Rethinking just one accessory can really change an outfit. I love the colour and print of this old Yeojin Bae dress, but it comes with a self-belt that’s designed to be worn at rib-height, creating an Empire line. It’s pretty but that shape just doesn’t feel right, right now. So to wear it yesterday, I skipped the original belt and cinched the dress at waist level instead. Adding a belt is the fastest way to customise a dress and can create a completely different shape; securing it at the waist – the narrowest part of your body – is always flattering. And as a nod to the colourblock trend that’s now so pervasive it can’t even be called a trend anymore, my dress, belt and shoes are all in shades of a similar intensity.
Doing: finishing a beauty feature for Women’s Health; trying the latest delicious-smelling cocoa-butter lotions from Palmer’s over dinner at El-Phoenician, then watching the Australian Dance Theatre’s performance of Be Your Self.
Wearing: T by Alexander Wang blazer; Yeojin Bae dress; Gorman belt; Hogan shoes; Dinosaur Designs cuffs (not seen: very thick opaque tights – bare-leg weather is officially over for me).
Oh, sure, I know that knitting is basically the hippest activity of our time, but I just can’t be bothered with it, really. I like my merino wool knits more than most – skinny rib-ticklers, chunky turtlenecks, classic Vs and scarves galore amongst them – but I’m perfectly happy to let someone else do the handiwork.
That’s is why Woolmark’s new “Wrapped in Merino” campaign instantly appealed to me. Rather than actually knit a scarf myself – a task that’s destined to take many, many months of frustration and dropped stitches – Woolmark is encouraging people to help create a “virtual” scarf. You upload a photo of yourself here, select the wool and pattern for your scarf, and become part of the chain, your “scarf” linked in with hundreds of others worldwide.
Woolmark is aiming to have 2000 individual scarves in its one very long one (and to help with that, they’re giving away a merino prize pack every week, including a £150 gift voucher to Net-A-Porter. Tempted yet?).
It’s all aimed at raising the profile of this wonderfully versatile yarn.
“Merino wool is a unique fibre,” says The Woolmark Company’s chief strategy and marketing officer Rob Langtry. “It’s loved by fashion designers for its timeless quality and versatility and the campaign aims to give users a fun, memorable experience with our fibre as we give them the opportunity to design and customise their own personal scarf.”
I’ll leave the clickety-clacking of knitting needles to others; the only thing I’ll be clicking is my mouse.
I’m all about the shock of the new in beauty (in other areas too, but that’s another story). A foundation with light-reflecting pigments inspired by racing-car paint? Sold! A face cream created using the most cutting-edge scientific research? Sign me up!
Yet here I am, posting about a second “heritage” beauty product in a week. The first, of course, was Bourjois’ little round blush pots; this time it’s Weleda’s Skin Food. So just how “heritage” are we talking? Skin Food was first produced in 1926 and has followed the same recipe ever since.
And why my philosophical turnaround? Simply put, because it works. The first I’d heard of this product was when Weleda’s Australian CEO David Johnston handed me a tube of the stuff last November (funnily enough, this was right around the time Victoria Beckham was tweeting her love for it, too). It says on the tube that it’s for “dry and rough skin”, which is basically my holy grail, so I gave it a try. Trust me when I say that this cream is serious. It has a lanolin base, so it’s not only immediately hydrating, it leaves a nice protective film over the skin. - Read more>
Arguably Australia’s most successful make-up artist, Rae Morris is in constant demand. She combines editorial work with celeb clients and a long-standing L’Oreal Paris contract; she’s written books and developed her own line of make-up brushes and more recently, she’s been training plastic surgeons on the ways of younger-looking skin (seriously!). I interview Rae a few times a year for various magazines and without fail, she always has new make-up tips (and possibly the most enthusiastic way of sharing her knowledge in the biz).
That was certainly the case when I saw her last night at the launch of Hair Expo 2012, which is being held in Sydney on the June 9 long weekend. Rae’s holding a workshop at the expo on Express Make-up, so I asked for her favourite quick tips for a fab face. True to form, she tossed off a dozen or so in our 10-minute chat. Here are five of her ideas that you can try today, tomorrow, whenever to look instantly better. - Read more>
Few designers do unabashed femininity as well as Alannah Hill, but now she’s taking her “for the girls” ethos up another notch by giving away an AU$3000 wardrobe. It’s ridiculously easy to enter: simply visit the Alannah Hill website here, and complete your details. Refer a friend and get another entry. The hardest part is deciphering the captcha codes to enter (full terms and conditions are on the site).
Entries close on June 14 and the winner will be announced the following day, which is right about when your wardrobe is crying out for a mid-season injection of something new (or is that just me?).
Called “Forbidden Fruit”, Alannah Hill’s winter collection is her signature mix of colour, print and embellishment, big on fitted cardigans and A-line skirts, neat little coats and Peter Pan-collared dresses.
Should I find myself on the receiving end of the winning entry, I’d make a beeline for the “Her Week of Wonder” polka dot satin trousers in plum, so great with a slouchy pale grey knit. Next on my hit list, a couple of skirts, a pleated one in black and deep mauve, and a fabulous laser-cut black leather number. For the mandatory girlie inclusion, I love this lemon yellow cardigan with vintage-style beadwork. And then there are the ruffled “Prance Around Town” booties in midnight blue suede. And that’s just getting warmed up…
Signing model Lily Cole as its first global brand advocate was a headline-making coup for The Body Shop, but it’s only one of a number of changes the beauty retailer is making this year, as it refocuses and goes back to its roots. There’ll be new store fit-outs (already rolling out in Australia) and a renewed concentration on the Community Fair Trade ingredients that go into more than 80 per cent of their products.
A few weeks ago, I was invited to a presentation by Adam Valvasori, The Body Shop Australia’s very passionate values manager, to celebrate 25 years of Fair Trade arrangements. That’s right – you and I might have just started choosing Fair Trade chocolate and coffee, but The Body Shop’s been doing it since 1987 and is now helping more than 300,000 people worldwide through Fair Trade arrangements.
Adam spoke about the Indian-based Teddy Exports, the company’s first Fair Trade partner, which makes wooden foot rollers and other accessories from FSC-approved timber. “They’ve created a Trust and through that, they’ve created schools and clinics and other things to help the local community,” he said. Since joining forces with Teddy, The Body Shop has gone on to work with groups in Ghana (where 11 villages work to create the shea butter that’s now the top global seller), as well as Samoa (coconut oil), Paraguay (sugar cane), Guatemala (aloe vera), Brazil (soya oil), and other countries.
The presentation inspired me to take another look at the products in my own bathroom cabinet and make-up drawer and I’m pleased to say that many Body Shop goodies are on my go-to list. Here’s my top three, including a brand new launch… - Read more>
When I visited London as a 21-year-old in the mid-nineties I was armed with a fairly lengthy hit list of retail institutions to visit. There was Harrods, of course, and Liberty (this was pre-Yasmin Sewell so the potential was there but not the realisation); Browns (unquestionably the best mix of international fashion) and Agent Provocateur (more for a glimpse of co-founder Serena Rees than to actually buy anything). But more than any other destination, I was seriously desperate to visit A.P.C.
By the time I’d arrived, I’d poured over magazine profiles of this French label, founded (and still run) by Jean Touitou. In my favourite piece (and yes, I still have a dog-eared copy), Elle UK described Touitou’s take on fashion as “cool, but not in the all-black seriously self-regarding way of other famously cool designers”, and said his clothes were “infused with youth, and the gamine, mischievous androgyny of the 60s”.
To emphasise the cool-but-wearable angle, the article was accompanied by photographs of fashion and magazine people wearing A.P.C. (including formidable Elle Decoration editor Ilse Crawford in a crop top and leather trousers – see photographic evidence after the jump!). Naturally, I couldn’t get to the Draycott Avenue, London, store fast enough. - Read more>
A couple of weeks ago, I shared one of my layered outfits for a day when autumn was masquerading as spring. Now that the season is showing its true colours, I’ve switched to cool-weather layering, which means light wools and tonal shades (with the exception of this great chartreuse belt from Gorman that’s more versatile than it might appear).
Also essential for now: a great jacket. This soft wool one from Country Road is one of my favourites. As cosy as a cardigan but more pulled together, it’s perfect for those days when you just want to be a bit slouchy, without necessarily telling the world that that’s how you’re feeling.
Doing: check out the talent on show at the Flaunt fashion media showings, including those fab Alexi Freeman shoes I featured yesterday; lunch with my dad at old-school Greek restaurant Diethnes; getting started on a freelance magazine project.
Wearing: Country Road jacket; Alexander Wang cardigan; Equipment shirt; T.L. Wood trousers; Gorman belt; Balenciaga shoes.
Melbourne designer Alexi Freeman founded his eponymous label in 2006 and has forged a design signature that mixes layering, transparency and some very appealing geometric graphics. I’ll tell you more about his ready-to-wear collections (and some interesting commissions) in an upcoming post but today, I just wanted to share Alexi Freeman’s first foray into footwear, created with Melbourne shoemakers Preston Zly.
These are part of his upcoming spring/summer “Palm” collection, which I saw at a media showing yesterday (you might have already gotten a glimpse of these babies on my Instagram; I’m @themodernityproject). At first glance they look like a classic round-toe pump executed in palest grey leather. Look again, however, and you’ll see that the pattern has been etched into the leather, mirroring a print that runs through the collection.
And those electric orange soles? Talk about walking on sunshine!
In 1863, the International Red Cross was formed; an annual Thanksgiving Day celebration was begun in the US; and Goulburn was declared Australia’s first inland city. Oh, and French perfumer Alexander Napoleon Bourjois invented the world’s first powder blush. To put this into further perspective, you need to remember that back then, make-up was typically thick and greasy facepaint worn by theatre actresses and women of ill repute. And it’s safe to assume that no one mistook their two strategically placed circles of “rouge” for a natural flush.
So when Monsieur Bourjois came along with his little cardboard packets of baked powder blush, it was nothing short of revolutionary. Light in texture and natural in colour, it made make-up a desirable proposition – even for respectable ladies. And it’s done so ever since.
Hundreds of cosmetics products are launched each month, so how cool that Bourjois’ Round Pot Blush is still going strong in its 150th year. It’s seen a few changes along the way of course – in the 1950s, the cardboard pots were exchanged for more modern plastic ones and in the ’80s, they were given a mirror and applicator brush. And now, the formulation has been given its most significant makeover yet, with the removal of all parabens and preservatives. - Read more>
