In Another League

One of the more unusual compliments I have received goes something along the lines of: 'You're a dandy man in an extremely girly shell.' Masculine vibes aside, (inner) dandy gentlemen rejoice!

I stumbled upon the indescribably fabulous 'Take Ivy' by Hayashida a couple of weeks back and couldn't stop staring for hours. Staring. Yes. Only the most productive use of time. Not only is there so much to love about its beautiful, grainy, late 60s technicolour (1968 to be precise with the dates) aesthetic and incredible preppy goodness, it pretty much re-affirmed the purpose of my existence on this planet. Stalking. No seriously, if some Japanese photographer could traipse through the United States of A with a camera snapping the cream of the Ivy League crop in the fullness of their elite, Long Island Ice Tea sipping, tennis playing, loafer and chino wearing glory. I too can totally awkwardly style-stalk (no I mean...'creatively capture') . It's acceptable. Totally. If only because he did it too.

On a sartorial note, there's so much inspiration to take in for today. Button up shirts over tailored shorts. Blazers, V-necks, Cuffed chinos. Leather loafers. Oh and who could forget or visually ignore the multicoloured Madras checkered shorts in the final shot which totally scream Ralph Lauren '09. I only know this because my possibly over-indulged cousin has a pair of pants in exactly the same print. Pants. Anyway...ignoring that .

All the classics that we know and love. I have officially decided that the next boy I date has to know this book back to front. If he does, he will probably be cooler than me. Which is also probably not hard to do.

In the meantime, I am totally celebrating my preppy inner man and breaking out a Scotch on the rocks. Listening to Ethio-jazz. Pretending I am FAR too classy for exams. Or anything academic for that matter.









Love

xx

Bec

Black Leather & Bow Tie

Words cannot describe how much I love this take on 'girl does boy'
PS. Not in that woman on top sense although that works too...

On the one hand - a sort of sartorial ode to the boys that we would all love to date
Part bad-ass, Jimmy D.
The untouchable yet desirable bad boy.
Part dandy intellectual a la Hamish B.
The boy who has impeccable taste with rapier sharp wit to match. And knows it.

On the other - an equally compelling homage to the female muse/ingenue we would all love to hate (but can't...)
With that louche 'I slept in, stole my man's shirt and walked out the door' appeal.
Like the girl with a love life (a la Francaise)

It's a mix we could totally have oh-so-much-more of.

Turn that cool factor up a notch kid. And possibly listen to multiple repeats of 'Androgyny' for good measure.

Love

xx

Bec

All Tied Up

When I was but a young gold-digging girl in kindergarten, I also discovered that tying up shoelaces wasn't one of my go-to skills. Buttons - I could deal with. Zips - I could do with my eyes closed unless it jammed...in which case...there could have been blood or alot of fabric rippage.

Laces and perfecting the art of the sloppy bow were something else. Eventually, that little girl did end up learning how to perfect the rather elementary art of tying up her shoes but decided ultimately most of the time they weren't worth the effort. Hence why several pairs of Chucks have ended up unworn and unloved. Brogues are worn loosely enough to be slipped into. And 'retardedly-easy-to-put-on' babies like zipped up biker boots or my beloved pop-button-on Chloe booties (and their identical but significantly cheaper Zara twins) are much loved favourites.

I have always loved tie-up boots from afar. And these 'self tied up' Trimapee boots (belonging to my favourite man of edgy style) were a crushworthy new discovery. They're like combat boots without the ubiquitous lace holes and structure. And it's like a whole string-tastic work of art just tying them up.

It's inspiring me to put alot more effort into my much maligned shoe-lace tying skills...which fingers crossed will exponentially improve with the arrival of those dandy man inspired, side lace up Illex platforms arriving in the mail this week. One can hope...

Love & Laces

xx

Bec

Pretty She Howls!

Sad truth of the day: Seeing indescribably beautiful yet enigmatic things make you come up with cryptic, weird titles which don't really make any sense but sound kind of cool...like you have some artistic credibility (when you clearly do not)

Case in point: This visual/aural piece of art by the lovely Phildel

If I could direct a home-made video of my life, I hope it looks/sounds as good as this. It's a little Blair Witch. A little French New Wave. Alphaville meets Marienbad. A dash retro Velvet Underground. A touch scratchy vinyl. Sofia Coppola if she was directing a movie on angsty, alterna-chick who gets around wearing copious amounts of black eyeliner and perhaps not much else. Perfect for running around in a Lover tunic and gumboots in a deserted forest. A bit Kerouac and heavy metal.

Or if all else fails (i.e. no home-made filming is done) - it's also perfect for sitting at home, thinking about imminent legal failure tomorrow morning...drinking a cup of green tea. And not much else

Love

xx

Bec

Retro Glamour In Red

Beautiful people watching over coffee. Is there anything better? Okay possibly being one of those aforementioned effortlessly beautiful people would be better...but for those of us mere mortals who don't have a choice.

Then people watching just becomes awkward when you just kind of drool for a good twenty minutes over the subject of your observation. And aforementioned awkward staring is duly noted by 'just-as-beautiful-but-unwilling-to-be-photographed' companion of observation subject. The adorable (and super lovely to boot) Madeline is one of those crushworthy girls!

I just love seeing people who look just that little bit out of the ordinary. I just couldn't get enough of her amazing vintage dress with that impeccable 40s glam factor, cut and details...and in the most incredible shade of dark red. My coffee partner and I could not stop dress perving from afar. Coupled with fishnets, red lipstick and that beyond cute bob, she really looked like she'd just stepped out of a bygone era of beautiful dresses, feminine mystique and a whole lot of classiness.

Bring that glam factor back and work that feminine mystique, girls!

Love

xx

Bec

In The Mood For...The X-Rated

Passing out your lighter
Sneakin' through the doorway
Fakin' like you just stayed home
That's how it really goes
You know it does - The Virgins

There's no real point to this post aside from the fact that I have had it up to here with pretending I have the slightest intention/aptitude to read things pertaining to the world of law.

And I'd like some bad-factor right now. Yes that's right. Bad factor. The type that's all leather. Short shorts. Bare legs. Lots of leg. Illicit trysts in hotel rooms and bathrooms. Voyeuristic videos. Salacious photography. And countless counts of substance abuse. Mussed up hair. Kohl eyeliner like Twiggy on crack. Countless black bras. Preferably sheer. Private affairs. Ripped stockings. Artistes and groupies. Being a groupie. Menage a trois. Destroying property.

Not knowing what hit you the next morning.

Short black.

End of story.

xo

Bec

Images - Guy Bourdin; Erin Kleinberg AW 09/10; Jalouse

Si Don Juan Etait Une Femme...

If Don Juan were a woman...
I'm not even going to attempt finishing that sentence. That movie was beautifully mind blowing. Plus girl-on-girl action with Jane Birkin? Yeah. Enough said.

But I can definitely finish this sentence with much elaboration -
If Bec could get her hands on some myPetsQuare booty...
She'd go nuts like a kid on crack in a candy store. Seriously. No exaggeration.

I've had a minor obsession with myPetsQuare and their beautiful things for just a little while now. And the girls were nice enough to further fuel this obsession of mine by sending me a look book of their new goodies for the upcoming Summer (totally appropriate now that we're facing winter and ahem...exam blues)

The gorgeous look book for the Spring/Summer '10/11 collection is seriously proving to be a major hurdle in the war against procrastination and I was pretty much drooling with severe dress lust on every page. There was far too much to love. Rarely does one (such as myself) get to seriously love with a capital L pretty much every single thing she sets her eyes on. It's the perfect mix of ingenue type prettiness with a dash of the garcon manque (that we all know and love from Au Bout Du Souffle)

Sadly - Blogger has some kind of evil limit where they don't allow you to upload like a gazillion images at the one time. I hate you technology and clearly you hate me.

Having said that, I have my heart pretty much set on the strappy baby blue number and white frock for carefree days in the sun with a straw boater and some brogues. And that very classy black evening number for when I feel like imitating Sofia Coppola and pretending I make movies that are far too pretty for their own good. Even better - I would love to rock that tuxedo jacket (with nothing else) and make Monsieur St Laurent (may he rest in peace) proud...

Oh the possibilities!

Either that or I could just revel in its awesomeness and pretend I'm starring in my own French Nouvelle Vague classic. Oh and I might add that whether you're a regular Brigitte Bardot, Jean Seberg or Anna Karina - there is seriously something for everyone to get their enigmatic noir femme fatale mojo on in a big way.

Love

Bec

xo

PS. I am very excitedly expecting my two dresses from the current Winter collection to come in the mail. So stay tuned for their Virgin Suicides-esque goodness. Always a good thing.

PPS. Check out the amazing myPetsQuare website at: http://www.mypetsquare.com/
It even comes with outfit suggestions? I mean seriously - could you get any more fab than that?

All images courtesy of myPetsQuare