Life & Style Blog - Trends
16 May 2013, by Rachael Ciccarelli
If there’s any time your feet need protection against the elements, it’s right now: it’s cold and wet and ugly out there. But apparently you haven’t all got the memo: and I’ve got to tell you, every time I see someone in the city walking around in havaianas, I have to my stop my inner-old crochety Italian woman from asking them if they want to “catch death in those bloody things” before wrapping them in a cashmere shawl. So let’s be clear: this winter, we’re looking at ankle boots and sneaker-eqsue designs as our main feet protectors, and you’ll find plenty of both kicking about in stores.
Sneakers are fabulous for casual wear – they afford an easy, edgy cool to your look and they’re EVERYWHERE. Ankle boots are probably a bit more versatile in that you can wear them day and night, dressed up or down or even to work – but buy a pair of each and you’ll be set (and if you wear those thongs out again I’m going to hit you with a wooden spoon).
Sneakers
Image sources: (1)Hanson, $59.95, Novo; (2)Buckle creeper hi-top, $59.95, Sportsgirl; (3)Goldie hi top, $39.95, Sportsgirl; (4)Hippie, $69.95, Novo; (5)Converse one star DX ox, $49.95, Myer.
Boots
Image sources: (1)Dean cowboy boot, $79.95, Novo; (2)Victoria Boot, $129.95, Sportsgirl; (3)Mel by Melissa red ankle boot, $52.46, Myer; (4)Sosie ankle boot, $149.95, Nine West; (5)Selena boot in soft gold, $199.95, Witchery.
What do you think? Comment here
Category: Featured
Tags: Fashion, Myer, Sportsgirl, Trends, Witchery
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10 May 2013, by Rachael Ciccarelli
Image source: Grace Coddington bang on re: The Met Ball, and pretty much everything else in life from thevine.com.au
Of all the opportunities to ogle celebrities on the red carpet, The Met Ball has a special place in that burning black hole where my heart is supposed to be. Why? Well, probably because I am a terrible person who revels in the misfortunes of others – but inherent evils aside, I love The Met Ball because it’s a perfect storm of couture and costume: an annual attempt for celebrities and fashion industry big wigs to straddle the divide between red carpet couture and whatever theme Anna Wintour throws at them (I like to imagine that she sends millions of minions in Wintour wigs and Prada sunglasses out into the stratosphere to literally throw the invites at people before laughing, and leaving with a swish of their cape). This year, the theme was punk (from chaos to couture) – and, well, wow. After digesting the red carpet looks, I wondered if any of these people or their stylists had even seen a punk who didn’t rhyme “sk8r boi” with “later boi”. 95% of the attempts were SO off the mark, it was laughable. And we love that.
Heavy eye makeup does not a punk make
Image sources: Lena Dunham from, justjared.com, Ginnifer Goodwin from justjared.com, Emmy Rossum from justjared.com.
Hollywood types reading this, take note: you can’t just bang any old black lace dress, load up on eyeliner, get some braids and call it anarchy. Dig a bit deeper, please. And Ginnifer? I’d check around to see whether your makeup artist has a vendetta against you. Maybe ask one of your P.As.
Literally infuriating
Image sources: Miley Cyrus from, justjared.com, Madonna from huffingtonpost.co.uk , Tommy and Dee Hilfiger from hauteliving.com.
Going all literal on the theme is not what we’re after, MILEY. Gosh. Way to ruin what could have been a passable dress with that Dragonball – Z nightmare of a ‘do. Did you guys just front up to your local costume shop and ask them for all the studs they had? And MADONNA. PLEASE. I expected more than this from you (like, literally more. You are too old for me to give a tick of approval to your wax job on the red carpet).
Downton Abbey called…
Image sources: Linda Evangelista from, dailymail.co.uk, Katy Perry from justjared.com, Tabitha Simmons from vogue.com.au.
Dame Maggie Smith is FURIOUS that you stole her season finale look, Linda. There was a surprising amount of celebrities dressed like they thought “historical drama” and “punk” are interchangeable – and to be fair, when you take a good look at Vivienne Westwood… maybe they got confused.
Did you not get the same invitation as us?
Image sources: Zooey Deschanel from, justjared.com, Kate Upton from instyle.com, Heidi Klum from justjared.com.
I can only assume all of these people hired a stretch hummer and gatecrashed The Met on their way to a convention called “Clothes and your sleep disorder: helping cure insomnia with black tie dress.”
Ahahahahahahhaha
Image sources: Beyonce from justjared.com, Kimye from kimkardashian.celebuzz.com, Elizabeth Banks from justjared.com.
I would like to thank Queen Bey and her humble servant Kim Kardashian for this hilarious, be-gloved prank. You two and your new best friend and jazzy-showgirl Elizabeth Banks really know how to cheer a girl up.
Poor unfortunate souls
Image sources: Allison Williams from justjared.com, Florence Welch from justjared.com, Taylor Swift from justjared.com.
Last I checked, Ursula was more of a deep-sea octopus witch bent on claiming the voices of the innocent than a punk icon. (And a big, deep belly laugh at any attempt by Taylor Swift toward punk. That stylist knew they could never win, so apparently they just gave up).
What do you think? Comment here
Category: Featured
Tags: Fashion, Trends
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24 April 2013, by Rachael Ciccarelli
Image source: Diana Vreeland’s iconic red living room from stylebeat.blogspot.com.au.
OK. Considering my never-ending quest for the aesthetically appealing, I know you’re not exactly going to be blown away by the revelation that I like living spaces as pretty as I like my outfits. BUT I DO, SO DEAL WITH IT. And don’t you think it’s fair enough? I don’t know about you guys, but I feel totally uncomfortable when I’m surrounded by disorganised clutter – things that don’t sit well together, hideous colour combinations. My magazines are stacked by date and my books are colour blocked. I get itchy when I see laminated posters outside of a teenager’s bedroom. You can only imagine how happy I was to learn that our insane landlady had painted our entire house in blue and yellow by hand (including cabinetry). My roommate likened me to an arctic fox when I declined several apartments on the basis that they had bad light in the living spaces. You get it: I feel calm when things look nice. I am the personification of that emoji with the streaming face of tears and open weeping jaw when my house is ugly. Living spaces affect your day to day life. They change the way you function. It’s just how things are.
As part of my aesthetic-dependency, I often find myself in a never-ending trawl through inspiring homes throughout the world. Hours have been lost, eyes glazed, dreaming about impossibly white light-filled spaces with just the right amount of eclectic bits of décor grouped in varying sizes (and in odd numbers). Sometimes the daydreams are about rich, wallpaper flocked rooms in warm colours and often the daydreams are about walls full of books and fat couches from the eat-you-half-alive family – but within the daydream, I always try to take little tips from each to employ now or at a later date, funds pending. Let’s take a walk through some dream rooms, shall we?
Image source: Dining space from Elle Décor.
While that awesome raked ceiling and what looks like a reclaimed industrial light fitting are doing most of the work here, I love the indoor ferns in dark pots on the dining room table. I’m also partial to that little old soapbox propped up on the sideboard with a statue in it – a great way to frame anything 3D.
Image source: Living room from imactoy.com.
Once I can convince my chippy-brother to build me a house for free (and that house is somewhere with a cold climate totally unlike ours so I won’t be burned to hell while I watch TV), this is definitely what my house is going to look like. But anyway, how great are those sneakers on a cake plate? I love bringing more sculptural bits of wardrobe out into my living spaces. I think that masking tape rug is hilarious and clever, I thoroughly enjoy the three-tiered glass bedside table used as a coffee table, and I think the daybed with the coffee table using stacked magazines as legs to prop it up is great.
Image sources: Hastings day bed, $1746; Milton sideboard, $1995; Glass frill edge cake stand, $119.00; all from Laura Ashley.
And in a very similar vein, we have pieces from Laura Ashley to get the look from these two rooms – homewares shops are always the best place to begin whenever your house needs a little lift.
What do you think? Comment here
Category: Featured
Tags: Homewares, Trends
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04 April 2013, by Rachael Ciccarelli
Hilarious TLC images sourced from style.mtv.com, things-we-heart.blogspot.com.au
Don’t shoot the messenger, but they’re back. They’re positively, absolutely back. That uniform of painters, 90s teens and Mario Brothers alike, the overall has crept it’s way back into fashion - probably using those straps like little denim grapple hooks in the night, scaling the prison wall of un-chic and into the minds of sleeping fashion designers, whispering quietly: “Remember that time Kate Moss wore us with one strap down? That was fun, right? Let’s do it again, it’ll be great.” The return of overalls was sealed when I saw a pair of white denim shorteralls in an Arabella Ramsay look book a year or so ago. Adorable youths seeing grunge fashion for the first time – they cannot resist the playful allure of the shorterall. It’s like a playsuit, but denim! Like shorts, but with a pocket on the front! Straps! And in a way (The way being when you’re under 25 and your legs are approximately the same width as my arms), I think they’re more flattering than the full length overall: you don’t lose your entire silhouette in a swathe of bulky, hitched up denim. BUT. The full length overall is here, too. I know it is because both Alexa Chung and The Man Repeller are wearing them constantly with varying degrees of success. On the plus side, we’ve got this:
Images sourced from manrepeller.com, thestylemethod88.com
Playful, fresh – a little androgynous. I particularly like blazer layering and fringe shoes on Man Repeller, it’s a pretty successful way to sex-up the overalls without wandering around with one breast pointing at unsuspecting strangers. I am also a total sucker for stripes, and therefore I thoroughly enjoy Alexa’s St James tee under corduroy. These are all good. I can live with these.
And then there’s Maude:
Images sourced from manrepeller.com, mydaily.co.uk, peoplestylewatch.com
It takes a lot of misshapen denim to make Alexa “legs of a malnourished child” Chung look like my mum when she was pregnant with my little sister in the late 80s, and yet HERE WE ARE. I honestly cannot look at any of these – particularly the pair with the V shaped panel in the front– without thinking “who put those photos of mum on the internet? She will die when she finds out about this”. These are just SO UNFLATTERING. Leandra in the leather pair – dear lord. Too many trends, dancing way too close to what a bondage daddy might wear to the farmer’s market on the weekend, and SO MUCH CROTCH. Examining these – it seems I’m OK with the short and cannot handle the body-mutilating shapes of the long pairs, but enough about me - how do you feel? Does the thought of overalls make you want to retch, or are you running straight out and grabbing yourself a pair to skip about in on the weekends?
What do you think? Comment here
Category: Featured
Tags: Fashion, Trends
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