W I N D O W S H O P P I N G

Lately, I've been quite impressed with the window displays in Sydney.
Firstly, there was David Jones' spring floral bonanza, an excessive botanical display that extended beyond the windows themselves transforming the entire ground floor of their Elizabeth Street store into a rainforest in which sales people and products were hiding.

Then there was Akira's Strand arcade window with coppery, metallic transparencies of a haunting image of a dress hanging in a room with a chair in the background and possibly a bike covering the entire glazed facade of the shop, that really portrayed Akira's aesthetic.

Finally, there was (and still is) Assin on Oxford St, whose windows show armies of Ann Demeulemeester sparkly beetle brooches diligently marching towards carefully selected Ann Demeulemeester clothing and shoes that hang in the otherwise white boxes.


PERFECT!

(still not Dover Street Market or Selfridges though)

V I V I A N G I R L S

Amazing amazing band.
i saw them on Friday, as a last minute decision, but it was one of the best decisions i have made in a while.


Great review with better pics on Those Walls, Your Ears. (lots of other musical goodness too, as always!)

M O N O C L E

I finally bought a monocle.
I was going to buy one a few years ago from Marjan Pejoski, but it sold out.
Now Sydney label Beat Poet are making a particularly nice one, and reasonably priced too.
I am really loving their entire range of clothing and accessories at the moment. It's all a little Victorian and a bit Dior Homme circa Hedi Slimane days.
I've got my eye on a pair of drop crotch trousers that are virtually identical to those amazing ones Hedi did.

(these ones from Dior Homme)


(the ones on the right here are the Beat Poet variety)

Anyway, here's my monocle!

it actually does magnify, so you can use it to read things that are tiny, or burn ants and start fires.



I really enjoy the detailing of how the necklace closes too, with the hoop and bar.



Detailing of the lens end is lovely too, using aged metal, adding a tiny handle piece that holds the lens to the chain, and embossing it with the number 5. Off centred of course.

F A V O U R I T E S!

Luella's F/W 07/08 collection, while ONLY womenswear is one of my favourite collections ever.
There are a few reasons:
1) Heavy mod influenece.
2) Primarily monochromatic
3) Winklepickers
4) Anoraks
5) Slim trousers and suits
6) Amazing textiles (the letter print one and the houndstooth)
7) i think it's pretty timeless, and youthful

S P I N E T I M E

Lately, I've been dying to wear v-necks and scoop necks back to front.
it's a little more modest than all the chest bearing that seems to be going on for a little while now too.
I'm just a little worried how many people would feel the urge to ask if I knew my shirt was back to front.

I think the real attraction to the idea is drawing attention to the spine. I really love it when you can see someones spine poking through, and there have been a lot of designs over recent years that seem to emphasise skeletal systems. It tends to lend a kind of alien deconstruction, that is at once organic and harsh.

This type of exoskeletal construction has been prevalent in the works of many post modern architects over the decades too, where the structural system evolves into a (dare i say it) decorative feature, lending the building it's most visually attractive features and dominating over its character.
Perhaps the master of exoskeletal architecture is Richard Rogers, Who played a key role in the creation of the design of Centre Pomidou, the fabulously disgusting functionalist museum in Paris. This aesthetic is visible in many of his designs in differing degrees, even London's Millennium Dome with it's towering supports that extend out of the dome they support and elevate the structural system to monumental status.

Centre Pompidou


Millenium Dome

Lloyds of London, however, is the building in which we see the most literal, and in my opinion beautiful, references to the spine, with services clearly stretching up the facade, and each landing of the stairwells, clad in stainless steel, are strikingly reminiscent of vertebrae.


Lloyds of London.

Possibly the most romantic expression of the spine in a piece of clothing i have ever lusted over, is Marjan Pejoski's spine bow shirt, from his F/W 07/08 collection, where the fabric of a simple white t-shirt miraculously crumples into bows down the spine. I never ever actually bought one, but i think about it so often that I really think i should.