All I want for Christmas…

…is to say thanks. It has been a fantastic year for this Blog. It all started at the end of February when I was, but a blogging novice. All bleary of eye and wobbly of leg and not much has really changed since then! The past ten months have been however, so much fun;  I have also been lucky enough to learn a huge amount about blogging, style and fashion, as well as meet some amazing fellow bloggers (this link names but a few). When I was made redundant in the summer from the job that I loved – working as a fashion / features editor for a monthly glossy was incredible – I never imagined that the blog would be so successful.

I just want to say a massive thanks to all of you that have stopped by and taken the time out to read a line or two. Thanks to everyone who felt the urge to post a comment or to click through to the About Me or What I Wear pages. Thanks to all of you who have subscribed to posts and a massive thanks to all the amazing people right here in Dublin who have kept me up to date on all fashion things happening in the capital. Thanks to the ‘chosen’ few who have held my hand and my handbag as I took the first steps in making the blog. A special thanks also to the ridiculously fabulous and talented Rosemary MacCabe and Corina Gaffey who saw fit to include me in the Times Magazine and Stellar magazine respectively.  If it wasn’t for all of these people and many others, Whisty wouldn’t get its 1500-2000 hits per day, the Facebook page wouldn’t have nearly 200 fans and I wouldn’t still be in possession of my marbles!

So I would imagine that this is going to be my last post of 2009, unless I miraculously find the time between now and December 31st to blog. I’m happy to say that Christmas for me is completely and utterly family and friends time. I just have to see as many of the people who mean the most to me and who are very much a part of me, as much as possible and that doesn’t leave much time for anything else! I have to do one final post about the bargain I got while charity shopping this week. A vintage fur (I know, again right?) but this is the most amazing thing I have ever bought. It just looks great with anything, leather trousers, dresses, vintage pieces, anything; and especially animal print. With all my obsessiveness over real rock chicks this year I reckon it’s a perfect post to end the year on! More pics here at Her Apparel.

Creativity Creates New Magazines

It’s always good to hear that a new project is off the ground and running these days. What’s more refreshing is when that new project is an Irish magazine. RSVP Media Group, this week, launched their newest publication; Clodagh McKenna’s Homemade. A magazine that draws on the TV chef’s cooking skills and throws wine tasting, interior design and fashion into the mix. I had a flick through the magazine and it is actually really nice; it’s quite image driven with some lovely graphics and is easy to read. There are lots of recipes, as well as travel pieces, tips on laying your table and lovely pieces like “Party Planner” as well as a calendar of events for December and January. I will say though, that it is completely about Clodagh herself, it is almost like a magazine of a blog. For example, most of the articles are written in the first person or are taken from her personal experiences. Though that isn’t necessarily a negative thing.

It’s a very creative and different way of putting a magazine together, it’s also very brave and obviously presumes that its intended demographic like Clodagh and are interested in her opinion. As I have already mentioned Homemade is not all about food which is great.  As much as I would love to be a budding Nigella Lawson or Trish Desiene, I love cooking, but I can take it or leave it, so it is the other articles that entice me in. Namely an interview by Clodagh with Irish / Spanish fashion designer, Eilis Boyle so I concentrating on that instead. I love reading about designers that I know little or nothing about, as well as discovering new collections like these. I have tried to pull a few snippets from the article that focus on the designer, her collections and how she gets inspired.

“Eilis is very clear about the philosophy behind her work, “I create simple beautiful clothes that don’t outstage the person. If you look at a dress before the woman then it’s not a good design. The dress should make the woman look more beautiful”.”

“For Ellis, her creative time is on planes. She travels a lot and there is something about being removed from all distractions, thousands of feet up in the sky that frees her imagination. She pictures the collection in her mind then, as soon as she gets back to the studio, starts building the garment with swatches of fabric on a mannequin – “The fabric tells me what to do”.”

She “describes her work as a “solitary existence”, she needs that, to fully concentrate on the designing…”

Eilis Boyle is about to showcase her 10^th collection in Dublin called “Intricate Simplicity”…

Dunnes and Dusted for Cheap Festive Glam

I don’t think I have ever bought a single item of clothing in Dunnes Stores, let alone a party frock. But last month a friend of mine bought a really pretty dress in there for a graduation we both went to. Since then I have been meaning to have a look at what other festive frocks they have, (if any). I had a quick look on their website, which turned out to be hugely disappointing, the styling is really off and it’s all a bit old fashioned. Not only that, looking back they only have a small selection of their collections on-line, which might explain why I had never been to their clothing department in the first place.

Anyway, I went into Dunnes in St. Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre and was met by an onslaught of sequins. In fact it was a bit of over-kill if I’m honest, everything from trousers, jackets and tops, to shoes bags and other accessories but I endured. Parting the sequinned sea, I began to see a few gems hidden amongst the rails, including some great dresses, faux furs and cropped tops. First off I grabbed two lace cropped tops to try on. The one on the right was actually reduced to €3 (but they only had size 14′s left, which worked in a slouchy Topshop kind of way) and the second top with the sequins was €20.

Next, I picked out 4 dresses, a fitted bandage-style one, a Jacquard-type strapless and two with rouched detailing; one black, one nude. The draped / rouched detailing  kind of reminded me of the Burberry Prorsum SS10 collection which didn’t translate well in the nude once I had it one but looked OK in the black (see below). The Jacquard dress fitted fine and I really liked the fabric though is a totally wrong colour for my pale skin!

I liked the effect of the draped rouching on the skirt part of this dress (below), (though the gathering around the tummy area doesn’t look great). I’m also thinking maybe the length could have been shorter and the top half of the dress had one studded shoulder, which I wasn’t keen on. If I did buy it I’d probably cut the top off and wear it as a skirt!

The bandage dress (below) fitted well and I really liked the sheer pieces over the shoulders. The length was longer than the other dresses I’d tried, coming down to just above my knee which created a really nice silhouette.

With my current obsession being fur, I couldn’t resist trying on this faux-fur, leopard pint coat. It’s a good shape and nice length but the sleeves were too short and would annoy me incessantly. Still it’s a bit of a bargain at €30 and is perfect for wearing to a Christmas party with some insanely high heels! I’m thinking cheap Dynasty Chic.

Contender for Model of the Year 2009. #2 Lara Stone

“Every time I go to the dentist, they always say, ‘You really need to fix that gap of yours.’ I’m like, ‘My gap is paying your dentist bills.’”  And so was the word of Lara Stone, talking to i-D Magazine, in November last year. So I have continued my model of the year blogging, and this German / Dutch / British lady is next on the list. French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld said about her. “Sometimes a girl just touches you” and following her campaigns with Chloe, DKNY, Givenchy, H&M, Jil Sander , Max Mara, Belstaff, Jean Paul Gaultier, Nicole Farhi and Louis Vuitton SS10, it seems many others would agree.

Lara Stone was named by UK Vogue as model of the year in their December 09 issue, of which she was the cover star. She a features in a story / shoot in their Jan 2010 issue which hit stands last week. She is highly coveted by magazine and fashion houses alike and has an edginess that few of her peers can offer. Indeed, there are very few women in the world that can make a Page 3 shoot, high fashion, see images from ID December 09 (below). A massive favourite of the magazine, she not only featured on their Nov 08 cover, but is also one of the 3 cover stars for the December 09 issue. In February this year Vogue Paris dedicated itself to Lara and featured her as the issue’s cover star and sole model promoting Carine Roitfeld to make the above statement. Her gap-tooth smile, razor-sharp cheek bones, smouldering pout and killer figure make her as commercial as she is high-fashion, here’s why.

For Louis Vuitton SS10

Backstage at the Louis Vuitton SS10 shoot. (image via fabsugar.co.uk)

UK Vogue, December 2009

ID Magazine November 2008

ID Magazine December 2009 (with Jamie Dornan)

Kate Moss, Johnny Depp, Keith Richards and Vintage Jeans.

… OR, a blatant excuse to post pictures of all three…

…OR, Johnny Depp is even more perfect than I could ever have imagined…

Snippets from the latest musings from La Moss, she appeared in Glamour magazine this month talking about her wardrobe and her style, (what else?). Her latest revelation regards the acquisition of a pair of jeans that have been around, well, a while…

“Do I ever throw out clothes? Definitely not! I’ve got classics… Keith Richards gave me a pair of black jeans he bought in Brazil in 1969 and I still wear them — they fit me perfectly“.

She then imparted a truely grogeous piece of information; “Johnny Depp bought me a copy of the dress Julie Christie wore in Shampoo (see images below). He had it made and every sequin is hand-sewn. I still wear it“.

… Seriously, I think I might cry; men like this actually exist?

She also spoke about the importance of accessories, saying; “Accessories stand the test of time and you can hand them down to your children. Lila can walk around in heels already but I’ve told her they’re only for special occasions. I don’t want her in heels yet — she’s only seven.”

Julie Christie in Shampoo in the dress that inspired Johnny Depp to commission a copy for his then girlfriend Kate Moss.

Kate Moss & Johnny Depp at Golden Globes 1995, she is wearing the Julie Christie, Shampoo Dress

The best thing about Kate Moss, relinquishing the use of her supposed motto; “Never Complain, Never Explain” means that we are now hearing these little gems of style advice from her. The furore a couple of weeks ago, resulting from her comments to WWD, was quite frankly ridiculous. As far as I  am concerned it made her all the more human; the woman has been a model for nearly 20 years and is still booked for some of the most important fashion ad campaigns in the world. She has had a child and enjoys a somewhat colourful social life, both of which could have less than positive effect on her figure. The fact that we now know she has a mantra to enable her to do her job properly – super models have to be slim it is what makes them super models – is quite frankly a relief.

I’m sure she does live by the saying, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels“, I would, however, be hard pressed to believe that she believes it though. I know it feels great to fit into your skinny jeans, (handed down from a Rock Star or not) but I also know that cheese and crackers, Sunday Roasts and chocolate truffles with red wine make my taste buds feel pretty darn great too.

Images via Goole and Flickr

BFC Fashion Awards and 25 Most Powerful People in Fashion 2009

The British Fashion Awards 2009 (sponsored by Swarovski) were held in London last night and proved to be a veritable model-fest. Among those there were: Kate Moss, who won the Grazia / British Fashion Council (BFC) London 25 Award, Natalia Vodianova, Twiggy, Jacquetta Wheeler, Georgia May Jagger, who won best model, Daisy Lowe, Claudia Schiffer, Eva Herzigova and Erin O’Connor.

The red carpet saw lots of black and lots of floor length gowns; Kate Moss, Daisy Lowe, Erin O’Connor and Eva Herigova all chose full-on gothic glam for the evening. There were an equal amount of women who went for colour, and two ladies really stood out for me.

Firstly Model of the Year award winner Georgia May Jagger; Anyone else wearing that colour with such porcelain skin would probably look washed out, but her the rest of her colouring and that lush red pout, meant that she looked more ice queen than out in the cold. I’m also delighted that she chose to go fashion hardcore in Vivienne Westwood to collect her well deserved award; her UK Vogue cover last month was a knockout. Other nominees in this category included Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Daisy Lowe.

Secondly, host Lauren Laverne wore this gorgeous Matthew Williamson SS10 embellished dress.

Winners were:

• Swarovski Emerging Talent Award for Accessories – Holly Fulton
• Swarovski Emerging Talent Award for Ready-to-Wear – Peter Pilotto
• Designer Brand – Christopher Bailey for Burberry
• Model of the year – Georgia May Jagger (pictured above)
  
• Accessory Designer – Katie Hillier
• Menswear Designer – Kim Jones
• BFC Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design – John Galliano
• Grazia and BFC London 25 – Kate Moss
• Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator – Grace Coddington
• BFC British Collection of the Year – Christopher Kane
• BFC Designer of the Year – Christopher Bailey for Burberry

Earlier in the day, the British Fashion Council, also annonced a list of the most influencial people in British Fashion:

• Alexander McQueen – designer
• Anna Whiting & Sam Gainsbury – fashion show and shoot producers
• Anya Hindmarch – designer
• Christopher Bailey – creative director, Burberry
• Dame Vivienne Westwood – designer
• David Bailey – photographer
• Erin O’Connor – model and industry figurehead
• Guido Palau – hairdresser
• Harold Tillman – BFC chairman
• Hilary Riva – ex CEO and BFC member
• Hussein Chalayan – designer
• Joan Burstein – owner of Browns boutique
• John Galliano – designer
• Kate Moss – model and Topshop designer
• Louise Wilson – head of MA fashion at Central Saint Martins
• Lulu Kennedy – director of Fashion East
• Mandi Lennard – PR
• Naomi Campbell – model
• Nick Knight – photographer
• Pat McGrath – makeup artist
• Russell Marsh – casting director
• Sir Paul Smith – designer
• Sir Philip Green – owner, Arcadia
• Sir Stuart Rose – executive chairman, Marks & Spencer
• Stephen Jones – milliner

Images courtesy fabsugar.co.uk.

Contender for Model of the Year 2009. #1 Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

I have no idea how many contenders there will be maybe 2, maybe 10, but I’m starting with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Discovered at 15 on a school work experience placement, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has since secured jobs with some seriously high-profile and high-fashion companies. Now, at 22, she has already worked for Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger DKNY, Burberry, Clinique, BCBG Max Azria and Victoria’s Secret as well as scoring Agent Provocateur earlier this year.

In February, she was named Model of the Year at the Elle Style awards, but this is not my reason for considering her. It is her versatility as a model that puts her at the top of the list in my book and it was in July that she really made her mark. An editorial photographed by James Meakin was published in Exit magazine and it blew my socks off. I had seen Rosie in dozens of photographs; editorial, advertorial, candid and red carpet, where she looks incredibly pretty, sexy and commercial…

For Burberry … with Sam Riley

…but this shoot showed just how high-fashion she could be. Incredible.

James Meakin Editorial Pics courtesy of The Photography Link all others google and Burberry.

River Island SS10 Press Preview

This afternoon River Island on Grafton Street previewed their SS10  collection and it was all about pretty, pastel shades, neutral tones and softer takes on the current 80′s punk and Tribal themes. I know it’s way too early for us to be thinking about our Spring / Summer wardrobes but it’s still nice to know what the more on-trend high street stores will be focussing on.

The collection was pretty and floral and there were lots of embellished, fringed and distressed elements. Fabrics were softer than the luxe and sequins we saw in ’09. Think denim-jersey, linen and cotton lace for clothing and soft suede on footwear. Colours were rich beiges and pale browns with subtle greens, pinks and blues. In fact the colour palette as  a whole was pretty neutral and feminine with some bold tribal prints and edgy pieces mixed in.

I really liked these floral pillazzo pants, (above and below) …

these fringed shorts and ladder-stitch jumper would be amazing festival pieces (if I were brave enough)… Plus the peep-toe knee-high wedge-boots are fab.

Full Leather Outfit? That shouldn’t work!

Yesterday I had one of those YouTube evenings where you just start watching something and you click on the next clip then the next. After an hour you realise that you have been brought along on the most random tangent from what you started watching. Through whatever tags people who were uploading clips had chosen, I ended up watching the Elvis Presley 68 Comeback Special. Check him out, (image below) head to toe leather and I want those leather cuffs please. As far as I was concerned, head to toe leather should be the reserve of biker chicks and super heroes, right? But no one could look better that Elvis in a pair of leather jeans and matching jacket.

The outfit came about when producers of the TV special approached costume designer Bill Belew and asked him what he thought Elvis should wear. He said that at the time everyone was wearing blue jeans and denim jackets; he decided that to change that slightly and swap denim for leather. It certainly gave Elvis the wow factor that was enough to boost his career and catapult the King back into the realms of super stardom where he belongs.

I love the look on the woman’s face, bottom right in the pic, she is just in absolute awe of the man and she can only see him from behind! Fabulous. Ah, if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em and jump up and down on the sofa while you’re at it! Above is my sartorial ode to Elvis. More pics here at Her Apparel.

Elvis Image courtesy of NBC Television.

I got my swim trunks and my flippy floppies. On a Boat gets Grammy Nominated

The Lonley Island and T-Pain collabortation I’m on a Boat got nominated for best Rap / Sung Collaboration for next years Grammy Awards. I heart that.