shakuhachi dreaming...

this summer I'm going to be a californian gypsy floating through the heat, spreading peace, love and shakuhachi wherever I go...

because it was cool???

It was a passing comment made by my mother that got me thinking... She walked past me, stopped and said 'Errrin, you look teeeerible. I mean you're just soooo pale!'.

I was a little miffed and may have written her an email along the lines of "Whilst I appreciate your concern, I believe your attitude that being tanned somehow makes me healthy perpetuates a stereotype, an extremely dangerous stereotype. That in fact when I am lying in hospital with melanoma I shall remind you of your teeeerible quip that both you and I will long to regret. You for condoning a bronzed beauty ideal for your paleface daughter and I for believing you.'

Slightly over dramatic I know but like I said it got under my skin. I thought to myself; Why do we perceive beauty the way we do? When does it infiltrate our psyche? How do we change it?

I realise that my mother grew up in 70s, a time when slathering on the coconut/vegetable oil was de rigueur but why?

Surely only about ten or so years before it was all about porcelain, powdered paleface perfection. For years women lightened their skin with amazingly healthy products such as lead based paint and arsenic to stay IN with the in crowd. I had in social studies heard some story that in earlier centuries the reason fair was the fairer of them all was linked to social status, for if ye were rich ye were not toiling in the fields all day, rather playing gin rummy, slipping lemonade on your shady porch.

The issue is that we all now know a tan isn't a sign of health rather damaged skin but this doesn't stop my psychology. When my mother told me I looked pale, I went and looked at myself and I felt unwell. Quite simply I felt unattractive.

I also felt confused, because the night before I had been catching up on Mad Men totally crushing on all the fair females. For those who haven't yet caught on; first of all you're about 3 seasons behind so get on to it and second of all the series is set in New York in the 1950s.

I was amazed at just how beautiful all the pasty white ladies were. I thought they were stunning. I longed to live back then. My perception of what's attractive for me is extremely skewed because as a child I was brought up on movies like Some like it Hot, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Rear Window and in all those films Marilyn, Audrey and Grace were all princesses of the paleface. I never once looked at that bevy of beauties and thought 'Ge'ez she looks teeeerible'.

Where along the way had bronzed and beauty been fused?

I decided to go fishing, google fishing that is and with one quick cast of the line; Why is tanning popular? I caught this In the 1920s, Coco Chanel accidentally got sunburnt while visiting the French Riviera. Her fans apparently liked the look and started to adopt darker skin tones themselves. Tanned skin became a trend partly because of Coco’s status and the longing for her lifestyle by other members of society.

There you have it one woman that hold's that elusive je nai sais quoi was the catalyst of change. We all ride the wave of cool and society is a slave to celebrity. We long for their lifestyle. However when I look at tagged magazine pages or looks I love saved to my laptop, they are all of celebs like Sienna, Chloe and Scarlet.

So I grew up watching porcelain lovelies, I style stalk my fairer femmes and yet I don't want to be one? I thought perhaps it's cultural, the bronzed Australian icon? Or was it the fact I saw my mother lie out for hours in the sun trying to get as dark as her lilywhite complexion would cook? I then thought of a friend I have who hails from Africa, and to me sports a wicked chocolatey glow. When we arrived home from 18 months in London, her family exclaimed about how lovely and light her skin was. Hmmmmmm. Then the experience of searching for sunscreen without bleach in it in Thailand flashed across my mind.

Perhaps there's an even simpler explanation, we all want what we don't have. We like to paint a facade like we paint our skin. I decided I would embrace my winter whiteness, rebel against the people, a mutiny I say! Everyone sing along with me 'I AM BEAUTIFUL NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY.YES WORDS and my ingrained psychology CAN'T BRING ME DOWN'.

I lasted three days. In the back of my mind the words le tan in le can kept repeating. And like a junkie to it's crackpipe, I shuffled my way down the supermarket aisles, glancing left to right, hands itching to get a hold of my poison.

Finally as I fell asleep that night with the smell of coconut scented fake n bake I sighed 'and all is right with world'.

lOve the cover

RUSSH August

lOves it!

whoever said money can't buy you love...

Never tracked down a pair of on-sale Friend of Mine Biker boots!!!

danger danger HIGH voltage...

I just spotted some beautifully gorge pieces from Maurie & Eve's SS10 range on mycatwalk and I am la vie en rose people! That is to say their collection makes me want to SING!

Hold me close and hold me fast

Maurie & Eve the magic spell you cast

This is la vie en rose

When I wear you, Heaven sighs

And though I close my eyes

I see la vie en rose

When you press me to your heart I'm in a world apart

A world where roses bloom

And when you speak Angels sing from above

Every day words seem to turn into love songs

Give your heart and soul to me

And life will always be La vie en rose

I thought that love was just a word

They sang about in songs I heard

It took your dresses to reveal

That I was wrong, and love is real

Hold me close and hold me fast

The magic spell you cast

This is la vie en rose

When I wear you, Heaven sighs

And though I close my eyes

I see la vie en rose

When you press me to your heart

I'm in a world apart

A world where roses bloom

And when you speak Angels sing from above

Every day words Seem to turn into love songs

Give your heart and soul to me

And life will always be

La vie en rose

You can pre-order at mycatwalk (however yet again all dresses in my size are sold out hence the 20 emails I hastily sent out this morning trying to track them down) and I believe they will be hitting stores in August. I also had a squiz on maurieandeve.com and found a little treasure almost hidden in the top right corner of their page; the Maurie & Eve blog.

Check it out style queens xx

Sex & The City has Lost it's Sparkle - spoilers and a rant ahead...

This rant may seem a little behind the 8 ball as I posted it on my FB page the week of the movies release, forsaking poor old je nai sai quoi. So here it is:

The first few bars of music played and grown ups gasped some clapping with excitement and then the hush of a crowd waiting to be told a story. Alicia Keyes' fusing of Blondie's Rapture and the cult theme music had the audience in well rapture, with the first half hour bringing us to be speed on the characters we cherish.

Then the ladies hit Abu Dhabi and my trip to Wonderland turned into a nightmare. The cultural cringe was thick and heavy and kicked off with the girls arrival. On meeting their butlers Charlotte is called by her maiden name York instead of her Jewish married name Goldenblatt. A small reference is made to Charlotte's switch with her response of "Well this IS the middle east". I'm not quite sure what 'Charlotte's' implication is here? That if Muslim people found out that she is Jewish she would somehow be treated unfairly? I shook the thought out of my head and decided to give the writers the benefit of the doubt. Charlotte is known for her paranoid behaviour when she is confronted with the unfamiliar, much like her avoidance of drinking any water that wasn't bottled when holidaying in Mexico in the first SATC film but the 'jokes' and observations that followed were a little harder to forgive.



Over lunch at the women's hotel they begin to pan the poor woman sitting at the adjacent table. Her crime? She is wearing a niqab and has ordered a bowl of french fries. Now don't get me wrong I too was curious as to how the woman would manage to eat her meal and felt a little stupid when all she did was pop a fry in under her veil. But the attitude of the formerly fab four wasn't so humble they not only poked fun at women who wear niqab's they also vehemently vented their opinion on wearing veils altogether. This opinion isn't my problem here it's the blatant disgust of a tradition in a country where YOU are a guest. How can my Contiki host have more humility than this entire production. Her catch cry for every country we were lucky enough to be visiting was "It's not wrong, it's just different'. A concept lost on everyone involved in this film. The portrayal of Abu Dhabi is one of an oppressive, misogynist regime with Samantha leading the way in terms of disrespect.



I read online that Cynthia Nixon told the Hollywood Reporter, "Samantha is disrespectful, but Samantha is disrespectful in New York and she is disrespectful in the Middle East and she just really doesn't care". The movie's director and writer Michael Patrick King, adds, "The reality is Samantha Jones is outrageous wherever she goes, whether it be Starbucks... Or Abu Dhabi. She is an unapologetic individual". That is all good and well but the jokes aren't set up so we laugh at Samantha's outrageousness it's set up to laugh at what they see as the 'outrageousness' of a culture they don't understand or care too.



They are ALL seen laughing at Muslim women bathing in 'bikini burqas' a point in the film where I wanted to scream, "YOU ARE IN THEIR COUNTRY DICKHEADS". Well actually I lie the film does use Miranda as cultural conduit with careless and over simplified explanations of what's going on around them. Not that any of what Miranda says matters as they traipse around town like an obnoxious dinner guest.



As the film went on I sunk lower and lower into my seat with the climax of cultural cringe culminating in a scene where Samantha's purse falls to the ground in the middle of the Souk Market and it's contents of condoms spew across the cobblestones. Samantha dressed in hot pants and killer cleavage singlet bends down to pick them up to a horrified crowd of onlookers. 'Samantha's' reaction is to scream a mighty FUCK YOU to the Muslim crowd, give the one fingered salute and simulate sex announcing "Yes I have sex". The crowd becomes agitated and they ladies are 'saved' by a group of Muslim women dressed in niqabs. They follow them into a back room where the unveil themselves and shock and gasp they are wearing the next designer spring collection underneath their robes! And hahaha the men will be talking about this for weeks hehehe. Now I'm not debating the fact that these women are better dressed than I will ever be,or that the men may be talking about the incident for months. It's the cliche moment of 'Oh actually we are so alike'. And to make matters worse how do they escape the crowd of angry men outside, YES they dress up in niqabs and so begins the slapstick escape routine.



This type of humour is low brow and from creators of such an iconic series the writing is just plain lazy. Yes in between the scenes where my hand actually covered my eyes in embarrassment was the funny that we know and love but where I once lost myself in the fun, I now felt a little uncomfortable. It was like laughing at your drunken uncle at Christmas. 90% of his jokes are completely inappropriate but every now and then he hands out a gem and you feel you have to cover the corners of your creeping mouth in fear of encouraging him.



My question to everyone involved in the creation of this film is simply why? Why choose Abu Dhabi? Why if you have next to nothing nice to say about a culture do you choose to set your film within it? Why when America and New York especially has such a controversial history with extremist muslims do you decide to poke the bear and make fun of their city, their women and their way of life? Perhaps you should realise regardless of your 'intentions' you have demeaned not only another culture but women, you never investigate a Muslim woman's motivation in wearing a niqab. Whether you agree with her choice or not, I would have thought people who grew up in the land of the free would be a little more open to tolerance. You so clearly assume we are stupid, you assume the glitz and glam will blind us to the lack of respect to our sisters of the Middle East. Wasn't that the point of SATC2? That no matter what happens you have your female 'soulmates' supporting you? Perhaps you could have cut down on the endless scenes of blatant product placement and decadence of wonderland and create an actual voice for the women you obviously feel are oppressed. Let them tell their story. Shine a light on tolerance and understanding instead of widening the gap of difference and for fuck's sake sing it loud Aretha show some R E S P E C T.



What I'm asking of you my fellow femmes is to demand a higher standard. Don't be blinded by Dolce and the newly appointed Chief Creative Officer Sarah Jessica Parker's Halston Heritage. Ask them to perhaps explore what began as an important theme in the movie. Judgement. Because we would all be more powerful as women if we conquered that, our Achilles Heel.

My love for Carrie has definitely now lost that certain je nai sais quoi...

it's been a while...

With 1 job loss, two job gains, 4 house moves, one disastrous month on the dark side (of hair colour), a cutting edge whim of a fringe (that I now tie back into this winters style soldier staple of a topknot), a lot of writers block, a very big side project shhhhhhhh and here I am with a sudden whooooosh of inspiration and I. Am. Back. BA-BY!

My current obsession comes from fashion trawling. I have been fishing you see and with so many catches and more dash than cash I have started filling a wall of all my wants and as Rumi Neely describes them 'fashiontoasts'. Speaking of I am still in lOve with her blog and style queen status, however I have been flirting with Jess Hart's blog which is filled with fab photography by her BF Pottsy and inspiring style moments.Both make me want to dabble in photography and shake off the lint from my canon that currently swims the depths of Mary Poppinsesq tote.

Winter in Melbourne is cold and fresh and even with bursts of sunshine my colour palette has remained predominantly dark. A lot of black, leopard and with the relatively new edition of the Luna Military Anorak from GPC a splash of khaki. Although spring is definitely in my step with the recent sale purchase of a finders keepers garden blazer which until recently has been tacked up on my want wall (if you post it, it will come).



Winter Inspiration and Influences

Sites that have me salivating

One teaspoon, friend of mine, jess hart blog, fashiontoast, zimbio.com (for celebrity stalking), and of course my source asos.com. Oh how much do I love those little black packages! Now all you little asosians make sure you check out their virtual monthly mag. Not only can you flick through inspired editorials but you can shop the looks and add them to your wish list, YAY. Don't always be led astray by the masses of stock on offer also check out asos life where you can get the low down on style, blogs and behind the scenes features.

Objects of Desire
1. A polaroid camera with a Rainbow Brite stripe
2. Leopard Print Coat aka kate moss staple
3. Tony Bianco Nemesis Wedge
4. Mimco Silver Mesh Choker
5. YSL Gold Ring
6. Soixante Neuf hammered ring (just torn beween gold and silver, oh the decisons!)
7. EVERYTHING on my asos wish list (insert looooong sigh here)


Labels I'm loving

Finders Keepers,J brand and friend of mine. With a major crush on friend of mine's biker boots which are now on sale but in true shoulder slumping heavy sigh fashion they are already sold out in my size! (Actual tears may have welled) 40 that is fashion gods, SIZE 40!

5 star films featured in my; I would pay to see again list

Exit through the Giftshop a film by banksy, New York I Love You (also on my dvd list Paris Je'taime from which the New York movie is based) and Animal Kingdom. I also may have become slightly obsessed with Coco Avant Chanel and now J'adore Miss Audrey Tautou. (I have been polishing mon francais ever since; Un croissant sil vous plait)

TV indulgences

Whitney Port's The City, Kourtney & Khloe take Miami and I know I am three seasons behind but Mad Men had me hooked while I battled the flu last week. I have also finally caught up on the final season of Gavin & Stacey (this will explain why from now on you will notice me using the terms 'What's occurring?', 'Tidy' and a lot of 'Fairplay'). For those of you familiar with the show you may be interested to know our very own first lady Prime Minister, Miss Julia Gillard was born in Barry! Tidy!

My next trip: U S A U S A

Yes the land of the brave is calling me... I have been daydreaming about a place I once visited but was too young too appreciate. Thoughts of palm trees along Venice beach, kitsch motor inns and the Quesadilla I consumed in Santa Cruz are on repeat. A resounding chorus fills my head but with only one word. COACHELLA. COACHELLA. My ultimate music festival and style spotting mecca. Rosebowl Flea Markets take me to the bridge and a thumping base that accompanies a road trip to the city of lights. Las Vegas.

And then the music my stops. And my mind is fills with that iconic beat. DA DA DA DADA DA DA DADA DA. Blame it on Gene Kelly but for as long as I can remember I have thought NEW YORK NEW YORK must be a hell of a town.

My first trip to America only featured the West Coast but for my next expedition the East is a must. Episodes of The City and a recent trip to NY by my mother have pushed me over the edge. I have never been so excited, I'm making lists and checking them twice and as you can imagine pictures and tear outs are strewn throughout my room. Forget Bieber fever I think I have a New York state of mind ; )

So there you have it a small update of what has been floating my boat as of late and to my darling that je nai sais quoi blog I promise to fill you with words, images, inspirations and all that is cool! Never again letting you sink into the abyss.

lOve or perish peeps (I also just read Tuesday's with Morrie)