Shades of Grey for Iron Man 2

Grey is HOT for Winter, and thank God. It's is one of my wardrobe basics & faves! I just saw the pics of Iron Man 2 premiere under a headline pointing out that the two female stars Gwynnie and ScarJo both wore grey - & they both look FANTASTIC! Funnily enough, on inspection, both are wearing two of my fave designers.


Gwyneth is in Victoria Beckham's zip back dress in a beautiful deep smoke-grey. I LOVE the colour, but do prefer it on J.Lo though, you def. need a more back (ie. a bum) to carry off this dress!

Scarlett is in dove grey, wearing one of VB's inspirations, Roland Mouret.


Loving Rouland Mouret's Pigalle Wool dress. Look at all my faves wearing it - J.Lo, Dita, Beyonce...grey rocks.


Very excited about Iron Man 2. I love Downey.

All that glitters

I'M LOVING...

New Zealand jewellery! These Meadowlark harnesses from the latest 'Fit to be Tied' range are fab. Reminds me kind of of the crazy long Zambesi necklaces that came out in 2007. Unfortunately, mine broke. (Probably because it was given to me by a toxic ex-boyfriend. A sign!)

Also adore the Meadowlark Belt Cocktail Ring. It is very similar to my Karen Walker Smoky Topaz cocktail ring, which rarely leaves my hand!
My sister is in love with her birthday pressie, a Stolen Girlfriend's Club Bow Ring & I have my eye on the Baby Don't Go pendant...


I loved my Penny Foggo wolf necklace. Somehow my bedroom swallowed it - so have a newbie on order from Iko Iko. I got mine at Belle Bird in Dunedin, a great store. Deadly Ponies are doing wolfy looking ones too, like their 2-headed guardian of the underworld 'Cerberus Dog' pendant.


I like a knuckle duster too - D_Luxe have some fab ones.

And to more classic styles, I've long been a fan of Lisa Hoskin.

When she began in 1992, I had her big oval rings that had teeny little pics of Pre-Raphaelite, Renaissance & Baroque style paintings in them. She was living in Sienna, Italy, so the rings were beautiufl testaments to Italian art - and as I was studying Art History at Uni, I loved them! Plus the 'Cross' rings. And have her Paintbrush Pendant from the current collection - very cute!

And I would be remiss to forget Boh Runga and her beautiful, delicate designs based of native birds.


I still remember Boh belting out 'Pretty Violent' in Sydney all those years ago (when she fronted Stellar*) and thinking at the time was an incredibly stunning & stylish woman she was.

You got the Love, Florence!

I'M LOVING...

Wildfox has landed!

I am rather enamored with Wildfox. All of their marketing & press that I've seen appeals to me - glam rock, pink, shiney hearts, cool graphics, flamingos, glitter, hearts, wings, rock chicks, long hair, red lips. I just think the designs are styley and edgy and cute without bordering toooo far into try-hard tack and predictable, & the graphic design is clever & cool.

The ever gorgeous Alessandra Ambrosio in 'Hawk' and 'Only' tops

They have a top that is the spit of one I made myself in 1996. I had seen the white T.Shirt with a red cross on it 'Rachel from Friends' wore, so bought myself some fabric paints and made my own version, got a white tee from the House of G and painted on a big red heart. Mine wasn't glittery though :-( I loved that thing! Must dig out a piccie...J.Lo has been spotted in this Wildfox sweatshirt version...

My new Wildfox tee arrived from the States yesterday, having taken almost 2 months on backorder. Of course as soon as I saw the Vicki B cover on Glamour, I HAD to have the tee. In charcoal, natch.


As a kid I loved those American football style Tees with the year on 'em. It looked so soft and I loved the fadey destroyed wash, plus the little rips - totally cool.

So the Tee arrived yesterday and did not disappoint. It is beauuuuutifully butter-soft, with a great raw edge hem, capped sleeve and sits not too tight but still fitted. There are 4 little wee silver studs just above the 'W' that tops off the look & gives it a little edge. I love a good T.Shirt, as my uniform is jeans & Tees, but although a ubiquitous item, getting the right fit, cut & fabric is as technical as jeans design as far as I'm concerned. It is so sublime I immediately jumped online to order the red one - now they are HERE!

Wildfox Couture Spring 2010 from Wildfox Couture on Vimeo.

Love the video, the fact that they used Blondie is just the cherry on top. I have finally got used to spelling it with one X. For some reason I kept adding an X. Wildfoxx!!! I guess because the label seems to be sooo glamour rock 80's that it seemed to fit. I usually hate all things 80's style but these T.shirts just remind me of Van Halen and Poison and GLAM ROCK.


So yes, Wildfox Couture is now available from Superette. Let's hope that the brash glam-slam rock style look doesn't end up falling into the realm of Ed Hardy. Ick. Or worse - end up on the Jersey Shore kids - Egad!!!!!

Check out Superette here...

NZ Art Fabulosity

I'M LOVING...

New Zealand art. I majored in Art History (& English Lit) at Uni, so in 1996 after cutting my teeth as a Curatorial Assistant at the Southland Museum & Art Gallery, I packed my bags and moved from one end of the country to the other to try and get a job at mecca - The Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki. Luckily I managed to get a job on the front desk, then as a Gallery Assistant at both the AAG & the brand new NEW Gallery annex.

I got to join the NEW Gallery crew during the amzing exhibition by Andrew Bogle, 'Transformers' which threw me in at the deep end of installation art. There were some pretty, 'punter-friendly' in the exhibition, such as Len Lye’s elegant kinetic sculpture 'Grass', and Nike Savvas'es amazing room of ping pong balls, strung across the exhibition space with a fan causing them to vibrate. Quite spectacular!

Len Lye, Grass

Australian artist Nike Savvas, Atomix

There were also some crazy oddities that confused, perplexed, and sometimes angered exhibition visitors. I'm still rather disturbed by Paul McCarthy, the video/installation & performance artist who had punters dress up in Pinocchio outfits complete with clown shoes & masks (which we had to metho after each use!) - a slippery slope between the absurd and the disturbing. Chili Pepper Anthony Kiedis was in town & checked out that particular installation. Twice! Including McCarthy was a move, but thank God Bogle chose one of his tamer works. many of his works are extremely disturbing - I will leave you to do your own reaserach, here! Enter at your own risk...

Christian Marclay’s 'Tapefall' consisted of a film projector suspended on a plank continuously spooling tape down onto the conservatory roof? Hmmm. (Guess who got to clean that up after 3 months? Me sliding about amongst a huge mountain of dust-encrusted tape on the gallery skylight was a rather interesting sight.)

Inside those walls I had many many hours to absorb the amazing artworks, learning from the Curators and Preparators, and visiting all the galleries in the Lorne St & Kitchener St area. I also worked part time at The Gregory Flint Gallery on Lorne St in 1996, when Bill Hammonds went for around $3-5K! Beautiful.

Here are a few of my favorite NZ artists' works from the Webb's catalogue. Topping my current wish list is the incomparable Bill Hammond...

A Lullaby of Birdland

Boulder Bay

Threshing Dog - The Golden Bough, Bill Hammond

Another longtime favourite is Nuiean artist John Pule.

Maholo. John Pule

Pulenoa, John Pule

Petit Nocturne, Luise Fong


Trans-magenta pulse, Luise Fong

Chandelier, Tony Lane

Four Circles Blue - Milan Mrkusich

Untitled, Seraphine Pick

Hinenuitepo, Reuben Paterson

What is the source of our first suffering? Reuben Paterson

Britpop Cool

Reading the latest RUSSH magazine at Christmas time, I stumbled across this article which totally took me back to be obsession with Justine Frischmann, how much I LOVE her style, and all things Britpop - especially those cool Britpop band-girls.
I was living in London at the tail end of the Britpop explosion in 1997 - 1999, and loved every minute of it. (I was Team Blur). My cohorts & I submerged ourselves in the Indie scene (and a lot of Stella - Artois, not Tennat!). We hung out in Camden, hoping to spot Alex James or Jarvis Cocker, met the young unknown boys from Travis at the Dog Star in Brixton & subsequently saw them at some University gig (Fran Healy has the most beautiful voice), saw Blur at the Brixton Academy (where Damon performed with a broken ankle), Muffin Spencer from Brassy at Barfly & Idlewild at a Uni gig, saw the Manic Street Preachers at Wembley Arena and - on a very unfortunate night in - subsequently missed meeting Graham Coxon, when my flatmates bumped into him out on the town.


The Blur gig @ the iconic Brixton Academy (December 11, 1997) was one of my faves. Damon was on form (despite said broke ankle) and Alex was the epitome of a sexy, swaggering rock God, fag in mouth throughout the duration of the show. Check out their new doco, No Distance left to Run.

I loooooved was Elastica! I them back in the day, and thought that Justine Frischmann was the coolest chick ever. She showed how sexy you could be in just jeans, docs and a hoodie. As much as I love getting blinged up with make-up and 6 inch heels, I also love and live in jeans and Tees. With her tomboyish mod-style look, floppy black fringe, black leathers and slightly plumby accent, Justine was the epitome of Brit Indie cool. Her look aped her boyfriends Brett Anderson and Damon Albarn - cropped asymmetrical haircuts with the long fringe in face, stovepipe jeans, skinny tees, leather jackets - edgy, pale, British, cool. Very Hedi Slimane...
OK maybe not ALL of her boyfriends - "I did briefly see Guy Ritchie at college (he was a useless little sod - a layabout - I didn't feel he'd ever be anything)" The Independent, 14 June 2000
Justine helped found another fave band, Suede, with her then boyfriend Brett Anderson. Justine left Suede when their relationship crumbled - and she took up with indie darling Damon from Blur. The split with Damon was the inspiration for the beautiful Blur album 13, written about their breakup. 'Tender', still being one of my favourite love songs - listen to it here.

A rare glam shot from Last FM

I must say, 'Animal Nitrate' but Suede is still one of my favorite songs from that era. How cool was Brett, sauntering about in those skinny pants and tight black shirts. Russell Brand must have been taking notes. Funny how you get lyrics mixed up, I always thought he was singing "Only twenty ooooone, oooone". Is actually "Oh it turns you oooon, oooooon". But nothing beat Elastica's guttural, pulsating hit, 'Connection' - a riff ripped off from the Wire's 'Three Girl Rumba" - but awesome none the less!



Love this pic of Donna from Elastica too. Rock star cool.
I read Pearl Lowe's fab book 'All That Glitters', a fascinating peek into her Britpoppin' world of bands, musos, models, gigs, drigs, partying & generally running amok in London in the early 90's, with a few famous names thrown in to boot. She was in a band called Powder, looking very cute here, like a little Goth China Girl.
Pearl married Danny Goffey from Supergrass (natch), beat her drug habit and now has a successful fashion range of gorgeous Victorian-style lace dresses, lace curtains and soft furnishings. Check out her beautiful website here.
Pearl & Danny's lush country manors are frequently showcased in the likes of Hello! magazine. They are happily ensconced in country-manor life, and pregnant with number FIVE! An addition to Daisy 21, Alfie, 13, Frankie, 10 and four-year-old Betty. I love how Pearl has gone from absolute crazy party girl hanging out with musos on the path to oblivion, to stylish Mum living in the country, with a successful career and marriage. see - you CAN have it all! What a life.
"Her office, in one of the three ground-floor receptions, is impeccably neat. Elsewhere, however, things are more rock’n’roll. In a ground-floor bathroom there are snapshots of Kate Moss, lolling over her then boyfriend Jefferson Hack, a youthful Rhys Ifans, the snake-hipped Primal Scream singer Bobby Gillespie and Supergrass on stage at Glastonbury"
From Pearl Lowe: From wild child to earth mother, The Sunday Times, October 11, 2009

"Despite the move to the country, and Lowe cleaning up, they haven't quite dropped the hi-octane lifestyle: during one of Lowe's clean periods in 2002, Carl Barat and Pete Doherty came to stay with them when they were still living in north London. Surely not the ideal post-rehab guests? "Aww, it was fun looking after them," she says maternally."
The Guardian, July 9, 2007

I adore Pearl's house - 'Biba modern' style. These pics are from New Woman magazine:
Pearl's stunning daughter Daisy (to Gavin Rossdale from Bush - now known as Mr Gwen Stefani) is doing remarkably well with modeling, due to sultry, doe-eyed good looks and curvaceous figure.

Pearl Lowe pics from the Daily Mail & Hullo UK
Daisy pics from W Magazine March 2001
Agent Provocateur RTW 2008
Steven Klein for Vogue Italia 2007
Wheels and Dollbaby campaign , 2008