Everyday is Halloween

“Any place, anywhere that I go all the
People seem to stop and stare they say

‘why are you dressed like it’s Halloween?
You look so absurd, you look so obscene’
O, why can’t I live a life for me?
Why should I take the abuse that’s served?
Why can’t they see they’re just like me it’s
The same, it’s the same in the whole wide world

Well I let their teeny minds think that they’re
Dealing with someone who is over the brink and
I dress this way just to keep them at bay
Cos Halloween is everyday it’s everyday o…”

Everyday is Halloween

-Ministry

I loved these FW11 menswear pieces from Julius, a label by Japanese designer Tatsuro Horikawa.

Menswear, unwrapped at Julius FW11.

We've seen men in skirts before, but not this sheer.

Loved the ease of this jacket. If the whole look is too theatrical for you, this piece, alone can change your wardrobe for the better.

In another time, in another place.

This, for me, has traces of the past - I see Tibetan monks and shadows of ancient kurtas, here.

It takes a certain kind of man to pull off frou.

Fairytale-esque, no?

Layered to perfection. I want to wear this on a cold winter's day.

An Indian groom ready to make his rounds?

There is something about this multi-level layering that gets me every time I see it. Every. Time.

Sheen without show. Metallic-ah.

Stark white can be just as gothentic as noir from head to toe.

This may be menswear, but I’d love a few layers of it for myself.

Shun the critics. Be who you are. Every day.

 

Original images from Fashionising.com, modified by moi.

Japanese Tartan

Life is all about the mix.

It’s about venturing out on familiar paths to new and unfound places.

It’s taking one’s history on a journey of further exploration.

It’s about seeing the traditional in an untraditional way.

Take, for some wonderful examples, these pieces from the Y’s collection from Yohji Yamamoto.

Each fabric that you touch in any Yohji collection will be dreamy - like his creations.

Borrowed from tartan tradition – one that includes Scots and punks, alike – and layered with military memory, they echo a past we recognize.

Mr. Yamamoto first showed his Y's collection in the '70s. It was a collection for women, based on men's garments.

What’s gone, however, is the bleeding edge of military, and the in-your-face, face-off of the striking tartan colour contrast. It’s softened with a smudged, black print that adds a poetic verse to the clothes.

Even with hard edges like metal zippers and studs, the effect is soft.

Tartan has gotten tarty lately, but this is how it should be worn. Choose arty over tarty, by all means.

It isn’t heavy, as it is serene.

Life is all about the layers, after all.

So Y’s.

All are available at the Conduit Street Yohji store in London.

Images courtesy of Yohji Yamamoto.

Cape-able

I have been obsessed with capes for the past couple of years and already have a few. But I want to take my love to new lengths…

Loved the zippered pockets and closure on this Alexis Mabille version, from his FW11 Menswear collection.

And you already know how this one would make me feel like Superwoman…

Mr. Berardi's studded cape for FW11.

There’s no escaping a love like this, my dears.

And no, a girl doesn’t need an occasion like Halloween to wear a cape! Well, at least this gothentic girl doesn’t.

Images: Style.com and Elle.com

Ex-Choos Me

I haven’t chosen Choos for ages as my stilts of record, but these could change my tune.

My, my...metallic magenta...

Let's get to the point - I would have liked a more elongated toe, but it works here, given the shade.

When shopping for stilts, it's all about their silhouette.

The heel height won't kill you, the angle of the arch will. It's a study in architecture, really.

These are more than up-to-code.

Images courtesy of net-a-porter.com.

Ferry Good Art

I’ve written many a post in the past about the connection between fashion and music. There’s a reason for that. The two, for me, are forever tied together.

There’s a reason for that, too. It was through the looks of bands like Roxy Music, The Jam, The Cure, David Bowie, Japan, Duran Duran, Blondie, The Specials, Sade and countless others (I could go on for days with this list…), that my visual vocabulary (along with my musical education, of course) was formed.

These were and are, not just singers and musicians, but to me, artists working with many different mediums. They went beyond composing and arranging notes and words into music and performing them on stage.  They were also staging their image, working on compositions of record sleeves (which at the time, were a huge part of your experience while the record was played for the first time), arranging models for photographs and setting the stage for the scene they invited you into with their music videos.

It was through these mini films of the ’80s, that I learned about far-off places (how can anyone forget the children of Sri Lanka laughing with Simon and JT?). It was through their clothes that I heard designer and stylist names for the first time – Antony Price, for one. It was because of album covers and limited edition record sleeves that I was schooled in pop art and fetish fashion photography during the same week. The inspiration from those 12″ singles lasted well beyond a dozen years and singled out my love of visual culture.

Bryan Ferry and Karl Stoecker - For Your Pleasure, 1973 - an image so far ahead of its time.

These musicians became my art teachers, in many ways.

So to me, it was fitting to find out that Mr. Ferry is featured in a solo art show at LA’s Michael Kohn Gallery.

The show displays some of the final artwork created for Roxy albums between 1972 and 1983, along with Ferry’s solo album visuals. What’s better, is that it also presents the process of getting there and what was left behind, with studies and alternate versions of artwork and photography.

Bryan Ferry and Neil Kirk - Manifesto, 1979.

Ferry, who was schooled in art, has always made it an integral part of his business – the business of creating. Well before branding buzzwords, this gentleman curated the experience he wanted you to have, the emotion that he wanted his music and his images to create for you. He may not always have done it with a brushstroke, or hung it on an actual wall (until now), but he gave you a visual feast to dive into, from the very beginning of his career. He did it most recently, with the dreamy and  layered journey that is Olympia, by mixing Moss with Manet.

One Night, by Bryan Ferry and Adam Whitehead featuring Kate Moss, 2010.

Like any good artist worth his salt and pepper (suits him, no?), he has had a mass of muses. (Mrs. Hince returned the favour by having him perform at her wedding, this summer.) Olympia, also features a cover of Tim Buckley’s Song to the Siren. His original Siren was of course, Jerry Hall. (Note the electric blue nails on Ms. Hall, below. In 1975. Also, there seems to be a cheekbone déjà vu going on in these four images.)

Bryan Ferry and Graham Hughes featuring Jerry Hall on Siren, 1975.

It’s different from marketing music today, I think. Having grown up with his words and images for a good part of my life, I think his intent has been, not necessarily to market to us, but to communicate with us, to provoke, to seduce, to complement his music. I really think it comes from a place of art, first, before commerce.

Definitions aside, there’s no denying the visual impact his work has had. And isn’t that where art starts?

I wish I could get to LA before next week to see the show, which runs until November 5th. Happily, though, I will get to see Mr. Ferry in the farewell leg of his Olympia tour, later this year.

Images courtesy of Michael Kohn Gallery. 

Tweeding

There’s tweeting.

There’s reading.

Then, there is tweeding.

What is tweeding, you ask?

Well, darlings, it’s a tantalizing tome – Chanel, in this case – wrapped in a beautiful tweed. Luxe librarians, Assouline are offering up the opposite of quiet reading, in a trifecta of books on the brand that chainged everything with their perfumes, jewels and clothing – wrapped in the prettiest of packages.

Tweed softly and carry a big book.

It gives a whole new definition to the phrase, book jacket, no?

Only thirty are available at the luxe cost of $2500.

There’s also the “standard” version in classic Chanel quilted, black leather, at a fraction of the cost.

Quilt and quire.

Images: Assouline.

Diwali Delights

If there was ever a day to emanate light, tomorrow is it (or today, if you are reading this in the Motherland).

As you start your new year’s journeys, just remember that…

This may be a time for reflection…

Pankaj and Nidhi showed us how to glow, at their SS12 show at Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, earlier this month.

But it is also a time to shine.

Let your inner moonbeam shine bright. Always.

Wishing you a well-lit path as you begin anew, my dears.

I can always feel the energy of your light on the other side of the screen.

Happy Diwali.

Images courtesy of WLIFW.

Waves Rush In

Christopher Kane’s witty waves made a splash on the FW11 runway at London Fashion Week.

Like groovy, baby.

Mermaid mode at Christopher Kane FW11.

Warm leatherette.

Sea-through clutch.

Fall for a little fun, this season.

Images: Elle.com.

Ford on Film

Mr. Darling.

Documentary-style.

A must-watch.

Tonight, on Visionaries, airing on OWN.

Chill the champagne, now.

Here’s a teaser.

Under Cover

The air is crisper.

So why shouldn’t your wardrobe be?

Gucci's piped trench, classic fedora and polka dots are my dream cover ups, this season.

Image: Vogue.com.

Tall Order

This is no short fall.

I have always found a long skirt much sexier and slinkier than a mini that girls are constantly tugging at. (It’s not going to grow when you are wearing it, girls.)

Lady-like dressing, welcome back.

Yards of fabric. Miles of grace.

Image: Elle.com.

Helping Hand

Sometimes you need a hand in getting through things.

Ms. Demeulemeester gave us several, in her FW11 collection.

Grab a hold of a helping hand - or four.

Image: Vogue.com.

Wedge-nesday

Clunky shoe? That won’t do!

Skinny stilt? Won’t climb hills!

Is there an in-between that can mean I get through the lumps and bumps of life – and maybe even make it over Hump Day?

Grazing on the wedge - Camilla Skovgaard's Stromboli ankle boots.

A sensible choice to get you through mid-week - Loeffler Randall Bree-s shoe boots.

Images: Selfridges.com.

Green Grayze

Sometimes, the new can be found in the pairing of two favourite colours.

Alberta Ferretti pairs rich green with charcoal for FW11.

I also love the contrast of textures - flannel gets fabulous with sequins.

Images: Vogue.com.

Canadian Compatriots

It was 1987.

My first fashion show.

Steven Levy’s Festival of Canadian Fashion.

I've kept that program all of these years...

Joyce Gunhouse and Judy Cornish were showing their Comrags collection.

It was the first time I’d heard of them.

Swamp Thing was on the soundtrack.

 

It wasn’t the first time I heard the tune, or of The Chameleons.

The song led me through the hall and towards the stage, in fact.

That connection between fashion and music started early on.

I remember the frocks.

I remember the volume of the hypnotizing tune.

I remember sitting front row, as a fashion fan – long before tweets and the age of media ‘celebrities’.

As LG Fashion Week kicks off in Toronto today, I remember and recall my first taste of Canadian fashion.

I ran into both designers at an event last year – and they couldn’t believe I remembered what song was playing during that show.

Joyce and Judy, how could I possibly forget?

Fashion and music memories never fade.

Comrags will be showing their SS12 collection during LGFW, which runs until October 21st.

The FW11 Comrags collection still recalls the roots planted by the designers all those years ago.

Image courtesy of Comrags.