advent season: day twenty-five, merry christmas!

advent season; day fifteen, binki is the angel on the tree

binki sharipo makes up one third of little joy, a band who although may not have massive amounts of longivity in terms of play per pound, are beautiful for now.

the fact that she plays guitar, glockenspiel, percussion and add (not to mention her gorgeous vocals..) means that she is no "made only for camera"girl and i therefore proclaim we may all fall in love with her, sans guilt factor.

ps, she has a wee bit of the michelle williams about her, i think, which is even better. though as she is fabrizio morretti's gf this may have more to do with the "one half of a cool creative couple formula". for michelle heath and spike apply.

pics; gorilla vs bear and pooneh! at flickr

advent season: day fourteen, sufjan harks, it's christmas!

these days christmas number ones consist of relentless "X Factor" winners, am I the only one that finds this a tragedy?

sufjan stevens, with put the lights on the tree. a modern day christmas jingle, old style. hoorah!

advent season: day thirteen, remembering mj's annual bash

due to financial difficulties (be those as a result of the credit crunch or dodgy not-so-behind-the-scenes hefty bribery pay offs..) dear marc jacobs will not be throwing his annual christmas bash for the first time in 18 years.

it had originally been scheduled for wednesday just gone, and would have had a rock and roll circus theme. surely citizens band and a serving of karen elson would have been pretty perfect for this, but hey ho, let's celebrate and take a look back at the previous years rather than mourn for "loss" of this years.

2005 The Wild West


2007 Arabian Nights


& the rest..


The Previous themes:

2003
The Theme: White and Silver
Marc's costume:Polar Bear

2004
The Theme: Red and Gold theme
Marc's costume: Heinz Ketchup Bottle

2005

The Theme: Wild West
Marc's costume: Wilbur from Charlotte's Web

2006

The Theme: Carnival in Venice
Marc's costume: Vetetian Pigeon

2007

The Theme: Arabian Nights
Marc’s costume: A Camel Toe

pics wwd, style.com, google

advent season; day twelve; magazines, you make the world go round

i have une question..



now that it's december and we have whole years worth of fantastic fashion editorials behind us, which have been your favourites?

maybe one of the million lara stone editorials in paris vogue?
the jalouse hipsters of nyc?
or how about one of the scruffy tomboy erin wasson eds that cemented our love for her?

of course there are far too many to name and these are by no means incredibly stand out ones.. those will have to wait for another post!

pic, italia vogue december 2008

advent season: day eleven; topshop christmas party

last night was the topshop christmas party, and it was the most fun i've had in a very long time. i can tell you, keeping your expectations low works wonders. the first half of the evening was spent wandering around swapping outfit information and generally touching everyones dresses and oohing and ahhing over shiny shoes.

i went in my new leather fringe skirt (we're getting married this sunday) and a slouchy AA tee, pictures another time.

i don't usually post personal pictures, but as it was a topshop party, it only felt right! plus i love that everybody at my work is incredibly stylish yet no one comes off looking like a hipster camera whore.(with the exception of andrew maybe, in his wayfarers. but he's a total sweetie and i'm saying this affectionately!)

oh, what was I saying about hipster camera whores? me and leo taking the piss..

advent season; day ten, christmas party inspiration

lily and chanel and jen.

advent season: day nine, fairytale of new york

this weekend my door had a makeover with a lick or two of blackboard paint, and if anyone finds themselves pottering past a hardware store, i urge you to dash inside and get a tin yourself as it's the most had I've had since.. well, since I was last messing about with a chalk and blackboard aged 5.

the nyc skyline started off as a little "fantasy" view and an incentive to keep chucking fivers into my new york savings pot, but i thought a seasonal reference was a must and so it's a little tribute to one of the best of the christmas songs, "fairytale of new york" by the pogues and kirsty mccall.



and for added new york spirit, take a peek at this old paris vogue editorial.
from way back in 2001, the year that carine roitfeld started as editor-in-chief.
when i look at these images, i feel like i can feel the buzz of the streets and to me the images remind me of that "first time in the big city" excitement.
let's close our eyes and imagine standing on a street corner downtown with a bunch of friends, balloons and bubbly cheering in the new year. because wouldn't that be the perfect way to welcome 2009?

advent season: day eight, christmas dressing for aetheists

so you're an atheist, and while you don't want to give up your stockings and roast turkey with all the trimmings, perhaps you're feeling a little immoral celebrating a holiday you don't technically believe in?

(yeah, me neither.. i'm of no religious persuasion and i'm not too fussed but for arguments sake) because bubbling under the surface is a bit of an underground "space" moment and now is the perfect time to celebrate (if you so desire) the creation of the earth itself; the big bang!


the guys behind up and coming label Peter Pilotto sent intergalactic creations whizzing down the AW08 runway and i'm desperate to get my hands on one of the spacey designs faster than you can say asteroid.

and while I don't see my savings stretching this far anytime soon, by some incredible stroke of luck I came across the coolest little galaxy printed purse; it's rather unusual and just about bordering on tacky. it'll do for now, because unless my christmas bonus covers the small fortune of one of the dresses, i'll be waiting.. uh, lightyears..

clearly if you manage to land yourself an outer worldly get-up, you'll need music to match and cut copy's "far away" seems the perfect accompaniment for moonwalking and silly "aetheist" dancing!

advent season; day seven, angelica huston or margot's ma

o




Chloe Sevigny; "I’m hoping one day I’ll be [laughs], this sounds silly, but you know how Wes Anderson hires Anjelica Huston in all of his movies? Maybe when I’m an older woman there’ll be some hot young director that’ll go, ‘Remember that girl who was big in the 90’s?’ And hire me."

Why did it never occur to me that it makes perfect sense to look to the Mother of a style icon.
Or the Dad, Grandma.
Where did they get their style from?
Margot Tenenbaum got her Hermes Birkin from Etheline, fo sho.

advent season: day six, winter wears

VOGUE NIPPON
Missy Rayder
Styled by Camilla Bidault-Waddington



and the biting cold continues.
let's not leave our houses until the january sales!

but if you do, I recommend a high collared cocoon coat ala this vogue nippon editorial. i have mine in deep purple.

i'm curious to know what shapes you're all rocking in the coat department this winter?*

*and to those guys in the southern hemisphere, apologies for seasonal discrimination! you could tell us about your swimwear but I think you'd make us all too jealous..

advent season: day five, how to wrap

As a follow on from day three's post is an extract from Camilla Morton's stupidly handy book 'A girl for all seasons'. Michael Howells is a set designer with the genius idea of turning presents into parcel the parcel-like packages by wrapping them in multiple layers containing sweets.

I'm doing this!..

advent season: day four, how to be bad this christmas

How to be bad by Erin, Amanda, Jourdan, Lara and Freja

Drink and drive.
Purposely make your team lose charades.
Take a too-big portion of turkey
Forget the presents
Put your fag ends out under the tree.
Swear in front of the oldies.
Throw snowballs at the neighbours.
Get drunk and flirty with your sister's boyfriend.
Kiss santa.
Or accidentally on purpose tell your 5 year old cousin he isn't real.
Put any song by Gary Glitter on the christmas playlist.
Make someone cry on New Years Eve.

Merry Christmas!

advent season: day three, alternative present guide

Oh look, I did it again. Another year where I promised myself I'd be super creative and have all of my incredibly groundbreaking homemade goodies ready and wrapped by December 1st. Wildly overambitous, but with four weeks and three weekends left I like to think it's still possible to pull together some thoughtful presents, a mix of interesting delights found from the shelves of oxfam or worked on at home.

I always find those smug Martha Stewart-esque articles (especially the column written by danielle proud in the sunday times) relentlessly irritating. You know the type; they instruct you very vaguely how to whip up impossibly cool and naturally impossible presents in 10 minutes flat.


Giving is better than receiving (maybe..) when you can come up with some presents with a bit of personality, here are some of the ideas I've had this year.


1. Screenprinted mugs

Never be a mug snob; there is plenty of dross out there, but your friends need a cool mug to drink their supersize doses of lemsip out of. Look through old photos and find a suitablly faded picture of you and your best friend aged 5 in crazy leggings and big grins for a bit of nostalgia. Or get their favourite film character printed on.


2. Make a Fanzine

This is really if you have a lot of time on your hands. I always wanted to do this, and cater each page to a subject I knew a relative loved. Whether they have a thing for Bob Dylan or Krispy Kremes, write silly poems and make collages dedicated to their favourite things.


3. Design their dream house


Whip out a ruler and a pencil, compass, graph paper, pop on a pair of glasses and pretend to be an architect! Sketch a floor plan for your relative's dream house. Be outlandish. If they're a pro in the kitchen, add a dumb waiter, if they like animals, add a dolphin waterpark. Find some sparkly stickers and cut out items out of interior magazines to it ends up looking like a mishmash of coolness. Now frame it.

4. Fashion a mini hamper

Grab an old shoe box, and smother the outside of it with magazine cuttings. Pop a mix cd, a jar of pick and mix and whatever other little trinkets you can find along the way. If you're borderline obsessive compulsive and therefore everything must stick to a theme, then great...make sure everything in the box begins with the same letter as their name!

5. Second hand books.

If everyone buys their clothes vintage, then why not buy your presents second hand? Some people think it is stingy, but if you spend the afternoon looking around the charity shops, you can pick out some books with especially cool covers. Buy 3 or 4 (they're dirt cheap..) and tie then together with a piece of string or a belt ala 1920s schoolkids.

and last but not least. the faithful mix cd. stick on little joy, cut copy, psychdelic furs and go..

advent season: day two, father christmas, santa's grotto, lapland

dear father christmas,
please super please may i have a hat like penny lane's??

i may have been late with some college deadlines this year.
and overslept a few times.

but i've been very good in other areas, i swear
and i promise that this year i'll leave you a glass of brandy instead of orange juice.

just think about it.
pretty pleeease?

LEAVE YOUR CHRISTMAS REQUESTS TO SANTA HERE.
BECAUSE UH, ONE OF THE ELVES READS THIS ON THEIR BLOG FEED..(!)