Paul Costelloe for Men

Paul Costelloe is one of those brands that I always associate with an older generation, probably since it's the kind of place my mum buys work suits in etc.  It's not what I would usually think of as a go-to brand for young whippersnappers like myself.  But, since my previous enjoyable experiences at the DAKS and Nicole Farhi fashion shows, I'm giving the old hands another look to see what they're offering Generatation X/Y/Zers.  And I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised by what I found amongst Paul Costelloe's offerings for men for Autumn/Winter 2010, although it seems he, like John Rocha, shows different things on the catwalk from what he stocks in stores...

Definitely some individual pieces that my mother would approve of, but all put together, much more my style.  Will continue to root around those Vogue.com archives...

xx
Duck

The future's bright, the future's yellow

Haha I do find it hilarious that the image manipulation package on my Linux laptop is called GIMP.  I know it's childish but I'm pretty sure they were havin' a larf when they came up with that acronym.  Anyway, I've never really worked out how to use it properly so I was just trying out some of the effects on this image of Vera and Anna from the other night.  It pains me to say it but Anna might actually show off my scarf better than I do.  *Might*  Am I going to have to set Anastasia on her?

In trying to use an effect that would make Anna's skin more air-brushed, I somehow managed to de-yellow her too...  I need to work out how to airbrush without decolourising!  Oh well, at least the colours in the scarf remain!

xx
Duck

For the record

Apparently I got all confused the other day and called Vera an architect.  It seems 'interior architecture' studies do not an architect make.  So let's just call her a designer from now on.  Or better yet, the next Philippe Starck (so we don't confuse her for the next Linda Barker).  Anyway, more of her photos of fashion in motion...

This time the photos were taken on Vera's fabulous roof, high above Earls Court.  You can even see the V&A from there.  Well, not at night...

xxx
Duck

Just say NO!

Just one day after the whole bigotgate schemozzle and look what pops through my friend's frontdoor.  On the 6th of May, please UK, just say NO! to the BNP.

That is all,
Duck
xx

The ads...

Yes, there are now ads on the right sidebar ------->

Hard times call for hard measures :( , and while I can't work as I'm finishing off my PhD, I realised I can make a little bit of extra pocket money out of my hobby.  Often I get annoyed by blogs covered in ads, but I hope you don't find my adverts too obtrusive - I have tried to make sure they are relevant to what I post here and also remain fairly minimalist.  Hopefully, soon, I won't need them anymore...

What do you think about making money out of blogs?  Do adverts piss you off, or do you not notice them?

xx
Duck 

QASIMI - a film by Mariano Vivanco

xx
Duck

Jump! For my love...

Recently my designer friend, Vera, has been experimenting using her fabulously high-definition camera to take fashion photographs.  Over the weekend, we tried out jumping around her Earls Court flat in some fun outfits.  I really like the result - how we seem to be exploding out of the pictures when the background is quite mundane like a kitchen.  Finally putting my teenage gymnastics training to good use!  More to come...

In these photos I am wearing Anna's vintage Valentino denim jacket over a Topman sweater-shirt, and All Saints denim shorts and boots.  Anna is wearing a black Joseph dress and my McQueen scarf.  Vera, queen of Macedonian vintage, has on a dark sparkly vintage dress.  Hope you like :-)   

xxx
Duck

Damned shoe-polish

This was supposed to be my sleek look I had planned for my birthday party last week.  I picked out some new tight black trousers from All Saints, a white shirt from COS, a black waistcoat from Italian brand Ring and my new Prada sunglasses.  Except when I unpacked my suitcase in the hotel we had picked out, I discovered the shoe polish had rubbed off my black boots and all over my lovely pristine white shirt.  OUTFIT FAIL.

Good I thing I always travel with 5 spare clothing changes.
Duck
xxx

Harmonielehre

Lying on my impromptu balcony in the sun (read: I opened the French doors up fully, pushed the dining table back, and constructed a kind of sunbed out of two chairs) listening to these two on repeat.  It's important to get my Vitamin D if I want to focus on work later, after all.

Sigh
Duck
xxxxx

Spring has sprung, the grass has riz

Eeek so this morning I handed my massive project literature review into my supervisor for his final advice before I send it off to the publishers for a competition I entered aeons ago.  And now I have to get back to the regular programming - i.e. continuing to write the computer program my project is based on.  (Yes, that's right, perhaps I hadn't mentioned previously but I am doing a PhD in computational materials science...  I won't bore you with the details, mainly because they're boring.  But if you want to know, ask).  BUT all this new spring weather and warmth and humidity is totally driving me to distraction, so I am spending a good 45-minute-break looking at pictures/videos of the utterly impeccable Tilda Swinton.  My new obsession.  She's just so fabulous, don't you think?  I think I have watched the trailer for I Am Love about 50 times since I saw the movie on Sunday.  I can't wait for it to come out on DVD.  I want to film a movie starring Tilda as the lead and all the supporting characters, with a soundtrack by Róisín Murphy (I'm addicted right now to the old Moloko album Statues).  I haven't quite decided who should do the costumes.  I'm working on it.  I'll have my people call your people.  There, I said it.  By the way, Tilda, if you would like to collaborate with me on making a short film for Diane Pernet/Tavi's competition, I'D MARRY YOU. 

xxx
Duck


Photos from Style.com

One size fits all

 
In an effort to justify the purchase of my McQueen scarf, I had suggested that I would come up with a different way to wear it for every day of the year.  Well, to be honest, I don't have enough patience for that.  But my friend Meera thought I could work out how to wear my scarf, and only my scarf, on an evening out.  So I took up the challenge...

Not sure it's a look I'll be doing out of the house very often.  For more tips on how to wear scarves, check out below.  (I love the lisp...)

xx
Duck

My love for Tilda Swinton

Yesterday I went to see Io Sono L'Amore (I Am Love) by Luca Guadagnino, starring, amongst others, Tilda Swinton and Marisa Berenson.  I had expected it to be good, but I had not predicted it would be the emotional onslaught that it was.  Anna and I both simultaneously described the experience afterwards as "feeling emotionally raped".

It tells the story of how a moneyed upper-class Milanese family is wrenched apart by the forces of love and lust.  The whole style of cinematography is very old-school (even the font for the credits is perfect) and every shot just screams BEAUTY.  The locations are stunning, the clothes (designed by Raf Simons for Jil Sander) are to-die-for, the operatic score by John Adams complements the on-screen emotional releases perfectly.  And Tilda Swinton's acting is unparalleled, both as the wife in control of her household, and as the force of nature into which she eventually transforms.

There were moments of sheer eroticism, to the point at which I thought maybe I too might climax.  The depictions of food and eating verged on pornographic, such was the effect on the audience.  You could practically hear people drooling throughout.  And the sudden, frantic crescendo of both emotion and music at the finale was so powerful I was left breathless.

I have read some reviews since that were very negative, claiming that the film was self-indulgent and superficial, but frankly, it was the most intense and satisfying movie I have ever seen.  Go.  See.  It.  Now.

xx
Duck

Image taken from here.

Hello Dolly!

Ooops, I mean Hello Kitty!  Don't you just love this Hello Kitty Easter egg?  Now, just what can I make out of the dolly...

Miaaaow
Duck

Sicilia 6

Final holiday pictures from Sicily!  This time views from Erice, the town we stayed in 2460ft up a mountain above Trapani on the North-West coast. It was so beautiful but maybe not the best choice of place to stay in the off-season - in the evening it was completely dead and we seriously struggled to find anything to eat apart from the local "speciality" of busiati al pesto trapanese...  The town obviously was designed before cars, and so all the roads are cobbled and some of them are actually so narrow at points that only one person at a time can walk along them!

xx
Duck

Sicilia 5: Remains of the day

A selection of photos of ruins I came across around Sicily.  Sicily was considered part of Ancient Greece for quite a long time, and the Greeks left many ruined towns, temples and theatres behind them.  Several of them are in absolutely beautiful locations.  I don't have photos of Agrigento since I went there a few years ago, but I have included Selinunte and Segesta. 

My favourite book when I was in primary school was an enclopaedia of myths of the ancient world (actually, I loved all kinds of reference books - I much preferred fact to fiction), and then I also studied Greek and Latin at school.  When I was a teenager, I went through that embarrassing "I think I'm a witch because I love Willow from Buffy The Vampire Slayer" phase, and my spells were often influenced by the Greek pantheon.  So, suffice it to say, I love pottering around an ancient monument or two...

Salve!
Duck

H-I-larious

My friend, Vera, bowling in a vintage ballgown...

xx
Duck

Ciao, Tyra!

Tyra Banks is just as frightening/fabulous in Italian as she is in English...

You are still on the road to becoming America's Next Top Model,
Duck