Recent reading

Since my departure from the world of book publishing I have, perhaps surprisingly, been reading even more. It might be because I have all the time in the world now to read the books I really want to read. Here is a selection of some of my favourites from the last few months.

What I Wore Today is a collection of photographs of "real" girls and what they wear from day-to-day. Like most stylish ladies, these girls mix vintage, thrift, chain-store and designer items to create their own personal, and inspirational style. A nice distillation of what is going on with blogs like mine and myriad others and with sites like Wardrobe Remix and Look Book. Published by Graffito.

I couldn't wait to read Richard Flanagan's newbie as I really admired Sound of One Hand Clapping and Gould's Book of Fish. Wanting has thus far been praised by reviewers far and wide and nominated for umpteen awards, and while some other fellow literary fans weren't that moved by it, I really liked this book, despite the tenuous connection between the two parallel story lines. The story of Matthina, the young Aboriginal girl adopted by the Governor of TAS and his wife, really touched my heart. An important reminder of the tragedy of colonisation for the colonised and the ease with which the colonisers can embrace murky morality.

From Random House.

A lavishly illustrated reference book about all the leading vintage stores in Paris. A great book to have in your suitcase if you are going to Paris anytime soon. Not just couture as implied by the title, it covers all manner of stores from those selling Haute Couture to stores devoted exclusively to groovy seventies and eighties sunglasses. Paris truly is an amazing city for fashion-lovers and I only wish I could go back soon, with this book in my hand, sans boyfriend, and with a fashion savvy girlfriend with a lot of stammina by my side.

WOW. This is my pick for best book of 2008, at least of those I've read so far! I was a huge fan of Lahiri's novel The Namesake and this book of short stories just blew me away. Lahiri's writing focuses on the Bengali/American immigrant experience and in the Unaccustomed Earth she explores the world of the second generation immigrant offspring and how they navigate the disparate influences of their conservative parents and their more mainstream American peers. I know some people aren't big fans of short stories but I love the medium, especially when done right (Alice Munro anyone?). Lahiri already won a Pulitzer for her first collection of short stories and it isn't hard to see why. Lahiri creates such authentic worlds in her stories that the emotions her characters lives engendered in me were palpable. The last three stories are linked and in only 100 pages she managed to make me care for the protagonists so deeply that the ending touched my soul in a way that I couldn't shake for days.

This book made it onto the NY Times bestseller list, which is a testament to fantastic word of mouth, and I'm going to do the same by saying JUST READ IT.

Published by Bloomsbury.

An accomplished and interesting debut from a young English writer The Truth About These Strange Times is a rather disturbing tale about a lonely young man living on the fringes of society who finds himself welcomed into the home of an upwardly mobile family with a child prodigy son. He becomes convinced he has to 'save' the boy from his overbearing father and of course disaster ensues. How the whole story will unfold though remains a mystery, and it certainly kept me reading.

Definitely in my top five for 2008, this was a must-read for me after I loved A Long Long Way so much. The novel is the life story of a very elderly woman who has languished in an institution for the mentally ill most of her life, as cobbled together by her sympathetic psychiatrist as he struggles to find out how she came to be there in the first place. Barry is one of the great Irish writers, I think, when it comes to understanding the often sad history of his country. Without giving too much away, Barry employs the great literary conceit of coincidence to excellent effect in this novel. The Secret Scripture is also a fascinating look at the limited lives of women without means in the early part of last century.

Published by Faber, I spent some time with Sebastian when he was out for the Brisbane Writer's Festival a few years ago and he is a truly lovely man. All the more reason to support his book!

An account from a UK journalist, who was one of the last debutantes to curtsey in front of The Queen, of her debut year in 1958. Very interesting as social anthropology and extremely well written, Fiona chronicles the dying days of The Deb with aplomb. Also contains some fab fifties frock pics.

Published by Bloomsbury.

I must confess I was the publicist on Craig's first book but that doesn't make it any less awesome. Craig (a producer and broadcaster at Triple J) has a sponge for a brain and has managed to turn his love of art and music into a writing career. This book is an examination of the commonalities between the Romantic movement and mainstream pop, most particularly the Emo movement and its myriad precursors. A great book to dip in and out of, for music geeks everywhere.

Published by ABC Books.

A gift from my parents for Christmas, alas I didn't make it to the Golden Age of Couture exhibition in Bendigo (it is thirteen hours or so away and life and bush-fires kind of got in the way), but thankfully I have this beautiful book to console me. A delight for fans of mid-century couture, the book is filled with inspirational dresses from the likes of Dior, Balenciaga and Givenchy. The decade following World War II was one of immense creativity in fashion and this book tells you all about the artists that changed the way women dressed.

Another Christmas gift, readers of my blog would know that I am a big Elizabeth Taylor fan, and this book is a photo essay of her life. So many beautiful photos to drool over of Elizabeth in movie-making mode as well as relaxing with her kids and many husbands. Am convinced that Elizabeth has one of the best noses ever, not to mention her amazing eyes.

Some nice style porn pics too.

More inspiration ...

for my wedding in Salma Hayek's gorgeous Balenciaga wedding gown.

I want to wear sleeves, but the beaded bodice on this dress is pretty special. Salma married the CEO of the Gucci Group, so imagine how full of beautiful clothes her cupboard is going to be. Lucky lady.

Best of The Met Costume Institute Ball

I know I'm a bit late in getting my picks in from the red-carpet madness that is the Met Ball, but my betrothed and I did our download limit for the month, and I've been waiting patiently for the next month to tick over.

My overall impression of The Met Ball was a wee bit disappointing. As per The Oscars, I felt like people fell into two camps - the try too hards and the not try hard enoughs. The try too hards are actually quite hilarious though and their antics certainly don't harm them when it comes to getting coverage in the mainstream press (Victoria Beckham and Kate Beckinsale anyone??).

Meanwhile, here are my picks from the evening ...

Style-meisters the world over are gushing over the fact that Ashley Olsen can make a sheet look amazing and I have to concur. This dress is from her own label The Row and I think she looks very chic. The dress actually has a very open back, giving it a sexy 70's edge. I'm a bit over the Olsens wearing over-sized outfits which seem to only accentuate their smallness, but I'm forgiving Ashley this time. Cute boyfriend too!

I'm not entirely sure about Anne's hair - a shade too reminiscent of her Brokeback Mountain character perhaps - but I'm digging her cute Marc Jacobs mini-dress. The colour looks great on her.

You could argue that Elizabeth Hurley belongs in the try too hard basket, but regardless of her oft over-dressing, there is no denying this Elie Saab dress is simply spectacular. I would love to see this one up close and personal; such a fairy princess dress.

I'm including my betrothed's girlfriend January because, quite simply, she looks HOT in this Michael Kors gold disco dress, with her sexy bed hair. Short dresses were a very common theme on this years red-carpet, as they've been a common theme on the catwalk the last couple of seasons, and January has managed to go short without looking too cocktail. I love her.

Stella McCartney dressed three of her besties for the ball this year - Kate Hudson, Liv Tyler and Kate Bosworth - and while I'm not a massive fan of Stella's label, how super cute does Stella look in her lace jumpsuit? I love a jumpsuit and this one is really unique with the scalloped neckline and shiny sash. Liv looks great in her flattering blue dress and Kate Hudson is channeling her Mum Goldie in her bedazzling halter-neck. Not such a fan of her dress I must say.

Kate Bosworth was one of the highlights of the night, I think, with her classic Hollywood glam black dress with beautiful sheer lace detailing. Great hair and make-up too - the perfect package.

One of the fashion packs golden girls, Lou Doillon is wearing a fabulous - and rather fabulously revealing - Nina Ricci dress. I only wish she had worn some jewellery too, but I guess she isn't really a frou frou kind of girl.

Rhianna was on a lot of people's worst dressed lists but I don't honestly think she'll be bothered. She has her own unique style, as befits a young pop-star, and I think her puff sleeved D&G tuxedo is very brave and pretty sexy. Are the humongous puff sleeves blinding me to the outfits true awfulness? Quite possibly. But she is staying on my best dressed list regardless.

My Diane can do no wrong. If I was Karl Lagerfield's muse, I too would have totally jumped at the chance to wear this white lace appliqued Chanel Couture mini-dress. Whenever I see a photo of Diane and Josh I point it out to my dear heart and ask why can't this be us? And he responds that it isn't us because we aren't rich and probably never will be. He is ever the realist. I will have to contend myself with being Diane's celebrity equivalent ... in my dreams.

Could Marion be the best of the night? Highly probable. How could anyone not love Marion's pink strapless fish-tail Dior which hugs her in all the right places. And her hair! And her clutch! And her make-up! And her all round drop-dead gorgeousness. Divine, divine, divine.

And while the mainstream press focused on the more familiar faces of actresses and singers, the theme of this year's ball was actually the Model as Muse so many of the current crop of faces, plus top models of the past, were at the show representing designers and generally being effortlessly chic and gorgeous. Not all mind you. There was a lot of matching of shoe and dress colour this year, which I'm not a huge fan of, and Cindy Crawford took it to the extreme by matching her dress, shoes and bag. And the dress was tacky as it was anyway. But then again Cindy has never been known as a particularly stylish model, unlike my Milla who was wearing a Marni dress which I didn't completely love, but I did admire the interesting neckline. And as per usual, she looks beautiful.

Australian model Catherine McNeil - so, so beautiful and harking back to the glory days of the late 80's and early 90's supermodel - looked ravishing in Mouret. I'm starting to believe that asymmetrical dresses look flattering on everyone, although there would be no danger of anything making Catherine look bad. I kind of want her dress.

Not surprisingly I adore Eva Herzigova's D&G corset dress. FYI this is exactly the length I want my wedding dress to be. That is, long enough to cover the knees and look dressed up, but short enough to show off a nicely turned out ankle and hot pair of heels. And she is certainly rocking a particularly amazing shoe.

Iman = stunning. And can I have David's number please?

I am a big Jessica Stam fan (unlike my mate Liana, another model groupie like me, who doesn't understand what the fuss is about) and I think she looks gorgeous in this Rodarte mini. I'm really digging the colour scheme here and her whole look is spot on.

Claudia Schiffer completely wowed me - and most of the world, I suspect - in this Versace cut-out couture dress. Jessica Biel wore a similar Versace dress but hers didn't have quite the impact of this one, and personally I can't bring myself to include her on my blog.

And finally there is Kate, ambassador for the evening, walking the carpet with Marc Jacobs while wearing Marc Jacobs. My former assistant, the stylish Miss Hannah, thinks she looks like rubbish in this outfit. Myself, a former Kate worshipper who has somewhat lost that loving feeling over the last few years, is quite enamoured of her outfit, and most particularly the turban. Kate is definitely a cut above the average in the style stakes, and pulls this look off with aplomb. Love the knot in the back of the dress.

The Ring

After a number of requests I'm finally getting around to posting photos of my lovely engagement ring.

It is a cluster diamond setting with a yellow gold band, circa 1918. I love rings that look like flowers, plus I like that it is set really high on the finger, a lot like my Mum's engagement ring. There is probably some technical description for this, but I'm no jewellery expert (most of mine is of the costume variety). My betrothed purchased it at Victory Theatre antique's centre in Blackheath in the Blue Mountains. If you haven't been there, it really is a must see next time you visit. The antique furniture is fantastic and the place is huge, literally taking up the whole two stories of an old theatre.

Last time I was there I saw these amazing wall tiles with illustrations of famous couture dresses from Dior, Balenciaga, Lanvin etc from the 40's, 50's and 60's. I haven't seen anything like them since and have serious non-buyers remorse for not grabbing them when I could.

Inspiration (part 1)

I tried on a couple of beautiful vintage sixties dresses featuring lace appliques at the Sydney Vintage Clothing, Jewellery and Textile Show in Canterbury a couple of weeks ago. I took my Mum along and she was amazed by the quality and quantity of what was available. It is a little bit like only having a day or two to shop in Paris or London where I tend to become so overwhelmed by the amount of amazingness on display that I can't make up my mind to buy anything. Then you have weeks of dreaming about all the things you wished you had bought but you of course can't go back - the tragedy!

It really is a fantastic fair and impressively well organised. Word of mouth has obviously been good because it was absolutely packed on the Saturday morning. Mum and I could barely get a peek at some of the stalls and the lines to try on stuff were very long indeed.

Anyway the sixties dresses weren't quite right for me but they did inspire me with their gorgeous lace applique features, and today I stumbled across a fantastic post on Sweet Sassafras blog about a Californian dress designer of the 20's - 60's called Peggy Hunt who, apparently, practically invented the illusion neckline and was a big fan of lace applique. Actresses such as Mary Pickford and Lucille Ball were known to be fans of her clothes and if you click through to her grand-daughter's Flickr page, you can see why.

If you are a fan of sewing, Sweet Sassafras creates her own patterns. I'm trying to become more adept at sewing, but meanwhile my future mother-in-law is a whizz and I've been trawling through old Vogue and Butterick patterns to find some to show her for possible wedding dress inspiration (mine, not hers).

What do you think of this one?

And speaking of wedding dresses and the Vintage Fair, my dear friend Erin picked one up while she was there but alas I wasn't with her and she is keeping it under wraps from everyone until the wedding in November. I can't wait that long!

Among my finds at the Fair was an amazing new mid length skirt made from vintage 60's fabric in a vibrant blue floral design. I'm completely in love with it, even though it almost broke the bank. It is a classic box-pleat design and I should be able to wear it summer and winter. I'm on the hunt now for the perfect white blouse to wear with it, but my efforts yesterday seemed only to produce bad eighties chain store blouses which some second-hand clothes dealers these days are trying to pass off as covetable. The lady that made my skirt - Sharon from Gossamer Textiles - also sells unique vintage and recycled fabrics as well as clothes made from her beautiful finds. She is going to have a website up and running soon, so I'll post it up here when she does as her fabrics are all high quality and definitely worth a look.

P.S. I was in the same shop as The Sartorialist yesterday and no, he didn't take my photo. Must have been the lack of designer labels and/or lack of black. Or maybe because I'm not a model or one of the Sydney fashion pack. I must confess I don't really read his blog that often, so I hardly would warrant a mention. I have noticed in the last couple of weeks that virtually all the young Sydney girls are wearing black body-con dresses for nights out and while they do look hot on their nubile young figures, why oh why do most Sydney girls all have to wear the same thing??? The Sartorialist may well make the same summation.

SJP - Night and Day

I saw these photos of Sarah Jessica and her cute son James today (hair just like his Mum). How cute does he look in his snappy little man suit?

And SJP's walk to school outfit: love the jeans, love the blazer, love the brolly and love James' jacket.

That's all.

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chiamanda Ngozie Adichie

I just finished the tremendously sad and deeply moving Half of a Yellow Sun. Set in Nigeria in the 1960's this book opened my eyes to the violence that permeated that nation post Colonialism, with ethnic tensions within Nigeria resulting in two military coups, massacres and then all out Civil War when the Eastern area of the country declared themselves a separate nation (Biafra).

Against this backdrop of unrest the novel follows the stories of three intertwined characters - one a poor uneducated village boy (Ugwu) who goes to work for a University Professor as his servant - and who undergoes an intellectual and sexual awakening as he grows-up under his employee - the second the beautiful daughter of a new monied prominent family (Olanna) who falls in love with the Professor and moves into his home, and the third an Englishman and writer (Richard) who begins a relationship with the female protagonists twin sister.

The book chops and changes between the early sixties, when things were relatively prosperous but Nigeria was still trying to form its identity post British rule, and the late sixties, when the country was at war. It also moves between the points of view of each of the three main characters. Their stories are always intertwined and mostly this conceit works. Interest is deftly sustained throughout the book and it successfully mines the themes of trust, love, hate, family, intellectualism, ethnicity and violence with remarkable honesty. One element of the book that strikes me as particularly inspired is Adichie's depiction of starvation. Food is an important element of the chronologically early parts of the narrative, with wonderful descriptions of food and cooking, which are then contrasted so well with the deprivation that the characters suffer once the Civil War was in full flight. While Nigeria still prospered, the Biafran's were starving.

Adichie is only a couple of years older than me (sigh) and her book is full of wisdom that belies her years. A beautiful, moving novel about the experiences that pull us apart and the ties that bind us as well as an important fictional record of a conflict - and an Africa - that Adichie feels it is vital we don't forget.

Adichie is a guest at the Sydney Writers' Festival this month and I can't wait to go and hear her speak.