cult of clothes

I used to salivate at the news agent every two months, waiting for the new Russh magazine to arrive. I loved the grainy, out-of-focus editorials, the 60s & 70s flavour, the bizarre styling of clothes on models with the bodies of tall, skinny teenagers and the fact that their book reviewer shares my middle name: Pilar. That the magazine is published every two months made snatching up the newest issue even more exciting.

But I haven’t picked up Russh in a long time. It may be that my taste has changed, or that I’ve gotten tired of the 60s & 70s flavour, or that no matter how hard I try, as a 29-year-old short girl, I can’t identify with clothes that only look good draped on models with the bodies of tall, skinny teenagers. For whatever reason, I needed a break.

I was pleasantly surprised when their November/December 2009 issue caught my eye. The new matte cover done in tones of dusty pink and Daul Kim’s proud face were enough to make me hungrily snap up the magazine, just like in the old days.

I’d never heard of Daul Kim before, but I was drawn to her unique face. It’s not that often that you see an Asian model on the cover of a western magazine, but there she was: bleach blonde hair lopped crazily on top, bronzed skin, black eyebrows, lanky slim body with legs that reach out to forever, gorgeous blue satin boots, all beautifully topped off with ATTITUDE. I thought, I’ve found my new favourite model. I also thought, Dear Santa, could I please have those boots for Christmas? I promise to be nice to my sister, within reason. (They’re Meadham Kirchhoff, and I’m pretty sure I DON’T love that The-Ring-just-climbed-out-of-a-well-all-creepy-like thing they’ve got going on with their homepage image).

Here are some shots from the editorial, brazenly scanned from the pages of the magazine. Thanks Russh! I think you’re pretty awesome.

Source: Russh magazine November/December 2009

Over the next few days, I happily thumbed through the pages of the editorial, studying the outfits, her burning stare and of course my new boots. You can imagine my surprise when I read that she had committed suicide.

It makes me feel sad that some people’s grip on life is so tenuous. For some people, holding onto life is like holding onto a thick, soft, silky rope. It’s easy and comfortable. For other people, it’s like holding onto barbed wire. Sometimes they need to let go.

R.I.P. Daul Kim

Tags: Models, Style     |     Add Comment »

I went to the Glebe markets on the weekend, browning my shoulders in the new summer sun, in search of some characters from olden times.

Alas, no beans. I guess these days everyone just goes to the mall for their butchery, bakery and candlestick makery.

Making up for the lack of meat and fresh bread, the Glebe markets are packed with stalls selling cool and sometimes stinky vintage pieces, and lots of this and that from all over. This pretty much sums it up:

I hope when I’m old, someone uses those words to describe me. In preparation, I should start collecting weird hats and wearing too much blush a la Anna Piaggi, (except she is so not obscure).

The sweet smell of almonds and peanuts tossed with sugar in a hot copper pot lures you inside and you can get lost wandering up and down the pathways between stalls, following the sound of the live band and whatever catches your eye.

Noni and Phil at Holy Kitsch supplement their online shop with a market stall selling Dia de los Muertos (All Soul’s Day) knick knackery and Mexican religious iconography, among other things. I picked up the always important Luchador wrestlers. I may send them to my sister as a bribe next time I need a favour.

I love their collection of vintage photos. There are only a few listed on the website, but as you can see, there were boxes full at the market stall.

You could decoupage furniture with these photos, or hang tons on the wall, (as long as your landlord isn’t a gnomey, anally retentive freak who counts the holes in the wall on each quarterly visit).

I love these creepy, colourful skull candleholders and boxes. I wish the skull images were printed on clothes, because really, who wouldn’t want a dress with a big weird smiley skull on it?

A few stalls down, I came upon these two guys who seemed completely disinterested in actually selling anything because they were so enjoying themselves serenading passersby.

They freestyled a song to me about a “Filipina bonita” which pretty much made my day. They insisted I was Latin American, but I’m just one of those clever chameleon people whose parents aimed to diversify the gene pool. As a result I can blend in almost anywhere.

I can’t say I actually liked the stuff in this next stall much. The guy did a lot of denim corset tops sewn to neon rah-rah skirts and weird bomber jackets cobbled together from leather, needlepoint art and more denim which made for strange clothes and an eye-catching display. Unfortunately he didn’t like to share the photo love and grumpily told me I couldn’t take pictures. I snapped this one before he got all uppity and shut my operation down.

IN YOUR FACE grumpy 80s guy.

I realise that I didn’t take that many pictures of clothes at the markets, but that’s because I just can’t get down with the vintage. I’m not one of those people who can search for hours to find the one treasure elusively lurking amongst the old jeans.

But all was not lost: I realised I can take inspiration from the colour stories at the markets. My favourite came from a stall run by a hippie Japanese girl. She was very mellow and edited her display very well. These pastels are not boring. They’re dusty and beautiful:

And I love the wood tones accented with blues and whites from this stall selling handmade picture frames:

After a full afternoon of strolling around by myself, I wandered home, purchases in tow, to take a nap. I’ll tell you all about what I bought another time.

Tags: Shopping     |     1 Comment »

It would be a totally worthy trade.

The good people at Urban Outfitters have added this brilliant piece to their offering:

Source: www.urbanoutfitters.com

I think it’s a pretty worthy opponent for the famous Three Wolf Moon t-shirt. (Read the product description on Amazon. Truly genius) Urban Outfitters’ wolf tank’s mystical powers would include: looking stylish in the face of danger, fitting 100 pairs of shoes neatly into a tiny closet and wrangling cheap rent from the landlord by batting fluffy eyelashes in order to secure funds to buy even more shoes.

Tags: Cult covets, Shopping, Style     |     6 Comments »

Everyone, I’m pleased to introduce Miss Twig Penelope Bikington:

She’s a Schwinn Supreme cruiser and was born in China, but shortly after her birth, she moved to Manly. A couple of weeks ago I took the ferry over to adopt her from the Manly Cycles Cruiser Shop and now she lives on my balcony. You may think that’s not the most dignified abode for such a prim lady, but she enjoys the fresh air and the company of my little grapefruit tree.

She takes me to the gym and work most days, and sometimes we just amble around the neighbourhood, I, in a nifty outfit and she, pretty in purple.

Since Penelope moved in, I’ve discovered a new appreciation for my LeSportsac by Tokidoki travel bag. Riding a bike with a handbag (as opposed to a shoulder bag) is pretty awkward but my LeSportsac can scrunch up to neatly fit in the basket, or I can use the long strap to sling it over my shoulder, messenger style. I’ve always thought being a bike messenger would be cool, but somehow I don’t think the bike messengers in the city would take kindly to being joined by a girl wearing a dress riding around on a 7 gear bike with a basket. Snobs.

Here she is having a rest in the park near my house:

And the always important cycling accessory:

It’s not just a bag, it’s also a reminder for me to do things like brush my teeth:

eat my evil watermelon:

and make sure my friends get their recommended daily intake of poison:

FIN.

Tags: Accessories, Bicycle style, Style     |     2 Comments »

I’m really inspired by this outfit from a photo by the Sartorialist. From her sinewy, lean legs to the wonderful combination of textures in her outfit, I think this girl looks amazing and I must immediately rush out and copy her. So I’ve been poking around online and at the markets in search of the perfect textured, embellished jacket. Usually I’m on the hunt for the perfect, beaten up black leather jacket, but I never seem to find one that I can afford or that fits me properly, so I think I’ll give up that hunt in favour of shinier things. Like these:

Topshop

Source: www.topshop.com

Club Monaco

Source: www.clubmonaco.com

Antik Batik

Source: www.netaporter.com

I came across these two little vintage gems at the Glebe markets a couple of weekends ago. They’re not exactly jackets, but I think they’re beautiful. The pictures were a bit hastily shot because the stall owner was glowering at me while I photographed her wares without buying anything. Some people are such grumps.

Tags: Cult covets, Style     |     1 Comment »

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes YES!

And now back to our regular programming.

Tags: Uncategorized     |     1 Comment »

Tags: Uncategorized     |     7 Comments »

I will hug him and I will squeeze him and I will call him George.

This Nicola Finetti Dynasaur is just the neatest little thing. It’s hard to tell how big he is from the photo, but I hope he’s enormous. A statement Dynasaur.

Source: www.thegrandsocial.com.au

Tags: Accessories, Cult covets     |     Add Comment »

In 2007, Valentino tearfully stepped down as creative director from the helm of his company in the wake of a private equity takeover. The details are already making me feel a bit sleepy, so I’ll leave it at saying it wasn’t very pretty. Since that time, the label hasn’t really been on my radar; the collections have gone through a bit of a gawky teenager stage, with a few designers cutting their teeth and finding their feet at the house. But now the Spring 2010 collection has debuted, and NOW I heart Valentino with all my heart.

The collection, designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, is fresh and gorgeous and young and wonderful. Even though the pair has been designing for the label for a few seasons, I think they’ve finally stepped out from Valentino’s shadow and found their own aesthetic. I’m so excited to see a new point of view from a house that was made famous with elegant hand-stitched gowns (every sequin, every seam sewn by the meticulous hands of a seamstress wielding her needle) in famous Valentino red, designed by a man who thinks an evening gown that shows a woman’s ankles is vulgar.

The success of this new collection has put the label in the esteemed company of some of my usual favourites: Prada, Balenciaga and Marc Jacobs. Every season I die for my favourites. And now I die for Valentino too. That’s a lot of dying.

There’s a crumpled kind of beauty about this collection. It seems like the designers carelessly tossed the fabric around the models’ bodies and it happened to fall just right in perfect swirls and bows. The shaggy-headed models all look so fantastically dishevelled and undone, like they’ve been running through the woods on a windy night. I guess what I love most about the collection is that the whole thing is really wearable. Nothing is absolutely nuts, and it’s nice to see a collection that you could wear, piece for piece, right off the runway.

Behold the genius:

In real life, either the jacket or the skirt alone would be divine. Worn together, the look is a bit puffy and overdone for my liking.

Source: www.style.com

This butter coloured swirl of silk is heavenly. It looks more like a giant flower than a dress, but I love how soft the colour and the shape are.

Source: www.style.com

Sheer short suits? How awesome can you get?

Source: www.style.com

Excuse me while I fall down stunned by how pretty this is. The pattern reminds me of Rorschach tests (OK fine, ink blot tests. I cheated and used Wikipedia to find the real name. How can anyone possibly remember how to spell Rorschach? How do you even say that?) This dress is such a simple, almost typical shape, but the beauty is all in the print of the fabric and the centre pleat.

Source: www.style.com

The simple shape of this dress works well because it doesn’t detract from the whorls of silk creeping over the skirt and up the bodice.

Source: www.style.com

This dress makes the model look like she just dragged herself up onto the sand from a rough sea, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Source: www.style.com

Knock me down, these shoes are gorgeous.

Source: www.style.com

Tags: Cult covets, Featured designer, Spring / Summer     |     3 Comments »

The last two episodes of Gossip Girl have been filled with celebrity cameo gimmickry. First there was Tyra Banks playing a diva (which is obviously a massive stretch), and then Sonic Youth made an appearance at the end of the latest episode. Sonic Youth?!! ON GOSSIP GIRL??!!! I don’t think I can abuse punctiation enough to express how wrong that is! I love Gossip Girl, but Sonic Youth, I believe the appropriate term here is “sell out.”

I once was a proper 90s grungy kid, but I’ve never really liked Sonic Youth. Their music is usually so mumbly and tuneless and their performance on the show was the pinnacle of suck.

Gossip Girl is probably my favourite show in the history of my entire life, but it was a stretch for me to enjoy the last couple of episodes.

Lucky for me, Blair looked fabulous as usual, and was a happy distraction from Serena’s whining and Vanessa’s cork wedge sandals. Here’s the ultimate power couple observing the commoners at a wedding:

Source: www.instyle.com

Blair is wearing a dress from the Valentino RED collection, and Chuck is wearing good bone structure and handsome. Blair really is a girl after my own heart. Just the other day I was thinking about how much I adore Valentino, and here she is wearing this stunning dip dyed, textured Valentino dress in some amazing colours. Swoon.

Tags: Cult covets, Gossip Girl, Style     |     2 Comments »