Another random observation of Yank life is the ridiculous signs that seem to pop up everywhere I go,  see below………

Lady Love......Pure Class

Nice Combination

Direct at least....

I cant figure out which one I like best.....

So yes……random signs……..

Now to ilustrate Gay Pride…..which resulted in me getting stupidly drunk by 4pm and suffering the mother of all hangovers at 9pm…..

Gay Pride indeed

And just to conclude this post…..heres one for you Marion……..

Heres one for you Marion

Until the next post…………..

x

Me n Suzaaaay who I accidentally called Croydon the other day. For real.

Installation by Adelita

Inside of tree-house/shop/watering hole installation

Greg selling Mojitos and Moscow Mules

Kath n Suzaaaay drikin em - check out the boots, online soon, collaboration with Underground!

A smokin customer buying one of our hats and waistcoat

More of these feathered waistcoats on the way

Me and lil bitch Pepper

Kath takes on a shoplifter.

....and loses

Charlie Baker n his missus. Loving his double glasses action.

We’ll be doing this market every Saturday from now on so if there’s something you fancy from the website or just wanna come down, meet us and hang out in the sunshine, drop by say hi. If nothing else do it for the Mojitos, the treehouse and the East LDN eye candy.

Map below…

View London in a larger map

It’s summer in Australia at the mo so that means festival time. Today was all about Gold Coast Parklands, Good Vibrations festival, it was a wicked line up and a wickedly, hot day. Hot, sexy, chiquita’s a plenty and the order of the day were the 3 ‘S’s “shorts, sexy and see thru”. It was freakin crazy to see how many girls were sporting shorts of some form or another, mainly the faded, v.short, ripped denim kind. The girls pulled out no stops and you could feel the sass and love in the air.

Nautical was everywhere, mainly seen in body con dresses

and our grandmamma would have been proud……or disturbed with all the lace and crocheted tops that were out, oh where oh where is my lace hanky to be………

and thankfully to my surprise people have stopped wearing stupid ,silly outfits to these festivals, thank Christ!

Cut-away body suits were also out in force

and prints a plenty

There was nothing really show stopping here today but I was loving these ladies style and loving these ladies vibe. They pulled it off with little effort and lots of love. Other styles that stood out for me today were pixie boots, lace up shoes and gladiator sandals still lingering, crop tops and fringing.

Check out these sassy babes below; it’ s my fav girls for the day. I think these girls did it oh so right and look fabulous

But it is a fine line between “looking like you put minimal effort into your outfit and looking amazing”, and “looking like you put minimal effort into your outfit FULLSTOP.”  Some people got it right and others got it wrong.  Sydneysiders have a great sense of style and what you forget when you live in a city like London, is that sometimes it’s just too damn hot for all the fan fare.

Aussie chicks pull off the minimal “thrown-on” look perfectly, in fact I think they invented it, so I loved what I saw and thought it suited the weather and laid-back atmosphere of beautiful Sydney.

Aussie chicks rock and I’m not just saying this because I’m Aussie (actually in spite of this I’m saying it) but they do have a relaxed, casual and cool sense of style that I’ve not encountered anywhere else in the world. It’s as sweaty & sexy as LA, but more thrown-on or “cas” as the locals would put it.

This chick, to me epitomises the Brissy look. It’s effortless and in no way looks contrived or put-together. American Apparel dress, ripped tights, Ray-Bans and topped off with an amazing Karen Walker neckpiece. It’s great.

There was lots of black on black.  Black jeans with lil black camis, black sandals with black accessories.  Hmmm… not your typical Summer get-up, eh? Personally, I love black in summer, I think it looks shit-hot and can vouch that you will be seeing lots of black in the BITCHY summer collection too.
There was also acid-wash denim, pretty crotchet tops and pixie-boots.  Satchel bags teamed with floral vintage dresses, too cute hair accessories and killer bandanas.  Look, I think pictures speak louder than words so sit back and take it in.

                                                    In Sparklier days..

Then sequins exploded onto the catwalks like a massive meteor shower. Had my prayers been answered? I thought so. From Gucci to Balmain to Emma Bell, sequins had come back with a big sparkly bang for A/W 09! And like any strong trend we’ve seen them glitter bomb their way onto high street over the past few months.

                   Gucci A/W 09                                                         Balmain A/W 09

Happy Sumo? NO! Don’t get me wrong, my part time wage loves when catwalk trends work their way onto high street. But not when they’re turned upside down and ruined. Many Dubliners have an awful  habit of latching onto a trend and  sucking the life out of it. This is what’s happened to sequins. We can’t turn a corner in Dublin anymore without being blasted by four girls- 6 inches of make up, fake hair, fake nails and head to toe in skin tight sequined attire- bleugghhh!

So my sequined delights have hung like sleeping bats from my wardrobe over the past while..:( Can Primark please mass produce some other trend so I can wear my vintage sparklers again please? Then  I can try get my hands on this offering from Ashish S/S 10 below- we’ve already reported on Olympics inspired clothing and adding sequins pushes this trend onto the dance floor! Afterall, swinging from the rafters in sequins all weekend must be as physically demanding as a running 5 miles right??

                  Ashish S/S 10                                                Ashish S/S 10

Studding:

Kickass studding

We’ve got studding coming out of our ears at the moment. It was on black rebel motorcycle club leather jackets, decorating collars and edging up sleeves and cuffs, and it was on boots galore. One rather fetching lady had embellished her TK Maxx find lovingly herself; a girl after our own hearts. Another jacket had studs riveted across the entire back, so she had to keep her hair swept up to show it off. We’ve got customised studded jackets in stock at the moment, so embrace the inner rock chick in you and give it a bit of edge for winter.

One we made earlier...

Fur vs. Denim:

The lady likes fur. Whether real or faux, fur was in abundance in fashion land, like walking into a bear enclosure at the zoo. Gravitating towards the fur stalls, everybody had a cheeky flirt of fur in their ensemble. With Russian Dr Zhivago fur hats, fur collars on leather coats, fur scarves, and whole jackets of fur, it was a pretty snugly place. Then there was the rival of fur, denim… denim jackets and shirts are something of a staple fixture on the high street currently, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be cool. Worn with sass over cheeky playsuits and with additional layering, these babies can add some cowboy rustic chic to the simplest of outfits.

Fur girls

Edie Sedgwick style

Its a keeper

Boots:

Its autumn/winter so it will come as no shocking surprise that the girls are wearing boots. I wish we could wear boots all year round, they are that damn good. We’ve got pixie boots, studded boots, buckles galore, fur trimmings in abundance, biker boots laced up to the knee and relaxed doc martins stomping the streets. Boots are just perfect for adding some height or wandering flat, battling the unpredictable weather and edging up any outfit. A big winner was the little pixie boot number, but also battling it out in the other corner were mannish, big bad boy boots. Who will win, only you can decide.

Boots, boots, boots

Pixie fur vs...

... heavy duty workmen

Hats:

Now, yes, we do wear a lot of hats in winter. So yes, again, this might be somewhat of an obvious choice that wouldn’t necessarily involve much trend research. BUT, these aren’t knitted woolly granny numbers typically seen around Christmas. NO, these are the twee, tweed, tweedledum, robin hood style pieces with a feather (optional) sticking out, usually worn only by scensters around Hoxton, but now taking over the winter wardrobe. Yes, they keep your ears warm, but they sure aren’t earmuffs. More a fashion than a practical purchase, these badboys were sprouting up to compliment the coolest of outfits as a real pièce de resistance.

Robin Hood style

So there you have it. If you want to look autumn/winter 2009, just bang on a quirky hat, layer up the fur, add a dose of studding and wear one pixie boot and one mannish boot.

By Becky Cope

Happy dotty party boy

Pensive artist lost in spotty thoughts

It was with great delight that I discovered the dotty folk in the Libertine SS10 video. Ok so there’s something sickeningly “just look gorky/nerdy but still sexy” direction but I really like the range and the dotty sexual cross-overs. After seeing so many slashes and gashes throughout AW, it’s nice to see some clean lazer-cut holes.

As I am skipping back to my Mountain bike $1000 richer (Obviously by returning clothes for $1000 I can a few days later shop for, say, $500 without the guilt trip as I just made $1000 a few days back! Wohoo!) I pass this girl performing. At first I didn’t even hear the music but the girl herself caught my eyes. Barefoot, in a vintage flower print dress on a mini piano. Her flyers and CD’s were stacked in a beautiful leather hat box and a vintage leather bag.  Her music made me smile even wider than I did from the $1000 I just made and I thought it was nice to hear something that did not sound like a newer version of Britney Spears or looked like a cloned Jessica Simpson.

Her name is Eliza Rickman, and I have not heard of her before but am pretty sure we will hear (of) her again. Check her out on www.elizarickman.com she might make you smile too, if not try the return trick.

As with any city, trends tend to keep within areas. I mean let’s face it. The pearl necklaces I used to wear as a Hoxton girl were of a very different kind than the ones my fellow women wore over in Chelsea. And LA is no exception. Trends here tend to stay within their city limits, sometimes they don’t even cross streets. Maybe because it is just too bloody far to the nearest zebra crossing.

I now live in Venice, therefore I find it appropriate to start here.

A couple of days ago, I decided to get up early and do Yoga in Santa Monica. I got on my bike and was riding along the beach with my yoga mat in my basket. It was early Sunday morning, the sun was shining and the streets were quiet. As I looked to my right I saw dolphins play in the sea. Awwww, I thought. As I looked to my left there is a guy shooting crack on his beach view balcony. Venice, I thought.

It is a city of contradictions. It was the centre of hippie culture in the 60’s, and is the cradle of skateboarding. The style here is an eclectic mix of surfers, skaters, hippies, bohemians, rock n’ rollers and gangsta. Sometimes individually wrapped and sometimes a mixmatch of them all.

Warehouse floor, Hackney Wick, Polka Dot Top.

I always associated Polka-dots with rock-a-billy, full skirts and coiffed hair, none of which looks I am particularly comfortable with. They don’t bode well with my eclectic shizo aesthetic. However I bought the above Topshop crop-top a few months back and it had wangled its way into my wardrobe and I wear it layered up with all sorts of prints. I’m really into layering prints at the moment. That or all black. Yup schizo.

I’ve been meaning to post about polka-dot boys for a while as they’ve influenced some of things I’m working on for menswear at the moment. I ‘m sure most of them aren’t massively into rock-a-billy, coiffed hair or full skirts either although I know that can’t be said of all the boys I write about, particularly the full skirts comment.

Argentinian Artist Martin Samuelian also on floor - another big trend

Randomer Hackney Wicked Art Festival standing up, more directional

Sad Pierrot Boy, leaning against wall, more directional than floors of standing up.

I think bold polka-dots look great on boys and I also like the Polka dot patch on Martin’s shirt which makes for a more subtle interpretation of the look. I’d love to see a big pair of FK off polka dot trackie bottoms though worn a bit scally with a white T-shirt and a big cocooning scarf. Is that wrong? I’m just kinda liking trackie bottoms on boys at the moment.

A lot of things I’ve been talking about recently seem to be appearing in key designer looks which is good. Just picked up Libertine for SS10 video. The general tone of the whole film feels a little contrived for me but I LOVE  what they’ve done with Polka-dots and check out the cut-out leggings – I want.

Men in make-up is right up there on our panstick pedestal and despite the heat, this look ain’t slidin.

Tribal
This has been bubbling under for a while now but has taken two new directions – Flouro tribal pirate as sported by Tolis, the other a slightly more Mad-max created by Tom for a recent warehouse party.

I picked up the above little fellas in Seoul and they’ve done me proud over the last few months. Yes I splattered them in paint on one of my street art expeditions. I don’t believe in keeping things in glass-jar pristine condition. Wear them and love them, give them personality. I couldn’t help myself but those black patent ticks were screaming for crystals – I stick crystals on a lot of things – so out with the bedazzler.

Kudos to anyone who manages to track down anything limited edition in the trainer world these days. It’s a tough job but glad to see the somebodies below doing it. Some were papped on Brick Land when we did the fair. Others were papped at my mate’s BBQ in Brixton – Ltd edition trainer capital of London.

Picked up in Barcelona – I want, i love the studs and might stick some onto my black reebok classics as soon as I get my stud order in.

The above two are my friend Maria’s Nike ID and they are on fire – she’s a cool Venezuelan chic studying prop making – she made a giant goldfish.

Check out the skeletons on the print – since Mc Queen sent skeleton prints down the SS09 runways they’ve been cropping up all over the place. Rupert, who’s gonna be modelling my menswear range wears a skeleton suit when performing – isn’t he gorgeous, need to find out the name of his band. Will blog it when we shoot anyway.

Anyway, another report on skelo-style on the cards, back to trainers……

Ltd edition collaboration between Claw Money(great YC based brand) and Nike – feathers bang on for AW.

Not limited edition, in fact, discount in JD apparently but really rating the ruffles on the back. I don’t understand why nobody is pushing trainers in a more avant garde direction – only ones I’ve seen so far are Jeremy Scott Winged.

Jeremy Scott

I’d like some trainers with big fuck-off ruffles, or over-sized bows, actually yeah, that’s a great idea, I’m off to buy some gros-grain ribbon for my reeboks, dead nice.

Steve Strange style award goes to Daniel Lismore. We know fashion’s moving fast at present but he managed to bat new romantic eyelashes with Basquiat daubed eye-shadow whilst making a direct nod to Warhol with the soup and Marilyn wig – one step ahead on party themes for House of Blue Eyes, Warhol Party at Can Can Thursday night. This stylish boy has star quality, most of them were sequinned and stuck to his lips.

Check out our hot Warhol Jumpsuit – hideous.

Apparently 50 is the new 40 which doesn’t surprise me cause Mr. Strange himself didn’t look a day over it. Strange by surname, pleasant and low-key by nature. Fashion blogging is a funny thing as you wind up giving the up-down look to everyone like the evil fashion week people – you all know who you are(that’s not directed at ANYONE I know, you’re all amazing). At least now I have an excuse but the length and depth of the stare has increased meaning I look like a right bitch. Oh well out with the camera….

Bold Stripes

Vertical and horizontal stripes have gone bold again. We spotted this at Coachella in LA I think they look (see report)best when layered with other patterns, the lovely young man in the red and black pants had paired them with a swallow-print top.

I did a wearer trial on the black and white ones with my marching band jacket but you can buy them in our shop for yourself

Pirates

So obviously can’t comment on anything New Romantic without referencing pirates. I loved last nights pirates. I felt distinctly boreing in my pirateness. Last nights pirates were hyper-colourful, layered cols and patterns with a undertones of African Tribal. Textures and prints were layered to perfection. We spotted the lovely Martha on the underground and were waiting for a chance to jump carriages so we could pap her feather Mohican – luckily she was going to the same place as us so we had a nice chat along the way. Lanvin have done lots with hair feathers for AW(check Kingdom of style) but I prefer the punky extravagance of this take – how fun would it be with oversized studs all the way down the sides….

Smooth Criminals 1920’s

Ok so it’s started already jacko style is filtering through big time. Even before he croaked it and went to Never never land forever Man About World had spotted Brick Lane’s own Jacko – this is what started the Man and Marion friendship/fashion obsession.

Lace

Traditionally an AW fabric(relates to what I said in last post about ignoring seasonal attachments to fabrics), I’ve seen so much of this across london at the moment, plastic pants anyone??(actually yes seen that too). I like the assymetric placement of lace. Spotted lovely Nadir last Friday at Calling all Tribes birthday part in the MacBeth and he’d made a wonderful mask from sculpted lace which seemed almost like an organic extension of his cascading curls . Really strong trends for mask and balaclavas – now that all the nasty business with the Irish has passed – all over catwalks at for AW09 – another report to follow. Venetian style mask also worn front and back of head by Dan. Not for the faint hearted, onle for those with serious commitment to fashion causes – a whole lot of effort to manage these in vertiginous heels in a swelterting basement in Soho.. This trend seems a suitable reaction to the five minutes of fame culture. I think masks raise a lot of interesting contradictions between blog, club photography, fame, celeb culture, outward appearances and the underlying vulnerability in all of us….or maybe that’s just me.

Check out our stunning lace jacket.
Since gloves are so hot we’ve also done pretty lace gloves – we think these would look even nicer on boys…
And if you fancy a frilly lace top… this would look great over metallics

Tough Wrists

A tougher more punk influenced look than what we’ve seen on catwalks. Lots of layering on both wrists with manchettes underneath. Like I’ve said already layered up fingerless gloves, satin, bangles. It’s all OTT hands. In Victorian times a lady wasn’t supposed to touch a man without a glove on(unless it was her husband or brother) – I guess fingerless get round this problem quite nicely.

Dark Eyebrows

Two very different takes on a similar make-up theme here. Alejandro had a lot of looks going on – multi-layered rings, fingerless gloves, see-through top, big shoulders but those eyes….spot of for AW fully filled in black for added darkness right into those shady eye corners. Fashion and make-up is like armour at the moment..tough, intimidating and impenetrable but batter-ram your way past to discover the personalities underneath – it’s wonderful.

Another summer fur wearer. You heard it hear first. Not sure if practical is the right word but bare skin underneath makes this an altogether more wearable look and if you’ve got a body like that then why bother covering it up. It was the face and the hair that really caught my attention. Hair sculpted to 1920’s perfection and beutifully balanced out with dark new-romantic come-hither eyes. Despite the angularity and form to the hair and features the dark rose-bud lips gave this hard edged look an air of blood-bitten romanticism.

We felt a bit like this by the end of the night…

Off to Dalston super-store tonight hope to see super people. BITCHY LUV U X

 What an eclectic evening it was. We firstly bumped into this lovely Lady A wearing two of this seasons key looks, floral and jumpsuit. She’d broken it up nicely with a belt. Floral prints are great and really flattering despite the frumpy connotations. They actually break up large pieces of fabric and make the body look neater. Lady B was sporting a nice little prim, proper, preppy number. Black tights still very much on the cards. This trend is going to carry-on the whole way through summer which means compulsory leg shaving no longer required.

Bomber Jackets fast gaining ground on Indie and Electro scenes. Andy Warhol was visiting from New York – his look made me happy like a box of smarties. Clearly Summer started a lot sooner over there. Expect to see this bomber jacket look represented in our Store. We also bumped into Ewa, firstly drawn in by her bomber jacket with printed leather but this girl had it all going on. We’ve been rating Jem and the Holograms for a while and she was like Jem come to life – check out the cheekbones, glitter and hair. It’s all about strong cheeks going forward, tough times require tough bone structures.

Speaking of tough structures, we wanted to assault Caroline on her way to Filthy Dukes and mug those shoulders. Visiting from Australia, haven’t a clue how she managed to get through customs with them intact. Demonstrated how AW’s Gotham City shoulders can be worked back into something a bit more wearable. Paired with vintage 501’s and vertiginous courts. We also like a girl with Tits and Ass who isn’t afraid to exaggerate other curves too – a whole load of curvage going, the overall simplicity meant it worked seamlessly.

It’s probably a few seasons away but we’ve seen hemlines dropping to Nana(no that’s not Nano, no futurism here, think Ethel, Dorris, false teeth and blue rinse) levels in Tokyo and it’s starting to filter through here. It nicely counter balances the body-con aesthetic that’s been at the helm for a few seasons now although boys aren’t going to dig it. 

It’s probably a few seasons away but we’ve seen hemlines dropping to Nana(no that’s not Nano, no futurism here, think Ethel, Dorris, false teeth and blue rinse) levels in Tokyo and it’s starting to filter through here. It nicely counter balances the body-con aesthetic that’s been at the helm for a few seasons now although boys aren’t going to dig it.

Personal favorite for the evening was Jasmina from Italy who has made a dress out of meat and clearly doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks. We clocked her coming out of Micachu and the Shapes – an appropriate look for a fan of a band who have been described as “staggeringly inventive”. Hair, slighlty reminiscent of Opus III from the early 90’s(yup the 90’s again), had been styled by Fancesco another Italian friend. Shoes a great example of DIY fashion meets mediaeval courtier – we’ll be adding this to our favorite customising tool along with duct-tape and tulle. This girl had so many era’s and looks layered up we can’t wait to scratch the surface for more. We bumped into her again and shared a can of Stella when we were selling on Brick Lane last week – we’ll be having her round for coffee to find out a little more about how her fashion brain ticks. Watch this space for our first “Inside the Closet with…” report.

Update any old pair of shoes with bows and colour, prince charming…

So, as part of our USA trip we thought we’d pay a visit to Coachella. We planned it really well, booked tickets for the Saturday at 8pm on the night before, decided to head off into the dessert in our lovely little Chrysler – yup style all the way – stuffed our duvet’s from The Standard into a suitcase in full preparation for car sleeping and to top it all off -for that extra bit of luxury -lost our sun protection(difficult for two glow in the dark white girls). Managed to bag VIP – accents go a long long way in the states.

Twas an interesting festival – firstly Coachella is in the middle of the dessert, in the grounds of a Polo club, so after driving through scorching hot dessert with dry mouth and mirage eyes you arrive at this oasis of green grass and palm trees – but you can still smell the horse shit, but that’s kinda nice in a country way.

We got papped ourselves on the way in – must have been the fake noses and moustaches(new disguise required). But then we went on a little pap rampage. WE LOVED THE BOYS – ok we always love the boys but we really felt the guys were pushing it stylewise. 

It was all about new simplicity with the girls, think My Girl, Parenthood, Blossom and Beverly Hills 90210 – we liked it. It was effortless – very litte accessorising – something a Christmas tree like me had to come to terms with. Don’t think I can pull it off – been a bit to Pat butcher for too many years now. It was all about the teenagers – young, coming of age, peachy enough to carry it off.

Shit I’m broke I can’t even afford to go clean my clothes was another big look – kinda tied in with new simplicity but dirtier and more ripped up, very relevant to Europe where none of us can even afford a Sunday down the local laundrette.