On days when you feel like hiding inside a giant teacup, I suggest you put the kettle on, and take a trip down the rabbit hole that is Lissy Elle‘s weird and wonderful imagination. The Canadian photographer takes those inexplicably surreal moments we all have and turns them into beautiful images filled with emotion that is as alien as it is familiar.
Many years ago, I went to a Francesco Clemente retrospective at the Guggenheim in New York. I remember loving his work, especially his portraits. Exaggerated features on beauties like Alba Clemente and Jerry Hall, are a signature of the Italian-born artist. The Unskilled Worker is another artist I love, perhaps because her portraits remind me of Clemente’s. The features are large and exaggerated, and any flaws and quirks (like pimples or over-sized specs) are highlighted rather than hidden. “I like to create imperfections and warmth I feel is missing,” the artist (who is anonymous) told Dash Magazine. “I’m looking through thousands of images a day, mostly of an unattainable idea of beauty. Why can’t girls with spots look happy? A combination we’re told can’t exist. The unskilled way is messy, a little bit gnarly and closer to the truth, I hope.”
Trust Manish Arora to create the most perfect Mermaid dress. Who knows if Arora –– “king of kitsch” –– had mermaids in mind with this gorgeously embellished dress, but all I see are pink fish scales glistening in the bright runway light. This is just the dress for a cocktail party around the pool at The Setai in South Beach. Just don’t fall in. Who knows what might happen to your tail.
I’m always excited by a dress with an exciting back. Better yet, I love to see a woman wearing a dress with a daring back and a demure front, let’s say, because I think it hints at the contradictions that all of us possess. I have no idea what the front of this dress looks like. But I’m quite certain it’s nowhere near as brave, bold and breathtaking as its back. And that, is good design.
Every now and then, I come across a collection that I can only say, “holy moly” to. That’s what I wrote to my friend Bianca last night when she e-mailed me a link to some outrageously gorgeous dresses and tops and skirts designed by Aussie label, Romance Was Born. There’s a black and white print in the collection that reminds me of the designs we see on ancient Greek pots and a blouse with sleeves as large as lamp shades. It’s all so fabulously over the top. Yes, sign me up.
When I’m in the mood for fantasy fashion I go to The Room. It’s really the only place in Toronto where you feel like you’ve stepped into a walk-in cupboard at VOGUE or backstage at a runway show. The racks are close together and packed full of beautifully sequined Giambattista coats, shimmery Erdem capes, Comme shirts with a million pleats and Roksanda Ilincic gowns in eye popping hues. It’s a fun outing, no different in my mind to a visit to the AGO or the ROM. Fashion is art, fashion is theatre –– fashion is history.
The thing about wearing a hat, is that you need to act like you’re not wearing one. An extravaganza such as this may get in the way of being able to do that . Someone like Carmen Miranda could have pulled it off, but the rest of us should stick to chapeaus that are a tad more wearable. That’s not to say that you cannot be imaginative, whimsical –– witty even –– in your choices. What matters, is regardless of size, colour and level of absurdity, that you are wearing the hat, rather than it’s wearing you.
“Some people need sequins,” said Edith Head. “Others don’t.” I used to need sequins like a ladybird needs her spots. These days, I wear them less, but when a collection this beautiful comes along, it makes me want to snap up every last piece. Delpozo is a dream –– a dream in which I’m wearing tulle and silk and pink sequins the size of loonies to take my children to school on a chilly Wednesday in October.
“One of the things I love most about Chanel is Karl’s light hand with mad colour,” wrote Harper’s Bazaar executive editor, Laura Brown on Instagram this morning. We know exactly what you mean, Laura. This fabric looks like it’s covered in watercoulour paint, applied liberally and lightly with a sable mink brush. I’d wear all of this in a heartbeat, or hang it on a wall to gaze at all day long.
It’s been quite some time since I’ve bought myself a coat. But today, as I thew on a goose down vest to fend off the morning chill, the urge for a new outer shell set in. I have a gorgeous trapeze coat in a subtle aztec print that has kept me warm for years, but I like the idea of something longer and a little more classic. This one from Club Monaco makes me think of something Jane Birkin might have worn walking the streets of Paris with Serge Gainsbourg. I adore the colour of this bouclé coat from Emilia Wickstead and this MSGM coat is a great hue, too. Coats likes these make the idea of cold weather easier to bare.
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