My Personal Style Resolutions #3: S-oh S-ew!

Jo from S-oh S-ew!, a streetstyle and fashion blog, tells us all about her New Years Resolution.  Jo is a music student and her blog has been shortlisted by British Vogue in their Fashion Photography Blog Competition.  She's got a fantastic eye for outfits, so it's only fitting that she pays tribute to a true fashion visionary and sartorial aesthete.

New Year's always brings an onslaught of (welcome and unwelcome) emotions and reflections. Resolutions are made on the strength of all the improvements we wish to make in our lives and some of us re-evaluate what's important for us to prioritise in the year to come. While best laid plans and intentions will, inevitably, fly out of the January window for most of us, I have decided to embrace a sartorial challenge in the spirit of all things 2011.

This year, I am going to try and push the boundaries in terms of what I wear and try to be a little more adventurous in my attire. For me, that may mean as little as donning a hat, wearing that purple lipstick or having the courage to get dressed up for a party when I know most people will be in sweats. I’ve used the excuse for far too long that in my hometown it'd just look funny to wear the things I admire, but New Year new confidence I say!

I'm currently reading Blow by Blow, a biography of Isabella Blow (the British fashion editor, pioneer and icon) and her unashamed dedication to outlandish outfits is a great example of how to wear what you like wherever you are...Her spirit and life were from another time; she brought a vision and attitude to American Vogue that was so removed from everything they embraced at the time and ultimately this made her loved and hated by those around her. She was unapologetically herself and that is surely resolution worth holding on to this year. Clothing is , if we choose it , a reflection of who we are and , I believe, the sooner we are brave enough to display it on the outside the sooner we realise our true potential inside too.. Here are some of my favourite photographs of Isabella which I will be sticking to my bedroom wall as a visual source of fortitude. Here’s to style and courage for the New Year!

Photo: Steve Meisel

Isabella's wedding to Detmar Blow. Photo: Cheltenham Echo

Blow wearing a Philip Treacy hat

Photo: Steve Meisel

Jo's Blog http://s-oh-s-ew.blogspot.com/

My Personal Style Resolutions #2: A Chick Named Hermia

Hello Folks, this is Hermia here from A Chick Named Hermia. I'm so flattered to have been asked to contribute to The Licentiate while the lovely Sarah is away and it's lovely to have the chance to meet you all. On my own slice of the interweb, I usually just drone on about myself and my life, while dotting the prose with a smattering of photography and fashion....and I don't see why I should do anything different here! :) Oh and if you want to follow me, you can find me on Facebook and also on Twitter.

I'm not usually one for New Year's Resolutions, mainly because I don't believe in making promises I can't keep.

Photo via Funambula

You see, I'm actually incredibly stubborn; so stubborn, in fact, that I will rebel against myself. For example, one year I decided I would give up biting my nails, and by the second week in January, half of my fingernails were bloody. Another time, I decided to dedicate myself to a healthy eating resolution and by the start of February, I'd gained half a stone.

Last year, I started the Giving My Life Some Purpose Project, which consisted of ticking items off a list of 85 things my readers thought I should do before I die. Although I couldn't keep up with recording my efforts, I did manage to get more than halfway through the list by the end of the year, and while I was proud of myself for doing that much, it really was too big a challenge for someone who has little-to-no willpower and a definite lazy streak.

Photo via Kisses and Cross Stitches

So this year I'm going to tie myself down to three to four attainable goals.

The one you'll probably be most interested in is my decision to start shopping in charity shops. I'm a little OCDish when it comes to dirt, especially other people's dirt, and so used clothes have always been a no-go area, to the point that I can't even borrow clothes from other people! Obviously, that has meant I miss out on a lot of bargains and some really pretty vintage pieces, which is made blindingly obvious when one is friends with fantabulous thrift-store-raiders such as Whisty. So hopefully by December 2011 I'll have some vintage additions to my wardrobe and a slightly fuller back account.

Photo via Bleubird Vintage

Hermia
oxox

My Personal Style Resolutions #1: Noisy Shoes

Our first blogger to talk about her personal style New Years Resolutions is Jane of Noisy Shoes.  Her blog is full of inspiring pictures, catwalk looks and her own incredibly cool textile designs.  Check out her blog or say hi to Jane on twitter!

This time last year I resolved to spend less time procrastinating on the internet. Actually, no that’s
a massive lie. I resolved to use the time procrastinated on the internet in a more pro-active way and
decided to start a blog, to record my procrastinating, as well as some thoughts and other things.
A year later and I am still avoiding work by lusting at things on the internet, but I digress. 2011
Resolutions...  Style resolutions are incredibly difficult, because it’s kind of like trying to predict how
I will feel in the future, but the lovely Sarah asked me to give it a go, so here’s what I got...

Back in September, I bookmarked these looks for SS11, so I guess I want to incorporate them into my
2011 look somehow...

1. Laser cutting – I’m obsessed with laser cutting at the moment, I really want to incorporate it
into my own work, but more importantly I want to wear it on my body!!! Philip Lim’s colour
palette for SS11 was really interesting too, I like the black,tan,blue combo.

3.1 Philip Lim

2. Summer Black – I’m so obsessed with black, but summer black can be a bit extreme. Looks like
these are a nice, summery way to wear my favourite staple. I love the sheer top & the distressed
detailing on the skirt.

BCBG

3. Shirts - I’ve been wearing shirts with increasing frequency for a little while now, they are fast becoming
another staple for me. I like the casual elegance, and the boyish element that they can bring to an
outfit. So more of those please!!! I am also having a bit of a Mexican-gangster style moment where
I keep buttoning the neck button and leaving the rest of them open...I don’t know why, I just can’t
stop doing it!!!

Paul Smith

4. Maxi-everything - I have recently embraced the maxi thing, and I resolve to wear more maxi things in 2011. I currently only own one maxi skirt so I will be on the hunt for new maxi things over the coming months.

Givenchy

5. Prints - Final resolution for 2011 – I resolve to wear more print on my body. I study printed textiles but I
am hopelessly devoted to block colour. Which is a bit silly really, it’s not very supportive of my own
endeavours!!! My only problem with this resolution is that while Erdem and multiple other designers
create amazing prints, the ones on the high street can be a bit crappy, and overwhelming when seen
on just about everyone. So maybe I should amend it to “prints and second hand”, as more than likely
I’l just try to source good prints second hand, as it’s pretty much the only way to make sure every
other bird around you isn’t wearing the same thing!

So, I think that’s it! I’ve been very good at keeping this year’s resolution (resolving to procrastinate
has to be the most inspired/stupidest thing I’ve done in a while). Hopefully 2011’s resolutions are as
easy to slip into!

Thanks to Sarah for inviting me to do a guest post, and for challenging me to think about
things in a way I probably wouldn’t have otherwise! I normally think about things here.
*Final thought: Seeing as this snow is clearly not going anywhere til the new year, for 2011 I resolve
to fully enjoy wearing normal shoes and appreciate ice-free ground every day!!!! I MISS MY SHOES!!!!!*

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...

Get yo' swag on

Was Santa good to you this year?  I must have been a good girl, because I got a mighty sack of Christmas swag, mostly in the form of some excellent fashion books.  To be honest, I could have done with a sack of coal too because It. Is. Freezing.

Here's what I got book-wise, in no particular order.

Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow by Detmar Blow.  This biography of the famed and much mourned super-stylist purports to be her definitive biography.  But really, it's not.  It's not particularly well-written and her husband goes into too much detail in some places (he paints Alexander McQueen as an egocentric, cruel megalomaniac) and not enough in others (Blow's heroin use and both his and her extramarital affairs are casually touched on or barely acknowledged).  It's distinctly unbalanced, but I feel as if I know Blow a bit better after reading it.

The Look: Adventures in Rock and Pop Fashion by Paul Gorman.  From Elvis to Gwen Stefani, this book charts the intermingling of fashion and music.  Where the musos bought their clothes, what the trends meant and what people thought of them at the time - it's a supremely interesting read.  And there's introductions and forewards by Paul Smith AND Malcolm MacLaren.  AND a free CD.

Style Wars by Peter York.  Published in 1980, this book is now sadly out of print.  If you're a fan of subculture, then buy it second hand on Amazon.  I got a nice clean ex-library copy.  Reading about the different style tribes in the 80's and thinking about how radically different the world is now after only thirty years is a bit of a mind-melt.  A good mind-melt.  Chapter on Sloane Rangers = Hilarious.

A photo from Take Ivy.  Gotta love those preppy boys.

Take Ivy by Teruyoshi Hayashida.  Loads and loads and LOADS of iconic pictures of preppy men (and a few women) at Ivy League universities.  All of the photos were taken in the early sixties, so it's collegiate cool at it's most distilled, before Woodstock and Women's Lib changed the face of the common college uniform.

Face Hunter by Yvan Rodic.  Enough said.

The Beautiful Fall: Fashion, Genius and Glorious Excess in 1970's Paris by Alicia Drake.  I cannot wait to get my teeth into this book, which tells the story of the friendship and rivalry between Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld before they achieved their godlike statuses.  It's reassuringly thick, which is always a good thing when it comes to non fiction.  More pages equal more juicy details.

Knitting Masterpieces via etsy - buy it!

Knitting Masterpieces by Ruth Herring.  This (also out of print) knitting book shows you have to make jumpers with some of art's greatest works emblazoned across the front.  I will not rest until I figure out how to knit a Mona Lisa sweater.  It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.

Style and the Man: How and Where to Buy the Best Men's Clothing by Alan Flusser.  Everything a person could possibly want to know about how to buy a suit, how to wear a suit, the best proportions to suit a man's figure, how to tie a cravat - basically every GQ fashion article ever written that never actually appeared in GQ.  I'll be passing it on to the boyfriend according.

Great Fashion Designs of the Sixties: Paper Dolls in Full Colour: 32 Haute Couture Costumes by Courreges, Balmain, Saint-Laurent, and Others by Tom Tierney.  Sixties.  Paper.  Dolls.  Marrying my love of sixties fashion and cutting shapes out of paper.  The words 'childish glee' were made for this book

A plate from Portrait in a Velvet Dress - a beautifully composed and considered shot

Self Portrait in a Velvet Dress: Frida's Wardrobe by Carlos Phillips Olmed and Magdalena Rozenzweig.  Many people love the art of Frida Kahlo, but equally fascinating was her attitude to clothing.  This book is full of pictures of her flamboyant outfits (found in a trunk in a disused bathroom in her house, still smelling of her cigarettes) and essays about the artist's relationship and attitudes towards her wardrobe.

Coco Chanel:  The Legend and the Life by Justine Picardie.  Coco Chanel was so protective of her own life story that it seems that there will never be a totally truthful and authoritative biography written on her.  Justine Picardie grapples admirably with what she has to work with and the book is printed on gorgeous glossy paper with some seriously great, insightful images.

It's going to take me a while to get though these.  Wish me luck.  Did you get anything nice for Christmas?  Got any fashion-type reads that you fancy sharing?

And the winner is...

Hello all. I hope that you had an excellent Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/ Festivus/Whatever and that all your wild gift dreams came true. I got a mighty haul of fashion-type books. More on that later.

Here is what happened at the Licentiate household this festive season.

1. The water was cut off.
2. Then the pipes in the bathroom burst. So, on the upside, we had water. It was just leaking through the light fixtures and onto the kitchen floor.
3. Then I got food poisoning. On Christmas Eve.
4.  So Christmas was spent in bed and in dire need of a shower.

Anyway, enough about me.  How was your Christmas?  Not too stressful, I hope.

It's a less then smooth segue from food poisoning to the giveaway I held last month, which ended on Christmas Eve.  The winner, chosen my my sister from a lot of tiny pieces of paper in a bowl is Zoe of Vagabond Language.  Check out her blog - it's very interesting indeed!

Major congrats to Zoe and all who entered!

Licentiate Column 23/12/10

OK, deep breaths. We’ve nearly got through it.  The festive season is upon us.  It’s almost over.  All the legwork has been done, the presents have been bought and distributed, champagne has been put in the icebox (and in my house, for some reason, the vegetable crisper) in anticipation of the stroke of twelve on New Years Eve.  You can do it.  We’re on the home stretch now.
The last column covered the problem of clothing as Christmas presents, the one before that, the problem of dressing for the wintry weather, the one before that, the problem of dressing for Christmas parties.  Sometimes I wish that Christmas was three months long just so I could write about how problematic a combination Christmas and my clothing is, not least how hard it is to fit into my impulse-buy leather pants after yet another mince pie too many.

Yep, I’m a Scrooge.  At the very least, I am an amped-up modern Scrooge, like Bill Murray in 80’s tacktastic remake, ‘Scrooged’, where he plays a bepermed television executive who eventually learns the error of his ways... or at least I think he does.  I was definitely not paying attention.

I don’t hate Christmas - I love it.  I love seeing my family and reuniting with homeward bound friends, I love giving (and receiving) presents, I love that it’s an excuse to eat as much breaded, deep fried brie as you can physically handle while glued to a Judy Garland marathon.  All of these activities are best undertaken wearing a ratty, too-big t-shirt of your dads and a pair or droopy treggings (bonus points for fashioning a little red Snuggie into a cape, extra bonus points for going to the pub in such an ensemble).

Christmas and New Years are times to be comfortable.  That’s my problem.  I know that, once the 6th of January has come and gone and a million Christmas trees are slowly turning brown after being shunted in a million back yards, I will have to put on the skinny jeans again.  And when I realise that the skinny jeans won’t go past my kneecaps, the party really will be over.  It’s not for nothing that the average weight gain over the Christmas period is seven pounds.

And then, the New Years resolutions.  The juice fasts.  The pilates.  The expensive gym memberships.  The rice cakes, an endless stream of them, all masticated methodically in order to fit back into those impossible jeans again.  First the binge, then the purge.  It’s a cliche to call it a vicious cycle, but it really is vicious; it’s a snarling beast that wakes you up every day at 6am to go for a jog before work and forces you at gunpoint to put down that Galaxy Caramel - now.

All the same, humans have a short memory and are remarkably resilient creatures (or incredible masochists).  We put ourselves through this torture because we know we’ll get to do it all again in a matter of months; and we love it.   If that seven pounds doesn’t slide off so easily and the jeans remain a bit tight, so what?  That’s what the January sales are for.

LICENTIATE FESTIVE NOTICE!   There will be no column next week.  The next Licentiate column goes up on the 7th of January, so stay tuned.  From the second of January, there will be some very special posts from very special Irish bloggers - more on that in the New Years.  
As you may know, this humble blog has been listed as one of Ireland's most influential fashion blogs!  You can vote for me by clicking on the link, finding my blog (I'm number 42) and clicking the vote button.  Thanks so much to everyone who has supported my blog so far, all you comments and emails are much appreciated.  HUG!
P.S And if you're not going to vote for me, please vote for one of the other superb Irish blogs out there, who are all super nice, very talented and equally deserving of your vote.

Bonnie and Clyde '10

Thankfully, I'm not referring to Jay-Z rehashing 'Bonnie and Clyde '05'.  Oh no.

If 2010 was a series of 'moments', the story of Bonnie and Clyde (or more specifically the 1967 film; the real Bonnie had a limp and severe scars from burns towards the end of her crime career) has definitely had it's moment within the past twelve months.

The real Bonnie and Clyde - Phographer unknown

This year has sprouted not one but two editorials that pay obvious homage to the public's favourite outlaw couple (Mickey and Mallory Knox from Natural Born Killers coming a close second).  The first to appear was shot by Peter Lindbergh for the March issue of Harpers Bazaar, the second shot by Aram Bedrossian (no idea which magazine though, let me know if you know please) this month.  Inevitably, people are writing that Bedrossian's shoot is 'following in the footsteps of Lindbergh', which is fashion code for 'might be blatantly copying Lindbergh'. Though, with such iconic source material, how could they not be equally derivative?

Spot the difference 1 - Lindbergh

Spot the difference 1 - Bedrossian

Spot the difference 2 - a still from Bonnie & Clyde (1967)

Spot the difference 2 - Bedrossian

Spot the difference 2 - Lindbergh

I'm not trying to be a party pooper or the girl who cried plaigarism.  As I said before, it's hard not to come to the same aesthetic conclusions when you're drawing inspiration from a film with such a strong image.  Both editorials have some amazing, totally original images.  They also have different moods.  The Lindbergh shoot is full of movement, while Bedrossian's work is more contemplative and static.

A super cool action shot from Lindbergh



A beautifully composed shot by Bedrossian


It's a very close call, but I prefer Lindbergh's shoot. Which one do you like best?


All photos via Fashion Gone Rogue

Style Icon - Wallis Simpson

Today started well.  I found out that I was a nominee for Ireland's Top Fashion Blogger.  This is a total surprise, because I didn't solicit a nomination, but now that I've got one, I'm going to cling onto it until my fingernails fall off and pimp myself out for votes like an underage Jodie Foster.  Can you tell that I was the kid who never won any prizes on sports day?

I don't for a second think that I'll come out on top with so many excellent blogs nominated, but if you like this blog and don't want me to be Sad Sack Sarah at the bottom of the pile (fingers crossed!) please do vote for me by clicking here.  Go to my pic (I'm number 41), then press vote.  Easy as pie!

Then I popped down to The Fair Alternative to find a super-cute prize for my QUESTION! post and bumped in the lovely Lorna of Loladee (check out her etsy here) who gifted me an amazingly cute zipper brooch that I want to keep ALL TO MYSELF.



The winner, with an exhaustive list of blogs is Anne-Marie.  Congrats!  I'll tweet you with details. 

Now onto the blog post at hand...
My mother very thoughtfully bought me a copy of Any Human Heart by William Boyd a few days ago. I'm a bit of a pedanto at times, so I decided to watch the entire Channel 4 series in one go before reading the book. Sometimes I read the book before watching the TV series/film, but my reasoning was that it wasn't so much the story that I was looking forward to as much as Boyd's writing itself.  I'm so glad that I watched it now, because the series is so immaculate and well made and the characters so finely tuned and nuanced that I can't wait to read the book just so I can replay every episode in my head, complete with the fleshed-out details that the book provides. 

Gillian Anderson and Tom Hollander as Wallis Simpson and Prince Edward

One character who definitely didn't get enough screentime was Wallis Simpson, played by Gillian Anderson.  She plays Wallis as an abrasive, self entitled social climber with a dress sense as sharp as her cheekbones and one liners.  Paris Hilton - start taking notes.

Historical accounts of the real Simpson's personality run the gamut of bad to just plain evil.  She was characterised as a control freak with OCD (definitely) gold-digger (possible), a Nazi sympathiser (probable) and a pseudo-prostitute trained in the sexual arts in a brothel in China (eh, I'll get back to you on that one).  I remember reading that people thought that she was a hermaphrodite (or intersex, if I'm being very PC) in a bid to explain her childlessness.  Not very likely.

Whatever you want to say about her, the woman had charisma.  People are still boggled by her life, her personality and her political motivations.  I'm boggled by her wardrobe.  Wallis was exceptionally long and lean.  Her wedding dress was copied into the hundreds of thousands and she was (and still is) lauded for her personal style and attention to detail.

In an article for The Telegraph, the author Rose Tremain says:

"She, who is said to have coined the statement that "You can't be too rich or too thin", was stigmatised as being too ambitious, too ruthless, too greedy, too mannish, too sexual, too cruel, too divorced, too pro-German and too American. In the brilliant Irving Penn photo-portrait of her, which hangs in my study, she is backed into what appears to be a narrow cell, from which the only escape is towards the camera, into the glare of the flash and the click of the shutter."

Portrait by Irving Penn



Portrait by Cecil Beaton

Portrait by Cecil Beaton

What Tremain sees in the Penn portrait is a look of abject fear.  I, and many others, might disagree.  That's the allure of Wallis Simpson, who didn't just dress well, but was totally unknowable, and always will be.

Licentiate Column 16/12/10

Christmas shopping is hard. I don’t just mean the physical act of shopping, which is a test of endurance dreamed up by a wrathful god who makes a daily habit of getting up on the wrong side of the bed each morning. I’m talking about the preamble. The wracking of brains to come up with the perfect gift and the sifting through endless websites and gift guides. The pressure to be thought of as the most thoughtful (and cunningly frugal) gift-giver on the planet.


Sometimes the brain get so wracked it starts to resemble a plate of grated cheddar cheese. Combine that with the over-sifted gift ideas and your plan is now starting to resemble the ingredients for a nice savoury scone as opposed to the perfect shopping trip.

The worst Christmas gifts are invariably the clothes. The very nature of buying clothes for another person is illogical and deeply flawed,so it comes to pass that only the very smartest or foolhardy will buy such things.

This goes for all items of clothing, no matter how large or small. Want to buy your significant other a tie? Think you know him that well, do you? Don’t say I didn’t warn you. There is no accounting for taste, so you may find that your choice of an ironic burgundy kipper tie will find you out in the cold this festive season. Think that you’re dodging a bullet by buying a plain tie? Then think again; the plain tie marks you out as a thoughtless gift giver. The tao of ties dictates that the busier the pattern, the more thought you evidently put into buying it.

On the gender flip side, we have the glutinous minefield that is lingerie. Like Father Ted, many men will get lost somewhere in Debenhams on Christmas Eve and be spat back out into homewares sometime before Valentines Day. The lingerie section is the Bermuda triangle for confused and indecisive men everywhere.

Bra and knicker sets are a perfect example of the ‘smart or foolhardy’ customer dichotomy. A person will either know their significant others cup size and preference for lace over leather, resulting in a very merry (triple) Xmas or they don’t. They make an ill-advised stab in the dark, which is exactly what will happen once the significant other unwraps a red rubber and latex creation that Lady Gaga would find just a tad too risque.

Maybe the worst thing about Christmas shopping isn’t the preamble. Maybe, just maybe, the worst thing about Christmas shopping is the fact that we have to do it at all. We’re all adults here. We know that Christmas is ostensibly about Jesus and not about rampant, Godzilla-like consumerism. We buy presents to show the people in our lives that we care about them. Why do we insist on expressing that love with ill-fitting, badly chosen garments that are going to be on sale anyway in a matter if weeks? Is that truly the measure of care that we take for other people?

This year, my mother offered to knit me a jumper of my choosing. While this gesture doesn’t cost the earth, it’s still infinitely better than an expensive shop bought, machine-made offering in colours I don’t like with too-long sleeves. When it comes to Christmas and clothes, it’s the thought that counts. And if you get stuck, a book token will do nicely.