Love Me or Leave Me

Somehow, I've managed to leave at least a little bit of time between posting editorials shot by Kalle Gustafsson. They're like Zara lookbooks – you want to post one every month, but have to limit yourself to one per season. This one I think is perfect for mid-September, that period when the light is still bright, the clocks haven't quite gone back and when it is getting chillier and nearing time to merrily light the fire or tentatively turn on the radiators. I already feel resigned to finding another irresistible postable beauty for the deepest depths of December though.

This selection comes from the Swedish Fashion Tale magazine, and has a much colder feel than the last editorial of his that I posted (the beautiful Late Summer) but the attempt at a narrative style is almost the same: female models staring into the lens, hard and haughty, or looking emotional in beautiful clothes.

All images from SkarpAgent.se

The colours are true icy autumn and winter, and remind me how lovely soft blues and greys are, as well as plaid, wool and dark flannel. The makeup here is also typically winter – and unashamedly 60s Bardot – dark eyeliner and resultant smoky tears. In spring and summer I am minimal with makeup, but brash autumn and winter (I now remember) means more of everything – eyeliner especially, although I'm not sure I would want to wear quite that much.

In terms of fashion, this, I suppose, is neither new nor groundbreaking, but in a time when we do nothing but look to the past for inspiration, who really needs that? I love the neckline on the navy blue jumper on the boat, the layering of wool, the denim and, especially, those brown leather lace-up boots. Original this is not, but there is plenty to admire, inspire and take away, not in terms of new season trends perhaps, but certainly in terms of real, useful and achievable style.

Sessun AW10

I have been checking French label Sessùn's website at least twice a week lately in anticipation of their autumn collection. Created by designer Emma Francois as far back as 1995, the label was conceived originally with Latin American influences in mind, but seems to have whittled said influences down in order to concentrate on fantastic material quality and cut. What's more, Sessun is sold in Urban Outfitters and ASOS, and is surprisingly affordable for a label with such a beautiful lookbook.

I definitely have a thing for faded, hazy, beach location lookbooks, as it turns out, and there were many many of them for spring, but this is the first one I have seen for autumn. I admire the atmosphere of it, although it does seem to take centre stage. The clothes, sidelined though they may be, are both simple and complex in their details, patterns, cut and materials.

All images from www.sessun.com

The long-sleeved dress recalls what the high street often forgets – that winters are cold and cardigans tiresome and negates the need for one. My childhood shopping trips with my mother around this time of year were always punctuated by exclamations such as: 'that's far too cold, you'll freeze!' and nowadays my internal shopping monologue is irritatingly similar. Both of them, though (my mother and my monologue) would be satisfied by this dress, and indeed the red coat, reminiscent of rowan berries and cosy-looking enough for snow.

I am drawn to the breton top, which seems almost to be an inverted version of itself, with thicker stripes of dark and thinner stripes of light. Tartan trousers are likely beyond me but those shoes seem to be a great solution to the dilemma of how to wear boots with tapered trousers.

It's a pity that the models' top halves are showcased the most here, as a quick look on the Urban Outftters website is enough to show you that they do some pretty great trousers, such as these ones, here. Also I would love to see what the hemline of the zipped and belted long-sleeved dress looks like, and how they styled it. The upside of this, though, is the exposure that their perfect autumn hairstyles get instead: all achievable twists and bobby-pinned turns, a modern take on 40s hair is the perfect antidote to the vast exposure that the beehive is receiving. All in, a thoroughly French, and thoroughly covetable, lookbook.

The September Issue

I always save up a pound coin or four for September Vogue, no matter the volume of other more important things of a similar price I have forgone for being 'too expensive'. I buy it to pretend that I am the sort of person who has made enough money over the summer to be able to spend thousands on the 'ultimate' coat and the 'new' skirt shape, and to get me excited about the fact that we won't see the sun for another six months.

This issue is no less disappointing than last year's, in fact it is almost identical. The same cover girl, the same ideas for investment camel coats in a recession and the same 'new' skirt shapes. Vogue to me suddenly seems bored and conceited, full of lazy editorial errors and recycled ideas. It's a pity, as an established title with the clout that Vogue has could really take a risk and do something different once in a while.

Luckily for Vogue, despite everything else I cannot deny that I am a huge fan of the new/old skirt length, and always a champion of a woollen cardigan. This editorial combines the two and just happens to be the best of a bad bunch, which includes one styled and modelled by Kate Moss (because we don't see enough of that at Topshop).

All scans of UK Vogue September 2010 are via Fashionising.com

Venom aside. The skirts and dresses, colours and fabric mixing here are just my thing. It is a study in layering, marrying autumnal colours, and a lesson in ways to wear volume without feeling swamped. The tall socks and delicate ribbed tights remember that winter is cold on toes in uncomfortable shoes, and the angora and the camisoles remind me how effective layering can be (and how much I love cardigans in that deep rusty brown). Hilariously it also seems to remember that keeping hair tidy in swirly autumn winds is impossible, and advocates a messy beehive for an entirely questionable 'I meant to do that' look.

When autumn and winter come around it's tempting to just swamp oneself in wool, but this editorial teases with thoughts that it might not have to be that way. In this 50s/60s style hybrid, necks and shins, the parts that need least woolly attention, are king and queen. Could it work in the snow and in the wind and rain, with crispy leaves attaching themselves to the inside of your layered petticoats? Likely not, but as someone who spends most of her winter time in the house, looking out of the windows and sitting by the fire, it looks pretty perfect.

Awaiting

Whenever we move into a season transition (I'm sure no one gets as excited about season transitions as style bloggers do – maybe gardeners?) I start vaguely awaiting my next Lula installment. I bought a subscription before my spending ban, so it feels like a free expensive luxury. Leith Clarks's tweets have been at times so exotic and interesting that I feel like this issue is going to be an extra good one.

In a similar vein, this editorial from Test magazine is so pretty that I can't stop going back to it. It is fairly Lula-esque, and is satisfying my anticipation. Technically it's a spring editorial, but I think that a) much as everyone seems to be tired of sunshine, it is still summer, and b) spring editorials are just early autumn editorials in disguise. This one is styled by Lyson Marchessault, who does admittedly style a lot of Lula editorials (including that amazing Erdem one) and photographed by Nicholas Lawn.

My favourite style is in the top picture. I love the kind of cricketing blazer with the translucent seersucker skirt. It's a look that could be easily translated to autumn's camel blazers and mid-length skirts, in a heavier cotton. I really like the model's 20s hair too – I'm always trying to twist and curl my hair into styles like that, but it's just too stubbornly straight. My sister has fantastic curls that would suit the style perfectly, and which I'm pretty jealous of!

My charity shopping trip today yielded a few good things for Autumn – probably to be sold on eBay again though, as a lot of it is verging on '90s (good '90s though of course!) and having pieces up on two different sites at the same time is too confusing for me! A lot of it is too small for me, which really is just as well, as it removes the temptation to keep them. I'll let you know when they're up.

Late Summer

It's easy to forget what season it is when you live in Britain and spend a lot of time reading fashion blogs. I'm anticipating a full blown autumn any second now, although, as my boyfriend and the calendar keep reminding me, it is the middle of high summer.

So keen are we to jump into autumn that I worry about forgetting the warmth of late summer as we dash towards the delights of tights and other such warmers that we can't wait to shake off at the first hint of spring.

This editorial for Shufti magazine, shot by Kalle Gustafsson, is a perfect portrait of late summer. The sun is lower in the sky, but the light is still warm; the leaves are becoming crisp, but are still green; and the atmosphere is of making the most of what is left. These photographs seem to capture all of that, particularly the light, and combine it with great vintage styling – I particularly (as ever) love the yellow polka-dotted dress, which just fuels my ill-advised addictions to yellow and to polka dots, neither of which suit me very well.

I always feel like I need to get away and go to the south coast of France or Italy around August and September; I think to try and make the best of the late summer last that little bit longer. The landscape images will have to satisfy me for this year; perhaps next time.

(Photographs via Skarp Agent and Dustjacket Attic)

Welcome to the White Dress Hunt

I'm jumping on the white dress hunting bandwagon. Everyone is on the hunt for the perfect white dress every summer of every year, from Refinery 29 to Liebemarlene Vintage, and honestly, I'm not sure that anyone ever has their white dress desires absolutely satisfied. My only evidence for this of course is that this search for perfection in crispy white linen seems largely to be an annual one.

Liz Ham for Oyster Magazine issue 85 from oystermag.com

Personally, this is my first year on the bandwagon, and I'm beginning to realise that I've hopped on a couple of stops too late. If other blogs are anything to go by, the hunt begins in April or May, when in Bristol it has barely stopped snowing. June in Bristol has been an unusually hot one however, and that, combined I think with watching more Wimbledon than is strictly healthy has got me running to Zara to see what I can find. Sadly there's a sale on, so of course there's nothing left. Or perhaps there was nothing in the first place, which is the reason that everyone has to go on the hunt every year... personally I think making one is probably the only option.

In the interim, I'll just have to content myself, and anyone who thought that I was going to tell you all about some amazing white vintage find, with the amazing shot above, taken by Liz Ham for Oyster Magazine. I stumbled upon her by accident, but her editorial shots are gorgeous, and this one is probably my favourite. It is styled by Jolyon Mason (which is a fantastic name) and you can see the rest of it here.

Liz Ham for Oyster Magazine issue 85 from oystermag.com

In other news, our Appley laptop miraculously came back to life after a short holiday in the Apple Store, so Photoshop and I can be friends again. Hooray!

Autumn?

Image: www.fischerclothing.com

Image: Refinery 29

Autumn and spring are my two favourite seasons – I like the way they are neither one nor t'other. I feel as though I need an excuse to post a post on an autumn collection, but if Rhiannon can do it, I'm sure I can too (yes?). Saying that, this is a particularly springy autumn collection (bare legs shock!) so I don't feel too bad.

Anyway, I'm always happy to ape any era beginning with 19 and ending in 0s, but the 1940s are my absolute favourite, especially come autumn time, and this Fischer autumn lookbook seems to just dive straight into my 1940s delight and swim about in it a bit ... sedately, mind.

Images: Fischer Clothing and Refinery 29 respectively

I love the surroundings I think more than I love the clothes (all the wood, the jars and the range especially). They just seem quite atmospheric to me – kind of nervous and hopeful.

(I'm suddenly aware that all the blogs I read are from the US, where autumn is not autumn, but fall. Do they still use 'autumnal'? It's almost onomatopoeic to me.)