Manstylings

I used Stuart to play dress-up a few weeks ago and have only just got around to posting these. Yes, shame on me. (Charlie, feel free to leave "special" comments on this effort...Stuart's words, not mine :)

Currently forcing myself to complete an assignment for a course I got to travel to Melbourne for. I've just got to remember that I knew there would be sacrifices to make in exchange for a free trip and accommodation :/

Hope you're all having a great week :)

Unisex Uniforms

And so they should be.

Trimapee, emphasis trim-AH-pee, is an Australian brand I was only recently introduced to. The first words out of my mouth were, 'Where have you been all my life?!!?'. The trimapee designers are true artisans. Their clothes are ingenius, making full use of asymmetry, texture, draping, cutting and a whole range of techniques and materials to give their clothes that unique and highly covetable sheen.

Their latest collection, Prostitution Institution (2009), was demonstrated as an interactive fashion/art show and installation exploring the theme of the carbon copy kid culture we live in. It was an investigation of the cause and effect of art and fashion in a society constantly under pressure from the mainstream so that even the strong-willed sucuumb.

Basically the showing was an appreciation or recognition of sorts of the talented unexpected that keep breaking the mediocre mould. What a fashion statement indeed.

I'm particularly enamoured by their clothes, the uniqueness (ref: aforementioned talent breakaways) and at how unisex and desirable everything is. Stuart and me drooled over most of the same items of clothing. And that's saying something.

all images above from the 'Prostitution Institution' collection lookbook

above images from the 'Prostitution Institution' runway show

I just bought a pair of white geometric print leggings from trimapee that I adored online. I cannot wait. I'm also looking forward to raiding the online store for these babies!

Happy Browsing :)

black & blue

The snood got some action two days after I bought it. Favouritism at its very best. I very nearly typed 'nepotism' but that's a worrying thought right there. Related to great big wooly holes that I favour??!!? Actually.......nah, I kid ;)

I realised that not only is the snood a multi-wearable item of clothing (as a thick-knit neck scarf/as a snood/as a pillow/as an electric blanket for your ears) but that I'm turning the world into a snood-hood, one person at a time.

I bought Stuart one, Charlie has my guarantee I'll buy him one....who's next?

I also got Stuart to take a close-up of my hands as I'm wearing this cool nailpolish that Erika sent me (NYC Big Apple Red Creme - thank you hun :) and that I mixed with a magenta shade from Modelista. The rings make up part of my normal body armour.

(and si, I am still bloody trying to grow my fringe out...damn hairdresser!)

sheer tank, supre. leggings, ebay. leather jacket, vintage. snood, valleygirl. shoes, DIY rubi. rings; sportsgirl, diva, markets.

On the bandwagon...

I joined the bloglovin' community.

About time, huh.

To follow my blog with bloglovin', click on this link or the "follow my blog with bloglovin' "section on the left.

Also please let me know in the comments section if you want me to follow your blog, or link you :)

"sunset at sorrento"

Weekend shenanigans (and more snoodisms)

(long post, you have been warned)

Thanks for all the feedback on the last post. I got quite a few new book recommendations and will definitely be looking into them. I also got a few recommendations that are favourites of mine but that I had completely forgotten as I listed books off the top of my head (so thank you once again :). Also, I'm humbled by all your comments on my photography. I've been an avid photography enthusiast for ages and it's a passive hobby of mine. I'm saving money for a Canon Rebel XTI but thus far have relied on good light and just what feels right. I cannot wait to invest in a decent camera and take my hobby to new obsessive limits (probably :)

Antoine of florilège d'esthète meanwhile informed me that he had forwarded the following blog award on to me. Antoine's blog is a delight and his posts are intelligent and a must-read. Thank you Antoine, it is a pleasure to be awarded this :)

This past weekend comprised of gift shopping, coffee drinking, Gracie's birthday celebrations, Ellie's and my discussions about shoes, shopping and other randomness, overdosing on delicious punch and the inevitable tipsy-ness (although Charlie was more drunk than the rest of us....were you drinking beforehand??!!), catching up with friends I hadn't seen in a while and meeting new ones, unveiling the snood and convincing Charlie and my mother that they needed one like they needed air, staging a photoshoot featuring Stuart (photos to come) and more caffeine intake. Fun times.

the yellow ball = the side effects of severe storms!

my max shop leather jacket, I love her so...

happy birthday Gracie! (check out the pimpin' gold jacket Charlie has on :)

"but...that's what he said..."

gold jacket love.....

.....we all want a piece of it

smooth operator a.k.a the bug

"don't you dare....MINE!!!"

the birthday girl shimmying

wrecking shots, its what I do best :)

if I found these in a size 5.5, I'd buy them in a heartbeat...

....and Ellie agrees with me!

I just watched Camille's video on shredding tees (yes it's a little late but hey better late than never, right) and am committed to shredding a tee....let's see how that goes given my shorter-than-short attention span. Results to follow....???

1st outfit: top, myer. jeans, random shop in melbourne. shoes, colin stuart. jacket, vintage. necklace and cuff, diva.

2nd outfit: dress, vintage. jacket, max shop. boots, DIY rubi. necklace, gift from holland.

Snood (and Core Book Collections)

I bought a 'snood' today. I picked it up, saw the "how to wear" tag attached to it and headed straight to the counter. Thank you Valley Girl, for fulfilling my MK Olsen snood desires. In case you are wondering, a snood is a scarf-hood hybrid and the one I got is geniusly warm and beyond fashionable. Love. Will have to photograph.

p.s. How f*cking awesome is the word snood? I proceeded to irritate the bejesus out of my sister on our train ride home by inserting 'snood' into every sentence I spoke. For example, "This train driver is a snoodlum...what's with the jerking?" or "what should we have for dinner, salmonsnood...?". I swear she may have threatened to clobber me me with her huge and funky umbrella. Such is life :)

Apart from my fabulous snood and the fact that snood is good, I thought I would do me a favour and follow up on this post with what I believe to be the core book collection. Of course, this is only what I can remember now off the top of my head and the complete idealistic collection is a lot longer and would realistically take up one of the two walls of my floor-to-ceiling library.

Of course.

So without further ado (and more snoodalicious talk), lets get into it....

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Breath - Tim Winton**

Under a Tin-Grey Sari - Wayne Ashton

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide - Robert Louis Stevenson

The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

Falling Man - Don Delillo

Down Under - Bill Bryson (and anything else Bryson if we're being honest)

I'm Not Scared - Niccolo Ammanati

Lord of the Flies - William Golding

Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela

Sixty Lights - Gail Jones

Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie

Midnights Children - Salman Rushdie (love, love, LOVE this book!)

The Story of the Cannibal Woman - Maryse Conde

Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned - Anne Rice

The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice

Caucasia - Danzy Senna

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey

Underworld - Don Delillo (need to buy)

Winged Creatures - Roy Freirich

The Language of Threads - Gail Tsukiyama

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami

The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

Selected Stories - Anton Chekhov

The Alchymist's Cat, The Oaken Throne, Thomas - Robin Jarvis

The Harry Potter series - J.K.Rowling

The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon - Thomas Harris

Paradise - Abdulrazak Gurnah

The Drowned and the Saved - Primo Levi

The Hungry Tide - Amitav Ghosh

The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

Shade - Neil Jordan

Cosmopolis - Don Delillo

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Papillon - Henri Charriere

Waiting - Ha Jin

Desertion - Abdulrazak Gurnah

Apologies for such a long list. I thought it would be an interesting observation to come back to this list (which is just the tip of the iceberg) in a few months or a year and add to it or see whether the above still hold favour.

I'd love to hear your suggestions too...anything to add to my collection and to awaken my ignorance....

For those that have read to the end...here's gratification in the form of some pretty pictures (taken by moi)

**Please read, Tim Winton is a literary genius!

She's crazy

Or atleast you'll think so when you see the next shot (with the sunnies).

Just some of my recent purchases. Included in this "purchase" index is a new laptop (the last one finally wheezed its last breaths and while it is still technically functional, it crashes more often than I can blink....can anyone say upgrade?!!), a Romance Was Born dress (yay, I've finally got my hands on a showpiece from this brilliant designer duo), leather platform mary janes (for Aud $40, I kid you not) and a brilliant oversized sheer sweater by One Teaspooon (love!).

The sunnies make me look nutso but I couldn't help but buy them (a little while back). Also scored an Alice McCall chain top that functions as a dress and can be worn about 15 different ways (and counting). All of this was bought during the sales, love the sales, and the laptop was purchased using our Prime Minister's bonus payment. Excellent work, Smithers.

Mwah hah hah, its okay, laugh....I'm here all day, tips in the hat please :)

The above is what I meant by crazy speak. The glasses, they're nuts. They make me do bad thing....okay, maybe not. Lol.

Hope you are all having a fab week!

1st outfit: sweater, one teaspoon. skirt, cotton on. shoes, orbit. necklace, diva. ring, markets.

2nd outfit: dress, supre. shoes, tristan blair. sunnies, ice. jewellery, various.