Cool Links

Consistently enjoyable author Sarah Water's has rated a mention on Jezebel and it looks like I'm not the only fan. Her new book The Little Stranger is a ghost story - a nod to Henry James methinks - and I can't wait to read it.

Dujour Magazine's special vintage issue is out now so if you are a vintage fan you should definitely check it out. I almost feel inclined to order a copy (it is an Internet mag with only 1,000 printed copies produced per issue), but I think that would be a little indulgent. I'm already drowning in magazines with the boy forcing me to do regular culls.

Check out these gorgeous bridesmaids dresses on blog Coco + Kelley. This almost makes me want to have bridesmaids, but I'm determined not to change my mind. Love all the balloons at the reception too. Definitely the look I want for my wedding reception (which is now booked for a daggy surf life-saving club hall with amazing views over the ocean) and pastels will be the go methinks.

I spent part of Saturday at the beautician at Bondi Junction and then shopping in Paddington and I have become increasingly appalled by the number of young woman wearing leggings/tights as a substitute to pants. This is grating on me so much that I even had a dream the other night that I was screaming at a bunch of young women in tights to please put some pants on because I could see EVERYTHING. Maybe the young male whippersnappers of today like this look but more likely they are equally as bemused as I am as this is one craze that looks good on girls with thighs like Miranda Kerr but looks rubbish on virtually EVERYONE else. Can you tell I'm really angry about this?

I would estimate that 50% of the women under 30 I saw shopping today were wearing them (with the obligatory white T-shirt and black blazer on top) and close to 70% of the girls under 25 were. Forget swine flu, no pants wearing is an epidemic.

The Sydney Morning Herald had a great editorial on this fashion crime last weekend and my mate Michael pointed out the hilarious blog Tights are not Pants to me. Check out the manifesto. There is also another American blog called Leggings are not Pants featuring photos of pant less crimes. I tell you what, they could have a field day in the Eastern Suburbs at the moment.

Back in the eighties/early nineties I was known to wear leggings but I always wore a very very long jumper or sweatshirt over the top which virtually reached my knees, so no-one could tell what kind of underwear I was sporting. All the ladies of today have made their underwear choices very clear to all and sundry and disturbingly it looks like many of these legging lovers are going without. This is not alright and not okay ladies. How about a nice pair of jeans or a pretty skirt and some opaques? Or at least a tunic top which covers the essentials? Now where is the harm in that?

Foxy ladies of yesteryear

My friend Michael's beloved grandmother Beverly passed away recently. Beverly was a seamstress, originally from Melbourne, and an all round stylish and special lady. Michael tells me she even worked for well-known label Saba in its first incarnation in the 1960's.

Michael was lovely enough to send me a few photos of his grandmother so I can share them and we can all marvel at some vintage clothes back in their original habitats & when they were the cutting edge of fashion.

A gorgeous suit with fitted jacket.

They must be off to a dance or club in their chic fur coats.

I love photographs of old resort/swimwear. The styles from the 40's and 50's were so sexy, which I guess explains the enduring popularity of pin-up images from that era.

Beverly is fourth from the left on the bottom row.

So pretty.

Love the shoes!

Nice shoes, nice hat and I love the pose.

And of course Beverly on her wedding day. The bouquet is amazing! I don't think mine will be quite that big somehow.

More foxy ladies of yesteryear to follow as I'm planning on uploading a few photos of my own maternal grandmother Dulcie. My grandmother has always been a fashionista - and a talented dressmaker - and I've been told she is giving me some Spinnelli suits to sell on E-bay when I visit her in a couple of weeks.

Also stay tuned for some E-bay listings soon. It is time for a serious cleaning out of my closet/flat in general (as my clothes live everywhere).

And for regular "senior" style updates don't forget to check out the fantastic blog Advanced Style.

Dress of the Week

Imagine my disappointment when I realised I had missed a whole day's worth of fashion in my final Cannes wrap-up and that it included French actress Isabelle Huppert in this Chanel couture dress.

This was from the same collection (S/S 09) as the dress Diane Kruger wore to the AMFAR benefit and I've got to say that so far Karl's last effort has translated even better into the "real world" than I thought it would.

Isabelle was the head of the jury at Cannes this year and really pulled out all the stops in terms of style. Are French women seriously born chic? I love that they don't overdo the hair and make-up and let the artistry of their clothing shine through.

Being naturally beautiful like Isabelle probably helps too.

The best of the rest of Cannes

Zhang Ziyi was as pretty as a picture in this dusty pink one-shouldered dress.

This Christian Dior dress looks like lollies i.e. good enough to eat. The embellished bodice is gorgeous. This is Chinese actress 'Vicky' Zhao Wei .

Beautiful Taiwanese actress Qi Shu was all over the red-carpet at Cannes generally looking gorgeous, but this is my favourite of all her outfits. Another dress that works the lolly look, I could eat this one up too. The big bow on the side just adds to the overdose of pretty. It looks like Qi is just about to break in to Hollywood (according to IMDB she is 33, who would have thunk it!) so we should be seeing a whole lot more of her.

Rachel Weisz was voted Best Dressed of the Week over at RedCarpet-Fashion Awards as a result of this chic and sexy Valentino number that has fashion commentators the world over claiming that green is the new black. Rachel's appearance at the Met Ball proved that despite her beauty she can look bad (hard to believe, I know), but she is most definitely back on form in this number. The 2009 Valentino Haute Couture collection is thus far translating really well off the runway.

Michelle Yeoh was another star to opt for green and her Versace dress screams Hollywood glamour (or South of France glamour, as the case may be).

My Marion Cotillard looked as pretty as ever at the AMFAR Ball in Dior (of course). Love the cute clutch too and her bob suits her so well. I deliberately included a photo of her with her boyfriend Giulliame as they make such a cute couple.

Love Kerry Washington in this black and white vintage inspired dress. Along with her hairstyle and clutch, this look is very early 60's evening-wear.

Dita von Teese seems to be on virtually ever red-carpet these days (why was she at Cannes anyone?). Unlike Paris Hilton, who also shows up to the opening of an envelope, Dita actually has style and clearly either a lot of money or big fans amongst the world's top fashion designers. Dita is one of the only people I know who can get away with wearing a completely see-through Jean Paul Gaultier dress on the red-carpet and manage to still look chic. I was also very pleased to see her wearing a Dior Haute Couture dress from the S/S 2009 collection. I LOVE the stiffened rippled skirts from this collection and I'm so happy to see somewhere wearing one in the "real world".

The strapless blue dress with the bows on the pockets is cute too.

And finally my favourite Diane capped off an awesome week by wearing a white Chanel dress to the AMFAR Ball. This dress is distinctly inspired by the classic Chanel suit and up close the sequin bodice on this dress is divine.

Also included is a lovely vintage Chanel that Diane wore to a photo-call.

Will I go see the new Quention Tarantino flick she is in? Probably not. If I could even let myself get past the atrocious grammar contained in the title (according to Christian Lander - see previous post - white people love grammar), I honestly believe Quentin's best work is well and truly behind him. For Diane's sake, I hope I'm wrong.

Sydney Writers' Festival - the wash-up

After initial fears that 2009's SWF would, quite literally, be a wash-out, the rain thankfully managed to hold out for most of the weekend and a wonderful Festival was,I think, had by most.

Here is the lowdown on what I saw:

Kazuo Ishiguro was fabulous on Friday night. After my mate and I initially baulked at paying hard-earned money to see an author via video link-up - and then relented because it was Booker-prize winning Kazuo after all - we were both very impressed with his considered and intelligent responses to Sandra Yate's questions. He also received remarkably cognisant questions from the audience with absolute no-one in a ridiculous hat making grand sweeping statements that went on and on. I put a lot of this down to the change in the political landscape as compared to previous years as there is now no excuse for anyone to jump up and down declaring that there were no weapons of mass destruction or children overboard with such vigour you would think they had only just worked out that politicians lie.

Kazuo talked about his segue way into novel writing after initially pursuing a career as a singer/songwriting and how his first love of music inspired his recent short story collection Nocturnes. He also made a quite interesting assertion that a novelists best work is usually produced in their mid thirties to mid forties (hence he claims he is well and truly past his peak) and provided startlingly true examples (Charles Dickens, Jane Austen) which completely flipped the notion that novelists are artists that grow more accomplished with the passing of age. He urged young people with the burning desire to write to get working at it now and I'm sure more than a few wannabees left his session inspired.

On Saturday I saw Christian Lander, so called celebrity blogger whose hilarious blog Stuff White People Like has been hugely popular. Christian recently managed to turn his blog into a book deal and he got a load of press while he was in Australia, this his event was completely sold out. Low and behold I find out I am pretty much the personification of his left-leaning, middle class, white stereotype as I love vintage, organic food, Arrested Development (the show and the band), Man Men, grammar, old-school hip hop and conscious rap, Oscar parties, New York, pea coats and cardigans, living by the water, expensive sandwiches and the list goes on. I guess there is nothing more enjoyable than laughing at yourself.

Christian was very self-aware and was honest about how quickly his sudden fame could disappear, but he was so funny I reckon he could make a great career for himself as a stand-up comedian or comedy writer. With his perceptive commentary on the predilections of his own race and class, he reminded me a bit of comedian Dave Chappelle (apparently white people really like him too!).

Unfortunately for Christian I don't hate my parents, drink coffee or own any Apple products, but a lot of my friends more than make up for me in these areas.

After that I saw an in conversation with the beautiful and talented Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie. You probably already heard me raving about her last novel Half of a Yellow Sun and most of what Chimamanda talked about was Nigeria and her relationship with it as well as touching on her life now in the US and trying to find her way to what she really wants to do with her life (which, happily for her fans, turns out to be writing fiction for the moment). She was very smart and articulate and thoroughly impressive. I was commenting to someone last night that I've come to terms with all the sport stars and pop stars being younger than me, but I'm not quite ready for all my favourite authors to be. Hearing Chimamanda speak I was certainly aware of her youth, but there aren't many 32 year old people who can lay claim to writing two phenomenally accomplished literary novels.

And on a completely superficial note she was wearing the most gorgeous yellow fit and flare dress with strappy black stilettos and was quite stunning. She looked just like I imagined Olanna did when I was reading her book.

I also went to the launch of a new Australian memoir about dealing with familial alcoholism called The Weight of Silence. I haven't read it as yet but by all reports it is a worthwhile read.

And lastly I went along to a panel discussion entitled 'The Authors Right to Speak' with David Williamson, Monica Ali, Richard Flanagan and Neil James discussing the politics of freedom of expression twenty years on from the fatwa on Salman Rushdie. It was quite ironic to see David Williamson speaking at the Sydney Theatre as he has been in the news of late criticising Andrew Upton's and Cate Blanchett's management of it and he certainly tried to played that up. His contribution was basically just reading out an old edict from NZ tele telling writers how they can and can't represent female characters. I think he was trying to be funny and demonstrate the inanity of too much political correctness but considering he is a white alpha male it kind of just made me uncomfortable. Neil James got up and said virtually the opposite to what David was getting at but in an articulate way; Richard gave an impassioned speech which made his political allegiances (and bitterness about his home state) glaringly obvious; and Monica spoke intelligently to the topic.

I heard overwhelmingly positive comments about Richard's appearances at the Festival and more than a few bookish ladies walked away from his sessions with a bit of a crush.

Meanwhile I'm feeling reinvigorated as a reader and as a thinker, not only due to my Festival itinerary but also because I finished AS Byatt's new novel The Children's Hour on the weekend. If you were a fan of Possession you must read this book. I couldn't put it down and found myself snatching time with the book whenever I could, to the significant detriment of a tidy home. The conclusion had me weeping on the couch yesterday morning and now that I've said goodbye to the characters I can't stop thinking about them. I wouldn't be surprised if this book makes the awards rounds in the coming year.

Dress of the Week: The face (and body) that launched a thousand dresses

Diane played Helen - the face that launched a thousand ships - and last night she made her character proud by pulling out all the stops with this jaw-dropping look.

I believe she even managed to outshine Angelina who was on the same red-carpet with Brad.

The dress is Marchesa.

More Cannes joy to follow after Sydney Writers' Festival winds down. The best week of my year outside of summer (when every week is awesome because I'm always at the beach).

The best of Cannes so far

After Natalie Portman and Cate B wowed me with their red-carpet outfits at Cannes last year, I had been enthusiastic to see the ensembles that 2009 would produce. Thankfully I haven't been disappointed.

The great thing about Cannes is that it isn't just Hollywood actresses in attendance but stylish (and stylishly rich) ladies from all over Asia, Europe and beyond (including Australia ... but more on that later). These actresses - like Isabelle Huppert and Asia Argento, above - are more willing to take risks with their dress and the result is a stimulating parade of the best of current haute couture.

I loved this Armani Prive dress when I saw it on the runway and I was so hoping I'd see someone wearing it this year. The print is wild and I love a bell shape and - how useful - it has pockets too! The only thing is I think this dress is a little too long for Asia and it might have suited a more dramatic hairstyle. Thoughts?

Isabelle Huppert is wearing Armani too and looks ravishing. Featuring two of my current fancies - lace and scalloping - what is there not to love about this frock?

You know how there are some celebrities who, even though you've never met them and barely know anything about them, just grate on you? Well Eva Longoria is one of those for me. Could it be because she is friends with Posh and Katie Holmes and her style is usually yawnworthy? Quite possibly. But despite my completely unfounded dislike, I'm including Eva this time around because her Atelier Versace gown is that amazing. I'd love to see this one up close and touch it. And that silvery blue is such a flattering colour.

Elizabeth Banks has been wowing the crowds and funnily I don't really remember her red-carpet appearances ever making an impression on me previously. The girl must have hired a new stylist or something or perhaps she's just about to hit the big-time. The black Andrew Gn is va va voom sexy and and the red Armani Prive (Armani has been super popular thus far) is outstanding.

Robin Wright Penn is stunning in Elie Saab. This dress is from 2007 and some sites are referring to it as "vintage" which grates on me no-end. Since when is a two-year old dress vintage? I abide by the old adage that anything older than 25 years (which is up to the early 80's) is "vintage" and anything post that is "second-hand". However, as far as I'm concerned, a dress from 2007 is just something I've still got in my closet that I bought a litle while ago. I'm still wearing some pieces I bought eight or nine years ago and I certainly wouldn't consider them vintage.

Grumble grumble and groan.

Anyway enough of my ranting and lets get back to the beautiful frocks. Model/actress Devon Aoki hasn't put a foot wrong so far. The blue dress is Alberta Ferretti and the yellow is Cavalli and they are both superbly elegant. Love the draping on the Ferretti.

And lastly I couldn't not mention Aussie actress Abbie Cornish who is - snaps to her - wearing Aussie designer Toni Maticevski. I love the colour on this dress and although there is a bit too much going on for my liking - hard to believe, coming from me - she does look beautiful. It is a bit of a pity she got slightly upstaged at her own premiere by Eva's arresting Versace vision.

I had to include her with her co-star Ben Whishaw as I thought he was fab as Sebastian in the latest adaptation of Brideshead Revisited. I was a big fan of the book and the original series with Anthony Andrews and went to watch the new flick with some hesitation, but I absolutely loved it, and was particularly blown away by Ben and Emma Thompson.

Ben and Abbie's new film is called Bright Star and is about John Keats' romance with a woman called Fanny (Cornish) prior to his early death and is directed by Jane Campion. The planets are all aligning there for me, so I can't wait to see it.

Think Pink! Think Models!

I was having sleep issues last night and to tide me over until the sandman arrived, I slipped the Audrey Hepburn classic Funny Face into the DVD player. It is a silly movie really; while Audrey played opposite many men much older than her (Rex Harrison, Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant), the love-affair with Fred Astaire seems completely unconvincing to me. But the reality is no-one watches it for the plot as it is all about the divine clothes, and for the first time last night I noticed that two of the most famous models from the 1950's - Dovima and Suzy Parker - appear in the film. Suzy Parker is actually the cute red-head with the pink toothpaste in the delightful opening song 'Think Pink.' Check it out:



Suzy Parker was the highest paid model in her day and her story is not unlike other famous models of more modern times like Lauren Hutton (who has gap teeth and a crooked nose) and Kate Moss (who is short with bowed legs) in that she didn't fit the usual model beauty mould. Suzy had red-hair and freckles and was considered to be relatively 'big boned' (though I hate that expression, and her photos do suggest otherwise). She was, for a while, the face of Chanel.

Here are some beautiful shots of her.

Another 50's "supermodel", Dovima has a speaking part in Funny Face as the haughty looking but street-wise speaking model Marion. Some classic shots of her below.

But my favourite model of the period - and who actually graces my living room wall - is Jean Patchett, who I think has a less patrician and more cutesy girl-next-door kind of beauty. She isn't in the movie, but I'm including a few pictures of her anyway, fittingly wearing pink.

Jean is a bit similar in looks I think to the breathtakingly beautiful Natalia Vodianova, who appears in an editorial in the May issue of US Vogue posing as some of histories most famous mannequins.

Here she is as Suzy Parker, in an amazing looking Marchesa gown reminiscent of Audrey's famous ballgown in the film Sabrina.

And as Dovima.

Natalia as the lovely Ms Patchett and in an amazing Dior suit with Balenciaga brooch which could both easily be mistake for coming straight out of 1950 as well. Love the hat too!

Dress of the Week

Due to Costume Institute madness I've been remiss in my dress of the week duties. Overwhelmed by stylish ladies wearing designer dresses left, right and centre, it took some stamina to trawl through images not from The Ball and select THREE dresses to tie for first. Oh, and I'm almost into the next week ... oops.

Anyway, Audrey Tatou looked so gorgeous out and about promoting her new Chanel ad and I couldn't choose between her two flattering outfits. I just caught her new Chanel No. 5 advertisement the other night actually and I thought it was pleasantly mood evoking. If I wore perfume, it just might make me go out and buy it. Audrey looks very pretty too.

Her first dress is Marni and the yellow one is, suitably, Chanel. The girl knows about the advantages of a cinched waist when it comes to making the best of ones figure.

The third dress for the week is Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer's vintage haute couture Dior. When she is done with it, I'd be quite happy for her to pass it on to me. After all, she can hardly wear it to another premiere, right?

Inspiration (part 2)

Further to my current obsession will all things lacy and bridal, I found this gorgeous 60's chiffon wedding dress with lace appliques on Etsy (check it out) and I sent it across to Mum before I popped it in my inspiration folder. She pointed out that it uncannily resembles her sister's wedding gown from the mid seventies - see pic below of my Aunt Denise and my Mum as her bridesmaid in a very groovy aqua floral lace applique dress herself.

Mum actually still has this gown and I played dress-ups in it quite often when I was a kid. Don't they both look gorgeous?

I was then reminded of Elizabeth Taylor's influential Edith Head ball-gown from the billiard room party scene in A Place in the Sun. Edith Head won an Oscar for Costume design for this movie and Elizabeth's dress was no doubt hugely influential at the time on bridal and prom gown design. Ain't she so pretty? And Monty too? He was such a big spunk. This movie is worth watching just to stare at them, though the melodrama is pretty entertaining as well.

I even discovered that there is a Liz Taylor doll featuring a miniature replica of the dress. Rob Pattinson isn't the only one frozen in time in vinyl, forever young and beautiful and really, really small (I saw the Edward from Twilight doll the other day at Borders, and it kind of freaked me out).

And even funnier - on You Tube I found a video someone had spliced together featuring the most romantic scenes from A Place in the Sun set to Total Eclipse of the Heart, my all time favourite karaoke song (followed closely behind by the Gunners Sweet Child O' Mine - I was a child in the eighties after all). It was also highly entertaining and very, very odd.

Stimulating the French economy

I stimulated the French economy - oh, and David Jones - by purchasing some lovely blue suede Chloe boots on Thursday.

My colour palette for winter is going to be blue, white, pink, tan and grey. And while I never wish for winter, I cannot wait to wear these.

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.