Noice, Different, Unusual? Aussie Bogan News

I am gobsmacked. I'm wondering if I should be besmirching snapdragons with this piece of news.

(...drum roll...)

Lleyton and Bec Hewitt have a website! Most recently, they have put it to good use, proclaiming Bec's innocence in New Idea's latest conspiracy to destroy the Hewitt home - apparently "Minder Mark", the reportedly hot personal trainer wooing Bec, is actually her brother. And we all know that brother-sister shiz is illegal, so New Idea had better watch that trash mouth of theirs.

The Bec, the Baby and the Brother. Umm... Is he even that hot?

In Defence of Fashion (And Hideously Expensive Clothes)

Hadley Freeman's The Meaning of Sunglasses: A Guide to (Almost) All Things Fashionable is the latest offering into the glitzy, glamourous, Anna Wintour/Carrie Bradshaw world of the fashion industry - and why people work in it despite a starting salary of the ultra-generous $28,000/yr (in not-so-cheap Sydney no less), with pay going up in tighter-than-a-fish's-you-know-what increments of $2,000-$4,ooo per year.

Freeman is deputy fashion editor for The Guardian and contributing editor for UK Vogue, so she is well placed to defend extravagent spending at the expense of dinner. In defence of the fashion industry's otherwise shallow as a fingerbowl image she states:

"It's never been made wholly clear why fashion is denigrated as shallow when similarly aesthetically based industries like, say, cinema or art or the theatre, are lauded as spiritually enriching. Those three also involve huge sums of money, attract appallingly egotistical people and tend to exclude anyone below the middle-class stratum... Object to the superficiality of this world all you like, but the fact is that the more women who look decent and and feel self-confident, the more women there will be in good jobs so we can take over the world."

Cheers to that one, darling.

Drawing fashion

A clever mix of illustration and editorial/product photos by Laura Laine.

Love and stuff

I know I have only recently posted about the very cute Joshua Jackson but I read an interview with him today and it was so sweet and adorable that I had to share...

• On his girlfriend: "She's wonderful and she's kind and she's loving and she's forgiving when I'm a moron, and not forgiving when I don't deserve to be forgiven, and pushes me in all the best possible ways and is inspiring and tough and smart and funny and no amount of good words . . . I want to be a better man because I want to always see that look in her eyes when she looks at me. I want to be the man that deserves that love."
• On their relationship: "I'm pretty in love with her. It's gross. [...] Everything you find obnoxious about couples when you are single is all of a sudden acceptable. Like, I am the most annoying guy. We talk about it all the time like oh my God I would just never want to spend any time with us."

It's refreshing to hear someone (and particularly a celebrity) be so open and honest about their relationship and their feelings for another person especially when it's something generally confined to the "no comment" realm for a lot of celebrities and also a lot of everyday people at that.

For one who does not often speak about my own relationship and at the risk of sounding lovey dovey I am really happy that I have found someone who makes me feel the same way that Josh feels about his loved one (obviously change the male descriptors to female ones! :o)) and who also looks at me the way he looks at her...aww...

Topshop Freak Out

“To be honest, the one in London is so mobbed by 14-year-olds I cannot even tell you. It’s like going to a rock concert. … I’m 38 years old, so I’ve got to be feeling really, really up for it if I’m going to shop there as opposed to shopping at, like, Alexander McQueen.”

- Plum Sykes, author, features writer for Vogue USA, bemoaner of Topshop shopping

Frankly, if I had a choice I would probably wear Topshop any day over Alexander McQueen (Marc Jacobs - a different story) but after a recent heart attack inducing experience in Century 21 in New York (my head was between my legs, and most of my clothes stripped off due to sheer too-many-people-in-here-too-much-heating mania) I can catch her drift. Overcrowded, stinking change rooms (ever been into a change room right after the girl who had a kebab with tzatziki on it for lunch?), coupled with the dreaded knowledge that you probably won't be the only girl wearing Kate Moss' latest 20s style sequin dress to the party is another reason New Yorkers are neurotically fearing - yet silently, smugly, excitedly embracing and obsessing over - the onslaught of British "high street shopping".

Sure, we've got some Sportsgirl here (who wears the clothes though? I occasionally dip into their accessories - that's about it), a bit of Portmans there, but you're more likely to say - "those sass & bide jeans are soooo fetch"; "stop saying fetch, stop trying to make fetch something when it isn't" (ooopss... Mean Girls diversion) than "god who didn't buy that jacket at Topshop last week?" There are a million reasons for me to be jealous of New Yorkers on any given day. April 2nd will pass like any other day, but a little heart in Brisbane will be breaking that she's (a) not on the corner of Broome and Broadway; and (b) that it will be donkey's years before Topshop appears in Australia, girt by sea and distance as we are.

Conveniently, Kate Moss' Spring collection for Topshop is also launched on the 2nd.

Pic: The Sartorialist - that's an old Kate Moss for Topshop cape she's got on right there

E is for Etsy!

I recently discovered Etsy and could not believe I had not heard about it earlier!!

Etsy is like Ebay but for vintage and handmade things only - there is some great stuff on there plus fixed prices means no waiting around and bidding!! Think of it as an online version of all your favourite markets and stores put together - it is great!!

Etsy has some great features for searching for your next "must buy" item including

• Shop local - searches and lists sellers in your city;


• Showcase - where sellers feature their top items - this changes daily;
  
• Pounce - which lists sellers who have not yet had a sale or shows the most recent purchases made on Etsy

Some of my recent finds:

White Girls Can't Rap

How many times have you been busting your moves, shakin' your booty, double-pumping your chest, just workin' your thang on the dance floor and as you go to sing that favourite line of your favourite R&B / hip hop track your mind vaguely wanders... "what the hell does that mean?".

Wonder no more, ladies. Understand Rap is your dictionary to the black world we all wish we were a part of every time we set foot on a dance floor. Check it: (hahaha)

• Kanye West's Through The Wire - "thought I was burnt up like Pepsi did Michael": Kanye is comparing the fearful, worried reactions people had after finding out he was in a car accident to the reactions people had when finding out Michael Jackson's hair caught fire on the set of a Pepsi commercial he was filming in the early 1980s.
• Vanilla Ice's Ice, Ice Baby - "chumps actin' nimble 'cause they're full of 8 ball": The "chumps" are quicker or hyped up because they are high on cocaine .
• Jay-Z Izzo - "H to the Izz-O, V to the Izz-A": he is spelling out Hova, short for J-Hova (Jay-Z's nickname for himself) which sounds like Jehovah (a name for God) because he is a God among rappers.
• OutKast Hey Ya - "Lend me some sugar, I am your neighbour": Let's have sex, I am someone you know well.
  

White boys can't really rap either. Except Eminem. And Flight of the Conchords.

I Wear My Sunglasses At Night

Phuong mentioned Colette last week, and I'd never heard of it. So of course this justified some pretty heavy duty searching of the page. Check out these sunglasses! Insanity! Fringed sunglasses. I swear I had earrings like that once. And they're damn expensive - like 220 euro! No SPF with these little puppies.

Barack Obama Doesn't Understand Fashion

Says the First Lady:

“He’s always asking: ‘Is that new? I haven’t seen that before.’ It’s like, Why don’t you mind your own business? Solve world hunger. Get out of my closet.”

She teasingly imitated him: “You didn’t need any more shoes. The shoes you had on yesterday were fine. Why can’t you just wear that for the rest of the presidency?”

One of my favourite Michelle outfits

SJP concurs

Jay-Z doesn't get fashion either (apparently). Beyonce apparently guest blogged for The Cut the other day (I still can't tell if it's real or a parody) to show her fans what she bought at the Patricia Field store (one of my New York friends bumped into her walking out of the store! so jealous - I didn't see any celebrities in New York!) beause, as she says: "Let me show you what I bought. I'd show my husband, Jay-Z, but he doesn't care."

Men! Honestly.

A new favourite...

Another great street fashion photographer blog for snapdragons... JakandJil

Reddy, Set, Go!

So, it's no Paris, New York or Milan Fashion Week, but Melbourne's L'Oreal Fashion Festival has been running over the past week and it is important to us Aussie chicks because this is what we're going to be seeing in the major department stores for the next few months as winter stretches its legs in anticipation of its annual stroll through May-June-July.

Winter doesn't excite me. Winter clothes don't excite me. Being wrapped in layers, wearing opaque stockings and whinging about cold winds brings on a bout of depression. Nevertheless, pending a move to New York in time for the northern hemisphere summer, I must embrace the onslaught of chilly times and stop being such a big baby. After all, it's not like we even get negative temperatures here in Brisvegas, anyway.

Big trend off the runway was red lips. And red nails! Mon dieu - such a change from the dark fingernails we've been seeing for years now. And here was me thinking that Chanel's new navy blue fingernail was the colour to have (except me - my fingers are already blue due to crap circulation - I never thought that would be fashionable). Wait, it's not. Red is back! Observe:


I love this icy princess look from Kate Sylvester. I also happen to love Kate Sylvester, and I'm glad to see she has avoided the negative publicity she stirred up last year when she plastered her models in war medals. I think someone had died in Afghanistan the day or so before her runway show, and it was very poor timing. She later explained she'd been madly preparing in those final days and hadn't seen the news.

See also below the lovely feathered shrug thingy draped across Lisa Ho's models. Lisa Ho is always such a consistently strong performer - OK, she's not breaking any new ground, but her stuff is not only covetable, but also wearable. Assuming Kevin Rudd's stimulus package comes through, it is also relatively affordable.


Also below, Manning Cartel (a definite 20s slant), some more Kate Sylvester ice queens, and Ginger and Smart. Click here for Allure's guide on how to wear read lips.

The Biggest Disease of Our Generation: Singledom

Singledom? Don't you mean singledoom? If the women of He's Just Not That Into You are to be believed, then yes. You are doomed. You have leprosy. Life cannot be fully enjoyed, and in fact life should be lived solely to reach the ultimate nirvana: marriage.

Ok... so it wasn't quite like that, but I did find this film fairly offensive. Gorgeous Gigi is obsessed with getting a guy. We all know a Gigi: she's the girlfriend who drafts the message she plans to leave on voicemail whereupon she freaks out when the guy actually picks up the phone, requires assistance writing text messages, and dissects every word uttered by her date looking for clues to the potential longevity of their relationship. Honestly. She gives single women a bad name. Isn't her perfect skin enough for her?

Then there's Jennifer Aniston's character (perfect hair again) who dumps her perfect boyfriend because he has no interest in getting married. Then there's the lady who dumps her husband not because he cheated on her - there's a painful scene where she begs him to stay with her after he confesses to cheating - but because he lied to her about still smoking. Then there's the object of his lust, Scarlett Johansson (always adept at the seductress role), the hot chick that he picked up at the supermarket. While she was one of the characters with the most strength in the film, you also have to remember that she's knowingly become involved with a married man, who stoops to a new low of humiliation when she sits in a cupboard and listens to Mr (Hot) Lame-O have sex with wifey. eeeugh! Of course, the film ends happily ever after - which, apparently, is that everyone gets on with their life - with a boyfriend/fiancee. Except the divorced woman - who looks lonely in that apartment all by herself.

Don't get me wrong, there are certain elements of the film I found amusing and that I could totally identify with - who doesn't have a Kevin Connolly who they ring up for some physical attention every now and again? - and the whole "no answer is your answer" thing is painfully true, and can be laughed at - years after the experience. But I felt seriously offended by the rest of the film, and that central message of being coupled up. Sure, this is meant to be a "rom com", but that doesn't have to be at the expense of a woman's dignity and brains does it? I despair that this is love - when you relentlessly hunt it down, and in some cases with minimal regard for other women.

That said... I may be a tad biased, having some unresolved issues with the book upon which the film is based. A "friend" gave me a copy of He's Just Not That Into You while I was in the throes of being - I admit - a total pain over some guy who had dumped me. The title of the book is harsh enough, however the contents of the book is like an arrow in the heart with every chapter - throw some vinegar into the open wound every time they say "he's just not that into you" and you can imagine the self-flagellating, hard-core depressing experience reading the book was. Like all self-help books, I figure you're not going to learn the lesson from some patronising "guru" - you're only going to figure it out the hard way. I made it to chapter 2.

Anyway - there was a rather hilarious article the other day discussing the prevalence of singletons in our society, and how annoyed single people get by married people looking at them with pity when it becomes evident that you are, in fact, single. The article suggested turning the usual "we feel so sorry for you" comments back on said married couple as follows:

• "Don't worry, you'll get a divorce someday."
• "Oh, you're married? I'm so sorry!"
• "You're so great - how come you're still married?"
• "It's OK to be married for a while but eventually you need to grow up and become single."
• "You're so lucky to be married and not have as much responsibility."
• "But don't you feel bad not having a life, seeing as you're married?"
• "When are you going to get a divorce?"
• "It's so sad having to come home to a house with someone in it all the time."
• "Well, I would've invited you to book group, except you're married and I thought you wouldn't want to be around all those happily single people."
• "What's a beautiful woman like you doing married?"

Bridget Jones, eat your heart out.

Speaking of kids books being reformulated, check out the latest Google welcome bar! It's been Hungry Caterpillar-ified! The Very Hungry Caterpillar was one of my favourite books growing up - possibly because I was always hungry as a child myself (and not in an abused child who was never fed by her parents kind of way - more like a greedy fat piggy kind of way!).

In other Google news, Google is being sued by Louis Vuitton because "Google's advertisement activities have given companies which sell fake products unprecedented visibility beyond their wildest dreams." Google, on the other hand, claims that "Google makes money not by reason of the nature of the keyword, but by someone clicking on the keyword.... The decision to click or not to click belongs to whom? Clearly to the Internet user." Hmm... What do you lawyer-y types out there think? My highly authoritative copyright-y IP-y lawyer friend says he tends to agree with Louis Vuitton. And who wouldn't? I mean - The Very Hungry Caterpillar thing is cute, but Louis Vuitton... So much better! What?! A lawsuit isn't a popularity contest? Oh...

I can't help but agree with one of my favourite characters of all time, Lord Darlington in Oscar Wilde's hilarious Lady Windermere's Fan when he says "I can resist everything except temptation". I say - naughty Google! You shouldn't let us be tempted! We are weak little Darlingtons!

Google made me do it!

Lacking Motivation?

Big Brother is weighing

So you think you don't have time to go to the gym because you've just got to get home in time for (ironically) The Biggest Loser?

Don't expect to sit at the bus stop thinking about the latest physical challenge - instead expect public ridicule, smug I-picked-her-at-that looks and general remorse for eating that last little bite-sized Cherry Ripe. An advertising company in the Netherlands has taken guilt-sells to a whole new level with their terrifying advertising campaign for Fitness First (it really is all over the world). Sit on a wired seat at the bus stop and all and sundry will know exactly how much you weigh - it won't be long before folk are removing shoes, belts, fake fingernails as they try to drop to their goal weight before the bus pulls up. Hey! That sounds fun.

It's an interesting tactic - blending human nature's most basic traits - the need for acceptance, guilt, competitiveness, sanctimonious smugness and fear - into one neat, effective package. Of course, it's not all bad. Competitions for the most people on one bench at the least weight and vice versa are sure to crop up, and that daily transit to work can be transformed from bland monotony to your very own Biggest Loser -whether the suckers at the bus stop* realise it or not.

*That being suckers at the Rotterdam bus stop, where the advertising campaign was launched. So far...

Where the wild things are...

I loved this book when I was a kid and I can't wait for the movie!

(cutest movie poster ever!)

Where the Wild Things Are is a film adaptation of the children's book of the same name by Maurice Sendak.

The children's classic first published in 1963 is about the imaginery adventures of our star, Max, who is punished for "making mischief" by being sent to his room without his supper (does anyone even use that word anymore?) Whilst in his room, a wild forest grows out of his imagination and Max journeys to the land of the Wild Things. He wears a cute little wolf suit throughout his adventures and eventually becomes King of the Wild Things. However, he soon finds himself lonely and homesick and returns home where his supper is waiting for him.

A mere 10 sentences long it will be interesting to see where the film will take the story...

More Sartorialist news...

One of our favourite street photographers/bloggers will be joining forces with Penguin books to release his own coffee table book of photos called (unsurprisingly enough) "The Sartoralist". No news yet on its release date.

In other news, word on the street is that he is teaming up with Paris mega concept store Colette to have his own pop-up shop known as "The Sartorialust", which will feature racks of lustworthy accessories alongside his book.

For those who haven't been, Colette is a must visit next time you are in Paris and is a 3 (or is it 4?) level showroom featuring the latest in fashion, music, books, gadgets, accessories and cosmetics. I wanted so much in that shop (if only i could afford it though) when I visited it last year! A destination boutique - make sure you look it up next time you are in town.

Hot Shoe Shuffle

Brian Atwood is apparently a shoe designer, and the shoes featured in the hot and steamy shoe porn shots below (photographed by Tony Duran and stylist Kithe Brewster) featuring Rene Russo (Get Shorty, Thomas Crown Affair... and umm.... I have no idea what else - I barely remember her!) are part of a book called Role Play Rene. It reminds me a little of that joke in The Nanny (yes, I'm scraping here) where Fran Fine comments that she was a huge model in her time, and her mother reminds her that she was a hand model. Rene has some hot feet here. Lovely toenails. Perfect ankles. Sexy legs. And how old is she? She was born in 1954 for heaven's sake! So not only is this a feat of soft porn shoe-fetish hotness, this is age-defying sexiness.

Wow. I mean wow. As if I didn't already lust after shoes enough as it was. I'd like a cup of Mr with my stilettos please!

Note to self: die wearing hot shoes

It Doesn't Get Better Than...

Talking to your friends in far flung places on the phone for hours...

Pacey 4eva

T Magazine - The New York Times Style Magazine has a current spread on Tomorrow's Big Screen Stars featuring a number of young actors including the one and only Joshua Jackson. He is looking hot! I have loved him ever since he was young Charlie in the Mighty Ducks trilogy to chasing Joey Potter around as Pacey Witter on Dawson's Creek and I think he has only gotten better with age!

Josh has been with Diane Kruger for the last couple of years and they are regularly seen (but not in an overexposed annoying way) walking the streets of New York, the red carpet and front row at fashion week shows... I love her style and I think her individual and sometimes quirky fashion choices has influenced him into quite the cool sartorial... and they just look lovely together don't they?

Friday Funnies - For Masochists

This is very mean of me, but there have been quite a few models falling over on the runway of late, and it's like watching someone walk down the street in a horrific outfit - you can't help but stare and be grateful it's not you. And seriously - how often are you grateful that you're not a supermodel? Not very bloody often! So for normal girls, enjoy for a momento, the plight of the otherwise beautiful and graceful:

At least she's laughing...

The cause of these nasty falls? The monster stiletto of course...