Fashion news

SYDNEY:
Grab SENSO shoes at below retail prices this Friday and Saturday. Heels, flats and sandals in all sizes. Prices start from just $30!

When: Friday 5th & Saturday 6th of February 2010
Where: 20 Hutchinson Street, Surry Hills
Doors Open: Friday 5th: 8am - 7pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

MELBOURNE:
There's nothing over $20 at this Melbourne shoe sale. Labels include Gamins.....of course, Top End, Django & Juliette, I love Billy and many more...

When: Friday 5th and Saturday 6th February
Where: 100 Cromwell Street, Collingwood
Doors Open: 9 am to 5 pm Friday and Saturday.

There is nothing more sumptuous than a big knit to swathe ourselves in during those cold winter months. Jenny Kee’s electric kints and Stella McCartney’s more recent runway revolutions have cast knit wear as the statement making winter essential. We have revived our grandpa’s old wooley button up cardigans and our granny’s crochet bolero’s and now a new label is re-reviving them in an entirely new fashionable quality. Standard Issue are the latest New Zealand cult label to cross the seas and hit our shores bringing nothing but their finest wool offerings with them. Designer, Laura Ellery, has created individual yarns that mix soft merino and coarser alpaca yarns to create warm woollies with an effortless nonchalance. An innovative lace hole texture gives traditional crochet a makeover whilst fine Italian cashmere ensures we feel as good as we look!

Each traditional piece is spliced with a touch of the unconventional and finished with a stitch of individuality. This is knitwear, literally at it’s finest. Standard Issue is the type of wardrobe staple you want to live in and with its natural ethics you actually could, all their fibres and dyes are one hundred percent natural, ensuring that comfort is at a premium.

Their Winter 2010 collection, which will be stocked in selected boutiques including Ruby & Min, Tuchuzy, is made up of charcoals, blacks and creams and spliced with a touch of royal red that will have us looking classically chic.

Standard Issue are certainly a stitch above the rest when it comes to savvy knitwear that will outlast the cold and the trends for winters to come. So combat the cold in one of these woolly warmers and radiate your inner warmth in style.

http://www.standardissue.co.nz

Those who have entered the underwater inspired cavern that is Romance Was Born's concept store and fallen in love with the seafaring realm can now proceed to stampede down Glenmore Road in Paddington. Stepping into the oceanic dream world created by the creative duo Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett was nothing short of experiencing your very own underwater fable. Beautifully named "Pearl's Dream", the concept store was sure to make lovers of deep sea treasures and haute couture pine for the shell embellished heels amongst an underwater garden of other numerous gems. Yet hefty price tags shall no longer impede our aquatic treasure hunt! The collection at 'Pearl's Dream' is now retailing at a 50% markdown.
Sale lasts until 31st January when King Triton reclaims his jewels...

2a Glenmore Rd, Paddington

Over a century ago a little known British author rowed up the river Thames with three young girls and was so delighted by one of them, he wrote a book about her. The story included waist-coated rabbits, tyrant monarchs and smoking caterpillars, and has been printed and adapted to film more times than the Queen of Hearts herself felt the need to behead small blonde children. And now, Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland is inspiring two fantastical and wonderfully decadent lines of jewellery to coincide with the release of Tim Burton’s adaptation.

Former Disney animator turned jewellery designer Tom Binns is releasing two collections which revolve around embodying the stunningly over-the-top realm of Wonderland. Inspired by the “weird little story� and Carrol’s surrealism, the CDFA honourary has collaborated with Disney to release six high-end luxury pieces for fine boutiques including Bergdorf’s and Barney’s in the US. Innovative and daring, Tom Binn’s creativity signals a perfect fashion interpretation of both Carrol’s and Burton’s aesthetic.

The pieces are inspired by the story’s characters, including the Red Queen, the White Queen, Alice and the Mad Hatter. It’s not too hard to imagine the Alice bracelet as a mish-mash of treasures strung together whilst falling down a rabbit hole. Staying true to his signature mix and match of different materials, an abundance of charms, chain and leather make up this covetable piece.


The equally embellished Queen necklace evokes an air of vicious royalty with its predominant red beading, safety pins and interlocking horns. Only for those who wish to rule by making a sharp statement!

The high-fashion ‘Tom Binns for Walt Disney Signature’ line will retail from $1000 to $2000, whilst the more affordable ‘Tom Binns for Disney Couture’ collection will be available in department stores and speciality boutiques. The 35-piece line, designed in collaboration with Lucas Design International, will retail from $100-$500.

No word on when they’ll be available down under, but lucky US folk can get their mitts on them come March 2010.

Strap one of these pretties by Little Doe on your noggin and watch all the boyz come to the yard.

  

The BAFTA award winning Bristol-based teen drama Skins has, since its inception, shamelessly dabbled in once taboo issues of homosexuality, eating and personality disorders, post traumatic stress, substance abuse and the odd dash of narcissism (make that a generous dashing). Sometimes though, all you want to do is a bit of oggling. For me, it's mostly directed at Season 1 and 2's resident psycho-come-darling Cassie. After every episode (watched at least twice) I pause for a moment to bask in my very genuine obsession with the show and think, man, where did she get those pale pink glitter stockings / jewelled tuxedo / ankle fitted wrist watch?

                                     

Estelle is the new label dominating when it comes to classy yet simplistic style. The Sydney based label now in its second season is surely going to be one to keep an eye on in the future. Their second collection for AW10 has a sense of purity about it that evokes visions of the isolation that often comes with the dead icy cold of winter nights.

Inspired by the tranquillity of nature that nourishes the human soul, Estelle has a transposed that very feeling into garments that embody that certain sense of someone who is “happy in their own skin.�

Soft tailored dresses in black, charcoal and white emanate a notion of stillness that is accompanied not by an eerie darkness but a sheer serenity. The winter colourways are spliced up with refreshing hints of cream and navy that denote a sense of sophisticated charm.

Each piece in the coherent collection is made to be layered but not in that haphazard chic way rather in a sophisticated elegant way. Sheer tops can be layered over the opulent shift dresses to add a dimension of classically refined confidence.

Estelle has elevated all the basic wardrobe staples into the perfect balance of structure and fluidity to ensure that when they are layered amongst each other they are nothing but charismatically smart.

Standout pieces look set to be the long sleeve georgette top and the spandex version in cream, which both look divine with the slouch, dresses and gathered skirts.

So mix it up this up and coming winter with Estelle and combat the bitter cold with a harmonising look of serene stillness.