Kelis is growing up...

From this:

to this:

Kelis in her new video Acapella directed by one of the founders of Dazed & Confused magazine, Rankin.  Liking the Givenchy headpiece even if she apparently stole it, it's very similar to one I've seen Tiffany Hsu of Feathers wearing out and about around London-town.

xx
Duck

M&S rocking the SATC look

This new M&S ad is genius!  They have been getting better and better over the past maybe two years, but I just saw this one on TV for the first time and it's great.  The Sex And The City references, the music, the Dannii Minogue - love it all!!  Maybe one day I'll like the clothes too...

Still shopping in the M&S food department,
Duck
xx

Shiseido Men

I have spoken before about my addiction to product-shopping, and my Achilles-heel of aiport lounges.  Well, once again Heathrow shot an arrow right into that heel...  I was only in the terminal 10 minutes and somehow a little shiny package had ended up in my basket.  Luckily it wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment shopping binge, I actually managed to get my hands on something I need -  a new exfoliant.  A couple of weeks ago I switched my Kiehl's herbal cleanser to a Dr Sebagh foam, which, despite the description, doesn't actually produce a foamy lather.  So, although it does cleanse my skin adequately, it doesn't leave that satisfying squeaky-clean feeling, or the smoothness and softness that comes from a scrub.  Enter Shiseido, and their Deep Cleansing Scrub for men.  Talk about satisfaction!  One use and my face is already beaming with joy :-)  It has three differently-sized exfoliating particles to really slough away any kinds of junk clinging to my pores, all blanketed in a velvety-smooth creamy paste with just a faint menthol scent.  Delish.  And the minimalist packaging is pretty nice on my bathroom counter too...  Maybe I'll be paying the Shiseido franchise in Selfridges a little bit more attention when I go shopping tomorrow :-)

xx
Duck

L'Officiel Hommes: Die Deutsche Nummer EINS

Eeeeek, so I guess apologies are in order for this being the first post of the week.  Well, if you're looking for apologies, please direct your hatemail to British Airways, or at least their striking staff who caused my flight back to the UK to be cancelled three times since Sunday.  A hectic week my end...

But there is a benefit to spending a lot of time hanging around airports - shopping!  I already mentioned how much I love to raid the duty-free shops, (and don't worry, I did pick up a couple of beauty products yet again) but this time my attention was focused on a stationary shop in the Düsseldorfer Flughafen which was brimming with magazines and papers from around the world.  The first I managed to get my greedy hands on, and the first I have read so far, was also the first German-language issue of iconic French fashion bible L'Officiel Hommes.  Now, some of you may worship at the altar of Vogue (in any of its international guises), but my mag of choice (when I can find it) is definitely L'Officiel.  And being able to read it leisurely in German instead of hacking my way through the French version was a bonus.  Perhaps one day I'll have the joy of reading it in English? (*Hint* *Hint* to the publishers there...).

Some photographic proof of just how fabulous L'Officiel really is below, starting with a simple but effective memorial to Alexander McQueen:

I know these gold Tom Ford solarium glasses are completely impractical, not just because I don't use sunbeds, but also because they are opaque, but still, who wouldn't want them hanging up in their bathroom? Below, I love this Givenchy outfit that Ricardo Tisci has whipped up for us. It's like a modern geometric twist on Scandinavian knitwear, and kind of looks like a giant baby-grow - exactly the kind of look I'm into at the moment! :-) If only Ricardo would design a kigu for me...  I'm also seeing a much more refined version of that Chanel bodysuit Leigh Lezark was sporting last year.

Above, this Raf Simon's jacket is calling to me, saying "BUY ME, BUY ME".  I can't quite decide if I prefer this more subtle use of fabric-blocking than his former attempts with blue neoprene on grey suits, but I know that really I actually want both, even if I can't afford them right now.  And finally, for your viewing pleasure this evening...

Is it wrong to be so turned on by Mickey?

xxx
Duck

WANTED: Raf Simon's leather biker vest

I saw DisneyRollerGirl did one of these OMGINTIML posts recently (that's OMG I Need This In My Life! for those of you confused little bunnies).  So here's mine.  I've seen a few of these kinds of thing around, but I think this beauty from Raf Simons is just what I need...

xx
Duck

Essener Dom

So it really hasn't been a very successful weekend in terms of work or sightseeing - yesterday I managed to fill the day with laundry and the supermarket and general pottering about, and then I went to a friend's party, the after-effects of which I am still feeling right now...  Major hangover!  Guinness-inspired shots are not a good idea (unless that's Daphne Guinness).  If you too are having a nice relaxing Sunday evening, trying to avoid anything loud and bright like I am, maybe you'll enjoy some photos I took of the cathedral in Essen last weekend.  At least the dreary Nordrhein-Westfalen weather shouldn't hurt your eyes :-)

It was a strangely attractive building.  Strange, given that the rest of Essen is either a dump or a building site.  You'd really think the European Cultural Capital 2010 would have maybe thought this wasn't the best year to decide to renovate all the buildings - last year perhaps?  Hmm...

Tschau
Duck
xx

Going Gaga over a headscarf

Well I've managed to waste another Saturday doing absolutely nothing except trawling through Youtube and attempting to make headscarves out of an old Hugo Boss scarf... But all is not lost, when looking for videos to get ready to for a party this evening, I came across this one above on Terry-James Lynch's Ferofero.com and it is AMAZING. Anthony BB Kaye from So You Think You Can Dance got a crew of London dancers together to make this tribute to Lady Gaga and Beyoncé's Telephone.  It has certainly raised the bar for amateur remakes. 

Oh yeah, so that headscarf...

Scarf from Hugo Boss, T-shirt from Burberry, cardigan from All Saints.

Later,
Duck

Julie & Julia, Anastasia & Duck

And so another day of work in Germany is over, and another evening spent alone in front of my laptop, munching miniature Kinder eggs and drinking cold tea by the bucketful.  Tonight, through the wonder that is the internet, I chose the movie Julie & Julia be my companion for the evening.  No particular reasoning behind my choice, it was simply a movie I had read about a while ago and never got around to watching, although I'm also a big fan of Meryl Streep.  But it turns out it was quite an appropriate selection, given that it is about a woman who starts a blog so that she can record cooking every one of Julia Child's recipes over the course of a year.  Basically, it's someone who is bored and turns to blogging to escape their humdrum life.  Sound familiar?

 

Meryl, as usual, was fantastic.  It's quite fascinating how she manages to take on another person's mannerisms and peculiarities so precisely.  She really made me fall in love with the bumbling Julia, even though I had never even heard of her before.  The actress who played Julie reminded me strangely of Miranda from SATC - she was a bit of a bitch too.  Surprise bonus of the evening?  Sue from Glee stars as Julia's sister!  God, I love her.

So where am I now?  Hungry, very hungry, and oh so wanting a boyfriend like Julie's.  Oh, and reminiscing with pictures of Meryl from her Devil Wears Prada days while I continue to work my way through these Kinder eggs...

Btw, the cutie is called Chris Messina.

xx
Duck

Photos from (in order) Surf and Turf, TVGuide, IMDB x 2, and Image Shack.

Oh no, he's not talking about that again, is he?

Sorry, sorry, sorry for going on and on about Jil Sander, but I've obviously got Raf Simons on the brain.  My latest purchase inspired me to check out their own website during my lunchbreak today, whereupon I discovered they have an online store...  Now, I know I said I'm starting to find myself more attracted to "grown-up" clothing, but there is something about this face-satchel that keeps me coming back for more:

The idea of those eyes "watching" strangers behind me on the street as the bag is slung nonchalantly over my shoulder is quite fascinating, and very attractive.  Maybe I'll never grow up (if Castelbajac, Kawakubo, even Miuccia P. never do, why do I?).  It comes from a series of prints used in the Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2010 collection, which found themselves also on trousers and tees:

I do actually really like the trousers as well, but I'm not sure I'd be willing to shell out considering how much use I'd really get out of them.  But the bag...  If only I had the £610 required at the moment :(  Maybe "faces on bags" is the new trend (can you imagine Vogue suggesting that as a current trend? haha), now that I think about the fluffy wonders at Giles's latest show:

Perhaps I'll wait and see what the fluffballs cost when they come out, but if that's real fur I imagine they'll be a lot more than six hundred smackaroos...  I wish I could set up a Buy Michael A Face-Handbag charity. 

On another note, apologies for the lack of quality posts this week, I'm a bit bogged down in a big project for the day job.  Fun fun fun.

xx
Duck

This is how I feel today

The weather report says it will be 22°C here on Saturday. It was -3°C last weekend.


Duck

Raf Simons for Jil Sander Autumn/Winter 2010

I promised on my last post about my latest purchase, I would devote a slot to Jil Sander's most recent womenswear collection inspired by Lara Croft and Anna Wintour, as designed by Raf Simons.  I've read quite a few articles and watched several videos about this collection, some of them heavily critical, but some of them quite positive.  It seems that even in the wake of the "new minimalism", as it appears to have been christened, some editors dislike Raf's idea of power-dressing for women.  Perhaps they find Raf's designs too similar to past minimalist trends?  Well, if you have been following his career in fashion you would recognise this, not as a trend, but as a continuous progression in his work.  His efforts for Jil Sander have, in my opinion, created a look that is, yes, pared back like Phoebe Philo's work for Celine, but at the same time more detailed/interesting in its construction (not to say I don't also love Phoebe's designs in a totally different way).

The elements of menswear tailoring and his combinations of fabrics and prints produce empowering workwear - there is a reason why this look was so prevalent in the 80s/90s - but they do not look dated to me.  This is a womenswear collection truly rooted in modernism and now.  It is simple and functional, but still powerful and energetic.  And with other pro-Simonites including Cathy Horyn and Tavi (who saw rrriot-girl influences), I feel in good company.

I can feel myself very strongly being drawn more and more towards high-quality simple clothes, with intelligent twists like these - am I growing up?  I'll need to glue-gun some sequins to my face to balance it all out.  I have dotted about some of my favourite looks from the collection here.

You can see the video of the show here, I love how Raf had the models walk straight at each other at certain points, like arrows hitting their targets.  Anna Wintour doesn't take no shit.  And right now, I am totally feeling the ponytails...

xxx
Duck

Photos from Style.com

Catherine Vanier exhibition at the Galerie Genevieve Godar

I forgot to post these photos a long time ago, from an exhibition of ceramics by the artist Catherine Vanier, held at the Genevieve Godar gallery space in Lille.

We bought the first piece, a beautiful large glazed ceramic box.  It was intended as a birthday gift for our father, but our intentions were not so pure...

xx
Duck

I should be banned from Heathrow

You might not know this about me, but I am completely obsessed with skin and haircare products.  Even more so than my love for fashion.  Wait, can that be true?  Argh I don't want to say that, but then again if I tot up how much I spend on a yearly basis (read: how much money I spend on my parents' credit cards) then it's quite possible Space NK, Liberty ground floor and Selfridges beauty counters make a lot more money out of me than any clothing stores...  And my bathroom is quite ridiculous, every surface is plastered with bottles and jars and tubes of all shapes and sizes. 

Needless to say, I simply cannot walk past an airport duty-free section without stopping buy to browse, and then shovel the pretty pretty bottles off the shelves and into my trolly, while averting the gaze of confused tourists looking for genuine bargains.  As happened last week in Heathrow's Terminal 5 aka airport shopping heaven.  The booty:

I picked up old favourites, like Kiehl's Creme de Corps and Ultimate Strength Hand Salve, as well as first-time buys like the Amino Acid Shampoo, Intensive Treatment and Moisturiser and Coriander Shower Gel.  The creme I find very useful, because mostly I find the skin on my body is not too dry, so this works perfectly as a light daytime body lotion for me.  The handsalve is a necessity for anyone who works near other all day and feels the constant need to handwash...  I have really liked the tester-size of shampoo I got, especially its tasty coconutty scent, and the shower gel does what it says on the bottle.  The real diamond in the rough as it were has been the intensive treatment, which has managed to transform my permanently dry and ashen elbows into the supple joints nature had intended them be.  I will also be slathering this all over my hands of an evening, before retiring to bed with cotton gloves on.  Yes, really.  I also got a Dr Sebagh foaming cleanser to try out, since I use a lot of his other products (serum, powder, moisturiser - you have got to try the deep exfoliating mask, it's painful, but oh so worth it!) and I am great believer in using the full range of a product, otherwise it won't work properly (i.e. I'm a sucker for marketing campaigns).

My best purchase - Tom Ford's Neroli Portofino eau de parfum.  I was using his men's eau de parfum a while back and although I loved it, I started to notice lots of other guys wearing it, and I like my scent to stand out from the crowd, so I had given it up for Boudicca's Wode.  Cut to me standing in Terminal 5 at 8am staring in at a wall of individual Tom Ford scents ("everyone loves it when I do "cut to me" - spot the reference), realising that I have found another way to stand out, if only I could prise that last 90 quid out of my wallet...  Well, I did it, but only for the Neroli Portofino.  Some of his other pure scents are pretty vile.  They smell like dusty libraries or, vomit, lilacs.  The Neroli, however, is one of those rare perfumes that manages to smell fresh and heady all at the same time.  It has some of the same elements as his men's odeur, but intensified and differentiated enough that I shouldn't be smelling it on my coworkers any time soon.  In many ways it reminds me of my old Aveda joshua tree oil pure-fume, which I can't find anymore.  The bottle looks very pretty on my overcrowded shelf too... 

:-)
Duck

This dog's had its day

Just saw Florence and the Machine's latest video for Florence's new single Dog Days Are Over and it's pretty amazing!  Shot very beautifully and yet simply, it really compliments the song.  The outfits are naturally fabulous, and my former LFW-fave Qasimi designed one of her dresses.  It's such a shame that Qasimi won't be making womenswear anymore, although I suppose that means more of the delicious Middle Eastern designer's duds for me.  Well, when I am rich enough to afford his couture-like pieces...

On another note, I'm totally in love with Florence's red, white and black makeup in what I'm guessing is her "Japanese" look.  An obvious look?  Maybe, but still graphically stunning.  I'll need to get my latest Youtube find, Shiva Queen, to teach me how to do it!  I swear one of these days I'm going to wake up a drag queen.

xxx
Duck

EDIT
I just spoke to Khalid AlQasimi who said that although he has taken a short hiatus from designing a womenswear collection, after a few seasons to allow his business to grow steadily, he will be back with his beautiful beautiful dresses pour les femmes!  And he also said that we should be looking forward to something special for the girls happening in the near future...

Ein echt schönes Hotel

The Heathrow Airport Sofitel...  so far the best hotel in an airport I've stayed in...  especially when you superimpose different images of it upon one another :-)

x
Duck

Song for the day

Right now I'm totally channelling the 90s, especially this CeCe Peniston song...

Finally, it has happened to me...
Duck
xx

Jil Sander from Düsseldorf

It seems like all my educational weekend plans have been ill-fated.  Yesterday, for example, I set off for Düsseldorf, intending to while away the hours in the K20 Kunstsammlung whilst escaping the bitterly cold wind, only to discover that it is under renovation and so is completely shut.  I would have known this if I had checked their website, rather than my not-so-trusty 2005 guidebook to Germany...  So, having seen already most of the other sites of Düsseldorf, what was I to do?

SHOPPING obviously, and on the world-famous Königsallee, no less.  First up, I popped into Stilwerk, a multistory shopping haven dedicated to kitchen implements, carpets and contemporary art - a mecca for interior design afficionados.  Beside fashion, cooking is one of my major pastimes, and I can quite easily spend hours in a kitchen gadget shop, especially if everything is so so pretty... Naturally, though, almost all the contents were outside my current price bracket, but I did find some inspiration for some jewellery in one of the art galleries.

I was very attracted to this painting above, created by painting directly onto the back of a pane of glass.  The curator was not keen on me taking pictures in the shop, so I snapped this reflective image through the store windows...  The pattern reminded me instantly of this Erdem dress from his Spring/Summer 2010 collection:

I am going to have a go at painting on glass when I get back home - I thought maybe I could combine some pretty colours on the back of a little square of glass, and then attach it to a ring or wear it as a pendant.  We shall see.

Besides also picking up some nice summer shirts and tops in COS and Muji (there isn't one where I live anymore), I found a delicious scarf in one of my favourite brands, Jil Sander.  It is very light and soft, almost translucent when unfolded fully, with a pale blue gingham pattern, so when I wear it out this summer I can secretly pretend I'm one of the Christopher Kane girls (wouldn't my mother be proud?).

And on me...

I'm thinking this is going to lead to a justification for discussing several Raf Simons for Jil Sander Autumn/Winter 2010 photos in my next post...

xxx
Duck

Runway photos from Style.com