Rave New World

Super 'Brave New World' editorial from the May issue of Vogue UK. The pairing of Alasdair McLellan as photographer and Jane How as stylist usually leads to pretty good things and this spread is no exception, an ode to The Face-era Kate Moss beach chilling and 90s ibiza sunrises.

Heads Up!

Blogging will be pretty sparse over the next week or so as my time studying at the University of Massachusetts is over and tomorrow I'm packing up and leaving to spend a week working on an avocado farm in Santa Cruz county. It's only 2 weeks until I return home to England and 'normal' life again, it's all gone so quickly! 

In the mean time here are some cool things for reading/listening to/watching and crushing on: 

 This short piece over at Another Magazine with snippets from the column Juergen Teller wrote for Die Zeit back in 2009. 

The cutesy heart-pocketted 'Bethany' skirt by Meadham Kirchoff is up on Net-a-Porter, and man, I'm crushing hard.

What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali. I very behind indeed on finding out about Taylor Mali but I've been devouring his live videos over the last week and this is my favourite by far. Mega inspiring. 

The clear plastic tops in buttercup yellow and rosy pink in this editorial from Vice Portugal.

For Real by Tricky:

Mambo No. 5 by Perez Prado:

mood

Leather lunch bag from Ship and Shape (especially love the fingernails-all coral with one cheeky little eggshell blue), Hailey Clauson by Tyrone Lebon in SS12 Pop Magazine, Bubble bag from Topshop, Stylist Meg Gray looking cracking, Cute little ruffles on the end of the sleeves of a Liz Clairborne jumper I bought from Goodwill the other week, 'Hello!' Smiley jumper from Etsy (sadly for children..)

Live for London

If you have 10 minutes to spare, watch this short film 'Live From London' by the brilliant Tyrone Lebon. It's been online since last summer, but slipped under my radar and in any case feels like a ripe time to watch it with the Olympics and Summer (hopefully) around the corner again. It's a celebration of London and of youth, community, diversity, energy, the past and the present and as a Brit currently overseas it made me feel extra patriotic for all of the good things about my little island. 

Cool Stuff You Should Read (and Do)

My First Skateboard Lesson With Steve Owen.
Everyone knows that girls on skateboards rule, but Kirsten Lea rules even more because she got a lesson from World Champion Steve Owen.

Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom Soundtrack.
Although the release is over a month away you can read the full tracklistings to the upcoming film here. A helluva lot of orchestral tracks with some Francoise Hardy and Hank Williams thrown in.

Kenny Dope's April Weekend. 
If you have to spend 46 minutes and 57 listening to something it should be damn good. Which this funk soul and hiphop mix is. So why not listen to it?

Bauhaus Exhibition at The Barbican.
The 'Bauhaus: Art as Life' exhibition is running from now until August 12th at the London Barbican. I'm very excited to catch it after making a trip to the Bauhaus Archiv last summer only to arrive to it's closed doors (doh..)

Life Skills 101.
The bestest, bestest 'life skills' guide compiled by Rookie Magazine. How to haggle, how to introduce people well, how to tip properly and how to throw a punch and scale a fence when you really need to.

Skating in New York City

 

 

I love these photographs by Bill Eppridge of kids learning to skate in New York in 1965, when the skateboard was a new fad and exciting export from the West Coast. 

Elle and Venetia

 

Elle Fanning shot by Venetia Scott, styled by Beth Fenton for Self Service Magazine No 36.  (Via Through A Glass Darkly) 

You had me at "full bamboo bar set". Seriously, I spent a good long time the other day searching online for bamboo furniture. And this one, on which Elle Fanning is stool-lounging is the best I've seen yet. I want to bring some cool West Coast bungalow vibes to the small flat I will soon be living in...above a shop...in Manchester. Not quite the recipe for 'cool West Coast bungalow vibes' but hey, if bamboo furniture is good enough for Elle Fanning and The Dude..

I really love this shoot and I really love Elle Fanning. I wish there were more girls like Elle Fanning and Tavi Gevinson visible. They're so smart and awesome and I like that they're cool without having used growing up too quickly as a currency to get there. 

outfit

The WEB Dubois library at UMass has 26 floors (it's the tallest University Library in the world, fact friends) and although I'm not keen on the building itself I do love the murals that cover the walls of the two never-ending claustrophobic concrete staircases that plunge through the centre of the building. This one is my favourite and makes for a nice background to a 'library outfit' (I'm in the midst of paper writing).

Moodboard

Cool things: 1. Julia Robert's armpit hair (and on the subject of her armhair, loved this short piece over at The Guardian) 2. I've been thinking about Marabou for a while (see these vintage slippers from Etsy or Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby) and craving wearing some fluffy shoes with some slim blue jeans and a big ole jumper. 3. The women over at Cooler. I hadn't realised what a little goldmine the website for the womens surfing magazine is until Michelle from Cheapskate Chic mentioned it. 4. Portrait of Wolfgang Tillmans from Fantastic Man, June 2010. 5. Brigitte Bardot parachuting in this video.

Football 'Ead

 

 

"Hey, Football Head!" (In the words of Helga from Hey Arnold.) How's this for an editorial? I'm a sucker for sports themes editorials (which definitely has no correlation whatsoever to the fact that I'm not a very sporty person but deep down I wish I was.) 'Playing The Field' from the Spring 2012 issue V Magazine is an absolute gem, shot by Alasdair McLellan, with Bambi Northwood Blyth as a stout-drinking pitch-side spectator (and very possibly half-time goalpost flirter.) Basically she's a solid Northern lass with solid allegiances to Doncaster Rovers, a solid centre-parting and presumably a pretty solid portion of her wardrobe dedicated to some pretty solid jackets.

Bay Garnett on Cheap Date

"..It was about thrifting and independence. I found fashion magazines so elitist. Cheap Date was really just a part of who I was; there was nothing really contrived about it."

Photograph via Shardette.

Great interview with Bay Garnett over at Oyster Mag. It has me holding my breath for a possible future relaunch of Cheap Date (especially frothing at the mouth at the idea of a website launch.) The Cheap Date Guide to Style (co-authored by Kira Jolliffe) was my style bible in my teens. And it still pulls me faithfully through style funks and the ever-so-occasional blip moments of "but does is all really matter?" when on a Monday morning I might stand cluelessly in front of my wardrobe and wonder whether 'good style' is all some hideous conspiracy. (A quick flick through Cheap Date would act as the equivalent of a girlfriend leaning in a doorway saying "Chill out, man. Just have fun. Look, wear this, it'll make you look like the sexiest, most carefree broad out there.") 

And one of my favourite parts of the interview: What is the essence of Cheap Date? "Independence, imagination, spirit, anarchy, wit, and kindness." Aka, the six components of a brilliant and everlasting friendship rolled into an awesome and dependable style zine.

Anais World

There's something about Anais Pouliot. Really love this editorial from the latest issue of Tank Magazine.

Shot by Viktor Vauthier with styling from Pandora Lennard.