Category: 2015
Delicious Denim x
Delicious denim is having it’s moment and even the classic jacket is being taken for a creative ride…say hello to Sibling bling..
Acne (still such a dodgy name..) boggles with toggles.
Preen explores the bomber…
and the traditional.
(All jackets and photos from Net-a-porter.com)
Whilst Maison Margela wants you to pay for deconstruction..
Which one floats your boat? Or will Levi’s classic always have that place in your heart?
Laters, Kate x
Fashion Warrior x
A style icon is someone with the power to dazzle by simply being themselves and Gwendoline Christie, (best known for playing the part of Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones) is as bright and compelling as any of the celebrity fashion role models regularly spoonfed to us by the synthesised, visually generalised media. But with added spice..there’s something powerful, complex and original about her..made all the more special when you take into account her six foot three inch size..
As someone who has at times felt genderless because of her height, it interests her to challenge our assumptions of femininity and what it is to be a woman.
The role of Brienne – unfeminine in appearance, an object of scorn, clinging naively to the idealised concept of knighthood but always being treated with contempt and resentment for her gender, despite her considerable skill – is a role she relishes as a gift and the most extraordinary opportunity to portray the type of feminine outsider we rarely see in the mainstream.
It’s a part that crosses the invisible line between an actors vanity and personal vanity..you have to be prepared to be displayed as unattractive, large and masculine..and for people to believe that’s what you truly are.
When the reality is very different..
This is a lady who knows how to dress and is unafraid to push boundaries.
(All photos Google and Pinterest)
It must be rather satisfying to hear the crushing sound of misconceptions crunching under the designer soles of her stiletto clad feet every time she walks…
Laters, Kate x
Eclipse x
As I’m writing this we’re close to a partial eclipse in London – unfortunately the weather is not co-operating, the clouds are thick and low. With minutes to go it’s definitely darker…the sort of dark that precedes a cracking thunder storm..or the moon cutting out the sun..and I can just imagine these boho babes from Etro SS15 somewhere green and verdant, dancing barefoot in the grass..because the green is always brighter on the other side..
Laters, Kate x
Because..
This is the way I’m feeling today. It’s only a cold. But it stinks.
Laters, Kate x
Style Icon x
5 reasons to love Jamie Bochert…she’s a 30 something model who stalks all the major catwalks with ears that stick out just a little bit, proving that beauty is beauty not perfection.
She fronts a band called Frances Wolf (and even managed to land a gig playing back-up for Patti Smith..in Paris).
She doesn’t believe the hype.
She prepares for fashion week…by eating.
(All photos from Google)
She loves to dance. Wild style.
Laters, Kate x
Savage Beauty x
How to write about Savage Beauty? Can McQueen be captured in an Exhibition..or in the limited bubble of a post? The answer is no, but one has to try. So I’m writing this with the sound track to Schindler’s list playing in the background – it’s an earworm from the exhibition I’ll carry in my heart for a long time…and has made me, for the first time in over ten years, order a piece of violin music just so I can play it myself, softly at night with the back door open..
Cleverly, rather than chronological, the exhibition is grouped in thematic moods: Romantic gothic, Plato’s Atlantic, Highland..each room with it’s own presence: feathery oily gloss, crow black, cloudy foxed mirrors, decadent gilt, hospital white, all dripping quietly with the dark.
Wandering, discovering, uncovering the rooms is like being lead through the Minotaur’s labyrinth in a time chopped and spun dream.
(All photos from Google..no cameras are allowed inside the exhibition)
The Cabinet of Curiosities at the centre is the living brain with flashing synapses and pulsing electricity: Barnacle breasted leather, swooping scooping skirts, spit and saw dust, rich blood reds, spruced and scarred, gossamer held on wings, flammable laughs, chicken feathers in a slaughter house, murmurs, whispers, the glint of gold, leather and bones that wink, the haunting and the haunted. We accept these creations for the sculptures they are, the devolution, destruction, superb craftsmanship and extraordinary vision often without thought for the true effort they took….the room that followed broke my heart.
Go without expectations and you will find Lee, the insecure anti-hero leading the pack, looking inside and always expecting the worst, his discomfort then projected outwards into pure magical McQueen creative gold.
Walking out was a strange journey back into reality.
Laters, Kate x
Vintage Classic Car Boot x
If at heart you’re an emotional scientist when it comes to clothes, you’ll find it harder than the coating of Apollo 13 to resist the temptation of a vintage car boot..
The South Bank Vintage Classic Car Boot took place this weekend in London and was the bright, sunlit intermission on a rather cold, grey, damp couple of days. It’s a wicked combination of vintage cars..and everything else besides..go for a wander..go for a rummage..you never know what delights you’ll find..
One of which was Julie from Vintageattitude with her own stall! She always has such inventive, creative offerings..dog coats on the table (check out that tablecloth!), pom pom lampshades..and my personal favourite..hanging at the back..summer jackets made from vintage tableclothes..genius.
(A close up of her rather fabulous skirt. So true…I love her style.)
I want this fridge..
This is the poshest buggy I have ever seen..it converts into a tricycle when the baby converts to a toddler..and then hopefully a little hatchback..and then maybe a small maisonette??
This guys coat was made from a GI bag..Buster’s pretty cool too..
Such joy…I often feel that modern offerings are just the plastic parody of the past – it’s so much better to liberate the originals and I came away with bulging bags..but more on that in another post..
Laters, Kate x
Bag of tricks x
Valentino is Maria Callas singing Casta Dive from Norma, at sunset on the cliff tops of Cinque Terre. It’s where the magic happens…(and it rips my heart out that Jean Paul Gaultier got their first…)
How unrepentantly this dazzles and drips with impeccably luxury..it’s exclusive enough to buy a true designer handbag..how very, very to buy a matching skirt as well..and what a stroke of genius to create the art of illusion between them, the designs responding to context with no limits to the possibilities.
Those little touches, like the initials of the models, quietly embossed on..
(All photos Valentino)
It’s that moment when the clouds part and a golden ray of sunlight streams down.
Laters, Kate x
Vive Vivetta!
To be humorous and chic takes real talent. Something designer Vivetta Ponti, through her label, Vivetta has in spades..handfuls of them…a detail I particularly like. 
In fact ironic, clever embroideries are the leitmotivs of the brand..
Is it a ruffle?
Or something else..
That skirt..pink on black?..or black on pink?
A peeping face and a clasped waist..
It’s fun, joyful..and it’s beautifully made, firmly deserving a place on the list of lust.
Laters, Kate x
Tall Tale x
I had a funny with Charlie last week. Nothing to do with wearing my glasses..or having a chocolate face..It was actually at his school..they were having an indepth class discussion about World War 1 and Charlie proudly announced that we have two of the ceramic poppies from the Tower of London, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red exhibition at home. His teacher wanted to know if he could bring them in to show the class so the very next day, he eagerly went in with them for his very own, personal show-and-tell. He stood up in front of the class and spoke eloquently about the poppies being the first flower to grow on the battle fields of Flanders, he explained how each poppy represented the death of a soldier..then he was asked ‘And where do these poppies come from Charlie?’ He thoughtfully considered the question..and replied: ‘Tesco’s!’
…Naturally I’m gutted he didn’t say Waitrose..
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 