P.A.R.T.Y.

If anthing gets us gals giddier than a Catholic priest with Bieber-fever around this festive period it is The Office Christmas Party, and the surrounding conversations every fouteen minutes that begin "Oh Em Gee. WHAT are you going to WEAR?"



Being both poor and vain, this is genuinely vexing. I blame it all on those bastard tories. For if the Daily Telegraph hadn't featured it so heavily, the above Pearl Lowe for Peacocks dress, RRP £35, would not have sold out. Blast! Bin bag it is.

The Suits

A 'suit' is a square, a stiff, The Man. Few men have the charm to casually carry off the suit. Mick Jagger is one. The Krays were two others, though perhaps without the best intentions. On my new tube commute there are a lot of suits. Cheap suits. Drop a match and the whole place would go up.
You wear the thing every day. Invest.

Lanvin for H&M

Affordable Lanvin? Oh my. Life is sweet.

Ooh La La etc.

French Connection have smashed it with the perfect winter shoe. Anyone got one thirty sheets I can borrow?


...Guys?

Gold Dust

DJ Fresh showcases some fierce and joyful skipping. Hell yes.

McQueen Bee

Oh the puns, the puns. Its like an addiction.



Sterling effort by Sarah Burton at steering the McQueen ship solo for S/S 2011. I want to be married in this dress. Or perhaps buried would be more appropriate. Would have to ease up on the steak baguettes for a while beforehand but it would TOTALLY be worth it.

Dogooder

Sustainable label Goodone (who use reclaimed fabrics in an urban styleee) has been snapped up by Topshop, and the pieces are actually Quite Good. Really sharp. Its nice to see an 'eco' label that seems to start off with an actual, sellable fashion concept rather than hoping that environmental guilt will be enough to empty the shelves.
Nice one, Goodone.

Thou Shalt Always Kill

Remember being so prolific? Remember hating Starbucks?
Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip - Great tunes, great beards.

Svensk Style

Rocking out on a Saturday night watching reruns of superior Swedish cop show Wallander is reigniting my love for all things scandonavish. Gazing over bleak grey landscapes in a creased yet excellently tailored suit, in a supporting neutral tone. Meaningful silences in thick cashmere jumpers. Etc. Quiet and interesting. Like a chess champion.



In support of the fairly rambling statement above, some picks from Acne's SS 2011 show. Because they are Swedish. God, look at all that grey. I'm salivating.

Wolf Whistle

Good things happening at Whistles this winter.
When did we all get so cool?

The Fashion Weeks are pushing fluros again. Bah humbug.

Amaze

Absolute legend Paul Smith serves up something special for Spring /Summer 2011 at London Fashion Week.



Save for humping Paul Smith's leg like an enthusiastic terrier, there is no real way to express how much this show pleases me. Makes me gaze into the middle-distance, eyes glazed. So far next season's offerings have been, for me, a little too fussy, sparkly, floaty, neon. No-one needs that. But this is just great. GREAT. Sheesh this is all getting a bit awkward.



Scott Schuman caught the colours much better than the paps.
www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com

HEL-LO

Oooh wow, I am in LOVE... With this total stranger caught by Helsinki street style site Hel Looks. I bet she could teach me a trick or two... www.hel-looks.com

Queen Viv

Still got it.
Vivienne Westwood putting her face on backstage at her London Fashion Week Red Label show.

Image: Reuters

The Plus Side

NEWSFLASH! Fatties hit fashion week! Though actually, being as they are 1) still smoking hot and 2) wearing spanks, the plus-size presence is barely noticeable.
Uglies on the catwalk, now that would be a breakthrough.

Worthwile members of the community

The irony, the irony! Vid picked up by many bloggers gently mocking the hipster blogger generation. Essentially its a documentary of our times. With synthesisers.
For me, anything that stops people wearing those tiresome glasses I am in FULL support of. I am meant to wear actual visual-aid glasses but I don't. Why? Because I am ace and cool. And clearly ahead of the curve.

Balls Deep

Masterful kick-off to the third series of suburban sixth-form dissection The Inbetweeners.



Theres nothing funny about testicles Cooper. Ahem.

Ol' Lady Madonna

So cracking open the new Vogue and this is the first sight that hits me:

Well. Lord knows we all love her, but in the latest D&G campaign is Madonna not looking just a little like a mad, drunk aunt at Christmas? Heard loudly slurring "I could have been great..."

We'll Meet Again

Looking at some images of 1940's clothing for a charity project, for which I scribed the above for. Those old fashion images are composed so beautifully; still and elegant. Modern shots seem quite shambolic in comparison.

Annie Nightingale Love-in

Though Radio 1 through the hours of 7am to 7pm only manages to maintain a level of inoffensive blandness, it can be great. Stay past the curdling sounds of JLS during daylight hours and some of the nighttime DJs are the bees knees. And the Annie Nightingale retrospective last night was the business, lots of great rock tales and druggie innuendos, and best of all brilliant music of all sorts. Super life, super lady, super tunes.



Above is a little breaks track from Noisia that we were reacquainted with last night.

Primal Scream - Loaded

Ok then, and some Primal Scream.

60 : 86

Two big sexy shows started this week - excellent reason to blow the dust off your televisions - set in world fashion capitols New York and Grimsby.



Brit offering This Is England '86 will no doubt rocket sales of Fred Perry button-ups, with the delicious Mad Men causing notable increases in smoking, pointy breasts and brightly coloured office furniture. Rejoice.

What goes around..

Ah, sweet Clark's. Dragged there in floods of tears, implanted into the bizarre foot measuring / torture device, leaving with another pair of sensible shoes. Probably beige. But finally inexplicable parental devotion to the little shop of horrors payed off when I was given a pair of Blue Suede Shoes. Desert boots, pale blue, and I wore them until they fell apart.
And now they're back with bells on. Everywhere. Maybe I'll get a new pair, a blue pair, and dance down the street in them.
Or I might get some of those wedge ones. YES.

Further Tragedy

So cool people keep dying. Last weekend it was Corinne Day, the fashion photographer blamed for / honoured with the birth of 'heroin chic'. Also for taking the first major snaps of Miss Moss, aged 15, for a 1990 cover of The Face. She looks rather jolly for a lass on herion. Anyway, 48 and with such talent it is surely a great loss.

Sticky ft Ms Dynamite - Booo!

Booo!
AAH!
Its still good, still good.

Scott Pilgrim Versus The Completely Unrelialistic Expectations I Have Of My Hair

Pink hair. Blue hair. It happened before, during a No Doubt period of mine in the early noughties. Ramona Flowers, babe of Scott Pilgrim vs etc etc, a painful reminder of what I want but can nay ever have. Inflicting such level 11 dye on my own hair would cause it to implode. Sigh.

Image shamelessly stolen from Google. Will the tyranny ever end?

Working Girl

Its an image you just cant escape when you think about workwear. Fat Sam shoulderpads, a polyester-mix white shirt and maybe MAYBE a young Harrison Ford IF you're lucky but more likely some skinny geezer goose.

Soooo interviews are going well. Its cool, unemployment suits my sleep patterns anyway. High five, Cameron!

Cudderisback (Ottoman Remix) - Kid Cudi ft. Vampire Weekend

So I've been obsessively listening to this for months, mainly but not only for the immortal line 'I'm the mother-lovin' boss'. His musings on the ethnicity of women also reminds me of that bit in Family Guy when they try to work out the race of The Rock... Some kind of Spanish...? HOT.

Toe Tappin'

Brogues are one of the few rain-proof shoe types that are not ugly. Trusty converse absorb water at such a rate you might as well step out in a pair of cotton socks. Hard to find a pair on the right side of dapper though, i.e. not the Chaplin side.

(Image is a nicked Andy Warhol polaroid)

Die Antwoord - Zef Side. Yikes!

Brilliance? Ludicrous? I couldn't possibly say. I think its a grower.
Ace moves anyway.

Mmmm

Well it feels like winter in Wales at least, so heres a pretty thing from Ashish A/W 2010. Check those mosaic shorts! Nifty.

I AM PARTY

Unbeleivable Sziget! Witnessing a herd of trees invade Major Lazor's set has to be the ultimate festival experience. For sure heading back for next year's showdown. Hungry for Hungary...

bang bang bang

...nobody ever does it like that anymore...

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København

Copenhagen, city of super-scando coolness, sailor hats and cider. If thats what high levels of taxation do to you, sign me up, I am a convert. Next stop?

Danish hospitality. And we came all this way...

Casual fleamarket stoat.

Various bikes. Cars are for losers.

Christiania - anarchist mecca, space cakes etc.

Photographs of people on sale at fleamarket, danish people I expect. Suitcase also for sale.

Tough Love

Spacesheep parked this way

Shots!

Spanish espresso so thick and dark the spoon was nearly standing on end. Beaut!

Amor amor

Emotive Espaniol doorways.

América

Americana in Mallorca, Spain