I'm liking...

A few weeks ago I got an oversized blazer from Cheap Monday. It looks super cute belted and open. I’ve been noticing these “Boyfriend Blazers” everywhere, and in really interesting variations. I like it because it can be grungy, sophisticated, masculine, or feminine. Here are some recent runway versions that I’m loving..
(Alexander Wang)
(Topshop)
(Erin Fetherston)
(Marc Jacobs)
(Darek Lam)
And here is my Cheap Monday blazer:
(with a belt)(without!)

The silly season has arrived!

Spring definitely hit Sydney this week. Mercury levels reached 30 degrees this weekend, and the nights are warming up too (we shed the heavy blanket last week). The city is starting to get that buzz. It starts quietly and just keeps building intensity until it is December and everyone is bursting with excitement. Then life is all about minimal clothes, maximum beach, and having a good time. I have recently been told that the summer months in Sydney are often referred to as “the silly season” – genius.

In preparation for this joyous season here are some things to think about:

Loving the idea of this crossover cozzie (cozzie=swimsuit to you Americans). In Sydney swimwear plays a huge role in mainstream fashion. It isn’t unusual to see girls shopping down Oxford Street on a hot summer day wearing shorts and a bikini top. The new Sydney based label Seventh Wonderland, founded by Carlos Aviles and Bonnie Coumbe earlier this year, consists of swimwear-meets-daywear perfect for Sydney women. “Girls today need options, so we’re designing suits that can be worn from the beach to a music festival, paired with your favorite jeans,” says Aviles. All the prints are created by hand and transferred onto Italian fabrics. The result is beautiful and very versatile.

Everyone needs a few “Little Dresses” to get through summer. There are so many amazing ones at Milk Bar in Bondi Beach (Shop 4/157 Curlewis Street via Gould St). Milk Bar carries only Australian labels, including Hussy, Bec & Bridge, and Ru Mu. All the stuff is very feminine and also good pieces for dressing up or dressing down. I just bought this adorable Bec & Bridge dress there. Of course boutiques like that are a bit pricey, but Sportsgirl, General Pants, and Supre also have tons of great dresses.

The Sydney markets are one of the best things about the warm weather, and they are the perfect place to pick up summer accessories. I went to the Bondi Markets this weekend and got a vintage YSL purse, which will go with all summer clothes. I also got the cutest linen beach dress with faux leather straps. I wanted to buy vintage sunnies, charm necklaces, and an amazing brown leather jacket (only 40 dollars!), but you cant have it all…

Choosing the right beach is also important. I love taking the ferry to Manly; it always makes me feel so laid back over there. I used to always go to Bondi cause it is so easy, but I want to branch out more this summer. I went to Tamarama over the weekend, which was lovely. A few friends had a barbi on the rocks, and it was a great way to close the day. Another good end-of-the-day activity is a sunset drink at Bondi Italian. Great people watching (I love observing Australian trendy beach styles).(Mario sipping the day away on a Sunday afternoon-Bondi Italian)

Check it out!

I've finally gotten it together and put some of the videos I've been working on recently onto You Tube. The Alex Perry one is by far the coolest to make. I got to interview him on the red carpet before his autumn/winter 2009 fashion parade. I am actually finding that I really like interviewing on camera. New career path? We'll see.... Anyway, bookmark my You Tube page because I will be updating it whenever I do a new video. Click here to check it out!

UPDATE: A longer version of the video of me interviewing Alex Perry is on the Marie Claire homepage, click the Alex Perry video on the right hand side to see!

Nobody ever fed me

Kate Moss, who rarely opens up in interviews, reveals a lot to the latest issue of Interview magazine, including that she is aware that she was too skinny in her heroin-chic hay-day. She says:
"I was never anorexic, but I remember thinking, 'I don't want to be this skinny.' When I was doing shows and flying economy, nobody ever fed me. Or I'd be staying in hotels so cheap that by the time I'd get in, there wasn't any room service...I didn't eat for a long time. You'd be on shoots with bad food or get on a plane, and the food would be so disgusting you couldn't eat it. I remember standing up in the bath one day, and there was a mirror in front of me, and I was so thin! I hated it. I never liked being that skinny."Now, everyone knows that I LOVE Kate, but how funny is it that she blames others for not feeding her! I love it. Kate is so fascinating because in one sense she is a revolutionary. She embodied so much about the 1990s and has seamlessly crossed over into this decade as the leader in what is chic and cool. But despite that fact that she is a leader today, she used to have this quality of being a malleable muse. I think it was this quality that made her such an unbelievably effective model. So did society and circumstance create Kate Moss? Or did Kate forever change society? It is those deep questions I leave you with today...!

ps- had to add this, which i just saw on style.com

On this historic day for the US...

It is a historic day, with the credit crunch crisis threatening to unravel the whole financial system in New York, as well as the whole world. As I sit and watch the market open in New York on CNBC, I have many thoughts, including the shocking resemblance between Arrested Development/Juno star Michael Cera and news anchor David Faber....Check out the uncanny similarity!

Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton

Check out the SNL skit, in case you missed it!

Busy bee

So work has required me to attend events twice in a row this week. Monday was “A Night in Paris” (obviously the organizers aren’t familiar with the Hilton video…). It was a gala put on by the French Gov and Tourist Board to promote interest in Paris. There was plenty of chilled Bollinger and a sit down dinner with live performances, including a can-can dance and an Eres fashion show. I did some backstage on-camera interviews with hair+makeup (btw I saw at least 4 models eating sandwiches!!).

Dinner consisted of lobster to start paired with white wine. Then, steak with mushrooms and veggies and a glass of red. Chocolate cake for dessert. Love the French. I sat at a table with the head of the Lido in Paris (i.e. most famous cabaret in the world). Also sat next to two members of the Cirque de Soleil, which I saw a few weeks ago and actually recognized both guys (one was Brazilian and one Russian-American). It was fabulous dinner conversation. We compared all the great cities of the world..everyone was very worldly and had something to say. I basically interviewed the juggler from the Cirque de Soleil- his performance stole the show! His parents emigrated from the Ukraine and were also performers. He had been pushed into juggling from when he was six and practiced every single day throughout his childhood. He was only 23 but had lived in so many cities, including a stint in Paris where he worked 7 days a week for a year! He told me anyone can be trained to do what they do in the Cirque de Soleil, but I don’t think I could ever do what they do. Unbelievable! The Brazilian guy was cool too, but started flirting with me by the end of the night so I had to make a quick exit.

Swag: YSL perfume: Paris (my fave!), scented candle, Eres catalogue, chocolate, and tourist brochures.

Then last night was the Alex Perry autumn/winter fashion show. The crowd was a funny mix of social Sydney: facelift/gold jewelry/designer bag and 20something/bangs/designer shoes. I interviewed the man of the hour on the red carpet, which was very cool. After that my part was over so I basically just ate passed ordevres (mini cheese burgers, mini sausages, yum) and drank some champers (not my usual Monday and Tuesday routine). It was kind of awkward just eavesdropping on people for an hour before the show started. The collection was alright, but nothing that I would wear unless maybe for horse races or something. It is all a bit stodgy.The ladies check out the collectionAlex Perry autumn/winter 09

Swag: Napoleon Perdis lip-gloss, Estee Lauder Fresh Laundry perfume, chocolate, some hair products.

Going to these events two nights in a row makes me want nothing more than pizza, couch, and a movie tonight.

Hate to ruin your day but...

My heart goes out to Stephanie Nielson, the blogger/young mother/wife who recently got in a plane crash with her husband leaving them both in critical condition. Her blog had quite a following, check it out and send happy thoughts.

A few days in Bali

When I used to think of Bali, I would think of beautiful paradise beaches and that is about it. Then I read that mildly annoying but fairly entertaining book “Eat, Pray, Love,” in which the author spends three months there as part of a post-divorce-finding-herself trip around the world. She described it as an island with a vibrant culture, a community of artistic ex-pats and surfers, and very kind Balinese people. I still wasn’t quite sure what to expect when the plane landed in Denpasar last Friday….Here are the highlights of what I discovered:

Hotel: We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Nusa Dua, which is the nice area with all the resorts. The hotel was the sprawling kind- I still didn’t know my way around on the last day (much to Mario’s teasing). I usually don’t like how those hotels make you feel like you could be anywhere beachside, but the Balinese culture still came through at this one. The restaurants were top notch, complete with entertainment. In fact, out first night we had an incredible Balinese feast at the hotel restaurant. There was a dance performance going on throughout dinner, and more food than you could imagine. It was there that we tasted the two Bali specialties that became our favorites- nasi goring (delicious fried rice with veggies and seafood or meat), and suckling pig.There was also every kind of grilled meat and seafood, salads, and satays that you could imagine. Mario is even considering adding the feast to his Top 5. And by the way he is worried to come across as a lenient judge, but wants me to point out that since I got to Sydney we have been eating especially well.

The People: The people are so accommodating and friendly. The service-oriented culture reminded me a bit of Thailand, but maybe more laid back. Every single person without fail enthusiastically asked us, “Where are you from?!” And whenever we'd answer “Sydney” and they would say, “Darling Harbour!” or “Kings Cross!” or “Bondi Beach!” The Australian presence is so strong that they even say “no worries.” An interesting fact about people in Bali is that they are named according to their birth order Wayan (1st born), Made (2nd), Nyoman (3rd), Ketut (4th), and the 5th born goes back to Wayan. Of course there are plenty of nicknames to save confusion. We had a taxi driver (named Made) explain all this to us, and luckily I had read it before because it was very confusing to Mario hearing it for the first time.

Kuta: Kuta is to Australians what Cancun is to Americans. It is basically an “urban center”, but right on the beach. The beach is long and wide, and the waves are perfect tubes, one after the other. Great place to watch the surfers do their thing. You can walk along the dirty little streets and buy any sort of knock off or knickknack your heart desires, and you are bargain for EVERYTHING. I bought red Ray Ban fakes (they look real!) for three dollars and my first sarong for 1 dollar. The nightlife in Kuta is apparently horrid (think Cancun during spring break..and Aussies get even drunker than Americans usually). A few hours in this part of town was enough.

Seminyak: This was by far our favorite discovery. It is the trendy part of Bali with amazing boutiques and hundreds of really cool international cafes and restaurants. After the morning in Kuta we headed up here and went to Ku de ta- a really cool beachside bar/restaurant. It reminded me of something you’d find in Miami but much more chill. It was Sunday afternoon when we were there, and there were heaps of gorgeous international types sipping bloody marys or passed out poolside. There was no shortage of 6 ft tall Aussies girls with no tan lines or cellulite prancing around, their martinis spilling every few steps. I got a chicken caesar and a mojito and watched the day fade away in style.Late afternoon at on the beach looking at Ku de ta (adorable naked boy too) Cocktails at night, what a setting..

Jimbaran: By far the most memorable meal for me was on the beach at Jimberan. You get there and choose from dozens of restaurants on the beach, and when I say on the beach I mean that the tables are right up to the surf. We chose a place that promised us a 40% discount (they all promised something). We went inside and literally chose our dinner, which was all alive in tanks. We got 6 jumbo shrimp, a lobster, and a garupa fish.Everything was grilled to perfection and served with rice, hot sauces, and greens. We ate the fresh feast while the surf crashed onto our feet. Amazing.

Warungs: The Warungs are “food stalls” serving traditional Balinese food. They are informal restaurants where you either sit at picnic tables with other tourists and locals (all mixed together) or you can get little huts where you can recline while you eat. (I loved all the reclining in Bali…all the cool bars in Seminyek were complete with beds.) We went to one called Made’s Warung where we enjoyed nasi campur and satays. We both accidentally ate too much sambal (chili paste) and had burning lips for hours.Mario loved the pork satays.I loved eating in comfort!

The trip was really relaxing and fun. We didn’t get to do everything we wanted to (no snorkeling and didn’t get to go to Ubud, the artistic center of Bali located in the rice hills). Next time I go there I’d love to rent a villa, but there is something to be said for the comfort and convenience of the Grand Hyatt. Plus, the breakfast buffet there was out of this world!