Wednesday 28 September 2011

Come on shoe designers...

My good friend Alex is one of my favourite dressers. She combines everyday essentials with kookier items (tablecloth dress anyone?) and as such she can be described as quite the resourceful shopper.

There is, however, one wardrobe essential that has eluded her for many a year..... a pair of wedges.

I'm not sure the exact specifications a wedge must meet for Alex to be satisfied but with summer coming up, she is not alone in her struggle.

Example of the A-typical wedge:
It's not too horrific I hear you say, agreed, I deliberately chose potentially the nicest ones on ASOS, and they can be all yours for only £60! But here is where my issues come into play:

Ankle straps: Very few people can do ankle straps, actually quite a few can, very few non-skinny people should do ankle straps. I hear the dreaded word "cankle" echoing around my head and I am pretty sure the nausea will follow me into my dreams. 

The "wedge texture": i.e what the wedge is made out of. I do believe a wedge should be the same texture as the rest of the shoe UNLESS is super expensive wood. The prime example of what I mean by this is shown by the monstrosity below:
(Thanks amazon.com for that one, they're surprisingly on sale...)

Peep toe: Excluding summer wedges which should be peep toe as all sandals are, the winter wedge is ALWAYS peep toe when it really shouldn't be. I want to send a memo to designers informing them that in winter WOMEN WEAR TIGHTS. Yes, you know you do. I slightly think the wedge/tight situation is responsible for the socks and wedges trend of last year. You love your wedges and you love your feet being warm but no one loves those seams awkwardly showing through your peep toe. Round toes in winter please designers.

And then there's a point that rarely can be avoided, it's hard to find a wedge that just doesn't exude kitchness. 

I TAKE IT ALL BACK I JUST FOUND THESE... only $505.... damn you net-a-porter and your glorious goodness.

CARVEN

Two-tone leather wedge moccasins




I think I should change the subject of this to be; "There are no nice wedges.... that I can afford" :( sad face. 

Tuesday 27 September 2011

RWC observation no.1:

Why do all Argentineans have beards? Is it a nation of weak-chinned people?

Although your broken English was pretty good Mr Argentina supporter, "you are the prettiest woman in New Zealand", beer bellies and huge beards are just two deal breakers I can't overlook. Sorry...?

Two dresses, one collection.

Aquilano.Rimondi are a designing duo from Italy who decided to launch their own line in 2009 after success at various companies since they left design school. They shot to fame by entering the Vogue Italia young designers competition. Got an email about that the other day, maybe I should actually enter?!


Now, after some research on the designers it turns out I love them. I think my fanhood was cemeted by them being quoted as saying Inspirational women are:






I like to think that's me.(like being the operative word)

Their clothing is by and large beautiful, their style matches my own taste in almost every way. 

I have only one thing to say, how can the people who designed the top dress design the sack on the bottom??


Maybe it's my own personal taste, but if the skinny coat-hanger walking it down the runway looks fat in it, that is a deal-breaker. 

To be honest, the latter dress is SO wonderful (very McQueen-like) I forgive them for the other. Check out the rest of the beautiful collection at http://www.style.com/fashionshows/review/S2012RTW-AQURIM




Wednesday 21 September 2011

Rainbow High

I spent a delightful Friday evening last weekend watching Evita instead of going out. It was definitely a good call.

Asides from Antonio Banderas, I also fell in love with THE COSTUMES. drool. They were just amazing, each and every single one of them. I feel the following snippet from the movie accurately shows off why I was in wonderment.

...................joy! pure joy!

Eva Peron's story has been forever immortalised in the musical Evita which should make her happy as she is quoted as having said, "My biggest fear in life is to be forgotten". Given that she was wearing outfits such as that shown below, there was very little chance of her being forgotten.
Watching the movie got me thinking about how female heads of state dress versus first ladies married to male leaders.

Leaders:
Julia
Helen.
Angela.


Now for the wives:
Carla
Michelle.
Bronagh

I tried to be not too biased in my choice of leaders vs. first ladies but I kind of failed. There weren't that many female leaders to chose from and I did chose quite stylish wives (I threw Bronagh in there for NZ balance).

Now, as a young woman who is yet to even attempt at fulfilling her career potential, I am very interested in the way that powerful women dress and I see myself as well dressed but also very career able. After looking at the women shown above here are the general trends that can be observed, displayed excellently in a screenshot from excel:

I know that female politicians are not there to look pretty. And it did piss my feminist self off when  Silvio Berlusconi referred to Angela Merkel as an "unfuckable lard-arse". I'm not here to discuss today the merits of women as leaders but I am interested in why female leaders tend to be terribly dressed. 

Time: Time is probably an important factor as they have world-saving things to do and entire economies resting on their shoulders so doing their hair probably isn't at the top of their priorities. But MEN do it, Barack Obama, arguably the world's most powerful man, never has a hair out of place. His outfits always are infallible, he probably has a stylist so why don't his female counterparts? Someone to pick all their outfits, lay them out, they just have to put them on in the morning?!

Respect: Recently there was a woman who was apparently fired for being "too sexy". According to bank employee, Debrahlee Lorenzana, she was told "not (to) wear pencil skirts, turtlenecks, (...and) business suits that were fitted. Basically they said it drew too much attention"
Now, this incident does trigger a few thoughts. If a women is good looking does she command less respect? Does it make other people awkward to deal with a woman in a professional capacity if she is also somewhat of a babe or are they just threatened? To become a female politician you have to be hard-nosed and driven, competing in a male-dominated world. You must be seen as an equal, if not superior, to your colleagues. Vanity is seen as a weakness and in a world in which one must appear strong, it is ill-advised to appear so.

Personality: A large factor that cannot be ignored is the personality type of women that go into politics. Lets face it, they are nerdy. And in general, nerds aren't known for caring too much about what they wear. It's a very simplistic attitude to the matter but I do feel that it holds some credibility. 

LET'S MAKE A GRAPH TO SUMMARISE:
 I feel I have waffled on far too much and strayed quite substantially from my original point about first ladies. To gain forgiveness for this error, here is a picture of Antonio Banderas:

Brooding mmmmmmm.....

Sunday 18 September 2011

Karl speaks my mind again

“Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.” 
― Karl Lagerfeld 

Friday 16 September 2011

Having an Ink Think.

Lou Eyrich (costume designer for Glee) caused headlines a few days ago by revealing her new head tattoo:
I have to say, for once in my talkative life, I didn't quite know what to say. I hesitantly want to say that I do really quite like it, at the same time not being convinced she hasn't just sharpie'd her head.

There are so many things to think about:
- is it real?
- holy moly that would hurt!!!
- does she have to condition it?
- what happens when her hair grows back?!
- regret much?

Tattoos are a such interesting things. I'm not going to pretend I've researched the social history of them because I haven't at all. According to stuff.co.nz, New Zealand is one of the most tattoo'd countries in the world with 1 in 5 having a tat so they are something which I see daily on a large number of the population.

I think that tattoos can be beautiful, whether they mark you out as a member of Yakuza (as shown above) or are just a copy of your favourite art work. They can also be a piece of shit that acts either to display your tattoo artist's poor grammar or just how bad your taste really is.


Now, the image shown above isn't the worst tattoo I've ever seen, (click here to see that one- it's a goodie) but one must consider the connotations of such a tattoo. You clearly aren't classy for starters as any classy person would definitely not have this tattoo. Asides from giving away the fact you are a) a slut and b) stupid, I just cringe at the thought of this on your 85 year old wrinkly breast. It's a cliché I know to say "well won't it look stupid when you're old?!" but it is often a sound piece of advice however in contrast so is "you only live once".

I've been considering getting a tattoo for many years and I'm finding it hard deciding what I want. I am also unsure if I just want one for the sake of having one. Thinking about tattoos makes me feel like I have to choose a visual representation or a quote that I feel defines me and I don't know if I could ever decide on such a thing. A few of my friends have really awesome tattoos. One has a small red leaf tattooed just below her hairline on the back of her neck- the story behind it being that it is the motif from her favourite childhood book. Another friend has the score from the piece of music which "reminds him why he loves music" tattooed down his left forearm. The first friend was an english literature student who is now an actress/poet and the second has a degree in composition. I just don't have something like this in my life, of course I love fashion but lets face it, having a "fashion-themed" tattoo would look shite.

So if I was to get one I think I would get something that reflects my attitude to life but it's hard to not sound/look like a pompous prick. (Apologies just realised there's lots of swearing in this post- I'm hungover.) I've also never had anyone close to me die or gone through any major struggle in my life - which is FANTASTIC- but it does mean that there aren't many profound statements I have to make on the state of the world.

 I find this also comes through when I'm designing.
The things I design are very mainstream, very wearable and not overly original and progressive, I'll be the first to admit that. University doesn't really appreciate mainstream, wearable or unoriginal, so I get a bit disillusioned as the crazy people attaching pompoms to everything are reveling in their creativity. (Disclaimer: I have nothing against pompoms.)

It's late at night and I've ended up confusing myself once again, but for me the crux of the matter is whether you are having a tattoo to say something to the rest of the world about yourself or whether it's just something that you do for your private self. I'm unsure where I sit on this one. I would like to think that I want a tattoo that would be both beautiful and meaningful but I'm not sure that one exists for me. I think I'm too young to know who I am or what I have to say (as this post thoroughly shows haha). I haven't really experienced much of life so don't know what it means. So I am just going to tell my favourite tattoo motivation which belongs to my godmother. On her 50th birthday she went with her 80 year old mother to each get tattooed. She has a red rose on her upper arm and her mother has a butterfly. You couldn't get more clichéd in tattoo choice but their tattoos make me happy. They did it because they wanted to. Not to show people, not to say something profound or show how original they are, but just because they figured it was a life experience that they weren't willing to miss out on. If I don't get a tattoo in the next few years it's unlikely I will get one in the next 50, but I promise that come my 80th birthday, if I am still tattoo-less, I'll be getting a butterfly purely because it will make me laugh. This in itself will be a good way to summarise my life philosophy :)

Tuesday 6 September 2011

"To wear dreams on one's feet is to give reality to one's dreams"

Bear witness to the pair of shoes that I am going to buy with my first "proper" paycheck. My friend and I decided on a pair of these each would be the perfect celebration on the success of finding a job after uni. (That is assuming I will find a job...eeep)

Now what is it about Louboutins or just stilettos in general that makes them so desired? They hurt my feet quite a lot and the street I live on just isn't "high-heel appropriate" with its uneven surface and steep incline. So I did a little bit of research...

*clears throat* now the invention of the heeled shoe dates back to the ancient Egyptian times when the butchers wore heels to raise themselves about the guts on the floor... >>... in the 16th century italian women wore chopines (SOME AS HIGH AS 30 INCHES?!) ... WHAT? apparently brides who tried this in england could have their marriages annulled...>>... here we go, in the late 19th century the high heel was encouraged on boots to show off your bustle to its best. Makes sense.

Ok, finally onto the 1950s, Roger Vivier is said to have invented the first stiletto heel. Women lapped it up to do the effect it had on the body, lengthening the spine and calves, curving the back and thrusting the chest forward. In the words of Vivier "To wear dreams on one's feet is to give reality to one's dreams".

In the 1980s the stilhetto came into the work place, with women seeking equality to men height was synonymous with power. Thankfully the shoulder pads and perms were left back in the 80s and the stiletto is still present in any well dressed work woman's wardrobe. (Her feet kept intact due to the trainers she walks to work in and then pops on her stilettos as she walks in the front door.)

Time for my thoughts on the matter, I once overheard an acquaintance commenting on how "chubby ladies" are never to be seen without well done nails and towering high heels. Although his comment was quite mean he does have a point. I know on a day when I'm not feeling at my slimmest or my hair is being a nightmare if I wear nice shoes then I instantly feel a little but more attractive. If I was a larger girl I don't think my heels would leave my feet. A family friend of ours is about a size 18, so not the smallest girl but also not the largest I've ever met. She once confessed to owning EIGHTY FIVE pairs of heels, for a 30 year old that is quite a lot of heels... in her own words "well I know no matter what my weight fluctuates to my shoes will always fit me, and they will always look nice on my feet, the same cannot be said for any other item of clothing that I own".

I completely agree with her. When I get my shoes I will wear them forever, their mid-height, black patent style will never go out of fashion. It may be misguided investing so much emotion and money into footwear but it worked out for Cinderella and Dorothy, why not for me?

speechless...

except.... "designer colours?!"

Mathias Chaize

Hmmmm Mathias Chaize is a tricky man to track down... 


A friend showed me his really cute jewellery on net-a-porter, which I am definitely going to guy once funds come my way. I'm not much of a "friendship bracelet" type of girl but his cute french phrases really won me over:

After briefly trying to find out about him online, I discovered his website was largely "en construction", particularly the sections which would tell me more about the story behind this man? brand? company? 


Who knows? What I do know is that net-a-porter had better not sell out anytime soon...

Mad men madness

Last weekend I went to a friend's "Mad Man themed" birthday party. I wish that I lived back in that era, or rather, that "people today" dressed with the style and class as their Donald Draper and Joan Holloway counterparts.

My first realisation whilst getting ready for this evening was that the time and effort put into getting ready, whilst extensive, it made me feel like I deserved to look good and literally made me feel like I was walking into social battle with full war paint on.

(This is the video that taught me how.)

As my friend and I were walking down the street complete with black liquid eyeliner, red lips and cinched waistlines, we got quite a few looks from other people. Not going to lie, I felt special and we were both beaming as we walked into the party. I then proceeded to have quite a number of cocktails leave the party and go drinking with other "normally dressed" people.

This photo beautifully demonstrates me after a few drinks:


....... not quite the sophisticated Joan Holloway look I was originally going for:


At about 2am, I was in a not-so-classy bar, and within a short space of time two "interesting" things happened:

Firstly, a lady came up to me and said quite bluntly "Why are you here?" and after I tried to describe the literal reasons that I was present in said bar she just said "no, no, you are just FAR too classy for here!"

Secondly, a gentleman of 65+ years appeared next to me (uncomfortably close in this crowded bar) and proceeded to chat to me about my night and whether I had come here with a boyfriend. To which I hastily replied "YES!....yes I definitely have he's overrrrrrrrr THERE" randomly pointing out a stranger.

Now, I don't believe that either of these things would have happened had I gone out in my usual town attire. I quite liked the first one, looking like a lady encouraged me to act more like one. I found myself smiling in what I drunkenly thought to be a sexy, reserved, classy way and drinking daintily to avoid smudging my nice red lipstick. I like to chalk up my encounter with the seedy old man to the fact I probably reminded him of how his late wife looked on their first date all those years ago, not to the fact that I looked desperate enough to go for a creepy old man...


SHUDDER.

Anyways I digress, I am definitely going to channel the 50s in future outfit choices, it not only made me look shiny and polished, I also felt that way. I felt like a woman to be respected and called beautiful rather than the girl next to me at the bar who I would describe as looking like a dog's dinner. Black eyeliner is definitely staying but the amount of effort it took to straighten my hair and then pin up is going to be saved for special occasions, I'm not quite that classy yet...