whimsical french fancies

I have a new designer crush. There is something romantic about all things French, isn't there? And designer Anne Valerie Hash is no exception. Her designs are beautifully feminine and romantic, but somehow innately modern and cool in a deconstructed-beauty kind of way.

I am particularly taken with her Fall 2005 couture collection. It is whimsical and gorgeous, making use of clever layering and sheer fabrics to produce an effortlessly casual aesthetic that is completely engaging. I love it. Here are a few of my favourites...

Deconstructed and relaxed. And totally cool.

How gorgeous is this? Feminine but not soppy.

This look is fantastic, so effortless.
The tonal colour palette works beautifully.

I love a good frill, and this one is good.



(all images from style.com, click here to see whole collection)

quirky fashion and cocktails

Fashion and alcohol. A match made in heaven.

Combining two of my great loves - cocktails and fashion illustration -
this little book has become my bible.

It is full of beautiful whimsical fashion illustrations by the talented Kat Macleod and quirky delicious cocktail recipes by Jane Rocha.
This book is a gem. I actually bought it as a present for a friend, but found that I could not bear to part with it. So now it is mine.

Sigh. What beautiful drawings.

All images are from the book 'the cocktail' by Jane Rocha, and drawings by Kat Macleod. Buy it. If only for the gorgeous drawings. Seriously, do.

I will leave you with a quote that appears on the back cover of the book, and one which made me chuckle...

(My thoughts exactly.)

Winslow Homer

Natural beauty has been at the forefront of my mind lately. My current need to remove myself from the hustle and bustle of the city has led me to think nostalgically about country life. Chickens, cows, fresh milk and country air - these things are suddenly incredibly appealing to me in the kind of romantic way that has nothing to do with reality.

This has led me to seek out visual representations of such bliss in the absence of the actual experience. In my wanderings I stumbled upon the work of artist Winslow Homer. An American, born in 1836, Homer's work draws heavily on outdoor scenes and his work shows a strong connection to nature. His beautiful watercolours appealed to the inner-milkmaid in me.

The Milk Maid, 1878.

Fresh Eggs, 1874

Girl with Hay Rake, 1878.


(All images from the National Gallery of Art, Washington website.)

the humble egg

Today I inadvertently found inspiration in my breakfast. Now, generally I do find breakfast to be quite inspiring - I will do just about anything to get my hands on a cup of tea and slice of toast in the morning - however, this morning I was particularly struck by the wonder that is the humble egg.

Enjoying a delicious soft-boiled egg with toast soldiers (pretty inspiring already, no?)I began to get all excited about the beautiful natural colour palette of the brown egg-shell, the crisp, clean colour of the egg-white, and the golden eggy-yellow highlight of the yolk. Beautiful. (And quite tasty, I must say.) So, this got me thinking about eggs, and their associations. To me they speak of natural country-goodness, of lazy sundays, and of new springtime life.

Eggs make me happy. They are cheerful, hopeful, and remind me of happy childhood memories, and today that was just what I needed.
So, here's to eggy sunshine!

mmm...delicious! The perfect lazy Sunday brunch.
I love the colours - beautiful, natural, calm. Yum.
(image from notebook magazine, date unknown)

Gorgeous! This image makes me happy.
A hopeful little eggy, all clean and pure!
(image from here)

The only thing cuter than a clean brown egg...a little specked one!
(image from here)

here's to loungewear

Yesterday I discovered a particular area of fashion that excited me greatly - loungewear. Now of course loungewear is no new phenomenon, rather I had just never considered that what I do may fall into this particular category. But guess what? It does! And I must say, it is a relief to be classified. It was a sort of 'a-ha' moment, and one that was greatly needed.

Now the only problem with this whole scenario is that I don't like the term 'loungewear' very much. For me it congers up all sorts of nasty images of daggy track-pants and velor hoodies. Not my thing. As you may have discovered from my previous posts, I like pretty things. Girly things. So, in the spirit of finding some pretty loungewear to inspire me, I did a bit of trawling.

Here's what I found...

I love the simplicity and pureness of these simple leggings.
They are by Australian lounge and sleepwear label Deshabille,
who do some gorgeous feminine knitted loungewear.

I also discovered another loungewear label called Lounge Lover
and have fallen in love with its simple, feminine aesthetic.
Run by Belgian-born designer Sylvie Gabriel, Lounge Lover has a lovely lifestyle focus behind the brand and this ease and comfort translates beautifully into the feminine, chic garments.

So here's to loungewear!
Someone pass me a cashmere cardie and a cup of tea!

the merits of vegetables

Having had a week of not many vegies, and following a conversation with a friend on the particular merits of vegetables (I'm supposed to eat 4 types with every meal, 2 of them green apparently...), I decided I had better get my act together.

I actually really like vegetables, I just often can't be bothered to buy and cook them. I eat all types of vegies, with just one rule: I like them to look pretty. So with these things in mind, this is what I made for dinner last night. Bon appetit!

Peas and carrots and squash, oh my!

Beautiful colours, and tasty too!
The purple carrots were the highlight.

I heart Li Edelkoort

Today I was lucky enough to attend a lecture by an amazing guy called Philip Fimmano. Philip is the assistant to one of the world's most influential trend-forecasters, Li Edelkoort, who is currently in Australia for a series of lectures. Since the 1980s, Li has been producing much sought-after trend-books and working with high-profile fashion, lifestyle and car companies with her company Trend Union.

Li Edelkoort (image from Trend Union website).

Li and her team forecast trends based on a broad, holistic, lifestyle-centred analysis of the world, sourcing inspiration from all manner of things around them - fashion, art, music, nature and design.
The result is an amazingly evocative collection of images that convey the whole story, emotion and feel of the trend they are predicting.

images from 'bloom' magazine, produced by Trend Union.

The lecture today was a combination of beautiful visuals, background information about trend forecasting and Trend Union, and a question and answer session, which was brilliant. The lecture finished with a presentation of some of the forecast trends for this winter - a stunning visual and audio feast. I didn't want it to end. There was so much to take from the images and the music was amazingly well chosen and evocative.

I walked out of the presentation with so many ideas swirling around in my head, and really excited about the possibilities of transposing ideas into my design work. If you ever get the chance to see Li or Philip talk, definitely take it. You will not be dissapointed! For more information on Li and Trend Union, check out their website here.