Signposts

Sadie

• Sadie’s Wardrobe is a classic “what I wore” blog of the type I love so much. Sadie is a cutie with a penchant for perfect vintage pieces. Look at her above; is this not delightful?
• Deena over at Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too has done a really in-depth post on the Beth Ditto for Evans collection, with the classic “changing-room photo montage”. I love the dedication.
• Daydream Lily is a beautifully-designed image blog run by a photographer with an eye for beautiful, atmospheric pictures. If you like Loveology, you will probably dig this. It directed me to the website Aspiring Couture, which features these amazing wedding dresses from ecofriendly designer Blushless. Although there is no law stopping people from wearing white dresses every day, these are thousands of dollars worth of couture-standard dress. I wish I could see bigger pictures.

Have a good weekend.

S

Personal stylist dot com

Image: guardian.co.uk

I am already daydreaming about Cher Horowitz-esque outfits being created out of a technological database after reading about closetcouture.com in this article from the Guardian website. Indeed, the website’s banner knows where its potential fans lie: it reads “personalize your online closet LIKE IN CLUELESS”.

The website provides you with a place to catalogue everything in your wardrobe and then you and a community of like-minded souls create new outfits and have a go at styling each other. The part where you have to photograph everything you own against a white background sounds tedious but as a natural cataloguer, I am intrigued by the prospect of having everything pigeon-holed away and then easily categorised by type. By mix and matching between tagged sections, you can build new outfits and see where you have gaps in your wardrobe.

It’s also the kind of thing I am trying to do spontaneously due to impecuniosity. Now that I’m trying to save up for various holidays and a Bestival ticket, I am sacrificing all shopping and am therefore committed to restyling myself from within the confines of what I already own or can score for pennies off ebay. If I ever get around to photographing my now much streamlined wardrobe then I will report back with the results of my online stylist.

More in the same vein from the Times style section: how to shop your wardrobe. They give advice on how to alter items like a trench coat to make it more “now” and get more wear out of it. Yes it’s obvious but sometimes I need telling.

 

 

I particularly like their list of what to hang on to:

• Kitten heels. Any moment now they’ll stage a comeback. Just don’t wear them for the moment.
• Classic florals. Right now a tiny sprig print or a digital floral pattern looks more modern
• Last year’s sunglasses. Anything goes at the moment, from classic Ray-Bans to the Jackie O bug-eyed look, although teeny-tiny John Lennon shades have yet to be revived.
• Kaftans. In theory there should be something to replace this old favourite on the beach. But nothing better has come along so far. So dust them down and wear them with pride.
• Ethnic. Amazing how many ways this can be reworked. This year wear it with pinstripe jackets, leather or stripes.

As an aside, I hate any trend described as “ethnic”. Not all non-white people and their clothes culture can be reduced to a trend, AMERICAN APPAREL. But this list is right about kitten heels. The name is off-puttingly girlish but I think ultra-high stripper heels must be on their way out soon and so medium-height heels, in some stylish new incarnation, must be ready for a moment in the sun.

S

Open source sewing

I’ve just discovered the amazing “open source sewing site” Burda Style, which includes tonnes of free sewing patterns and beautiful photos of the outfits people have sewn and styled. It’s a really cleanly-designed and Web 2.0-ish site and if I was a better sewer with a machine handy I would definitely be tempted to have a go by the look of the clothes people on the site have made.

A particularly amazing example is “Maryy”, who lives in Finland (Scandinavian power) and sewed this delicious truffle of a dress. I am really into white, pink and frills at the moment! Not on myself, but definitely on elfin girls with exciting events to go to.

I used to be really into sewing as a kid and I loved the technical side of it in a way I still do – I like taking things to the drycleaners and arranging storage. I had a brilliant book that had pictures of dozens of different fabrics and chapters on how to sew a button and make sleeves and things. I often feel frustrated that I can’t find the things I dream of in shops so maybe I should give sewing another go.

S

Web whispers

Why the sudden abundance of private sales websites with discount designer clothes? The somewhat more chic online versions of TK Maxx allow members to buy past-season and end-of-line clothes, bags and shoes for considerable money off. Why the sudden explosion in invites? Is the credit crunch resulting in a lot of unsold designer clothes being bought up by resellers?

While koodos.com et al have been around for a while and have occasionally tempted me, for example with a discounted YSL Y-mail bag (below), which may be the only It Bag I’ve ever really loved, I don’t quite get these sites. I’d like them to be more transparent how they go about sourcing their stock and how we can be sure it is genuine. Buying is all part of the experience for me; that’s why I prefer eBay auction to buy-it-now – where’s the thrill?

However, with job liquidation looming, I am applying my shopping brain to the Christmas Party conundrum (hey, at least I don’t have to go to a work do!) and am feeling the pain of Kingdom of Style’s unemployed doyenne. They direct you to a website dealing in Zac Posen and other well-chosen designer discounts, so it may be worth a look. Personally, I saw a nice dress in the window of Primark the other day…

S

My lost love

Web whispers

This month’s Vogue mentions a new sister website to Net-a-Porter called Outnet, which will apparently be an outlet or sale website to do justice to the past-season bonanza that already lives on the NAP website. A google search reveals nothing but let’s keep our ears pricked.

Also not exactly up and running but very interesting is a website called Girl Meets Dress, which works a bit like the designer bag rentals – you can rent and wear designer dresses from Chloe, DvF and the like. Okay, so it sounds a little bit skank but it’s basically like really amazing vintage. I think I would be interested, especially at Christmas when many party dresses are required. I draw the line at wearing someone else’s shoes though. I have to maintain standards somehow. Girl Meets Dress is not yet open for business but you can sign up for when it launches. ***EDIT*** Apparently Girls Meets Dress is shady but hopefully someone will work out a way to do the same idea.

S