And speaking of Jackie ...

I thought I'd share my favourite photo of Jackie's glamorous younger sister Lee Radizwell. Sure, her wide-brimmed hat is lovely, but that cute pug on her lap is definitely her best accessory. She reminds me a bit of my own pug Elsie when she was younger (and before she had to have plastic surgery, poor baby). Look how happy she seems to be cuddling her gorgeous friend. The companionship of dogs really is one of life's great joys.
And my verdict on the Kennedy series so far? While it's not breaking any new ground, I'm finding it very entertaining. Katie Holmes is better than I thought she'd be, and she looks quite like Jackie. Greg Kinnear's similarity to JFK is quite eerie.

Did anyone else watch the first episode?

Jackie

I've just switched on the television to watch the new Kennedy mini-series with Greg Kinnear as Jack and Katie Holmes as Jackie. I've heard that Katie's performance isn't great, but that many of the other performances are good, and the styling is spot on. Wait to hear my thoughts, but in the meantime I thought it was as good a day as any to blog a few Jackie pics. What a life, hey?

Red-carpet Vintage Spot

I always love seeing vintage on the red-carpet. Glee actress Dianna Agron wore vintage Chanel couture to yesterdays Screen Actors Guild Awards. It's a navy lace strapless dress courtesy of Rare Vintage, although I'm not sure what era (although the nineties can be considered vintage now, right?). I love the length of this dress, and it is classic, beautiful, flawless Chanel. I'm not totally loving her hair and her shoes - a bit clunky perhaps - but I'm loving everything about January Jones in brand new Carolina Herrera on the same carpet.

All this Chanel talk has got me lusting after vintage Chanel suits. Suits or gowns, what a pity I can't afford either. Knock off anyone?

Pictures to make you go WOW

I love it when Vogue pulls out all the stops and constructs a lavish narrative driven fashion editorial. A good one will have you longing to immerse yourself in it's visually rewarding world, even if - in this particular case - that world is a crumbling marriage and a wife's affair.

The Prada and Louis Vuitton A/W collections were among my favourites of the season; both luxe but wearable and heavily influenced by the classic silhouettes of yesteryear.

It is nice to see them get a run in these gorgeous shots and don't Ewan and Natalia make a gorgeous faux couple? Natalia looks so at home in these retro styles as her face recalls revered beauties from the 50s and 60s like Jean Patchett, Jean Shrimpton, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Natalie Wood.

I LOVE the blue Vera Wang cocktail dress in the third pic.

Peter Lindbergh's gorgeous shots can be found in the July issue of US Vogue, or you can also check them here.

First Lady as Muse

My previous post about Oleg Cassini got me thinking about his relationship with the gorgeous Jackie Kennedy during her years as First Lady. I love Jackie because she was refined and intelligent, beautiful, uniquely stylish, bookish (she was a book editor in later years), discreet and the mother of one of the hottest men of the 20th Century.

Oleg Cassini designed many, many of the outfits Jackie wore on various State Visits and to many White House functions. It is such a pity that news reporting back then was still largely a black and white world as Jackie really embraced colour. I love all the long white gloves.

The Met in NY had an exhibition of Jacqueline's early 1960's clothing some time ago and I managed to find these images of some of their collection pieces. You'll recognise the blue strapless dress which she wore to a Ball in Mexico and the lovely pink dress she wore on a trip to India.

Wedding Bells

My darling boyfriend and I became engaged on Saturday morning (at 6.30am precisely - I had to peel off my eye mask to see the ring), and after about ten hours of blissed out lovey dovey-ness and out of character champagne guzzling, I was 1. feeling pretty tipsy and 2. starting to freak out about the whole planning of a wedding.

I had been entertaining fantasies of elopement, but it turns out it is rather hard to take your parents and best mates with you. And while I've always loved attending other peoples lovely lavish weddings, I've never really fancied one for myself. Not to mention we are in the midst of a recession, everyone is worried about holding onto their jobs and not even K Rudd's money is making most people feel secure and flush anymore. Where to from here?

One thing I am certain about though, is that I want to get my dress made. Yep, no vintage this time around. I already know my dream dress doesn't exist out there, so I'm going to have to create it, possibly from scratch or possibly Pretty in Pink styling by pulling a couple of different outfits together.

Jackie's, Nicole's (Balenciaga) and J Lo's (Valentino) are a few of my favourite celebrity dresses. I think Jackie's could be my favourite of all time.

I think my dress will include some elements of each of these dresses, but at the same time will be entirely different, and not as traditionally wedding-y.

And coincidentally there is an interesting article by Hortense at Jezebel that was posted this weekend http://jezebel.com/5227469/is-having-an-offbeat-wedding-really-that-different-from-having-a-traditional-wedding about the off-beat wedding. All I can promise you for sure at this stage is we won't make our guests wear Sari's and there is no way I'm getting married on the beach. As much as I love it there, can you imagine not wearing shoes on your wedding day???

Oh, and if you check out the Jezebel story - how amazing is Elizabeth Taylor?

More Valentino

Did you know that Valentino has five pugs? If you watched the preview of Valentino: The Last Emporer, then you surely do know. Apparently they travel everywhere with him, and this warms the cuckolds of my heart. Oh puggies.

But back to fashion ...

I've been checking out a lot of Valentino retrospectives and did you know he designed Elizabeth Taylor's wedding dress for her eighth wedding to Larry Fortensky.?Rather fittingly (considering that she was definitely no virgin) Elizabeth chose yellow for the ceremony. Love her. And that tan was - scary to think now - all natural.

Jackie Onassis made the name Valentino famous world-wide when she wore one of his designs at her wedding to Aristotle Onassis. Jackie is high up there on my all-time best dressed list. Plus I love her for the rebelliousness of marrying a Greek shipping heir and for being a book editor.

And my BFF Cate B wore Valentino when she won her Oscar in 05. Divine, divine, divine. I was talking bridesmaid dresses today with my friend Lee (I'm a bridesmaid at her forthcoming wedding in October) and I suggested a yellow not dissimilar to this dress as a possible colour, and she quite liked the idea. A shopping expedition is on the agenda though, so early days as yet. Bridesmaid dress shopping is always fraught.

And I've never forgotten the gorgeous vintage Valentino Julia Roberts wore when she won her Best Actress Oscar. I remember watching the back of the dress as she walked up to collect her award and sighing. One of the most memorable Oscar dresses for me.