influx of polonecks and cosy looking parkas while it's still chilly outside is physically appealing but either way the New York collections excited me more than usual. As naughty as it is to admit somethings I view NYFW as a bit of a pre-cursor to the more exciting and less commercial shows. (Proenza Schouler, Rodarte, Rachel Comey are exampt from this generalisation). But back to this season. Edun in particular which grows on me with every season, had a very cool ease about it. The sort of collection that has been styled well but would still serve you well once the outfits have been deconstructed and individual pieces worn. It always niggles me when you realise a collection that looked so wonderful on the catwalk was down to canny styling and it's brilliance doesn't quite translate onto the rails.
More updates after the weekend I should think, after a flying visit to London. There is nothing quite like London Fashion Week to encourage patriotism (okay, bunting-clad Royal Weddings street parties and Northern boozers are up there too..) and have me rubbing my hands together in anticipation of what the young british designers will come up with. For this reason Lulu Kennedy's blog is always good for a little peruse to the heart beating faster.
image: russh jan/feb 2010 'julia likes metal and making out'
After toying with the idea for ages, I'm biting the bullet and offering advertising on the blog. As a blog reader I'm always of the approach that as long as the advertising is relevant and it reflects the personality of the blog (and it's not blanketing the entire screen everytime I bloody well move my mouse) then I don't have a problem with it. So I'll be taking the same approach here. But I'd like to know what you as a reader think about this, I used to be incredibly put off by advertising and viewed it as some form of selling but I feel like approaches to advertising through blogs has changed a lot, certainly in the last couple of years and now I don't mind. I put a lot of love into this blog and as a student it would always be nice to have a few extra pennies in my pocket but if you think advertising would affect your enjoyment of the blog, do speak up as this is primarily something I do for enjoyment rather than some money-making scheme.
I'm interested in working with independant designers/vintage sellers whose products will be of genuine interest to you lot. As well as to me-I wouldn't include links to sellers that I wouldn't be compelled to click on myself. To potential advertisers, drop me a line at smackenziesmith@hotmail.co.uk if you'd like to ask about rates and and the ins and outs of everything. While I get the hang of all of this I'll offer a reduced rate of advertising, whoop de whoop!
Ah Valentines Day. I know a love-related festival is borne out of good intentions (whatever you think about Hallmark related fanfare) but February 14th knows how to make singles feel shoddy doesn't it? This year's Valentines not-so nicely coincides with me being newly single as of this weekend so I am resolving to buy myself flowers (a usual non-Valentines related pick me up) and sneakily slide homemade cards under my friends' doors and not feel too disappointed when I find my postbox empty tomorrow morning. This all sounds a bit woe is me- to be honest I'd probably be doing the same even in different circumstances. I remember when I was at school I drew little cards with inappropriate pictures of lovesick sausages asking pigs to be their valentine and sent them to my friends through the internal Valentines post system. And a couple of years back me and my Mum went to an anti-Valentines screening of a series of short films which ranged from the music video for 'Elephant Gun' by Beirut to an incestuous tale of a brother and sister living in a tenement building somewhere in Eastern Europe. The latter was rather over indulgently arty but again deliciously inappropriate for Valentines. But the point is, Happy Valentines from me to you, take it with a pinch of salt, and maybe make some cool cookies like these for the equally cool people in your life, platonic or not platonic.
Sweet Jesus, Mary and Joseph. It has just come to my attention that on this fine saturday I have unintentionally dressed myself as the female incarnation of Steve Jobs. Cue a little snigger from me when I realised the comedy in channelling Mr Apple's apparel but have now resolved that it's quite fitting as it makes me Stevie Jobs? Haw Haw Haw.
Must admit bedtime is pretty much the only time my feet haven't been immersed in New Balance over the last week, it's getting a bit silly. The novelty of super comfortable footwear may be outweighed by the inevitable pong that's soon to come, so an airing is probably a good idea. On a side note, I went to see Hamlet at The Lowry on Thursday night. Even the bloody prince was wearing New Balance!
Kim Noorda (via florencesw) / the simplicity of this lovely little outfit- cropped metallic thread roll neck and that little frill along the hem of the dress (via altamiranyc) / Kate Moss and Johnny Depp at airport (I know the old school Kate Moss pictures on blogs get kind of generic but I love this) / Angela Lindvall US Vogue Oct 1998 'Great Lengths' by Carter Smith / My feet in Peschiera Del Garda last August / Pregnant Stella Tennant in Margiela from Mark Borthwick's 2000-1 Maison Martin Margiela (via 11l13)
rather like this blog. www.66kf.wordpress.com. very little to know except that it's written by ekaterina, who is originally from russia and at some point along the line studied at central st martins. but what's of more importance is that her blog and the pictures she posts are plain old lovely.
Happy Chinese New Year! Things acquired along the way while wandering around Chinatown with five friends in honour of Chinese New Year this afternoon:
A carton of lycee juice. Absolutely delicious.
A bag of White Rabbits. I'd never tried them before and Yaz was pretty on the mark when she described them as like white milk bottles but tougher. They come in really cute little wrappers and rice paper that dissolves in your mouth, yum.
Paper Chinese Dragon puppet.
Bursting bellies full of tiger beer, noodles and pancakes and chinese jellies.
As well as some crappy photographic evidence:
Did any of you celebrate the New Year? Interested to know how you spent it and more importantly what you ate?..
These days it feels like most of my money is spent on really mundane things. As much pleasure as I get out of cooking and eating nice food, my word, it costs money to keep the fridge stocked. And don't even get me started on the cost of pine nuts.. (but more about that later) I know this is nothing new for seasoned 'adults of the big bad world' who already understand that tough shit, sometimes you have to buy boring stuff instead of cool new clothes. But I digress. The point is my wardrobe hasn't really seen much action since I came to university in September. Very little in the way of newbies so after picking up some new purchases today I've got a bit of a spring in my step. For a start, after all of the harping on about New Balance*, I finally bought a pair. The mens sizes come up really small so though I'm a 7 in womens shoes, I was able to fit a mens 7 too. Just a tip in case you fancy ordering any online for yourself. I also went to the big bargain second hand store on Oldham St in the Northern Quarter where I managed to find a couple of old sports tee shirts (the Tommy Hilfiger inspired by Disney Roller Girl and Alice's American flavoured tops) and a brown ribbed rollneck. The rollneck, crucially is just the right height as unless you have the chin definition of Kate Moss there is a very large margin for double chin related errors..
Speaking of double chins, I cultivated mine over a lunchtime curry and catch up with my friend Tom who was visiting Manchester. Signficant topic of conversation= how cool/sexy Naomi Shimada is.
Also feel its my duty to share with you this Jamie Oliver recipe for Feta and Spinach Filo pastry pie which I made this evening as it turned out very well. Spending my post-lecture afternoons watching back to back episodes of 30 Minute Meals has turned into a bit of a guilty pleasure so I thought I'd actually try my hand at something. Really easy to recreate and if you're down with spending extortionate amounts of money on pine nuts (probably more valuable than gold right now) I say go for it.
At the risk of implying that I've somehow turned into some sneaker wearing, Lil' Wayne listening, Hilfiger wearer (well, okay I suppose I have but all in extreme moderation) I'm throwing down the gauntlet and recommending this track which my friend Joe has played on repeat for the last week- my love for it increases with every listen. Lil Wayne was never really on my radar but I can gladly listen to this and mumble something about it having 'a good melody'.
Clockwise from top left: 'Julia Likes Metal..' editorial, Russh Magazine Jan/Feb 10/ the frontier cest belle ca via paris in dreams/ sarah jessica parker/ carrie bradshaw's adidas trainers and sports scarf/ adidas socks and shoes via tourist magazine/ 'Eniko is Everything' editorial, Russh Magazine Dec 10/ gorgeous PVC mac from Topshop (yet to go online..) / Josephine de la Baume via Style Caster / the supermegaultra cool Fran Burns and Victoria Young from Pop Magazine in Giles 'Scoobie' sunglasses/
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