ON STRUGGLING TO FIND INSPIRATION...
Please tell me I'm not the only one that feels in a bit of a funk.
Normally I have no lack of inspiration. In fact, the problem I face is that I'm inspired by too much. There is beauty everywhere - even in the most unlikely of places. Online there is inspiration catapulting around at a million miles a second. I think what I'm suffering from is over saturation.
Lately I don't want to be online. I'm sort of disenchanted with looking at blogs and scrolling through Pinterest. I want to sit outside with a beautiful magazine and flick through the pages with my fingers. I want to sit with people in real life and talk to them in person rather than on Twitter. I want to bake cookies. I want to be in the sun. I don't want to click and I don't want to re-pin. I don't want to sit in front of a computer screen. I want to devour a magazine, rip out the pages and tape them into a notebook. So that's what I've been doing...
This nostalgia is spreading like wildfire into all aspects of my life. I suddenly want to get a sewing machine so that I can make Jil Sander inspired clutch bags. I also want to get my hands on some old school looking running shoes. This pair by Converse are mega adorable. Anything with a late '80s/early '90s vibe is working for me right now... bring on the Spice Girls and resurrect the pog.
Oooo, it's pre-fall 2012.
Ever since St John leaked their pre-fall collection at the beginning of November I've had my ipad glued to my hip, constantly checking the style.com app, waiting for the rest of the designers to reveal what's up their mid-season sleeve (after all it's the sneaky peek preamble to proper fall). Finally, much to my delight, the rest of pre-fall 2012 has started to trickle in. My favourite? Definitely Pringle of Scotland - although Burberry was a close second. Alistair Carr, who used to be at Balenciaga, has injected a more structured futuristic silhouette into the brand that was founded back in the late 19th century. While Pringle might be known predominately for their knits, it's the prints and genius layering that has won this girls heart. That and the shoes - which happen to feature a leather panel that can be taken on-and-off depending on your mood. It's the shoe that keeps on giving. Nice.
On a side note, there were some pretty strong similarities running through some of the other shows and Hanne Gaby Odiele in Michael Kors reminded me of how much I want these McQ printed trousers. Yumm. Must add it to my Christmas list pronto.
Images - Style.com
Prada vs Jeremy Scott
It's Thanksgiving, I know - I ought to be snuggled up in a wooly jumper making an apple pie and planning my Christmas shopping list. But instead I'm sitting here dreaming about spring and patching together a collage consisting of the Beverly Hillbillies and cacti. Random how these things happen. I don't even care though (soon I'll swap into holiday mode and bake my turkey etc etc ec).
I can't help but feel quite captivated by the classic 1950s imagery that inspired these collections. Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Thunderbirds for Prada. Flames, Santa Fe and Elly May Clampett for Scott. It's a sort-of nod to all things Americana, in an exaggerated surreal form. Currently at the top of my ss12 wish list are those platformed saddle shoes by Jeremy Scott and the Prada sunglasses that Anna Dello Russo has already been strutting around in (swooon).
Images: fashion via style.com, cactus, hillbillies, Elvis, Marilyn.
Dreamlike
Currently inspired by the whimsical colour palette and composition of Chagall.
Chagall - The Lovers in Grey at the Kunsthaus Zürich
Photo taken with Samsung Wave II