Glamour: Old and New*

Representing Generation Y: Megan Washington

Which Scene Kid wouldn't want to be photographer in B&W in an oversized (probs vintage) sweater?

Can't go past two-tone jumpers and multi-coloured fingernails. Oh and those ubiquitous glasses of hers...

From an altogether more different, refined, elegant era: Queen Noor of Jordan

On the left with Queen Liz and Prince Phil and King Hussein

*In my sartorially-challenged opinion: feel free to disagree. Also sorry the photos are so small, no idea why Macs do that! [edit: figured it out! but it'll take forever to change them all...]

c.l.

"Meteors all Night" in a Dress

*now i don't normally do fashion posts but these dresses from Christopher Kane's 09/10 resort collection are just jaw-droppingly brilliant, especially the first one.

the real thing is pretty stunning as well...

(picture taken by the Hubble telescope - no idea which nebula, sorry!)

a rather starry-eyed c.l.

ilk

...is a lovely word indeed. like milk & silk

Oh milk, you are so good for us.

Starting off with a list, because it's apparently a woman's thing and David Ogilvy liked to make a mean list, so why shouldn't we:

1. Went to Waiting For Godot with Ian McKellan last Sunday avec Count Lucifer, intriguing stuff which will be posted up in greater detail later

2. If you want to watch a good hearty love story with French quirks and twists, I say to you:

Watch this film before you die! "Jeux d'enfants" or "Love me if you dare" which is its English title - starring none other than the gorgeous Marion Cotillard and scrumptious Guillaume Canet - has beauty and ugliness, comedy and tragedy, love and hate and other rather epic binary oppositions.

3. Some good blogs/websites for:
a. Breakfast (my favourite meal of the day, I cannot fathom it when people say they haven't had breakfast, I have never once in my life gone without eating something first thing when I wake up)
http://simplybreakfast.blogspot.com/

b. Football nuts and perving on fit men (although the World Cup Fever has died down, being hot never will go out of vogue), note especially the Spanish national team and their goalie Iker Casillas
http://www.kickette.com/

c. indie geek chic tees! shirts with canonical literature printed on them can only be made of win:
http://www.outofprintclothing.com/ShopWomens_a/179.html

d. the good-old Guardian, where the Anglophilic like me get their updates on British news, music and various entertainment:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle

Stay tuned! (ah, but what for?)

PS. freak accident of the day: kicked a ball (a rather good neat kick I must say) into the air which in a massive coincidence happened to hit a little boy riding his bike bang on the head. Said little boy swerved and wobbled a bit before crashing and subsequently crying. His father went to comfort him. Am I a bad person for trying to stifle a laugh at the impossible freakishness of the situation? (don't bother answering, I don't really mind being bad, and the kid was wearing a helmet so all was good)

[discoread]

Something not as deep & meaningful

So, I feel that I must enlighten Eighth St Laundry clients with some information that is utterly ground-breaking. Whether you may bring cheap laundry or opt-in to services offered by the much more elusive 'drycleaners' in town, the distinctions between the three main Dolce and Gabbana lines is something that is often misunderstood.

It shatters my heart. (For those with a broken sarcasmometer, it doesn't really.)

Dolce and Gabbana, with creative direction from Domencio Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, is a fashion label that produces three lines of clothing for women. In order of the least to most expensive:

1. D&G - The plain black 'D&G' logo on a white background shows that the clothes produced are more likely to be what we consider as being 'casual' and/or wearable. For example, denim, T-shirts and plain short skirts are made under this line. They do have a D&G runway collection, which tends to be on the crazy side of wearable, but none-the-less, is still considered to be towards the 'wearable' end of runway standards.

2. Dolce & Gabbana, white label - The plain black 'Dolce & Gabbana' logo (text as is) on a white background indicates that the clothes are generally more expensive than D&G clothing, though it really produces the widest range of clothes. FYI, Madonna is one of the faces of their most recent campaigns at the moment. Whether or not I think this is a good idea is irrelevant, but I'll leave the judging up to you.

3. Dolce & Gabbana, black label - The white 'Dolce & Gabbana' logo on a black background is only tagged onto the most exclusive garments that the label produces, being the ones showcased by the stick-thin & ideally genetically-blessed on runways.

So take a look at some (black label) Dolce & Gabbana, FW10. Not their most recent of collections, but still relevant to the season we're going through here downunder.

So now I hope you understand that there are three main lines stocked by Dolce and Gabbana, being D&G, white label Dolce & Gabbana, and black label Dolce & Gabbana.

Have a nice day Eighth St Laundry-ers, & while you're at it, why not check out some of Count Lucifer's poetry picks of the day, and Cake Crusader's lovely avo-choco mousse?

~Louis Tiffon

Good Morning, er, Sunshine?

I hate how grey clouds manage to invade the small patches of blue sky left on these rainy days.

To make up for it, I'll dream of spring.

Costume Magazine | June 2010

In the shot above the dress looks very much like AW10 D&G, which they usually stocked in gold. Hmmmm; I'm not sure who it's by though so I can't really fill you in properly. Now that's going to bug me.

On the other side of the world right now it's beautiful & sunny, so Good Morning Sunshine!

[Listening to Passion Pit - The Reeling]

Louis Tiffon

Just a little heads up...

The next 'Big Fashion Sale' is on from July 22nd - 25th at Surry Hills. There you'll find both well-known & upcoming Australian designer pieces for as little as $30 (if prices were the same as last time). Last time I went they sold lots of items including shoes, dresses, jewelry, scarves, hats and other garments. Of special note were their modern statement jewelry pieces that were being sold at a lot under RRP.

Location wise it's a very walkable distance from Central Station (Sydney). If you're willing, once you're at the sale you can even check out Crown St nearby, which has some absolutely divine clothes, cute stationary shops & plenty of places to eat/drink. If you're going to the opposite direction (near Cleveland St) why not check out Bourke St bakery or Paris Texas (a clothing boutique)?

Bourke St bakery is absolutely amazing. It's such a cute corner place. Oh how I love Surry Hills.

Louis Tiffon

Primping necessities.

So I have to admit that a certain someone prompted me recently to post, and I feel awfully-bad that I haven't done so for ages! Blogging without bounds (i.e. not for work) is so much more fun, I have to say.

I'm thinking eighth.st.laundry needs a makeover, ASAP. If you have any suggestions/colour schemes/etc. etc., please feel free to leave a comment or even shoot us an email at eightstreetlaundry@gmail.com

On a completely different note, a few notes for this Australian winter:
1. It's going to be cold. Why would I know? I really don't. I'm taking my boss's word for it, because he spent a super-cold winter in Italy.

2. Colder weather means you'll probably need a warm coat & some waterproof boots for those rainy days. You can get a pretty black pair of boots from Sportsgirl at the moment for around $130 and if you wear them in enough, they look vintage. They kind of look like the Dr Martens below(from net-a-porter.com for £100) except they have a more suede-like surface & I think they also come in brown.

3. Camel colours/suedes seemed to feature in AW10 colour palettes for overseas countries that have already had their winter. Try to go for shades which aren't so dull.

4. As much as we love the 80's, try not to go overboard with the makeup, unless it's a dressup party or the like. Makeup for this season should be kept quite minimal; try using a taupe eyeliner instead of black with beautiful shades of brown or colours with golden highlights. To balance out the eyes you can get away with darker shades of lipstick; deep crimsons & watermelons seems to be winners.

5. Don't be afraid to embrace prints. They don't even have to match, so long as they have a similar colour scheme/have some point of similarity. This also includes shoes, which are also crazy as ever.


Don't forget to leave any suggestions for colours/layouts, because when I do get the time to change it, it'd be lovely to have some direction to move along/requests to fulfil (within good reason).

Louis Tiffon

Home Truth: everything is better with lightning

Marc Johns, you understand me


For instance, these Luella wayfarers I spied at hellosandwich could only be improved if they had little lightning bolts instead of love hearts on the side (which admittedly are still pretty cute).
Ahh, that I could have such dream sunnies custom-made... When you're a famous designer maybe, Louis Tiffon? :P

c.l.

Um....... (the second time around)

I came across this lovely 'headpiece' about 2 mins ago and I had to post it. It's from Maison Michel. At an affordable cost of £1,469.32 (seriously that's the price), I just want to ask what the point of wearing this is?

Disco Read will have a field day.

~ Hurley Who?

Looks from today's shows at NY Fashion Week Spring 2010

I'm loving this change of weather & the new looks that designers are bringing in at the moment. If you haven't had your dose of fashion for sometime, here's a taste of the New York Spring 2010 collections that were released today:

Naeem Khan

Calvin Klein

Isaac Mizrahi

L'Wren Scott

Phi

Threeasfour

Ralph Lauren

A few notes on trends coming back:

• White is in - keep it fresh and crisp.
• T-bar shoes - not only flattering but more practical (straps can keep them on more easily)
• Interesting textures
• Blazers = Investment pieces; white ones are in trend but black ones are classic
• It looks like comfort is in too...slouchy pants, bias cuts and looser shirts; however,
• Cut-outs and bondage is still in - specially with interesting tights

Ah I love looking at new collections - it's crazy how much work goes into those 3 min fashion shows.

~Louis Tiffon

A dress for today

It's the first day of spring today (well over here in Australia it is) & as a bonus, I found this Christopher Kane structured piece today.

You can also legally download Sarah Blasko's 'No Turning Back' & Woolfy's 'Oh Missy' off Sportsgirl.

Get some style inspiration off Chictopia.

A dose of beautiful illustration from Igor + Andre

Some space-styling with Design*Sponge

Look at these interesting chairs in daily tonic.

That's it for now

~Louis Tiffon

Matthew Williamson Resort 2010 (Review)

I stumbled upon http://www.matthewwilliamson.com/collections.php when I was shopping at Net A Porter & found this gem (Spirograph pleated silk skirt £887.90)

I adore this piece because it's a beautiful eclectic mix of fluidity, gorgeous prints, an interesting texture and colours which give it a jewel effect. If only the fabric he used was fuller & a bit more lustrous - it would have been divine!

By-the-by, afterwards I checked out his Resort 2010 collection which is apparently inspired by the "DNA of his signature style" (PRLog). Given the statement I was quite disappointed overall with this collection because of the lack of continuity that emerged after the first five pieces which seemed to disrupt his work as a whole. Otherwise, I loved some of his beautiful prints (as per usual), the statement accessories & some drapery that was used.

(Images from style.com)

The first motif of the collection that he presented was the beautiful ombre that gave fabrics even more fluidity, contrasting with the strong nude statement shoes. Silhouettes were soft and made modern with volume created through pleats, draping and evenly-spaced tucks.

Although colour is definitely a strength of Williamson's, I found that his speckled use of contrasting brights among pastel and neutral hues shaped the Resort collection into being as diverse as it was disjunct. The orange-blue combinations just seemed too harsh in comparison with the kaleidoscopic, intricate prints that dominated his beautifully-styled outfits. Even the end of the collection, set up with a series of maxi dresses, seemed to lack the flamboyance and statement-ness that Williamson is most famous for.

What is note-worthy in this collection, however, are his more heavily-embellished accessories and continuum of brilliantly-designed fabrics. They give his outfits more strength as pieces themselves and a refreshing vibe that can only be provided from his technicoloured palette and eye for unique fabric treatments.

Overall I was impressed by some pieces, but didn't think that the order in which he presented his pieces worked for him as favourably as it could have been. My favourite? The first one (shown in the last image above) because it lets the fabric speak for itself =)

~Louis Tiffon

This is what a 17" waist looks like

They sayLisa Fonssagrives-Penn was the first supermodel - she ate up to 10 little meals (each consisting of half a glass of wine, six grapes, one cracker & one slice of cheese) everyday.

Thanks to Google, a quick calculation, 17 inches = 43.18 cm. Now that's crazy stuff.

~Louis Tiffon

A fresh face

Letecia Price, from Perth, is a new young face to watch. Born in only 1993 and already signed with Ford, she has a bright future in modelling set ahead of her.

Her profile:

Height:175cm
Bust:79 cm
Waist:63 cm
Hips:88 cm

~ Louis Tiffon