Kinda Sorta Love...

...The Eurovision, which for one night only turns everything the most amazing shade of camp.  This is the Serbian entry Nina, who sang... er, I have no idea.  In my mind, it sounds a bit like this.

Source



Need more pictures of this act. Source

  Coloured tights, bright colours, patterns, sharp bobs, heavy eye make-up, micro minis.  Remind you of anyone?

Sandie Shaw, Eurovision winner 1967.  Source

The Very Last Ten Things

So, I've been tagged by The Hostess Handbook and given a Kreativ Blogger award.  Ta very much for thinking of me!  Here's my ten facts.

1)  Although it's very nice to be thought of and tagged, and I really enjoy reading other people's posts, I hate these things.  Once you get them, you feel obliged to tag another ten people.  It's the blog equivalent of a chain mail and I find that I'm getting so many of them I'm eventually going to run out of facts about myself.  Although, I've been in an inspiration rut recently, I don't think that these make for the best posts. So, this is the last.  This must be the last.  Absolutely the last.  Final.  Full stop. Never again.  Cross my heart and hope to die be spanked until my bottom goes purple.

2)  At present there are three large men ripping up the tiles in my flat and installing a new boiler.  All I can say about that is - thank God for watertight tenancy agreements, if not boilers.

Source

3)  New celeb crush - by that I mean 'guy on TV who is cute', not an actual crush (that would be weird):  Dave Franco.  Funny, great smile, seems smart and looks a little bit like an ex-boyfriend, but not so much that I'm totally repulsed.  Yes, he's James Franco's younger brother.

Melodramatic enough for ya? (source)

4)  Last book read - The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber.  I was really excited to get this as an early birthday present (thank you Alan!) and it was excellent - up until the last hundred pages or so.  The TV adaptation currently running on the BBC also looks amazing and has a great cast.  Although I don't know how I feel about the prospect of a full frontal Chris O'Dowd.  Oh, I know he went to LAMDA and everything but he'll always be Roy from the IT Crowd to me.



5)  Can't.  Stop.  Listening.  To.  This.  Song.  Against my better judgement.  Ev'ry day I'm shufflin'.

source

6)  My birthday is next week and a fluo Cambridge satchel is at the very top of the wishlist.  Add some Danielle Scutt for Topshop jewellery and I'm channeling my inner Man Repeller.  P.S.  I'd love one in leopard print.  Cambridge Satchel Company, if you're reading this...



7)  New film obsession - Paris is Burning, as seen at Style at Set last weekend.  I'd be foolish NOT to try vogueing on my next night out.

8) That Can Be My Next Tweet invents new tweets made from your old tweets.  Recycling is good for the environment.  But not for my imagination.  Ugh.  What a mental image.

9)  Speaking of which, I'm on facebook AND twitter AND Pinterest - so come say hello.  Validate me with your friendship!

10)  The last and most important point.  As I've said, there's been an inspiration drought sweeping the area lately, so I've set myself a challenge and I need YOUR help.  I've decided to write about any fashion/style-oriented topic that is put to me.  Every single one.  No matter how out there, or seemingly normal, I want to write about it.  Even if you don't think it's my cup of tea, I want to know.  You can give me a word, or a link, or a picture to bounce ideas off.  Leave any and all suggestions in the comments.  And thank you.

"If you wear a ringer, you're Indie Rock. Period."

Wise words, Daisy von Furth, wise words.

X-girl is the sister to Japanese label X-Large and, as I type, is only available in Japan. In 1994, when the label was launched, the brands directors were Daisy Von Furth and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth *cue fangirl squeee*

While is lasted in it's RIOT GRRRL format, it was pretty darn cool. With all the clean lines and simple tailoring, it reminds me of a no boys-allowed Fred Perry.

X Girl editorial for Vice Magazine 

Did you notice a very young Spike Jonze and Sofia Coppola in the video? And Chloe Sevigny was their original fit model. ANDandand and and... *fades into silence*

EDIT - While we're on the subject of music in fashion, you can watch a video of myself and Dawn of Skinni Peach talking about fashion in music with our playlist on the Teen RTE (think Irish BBC) website .  The video will be on the website for a week, so have a click and see what we like!  You'll get to see me move and speak (a bit like an Irish Daria Morgendorffer) and display abysmal posture.  What an incentive.

Cartoon characters based on real people

Just a short post before I have to pack and get on the bus to Belfast... Normal posting will resume next week.

Here are two of my favourite excellent dressers - who were also the inspiration for two of my favourite animated characters

Tallulah Bankhead and Cruella deVil

Edith Head and Edna Mode from The Incredibles

'NO CAPES!'  I love The Incredibles.

Who are your favourite fashion characters - and are they based on real people?

I have two words for you...

..and those words are 'CLEAR MACS'!

It seems that Jeremy Scott was definitely on the right track.  Now give me a plastic rain mac and let me splash around in some puddles, Burberry Prorsum-style.


To watch more, visit catwalkreport_v2.aspx?seasonid=23&seasonday=2011 02 21&day=4
via londonfashionweek.co.uk

Press play to watch the highlights of Day Four of London Fashion Week, which has been the best so far (in my incredibly inflated, self-important opinion).  An LFW round up will appear on the blog on Friday.

*Apologies for the shortness of this post.  Have you ever been so tired that you look at what you're writing and it's total gibberish?  Not badly-written or poorly thought out sentences, just actual unintelligible burble, like a toddler mashing the keyboard with his fists.  So, in a way, I'm doing you a favour by writing a twitter-length missive.  You can thank me later.

Wild for Kicks: The Beat Girl (Part II)

Beat Girl title card, image via Imageshack

 Some of you readers may remember a post I wrote back in November about 'Beat Girl', a 60's teensploitation film.  It has everything: Christopher Lee as a strip club operator, rebellious teens, rowdy beatnik tunes and an bouffanted ingenue who later became a successful ye-ye (nothing to do with yo-yos) singer in France - you know, all the things a modern girl wants in a good film.

Teenage exploitation flicks are highly underrated as a genre. Granted, the scripts are usually terrible, dialogue is delivered in the manner of Bela Lugosi at the dentist and I could burst several car tyres in the many plotholes that spring up all over the place. Then again, the appeal of these films is in the general apathetic yet highly self-involved natures of the characters, which makes them embark on many a high-spirited, poorly thought out, self-destructive adventure. They're just SO stylish, with their casually thrown on, yet meticulously put together outfits (it doesn't hurt that the films were made in an era that is now looked on nostalgically in terms of style). It's for the same reasons that so many people love watching Skins today.

Now, thanks to the Movies section on Youtube, you can watch Beat Girl in it's unadulterated, sleazy, slightly crackly form! Don't say I'm not good to you. Watch this film while doing the frug and smoking gauloises (or just with a cup of tea - make sure that you do the frug at some stage though).



P.S: Now THIS is how you do the frug.  Snazzy plaid-jacketed dancing partner optional.

Frug instructions via Flickr

Waiting for Godot (or the fire brigade, whatevs)

I did have a huge post planned, with pictures and footnotes and reading lists, I really did.  The only trouble is, I left my notes in my notebook, which is on my kitchen table. On top of that, I can't get into my apartment block due to the fire alarm going off and weird, suspiciously burning-ish smells coming from the lift.

I wish I was joking.  If my flat burns down with my copy of Cheap and Chic Update in it, I'm going to be maaaad.

I'll have to post it on Friday - but here's some video candy - take it as an 'I'll make it up to you, I swear!'


HACHIKO ft Kiko Mizuhara for L'UOMO VOGUE from AntoineAsseraf+RenéHabermacher on Vimeo.

Directed by Rene Habermacher, this video plays with a story he heard about a dog who waited for his owner at a train station every day, even after the master stopped taking the train... Maybe he died. I like to think that he decided to take the bus instead and forgot to send his dog the memo.

Maybe that's what happened to this girl.  She's waiting for the fire marshals to let her back in her apartment block, but they forgot to tell her and went home...

EDIT: All clear. Phew.

Round Up/Links Dump... eh... thing

I'm not going to lie - I've been a bad blogger lately.  Inspiration has been low and I've come to the end of the broadband contract, so the flat is internetless.  And cold.  But that's beside the point.  Most of the blog writing has been done in a very dodgy internet cafe near my flat, populated with sleeping winos and people conducting very loud arguments via Skype.

But, and this is a big but, I do have some cool and interesting stuff in the pipeline, which shall be revealed in due time.  Here are a few interesting links to show you that I'm still connected to the world in some way and tide the regular readers (thanks guys...) over 'til I get my blogging mojo back.

 - I've got a facebook profile - fancy being friends?

 - Disneyrollergirl revealed!  There goes my claim to fame of seeing the back of her head at London Fashion Week in September...

 - Free samples of Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream.  This stuff is amazing - the offer is only open to people in the UK and Ireland.  Go forth and be moisturised (or accelerate the rate of burn recovery if that's what floats your boat).



I'm really looking forward to watching this at The Pavilion, Cork tonight. The Way of the Crowd is about the Wigan Casino, which was the epicentre of the Northern Soul scene.  When Paul Smith is one of the talking heads, you know it's going to be interesting.  I'm also looking forward to seeing some flash dance moves afterwards.  It's what I imagine I look like when I'm drunk - the reality is much crueler.

 - The-Coveted vs.thecoveted drama; get informed and weigh in with your opinion.

 - Friend of The Licentiate, Jo Linehan of S-oh S-ew! is competing to be one of Elle Magazine's next fashion interns - go throw her a vote if you have a spare moment (maybe this way she'll hire me when she becomes a Big Shot Editor Type).

 - I noticed that my column from last week didn't recieve the same amount of feedback as the others normally do.  The views are the same, so I'm wondering if it's the subject.  Do fashion and politics mix?  Or is Margeret Thatcher too evil/sacred to comment on? Let me know what you think.  Click here to read the column if you haven't got the foggiest notion what I'm on about.

I'm a bad widdle blogger...

I've been known to repost the odd blog post.  I'm extremely gratified that views for this blog have increased and so I like to show new readers a few bits that they might have missed.  But this is different.  This is a repost of a repost. I have gone that far.  Revoke my blogging license, for I have broken all the golden rules!

This originally surfaced on my first blog, which was terrible.  I reposted it on The Licentiate in March and I'm reposting it now, because, frankly, who doesn't like to watch how miserable Karl Lagerfeld is on Blue Monday?  Enjoy...

To quote the big K himself:

“I hate birthdays, ... It's more like a new starting point in New York. For me, it's an evolution. I don't celebrate the past. I like the present and tomorrow.”

Here are links for the curious mid 90's doc "Karl Lagerfeld Is Never Happy Anyway", which must have the worst soundtrack of all time. The audio for the last part is disabled, ostensibly because of copyright, but we all know that it's really disabled because the world would be a much crueler place if it was not. Plus there are subtitles for those short on brain and/or German language skills. We all know what happens in the end anyway; he loses a pile of weight, becomes the voice of Fabu in the new Totally Spies film and also becomes the subject of the fantastic 'Lagerfeld Confidential'.

Happy Evolution Sir Lagerfeld.

EDIT:  The  person who uploaded these videos have made them private for some reason.  Here are a few screenshots from a VICE Style article.  Read the article.  It will tell you everything you need to know about this documentary.  And I'm sorry about not noticing earlier.  This is what comes out of being a lazy bum.

2010 Roundup - favourites, highlights and everything in between

It's that time again.  Sluggish bloggers, slowed down into a cosy Christmas chrysalis are sloughing off the excess of too many mince pies and slices of blue cheese and evaluating the year in order to burst into 2011 a beautiful blog butterfly.  Like the alliteration?  I wrote it just for you.  Here's my 2010 'best of' blog mixtape.

Blog Highlights:  I started this blog in March with the aim of sharing what I liked and meeting a few like-minded people.  In the space of a few short months, I've racked up readers from around the world, landed a fashion column, learned a hell of a lot about the fashion industry, joined the Vice Blogging Network, went to London Fashion Week, networked like a mad thing, was mentioned as one of Ireland's most influential bloggers and made some truly exceptional, hilarous and supportive friends.  All of this due to blogging aspersions.  So, to my readers, I'd like to say a massive THANK YOU!  You guys are the best.  Seeing all your comments really brightens up my day.

(source)

Click 'Read More' to, ehm, read more, look at nice pictures and watch some fashion films...

Odds and Sods

I've spent this weekend travelling (one and a half hour wait on a freezing platform, thank you Irish Rail) and working while sick, so I'm a little bit burnt out and uninspired.  I'm going on an enforced blog hiatus (I'm away from my computer and photos and such) and I'll be back on Thursday, hopefully reinvigorated by some family get togethers, cups of tea and plates of shortbread.  Ok, ok, I'm going to stop moaning... now. Here's a few bits that are looking mighty good to feverish ol' me at the moment.

This is my favorite Christmas song. When the horns come in...

My new shoes. They are fakey fake fake Miu Mius but they rock my socks. Incidentally, I should probably think about wearing socks with them. My toes are still sore from the last time I wore them out.

It's the End of the World as We Know It

Conor Walton is my favorite Irish artist.  His still lives are amazing, done in the style of the Dutch Masters - exploring similar themes using modern, everyday objects.  Sinister, sexy, funny, amazing.  He'll be giving a lecture on the aforementioned Dutch Masters in the National Gallery on December 14th.  He has stopped painting and taking commissions for the time being due to a personal matter (my mom is on his mailing list, feverishly waiting to snatch up a still life) so this will be a rare opportunity to interact with a great artist.

Have a great week everyone.  Hope it's a festive one!

Licentiate Loves: Sarah Doyle

It's been a busy ol' week for this blogger - I'm officially pooped!  It seems that the Christmas season has started early and a bit too much overexertion on Friday means that my toes are still a bit sore and swollen on Monday.

This week, while being busy on the social front is very quiet in the blog front, which means that I can delve into the long list of 'stuff-I-meant-to-blog-about-but-never-quite-got-to'.  At the forefront is artist Sarah Doyle, whose art I saw (and instantly fell in love with) at the Mixtapes Exhibition in the Glucksman Gallery.  Click here to see what she had on view at the exhibition.

Sarah Doyle's work is mostly concerned with pop culture icons and how the world looks at them.  Her art and animations are reminiscent of fan art.  Pictures of Prince are drawn with felt tips over children's colouring books and all her work is full of whimsy with a sense of humour, a touch of longing and a general sprinkling of all-round loveliness

These animations are very short so if you get the time, do watch them - the first video is a series of sketches of the wives and girlfriends of The Beatles, the second is inspired by Aaliyah's last music video, iconic sequences both.


Beatgirls from Sarah Doyle on Vimeo.


Opheliyah from Sarah Doyle on Vimeo.

It's only a matter of time before her work pops up in Vogue.  Mark my words.  If you're like me and a shameful art history nerd, then pop along to her Art in Movies  blog and spend a happy hour or two going through the archives (my personal fave is Teddy Lloyd from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie).

P.S  Click here for my super-duper giveaway of Mulberry LFW tote and... eh, just click the link .  You can now 'like' The Licentiate on facebook , so if you do like this blog, don't be afraid to show your support and clickity click!

So what is a fashion film anyway?

Not content with releasing photographs of impossibly young, slim and beautiful people, Hedi Slimane, former Dior Homme designer has breanched out with a small film about two, eh, impossibly young, slim and beautiful people.

Titled, 'I Love USA', it's somewhere between fashion and art, in that the emphasis is on beauty and movement, but it's also abstract. In short - I have no idea what's going on. I mean, I've read the press release, so I know what it's about, but I think that it hardly amtters because it's a simple joy just to watch the product of Slimane's discerning eye (on a par with Tom Ford, I think).  To quote:

"This exclusive video is an improvisation exercise (like ‘Improvisation 1’, with the royal Ballet of Copenhagen)that highlights the naїvety, the innocence of Sidney and Wolf, and features themes that have made the designer famous throughout the world: the representation of a generation, the diaphanous beauty of Sidney, and the very slim silhouette of Wolf project the intimate emotional atmosphere of a couple of teenagers in California.

Sidney improvises a chaotic cheerleader, far from the sweet imagery of cheerleading in American culture, and Wolf is a teen indie transposed in an ‘indie’ representation of ‘Peter and the Wolf’. He accompanies Sidney on his out of tunecello, in a wolf mask. Behind, a fleet-worn American flag belonging to Slimane is visible, a recurring image seen inseveral of his artistic works."

The great thing about fashion film is that it's so young that is has yet to develop distinct characteristics like the need for a storyline or even clothes to promote.  The brief is totally open. What do you think - is this a fashion film?  What makes a film 'fashion'?

London Calling; fashion-wise tourism

As you may know, I'm heading to London for a few days and, through the miraculous majesty of scheduled posts, I'll be putting up the column as usual on Thursday, as well as a couple of posts from some special guests.

Here's a few things on the itinerary.

1) The Enchanted Palace exhibition in Kensington Palace.  This combines my love of dresses and snooping around stately homes (and by extension, other people's lives) perfectly.  Several designers, including Boudicca, Vivienne Westwood and Stephen Jones have taken over a part of the palace and transformed it according to their vision and a tale of one of the seven princess who lived in Kensington Palace at one stage or another.



2)  The Fashion market on Portobello Road - If you're shopping for clothing, then your best bet is to hit the Market on a Saturday morning and focus a heavy sartorial assault on the Westway, which is where all the young designers and vintage dealers hang out on their weekends.  You'll know that you're there if you see a massive concrete motorway flyover.  Mmm, scenic.  This would also be the best time to bellow the song 'Portobello Road' from Bedknobs and Broomsticks at the top of your lungs.  Which I plan on doing.



Ah, sweet memories.  Although Portobello Market has over 2,000 stalls, I'm fairly sure that they don't have an occult bookseller (though that would be pretty great.  An impromptu multicultural dance-off would also be sweet).

3)  RD Franks



Five minutes walk from Oxford Circus lies possibly the best and most comprehensive fashion newsagent I've ever been in.  That doesn't say much, but if you're looking for anything hard to get, from Jalouse  (must get a subscription one of these days...) to obscure trend forecasting mags, then this is the place for you.

4)  London Fashion Week (cue a massive and incredibly uncool and unprofessional 'SQUEEEE!').  My press application came through today (massive thanks to Fiona for recommending that I apply), so I'll be spending the best part of Friday wandering around the exhibitions at Somerset House and doing some Licentiate reportage for The Cork Independent and this blog.  Any London bloggers reading this who fancy meeting up for a coffee drop me a line.  I do love meeting new peoples, so's I do.

I'll be in London as you're reading this, but if you have any secret hidey-holes or must-go places food (especially food), shopping or bar-wise, let me know!

Hot models in dark places

I might be incredibly facetious here but it seems that the underlying trends when it comes to the new waves of promotional fashion film are dirty sub-bass dubstep sounds and flashing your boobs.  When you think about it, this all makes sense.  No, really, it does.

Fashion videos are about movement and highlighting contrast.  The dark of Gareth Pugh's matt leathers and Alexander Wang's rich velvets contrast with harsh bright light on pale skin.  The baring of more skin provides more of a contrast.  The whirling, the dancing and the lady parts on parade all provide part of the initial aesthetic experience.

Dubstep has a lot of bass.  A LOT of vibration.  What better music to pair with hot models in dark places?  There's no real point in me explaining any further.  Watch the videos and make up your own mind (NSFW, in case you didn't already know).



Music by Lukid



Music - The XX - Infinity (flufftronic remix)

P.S - The Licentiate column is out today in The Cork Independent. You can read here .

Well, I'm a nerd.

It's been a hectic weekend at the Rose of Tralee, and my liver is threatening to jump ship if I don't lug my bum and several pounds of my mothers baked goods back up to Cork as soon as possible, So here's a quick one before I have to run for the bus.

I look around on Flickr when I get bored, so I've been on photo viewing overload over the past few days.  I've also been watching Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, but that's beside the point (and to go off on anothet tangent, how good are those films?  I love Rebecca so very, very much).  In short, it's been all about the black and white.

Joey Harrison's Flickr folder, Mom's World is a chronicling of his mother and father's early married life, with commentary by his mother.  What she was wearing, where they were and the events that were happening in her life dring the late forties and early fifties.  It doesn't hurt that his mother looks like Lauren Bacall either.  I love looking at the photos with an interest that borders on voyeurism, but I love the tailored suits, the saddle shoes and the pointy bras most of all.

He's disabled downloading of these photos, so out of respect I won't post them here.  But you can see my favourites here, here, here, here and here.

Anyone seen this?

The new M.I.A video for XXXO, which is being hailed by some as a new height in retro 80's cheese or a damning indictment of social networking sites (depending on whoever's overblown Youtube comment you want to believe).

Personally though, I like the video and have to give serious props to M.I.A for her style chops, She knows what she likes and doesn't listen to anyone else's opinion, which can only be commended.

What do you think? Retro throwback or MySpace circa 2007 nightmare?

Strictly Irrelevant Sunday -

Yo. Gabba. Gabba.

Strictly Irrelevant - The Linkage Edition

The internet in my flat is still broken and Photobucket is still pouting at me and refusing to play nice, so here's a short and sweet links post on reading, watching, eating and inspiration material that I'd like to share.

I never, ever use the word 'amazeballs', but here's a recipe for some pretty amazeballs, rainbow-y doughnuts (The Dainty Squid)

Ever though it's, errrr, late July at this point, people are still getting very excited about A/W and all the expensive camel capes that we'll be buying.  Since I'm a cheap young wan, I'll be following bloggers tips on how to get next season's look without spending any money.  At all.  (Fug Girls at The Cut Blog and Disneyrollergirl).

Absolutely endless inspiration in the TFS forum thread for Fashion in Film Movie Stills (TFS)

Anna Dello Russo is apparently going to release a perfume.  But this mini manga novel about her life has nothing to do with that.  (annadellorusso)

Blatant plug alert.  Hem...  You can read this weeks Licentiate column for the Cork Independent here!

My new source of fascination - North Korean synchronised gymnastics a la that new Faithless video.  Pardon the bad quality, but the things these kids do is, frankly, amazeballs (Did it again...).

Halston goodness

I've had the technology week from hell and am currrently tapping away on a tinny keyboard in a slightly dodgy web cafe down the road from my apartment and my Photobucket WILL NOT WORK, hence the slightly dodge collage with repeated images below.



This shoot for the August issue of US Vogue, shot by Raymond Meier, is shot in American working girl's New York, where everyone strides around with impossible glosssy blow-outs, probably smelling of Charlie (the perfume, not Chaplin). This also got me thinking about the Halston woman, for if the above shoot is the 70's upwardly mobile New Yorker by day, then Halston must surely be what they're wearing by night.

Because I'm a sucker for hidden extras, here's an episode in a series that Andy Warhol did on fashion, aptly titled Andy Warhol's Fashion, that is concerned with Roy Halston the man, and Halston the clothing line. This was shot in 1979, so you can really get a feel for what the older Halston clothing represented (for me it's this dissolute and debauched and so divorced from the vagaries of real life that everything but the more terrible details of Roy Halstons life and death carry a silvery, distinctly glittery sheen). No Halston Heritage, no SJP. Enjoy!











EDIT: After a bit of a trawl on the TFS forums, I found a link to an article about the great and the good recollection of Roy Halston, who may be the first officially fierce/faboosh man (said a la Tyra Banks).  You can read it here.

One TFS user scanned in an old article about Halston from People magazine and it's too good not to share here.













One or two of the scans are a bit cut off, but if you want to see them in their entirelty, you can pop along to the forum post here.