What I Wore: Rainbow Dress

I've been a pretty pastel loving girl all my life but over the last couple of months I've become increasingly drawn to bright primary colours particularly reds, oranges, yellows and greens. This dress, however, has been in my wardrobe for a few years. A 1970s tennis style frock, the husband calls this my rainbow dress, and I decided to give it a spin again this Australia Day. The shoes are from Zomp.

Even when the sky is overcast, I can still feel summery in a bright burst of colour.

Swimwear, 1963

These sultry images are from a swimwear shoot for the December 1963 issue of US Vogue photographed by well-known NY based music photographer Art Kane. The theme is the bandeau swimsuit, very much back in vogue again now, although perhaps it never really went away. After all there's nothing quite like a strapless swimsuit to create a nice even tan.
Starting this minute down south, coming north with a splash this summer: the bandeau bathing suit, slashed straight across the top, showing marvellous shoulders, cut shifty or bare through the middle.
The bikini featured in the last photograph (bright green according to Vogue) looks very similar to my own bright pink bikini, care of Zimmermann. Here is a pic of me wearing it on my most recent trip to Mission Beach in Far North QLD two weeks ago. The husband and I spent a lot of time exploring the area and we found a few gorgeous swimming holes at the foot of the mountains with the clearest freshwater imaginable. The other photo is of me wearing my favourite new vintage shorts care of Grandma Takes a Trip. The top is from The Vintage Drawer, the sunglasses are a second-hand market find and the handbag is Marc by Marc Jacobs.

Promo Trail!

Michelle Williams - who just won a Golden Globe for her performance in My Week with Marilyn - has been hitting the campaign trail with aplomb. Pulling out elegant look after look, here she is in Jason Wu, Chanel, Miu Miu and then Jason Wu again. Some people find her style a bit too cutesy or whimsical, but I love the fact that she has a style 'persona' but it still happy to experiment too. And I LOVE her hair.
I read the books that the film are based on during a plane trip the other day. The first book The Prince, The Showgirl and Me was a fun and gossipy read about life on a film set in the 1950s. It appealed to the old movie buff in me. My Week with Marilyn (the author's supposed 'lost week' where he had an almost affair with Marilyn Monroe) was only so so, but I could see the filmic potential in it. I'm looking forward to finally seeing the finished product.

And what of the rest of the Golden Globes? I love to look at pretty dresses any day, any time, but these big events of late tend to be a bit ho hum. It's not very often that you see a truly dramatic dress. So, for me, my pick from this year is Evan Rachel Woods in Gucci Premiere. Not necessarily something I would wear but ERW looks smashing in it. And what's not to love about a plunging neckline, sequins and feathers, all in the same dress.

Norman Parkinson in India

The January issue of British Vogue includes a feature that trawls through the Vogue archives for images from exotic locales. 'The fashionable life, lived at home and abroad, was vital to Vogue's early success.' There's Morocco in the 1920s, Hawaii in the 1930s, Kenya in the 1960s and Jerry Hall in the USSR while the cold war was still raging. My favourite images though are the ones taken by Norman Parkinson in 1956. The model is Barbara Mullens, the clothes are elegance manifest and the locations would give anyone itchy feet. I LOVE that yellow Dior gown.