Cooking up a storm

You've lusted after THOSE shoes...


You've regretted not getting THOSE boots... (I tried on the last 7s in Topshop, I think they made me about 6'5?! haha)


And now Emma Cook has expanded into a collection of deer themed clothing. If you're like me, the mention of deer and fawns combined with clothes is already tempting your appetite.
I went in to Topshop on Oxford Street to check out the wares, half expecting that they might already have pretty much sold out (case in point: THE shoes). Luckily I was not disappointed. I did not want to subject you to shakey, blurry, paparazzi angle shots which probably wouldn't have done the clothes that much justice, so I stole these from the Topshop website.

The animal emblem is the stable feature of each piece, though the animals variate between fawns, swans (though they looked more like flamingos to me?) and giraffes.
Someone, somewhere is exploding from cute overload.

The fabrics have to be felt to be believed. They feel divine and no doubt feel amazing on too. My favourite items were the the silk tee and the silk dress, both of which would transition from the summer wardrobe to autumn seamlessly. I can definitely see the dress paired with the Emma Cook boots. Did I mention how cute they are?



To view the full collection go here


And just because...

Summer's here

I picked up the Pre Fall (July 09) edition of Vogue Italia the other day. I don't normally buy it, but I was drawn by the Tim Walker shoot, for which I will buy most magazines and books (apart from this for which I would have to save up for the rest of my life...sob).

The Tim Walker shoot was as amazing as expected (view the fox hunter themed spread here) but I was drawn to the 'NEO-romantic' photography spread by Emma Summerton, featuring Imogen Morris Clarke & Abbey-Lee Kershaw.

Not only is the styling phenomenal but the colours are so vivid and lucid. I am in love with the jeweled catsuit and the skeleton hand (I think it may be the same one as featured in Nick Knight's 'Black and White editorial...?), not to mention the Rodarte and Balenciaga dresses.And don't even get me started on those rings!! It just made me want to put paint to paper! Here is my version of my favourite image from the spread (view larger here) and the full photographs. Which is your favourite?

Taxidermy tigers, cupcakes and summer fetes

I often don't post about my 'real' life as I don't actually think I'm that exciting so you will either love this rambling or skip past it :)
Either is cool...haha.

The V&A has been celebrating the tenth anniversary of their 'village fete'. Myself and my friend knew that the 'family crowd' would all be attending with it being a Saturday, so we tried to be crafty and turn up early. Naturally half the tube line was shut down or 'under repair work' (seriously are the lines EVER all open?!), which caused us to roll up half an hour after we planned. Luckily they had pushed back the opening time from 12.30 to 1. The bad news: the queues. To say they were long would be an understatement. A BIG one.



After we queued for our ticket, re-queued because my stamp managed to wash off and then queued the length of the museum again we finally got into the courtyard area. You had to take your hat off to them, the companies in charge of each of the individual stalls really went to town. Highlights included:

'Quick Draw Saloon', the fastest person to draw the picture won. This guy was obviously loving having his picture taken...haha



Life sized cardboard piano.



Tatty Devine hook-a-goldfish. There was a guy reallly trying to win a goldfish ring while we were there...whatever floats your boat haha. Not that many people seemed to be winning the rings but you could also win a heart lollipop which was pretty cool.



Knitted cakes.



Lady Luck giant cat tiddlywinks.



Bee outfits. So cute!!



Remote control crufts.



You could trade a 'confession' on a sheet of paper for a badge. I hooked myself up with a 'ooops a daisy'.



We also went into the exhibition 'Telling Tales: Fantasy and Fear in contemporary design'. They didn't allow photos, but the first section of the exhibition was definitely the best. The exhibition was divided into 3 sections: 'The Forest Glade', 'The Enchanted castle' and 'Heaven and Hell'. There was a lot of really amazing interpretations of everyday objects such as radiators and wardrobes in a surreal and unusual ways. My personal favourite was the chairs, one of which really reminded me of the paper catwalk at Chanel a few seasons back. If you can't get to the exhibition you can view a lot of the pieces here.

After a cheeky stop of to hummingbird (I tried the brownies- SO good!) we went to seek out the showSTUDIO shop that has just opened over at Bruton Place. On the way we came across some really amazing window displays. Neon trench coats?! There was also heart shaped door handles that were cut off the photo.



The shop was down a relatively normal looking side street. Oh yeah, apart from there was glitter EVERYWHERE. Like seriously. The pavement was plastered in the stuff.



But back to SHOWstudio. In case you didn't know, SHOWstudio is a company 'spearheaded' by Nick Knight that works with names within the industry with their imagery, particularly invovling moving images and film. Their shop has opened to sell some of the props that have been involved in their past work, such as fashion photography. As a big Tim Walker fan I wanted to see the props created by Shona Heath, Walker's main collaborater on the elaborate sets he works with. As SHOWstudio is such a high profile name within the industry I expected the shop to be very strict on photographs and to have that tense atmosphere you can often find in places such as that. However it was completely the opposite! Not only were we able to take as many photos as we liked but the woman in the shop was really friendly and told us all about the props ( apparantly the tiger is the most popular!).

Kate Moss' lip print.



Becky photographing the cherries.



John Galliano flag.





I look really scared, haha. I have a fear of taxidermy things and waxworks and the Tiger was creeping me out thus I am stood as far away from it as possible...haha. The bulbs on the dollar sign were so hot as well! I was slowly getting cooked from behind, not a good look.
Afterwards we stopped by the Marc by Marc Jacobs shop where there was more window display amazingness. The flag is made entirely from flowers! The other side on the interior is an American flag. Something for everyone? haha.

Giant cake

Does what it says on the tin. mmm.

Gemmaaa <3

Gemma is coming back!

'Vogue Australia cover girl (add to that US Vogue, UK Vogue, Vogue China, Vogue India and probably every other Vogue), Gemma Ward has confirmed that we haven’t lost her baby doll looks to the silver screen just yet.
After taking the year off to travel and enjoy the company of friends, Ward has said she will return to modelling, which means we’ll be watching the February ready-to-wear shows with added interest.
To celebrate our happiest news of ’09 so far we have collected some images that show just why Ward is the darling of designers and advertisers everywhere.' (January 9, 2008)
- Damien Woolnough

vogue.com.au


In homage (like I really needed an excuse), here are some of my favourite Gemma images...

(via the fashionspot, google & the fashion box)























I could go on....

The odd couple

I had never heard of Max Wanger until I came across these photos he had done for some people named 'Lizzie and Matt'. At first I thought they must be a band, so I tried searching for them, expecting a myspace music page to come up or at least a last fm, and thinking that 'Engagement sessions' was probably their record. Turns out they're a couple, and the photos are in Wanger's 'love & marriage' section, pretty neat huh?
Such a nice change to those generic couple photos people have and they really do have a personal feel to them without the cliche' 'personal touch' things such as jumping in the air and kissing. The rest of his photos are pretty amazing too, particularly his 'off guard' series.











To see more Max Wanger go here!

Comic book kid

Kind of in love in Jordan Crane. I don't own any of his work, as he seems to be really hard to find anything out about. He creates both comic books and artwork prints. My favourite is 'the night the world turned gold'.

To see more by Jordan Crane go here!

Lip Service

Show some skin

'If you like me, look up.You like me. You like me. Look up, if you like me. Look up, if you like me. Look up, if you like me.'


Cassie and Sid were so the Ross and Rachel of Skins. Shame about the new series.

Bookworm

When you think of people hanging out in libraries you probably don't imagine them screaming and tearing up books in the middle of a tornado. But then most library geeks don't wear Alberta Ferretti.
Is this me or does this campaign kinda remind anyone of the library in Harry Potter?


F/W campaign shot by Steven Meisel.
see the full campaign here

X + Y= Dior

What do you get when you take a random object, combine with another object and mix it up in a weird high fashion blender? fashematics
of course!