tuesday activities etc

After an 8.30 start for a few hours of painting walls (apparently-and fortunately given current finances-I'm the house mule with my Mum paying me for shitty jobs) I headed into town with money burning a hole in my pocket.

I came back with the following:

-houseplant
-frost/nixon
-frost nixon watergate interviews
-norwegian wood by murakami
-washington dc by gore vidal
-the killer inside me by jim thompson

somehow I managed to justify the spending with the fact that they're mostly materials to kickstart my preparation for reading American Studies in the autumn. after watching 'All The President's Men' last night (and wishing that Robert Redford circa 70s still existed) the Watergate themed films are top of my list.

And in terms of my outfit today; an Obama cartoon t-shirt which I bought off of eBay. I love it because it's beautifully unfunny despite the creator's best efforts. A caricature of Bush is saying to Obama 'I don't think you can fix my mess..' and Obama is grinning back 'Yes We Can!' It's like 'is that the best you could come up with? Well, bless you for trying'. Also my black Monki peg legs which are getting a lot of wear at the moment and my faithful black leather lace ups.

I leave you with 'Caravan' by Blur which was playing as I browsed the DVD section in Fopp earlier.

cinema style: diana christensen

Faye Dunaway as the brilliant and psychotic television producer Diane Christensen in Network.

chloe

sources 1 & 2

Heads up- the first rumblings of the third Chloe Sevigny Opening Ceremony have begun! Yesterday afternoon, armed with her collection Chloe Sevigny gathered together an awful lot of pretty friends (Lesley Arfin, check. Jen Brill, check.) for a session of sunshine playing and dressing up. After last season's unisex pieces, this Pre-Spring collection returns to the girlish aesthetic of her first Opening Ceremony collaboration. Think lots of girlish dresses in leopard, gingham, chambray and polka dot as well as staple cardigans. There is also a hint of casual sportswear thrown in with varsity bombers, tight jersey sweatshirts, leather shorts and baseball caps(!).

From the many photographs from the shoot, I really love this collection. It's further proof that Chloe is a pro at understanding the need for simultaneous comfort and style and the absense of fussiness. Quite predictably I've already created a mental check list of which pieces I'd like with the gingham button down dress (complete with Big Love style pocket and collar edging) right at the top.

see the many, many pictures from the shoot over at the O.C blog..

shopping baskets and fishing hats

american apparel employees, mondaine wristwatch, diane keaton's hair, nike felldin's hair, peonie bushes, brown trousers and long jackets, dudley's personalised fishing hat, shopping basket, jane birkin and her shopping basket, the graduate, moleskin notebooks.

what I wore

suede jacket-vintage, t-shirt-vintage, tapered trousers-monki, glasses-beyond retro, sandals-urban outfitters.

This is what I wore for yesterday's day of-

1. Present shopping (Shuttlecock by Graham Swift, Nine Stories by JD Salinger and a bag of ginger plain chocolates for my Dad's Birthday).
2. Cacti buying (for myself).
3. Refreshingly minimal make-up wearing.
4. Cola lace eating (so much pleasure to be had out of spending 30p on a small paper bag of fizzy sweets to break up a £20 note).
5. Friend visiting (I went to Josh's house where I was shown lots of his recent photographs and provided with the ingredients for a bloody good tuna sandwich.)

I also have good news as it's now confirmed that I shall be returning to work at Topshop after some doubt on the subject. Hurrah! I have until the 19th to continue my current lifestyle of freedom and frugality.

brown and straw

Utterly gorgeous shot from the 'Cote d'Allure' story in Vogue Germany January 2010. Styled by Julia Von Boehm, photography by Horst Diekgerdes.

source

lenseless taboos and the graduate

my friends are going to judge me. I was in London this weekend for a brief stay with a friend and succumbed to buying a pair of clear glasses. It's like a dirty little desire that's been festering away within me. I can't help it, sometimes I wish I was shortsighted just so that I could socially acceptably wear lenses. from here on I must tread carefully; my dear friend Emily, herself a genuine glasses wearer has little patience for the likes of the club I am now enrolled in.

Moving swiftly on; London was lovely. Since my Aunt traded her life in Finsbury Park for a new chapter in Buckinghamshire and Babyraising my visits have been less frequent so I've missed the Big Smoke somewhat. On Saturday though me and Tom met for lunch at Portobello Market and spent the rest of the day wearing our legs out with a walk around the city; through Hyde and St James Parks, Westminster, Trafalgar Sq and to Shaftesbury Ave to catch the afternoon showing of Four Lions. Four Lions was as expected very funny in parts although somewhat tarnished by an overzealous audience member who HAWHAWed at anything vaguely amusing. Later we went back to Dalston and stayed in with a Thali takeaway and watched The Graduate. Which I had somehow never seen and fell in love with it just as much as I would have predicted. The soundtrack was one of my favourites anyway especially after playing it repeatedly on vinyl when we stayed with our Los Angeles couchsurfers.

So for start of the week, a little Simon and Garfunkel in homage to a timelessly brilliant film.

baseballing

Hovering at the back of my head for some time has been the temptation to dabble with baseball caps. Very likely a remnant of my ELLEgirl days when the magazine's creative editorials of models in baseball caps and spaghetti strap dresses left an impression on my tween self. I had a rifle through my ELLEgirl archives this morning and after a frustrating search came away fruitless and unable to present to you the feature I had in mind. Hey ho.

While I love Fedoras and Floppy Hats for this time of year the carefree nature of a baseball cap is currently very appealing and there is a certain sense of irony knowing you're sporting the same headwear as someone's Dad as they stand over a BBQ somewhere. Think of Lisa Corneliusson (hands down one of my favourite bloggers) who regularly wears sporty trainers. While labels like 'Sportswear Luxe' are thrown about this season with sexy lycra crop tops as references and admissions that tracksuit bottoms must be worn with heels this more casual approach is surely more appealing for a sticky summer.

I wore it yesterday for a stroll around the shops with a sleeveless, collared denim dress and some charlotte gainsbourg-esque suede ankle boots. with tiny glimpse of yellow sock poking out. sounds hideous (and perhaps it was) but to me it felt right. Mish mash of style references (see for Ingrid Sophie Schram those yellow socks..)

Now, baseball caps. Discuss.

cedric bihr

rejoice, the weekend if here! happy friday.

source: cedric bihr

a marketing man's wet dream?

Please say that one of you out there is as equally offended as I am by the most insanely bullshit driven reinvention of The Like?



I'm no die hard Like fan, I love June Gloom and Too Late and have always admired their style (especially Tennessee Thomas who I would like to direct the following negativity away from as she seems to have stayed somewhat true to herself.) but am otherwise not a pro when it comes to their back catalogue. But this transformation from cool alt-rock band to fluffy sixties pop fare doesn't sit well with me.

They were incredibly cool as it was and aesthetically they favoured floaty 70s dresses and bed hair over incarnating Edie Sedgewick. Responding during a Refinery 29 interview to who their musical influences are, their answers sound contrived. Citing Motown and 60s Girl Groups is fine but in this case it feels like they are simply namedropping references that suit their new look. What about their own upbringings? Tennessee's Father was Elvis Costello's Drummer with Z-Berg's Dad a Guitarist and Producer whose love of the Rolling Stones I could see having more of an effect on The Like's sound than The Supremes.

True, the band have been changing since last year's line up rejig but over the last month with an influx of The Like press releases in my inbox and sexy jingles on Spotify this overhaul reeks of a marketing man's wet dream. They've been around for 9 years and are suddenly being promoted as a new and upcoming band. I'm all for a band receiving a helping hand of a stylist but when the case in point is The Like who are loved for their unique look I can't help thinking of the phrase Cash Cow.