Style Bubble

Roland is back

I don't think I've seen this much hype built up for a designer's comeback but then again, we are talking about Roland Mouret whose pattern cutting skills I can vouch for as being able to perform miracles on the curve-less and square-bodied such as myself.  Come 5th July, Roland Mouret will unveil his new collection entitiled 'RM' (backed by music mogul Simon Fuller, of all people...)in Paris and the whole thing will be shown on Net-a-Porter with a chance to pre-order from the 21-piece collection.  Pre-ordering the collection?  Not after my weekend of over-expenditure in Stockholm.  Eager to see what Mouret has produced?  Oh yes...oh yes...

The nicey-nicey and the surprise...

In the spirit of all things Swedish, the label Minimarket, designed by sisters Sofie, Jennifer and Pernilla Elvestedt is confusing in all the right ways. You have simple, well-cut, back to basics type garments that Swedish designers really excel at - J. Lindberg, Fillipa K etc. It's all still interesting but not grabbing me immediately.

But then, sharply (and I mean sharp in the most acidic way) contrasted with all the simply nicey-nicey-ness is the injection of these floral prints that are are part Gucci-floral-esque, part child's play clothes. It works because it throws you but doesn't leave a horrible aftertaste.  These jackets are definitely aiming to be 'bad in a good way'.

The difference being between the nicey-nicey and the surprising element is that I could buy the former with ease online (Minimarket is available online if you don't have a stockist near you) but the latter.... I'd definitely have to give it a real life road test to see how the florals work on me.  Tomorrow, in Tjallamalla (THE most-mentioned shop on my plea to Stockholm-ers), hopefully I'll get to try on this all-checked jacket and shorts combo.  I know it's not particularly in-season, this season or next, but anyway but I'm still enamoured with BIG BIG checks - gingham gone giant.  A nice combination of nicey-nicey (the shapes) and the surprise (big checks). 

Definitely not a sheep in Wolf's clothing...

I have developed a style crush.  My victim of choice?  Not the usual selection of cutely dressed girls with indie leanings.  Not the grand dames with loopy/eclectic style.  No, it's Patrick Wolf and his sadly no-longer-flaming-red coiffure.  Regardless of what you think of his music, his personal style seems to reflect the same mix-ups of traditional vs. contemporary.  It's as if he treats his outfits like instrumental arrangements, with insertions of random surprises just to throw you off.  I don't really take a huge interest in hawk-eyeing celebrity styles so it's funny that the one time I do develop a style crush it's on a guy. (Note to the boyf: It's his STYLE I like, not him - promise!)

The latest Burberry ads sees Wolf subdued but still powerful in the way Christopher Bailey wants for his Medieval-fierce vibe he's going for AW07-8. A little surprised to see that Bailey had managed to persuade Wolf to be in the campaign but clearly it's yielding some good results (catches my eye more so than the femmes...)

I'm about 95% sure Wolf is self-styled and if these pictures are anything to go by, I believe Patrick Wolf is another 'style schizophrenic', much like myself, hence why I'm probably attracted to his STYLE (promise it's not HIM!). I see vintage, Ashish, preppy, dramatic, KTZ all meshed together and all working together on some level or another.

Paired with his schizophrenic style is also his attitude which I detect he has a lot of (can't figure out his personalibility from this interview but it's an interesting insight...). I mean, a checked shirt, shorts and argyle socks should be wrong on all sorts of levels but I guess if you have enough conviction, anything goes and his steely stare and uncompromisingly red hair says it all.... ok... you got me.... I'm attracted to something other than his style.... oh dear....