Sarah Leora.

Sarah Silverman from East Hampton (US) is my age (no - seriously) and in the short space of just over a month, has gotten her very own label well and truly off the ground (every little girl's dream!). With her youthful and flirty approach to her fabrics and a little Juliet Capulet, I think Sarah and her label, Sarah Leora, is well on her way to bringing back the carefree femininity that floated down runways before Freja's androgyny came about. I asked Sarah to share with you guys some of the key points in her work and where she's headed. Keep ears open for this super sweet name, ladies and gentlemen:



The Beginning
I launched my clothing line, Sarah Leora on September 19th 2010. I'm still in high school but I'm totally ready for the fashion world! I haven't been to design school but maybe that allows me to think outside the box rather than going along with the rules. This is my first collection and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.

The Vibe
Sarah Leora is all about being feminine and girly at the same time. I think there's too many tomboy imagery in today's fashion. I'd like to bring back the feeling of femininity.



The Inspiration
For my first collection I was inspired by iconic french actresses like Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve. I was also inspired by this French movie with Catherine Deneuve, Le Parapluies De Cherbourg, it's filled with beautiful colors!

The Future
I see myself living in New York City or maybe Paris. I'll probably be in my third year of college and very stressed! My clothing line will probably grow and big department stores will start carrying my clothing. That will be amazing!

The Bloggers
I think Bloggers have helped the fashion community in a tremendous way. It's easier to learn about new things recognize new people

Photo credit: Aluna Jacove

Thanks Sarah! Definitely one to watch. Also check out this video for Sarah's first collection that I find super cute :)

On a side note, I am fantastically in love with that first Princess Dress! So old world, but fun.

Check out more of Sarah's work HERE.

P.S. Tomorrow will be the unveiling of the first of a series of super exciting events. The second being me finishing exams forever on Wednesday. :)

*love*

xx

"On Halloween, the parents sent their kids out looking like me" ~ Rodney Dangerfield.

From left to right: Opening Ceremony Sheer Black Gown - Lydia Jewels Onyx Spider Rosary Necklace - Cristiana Rosario - INGLOT Flutter Eyelashes - Hurley Wilderness Drape Singlet (☏ 1300 139 719) - DL&CO Skull Candle - Christian Dior Kohl Liner - LK Jewellery Animal Ring - Tilkah Atonement Necklace - Mawi Skull Bracelet from FrockShop - American Apparel Black Nail Lacquer - None The Richer Coffin Knuckle Duster - Paul Smith Myriam Sunglasses - Meow Girl Day of the Dead Skull Necklace

I'm going to have to apologise in advance for the random inclusion of the most beautiful dress of my life - this won't be the first. I'll be force-fitting it with everything I say from this moment on because my obsession with it (formal formal formal) is way to huge to get past its Opening Ceremony glory :) so let's pretend it's got something to do with Halloween (and that the last couple of sentences actually make sense).

As is tradition with my relationship with Halloween, I'm in at the last minute to give you trick-or-treaters some inspiration as you rush out the door with pumpkin-shaped candy baskets. Is that what you do in the States? I have no idea. All we do in Australia is have ginormous dress up parties... like Mean Girls. Yep. Says it all :)

I think we do forget that Halloween is meant to be about supremely scary things, so I put together this college of gothic, brooding bits and bobs that will hopefully pique some interest over the Halloween weekend.

Happy Halloween!

P.S. If any of you have been following my CAPSLOCK tweets, you'll know that very exciting things are about to go down. Watch. This. Space.

P.P.S. The Addams Family is awesome.

*love*

xx

Who are you wearing? Dalia MacPhee.

I'll make it no secret that I am so excited to be interviewing the dress extraordinaire, Dalia MacPhee, whose gowns, frocks, and party party pieces have graced red carpet, after Dancing With the Stars, after magazine cover and shall we throw in another red carpet or a thousand? At some point, you've all admired her daring vibrance or muted sophistication on Amber Riley (yeah, Gleeks), Miss Universe, Audrina Patridge, and Maiara Walsh to name just a few. Dalia's latest collection, however, is so much more about the other-worldy class of a woman - while I do feel like a star just looking at these shots, there is definitely a fresh new femininity and playfulness in each piece.

I'm a ridiculous amount in love with that rosetted first dress, as well as this one, and with a formal on the way, I think I'll definitely be looking to Ms MacPhee for inspiration:



Hi Dalia! How’s it going?
It's definitely Going!!! How are you??

How did you start out as a designer?
I grew up in an apparel family. My parents had clothing stores across Canada and brought me on all their business trips from a very young age. Today they might call that "Child Labor"... Back then they called it "Shut-up we need sixteen Dresses by Midnight!!!"

Who's the girl who wears Dalia MacPhee?
She comes in all ages, sizes, ethnicities, classes, and sometimes, gender... ;) (but that's just in Hollywood). She's someone who loves to feel beautiful and is moved by timeless elegance.

You've been dressing every big star, name and face I can think of! Congratulations - where do you think that'll take you in terms of your design work?
I think it will bring more awareness to the line and hopefully some of the causes we're involved in... I love to create, and love to make women feel beautiful... but my first dream is to help facilitate change in the world... and I think involvement with the Big Stars helps to being attention to the company and what we stand for.



Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
Oh boy, I'm not sure if I know where I see myself in a year!! :) Ideally, I see this being an international brand that stands for something Good in the world.

Which is your all time favorite Dalia MacPhee dress?
That's Like asking me which of my children is my all time favorite... and since I'm writing this in my showroom and all my gowns... er em... "children"... are present... I would have to say... I have no favorites!! However if we grab a drink later I may spill the beans on which one I love the most!!

Who’s your favorite style icon of the moment?
Hmmmm... That's actually a tough question... I'm not sure who I would answer on that, although I will say my current personal fashion icon of the moment would be Valentino...
I am moved by his story, his passion, his talent, and who he is as an individual.



What do you think of the new wave of bloggers coming through?
I think it is fantastic. This is a new Era... An Era of major change, a time for anyone who has a strong voice and vision to come forward, express their opinions to the world and make a difference. In terms of commerce, bloggers are helping to promote small businesses that you otherwise may never have heard about-- and I think that is Amazing...

One of our previous interviewees, designer Gail Sorronda, would like to know: What’s your favorite conspiracy theory and why?
Oh boy.... Well.... I believe 2e have already found a cure for cancer but the Government, FDA and the Major Drug Companies have kept if from us in protection of the billions of dollars of Revenue they would loose in Drug Sales.

And last of all, what’s a random question would you guys like to ask the next interviewee?
I'd like to know if you only had a month left to live, and money was no object, what would you do?



Thanks so much Dalia!

It's so wonderful to see someone in such a great creative headspace and position being so down to Earth.

Check out more of Dalia's amazing dresses and gowns HERE - and just quietly, her previous collections are well worth the flick-through too!

P.S. I've had a fair few of you emailing about my blogging for the LG Voice of Fashion - so glad you're liking what we have to say! So if you haven't already, be sure to stop by and leave a comment or seven on what the LG Bloggers have been working on :)

P.S. I just thought share that I have some insanely (I don't use this world lightly) exciting things in the works... and that my exams finish next Wednesday. I think that combination calls for a lot of celebration!

*love*

xx

Fairy |fe(ə)rē| n. a small imaginary being of human form that has magical powers.

Something a little (a lot) different today. I hadn't shared any sketches with you all in quite the long while (last time being HERE) - much to the dismay of Miss Jes. I finished this one a few weeks ago, but haven't managed to get it scanned (thank you so much, Chrissy, for your help on that front!) until now. This one is based on the Dolce et Gabbana FW10 lookbook, though the intense flowery heads would have been better allocated to Spring.But hey - leave it up to D&G to shake things up a little.

Maybe it's a good thing for all you Northern Hemispherers to be thinking about happy flowers as you get closer to Winter :)

Anyhow - I do hope you all enjoyed the sketch! And as soon as these exams are done, I'll aim to share one every week or two. Deal?

How have all your weeks been going? So close to Friday... I'm going to a local Moonlight Market for a little bit tomorrow night - hopefully there'll be some treasures!

P.S. thank you so much for those of you how are sending such sweet tweets and DMs over at Twitter!

*love*

xx

SHAPE SHIFTR: J'aime and Meghan.

SHAPE SHIFTR really is one of those It-Labels, shall we call them, that all the rest strive to be. It wasn't until I interviewed the girls behind the bam-pow-wow (J'aime and Meghan) that I realised how recently their design work began gracing store-after-store, blog-after-blog worldwide. The fact that this went unnoticed is definitely a credit to the pair's seamless design work, so evident in their latest Hieroglyph collection. You guys may have noticed that my four walls against velvet have gradually come down over the past couple of months, and the red and blue (starring above) have taken the remains and thrown them out to sea to keep Paul the octopus company (R.I.P.).

And as always, masters of sheer blacks generally get a pretty significant tick in my good books :)



Hey guys! How’s it going?
Busy, busy, busy… But great, thanks!

Can you tell us a bit about how SHAPE SHIFTR came about?
We got together summer 2009 and was brain- storming and talking fashion. We were thinking of starting a fashion blog, and then was like fuck it, let’s just go for it all the way and start a clothing line. The first collection was 2 styles that we sold to pixiemarket.com. We each made one design and went from there. The first mini-collection did so well, a lot of other stores started reaching out to us. The next season we tripled the amount of styles, and so on and so on!

What is the SHAPE SHIFTR vibe?
Geometry meets grunge meets contemporary.



Borderline obsessed with your latest collection! The cuts are incredible – what was your main inspiration?
Thank you!
For our last collection Hieroglyph the main inspiration was Ancient Egypt, cats, the pyramids. How it was really about adornment of the body, mummies, preparing for the afterlife. Alcomey, mysticism, cryptic codes, layers and 90’s grunge.

Where do you want to be in 5 years time?
Still making what we want to wear and still shifting forward.

Which are your all time personal favourite SHAPE SHIFTR pieces?
J’aime: the nude and black paneled bodysuit from ss10 and leather panel shorts.
Meghan: long black button up top and long sheer maxi skirt from our latest collection.



Who are your current style icons?
J’aime: Christina Ricci
Meghan: Erin Wasson

One of our previous interviewees, designer Belle of Belle Bijoux, would like to know: What was your personal fashion moment last season?
J’aime: My Dolce Vita Pela wedges in grey.
Meghan: My ripped up jean shorts and all my sterling rings.

And last of all, what’s a random question would you like to ask the next interviewee?
Dead or alive whom would you want to be dressed in your brand the most?



Thanks guys!

So, friends - is it love? Or is it love :) So transeasonal too with those perfect colour palettes. Can we hear a massive "Hells Yeah" from Southern Hemispherers?

Check out more of the collection and general SHAPE SHIFTR badassery HERE.

*love*

xx

Ida Sjöstedt.

First impression of Ida Sjöstedt's work? Absolute mastery of white. Second? Absolute mastery of lace. And third? Where is this incredible location! This first lace dress is like one out of an ethereal badass fairytale. Same goes for Ida's entire SS11 collection - the sheer beauty of simple shapes with extraordinary textures, opacities, colours. Ladies and gentlemen, lace and silk. Lace. And. Silk.

Scroll down and you'll all absolutely scream for wanting these beautiful dresses! I for one, have my sights set on the aforementioned white. It is Sjöstedt. A little vintage, feminine, street, stomping and desperately in need of a clunky pair of heels and two handfuls of rings. Flower garland? I think so.






Thank you so much, Ida, for sending these through! So much time yet to be spent admiring this lookbook :) Check out more of Ida's genius HERE.

P.S. Thank you all for the luck and love for my music paper :) I think it went well!

*love*

xx

"Regina, you're wearing sweatpants. It's Monday." ~ Gretchen Weiners.

Junk Clothing Dress worn as top - f.rau Zipper sweatpants - Tony Bianco Dodge Boots in Ash Suede

I managed to get an outfit post in today, finally!

These sweatpants are easily the most incredible pair of sweatpants I've ever worn (nothing to do with the fact that I've never owned sweatpants). I think the zippers speak for themselves - can I hear a wow? All the way from Berlin by the amazing Martina of f.rau, with whom you're all familiar - high waist, draped jersey, and not one, but two zippers on each leg (one of which is double-ended)? Martina, you're a genius. And I am in love as always. f.rau f.rau f.rau.

I've been looking for opportunities to wear this Junk dress in different ways, and hello perfection of sharp shoulders with drapey pants! Power shoulders are never going out in my world. Balmain eat your heart out. I think I'm wearing this ensemble more often. Who says no pain no gain?







Apologies for the inconsistent lighting and sleepy eyes - Sydney's overcast yuckness didn't clear up this morning. Gosh, with all those leaves you'd think it were autumn! But of course got sunny as soon as I finished shooting these - now it's the most perfect Spring day outside. It also disturbs me a little how far my jaw goes (refer to photo 1).

Music paper tomorrow afternoon - off to do a practice one now!

P.S. Who likes tweeting, Bloglovin', and Lookbook.nu? Click, click and click.

*love*

xx

I want KANDEE.

I've been in touch with all things bright and eye-catching at KANDEE shoes, and I'm delighted to introduce the very talented creative mind behind these amazing colours. As you can tell already, KANDEE is much eye-candy as it is foot-candy (so much candy) and yet manages to look sophisticated and really well put together. Personally, I can't quite get my head around how quality leather can be so bright, but hey - if you're one who's wanting to get your footsies Jak&Jil-ed, these are the babies who'll do the job for sure!

Hi there, how’s it going?
Very well thank you! We are extremely busy sorting out samples for the S/S 2011 collection.

Can you tell us a bit about how KANDEE came about?
Kandee was established on a Sunday afternoon. I had always been interested in fashion and thought that there was a gap in the market for women’s shoes which were well designed, excellent quality at an affordable price to the average shopper. From there, I designed some shoes for the collection – however, I’m no artist! If honest, I would say my drawing skills were zero! I used my words to describe what I wanted and then we came up with designs which I was happy with. The factory then completed the samples for the first collection to which we then grew on and learnt a lot along the way. So the overall idea just seemed to come to me. I believed in the idea enough to make it into a reality.

What is the KANDEE vibe?
I would say the Kandee’s vibe is very fun, unique, but we are suitable for any woman, who has the confidence or wants to portray the confidence through fashion. Plus of course our vibe is candy!

I’m loving the brights and super high heels – where did you get the idea from?
I discovered a gap in the shoe market. I had sour sweets one day and I thought, hey, what about neon shoes! I then looked at different designs and leathers that other designers had done and a majority of it looked very cheap and wasn’t well executed, apart from the very high-end designers which weren’t of course, available to every woman! So I decided this would be a perfect trend to set and my instincts were correct, as neon is very big!

Where do you want to be in 5 years time?
I see Kandee as a lifestyle brand. So I would like to see accessories and other apparel added to our collections! And I’d love Kandee to be stocked in major retailers worldwide. So watch our twitter page and website for details/news. @KandeeShoes (Twitter) www.kandeeshoes.com (Website).

What shoes are your personal favourite KANDEE shoes?
I love every single shoe in the collections. We have some very exciting designs coming up for S/S 2011 – so watch this space!

Who would you most like to see wearing your shoes?
I would like to walk down any high street in the country and see any female wearing my shoes.

Our last interviewee, designer Belle of Belle Bijoux, would like to know: What was your personal fashion moment last season?
I like to concentrate on the up-coming seasons!

And last of all, what’s a random question would you like to ask the next interviewee?
What’s your favourite Kandee?

How fanatastic are they! They'd be so much fun wear all year round - I'm loving the intense studs... peanut brittle anyone?

Check out more of KANDEE, stop by HERE.

P.S. Thank you all for entering the gift card giveaway! I will be announcing the winner tomorrow :)

*love*

xx

PAUL & ALICE.

PAUL & ALICE's latest collection is the most adorably sophisticated piece of Seoul, Korea, I have ever seen. It almost makes me jealous of my not going into Autumn with the beautiful sharp vs. soft that happens in every look. The layering is as fantastic as that gorgeous peach colour and I'm so obsessed with and her hair and lipstick is like the last jigsaw puzzle. In the least cliché way possible :) How much do you want to own all these outfits and have them on rotation for the entirety of Winter!







Check out more of PAUL & ALICE right HERE and their online store HERE. Some good jaw-drop material right there!

P.S. Last day to enter the fabulous $65 gift card giveaway!!! Quick! Click HERE.

P.P.S. If anyone was following my tweets last night, you'll know that I snagged a pair of beautiful TOPSHOP Wisteria wedges at an awesome price - so excited for them to hurry up and get here!

P.P.P.S. I will try super hard to get in a break and do some outfit posts soon! Thank you all for the all the love and luck for exams - I love you all :)

*love*

xx

Isajon.

I have, once before (however briefly), mentioned and displayed the pure elegance of Isajon PARIS' jeweling work (check it out HERE), but surely it wasn't emphasised enough. So today, we have a fully blown love declaration to the incredibly intricate work that manages to find a way into anything you'll ever where. With the onset of Summer or Fall, depending on what hemisphere you're in, it doesn't even matter - Isajon's pieces are so stunningly transeasonal. All I can think of to describe them is as icing on a little black dress. No makeup or clutch or shoes will give the Parisian class of these babies!

Looking at that gold leaf cuff now, I'm thinking it make a gorgeous pass-it-down-through-the-family piece.

Time for me to get shopping :) Join me?



How awesome is that snake belt!

For more of Isajon, click HERE.

P.S. Tomorrow is the very last day to enter the wonderful giveaway! Get cracking! HERE.

*love*

xx

Freeze.

So I decided to take out my black contacts today...

Kidding :) I wish I naturally had ice grey eyes! I can pretend I do with these super cool and kind of intimidating coloured GEO contact lenses that my lovely friends at YesStyle.com.au sent me to show you guys - they arrived today so I shot them for you this afternoon when the pretty Sydney sun was going down. Of course, when I'm inside studying, it's the greatest day ever outside.

Contrary to what it looks like, I actually do have both of them in, but because of the intense lighting (don't you love blinds and sunshine), I don't even think I qualify as Two Face. Did Cruella de Vil have different coloured eyes? Now I'm thinking Halloween costumes. A couple of friends and I plan on having a belated Halloween after exams so I think these fit quite fantastically. YesStyle has a bunch of other lenses that are awesome for Halloween too - if I didn't have these, I'd totally bust out cat-eyes... or snake-eyes... or white eyes - they blank out your iris and make people scream.

And there's also a lot of other colours - so if you fancy having pink eyes, that's fine too :)

What are you guys doing for Halloween? We don't really celebrate it here, but it's an excuse for a party so it ends up happening anyway.



My hair is a bit of a joke at the moment... mid-exams-syndrome. Awesome.

Be sure to check out some more crazy contacts HERE!

P.S. Only a couple more days to enter the fantastic GIVEAWAY, so get clicking and tell the world!

*love*

xx

The buzzard thought.

From left to right: Ladyburd Assorted Makeup - RetroSuperFuture Basic Puma Sunglasses - Trend Boutique Fringe Cross Body Bag - Seventh Door Skeleton Key Connector Ring - Supré Stargate Printed Long Pants - Acne Atacoma Wedges - TOPSHOP Cutout Bustier - Guerlain KissKiss Lipstick in Orange Mambo

After Sara showed me this shot of Lara Bingle cruising around Sydney this afternoon, I was a bit inspired to mash up these wonderfully tortoise-shelled RetroSuperFuture sunnies with my new obsession with the Fendi SS11 makeup - Peter Phillips is god.

I'm also loving the wonderful print on these pants too - immediately open to mixing with other textures (namely the equally wonderful fringes of the clutch). Now that I'm looking at this collage, it looks pretty incoherent in the way I've arranged it all, but really if you picture it on some runway-stomping girl with a topknot bun of slightly frizzy hair, then you're on the right track. If not, I suggest you buy me everything pictured so I can show you :)

I guess I am a little behind the Acne eight ball in obsessing about these wedge boots now, but I really don't think they were obsessed about in the right context when the were being universally obsessed about earlier this year (if you can make any sense of that sentence, tell me and I'll do a victory dance). They look so much edgier with trousers like these, or tapered ones. Or pegleg ones. If you just wear them with a Little Black Dress, it's just like... black dress with cool shoes. I prefer WOW TROUSERS with WOW ATACOMAS.

I'm clearly very tired.

Off I go to sleep!

P.S. US and Canada lovelies, don't forget about the GIVEAWAY!

P.P.S. we the LG Bloggers have been very busy over at the LG Voice of Fashion Blog! So check out what we're screaming about HERE.

*love*

xx

Lisa Brown.

When the lovely Miss Alana from over at Lisa Brown sent me these lookbook shots, I had heart palpitations. If that's allowed to be used in this context. My weakness for chiffon and sheers, and anything that floats, is no secret - so I was dying like Rachel Zoe. I've always been a fan of the way Lisa's designs flow and how the colours compliment the dreamy atmosphere. Not to mention how stunning this girl is.







Note - that Poppy dress (number 2) comes in like 500 bagillion beautiful colours... I need them all!

Check out more of Lisa's work HERE.

And US and Canadian loves, don't forget to enter the wonderful gift voucher giveaway! HERE.

*love*

xx