Fast, furious fashion

With Rosanna Davidson and Off the Rails being heralded as the twin peaks of Irish Fashion, it is difficult not to despair at the seemingly derivative,  monotonous and uninspiring public face of fashion in Ireland. However, at the margins of the ‘luvvy’ activity, there is a vibrant, beating heart.  This fringe activity got an opportunity to perform at a recent exhibition. Aimee O’Beirne, up and coming fashion face to watch, got an opportunity to unveil the creative process live at the ‘For The Love Of Live…’ exhibition in Filmbase.9 artists were invited to produce original works in real time on the opening night, recreating the studio toil-and-slog for an avid audience. O’Beirne created an utterly dynamic dress – a beautifully constructed white base, with lashings of black ink, emusion, gloss and enamel almost thrown on the garment. The result is a gothic fairytale, the Ice Queen from the hood, the urban Cinderella. Raw, gritty and fun, this is the beating pulse of Irish fashion energy.

 

 

 

 

Style Crush

Oh Chloe, I love you so. Always cool, always calm, always cutting edge. Working geek chic without being sycophantic, working the harem leg without being too ‘on trend’, working a silk top-boyf cardie without being too unkempt. And the shoes. Enough said. From her new collection at Opening Ceremony.

Finger Popping Colour

While traipsing through Asda the other day I wandered into the cosmetics aisle, which is not something I do very often preferring to get my beauty aids  through Boots, pharmacies etc. But as my eyes were lazily scanning the shelves a flash of colour jumped out at me, fresh, funky and eh wait a minute….total steal!! Collection 2000 (ah yes remember the nineties) “Button Moon” nail varnish for just over a pound – my bargain senses were tingling (my mother would be so proud) so I bought my new find and am delighted with how it turned out….only thing is it takes 2/3 coats for it to look great but you cant complain with a price like that!

Das Crotch Wear-Out (Guest Spot – Aoife)

Today is indeed an auspicious day in the history of fashion – twenty years ago today the Berlin Wall came tumbling down thereby freeing up trade barriers and allowing the mass importation of blue jeans to the economically ravaged countries of the eastern bloc who had been sobbing out loud for fashionable western denim.

Ok, there’s more than a slight chance I’m trivialising one of the most momentous events of recent times for the sake of fashion but it provided a topical intro into my chosen subject – jeans.

Jeans, jeans …. how I love you so. Is there a more overlooked piece of statement fashion in the entire world than the humble pair of jeans?? Never a piece to be included in haute couture collections, 94.6% of women say it is the most relied on piece of clothing in their wardrobe*. It is the modern day corset, coveted for its shape shifting abilities – the right pair of jeans can transform a woman from average schlub to tight thighed and bummed goddess.

The search for the perfect pair of jeans can be holy grailish in nature – minute differences in shape, length and colour, that are all but invisible to the naked eye but which the wearer can instinctively feel can mean that out of 40 pairs of jeans tried on, only perhaps 2 or 3 pairs will make the final cut.

As a student, jeans constitute an incredibly important part of my daily attire. However, I’ve recently found myself in the unbelieveable position of having only two pairs of jeans in my wardrobe. The reason for this – all my other pairs slowly, but surely, succumbed to the phenomenon of crotch wear-out. While it sounds somewhat dodgy to the unaware, it is a well known curse of jeans. I have yet to meet a girl who has not lost a favourite pair of jeans to crotch wear-out, or who has found a way to prevent it. In fact, I’m still holding onto one of my favourite pairs (a pair of 2007 Seven for all Mankind, 80% off in the sale) in the hope that some magic gadget will one day appear that will enable me to seamless sew up the raggedy rips in the inside seam. I’m staying optimistic that JML, purveyours of the incredible Bobble-Off, will be the wizards who will fix this problem.

 

 

 

* a made up statistic.

some thoughts on cleanliness

i had a look at my grey leather jacket this morning, or rather i had a whiff of my grey leather jacket this morning. it is obscenely dirty. i know the leather jacket must look battered and bruised and worn down from all the epic adventures you have shared together, but my one is just filthy. too many parties, to many nights spent on the floor, too many days rotting in my car boot. thing is, i have no idea how to clean it. i know this might seem like a basic tenet of human routine, but i seriously don’t know how to clean it. i can’t put it in the washing machine; that much i know. i also know that i am not paying for it to be dry-cleaned – that just seems ludicrous. are there special products for such occasions? more importantly, would i use them? and therein lies the rub – i am just not one of those people. i don’t buy leather protector for my boots, i don’t freeze my woolens overnight to prevent bobbling, i don’t use special whitening stuff to keep your whites brighter than bright, i don’t iron the creases back into my trousers, i don’t attach new pins to broken broaches, i don’t use that special cloth for gold jewellery, i don’t have those bags to separate your tights in the washing machine so they don’t get tangled with the rest of the load, or those bags to put underwear in so the wiring doesn’t pop out of your bra. i am strictly a ‘use it and lose it’ type. if it breaks, i don’t fix it, it if stains, i don’t clean it and if it smells…well then, it smells…

beyonce V cheryl

uh oh… it has come to my attention that beyonce has been shopping in the same place as wag cheryl cole. whilst disappointingly watching the ema’s last night after losing a remote control tug-of-war with my younger sister, i spotted beyonce sporting a very similar david koma design to cheryl cole on the xfactor last weekend. now although i pretty much slated the dress to shreds last week, i must say that it doesn’t look half as bad on mrs. z herself. i may be biased because of my irrevocable love for beyonce (who else do you know that is a singer/songwriter/dancer/performer/designer and wife aged 28?)  but it isnt exactly car-crash couture as compared to cheryl. maybe it was cheryl’s unforgivable boots-earrings-tight hair combo that gave her ‘that’ look but beyonce my darling i’m on your side. cheryl-0 beyonce-1

 

beyonce workin' it

 

 

Nu-Rave = Old Wave. Panto-Rave = Next Wave

i’m going to a rave/warehouse party next weekend and i’m in an absolute tizz over what to wear…i mean i don’t want to do an aggy on it and arrive at the party in some last season get up – that would be social suicide. i know from extensive observation that neon is fading, ironic pendants (anything with an owl, whistle or skull on it) are totally morto, gold lamé is cutting it fine, geek-chic glasses are just geek-geek this season and i think brightly coloured skinnies would be the last nail in the sarto-coffin. it’s just so hard to be ahead of the pack all the time y’know? well fear not, i just discovered Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s first diffusion line JCDC. it’s total panto-chic: a little pocahontas/ annie get your gun with some disney sex appeal thrown in for good measure. but be forewarned peeps, it’s all about the donald – mickey mouse is SO out. feathers, fringing, crimping and he’s gone totally native with like tribal markings on the face.  and like how hot is this – no real models were used in the making of the show. he picked up some dazed street urchins, hanging about london town being generally cool.
well i totally have a pocahontas suit from 1997 – it’s for an 8-yr old, but i think the irony will go down a treat. i also have a fake gun and some chaps from a school play in fifth year – if a spray them with some neon, i reckon i’ll have nailed it.

 

I got cuffed…

Chanel RTW Fall 09 Show…my new obsession…Chanel cuffs. A wisp of lace here, a drizzle of ribbon there, so elegant, so delicate, so sumptuous. i love love love. and the majestic neck collars – edwardian dreams. mere ownership transforms you into keira knightley circa any period biopic. fact.

 

 

 

 

and with the hint of green…minty nail-varnish and matching jewel-toned rings. the gothic sea-queen. dublin blogger whisty describes how she makes her own – check it out for hints and tips.

look at little miss lily doing her modeling thang for chanel below.  the girl scrubs up good.

 

more tat

wearing tan (mans) slacks i commandeered at a festival during the nighttime chill, an i love new york t-shirt, black peter o’brien for a/wear blazer i scored on sale for €20 a few years ago, black ankle boots from sacha london and a fur stole i wrangled out of a sisters jacket. (sorry grace) you can see emma watson stealing my look below.

me and emma know whats hot

aside from that, i just caught sight of the tatty devine website and i’m in serious danger of dropping a load on frivolous, unnecessary, whimsical, absurdist jewels. not so much jewels as plastic tat and metal, but i heart it so. i make no secret of my obsession with the tash (all stemming from the one and only ‘pat the tash’. injoke) and so i honed in on this little gem. i’m also partial to the zipper broach. all the jewellery is just so random – like taking literal inspiration to another level entirely…’oh, look at that discarded chicken kebab wrapper with garlic sauce oozing out the side, i think i’ll make a broach out of that’.

 

if you can't grow 'em, wear 'em

take THAT broken zippers

and on a completely irrelevant sidenote, check out their collection of mags and zines – i’m particularly drawn to the TWEE zine – based around the club night in london (why don’t we have club nights like that in dublin?) and some of the rachel ortas greetings cards.

 

possibly the best word in the world

so cute, why don’t more people send cards?

Finger Bling

I love a bit of finger bling, the bigger the better I say. Generally I stick to gold accessories, just for the fact that they’re more in your face, statement jewellery, but browsing through Topshop online (must really stop this and do some Uni work…) I came across these two pieces that I really just must have.