Paging Polly Mellen

I could have sworn I read somewhere last week that Douglas Keeve (Unzipped) is making a movie about esteemed fashion legend Polly Mellen. But can I find any reference to it online? No I bloody can't! Either I have false memory syndrome or I am just too ahead of the curve. Anyone able to shed light on this for me?

Window shopping

I liked these two shop windows spotted earlier this week. One is the Jigsaw flagship store in Bond Street (Jigsaw is sponsoring the Tim Walker exhibition at the Design Museum), the other is Agent Provocateur.

Dressed to impress

A friend has asked me to sit on a mock-interview panel tomorrow and Friday for graduating journalism students at the college where she teaches. We all know the rules when it comes to dressing for job interviews. Dress for the job: city = suity, creative = something with more snap, crackle and pop, don't wear jangly jewels, do iron your shirt, etc, etc. But what if you're doing the interviewing?

I must say I do enjoy a bit of role play and on this occasion I'm to be cast as the 'serious, scary, external interviewer' (the other panel members are tutors at the college). All well and good except I got a text this morning casually mentioning that I will need to 'dress a bit smart'. Ah, I forgot that small matter. I'd figured a dark-jeans-loafers-and-jumper ensemble might suffice but now I'm feeling doubtful. Other than jeans I have chinos which are quite wide in the leg so only work with Converse (too casual) or black Gap cigarette trousers which I can wear with my Bass Weejun loafers. Would a jaunty sock be too much? Then I surely need a smart jacket, and I do have a very nice black Helmut Lang blazer - but it's not an exact match with the trousers, is that a big no-no? The top doesn't pose too much of a problem. If I go smart on the trousers, jacket and shoe, I think I can loosen up on the top so I'm thinking trusty Marimekko two-tone stripe top for the smart-with-a-beatnik-edge writer look.

That just leaves Friday to worry about. As a rule, I don't do smart dresses but I do have my H&M jersey stripe affair which is a good standby for 'smarten up a bit' occasions. This would go nicely with my Dexter boots, grey 'school' tights (Burlingtons, still going strong from some long lost magazine fashion cupboard) and aforementioned Helmut Lang blazer. To accessorise: my Celine bourgeois bag and Herve Chapelier tote.

I wonder what the students will wear?

National dress-up week

Yes, next week The Sartorialist is in London. Start planing your outfits now people!

Colorflip

This is seriously addictive!

New name to know: Sea New York

What is it about city types and fashion? After Osman Yousefzada (who started out as a city banker) comes financier-turned-fashion-designer Sean Monahan, whose label Sea New York is one to watch for AW 08. Just arrived in the UK, I especially love the two-in-ones which look like a top and skirt but are in fact a dress. Talk about no-brainer dressing!

www.sea-ny.com

Gap does a Uniqlo

In the war between Gap and Uniqlo, my allegience is strictly with Gap. I dunno why, I just like that they don't try too hard to court the hipster crowd. But now they're playing Uniqlo at their own game with an artist T-shirt hook-up featuring designs by Chuck Close, Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger and Kenny Scharf among others. Wow, this I can't miss. I don't even know what they look like yet but I'm loving the idea of a Barbara Kruger or a Jeff Koons. I already have the Kenny Scharf Swatch watch so a T-shirt to go with it? Why, yes please! Which brings me neatly to this suggestion...Can Swatch please jump on the bandwagon and reinstate their Swatch-designer collabo's? I mean, a Luella Swatch, an Eley Kishimoto Swatch, a JC de Castelbajac Swatch... the list is surely endless?

Cruise control

This season sees the Resort/Cruise collections go mainstream. As customers are increasingly fashion-aware and exposed to newness 24/7, the onus is on designers to give them more fashion, more frequently. Whereas Cruise used to be something of an also-ran (see this article from 1988!), this season it's become an event in itself with proper celebs - witness Jennifer Lopez, Charlize Theron and Christina Aguilera at Dior - and coverage in the dailies.

This quote from Karl Lagerfeld on Style.com sums it up:
"It's not Resort anymore. It's another collection—in the story of Fall, pre-Fall, Paris/London, pre-Spring, Spring—called "cruise." It's like a code name, but the thing is that Chanel needs six ready-to-wear collections a year, every two months completely new things at the shops. There are hundreds of shops all over the world that have to have something new all the time or else there's no reason to go back. Or else you go to a place like Colette where they see 100 labels. If it's one label, this label needs to have something new all the time."

Pic: Style.com

More 'hair in the air'

Talking of 'hair in the air' I couldn't resist these Magnus Unnar pics. Enjoy!

Pop chinos

I totally love that Acne have brought back chinos and I'm sure that these ones are lovely but I wish they had photographed them better. For starters you can't even see the feet in these pics...it's important, no? And it would be nice to have different views of the trews as well as details. I know, I know, I'm a fusspot. I do however, like the 'hair in the air' poses. And the contrast-coloured lining. That's all.

Quote of the day

"My fear is that after I'm gone, something interesting is going to happen, and I'm going to miss it."
RIP Robert Rauschenberg who died on Tuesday

Too cool for school

APC's Jean Touitou has opened a private pre-school in Paris. The chairs are by Alvar Aalto, the nap-time blankets are cashmere and designer Jessica Ogden is a part time art teacher. Believe it!

Read more here.

(The rest of Touitou's blog is great if on the minimalist side. Shame there's not more writing or comments.)

Pic: W Magazine

What's the surprise?

I spent last weekend dipping in a out of the Stylist book I bought a couple of weeks ago and can I say it was money well spent. In particular, this quote from Allure creative director Paul Cavaco resonated with me:

"Richard Avedon would ask, 'What's the surprise?' And you'd go, 'It's the purple sock,' so he'd go 'Okay, move the pant leg up.' I worked with great visual people who would ask, 'Why am I looking at this? What is great about this girl? Yes, she's beautiful, but they're all beautiful. Show me what is different. Is it lipstick; is it not? What is that hand doing? Is it just shoved in the pocket? Should it be out or should it be showing a nail?' You have all these options; what are you going to choose? The world is that open; how do you make it yours? That's the editing process."

Wise words. The book seems to feature mostly Conde Nast stylists (W, Vogue, Allure) which isn't all that surprising as Style.com is behind it but Sarah Mover's writing is spot on and it's just so interesting to get a bit of an insight into these backstage creatives.