Madame Gres

Let me introduce you to Madame Gres! Not many people seem to know about her, which is a great shame. In the 1930s she was one of the first designers to cut fabric on the bias (the diagonal) and her best designs utilised neoclassical draping - dresses were made from one continuous piece of cloth and stitched into place.

Aren't they divine? If I ever get married I'm definitely going to make a dress in this style. The main problem for us is that her dresses were made in a really fine matte silk jersey, and I have no idea if you can still buy it.

Joan Holloway is hot

How hot is Joan Holloway! It's so lovely to see someone who isn't anorexic on TV. And those clothes are GORGEOUS. As soon as I've finished exams I'm going to make a foxy Joan Holloway 1960s dress. I'm even tempted to dye my hair red.

What an honour! I've been tagged for the very first time by the delightful Emmy from Pretty Exquisite.

What is your current obsession ?
Jodhpurs! They are an excellent alternative to tight black jeans and leggings as pants. I FINALLY found a brilliant pair with awesome brass buttons at the ankles. Photos to come!

What are you wearing today ?
My all time favourite house outfit: tracky dacks, ugg boots, one of Michael's heinous surf t-shirts from 1997 and my enormous purple dressing gown. (I refuse to wear anything that doesn't involve an elasticated waist around the house. Yes, I am a closet bogan, and I pray every day that there won't be a fire which requires me to evacuate the house in this state!)

What's for dinner ?
Urgh! Salad! I was exceptionally naughty last week so I need to make up for my indiscretions.

What are you listening to right now ?
Michael keeps playing Bonja (everyone we know seems to have shagged a band member or two), but I think they're shite.

What do you think about the person who tagged you ?
She's fabulous! She's been reading my blog since its inception, and she wears some great outfits and posts awesome images.

What are you biggest daily inspirations?
ummm.... no idea.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go ?
Can I travel through time as well? I regularly get very upset that I didn't live in London in the 60s.

Which language do you want to learn ?
I wouldn't mind learning French.

What are your favorite quotes ?
"Every time I come out of the toilets, right, she was round him like flies around shit. And he's the shit... and she's not even the fly coz she's too fat to be the fly. And she's the shit... and that's what they are: the two shovels of shit."

Anyone who can tell me where that was from can have a hundred points!

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own closet ?
I really like my silk floral dress with the bow at the front that I made. Which reminds me... I need to get it drycleaned!

What is your dream job ?
Lady of Leisure

Any favorite models ?
I actually loathe models. I find them skeletal and creepy and I don't understand why bloggers are so obsessed with them. I know she's not a model, but Joan Holloway from Mad Men is HOT.

Favorite designer(s) ?
Preen, Willow, Kirrily Johnston, Aurelio Costarella, Proenza Schouler

What do you consider a fashion faux pas ?
Oh dear, I could spend all day on this as it's my favourite topic. The following make my skin crawl:

• fake tans
  
• orange clothing that matches one's aforementioned fake tan
• acrylic nails, especially the sort with horrible patterns on them
  
• hair extensions
• g-strings, especially visible ones
  
• leggings as pants
• knee length or above knee leggings
  
• more the one item of denim in the same outfit
• dirty denim boot leg hipster jeans
• purple dirty denim jeans
• any pants that display one's bum when sitting
  

Describe your personal style ?
Not to my liking! My wardrobe is seriously lacking.

What's the most expensive fashion item you've ever purchased?
hehe no comment. I only like to spend a lot of money on things I can't make - eg jeans, shoes, some coats and knitwear. So even though I might pay a lot for individual items, I also save money by not having a cocaine addiction and making my own clothes.

What can you never leave the house without?
I've always hated this question... ummmmm... my keys?

Willow

Check out the new Willow collection. It's gorgeous, as always.

New shoes!

My amazing boyfriend bought me these wonderful Hussein Chalayan booties from the Dilettante sale. They're so soft and comfortable and beautifully made that I've decided I'm never buying a shitty pair of shoes from Witchery or similar ever again (which are ridiculously expensive considering their atrocious quality).

I've needed some black heels for ages so they've opened up a whole new section of my wardrobe. I'm especially pleased as I FINALLY got to prance around in my fabulously sculptural Therese Rawsthorne skirt that I bought last year from Wasteland (my second favourite shop).

It's a pity you can't see my new headband very well as it's AWESOME.

I'm wearing:
Witchery singlet, Hussein Chalayan shoes, Therese Rawsthorne skirt, self-made headband

Things I really hate

Since I got a good reaction to the "not" section of my last post, I thought I'd rant some more. Let's face it, talking about things I hate is my absolute favourite thing in the world.

Faux jeans


These are all the rage in Australia at the moment. Why?!?!? I know there's a global financial crisis and all... but wouldn't it be a better idea to wear last year's jeans again than waste $15 on a pair of blue leggings with a pseudo fly front? Bah bow, honey! You're not fooling anyone with that camel toe.

Leggings masquerading as pants


Again, surely Tyra Banks is not so poor that she can't go and buy a pair of tight black jeans?!?! I can cope with leggings if they're under dresses or long tops that could pass as an extremely short dress... but someone needs to tell the world that LEGGINGS ARE NOT PANTS! Last week I saw a poor girl in the city whose mother clearly hates her as she let her out of the house wearing leggings that were ENTIRELY see through and you could see her ENTIRE ARSE.

Knee length leggings

Unless you're partaking in the Tour de France, these just look stupid. Ok, I admit cyclists also look ridiculous in a legging of awkward length, but at least they're functional in such a context. The only function they have on anyone else is to look make them look ridiculous.

Hair extensions

I know I've got a legging theme going on here, but I can't talk about things I really hate without at least mentioning hair extensions. I admit that they can look wonderful if you're Serena from Gossip Girl, but extensions-on-a-budget on D grade "celebrities" and the general public are a crime against humanity.

Is Nikki Webster's stylist taking the piss? It looks like someone has glued a blonde octopus to her head. They've made no effort whatsoever to even TRY to blend that atrocity with her normal hair. (For all you non-Australian readers, Nikki Webster was a sweet 13 year old girl who sang at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics and has been "reinventing herself" as a crack whore as soon as she turned legal.) Nikki has a new song that isn't much better than those extensions. Yes, I had to sit through that heinous video clip three times to get those screen shots.

Australian Fashion Week

Ok, so exams are over and I'm back in the land of the living. Sorry for being such a terrible blogger but I can only concentrate on one thing at once. Apologies to Gemma who had to see me at uni wearing the same cardigan every day for the last 3 weeks.

Australian Fashion Week was last week. Generally it was pretty innocuous, but there were a couple of collections that stood out.

Hot

I have been a bit sick of seeing Kirrily Johnston churn out the same old black sacks with drawstrings year after year, so I was delighted when I saw this collection. Everything is so effortlessly fabulous.

Not

Check out these monstrosities from Antipodium. Those see-through harem pants with the knee pads are espeically heinous. Apparently this collection also included a necklace made from tampons. Is it the giant "A" necklace below? I can't tell.