Feed the Trend - Purple

A colour that hasn't really had much sartorial success since the late 90's, purple is experiencing somewhat of a rebirth, and even I'm finding myself drawn to its red-blue stylings.










It's even been selected as the Pantone 2008 Colour of the Year:
"From a color forecasting perspective, we have chosen PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris as the color of the year, as it best represents color direction in 2008 for fashion, cosmetics and home products." So there you go.

The Wallmeyer Twins - a current affairs goldmine

Remember Clare and Rachel Wallmeyer? They made news back in 2004 for being Australia's most famous skeletwins, surviving on a piece of watermelon a day and the occasional hit of heroin (although the drug use was diplomatically omitted from the news stories).
Well thanks to ET and Insider Online they're ba-ack and striking hope into the hearts of prime time TV viewers everywhere.

Now please don't get me wrong, I have absolute empathy (get that, empathy, not sympathy - there's a clue there) for these women but, as with programs like The Biggest Loser, I find television Get-Well-Quick shows to be not only loathsome, but extremely harmful to the sufferers involved*.
While the new footage of the twins may seem promising, all I see is a couple of extremely sick women with serious drug and behavioural problems (which I had to do some digging of my own to uncover) being polished up for the cameras to bring a satisfying conclusion to an unfinished story.
And while I genuinely believe that Dr Ira Sacker is a remarkable man who has helped countless sufferers of eating disorders, it breaks my heart to see these women starve themselves for 10 days in anticipation of the American film crews only to be offered a couple sessions with Dr Ira, during one of which they are fed hot chips, for Christ's sake. Have these people done any research into eating disorders at all? Do they not realise that after this little outing the twins will probably spend a guilt-ridden and self-hate filled afternoon bent over their toilet bowls? Or one bowl in this case - they live together. And don't get me started on the initial interview where the flawless host comments on the girls' weight gain and asks them how much they weigh. Surely, working with Dr Ira they must have done some research, which leads me to conclude that they really couldn't care less about the long-term recovery of the Wallmeyer Twins and are merely offering viewers what they want to see rather than, God forbid, educating them.
When will I learn.


*Don't take my word for it; do a search on how many Biggest Loser contestants actually maintain any of their weight loss in the year following the completion of each show.

Things She Said

She's only 21, bless her, but acts like she's 27 and the world ambassador of everything that is 'cool'. Attractive, granted, but with enough ego and arrogance, were it meted out, to reintroduce 1000 social phobics back into the world.
From the day I met her she's been condescending and unbearable. Wednesday was the first time we'd actually worked in the same store together and although she barely knows me, she felt the need to criticize me for anything that didn't fit into her little view of what is socially acceptable.

1. "Do you ever stop playing with your hair?"
No. I don't want it to feel unloved.

2. "Oh my God, you cover your books?"
Yes. And I read them too.

3. "Is this Rihanna?! Oh my God you listen to such commercial shit."
Well actually I don't listen to the music I really like at work (Apparat, Telefon Tel Aviv, Victor Bermon, Vladislav Delay, Dictaphone, Arovane) because it's inappropriate.
Now let me explain 'irony' to you.
(I explain)
She doesn't get it.

4. "My God, how often do you put on make-up?"
Well I guess if I caked on foundation in the morning I too could leave my skin untouched all day. But seeing as my pores can actually breathe, they sometimes need a powder touch-up to stop me looking like I've been buffed to a high sheen.

(On hearing that I take my dog to dog school)
5. "You go to Dog School?!!"

(On hearing that I didn't want to work Saturdays so that I could do Agility training with the afore-mentioned pooch..)
6. "Agility?! Have you ever heard of lobbing a ball to it in the park?"
No. I hadn't. I thought paying $120 to make my dog jump through hoops was the only way to exercise him. Or, perhaps he's just kinda smart and I like giving him the opportunity to use his brain. But I don't suppose you'd understand that as a concept.

I let her go home an hour early to be rid of her.
I've also requested never to work with her again. I can't be responsible for what I might say if I do.
My reserves of patience have never been particularly ample.

Edison Chen Sex Scandal Photos

Seeing as my previous post about the scandalous celebrity private-porno-party photos currently shocking Hong Kong has been so popular, I've decided to put my dignity in my pocket and post a link to the photos in question.
Please be aware that downloading these files is probably not legal, and that they are very explicit. From what I've heard. I, of course, haven't downloaded them.

The photos, featuring Edison Chen with a number of very famous (and supposedly virginal) starlets, were leaked to the public after some computer repairmen decided to get generous with the contents of Edison's hard drive.

"In the days after the release of the photos, Hong Kong police investigating the case tracked the source of the photos to a computer service center where Chen had taken his laptop for repairs. Police arrested eight employees of the service center in connection with the photo release since the discovery, and announced that they believed over 1,300 racy photos of celebrities had been stolen." MSNBC.


Sources: MSNBC

Feed the Trend - Cropped Beige Trousers

I am in love with this style. It's still a little premature for it to appear in Australia so I went to Savers today and bought a pair of men's beige trousers in a size 30 that can be belted at the waist and cuffed to sit just above the ankle. Sheer brilliance for $7.99.

Street style


At Marc Jacobs


For men


And just because I love him



Images courtesy of The Sartorialist

Our National Apology

There are certain events in history that, as a blogger, one cannot ignore.
Today the Australian government said sorry to the indigenous people of Australia for the 200 years of pretty shitty treatment they've received at the hands of the white fellas. In particular, the systematic removal of mixed-race Aboriginal children from their parents, known as the Stolen Generation, who were then placed in missions and trained up as servants for the white folk.
And this morning, sitting at Ici in Fitzroy with a friend who I hadn't seen in almost a year (and who I'd collected from the airport at 6am), reading the apology (which covered the entire A2-sized front page of The Age), I got a wonderful sense of things being right in the world. A temporary feeling I know, but sweet nonetheless.


Gerard Ellis (stolen 60 years ago), in Canberra for the apology.

Edison Chen Sex Scandal

I've been reading about the Edison Chen sex scandal and am finding it highly amusing.
Over the past few weeks, several very explicit photos have surfaced on the net featuring Edison Chen in compromising positions with a number of famous Hong Kong actresses - Cecilia Cheung, Gillian Chung, Maggie Q - which has pretty much ruined these actors' careers. Allegedly, the photos were leaked after Edison took his Mac in for repairs and some forward-thinking techies copied his data and sold it for big bucks.
You may be asking yourself why I find this so interesting. Well, the truth is, I am a closet Hong Kong cinema fan and not only do I think Edison Chen is a bit of a dish, but I also rank Cecilia Cheung as one of my favourite actresses.
Seriously, these are really entertaining movies. If you've never seen any, ask me for a recommendation. Or better yet, come over and watch one from my private collection.

Improv Everywhere

This is so impressive. 207 actors all freezing in place for 5 minutes at Grand Central Station in New York.



I find these guys very inspiring. You can read more about them here.

Courtesy of SultanaBlog

Street style - It's all about the Specs

Custom-made spectacles from Ispex. It's not too clear in the photo, but they are in the style of Ray Ban Wayfarers. As sunglasses I admit that they're a bit passé, but I love them reinterpreted as reading-glass frames.
I also love her jodhpur-style trousers. I intend to take a trip to Horseland for some black breeches and leather boots. Just between you and me, it's the best place for classic leather shoes and high-waisted, skinny leg pants in fabric that isn't denim.

Missing Art Results in Sales Assistant's Laughter

I was on my way to work today, walking past the glass art installation cabinets in the Flinders Street subway, when something caught my eye. Each of the cabinets along both sides of the walkway was filled with the work of young Australian writers - zines, photos, reprints of published work, letters, journal entries etc.. all apart from the last cabinet on the left-hand side. This cabinet was completely bare except for the sticker identifying the name of the writer - in this case Ianto Ware from Adelaide, whom I know from my own zine-writing past - and a hastily scribbled on sheet of A4 paper taped to the back wall.

Here is a photo of the cabinet:


To give you an idea of why I noticed it, here are photos of some of the other artists' cabinets:




So I walked over to the bare cabinet to see what was written on that single sheet of paper and this is what I saw...


Wonderful!

Street style - Chef's pants

A great example of something stylish and a little imaginative. The girl's pants are from Savers, and at $3 are, in my opinion, a far more intelligent and original choice than what one could find at Alice Euphemia for around $400.
Her friend is also wearing a shirt from Savers with a pair of jeans she lent him.

Street style - Warsaw vintage

It's nice to see something that is simple and stylish, which deviates from the current 'hipster' uniform of high-wasted jeans, tucked-in tee or tank, and white canvas sneakers.

What caught my eye about this girl was the way her blue eyes, blonde hair and dark eyebrows worked with the blue dress to create a look that was striking but simple. The design of the dress is pretty basic but the colour was amazing and she had it hemmed to just the right length to keep it from looking dowdy.

Bonus trivia: The girl bought this dress from a vintage dress shop (Sukienka) in Warsaw where she lived for a year teaching English. This is of interest to me for two reasons:
1) She isn't actually Polish, she just loves Warsaw; and
2) I am Polish and I've never met a non-Pole who's voluntarily chosen to live in Poland.