Talking Adelaide agrees with Alyson Walsh, of the stylish That's Not My Age blog, when she writes she's glad to see Joan Didion (pictured above) made the cover of the new book Legendary Authors and the Clothes The Wore, by English journalist and writer Terry Newman.
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Rain dance
Recent rains has me reaching for the wet-weather gear. Talking Adelaide bought her first raincoat since childhood and it's been the year's best investment.
Read MoreLove's like a butterfly ......
J'adore butterflies. Live ones fluttering in the garden; dead ones pinned behind glass; metal ones - one of my favourite necklaces is a silver butterfly from Witchery, that I've had for years.
No surprise then I've a tad obsessed with this new season collection video from the house of Valentino. It might also have something to do with the soundtrack - Artie Shaw's Stardust. He was a legendary US clarinetist and big band leader. You'd know his recording of Cole Porter's Begin the Beguine. I'm partial to big band music from the 1930s-40s - Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller is a fave. Going to listen to Stardust all day.
Watch the video here - I'll have the olive satchel, please.
Valentino shoulder/satchel bag SS2015
Spring in your step on this yellow floor. Picture: Elle Decor
Living bold, living colour
Talking Adelaide has been a bit quiet of late. Real Life has been taking precedence over Dream Life.
TA will try not to be so neglectful in future.
Just found this interior house spread in US Elle Decor and felt like sharing. TA doesn't know of anyone in Adelaide who embraces colour so much. Do you? Would love to know.
We tend to love white, white, white. TA got lots of comments when the front door was painted yellow and one bedroom got a pink wall - inspired by US Vogue's European editor-at-large Hamish Bowles' apartment (see below). Hardly splashing about a Pantone chart.
This is a story and picture spread about the home of Oscar de la Renta's publicist Erika Bearman, who I happen to follow on Tumblr - where her mantle is OscarPRGirl.
The interior is by hot US interior designer Miles Redd. Not all of it is to my taste but there's plenty to swoon over.
Two of my favourite colours appear in the palette - yellow and Tiffany Blue. Enjoy!
Making a first impression at the entrance. Picture: Elle Decor
25 shades of yellow
J'adore jaune.
I've been sitting on this post for a while but given there's a hint of sun and more to come, it seemed appropriate.
Friends and family would probably say my favourite colours are pink and red, when actually they're yellow followed closely by a colour with the official trademark name Tiffany Blue. It's close to a robin egg's colour and is a produced by Pantone exclusively for Tiffany the jewellery company. Shades of aqua and turquoise come close and they just happen to go well with yellow.
My love of yellow starts with my front door - which is a lemony shade of yellow. I am more attracted to citrus shades of yellow rather than the golden variety. As one of my favourite bloggers Mark D. Sikes wrote in June: "Nothing say hello like yellow! sunny, fresh, warm and chic! Instantly lifts, instantly brightens, instantly welcomes! lemon yellow, golden yellow, mustard yellow- whatever shade, hello yellow!"
For some time I've been collecting images on yellow to create a picture gallery and have just seen street style photographer Bill Cunningham's latest video on the New York Times.
Bill who has a canny knack for noticing street trends on Manhatten streets, has picked up on the popularity of yellow as an autumn hue especially among those lucky enough to attend the latest Spring Summer '14 collections showing in New York Fashion Week.
Watch Bill's vid and enjoy my gallery. Splash out on a bit of yellow this weekend.
Bill Cunningham of the NY Times says "joyous sunflower colours were a favourite of many women during Fashion Week, on shoes and print dresses"
Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel
Happy Birthday Coco Chanel and King Karl's tribute
Tomorrow Monday August 19 is Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel's birthday - it is 130 years ago since she was born in Saumur, France.
Her legacy as a fashion designer and founder of brand Chanel continues strongly, well after her death in Paris in 1971, aged 87.
Fashion as we now it today, not just clothes, but handbags, perfume, accessories such as costume and fine jewellery, was groundbreaking when done by Chanel in the 20th Century.
Yes, she was a driven woman, a businesswoman, her worked hard to protect her company (even associating with the Nazis) but intentionally or not, she also was an early feminist, as her relaxed style of clothes after World War I started to liberate women from the dated and literally strait-laced customs they had endured.
Newer fashion labels and designers have arisen since Chanel appeared on the cover of Time magazine as one of the 20th century's most influential people (the only fashion designer) but there is something classic, special and luxurious about owning a piece of Chanel, even it's just a mascara or lipstick.
Back in May, Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel's creative director and the keeper of the Chanel flame, released his black and white short film, Once Upon a Time..., to mark 100 years of the company – in 1913 Chanel opened a shop in the seaside French resort town of Deauville in 1913.
The 18-minute film (video link below) stars the gorgeous Keira Knightley (a face of the Chanel brand) as a young Chanel and a host of models and names, many of Karl’s muses, in the supporting cast. It's really delightful.
Keira Knightly as Chanel circa 1913
Financed by Chanel’s ill-fated lover Arthur “Boy” Capel, the seaside shop saw immediate success, and the rest has been history.
Opening scene in Once Upon A Time by Karl Lagerfield
The film was apparently improvised, the stars making up their lines as they went along. Chanel is shown being helped by her aunt Adrienne — played by actress Clotilde Hemse — as she caters to wealthy clients. Karl has imagined where she might have picked up her famous trends and influences: “Tweed jackets are very chic on a woman,” she observes in the film.
When English novelist and famous gardener Vita Sackville-West — played by Saskia de Brauw — looks through the windows of the store toward the end of the film, she asks herself, "I wonder what it will be in 100 years from now?"
Step back in time 100 years. Enjoy.
Online shopping temptations at Nordstrom's
Talking Adelaide has shopped quite a bit locally in the past week - at Denim Iniquity, Country Road (Rundle Mall) DJs and Sunglass Hut - so, with that in mind, this is a guilt-free online shopping recommendation.
There's two (depending on your time zone) days to go in US department store Nordstrom's amazing online anniversary sale. What better way to spend a dreary weekend than couch shopping in front of the footy?
There are considerable reductions on items to be had - especially in the designer section here but you don't have to spend anywhere near these prices to still get a great bargain on classic not just fashion pieces.
This is a decent sale too - where current items are marked down, not just the stuff Nordstrom's can't sell or shift.
Talking Adelaide has succumbed to a pair of black, suede booties (pictured below) that were 25 per cent off the usual price but could easily do damage in the handbag section. You could pick up some early buys for spring/summer or extend you winter wardrobe. Of course the sale is for guys and kids too. Even homewares.
And the shipping charges are virtually nothing.
As Talking Adelaide likes to say, "you have to spend money to save money". Just click on the sale image above to go to the sale site.
If you have a particular designer or brand you like, search via the brand link on the homepage; the sale items are generally listed first, and there seems to be something from every brand on sale.
Love to know if you pick up a bargain.
What were we wearing in the ‘80s?
In the early 1980s, my mother had a hot pink, silk, after-five dress from the Australian label Covers.
It was the pink of Marilyn Monroe’s evening dress in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but it had the sleeve-shape and tight skirt of Krystal Carrington in Dynasty.
It shared equal status with her pale blue Prue Acton maxi from the mid-1970s as my favourites in her wardrobe. She wore the pink Covers dress with multi-coloured carnival glass beads hat shimmered blue, green, purple or pink depending on the light.
I coveted that Covers dress. My sister got to wear once in the late ‘80s. Alas, it never fitted me.
Why am I thinking about ‘80s fashions? The Victoria & Albert Museum, in London, has just opened an exhibition called Club to Catwalk showcasing London's clubbing and fashion scene in the ‘80s.
A picture gallery from the exhibition by The Guardian got me reminiscing about what I wore here to the likes of Toucan Two and Limbo’s, in the West End, to Leon’s, on the Parade, and Doug Govan’s My Place, in Hyde St, Le Rox, in Light Square and later the Venue, in Hindley St.
Although I lived in London at the end of the ‘80s, and even went to some of the clubs captioned in The Guardian, it’s not the mainsteam ‘80s fashions I mostly remember wearing. It’s styling straight out of the era’s video clips.
When I think of ‘80s fashions, I think of high-waisted Corfu jeans, made right here in Adelaide. And Canterbury rugby tops.
Yes, I had leg warmers but never stirrup pants.
I loved my dusty pink thick cord jodhpurs – Stuart Membery from memory. Or were they Jag? A white lacey shirt worn with a grey-striped taffeta skirt from Cream, on Unley Rd; and shopping across the road at Naffine’s with my mother.
What about the giant Cherry Lane store in Rundle Mall that you had to ride an escalator down to? Most of my work clothes came from there during 1986-88. And the funny-shaped Sportsgirl store at Burnside – was it a hexagon or a pentagon? Oh, and Demasius.
K-K-Katies seemed so much more stylish back then, although it’s the reverse with Witchery. Did you follow the advertising call to action that jingled “this goes with that at Sussan’s”? Now that’s an excuse to watch this blast from the past.
I’d love to hear what were your favourite outfits and labels from the 1980s. Maybe this slideshow below with jog the memory (click to open full gallery with captions).
Lancome puts on a show with Alber Elbaz
You need to spare 1 minute 35 seconds to watch the cutest animated video to promote a fashion prince helping to sell a mascara. Oh, la la. Something happy for a dreary winter's day.
French cosmetics company Lancome engaged Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz to pimp up the packaging for its legendary Hypnose mascaras (as well as some other pieces in the range).
Talking Adelaide has a new object of desire - you can buy it here.
It's said to be a limited edition range, and you know you're supposed to change over your mascara every four months .....
(Thanks to Vicki Archer at French Essence for the tip-off)
Candace Bushnell here, SATC’s 15th anniversary
Carrie Bradshaw (aka Sarah-Jessica Parker) in Season 5 with that haircut. Picture: Into the Gloss
So I ran my finger along the Bs on the second shelf in our study and there it was: my 12-year-old copy of the novel Sex and The City by Candace Bushnell.
It looks like it was only read once. Unlike the box set DVDs that were watched endlessly – although not so much since Monsieur D returned to Adelaide a few years ago and Foxtel put SATC on semi-permanent rotation.
Thanks to the series’ Season 5, I’ve even had my hair cut short twice in the hope of replicating Carrie’s look for her Vogue job.
My copy of the original book carries a cover quote endorsement from Helen Fielding, she of Bridget Jones’ Diary, saying “Intriguing and highly entertaining”.
A kinda limp assessment, don’t you think, given we know what SATC became.
I’ll be taking along my copy this Friday in the hope of having it signed by Candace Bushnell, who is guest speaker at the Adelaide Business Chicks lunch on July 19, at the Convention Centre; the date just happens to be my birthday. Talk about lucking out.
It’s a sort of timely visit by CB; last
month (June) was the 15th anniversary since the pilot episode of SATC first aired in the US on the HBO
cable network (the book was first
published in 1997 and reissued in 2001).
I just happened to be in Bali in June 1998; our hotel had US satellite TV and I saw that pilot and the second episode the following week, while my poor cousin S was becoming acquainted with the porcelain thanks to Bali Belly.
Needless to say I was hooked but had to wait until September 6, 1999, for Channel 9 here to start broadcasting it. No downloading or streaming in back then.
Anyway, if you loved Carrie’s clothes (thanks Patricia Field) in SATC – you’ll love this anniversary slideshow on one of my favourite blogs, Into the Gloss.
The important moments are all covered, the only noticeable missing for me was the slinky pink fluro dress Carrie wore to lunch with Big when he told her he was getting married (Season 2 episode 18: Ex and the City). Shaken, she trips over a chair in her haste to leave the restaurant.
The slideshow includes another favourite; the navy dress she’s wearing while stuck on a day cruise with the loved-up Charlotte and Trey when she runs into the married Big (Season 3, Episode 8: The Big Time). Actually, I think I love her magazine-clutch bag more than the dress (see screen grab shot below).
What’s your favourite? Love to know.
The original 1997 edition cover.
Imagining Frida Kahlo in Adelaide
Part of a portrait photograph of Friday Khalo by photographer (and lover) Nickolas Muray. Called Frida Khalo on White Bench.
This is a sort of memo (and appeal) to Nick Mitzevich, director of the Art Gallery of SA.
Word has it the next blockbuster for 2014 at the AGSA is going to be another dead white male, after this year’s (fabulous) Turner exhibition, although probably French.
Now given Talking Adelaide is obsessed with all things French, that wouldn’t be too bad – especially, for example, if it was a visit from the collection of the Musee Matisse, in Nice.
However, TA would like to put forward its own suggestion – a dead (non-white) female instead. One Frida Kahlo.
As much as I enjoyed the Turner, imagine if our Art Gallery could secure an extraordinary exhibition such as this one which opened earlier this year, Appearances Can Be Deceiving: Frida Kahlo’s Wardrobe, at the Museo Frida Kahlo, in Mexico City.
Reading about it is enough to make me want to fly straight to Mex City before November (when the exhibition ends).
For the past decade, the Museo Frida Kahlo has been cataloguing some 300 pieces of clothing, jewellery and accessories plus documents, photographs and artworks all belonging to Frida, that were locked away after her death, in 1954, by her husband and artist Diego Rivera in a bathroom in the Blue House, the famous home they shared in Mexico City. Frida’s legacy wasn’t unlocked until 2002.
I’m linking (below right) to this long but compelling interview with the curator about the background to the exhibition that finally presents Kahlo’s “attire through the lens of disability and female empowerment, as well as her continued influence on fashion. The exhibition focuses on the ways Kahlo used her iconic style, often composed of traditional Tehuana garments, to project her feminist and socialist beliefs while also masking her debilitating injuries.”
Don’t you think this exhibition would push all the buttons: it’s 20th century, modern, has fashion/textile overtones, is about a culture so different from our own, has disability themes (so topical here) female empowerment and given that Mexican food is so popular now, we’d get all those hip and groovy types from Melbourne and Sydney to travel here. People do travel for art – the Turner attracted heaps from Perth apparently.
Oh, and the curator is now based in Singapore – so lots of publicity there, handy marketing link to Singapore Airlines? And also Vogue, as the Mexican edition had a hand in mounting the exhibit.
As always, let me know what you think – this is the kind of “blockbuster” I’d love to see here.
(See links at right).
Frida Kahlo in New York City. Picture by Nickolas Muray 1938
Classic Frida by Nickolas Muray.
Chic happens on Bastille Day
It’s Bastille Day on Sunday. And the Francophile Talking Adelaide will be celebrating (all weekend).
Perhaps a glass or three of Premier Cru Chablis (William Fevre of course), croissants and baguettes from Mulots Patissserie on King William Rd, home-made brioche, perhaps a cassoulet given our weather. And some Crème Anglais with roasted rhubard to finish.
Voila.
Talking Adelaide's home-made brioche.
Mulots delicious croissants.
Meanwhile, one of my favourite fashion blogs – the weekly Fifi Report – has a totally French theme today. Check it out for yourself and be inspired. And enjoy Talking Gallery's own gallery of chic (oui, it is a bit of a homage to Ines de la Fressange). C'est magnifique!
