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Glitterbug

>> I still need to work on that index card system (don't ask me why it has to be an old fashioned library card type set-up) of young designers and graduates who I've written about so that I can routinely check up on them to see what they're up to.  A wee update on Estefania Cortes Harker, whose glitter4eva MA collection for Central Saint Martins last year inspired by the strange veneer of American child beauty pageants, has earned her much editorial attention (all that glitters loves the camera evidently) and so she's quite rightly thought, why ruin a good thing?  For A/W 13-4, she's created a range of clutch bags that use the same glitter covered material as the dresses in her MA collection as well as the surprising ditzy floral linings.  The shapes are derived from the flat accoutrements that made up her stellar collection where graphic shapes would jut in and out from a dress like oversized jewellery.  These clutches continue that narrative of too-much-right-on adornment and decoration and inevitably catch the glint in my glitterbugged out eye.  

Bullet Magazine - Photography Eleanor Hardwick, Styling Tess Yopp

Clash Magazine June 2012 - Photography Harley Weir, Styling Matthew Joseph

Dazed Digital - Photography Amy Gwatkin, Styling Nell Kalonji

Dazed & Confused May 2012 - Photography Leon Reindl, Styling Nell Kalonji

Vogue.it - Photography Nuria Rius, Styling Ines Fravezzi

Clash Magazine - Photography Willem Jaspert, Styling Matthew Joseph

Eyeballs and Skulls

>> I'm a cartoonish simpleton.  I like ridiculously literal things.  I like cho-kawaiiiiii!  I like mega cute.  Therefore prints with little emojis all lined up as per Antipodium's pre spring/summer 2013 hero print, designed by British Vogue's art director Jaime Perlman, with googly eyes, tiny bows and roses cooing at me with their cuteness are always going to be instant pleasers.  In Sydney, I picked up another print that has a slightly more twisted edge but is nonetheless in a similar vein of verbatim bluntness. Illustration power duo Craig & Karl, who just keep adding to their varied and rich portfolio (and incidentally have worked with Antipodium on many of their prints), teamed up with another duo Lyn and Tony, a jewellery label that I discovered whilst out in Sydney, to collaborate on a print.  Eyeballs, pills, Cluedo weapons of murder, keys, bones, molars and skulls come together in a pop macabre arrangement, which graces a range of shirts, collars, scarves, ties and charm pieces.  A skull or an eyeball thrown about can be a cliched sentiment but it's hard not to like them here in its composition.  Like I said, I loves me a memorable motif.  

Ear Unreal

>> "I've got a little something for you," says the lovely Liabelle King, who's leading the charge in new wave fashion PR in Sydney.  At the Karla Spetic show yesterday, she introduced me to the work of up and coming jewellery designer Ryan Storer by clipping on what can only be described as the most beautiful thing to have ever graced my ears.  It's an ear cuff of the highest order, using rose gold and a lovely splay of Swarovski crystals to create what appears to be shards of life bouncing out from my freakishly thick earlobes (you need to touch them to feel the sheer thickness) or the top of my ear, depending on how you want to wear it.  It also comes with a single crystal stud, meant to go in the other ear but alas, my past metal allergy (which I *THINK* is slowly easing up) prevented me from getting pierced ears.  Ear cuffs are nothing new and they've been "on-trend" for a while, bouncing around with chains, metalwear and general err "radness".  This Ryan Storer ear cuff specimen however is a different beast altogether.  It's a highly effective deployment of Swarovski magic that instantly catches people's eyes.   

A quick Google search and and you'll find it's unfortunately me, who is slow on the uptake.  Storer's signature ear cuffs, which also come in larger formations with pearls, have been a big hit on the internet getting blogged, reblogged, hearted and liked all over the place.  Miranda Kerr has also been getting in on the Ryan Storer action and so pieces have tended to sell out on Storer's e-store.  As I was walking around shows yesterday in Sydney, about twenty people instantly ID-ed the piece, which goes to show what fantastic support homegrown talent has down here.  What with my problematic on/off metal allergies, I've come to the ear adorning party late in the day but I'm ultra glad that it's Storer's ear piece that will now probably be firmly attached to my right ear (I prefer wearing it on the top of the ear rather than as a mono-earring, although that works too if I'm in a Claudia Kishi kind of mood).

Image from Getty

Photographs by Phil Oh of Street Peeper