Letterman.....

"Hey you guuuuuuuuys!"

One of the little trends that seem to have popped up this year is the classic old Varsity 'Letterman' jacket.  Bringing to mind american college, 'jocks', and all those old shows I used to love as a youngster:  Happy Days (where I have a sneaking suspicion even the Fonz donned one once), Grease, Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop, Michael J Fox in Teen Wolf, and the list goes on!

Aaaaahhhhhhhh, the memories*!

Oh, and of course how could I forget - The Electric Company:  "Faster than a rolling "O", stronger than silent "E", able to leap capital "T" in a single bound!  It's a word.  It's a plan.  It's LETTERMAN!"

xxo

* It's not all nostalgia of course.  If you're looking for more up-to-date letterman-lovers then you're quite spoilt for choice, with fans such as Gossip Girls Vanessa Abrahms (Jessica Szohr), or even Lady Gaga, who of course put her own spiky style-spin on this iconic jacket.

They're here........

Great news for Wellington!

xxo

Little Brown Bag.....

This bag reminds me of the case my grandfather kept his binoculars in.  Oh, how many happy hours I used to while away, this bag lying at my feet, the binoculars it housed pressed to my eyes, spying on the neighbours and any innocent passers-by!  I loved the smell of the old leather, the feel of its soft, aged leather, the red lining.......

The only trouble I have with this type of bag is that, sadly, it's really only large enough to carry a pair of binoculars!!  Like most women, I need something roughly the size of a rubbish sack to tote my 'essential' worldly goods around, (note that the person carrying this one is a man.....note also that men seem to have no need to take anything with them when they leave the house, unlike us females who invariably need everything, up to (and frequently including) the kitchen sink!  As you can see, you won't find many plumbers carrying their goods in a bag of these dimensions!!  Pity really - it would drastically raise the "style" of plumbers everywhere!

(Must fly - I'm off to Summerset Festival at the Basin Reserve;  a field normally home to cricket and its fans will, for one day only, be taken over by dozens of bands and their loving fans!)

xxo

The long and short of it.....

As a young girl growing up, I made the same huge mistake that so many young girls make - I believed that, basically, to be sexy, it had to be short!  I rolled the top of my school uniform over to shorten hemline, (deliberately failing to notice the way it now gathered and puckered ridiculously round the waistline); I placated my parents by leaving the house in 'sensible' skirts, only to disappear into public toilets, reappearing seconds later (a la Wonder Woman) in a skirt so short that.....well, you get the idea!

Moving forward through life has taught me many things, but one particular important sartorial lesson has been the allure of length!  I see now the error of my young selfs ways: how gorgeously feminine, and downright sexy, a long flowing skirt can be!  They flatter so many more people than their shorter versions, and there is a fabulous sensation of fabric flowing around you when you walk.  Wellington, in particular, is perfectly suited to the long skirt - the wind here allowing passers-by to fully appreciate the effect!

Oh, and length is everywhere for the coming seasons, so there'll be something for everyone............and for those among us who simply can not accept that "sexy" can be anything but revealing, there are the see-thru chiffon versions - romantic and sexy ;-) !

xxo

This ones for you.....

There are lots of styles I (secretly) remember fondly from the 80's.......tube skirts, double belts worn low on the hips and oh so many more.  But one of my favourites from the era that taste forgot 'temporarily misplaced' is was the chunky knit/drop-shouldered/vest-type-thing!  You know the one?  It has perhaps been buried under the memories of frill-necked blouses and bubblegum jeans, but seeing this girl in her top the other day brought the recollections flooding back.

I love the wide armholes, the wide stripes, but mostly I love the Canterbury colours!  It couldn't be a more appropriate top to wear at this time.......so, this ones for you Christchurch!!!!

xxo

(PS. What I love more than anything is to see how the citizens of New Zealand band together when it's needed!!  We may clash on the sports fields occasionally, but when the chips are down we more than pull together!  Nice one NZ....)

Round the outside....

It's not just the outside of our selves we like to "dress up" - we also like to have some say in the decorating of our homes.  And if we happen to live and work at the same place, well.....all the better!
Wellington Tattoo studio Underground Arts has found a new home, right on the corner of Vivian and Victoria Streets, and owner Steve Maddock has set about ensuring that his building is "dressed" to his taste.  The results are going to be spectacular when finished, but already this is one place that is hard to miss!

I must add too, that I am insanely jealous of anyone who can say "I'd like a dragon on the outside of my place", and then has the ability to realize that dream!  I myself, was someone who:

a)    dreamed of being a famous guitarist………………..but never quite got   round to learning how to play guitar…..something my dream required, and
b)  yearned to be a prima ballerina....................but had terminally flat feet, and

c)   always wanted to express my deepest thoughts, to lay all my feelings out in paint on canvas………………but didn’t have the ability to draw a convincing stickman, let alone a vase of sunflowers!

Thus thwarted in my own ambitions, I have to settle with appreciating....and sharing....the work of other, more talented, people.  Hello Steve..................

xxo

(PS. How strange it was to finish this post, only to find a "Learn to Play Guitar Now" advertisement flashing up on my Google Dashboard  ;-)  ........)

Fluoro DIY....

I always love to observe the little ways in which people care about their appearance....the small things they do that make such a difference......

Like.....if you want fluorescent shoes then just go ahead and make them!

xxo

PS - Note what this young man is carrying in his hands, too.  Are books becoming the new "must have" accessory??  ;-)

Blue by you.....

Aaaaah, how wonderful to see someone carrying a real-life book......not a Kindle.....not an iPad or a laptop, but a genuine, 100% old-school type, book!  

Personally, I refuse to believe that there will come a time when people will no longer appreciate - or indeed even know - the joys of holding a book in their hands......smelling it's smell and feeling the weight and texture of the paper.  

Long live the humble book!

xxo

Colour crazy.....

The international runways have spoken, and 'colour' is what we will all be wearing next season* - colour......crazy, delightful colour;

Hopefully, along with this colour will also come the innate ability to get our pant up to our waists?  Surely not too much to hope for ;-) ?)

xxo

*(although we all know that kiwis don't roll like that....  No - kiwis wear what they want, when they want!  But still.....colour - that's what we should all want to wear!)

Le Sac....

I happened to pass this bag today, and it caught my eye.....I haven't seen anything like it before.  It's an original idea, anyway, and I quite like it.  Of course, anything with the words ECO written on it will be fairly popular....... I wonder if he 'designed' it himself, or bought it?

I have a feeling that we are going to be seeing a great many more items made from hessian coming out over the next few years.....it would be a great fabric, as long as you fixed the itchiness!

xxo

Frills round Oriental Bay......

This is when Wellington, or any city in the world for that matter, is at its best: the sun is shining, your skin in soaking it all up, and you feel happy and healthy!  Aaaahhhhhh, if only it was always this way......

I'm not normally a huge fan of frills, but I loved these.  They look perfectly 'bohemian-with-an-edge' I think (particularly with the choice of jewelry), and the swirling frills must feel lovely to wear in the seaside breeze.......oh alright, what am I talking about....this is Wellington - it's called a "wind"!

xxo

Blue on a rainy day.....

Because it decided to rain today, I have decided to share this picture of the perfect footwear for such weather.  Over the years Kate Moss has been held responsible for starting many a trend, and sure enough, her sanction of the humble Wellington boot (gumboot to us Kiwis), elevated it to the status of "fashion item with lightning speed!  Recently the 'Hunter' brand became available in Australia, and have now begun to appear on the streets of (appropriately) Wellington.  Until now, you had to have been lucky enough to have travelled to the Northern Hemisphere to sport these beauties!

Anyway, thanks to Kate, Wellington/gumboots are a viable daytime footwear option, and are are being embraced in all the colours of the rainbow.

xxo

.....& again.....

What did I say about Country Road bags?  Everywhere!!!

xxo

It's summer.....YeeeeeHaaaaa......

Wellington's waterfront on a glorious summers day is a fun place - heaps happening, and loads of smiling faces, which is just what we like to see!!!

And while I have never been, and never WILL be bold enough to brave the freezing waters of the harbour myself, I certainly don't mind watching others indulging......  I can't imagine how wonderful, how refreshing, it must feel after a day of sitting in a stuffy classroom, in a stifling uniform, to just cut loose and JUMP!!!!

xxo

Yellow fever....

I have been noticing a LOT of yellow around me on the streets of late.  Mainly displayed in the area of footwear, it has also been seen as far north as the t-shirt, and it never fails to make the wearer appear bright, sunny and summery!  Not a colour that wall-flowers should attempt, it certainly rewards those brave enough to try it - whether they just put a toe in the sandal water, or go for the full effect!

xxo

New Zealand....

Aaahhhhh - New Zealand!

xxo

Freedom of style....

When I was much younger I used to love dressing up in an old shawl of my grandmothers - I loved the feeling of the tassles swirling around me......

Tassles are able to evoke so many moods - to accommodate so many styles.......  They can take on the spirit of the heady days of 70's disco, al la Studio 54; they can conjure up images of american Indian, riding free across the plains of the wild west; they can bring to mind the bohemian style of the wandering gypsy...... But one thing that all these have in common is a sense of freedom - whether the freedom of 70's excess, untamed lands, or nomadic roaming.  And freedom is always attractive, no? Freedom is always stylish!

I love people who dress up in their everyday life....who put some art and imagination into their presentation!  Who embrace the freedom of style!

xxo

Backup....

I love backpacks - always have, ever since high school, (when I passed my army-style backpack around for all my friends to sign).  I mean, which other bag allows you to to carry so much stuff around (and no matter how much I try to streamline, still I find myself carrying SO MUCH 'stuff'!!!!!!!) and yet still gives you the freedom to use both hands!

xxo

Neon now...

I am truly a Wellingtonian, thus black is my standard "go-to" colour - with shades of black thrown in for good measure!  There's a change in the air though.....

Some of my fellow Wellingtonians seem to be breaking free from the (black) chains that bind them, and are daring to take to the streets in bright, vibrant shades of colour!  And it looks like this new, bold mood in colour is not about to fade in a hurry.

In the latest edition of British Vogue, Christopher Kane talks of his love of neon...

















...while Proenza Schouler (in American Vogue) have also embraced the brightest of colours.  Indeed, magazines are positively bursting with neon!

To me, neon = bravery, but in two distinct ways.....
Firstly, you need a level of bravery to wear such loud, eye-catching  shades; but I also find that there is an enormous amount of bravery gained from the life-affirming, skin enhancing vibrancy of neon.....

xxo

Lights out....

It was the last night of lights in the Wellington Botanical Gardens last night.  They really turned on (excuse the pun) a magical affair.  The weather held out, and everyone had a wonderful evening - both old and young.