Goot schmoot.

Pictures from style.com

I was so excited to see Josh Goot's new collection today...that was until I actually saw it. To me, the best feature in Goot's previous collections was his amazing dreamy prints. I guess I would have expected that to become his signature and for his prints to be recognisably his own, in the same way that a Pucci print is undeniably Pucci.

Goot retained his minimalist aesthetic in terms of the lines of garments, but there was just not enough substance to warrant any excitement. His theme was "geology", and if you're going to have something as boring as rocks as your theme, you really need to find a way to inject some life into it. 

It basically was a whole lot of this...yawn.

The only redeeming features of the entire collection were this top: 

..and this print featured towards the end of the collection, finally giving some respite from the endless amounts of black and neutrals:

Unfortunately for Goot, Graeme Black also had a geology themed collection, proving that such a subject can be a little more than a mind-numbing trip back to year 9 science class.

Graeme Black Fall 09

Love Kaylene

"I'm a man-eating machine"

Last month I was lucky enough to get tickets to see Grace Jones perform when she was in Australia for the Sydney Festival. She absolutely blew my mind, both aurally and visually, but given the nature of this blog, i'll focus on the latter. 

There was a lot of hype surrounding the Philip Treacy headwear, but i must say, some of the capes and jackets she wore were equally amazing, and i've been trying to find out who they were designed by. If anyone knows, please drop me a line. 

Photography by Andrea Klarin

Grace has played muse to many famous designers and artists since the late 70's, but her recent comeback with the album "Hurricane" has once again secured her place in the fashion world. In the last six months, her image has been directly influencing many collections and editorials:

Jean Paul Gaultier Sring 2009 Couture

(Images from style.com)

Photos be Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia August 08

Grace Jones...I love you.

From Kaylene. xo

Work shoes? Play shoes more like it!

I got these lovely purple suede shoes from work today. One of the perks of being expected to wear their current stock. They're such a conservative classic shape...but then the purple suede gives them that touch of silliness which i need in order to justify wearing them. 

On an unrelated note, I'd like these please:

These are by Derek Lawlor - one of the Central Saint Martins graduates who showed today as part of London Fashion Week. Very talented indeed!

Love Kaylene.

Portrait of an artist as a smock.

I've been thinking about the Sonia Rykiel Spring 09 collection, which was in short a joyous celebration of all things Sonia. Her signature was all over the collection, but most obviously in the dress with the image of her face brought to life by a blaze of orange hair. I was aware that this particular show marked the 40th anniversary of the label, but i wasn't aware until...well...this afternoon when i decided to read up on the collection, that the looks which came out at the end of the show were tributes to Sonia Rykiel by an array of designers including Margiela, Rodarte and Gaultier. 

The aforementioned portrait dress was by Castelbajac, who made similar dresses last season featuring Kirsten Dunst and Natalie Portman. Before I had gained this knowledge I had assumed the self-portrait dress was designed by Sonia herself...what a ballsy/admirable/self obsessed move that would have been!

For those of you who don't know me, My name is Kaylene, and I have recently (2 weeks ago) started studying Fashion Design at Ultimo Tafe in Sydney. What I want to know is how long will it be before I can justify my own self portrait dress? Will I have to wait for someone else to make a tribute one? I'd be down with that also. I'd wear my own self-portrait dress complete with hair trimmings everywhere. 

I only got Photoshop a few days ago and have no idea how to use it properly...you may have already picked up on that. 

What do you think Centine? Is it too early to start my tribute dress?