Eurovision 2010

Hei hei!  As you might know, I spent the weekend in Oslo with my mother and cousin, visiting the sites, enjoying the deliciously expensive food, and going to EUROVISION 2010!  I have always watched Eurovision at home with my family, but never dreamed I would actually attend the mecca of euro-camp that it has become...  Until mater owl offered me the tickets, that is!  Oslo itself was great, and I took many many pictures with my new Canon 500D (yes, it finally came) which I will blog about soon enough, but here I wanted to share with you my snaps from the fateful night that the UK received many a nil-points...

In the town-centre, they had erected a "Eurovillage", which was really just a stage for performances during the day and a place to sell merchandise (of which I may have indulged...).

The final of the contest was actually held about 20 minutes outside of Oslo, in the Telenor Arena (i.e. Norway's O2-Arena).  On the bus out (you're not allowed to park your car there), we met several Eurovision geeks - is there a euro equivalent of Gleeks? - who told us all about their previous trips to 14 such events!  And also about letters of complaint they had sent to the BBC about the UK's entry this year...  When we arrived at the stadium, we were confronted with a sea of glitter, sequins, and national flags.  Not exactly fashion week, but still pretty exciting.  Sadly, the combination of seats up in the gods and a lack of telescopic lens meant I couldn't get pictures of the acts up-close, but I think you can get a pretty good idea of the number of people who attended (18,000 of us, all participating in the Europe-wide "flash-mob"), and the brilliant lighting displays the Norwegians had put on for us:

Just in case you didn't know, the winner was Lena Meyer-Landrut from Germany, with a pretty awful song:

xxx
Duck

Drink me! Drink me!

Took this picture of Vera enjoying a natural daiquiri in the sunshine last week.  If you're ever looking for a place to have drinks outside in Oxford, I'd recommend Quod.  Notice, she is sporting my fab-u-lous Jean-Charles de Castelbajac anchor chain.  It might just be gold-painted plastic, but I love it.  There was a horrible period a year ago when I thought I'd lost it for good, and I'd walk past the Conduit Street store, all folorn-looking.  But then one day, there it was, under my bed!  Good times...

Talking about good times, I'm jetting off to Oslo tomorrow, to see the Eurovision song contest on Saturday!  I've lost the camp drama of it all since I was an ickle tot, and now I get to enjoy it in all its live, sparkly, glittery, skirt-whipping glory.  So exciting!!  But, of course, this means there will be no blogging until at least Monday night, thanks Ryanair baggage allowance!!!  Now, back to packing...

... but before I go, my favourite song from last year...

xx
Duck

Geek chic

OK, OK, OK, so I'm always a bit late to jump on the bandwagon (or have things moved on so far now, I'm actually cool again? like how Jack eventually went so gay he became a lesbian?), but I had a go at styling myself up all geek-chic.  The result, I think, is pretty much Facehunter-esque (cringe), but I'm still liking it...  I wore my classic pale blue Marc Jacobs shorts, which are sadly developing a very worrying hole that I will need to get seen to, with a short-sleeved Alexander McQueen shirt.  I love this shirt because it is practical, stylish, and actually one of the few things from his collections that I could have seen Lee wearing himself - considering he mostly dressed like this.  The button-down collar ads to the preppy look (btw, I recommend checking out Igor+André's painting of McQueen which featured on the front cover of the Sunday Times Style - go bloggers!).  I accessorised with an Eva London Oxford graduation ring (designed by my dearest friend and sworn enemy, Anna Jewsbury), a vibrant green organza Issey Miyake bow-tie to match the emerald (and my eyes), and to top it all off, some cheapo geeked-out tortoise-shell glasses from Topman.

What else does any intelligent gent need?  Of course, a textbook on Quantum Mechanics (the classic by Cohen-Tannoudji et al.) and a pretty-in-pink pencil.

Wow, there was a lot of linking today...
xxx
Duck

Wig out

When Vera came to visit, she brought with her a fabulous electric blue wig that her boss's wife had gifted her.  Talk about a cool boss!  It turns out we both actually suit bob-cuts!  I really like how the images turned out.  I think there's a Terry Richardson vibe going on, without the underlying paedo/pervy subtext...

Vera's wearing my Christopher Kane for Topshop top (I couldn't bring myself to part with the >£200 for the original primate one) and a unicorn headpiece I crafted out of a Happy Meal toy, and I'm wearing my new Katie Eary t-shirt.

Do you think I should dye my hair blue?  I know everyone's into the pastel-colour thing at the moment, but I'm liking the vibrant look :)

xx
Duck

The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu

I came across this Desmond Tutu doll in an African charity shop near my office.  There was a whole display of them in the window, a pretty impressive sight.  And I knew immediately that this would have to become my new kooky fashion accessory, at least until I can get my hands on a Giles SS10 dino-bag, or an AW10 fur-ball bag.  I did investigate sewing a zip into Desmond's back to make him into an ickle bag, but I decided against it.  I'm just going to carry him around à la Brideshead Revisited, as an inspiration for me to work towards my Nobel prize...

Vera snapped we working Desmond in a BStore oversized t-shirt and a copper fabric necklace by Kapow Wow!. 

And now back to trying to cure my hangover - it is not a good idea to go for drinks after work on a Tuesday...
xx
Duck

Photos from Jak and Jil and here.

Fashion in motion

As I plan my June trip to Paris for men's fashion week (first emailed invitation asking for a Paris address arrived this morning! - better get sorted out with my hotels...), I am also starting to think about outfits to take with me.  So I have started to rummage through my wardrobe, looking for forgotten old gems that I can combine with new pieces I'm still buzzing about.  Case in point: an old, almost military-style, jacket I once wore with my kilt when I used to do it the traditional way, this time paired up with my new Natascha Stolle for ASOS chiffon trousers and the Katie Eary tassle necklace.  I think this outfit, while managing to remain sombre in its colour palette, has an element of fun about it - particularly how the trousers and the tassle react to movement.  Even Anastasia wanted in on the fun...

If the heat-wave we're experiencing continues, I'm not sure how appropriate this look will be for Paris in the summer, but perhaps it will be a useful evening outfit?

By the way, the foot's on the mend  - today I managed to walk without my compression bandage on.  Hopefully, I'll be A-OK in time for EUROVISION!!

xxxx
Duck

Sailor in the sunshine

This weekend in the UK has been HOTT.  Not just a little bit hot, but A LOT HOT.  I'm talking dirty, sweaty, sticking-to-a-plastic-seat-kind of hot.  At times it has been unbearable to stand in direct sunshine.  This is, of course, very unusual for the British Isles, and, along with a visit from my friend Vera and her trusty Canon 400D, has encouraged me to venture outside for a sunny photoshoot.  This might be why I haven't been blogging all weekend, but it was all in a good cause - the production of better quality outfit posts pour mon petit blog ici!  In this first set of photos, Vera and I were inspired by a sailor look, mainly because we walked past the très cute Oxford Marina earlier in the day.  Once again, the jumping photos are back...

I am wearing a striped top with roll-up sleeves by Agnes B, a gingham scarf by Jil Sander, navy pleated shorts by Mjölk, and some trust blue Converse.  My sunglasses are from Oliver Peoples, and the shiny blue delight of a disco-bag is from Pauric Sweeney.  Socks are from Pringle.

Unfortunately, shortly after these photos were taken, I tripped in a small hole in the field, and sprained my ankle badly.  Cut to me in A&E three hours later being told I need to stay off the foot for at least a week, and no more jumping for a fortnight...  Oh well, it's all for my 'art'.  But this does mean that the rest of the shoots were somewhat more 'static', and generally involved a lovely cotton tubi-grip :-D

xxx
Duck

I've got me mojo back

Haircuts are a difficult issue in the Duck household.  A new one is always preceded by several weeks of ummming-and-awwwing, and is usually followed by a desperate dash to the bathroom for a quick shampoo and restyle.  Very rarely have I gone into a hairdresser's and come out with the look that I wanted.  Which is why I am surprised that recently, I've realised my hair has totally got its mojo back all of its own (to steal a phrase from Cheryl...).  The cut seems to have grown into a shape that's working for me, my beard is starting to get a good length to give my face new-found definition, and a couple of overnight coconut oil treatments have left my hair follicles smooth and shiny.  Which is why, of course, that I have started to look at longer haircuts - perhaps now I am ready to return to that dangerous length I haven't had since I was a teenager?  In particular, I am very interested in this look below, by TommyTon, by way of GQ.com.

I don't think I'm quite ready for the colour (although it would be nice for my hair to match my jacket), but it's the shape I like, as well as the manicured beard.  What do you think?

Of course, all this means I am going to have to grow out the front/top, and so, inevitably, I'll have to visit the dreaded hairdresser to get the back cut.  I just hope I don't come out looking like a certain red-haired lesbian again...

xx
Duck

The New Minimalism: Food for Thought

Can fashion teach us principles to run our lives on?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But I know that looking at the sheer simplicity of this Céline ad in my copy of AnOther inspired me to transform the usual clothing mess that is my bedroom (above) into the ordered wardrobe, a thing of beauty (below).  Will it last?  Hmm, fashions do change quite rapidly nowadays...

Lina Tipnis

The sole show which I managed to make it to through the PR mess-up at London Premier Indian Fashion week was Lina Tipnis (starting 45 minutes late...).  Lina produces both prêt-à-porter and a diffusion line specialising in "western wear", and is apparently stocked all around the world.  The show started with a corny voice-over (seriously) explaining, confusingly, that although the collection was called Istanbul, not Constantinople, it was, in fact, inspired by both incarnations of the famous Turkish city.

There were the very obvious Middle Eastern references like harem pants, tassles, and splashes of gold and "ethnic" prints. 

Some of the dresses even had a print based on an old map of Istanbul...

I do wonder - who are these dresses designed for?  They don't really appeal to my European tastes, but then again, a couple of them are so obscenely short that I can't imagine many could wear them in a country where people burnt effigies of Shilpa Shetty just for kissing Richard Gere in public...

I took some videos but my editor is playing up at the moment, so I guess you'll have to twist your head to the side to be able to view them :)

xxx
Duck