It’s New York fashion week!

• “All the world’s a stage! Everything’s beautiful at the ballet! Life is a cabaret!” said Marc Jacobs backstage at his show.
• “I didn’t invite them, Madonna called three hours before and after working with her I couldn’t say no.” said Marc Jacobs referring to Madonna and Lady Gaga, his only VIP guests at his show.
• “Models are on drug-dealer time. You know, for them it just doesn’t exist” Adam Lippes (so is Lady Gaga)
• “The moon is the first symbol of schizophrenia, so this is why I connect schizophrenia with it because the moon has two sides, one clear side and one dark side” Purple magazine’s Olivier Zahm talking about Marc Jacobs show (I think!)
• “My God you need a shrink to understand what he said” Carine Roitfeld is confused too.
• “We asked Anna (Wintour) what she thinks about the no-pants trend. Her response: “I will never answer that question.” From The Cut Blog.
• “Could I not comment? …It’s got to be a publicity stunt or a crack-smoking board of directors?” Tim Gunn on Lindsay Lohan hired as artistic director at Ungaro.
• “Everyday people come up to me on the street & yell ‘I die!’ & I’m like, This is going to haunt me forever.” Rachel Zoe to WWD
• “I really want the phrase ‘belt it!’ to take off. Just belt it! It’s really the answer to everything.” Rachel’s assistant Brad wants to be haunted by belt it.
• “That was f**king beautiful,” was Mischa Barton’s reaction to Max Azria’s latest collection for Herve Leger.
• “Don’t Feed the Models” scrawled in magic marker in a port-a-potty door flung at Max Azria show.

Is it called a trilby or is it a fedora?

Whatever it’s called you know you need a chic hat this summer. On warm summer days toss it on with a trouser suit a la Gucci, with a ruffle dress a la Ungaro or throw it on with a T-shirt and leather skirt a la Moschino Resort. Or just take inspiration from gorgeous and chic Michelle Williams in the latest October issue of US Vogue and try one on with an amazing dress.
Yes, they have been around for a couple of seasons.
Which is why you don’t need to spend a fortune.
Which is why you need to rush right now like a maniac in your Givenchy heels to Target and snap up one in black or stone for an outrageous $16.
Of course it won’t protect you from the sun but you will look fabulous.
I call it cute.
$16 straw hat from Target.

What: A preppy oxford shirt
Which: You want a chic oxford preppy shirt this season. It should have a white collar and big double cuffs. It can be oversized man style but it’s better if it’s a bit fitted and sexy. It can be blue and white stripe but red and white or black and white colour combinations are cool too.
Why: Because whatever Carine Roitfeld, the editor of French Vogue, does has to be cool. Check her out on JakandJil and whowhatwear at New York fashion week. Because we all need a fresh shirt to add life to basics. Because a man’s classic shirt always looks sexy and sophisticated on a woman. Because with all the BOHO and tough chic around it’s nice to go classic. Because white next to the face takes ten years off. Because it’s cheaper than botox and doesn’t even hurt.
Wear: With stone chinos or a skirt. Wear with baggy or ripped jeans to knock the edge off the preppy. Wear with short shorts if you have the legs. Wear undone and sexy with long cuffs. Wear with seriously cool jewellery. Wear with a big dollop of irony.
Where: Saba, Country Road, Farage, Herringbone, or sneak into any men’s stores.

Reasons for ModelCo Sunsponge self-tan:

• You are white, lumpy and pale.
• You need to cover up the cellulite.
• You need to camouflage the muffin arms.
• You are about to put on a sexy, short summer dress.
• It has fabulous ergonomically designed self-tan applicator.
• It’s streak free, non greasy and you can push it to get to all those hard to reach areas.
• Which means you don’t have to ask George Clooney for help. This is a good thing.
• Which means you can say goodbye to stained hands and gloves and mess on the white carpet.
• It has a delicious hint of cocoa butter.
• It’s so easy to apply you can do it when drunk or deliriously tired.
• Just wait ten minutes for it to dry and you can skip out the door. Glowing.

$49 ModelCo Sun Sponge from ModelCo and major department stores.

tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com

Tavi, a 13 year old fashion blogger who writes Style Rookie, has taken New York Fashion week by storm!. Describing herself as a “tiny 13 year old dork that sits inside all day wearing awkward jackets and pretty hats” according to Swide.com, she has been seen at Marc Jacobs’ show, at Rodarte, with Sophia Coppola below, and photographed on the street by altamira.com . She is also on the cover of the very cool POP magazine and in the current issue of Love magazine. Adorable!

• Elisabetta Canalis grabs George Clooney’s bottom… what?!! Just Jared
• On ‘Late Show With David Letterman,’ Matt Damon admits he jokingly told a reporter Clooney had a boyfriend. Popeater
  
• Matt Damon loves George Clooney’s girlfriend (well, he’s a man). People
• Don’t expect to “Facebook friend” George Clooney anytime soon. “I would rather have a prostate exam on live television by a guy with very cold hands than have a Facebook page,” Clooney quipped to reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival. People
• ‘Mischa Barton is still blaming her wisdom teeth for a trip to the psych ward. But then again she is crazy. ‘ Celebitchy via The Superficial
• Halle Berry: says Burgers, Not Baby, on Board! People
• Questions over Princess Caroline’s marriage as Ernst of Hanover is increasingly absent! Hello Magazine
• Jesus is right behind Madonna as usual for a date. Popsugar
• Rachel Zoe: I have too many shoes! What?!.. Us Magazine
• Lili Allen goes topless for another 5 minutes of fame in GQ. Who cares? GQ Magazine
• Sir Elton John’s hopes of adopting Ukranian toddler dashed. Hello Magazine
• Jennifer Aniston sings…
• Kanye West ‘to take time off’ after Taylor Swift incident.  5 minutes off? Hello Magazine
• Kelly Clarkson to Kanye: “What happened to you as a child?” Kelly Clarkson hopped on her blog. The Superficial
• It’s over for Avril Lavigne and her husband! Surprise ! People
• Burt Reynolds enters rehab. Yes, this is called news. Us Magazine
• Patrick Swayze dies at 57, Bless. Us Magazine
• Jessica Simpson’s dog is missing. This is called news. ( the breed is called malitipoo!. )Us Magazine
• Megan Fox is a “thankless, unfriendly bitch”. .” The Superficial
• Cate Blanchett looks like a proper Knit wit ! Daily Mail

I’m Down: A Memoir… by Mishna Wolff

‘I’m Down is a hip, hysterical and at the same time beautiful memoir that will have you howling with laughter, recommending it to friends and questioning what it means to be black and white in America.

Humorist and former model Wolff details her childhood growing up in an all-black Seattle neighborhood with a white father who wanted to be black!
“An authentically funny, truly transcendent work that makes other, sorry-voiced memoirs by a certain more privileged class of writer pale-pun intended-by comparison… Wolff’s focus, and the sweet soul of this terrific book, was on being accepted by her streetwise, wiseass dad, whom she knew loved her-and whom she loved-unequivocally.” -Elle Magazine

“As she tells you at the outset of I’m Down, Mishna Wolff is all white-nothing remarkable, except that her way cool father, “Wolfy,” thinks he’s black (he’s not). What follows is a funny-melancholy coming of age memoir [in which] Mishna searches for identity in her broken home, her snobby, mostly white prep school, and-most restrictive of all-her longing heart.” -O Magazine

“And you thought you had a hard time fitting in when you were growing up? Try on Mishna Wolff’s bizarre childhood for size…I’m Down explodes racial and cultural stereotypes with self-deprecating wit, wry humor and keen observation.” -Janelle Brown, author of All We Ever Wanted Was Everything

“Hilarious and sometimes tragic, Mishna Wolff’s book is the expertly woven tale of a girl caught between two lives, two races, and two classes.” -Christian Lander, author of Stuff White People Like

US$16.29 Amazon. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (May 26, 2009)

The Christmas List: Lickshot: A Photo Scrapbook… by Ben Watts

‘Lickshot is Ben Watts’s highly personalized scrapbook and travel diary. A triumph of lo-fi style, its pages are a delirious pastiche of gritty photographs, wonky Polaroids, and hand-scrawled graffiti, held together by slashes of colored tape. Its contents reflect the incredible variety of Watts’s photographic subjects from high school ice skaters, Brooklyn biker gangs, and lounging sunbathers to world-famous actors, supermodels, and today’s hottest musicians.
Lickshot includes photos of Heath Ledger, Benicio del Toro, Tobey Maguire, Rachel Weisz,, Lou Reed, Jay-Z, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, and Ben Harper. An interview with Watts by Vanity Fair editor Ingrid Sischy explores Watts’s background and creative influences. ‘ Cool!

US$36.50 Amazon. Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (September 2, 2009)

Economy Class:

Target
Always worth heading in here for great basics and amazing cheap but chic shoes.
My picks are:

• The grey print red/blue halterneck maxi sun dress in an almost a 60’s big floral cool print, $59. Love a maxi dress to toss on at the beach or poolside especially for $59. You can spend the $ you’ve saved on the Miu Miu flats.
• There is a lot of cobalt blue and I am so over it. Please do not buy more than one piece or you will be staring at it all summer. Let’s face it, it’s not even summer and I have had overload. So just pay a little $49 for a cotton jersey cap sleeve empire dress. Wear with choc brown heels.
• You want the cute cream linen over sized boyfriend blazer with ¾ sleeves that you will push up anyway. You can belt this and wear over shorts and with monster heels, or alien heels. Depending on your mood. $69
• I suggest you head to the swimwear department and check out all the fab caftans and maxi dresses: I like the black and white zebra print strapless maxi dress with shirring across the top. Cool. Wear with gold jewellery. Big fat chunky chunky jewellery and channel I go bananas Rachel Zoe.
• In the shoe department, while you hold your nose and not breathe in the plastic, grab a pair of the fabulous black gladiator heels with gunmetal studs and rivets and all sorts of things. Very Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte a couple of seasons ago. $49
• Buy the suede low heel wedge gladiators in tan or black now on sale $30… is that price legal?
• You should also buy the multi strap faux croc heels with a heel that is a very Fendi style kooky wedge but not. In black or tan they have a thoughtful back zip for easy access! $49
• Love the simple flat gladiators without any buckles or hardware, so simple and chic. $49. Checkout the shoes here .

Aldo
The good news? Aldo has just opened a store at WBJ which is my local. I am very happy about this as they do great cheap but chic bags and shoes. And now I see very on trend jewellery too. I see a lot of brown and black heels… My picks are:

• The flat snakeskin leather multi tie up the leg gladiator flats. Also available in gold, bronze and a few other colours. Not a lot of hardware on these sandals which is good. Must I tell you what to wear with gladiators? Everything! Don’t worry if you have cankles there are other shoes around that will look just as good. $99
• Checkout the black heels almost like a shoe boot: talk about tough! They have a buckle and a T bar but then a peep toe! Oh my, how do I describe these mad shoes? One word: Killer heels.
• Love the simple chic brown T bar snakeskin heels with no visible hardware so a little more understated than the usual suspects, $229. In shoes this season it’s about making a statement so the shoes standout and lift your boring wardrobe out of oblivion and into groovedom.
• Buy the classic heel pump with a pointy toe (like an Aladdin shoe) and a hidden platform. It’s a chic concrete cream patent or black these are very chic on the leg and give the illusion that the legs are longer. Love that! $199
• Check out the lace up heels with a pointy toe and thin heels and a cut out. Love a lace up and that will take you through to next season. Also remember add opaques with any of these open toe shoes until it’s too hot and you have to resort to fake tan to cover up these lovely legs. $119
• In the bag department I see bog oversized tote $99, and the concrete cream patent tow handle slouchy tote $59. cool
  The jewellery here worth looking at especially the big oversized drop chandelier earrings $39 and the black jet cuff $39
  

Portmans
Looking better here and so much more fashion don’t you think? Always great accessories. There is of course a lot of cobalt blue… My picks are:

• The very nice black or cobalt blue silky cami tank: it has a chic little twist of fabric at the front but then a scattering of very cool black buttons and black jet sewn along one side, $99. Wear this with everything you own. No kidding. Toss under a jacket for work, wear with your fav harem pants, love it with baggy boyfriend jeans. Love it under a blazer.
• Love the cool navy and white cotton stripe ticking jacket. It’s a little shrunken and has ¾ sleeves so it’s quite tailored. This is good news. This fitted look will give you a nice shape and will look great with a baggy pant. Wear over a Tee in a colour for a big clash. $129
• We all need a short sleeve jacket in summer: Buy the black short sleeve cap sleeve jacket, it’s single breasted and pretty tailored. Excellent for work don’t you think? You can wear it over a Tee or just with nothing under it (as long as it does up and you are not flashing). $129
• Buy the sexy black over sized Tee or mini dress/tunic with a scattering of squares of sequins, $99. You know it’s about wearing sequins back with something low key to dress down the glitz. You are not Dolly Parton. Pity isn’t it?
• Love the soft racer back cotton singlet top or tank with a chic sheer trim around the sleeves and neckline now on sale $24. Love the sheer chiffon detail and it adds an edge to a simple top. In lots of colours you will live in these.
• You want the fabulous black twill sleeveless vest: it’s a longer line and will look great over a tank with a skirt or peg legs now on sale for about $74. Layer over a white Tee.
• There is a grey or black leather waiters jacket with a hook and eye fastening at the waist, $199. Leather is a huge story next season so why not invest now? Just do it.
• Checkout all the fabulous accessories such as the faux brown/caramel snake skin shoulder bag $49. Cool.
  

Business Class:

Saba
It’s looking pretty conservative and safe here - where is the groovy Saba we know and love? Best buys are:

• The black one shoulder satin jumpsuit. Ok, so maybe that is not boring but that seems to be it in the fashion items. Love this: You need to wear with heels unless you are very slim Jim. Also with one shoulder tops keep it simple with the accessories, love stacks of bangles. You can toss a jacket over this if you must. A blazer in stone is chic over black, non?
• Buy the simple double layered silky tank but they seem to have a very scoop neckline. Go for black or taupe, $169. These are handy to wear under blazers and I do like the idea that they are a little loose to sit over the muffin top. Wear with higher waist peg leg pants and tuck in very gently.
• For work you might like the black heavy jersey sleeveless dress with a twist detail at the front and a straight skirt, $249. It’s just a good office dress that you can toss on and forget about.
• Of course love the dark jeans here as well as the well cut stone chinos. Wear rolled up with heels and with sequins to a poets sleeve blouse, $189.
• Love the chic light grey marle textured Tee with a V neck: this is in an almost oatmeal colour although it’s called grey marle and in a lovely textured fabric. Another great top to wear as a basic with harem pants, a fabulous belt and heels. Slip on with your grey marle track pants with heels. $89
  

Max&Co
Love this store because the quality is there and it’s so chic! Best buys are:

• The simple linen tiered sleeveless dress in a purple (going from dark to light). It’s pretty and easy to wear back with stone or a lighter cream.
• The silky shirt dress in a brown/black/cream camouflage floral print is so chic if you want to do a print that is not too pretty pretty. Wear with monster heels and a tough belt, $375.
• The brown leather bomber jacket is so gorgeous you know you want it. Everyone needs a leather jacket. $875
• The dark blue almost navy denim tailored blazer is fabulous and so easy to wear. Just don’t wear with jeans. Toss it back with cream or stone or bright colour. Oh, Ok Black is also good with navy. $456
• Love the tan leather peacoat/jacket with brass buttons is a beauty and worth buying. Wear it at least for a couple of months until it gets really hot. $1095
• You want the very pretty navy/cream floral chiffon paisley maxi dress: it has tiered layers and cap sleeves, $535.
• Love the classic black dresses in all sorts of shapes from a simple narrow sheaths to cute casual shift dresses with a broderie anglaise inserts from $350.
• The bags here are fabulous and you will see the Balenciaga style bag in back with silver details, $675.

Gorman
You will find some cool funky clothes here that are in an unusual mix of fabrics. Just opened a couple of weeks ago in WBJ. My picks are:

• The grey silky cotton peg leg pants: a must buy. If you don’t want to do black all the time then grey is a great alternative that will still give you coverage and is just as versatile. The peg leg pants are here to stay so shut up and go and buy a pair. They are the new shape and there is no going back. $229
• You want the dark denim A line (or is it bell shape?) skirt with no visible stitching. It’s a great little versatile skirt that you can wear all year round. With knits and boots in winter and now in summer with choc brown heels and a cobalt blue top. Toss on a simple tank and a blazer and bob’s your uncle. $199
• Buy the cool ombre tie dye blue linen full skirt: it has a dark blue hem and then grades up to paler blue. You can toss on an orange top with these. Love it with your big killer heels or just cute flats. You could even wear a sharp blazer with this to give some shape. $229
• Check out the black harem pants in silky fabric about $229. Of course you can wear harem pants: You can and you will. Once you get into them you will love how comfortable they are. Talk about room to move. Wear them, love them, thrash them this season and say goodbye. Aurevoir next year.
• Love the simple cream and blue stripe long sleeve Tee, $88. Love this back with a print in the same colours.
• Please buy the black crinkle silk tiered dress with shoe string straps and a very loose A-line shape: it will be a winner. Talk about easy dressing you will wear all summer! Just add some red patent heels or your favourite gladiator heels, $249.
• Love the orange chiffon blouse with poets sleeves: it has wide neckline that does up with a tie. Wear with a pencil skirt for work but sex it up with heels and jeans when you go out for dinner. Great if you want arm coverage and still want to feel cool in summer. $229
• Checkout the fabulous halter neck stripe dress in a cotton: the stripe is almost a smudgy Missoni stripe and so chic! $229
• Adore the fabulous orange cotton halter neck dress with a drawstring waist in a contrast stripe: it’s so lovely and fresh for summer and has a rope halter neck. Love this with flats or heels and back with a blazer. Please don’t wear a cardigan unless it’s an over sized Olsen twin look. You are not Michelle Obama. Sorry $199.
  

First Class:
It’s New York fashion so let’s head straight to Style.com for the reviews and videos of the best shows….

Marc Jacobs : it’s flat shoes and ruffles!
Style.com reports: ‘Marc Jacobs is tired of seeing young girls wearing black and studs. “It’s not such an individual expression,” he said after his terrific Spring show, the underlying message of which could’ve been, duh, be an individual. “If last season was a trip back in time to the eighties,” he continued, “this was a trip to the theater, the ballet, the opera.” But which shows?
Some saw The King and I in the models’ topknots, pointy upturned-toe platform sandals, and Aladdin pants, but it could just as well have been something else. The references, as usual, came at head-spinning speed. There were touches of Zandra Rhodes in the petal-y handkerchief dresses dotted with pearls, and nods in the direction of Jacobs’ beloved Japanese designers, especially Rei Kawakubo, in the form of brown and navy suits tweaked with curlicue ruffles. And don’t forget the all-Americanisms; Jacobs loves sportswear, both the twisted and the traditional variety.
The girls carried big woven bags on long straps, some with foot-long fringe, and a fanny pack made an unlikely appearance, too. That’s what’s so genius about Jacobs. He can take the most uncool accessory, spin it around, and give it instant fashion cred. Likewise, he can pull references from everywhere and nowhere, and, filtered through his febrile imagination, they have the shock of the new. This show didn’t hold together the way his brilliant collection of a year ago did, but that may have been the point. In any case, Jacobs might say, it beats another tired lineup of black leather and studs.’

Rodarte

“It’s like they’re on psychedelics, the way they describe things.” That was Sonic Youth frontwoman and Rodarte fan Kim Gordon speaking about Kate and Laura Mulleavy before their show today. The seemingly demure sisters from Pasadena, California-who studied art history with the eminent scholar T.J. Clark, the well-informed Gordon noted-have indeed crafted their own baroque dream world (cue the dry ice that created a poison mist over a runway strewn with black grit). It’s an imaginary world that’s ferocious rather than precious, not to mention ferociously influential. And with its relentless gothic overtones, it’s particularly in tune with the moment.
This collection, which married primitivism to the sisters’ ongoing interest in futurism, was one of Rodarte’s most fully realized. If the silhouettes were familiar, the awe-inspiring construction of the garments represented the apotheosis of the techniques-in knitwear, printing, draping, and pastiche-that the Mulleavys have been refining season after season. Or, as Laura put it: “We ruined everything.” In other words, they aged, painted, burned, shredded, sandpapered, and otherwise destroyed all of the materials-including grungy scraps of plaid, plastic, cheesecloth, wool cobweb, crystals, macramé, leather, and more-until they bore only traces of what they had been originally. (Even their footwear collaborator Nicholas Kirkwood’s vertiginous heels are now so extravagantly studded that they barely resemble shoes-as a couple of teetering models discovered to their peril.)
The idea that someone could “be scarred and still beautiful” was the collection’s leitmotif, and it was about as far from some banal notion of “tribal fashion” as you could get. So where did this hallucination originate? A trip to Death Valley, and a corresponding obsession with singed land (which there is sadly too much of in California lately), sparked the sisters’ imagination. That somehow evolved into a tale, part Mad Max, part Tim Burton, of a woman burned alive who is transformed into a California condor (you begin to appreciate Gordon’s point). It’s not exactly a good-night story-but it’s a powerful one, and it was expertly told to a rapt and ever more adoring audience.

Prawn Masala Pappadums… adulterated from The Australian Women’s Weekly

This is fabulous as an entree served on pappadums or quite delicious as a main course lying on soft bed of rice.

You will need for 4 dieting metrosexuals, 6 for an entree, 25 models.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
500g peeled prawns, diced
1 teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lime juice
vegetable oil for shallow-frying
18 mini pappadums
1/3 cup plain yoghurt
¼ cup coriander sprigs

• Climb out of towering stilettos.
• Take 2 panadeine and feel the blood come back to your feet.
• Slip into a chic Hermes leisure suit.
• Pour a huge glass of wine. Gulp.
• jot down in Smythson Diary to join AA next week.
• Pop on Prada sunlgasses.
• It’s time to chop the onion!
• Thank the lord you had your eyelashes dyed and there is no black streaks of mascara running down your face.
• Squeeze the limes and make a gin and tonic while you are there.
• chop the garlic into the size of your diamonds. I know. Sad that they are so small.
• Give the prawns a quick chop: think the size of a buckle on a Jimmy Choo bag.
• Now heat a frying pan over a medium heat.
• Pour in the oil and toss in the onion and garlic and cook until they soften and become translucent as a Chanel bag.
• throw in the prawns and sprinkle in the spices.
• Cook them ( this is the idea!) and stir until the prawns are totally cooked and beautifully coated (like Burberry) with the lovely spice mixture. Think Beyonce with a tan.
• Add the gorgeous lime juice and set aside so they can relax.
• Find another frying pan (George Clooney can do the washing up) and heat more oil. Ignore calories.
• Fry the pappadums about 5 seconds each side or until puffed up and golden as Puff Diddy at the MTV awards. Or boil some rice.
• Pour another wine.
• Let the Pappadums drain on absorbent paper so you can get into your bikini.
• Now plop a small spoonful of the fabulous prawn mixture into each pappadum.
• Accessorise with a small dollop of creamy white, chic yoghurt and scatter a sprinkle of divine green coriander leaves.
• Fabulous!