Tangent

Yesterday I was beset with a hideous case of gastro, which meant I was mired in bed all day. I took the opportunity to catch up on some blogging, tint my eyebrows and paint my toenails – as one does.

I used to wear this old tangerine shade of my mom’s a while back and it never felt quite right. Of course, not that tangerine is the colour of the season, my entire attitude towards it has changed. Funny how that happens, huh?

The artfully placed poppy petals are the natural progression of my weekend florals, slowly shedding glossy discs of colour onto the carpet.

Citrus Kitsch

This weekend I went to my neighbourhood flower seller to buy some blossoms in preparation for a dinner party, and was so taken with these citrus and pastel poppies that I came away with an armful of them.

The woman that sold them to me said that they are ‘cheerful’ but I actually think they are positively supernatural. And the mix of acid brights with muted, sherbety tones really sums up Summer 2011 for me.

I wish I could take these poppies and have them digitally printed, Mary Katrantzou-style, all over a full circle skirt with a tight little waist. Deeee-licious.

 

Day Glo

Loving these candy tinted images of Summer girls by Shae Acopian Detar – they remind me of the candy-striped garden chairs that everyone had round their pools in the late 80’s.

And that makes me think of Dairy Maid ice lollies, fringed pool dresses dripping neon beads, and the cut-out bathing costumes my mom wouldn’t let me near.

Even in the 80’s my mom knew they were too 80’s.

See more of Detar’s luminous work here.

Melancholia

I, along with the rest of the girls born in the late 80’s (and thus privy to a spate of late 90’s/early 00’s Kirsten Dunst films like Jumanji, Bring it On, The Virgin Suicides and Strike!), am a huge Miss Dunst fan.

I stumbled upon the trailer for Melancholia on Youtube yesterday and I cannot wait to see it. Fluttery frocks, perfect tee’s, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Charlotte Rampling and the apocalypse? Ticks all the boxes for moi.

Pomfetti System

Can Confetti System and Pom Pom Factory please collaborate?

It will make my life.

Birthday Blog!

On the 31st of August (next week Wednesday) my lil’ blog turns one year old.

Lots of research, time, love and good coffee (and wine) have gone into this here blog. It’s gotten me a job in fashion, allowed me to meet some really creative people, and has been an epic test of commitment and patience. It’s also been lots of fun.

On that note (and because I’m a self-confessed birthday lover) I am doing a little celebratory giveaway with the help of some cool friends. Read on if the prospect of live music, free jools, lovely lashes and punk colour interests you.

Two lucky readers will each win a ticket to my absolute favourite festival of the year, Rocking the Daisies. My love of RTD has been well documented, and this year will mark my fourth consecutive bout of October revelry out in the fields of Darling. See you there!

Each ticket will be accompanied by a set of Incoco nail transfers in rock ‘n roll colours hand picked by moi. Incoco is an absolute revelation in nail colour. Made from nail polish, it is entirely dry, applied in minutes and lasts ages – festival perfection. The colour is super bright, and the dry application process means you get to avoid the pungent odor of nail polish remover, as well as smudges and other unsightly thangs. My personal favourites are the turquoise (Rock Candy) and, of course, the blood red (Passion).

Each RTD ticket winner will also win a set of handmade lovelies by local label, Ruby Ru (also hand-picked by me). I once went to Earth Dance and, in addition to being scorned for having brought a bag big enough for a month long stay (‘Heathrow’s that way!’), I was also sniggered at for hunting in the side pocket of the tent for my selection of rings upon waking. If you ask me, a festival aint a festival if you look like crap. And bright jools always make me feel good. So there you go.

Because I only have two RTD tickets to give away, and because I hate even numbers, there must be a third prize. And because we don’t want anyone getting jealous, I’ve saved my personal favourites for last…

The third prize winner will win this pair of hand-beaded earrings from Merchants on Long. I’ve been coveting them for ages, and even sent a pair all the way to Sydney for my best friend’s birthday recently. The combination of muted and neon beads, with Deco/Ndebele-inspired geometric patterns and the oversized shape is, I think, pretty much genius. They are true Africhic. And they are also for a good cause.

My earrings (I’m calling them mine because I can’t not) will be accompanied by a lash and brow tint and a set of eyelash extensions courtesy of Mooi. Mooi is my favourite local salon (for both hair and beauty), and a lash and brow tint is truly the most underrated of all treatments. If there’s one thing I can’t be parted from, its dark lashes, and I will even pass up my red lips in favour of a pair of glossy lashes. In fact, a lash and brow tint is one of my pre-festival essentials! No one likes to surface from the tent looking like a sad mole (you can quote me on that).

So…

How to enter?

1. Comment on this post and tell me about your favourite festival essential.

2. Retweet or Facebook the link and let me know you’ve done so by using my Twitter handle: @the_pessimiss

Winners drawn at random and announced on Wednesday the 31st of August.

Good luck ❤

Hello, Lover

My friend Gabi just returned from an absolute pillage in London. She says she spent the entire duration of her stay on Oxford Street, and quite frankly, I’m a little scared to view her purchases. The girl got style, and I’m not sure I can handle the envy.

There are three little things that might take the edge off, though. Gabi knew how desperately I wanted a pair of collar tips and generously consented to a small ASOS delivery to her address in London, which she would then bring back for me. Of course, me being me, I got entirely seduced and landed up taking a chance and ordering three things substantially larger than those teensy tips.

So large, and so brazen, in fact, that she was forced to leave one behind! That’s what you get for being a wanton sneak, I suppose. Visits to London are invariably beset with “oh can you stop at Marks and Sparks for me’s” and “won’t you pop in at the post office’s”, when all you really want to do is take up residence at Topshop with a Frio in your left hand and your right, free to roam.

In any case, this glorious flutter of a kimono blouse and my very first playsuit are officially in the country, with the piece de resistance, the golden tassel bag, following suit shortly.

Some of you may remember my anti-playsuit crusade some time ago, where I ranted about them not being fit for grown women, and making one look like some kind of a Brownies cult member, etcetera.

I am forced to eat my words (this does not happen often, just ask my friend Olivia). I have come round to the idea, and I couldn’t quite resist the cut-out detail on the back, nor the feminine 70’s inspired shape. Here’s hoping it looks as slinky on!

Aquafresh

I’ve fallen in love with the colour palette in Roksanda Illincic’s Resort 2012 collection – a surreal mix of cobalts, nearly-fluoro greens and flashes of Mod Squad orange. The cut-outs, turbans and streaming shoulder trains add an element of eccentric glamour that also has me contemplating a turban of my own.

L.O.V.E

I love this outfit. A quick afternoon burst of textured pompom fun with Baroque undertones.

Image: Stockholm Streetstyle

In the Hall with the Candlestick

I am delighted to give you a first look at the great shoot that Alix-Rose Cowie(photographer) and Kate Desmarais (stylist) did this weekend featuring some of my Rah-Rah Room gems. As always, just in time for my sale, Kate and Alix pulled something so Rah-Rah out of the bag: charming, quirky, meaningful and enchanting.

Shot on location at the oh-so-cool girl’s res, Spes Bona, the story was subtly informed by the characters and guises in the classic game, Cluedo. Spes Bona was perfect. Model Lala Quail, with her minx-like bangs and arresting gaze was the perfect subject. As Reverend Green in the Dining Room, Mrs Peacock in the Reception Hall and Mrs White in the Conservatory, she rocked it.

Thank you to Michael Tymbios for the perfect cover page, and to Spes Bona for having us. Thank you, as always, to Kate and Alix for having great vision and for making things fun and having great taste.

Join Teresa Dalton of the The Spice Studio and I at Blonde this Saturday from 1 until 6pm – the gems in this shoot will be on sale!

Fenton!

I think the piece of fluoro-spiked, skull-bedazzled, pop culture delight above deserves a ‘Hell yeah!’ At the very least, a meaningful gasp. Which is exactly what I did when I saw it for the first time.

These glorious chunky mashups are the product of Fenton, an American jewellery house started by designer Dana Lorenz in 2006. With two painting behind her, Dana entered the fashion industry, first working for Gucci and then Donna Karan. Her pieces were soon featured in American Vogue, and shortly after that, Fenton began to be stocked at major  high end retailers like Barneys, Colette and Liberty.

The Fenton website describes the collection as:

‘An elaborate mix of unexpected elements. The aesthetic inspires fantasy, and is always derived from a strong pop culture reference and point of view. The pieces are strong statements and each are little worlds all their own.’

I couldn’t have put it better myself. I am always a sucker for the mixing of pop culture with the classic. The idea of juxtaposing something quite lowbrow like a bubblegummy skull with something typically highbrow like a strand of pearls and some über yuppie gold chain is almos utopian to me. I delight in the weird mishmash of cultural references – Sloane rangers, punk girls and Tiffany’s princesses, all in one. Yeah!

It’s no wonder Dana has collaborated with the likes of Proenza Schouler and Thakoon on their runway collections, and worked with retailers like Opening Ceremony and J.Crew on capsule collections.

I adore every piece in her Summer 2011 collection. Skulls, gilded feathers, intermingled chains, fluoro spikes and tufts of lush fur make for a totemic mix that I find quite hypnotic. Which is, perhaps, the point. Each piece is like its own pagan pop culture charm.

Icons: Gres

Yesterday I posted about a vintage Grès scarf that was bestowed upon me
by a friend. I knew the first time that I saw it that it was special, but I
needed to do some research into the Grès name and Madame Grès herself to find out more about its heritage. It’s also been a while since my previous Icons
post, and they really are my favourite (must harken back to my highschool years as a history geek).

Grès was launched by Germaine Émilie Krebs, also known as Alix Barton and later as ‘Madame Grès’ in Paris in 1942. Madame Grès was a trained sculptress who often claimed that working with fabric was the same thing, for her, as working with stone. She wanted to be a sculptor, and she found her medium in haute couture. Under her creative stewardship, Grès became one of France’s most vaunted fashion houses, dressing, in its time, the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Jacqueline Kennedy and Dolores del Rio.

Grès’ signature style was characterised by intricate drapery, created using yards and yards of jersey. It wasn’t uncommon for Madame Grès to employ her inimitable techniques to compress as much as 3m of fabric into a 7cm swathe on a frock. Unbelievable. And yet these images demonstrate just that – a marked sculptural aesthetic and a density of fabric that can only come from painstaking construction. Besides her unusual methods, Madame Grès was also famous for cut-outs on gowns. Exposing parts of the female body in a way that still felt classy became a Grès trademark. I love that about every single one of these gowns – that the cut-outs have a sculptural, sensual feel that implies confidence and feminine mystique.

Madame Grès won the hearts of both the jetset and the press, and her fashion house enjoyed years of critical acclaim before it began to falter in the 1980’s. Grès was subsequently one of the last couture houses ever to establish a ready-to-wear line, something that the Madame herself dubbed ‘a prostitution’. It is sad to see a similar thing happening to other fashion greats that have weathered the decades – Valentino being a case in point.

Today all that survives is Parfums Grès, the associated perfume house located in Switzerland. Madame Grès’ final garment was commissioned in 1989 by Hubert de Givenchy himself. She died four years later at the age of 90.

In April this year, the Musée Galliera hosted the first Paris retrospective of Madame Grès’ work. Showcased, fittingly, amid marble sculptures at the Musée Bourdelle, the exhibition featured 80 key pieces, 100 sketches and 50 original pictures taken by photographers the likes of Richard Avedon and Guy Bourdin. I would have so loved to have seen it in person.

Madame Grès’ rigorous, artistic approach to the creation of women’s wear was truly haute couture. It’s not just because the pieces are displayed as art. They really are monumental, each and every one.

The canary yellow gown is my ultimate – it reminds me of a sea anemone, or a reef, or a shoal of fish. Too beauteous.

Junebug

This is what Dame Linda Shaw (she of the famous Sunday Times horoscope) has to say for us Cancerians this week:

CANCER (Jun 21 – Jul 22)

The moon is your planet, and she’s beaming down on your love life this Friday. Romance, passion and business partnerships are starting to glow. What’s more, you’ll soon have the money to make them great. Your health has improved, your energy is up and fabulous new opportunities are leaping out of every corner.

Yeah! I’m not sure about the energy boost, but whisperings of glowing passion and gleaming business partnerships  is always welcome. Your starsign might not be as cool as mine this month, but I’d recommend regular check ins with Dame Linda in any case.

Rah-Rah news and new posts up soon!

* Image by Andrés Yeah

 

Honolulu Luxe

Stella McCartney’s Resort 2012 collection, launched at a garden party featuring a prance of flamingo-bright models amidst pinãtas, is oh so beauteous.

Playing into Summer’s penchant for offbeat brights, flora and ladylike detailing, each garment is a glorious experiment in Hawaian prints, sorbet colour, and trademark Stella grownup shapes. The sartorial nods to the classic tuxe have me yearning for a tuxe-tailored shift.

I love the mod-esque palette of tangerines, turquoises and popsicle stripes.

 

Crown Jools

Yes, I know, the title of this post is deeply corny, but I couldn’t resist. My post-birthday hangover is to blame.

On Saturday night I celebrated my 25th with a collective a close friends and family over an imperial Indian feast held in my lounge. We were seated on sari-covered cushions around a massive square table dotted with florals, candles and my collection of skulls. Over the course of the evening we partook in numerous Cobra beers (which went down a treat despite initial concerns that they were low in alcohol) and indulged in glorious curries with all the trimmings that make Indian dining so sumptuous and intricate.

I hadn’t planned to dress to theme, but a particularly glamorous black and gold vintage kaftan that had been hanging alongside my Rah Rah Room stock for months won me over at the last minute. I accessorised with an ankle bracelet, a bindi, dark eyes and bare feet and had a bloody wondrous time, frolicking about, catching up with old friends, and munching on homemade onion bhajis. I opted for a nice stiff colonial G&T (or fifteen) and the night ended with some spirited drunken dancing to Fleetwood Mac in the lounge – eyes closed, swaying, singalong style. Perfect.

Together, my friends and family got my some really beautiful, meaningful and 25-worthy gifts. Usually people just give me clothes and jools, because that’s how I roll, but this year’s gifts were really thoughtful, so I’ve decided to share a few with you…

My parents gave me this beauteous chunky Le Creuset pot in ‘Coastal Blue’ – it’s the exact shade of those old enamelled Aga’s and I love it. One of my other favourite things to do is to cook, so this little baby is going to be the belly of many a curry to come.

What a cool mix of things! First mention goes to the White Stripes dvd, which was a gift from Ian and Gabi. I am a diehard Jack White fan and I haven’t yet seen Under Blackpool Lights. I plan to watch it whilst eating some  of that Honest chocolate spread gleaming in the top right corner (a gift from my handsome friend Arnaldo). Nicol gave me the bonbons, along with the crystal that’s resting on top of Jack and Meg. It’s supposed to ward off negativity and the harmful effects of electromagnetic impulses. Fitting, considering I sleep with my Blackberry by my side and work on a computer all day long. It’s really beautiful, metallic and multi-faceted – I plan to attach it to some kind of thong and wear it around my neck, nouveau hippie style.

The bird locket was from Luke and Ruby and I love it. The little brown leather bag has an interesting story. My friend Max and his sister Lulu have started a project to raise funds for a Malawian guy called Fortune who is desperate to get back home. The project is called Fortuneknit, and Max and Lulu are putting their craft skills to the test, making bags and other paraphernalia to help Fortune get home. If you met Max you would know why I am so touched that he completed each stitch in this bag just for me. Although he’s creative he’s not exactly the sewing type, so it really is special. More on Fortuneknit when I have more information.

These Pringle Chelsea boots are pretty much perfect. I have had my eye on them for my months, and finally, sensing desperation, my friends at my old company, Colourworks, saved the day. They’re the colour of dark chocolate, perfectly plain, and have a perversely pointed toe. Coincidentally, I scraped the veneer off the heel of my other old favourites the day before my birthday. Kismet!

Olivia gave me this painting – her mother painted it of her when she was a little girl and I’ve always loved it. She gave me the original to add to my small but growing collection of art and it means so much to me. Her button nose is unmistakable. She also made me this mad, amazing card – a swirl of citrus filled with heartfelt words.

These silky Honest chocolate bonbons from Arnaldo didn’t stand a chance in our apartment. They were with us for about seven minutes before being consumed.

All in all, some great presents from some great people, and this is just a sneak peek. Take a look at the chunkette of floral cake my mom baked for me, too: