I heart The Art..

of the Trench.

Burberry's new website celebrates that all-important great British classic I have previously pontificated upon: the trench coat.

Hopping on board the multimedia train that mixes website with facebook connect, the site invites fans of the TC to submit their own snaps which will be sifted and sorted and perhaps eventually selected for display on site alongside photos taken by the online omnipresent street-style snaptographer Scott Schuman.

It's a novel idea and I enjoyed viewing multiple images at once according to 'weather,' 'colour' and the always debatable 'belted' and 'unbelted.' There's also a nifty little timeline history lesson for serious trench anoraks featuring images from the Burberry archive.

My only complaint is this - the soundtrack. Who chose The Kooks Sofa Song to accompany this trench appreciation site? Next time I visit I'll be muting my volume!

The Art of the Trench

Image: The Sartorialist

A charming Skulk of Foxes

I was lucky enough to stumble across A Skulk of Foxes today - an enchanting Australian jewellery line featuring a clutch of woodland creatures. The acrylic brooches will look delightful on a winter coat and I'm jonesing for the antler studs made from recycled scraps of silver. Enjoy.

Rabbits, birdies, squirrels and more are available here.

For more foxy fancies go here.

Oh my oshkosh b'gosh

I lived in my oshkosh b'gosh dungarees as a child. A tomboy til the age of seven, I returned to my old faithfuls on several occasions after discovering skirts. As a Blossom devotee, I wore cut-off white denim dungarees with a flamenco blouse and glittery jelly sandals to my primary school leavers dance. Needless to say, I didn't get my first kiss that night. That didn't dissuade me from wearing them throughout my first year at high school, grunge style, with a plaid shirt and boots. Oh yeah!

So imagine my amazement to see them crop up once more on the catwalks this year in every imaginable incarnation, from dirty denim to leopard-trim suede. The question is - can I bring myself to wear them once more? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

steve allan

nicole fahri

cynthia steffe

louise gray

ralph lauren

Oh, Florence

What a MACHINE.

Seeing double

Blog Advanced Style rocks my world and so do this pair, Marian and Vivian Brown, the infamous San Francisco twins and Queens of senior sartorialism.

I first saw them in the city ascending the Macy's escalator in matching ruby red cowgirl ensembles. Sweet and smiley, they were also slightly scary in their identicalness.

Apparently the two have only spent three weeks apart in their 82 years together and take turns to decide what to eat and wear each day. Luckily they both have a penchant for leopard print and are rarely seen without their signature hats.

I would love to see the identical duo give MK and Ashley a run for their money in an Alice Hawkins fashion spread...what do you think?

It hurts to look at you (again)

It's nice to see my first love Jordan Catalano without the guy liner and liquid leather these days. The boy who wrote a song about his car still makes my heart a-flutter and may explain my fondness for boys in plaid.

During the height of MSCL madness, in a hopeless attempt to emulate Angela's 'crimson glow,' I dyed my hair red. Convinced this would somehow magically conjure my very own Scottish JC, I wasn't the only one behaving irrationally in the name of Jordan. One friend actually started drinking coffee "black with three sugars," just like Chase-face did after JC revealed his caffeine preference.

Alas, neither of us ever found Jock Catalano leaning in our school corridors and over time my obsession for Jared Leto waned as he swapped plaid for pleather and Cameron for Fire Crotch.

But, in this clip, it still hurts to look at you...

Location vacations

London Fashion Week is upping sticks and hauling couture ass to Somerset House this September. Hardly a surprise location, this architectural gem follows in the footsteps of previous LFW homes - The Natural History Museum, Duke of York's, Battersea and Olympia have all hosted the fash pack in the past. But what would happen if the British Fashion Council were to transplant themselves to somewhere a little less conventional? Here are a few of my fantasy favourites...

London Zoo would be perfect for 'guerilla fashion shows' and would bring new meaning to 'stalking the runway'...

Heathrow's Terminal 5 would suit those that pushed and prodded one another to be first in line during last season's fashion week. Fashion's most impatient would be right at home in an airport, watching as flights of fancy ascended the runway...

Wimbledon race track would be a fitting setting for the crowds to place bets on the next big trend as the models raced one another to the end of the catwalk...

Thoughts?

Child's Play

A recent browse of Browns jewellery selection took me back to my school days when friendship bracelets, dummy necklaces, and jelly rings were all a girl needed to accessorize. Sweet.

Remember those snap bracelets? Kara Ross' croc leather cuff is the grown-up version, with a very adult price tag of £235.

Marni's freakish doll brooch looks awfully similar to one I made in primary school...stick a safety pin in yours and save yourself £145.

Carolina Bucci's £135 charity bracelets remind me of the hair bobbles that gave you the perfect high-pony and an unnecessary face-lift at the age of 13.

This ring may be Lanvin but there's no escaping the Christmas-cracker associations - I would have been delighted to have found a £175 toy in mine all those years ago.

Missoni's gem cuff is like a sweetie bracelet, only you can't eat it and it costs £90. Where's the fun in that?

Tattoo You

Alexander McQueen, Resort Collection 2010

Armor Amour

If you are one of the many ladies who like to 'borrow' from your boyfriend's wardrobe, you may want to try and persuade your fella to purchase an item from jewellery designer Matina Amanita this winter.

Matina's first mens collection, Warrior Til Death, sounds like a missing Harry Potter chapter and reads like one too. The rings feature armor and skull designs, and symbols of bravery, valour, courage, strength, and love. Steer his eye towards the golden eagle gob-stopper (below), horse armor rings, and fighting unicorns trio (above), and beware, these beauties are too good to share.

Clueless part DUH?!

Are Cher and her betties making a return to our silver screens?

The 411 is that Alicia Silverstone was overheard discussing possible storylines for a Clueless sequel with Amy Heckerling. PLEASE let this be true. I need more Cher in my life.

Masked crusader

The accessory of choice for superheroes, surgeons, showgirls and serial killers - the mask is next season's hat.

Masked balls are no longer required to don a disguise. AW09 is a chance to hide behind a mask and embrace your mysterious side. Jean Paul Gaultier, Emma Bell, Gareth Pugh, and Murkudis Johnstons were among those that featured dominatrix, folk, welding, and balaclava styles. Just leave the swine flu masks at home.

When bad things happen to good people

Blake, Blake, Blake. I understand you were attending the Met's costume gala but did that really mean you had to go as Serena Van der Boobsen for the night? Since when did you start taking fashion advice from your younger, hoochier alter ego?

A former fan of S, I am (these days) appalled at her get-up. Cleavage, cleavage, and more cleavage does not a sassy girl make. The unbearably tight leather jackets zipped to just below her ample bosom, the plunging necklines that render her boobs and nothing else, and the nasty shrugs and knitted waistcoats are quite frankly, appalling. Eric Daman, what have you done? What happened to the Serena we know and love?

Perhaps we have Blake to blame for this outrageous crime against fashion - ever since series two started I've noticed a definite change in her wardrobe. Formerly demure and daring, Lively is now a little too lively. Boobs, legs, and teeth? Didn't anyone ever tell you that less is more Lively?

The Versace monstrosity she wore to the 'Model as Muse' themed bash wasn't a patch on the lovely Ralph Lauren she wore last year. As for that ill-fitting (supposedly custom made) Nina Ricci gown she wore to the Oscars this year, well, don't even get me started on that...

Baby blues

She wore blue velvet, silk, tulle and cotton for SS09.

In particular, powder blue.  Pretty, pastel, pale blues found on sugar coated almonds and duck eggs.  

Swathed in sky blues, dreamy debutantes danced up and down the catwalks at Elie Saab.

Glittery snakeskin Studio 54 divas shone in the palest blue scales stalking Balenciaga's runway.

Ladies that lunch wore french fancy blues at Lanvin.  

Tomboys in grey blues gave Wunderkind's suits a rainy day hue.  

Victorian lace and soft blues are oh-so-pretty on Erdem's sexy secretaries.

All tied up

I do love a multi-tasking accessory, and a Keira bow is just that.

A flat, fat big bow made of leather and attached to elastic, these beauties can be worn on your wrist, in your hair, or at the ankle with a pair of heels. Pretty and polished, you can be sure Blair Waldorf would approve, and that's good enough reason for me. At 27 pounds a pop you can buy one in every colour too. Precious.

Chuck Bass goes fishing

It seems they're all at it, designers can't get enough of the boy we love to hate (or love, in my case) Mr. Charles Bass. Gossip Girl's most stylish character is surely behind this natty Band of Outsiders SS09 get-up, a combo one can easily imagine Bass wearing whilst fishing for another kind of (sea)Bass. Suits you sir.

Get out the baby oil..

Shiny, molten metallics are here to stay as designers sent a stream of oil lacquered items down their catwalks for AW09. Yep, I'm afraid those wet-look leggings are set to stick around as Brit designers Stella McCartney, Julien Macdonald, and (ahem) Victoria Beckham featured frocks that looked as though they'd been dipped in an oil slick during New York Fashion Week. Grimy metallic blues and petrol greys gave the catwalks a dirty, sexy edge that is sure to be a hit with the high street.

Get the look for less (and avoid looking like you've just swam through an oil spill) with these slick updates to your wardrobe.

Air Jordan's pewter sneaks are too cool for school.

Those lacquered leggings just won't go away.

Tarnish your talons with Chanel's 'kaleidoscope' polish.