Style Bubble

Reviving Rodier

Some of you may have seen the Cognoscenti Choices article in The Times T2 a couple of weeks ago in which Alice Olins 'spots three tribal trends'.... also containing three words that strike fear in my very heart...spotting, tribal and trends.  No article online but the general gist is one that you've all seen/read 1000 times before.  The 'tribes' as as follows; High Priestess of Fashion (illustrated by Carine Roitfeld), Classic Fashion Editor (illustrated by L'Uomo Vogue's Giovanna Battaglia) and then The Geek Clique, illustrated with an ugly mug picture of moi looking ratty/tatty outside Dries Van Noten last season.

Really, the piss-take nature of the whole article made me feel at once bemused and belittled...or maybe bemused by the belittlement of "Geek Clique" moi.  I could very well point out all that is wrong with this piece but then most people would just say "Oh shut up, yer' ugly mug is in the Times... get over it!"  So I'll just do that - shut right up.  Excepting this... I did feel like addressing one of the Geek Clique style rules, Olins outlines:

"Her drive is experimentation and she wears obscure French labels that went into administration during the last recession."

Ok, I'll just do one boo-boo point out.  This statement looks rather odd when matched against the picture they used of me which was me in head-to-toe Topshop and vintage.  So today, I had to chuckle when at the Battersea Car Boot Sale, I picked up this vintage Rodier silk loose jacket (as well as the straw visor), laughing at the fact that maybe, just maybe Olins has hit the nail on its head. 

Rodier didn't go bust in the last recession but it certainly has been lagging a bit, taken a notch down from its former glory in the 20s when this famed knitted textiles company developed the knitted jersey that propelled Coco Chanel's use of the stuff. 

Rodier still exists of course as a ready to wear fine knitwear label with three stores in Paris, but hasn't really enjoyed much fashion limelight, a situation that might change as it was announced last year that Gaspard Yurkievich had become the new creative director of Rodier.  I'll look out for the new A/W 09-10 collection under his direction to see what he has done to revive the label but in the meantime, I'm off to go hunt out more obscure French labels.  You know, gotta keep representin' the Geek Clique look of course...Jean Louis Scherrer perhaps?

Go Misha!

Etsy shop and accompanying blog go together like a smoosh of banana, peanut butter and thick crusty white bread.  Errr....that means they go together in a pretty swell way...at least according to me.  I feel like Etsy is in its second phase where there is less chaff and TONS of interesting designs to be found, with shops that have potential for expansion beyond Etsy.  I'm always on the lookout for the next Yokoo or I Heart Norwegian Wood; i.e. contemporary pieces that don't have an "I'm-Obviously-Handmade" sign hanging around them (the very case with my own DIY items... stick to the day job Susie...).

This morning, I came across Misha Market, an Etsy shop set up by blogger Misha of Dusty Dress.  I particularly like browsing through her items whilst simultaneously consuming her blog in another tab... ah such is the abundance of time we put towards online that with certain people, I'm following their Tweets, blog, Etsy/Ebay store, Tumblr, Chictopia profiles and what not (somebody needs to teach me to be an online multi-tasker...). 

Anyway, Misha makes interesting pieces that have aesthetic leanings towards the androgynous and dark but that are ultimately wearable.  Misha's Stockholm origins is most definitely present in the vibe of her pieces.  She's also startingly young looking which again puts the likes of me to distinct shame.  She says that she has many design ideas coming up which means she will be firmly under the Bookmarks page...

Feeling Like Sherbet

Today is the right day to bust out with a lot of sherbet...actually it's this new KTZ sweater dress that is the sherbet star aided by some pastel green tights.  I can't seem to help myself when I'm venturing into the EDIT section in the basement of Topshop - it's three times now I've bought something there, a section which happens to be the most expensive part of Topshop too.  Furthermore, each time I've approached a rail in EDIT, there is always someone going "WTF?" at say, KTZ's gem-encrusted dresses, leggings or Marios' parachute multi-coloured cape.  Then I pick up something and exclaim to the boyf "Oh my god LOVE this!" and said person looks at me like I'm the biggest doofus in the world because I've been duped into the WTF item. 

That's just the way it goes and on the last occasion I was in that section, NOTHING was going to get in the way of me buying this sweater dress that has the most extraordinary texture - it's a wiry sheer lilac chiffon with fluro orange paint splatters that reminds me of that Dylon puffy fabric paint that I used to squirt on t-shirts in smiley faces (it's online if you are after it and can't get to Topshop but bewarned, the sizing is HUGE, I took an XS).   

On a separate KTZ note, after taking a closer look at this surprise *LOVE* collection of the S/S 09 season, since everyone went completely bananas for THAT Alexander Wang sheer piping dress which Tommy got a close-up look of... I find that there's a dress in the KTZ collection that would be a less expensive, equally interesting alternative that I will now proceed to hunt down...

Behold the dress on the left... as well as the slightly intriguing footwear... and Sam Voltage on the right (one of Nicola Formichetti's assistant) getting properly into sultry model mode...