Tough Luxe

 It's Tough Luxe with army boots, 

camo totes,and diamond-studded 

bullets...

Balmain

 

Loewe

 

Stella McCartney

 

Max Mara

 

Louis Vuitton

Let's get one thing straight: glamour hasn't been sacrificed to the cause of practicality this season. Far from it, in fact. Balmain led the change -- gold sequined camouflage, anyone? Leaving aside the chainmail, this collection of distressed, destroyed & sexed-up army surplus will be inspiring the high street all summer long. Christophe Decarnin wasn't the only designer with military in mind, however: from Marc Jacobs to Max Mara, the utility jackets was reworked in every fashion capital. It also time to reconsider combat pants &  army shirts.

Balmain, Silk-georgette camouflage top

Balmain, Leather motocross pants

   

Yves Saint Laurent, Hamptons braided sandals 

  

Yello gold watch, Rolex

   

Balmain, Cotton-canvas studded military blazer

T by Alexander Wang, Racer-back jersey tank

Balmain, Distressed cropped jeans

 

HTC, Iconic studded leather belt 

See by Chloé, Sand glazed suede bag

 

Isabel Marant, Dana fringed canvas boots

 

Akillis, Bullet rings

 

Giuseppe Zanotti, Diamanté skull canvas tote

  Lets get our helmets out & our military chic on ladies!

XOXO

 ~H 

Shoe News

A special mention must go to the following...

 Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodartè (photo from Jak&Jil)

Chanel clogs (photo by Garance Dorè)

I wasn't too sure about the clogs at first, but after seeing these, how could you go wrong? Chanel never steers us wrong, right girls?  As for Nicholas Kirkwood, he just gets more and more daring with every new design.  Love him!

Hx

p.s. Happy Birthday Mummy, love you xxxx

Sources: Kirkwood from Jak&Jil.com, Chanel by Garance Dorè.

VB's Size Zero Rant

When Victoria Beckham raised her hand to defend the crowd

of size-zero models flooding New York Fashion Week. 

Yes, yes I know VB is the teeniest of them all LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

But even she had been doing us proud lately, what's with declaring that she'd kill for sexy Jennifer Hudson curves and all… She also added that she had joined the new "Health is Beauty" campaign that encourages designers to use healthy models in their runway shows. Huh?

 

When she took seat on The View, and wasted no time in defending the ultra-skinny girls on A/W runways. All that was clearly forgotten when she held the model casting for New York Fashion Week Show, because we got an eyeful posh-alike strutting down the runway without a gram of body fat between them.  So you can understand why I'am shocked (& confused). Oh' dear, Vic. We love, love, love your new line of dresses -- Now convince us that our hips are welcome in them!

XOXO

~H

*Runway: Diesel Black Gold

 Founded by Renzo Rosso and denim innovator Adriano Goldschmied in 1978, Diesel helped pioneer the high-end jeans category in the nineties. Having convinced a generation of guys that pre-shredded denim was worth paying extra for, in 2007 the company launched the more grown-up Diesel Black Gold line. While more sartorially inclined, it retains Diesel's signature deconstructed look. 

Under the new creative direction of Sophia Kokosalaki, Diesel Black Gold presented their Autmmn-Winter Collection.

Staying true to the brand's rock star vibe, Kokosalaki upped the sex factor by contrasting soft faded denim and dark black leather, with a few hints of black velvet and black sheer organza.

The highlights of the show were (for me) the one-shoulder leather dresses and amazing belts.

*What`s your opinion on the collection?*

Hedy Lamarr: Hollywood's Most Legendary Beauty?

Legend tells us that Hedy Lamarr was the most beautiful woman every to grace the silver screen.


It is a fairly bold statement because when you look back, beautiful goddess were never something lacking on the silver screen.


Beauties such as Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner and Veronica Lake.  These ladies have gone down in Hollywood history for their extraordinary beauty.

Ava Gardner and Veronica Lake

Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth

But, Hedy was different...

Austrian born Hedy Lamarr's career was dominated by male movie moguls from the beginning and she never stood a chance.  She is most famous for the first nude scene in a movie (Ecstasy,1932).  But she was so much more than this.  In Hollywood, she was usually cast as glamorous and seductive. Her American debut was in Algiers (1938). 


Her many films include Boom Town (1940), White Cargo(1942), and Tortilla Flat (1942), based on the novel by John Steinbeck. White Cargo and in 1941, she was cast alongside two other Hollywood beauties, Lana Turner and Judy Garland in the musical extravaganza Ziegfeld Girl. 


The more I ponder, the more I see that her struggle was not very different from many starlets and their same drive for cinematic glory today.  Much like fashion today; it is constantly changing, not always understood and we are hard-pressed to keep up with it.  N'est-ce pas?



Hx

Our Mountains Cottage (and its 15 Minutes of Fame)

I have written in the past of our home in the Blue Mountains, telling you tales of its renovation and the hard slog we put into the vast cottage garden.


Well the the exciting news is that all of our hard work has paid off!


Our home and our beautiful friends Zoe and Chi (and current tenants of the house) have been written about and photographed in Australian Country Home Ideas magazine (Vol 9 No 2).


The story and styling is by Zoe's gorgeous and most gracious friend Emily Rickard, and we cannot thank her enough as it is most fortuitous as we are currently in the process of putting our beloved home on the market.  It is something that breaks my heart to have to do, but life is such that we have no choice.


I am so proud of our mountains cottage that I just had to share with you my fellow readers the gorgeous pictorial that features in the magazine.  

The facade of our beautiful mountains cottage. 

A shot of the kitchen shelves with all Zoe's kitchen paraphernalia. 

Florist Zoe Ivory-Phan and her hubby, award winning sculptor Chi Ivory-Phan taking tea.  The story features about their life in the mountains. 

 

One of the guest bedrooms and a lovely shot of Zoe, Chi and their beautiful dog Mana on the front steps. 

 The master bedroom.

The storybook studio in the back garden.

Wish us luck that someone out there finds our 104 year-old historical beauty just as wonderful as we do so that it may be enjoyed by a new family very soon... fingers crossed!


Hx


Source: Australian Country Home Ideas Magazine.

McFancy

 

 

Imagine walking up to the counter at McDonald’s and ordering a Burberry burger with either Hermes or Gucci fries and a Paul Smith sundae for dessert! Wake up, you’re not in Dubai anymore! You have just entered the world of McFancy—a restaurant dining room experience during Fashion Week 2010 to a big city near you.

The Cool Hunter has enlisted Access Agency to implement the McFancy concept, which TCH describes “an upmarket temporary McDonald’s store that launches at Fashion Weeks around the globe such as London, New York, Paris, Milan, Sydney and Hong Kong.”  In the business of fashion, the minute you put a designer label on a piece of cloth, the price goes up. I wonder in the restaurant business how much a Burberry-wrapped piece of meat will cost? *ggls* -- Without any doubt ~H definitely loves it! What an interesting endeavor from TCH.

XOXO

~H