Daisy Chain

Wearing: Karen Walker sunglasses, Asos faux fur coat, Tokito dress (worn as top), Cue skirt, Romance Was Born clutch and thrifted heels.

I've absolutely been craving Spring and have an upcoming visit to Melbourne's Botanical Gardens with a botanist friend to look forward to but for now, I present florals for Spring. It's not a terribly original idea and I know Miranda Priestley would most likely shake her head in disgust. Cliches aside I'm rather excited to find the days getting longer and the weather is slowly getting warmer. The pastels also heighten this rather dainty and traditionally feminine motif, but I've enjoyed watching designers such as Moschino and Rei Kawakubo appropriate these motifs for their menswear collections. Talk of abolishing gendered fashion weeks altogether is an exciting prospect but in terms of event organisation it seems that many will be in opposition. I personally can't wait for a time when designers focus on dressing the human body and the concept of gender becomes fluid and malleable. Liberating designers from such boundaries has the potential to spark a renaissance within the fashion industry.

Raf Simons Spring 2016

Raf Simons continues to mystify me- although he is frequently touted as a genius I can never figure out what all the fuss is about unless I read through what others have said of him. I suppose that largely has to do with my age and the relationship I have with personal style. Or that having been told all my life that youth invalidates experience I find myself unable to analyze his work. Whatever the case may be I find myself having to file these collections under the "you'll appreciate this when you're older" category. That's under the assumption that I will eventually abandon my brightly coloured power clashing aesthetic and come to appreciate the shape and cut of my clothes. For now all I'll say is that I loved the heavy chains slung over the shoulder and carried next to the bags for Spring 2016. They reminded my of heavy vintage Lucite necklaces, ballooned to greater proportions and appropriated for a different purpose. As a child I often caught myself wistfully wishing I had a shrink ray to change the size of my plastic beads (of which I was obsessed with) to wear in all manner of ways. It's true what they say- somethings never change. 

*Photos via Vogue.com

I Want Candy

I realise that these images taken from the Australian Vogue X David Jones editorial are literally so last season but I've been drawn to pastel tones and clean lines. This has largely been fueled by Susie Lau's comprehensive archive, Plastic Candy but also comes by way of J.W. Anderson's most recent collections and mainline Jeremy Scott, as well as Moschino. But before I can delve into any of that I felt it necessary to describe what inspired those works and revisit S/S 2015. Spring/ Summer 2016 promises so much and it feels like designers are willing to create the collections they've always dreamed of, experiment with new techniques and invest in the weird and wonderful. Although there's a lot of black and white in this editorial in particular I feel like this dichotomy of hot and cold will play a major role next season. Also I just really admire it and feel that Grimes would totally be on board with this if you added say, fingerless leather studded gloves or something like that?For her it's all about accessories and these outfits are the skeleton of street style magic.

Caroline Rose Kaufman 2014 collection

In the wake of yet another successful Fashion Revolution Day which took place a few weeks ago my brain began ticking away with thoughts of ethics in fashion and particularly production. As serendipity would have it I also stumbled across Caroline Rose Kaufman, born and raised in West Virginia with a penchant for handmade clothing which combines traditional techniques with story telling. It's also been very chilly lately so knitwear has been on my mind a lot lately but her pieces are exceptional in that knitwear has not been exclusively reserved for scarves, sweaters and beanies. Needless to say, I was intrigued with her work and have always been drawn to practitioners who see their creations as three dimensional artwork rather than a piece of clothing. To anyone from Australia her aesthetic is akin to that featured in Frankie magazine and from the outset I myself was won over by her photo shoot starring a woman of colour. 

Although there are specific colours which Kaufman has experimented within this collection she is in no way limited by them, instead she has explored all avenues with a variety of techniques. On the contrary, her intricate knits celebrate handmade clothing in a way that echoes human experience. The shapes of her clothes allow room for growth and development in a way that is liberating but without being tactful. Her clothes hang loosely on the figures but are enshrined in beautifully hand painted iconography or hundreds of weaved threads. They are unlike garments sold through daytime television infomercials for the sole purpose of providing a solution to women with insecurities about their weight. This is in part because they were lovingly made by hand with commercial success of lesser importance. The little beetles or cacti which appear on several of the linen dresses remind me of journal pages shared through Tumblr which again has been reinforced by the handmade brown paper backdrop.  

My personal favourite piece is the gorgeous and angelic peachy coloured dress with pom poms! I only tried to make pom poms once but instead of cute little well formed fuzz balls I was left with a mess of yarn of equal length. Since said incident I have never tried again fearing the same results but I have always been struck with a quiet respect for those who have mastered the tricky little things. Especially those who can make pom pom sculptures (especially Rachel Burke writer of I make it. You wear it) in the shape and design of little fruits. For whatever reason during fall and winter I have an insatiable appetite for soft floaty dresses which are impractical given the weather but I love wearing them with lots of layers. It's my way of countering the Melbourne subculture which is entrenched in all black, very little colour and smart business coats. Those mega-talented babes who have the technical guise to create pom poms could probably create their own dress, in addition to pom pom platform heels and flower crowns. 

These gingham dresses remind me of school uniforms, but that influence in particular is subtle drowned out by thick knitwear, pom poms and sheer leggings. It also reminds me of an outfit my friend Kelly from Glitterous Clittoris posted to her instagram although her take on gingham was decidedly different! A commonality to both these aforementioned sources is the gingham hasn't been used ironically but documents the steady evolution from childish things. The shapes and silhouettes are far-removed from baggy dresses, inspiring a spring of admonishments from a motherly figure assuring us we would grow into them. These have been instead replaced by loosely hanging tops, silk slip dresses and plenty of mouth watering embellishments. To say nothing of those divine wooden soled sandals with leather straps harking back to the bohemian era. These archaic artifacts have been modernized by the exuberance of youth and the most dreamy spring colour palette.