magic surrounds

marriage material

2012-02-29T14:45:00.002-08:00

I've been thinking about weddings a whole lot lately - not my own. In the weekend, our bestest friends tied the knot, and I'm working on a beautiful project for Simon James Design that means I'll be thinking about weddings a whole lot more. Where do you read about weddings, what do you think is beautiful and important when you get married? I love the images from Cheri Messerli's wedding, how beautiful!

Art project Get Hubbied is of interest, too. A couple entrusted their entire wedding to a collaborative effort by artists including Ed Ruscha. More here.

liberty

2012-02-28T15:27:00.002-08:00

Isabel Marant Etoile Jane Jumpsuit at Maryam Nassir Zadeh

clarisse demory

2012-02-28T15:25:00.001-08:00

Stylist Clarisse Demory creates perfectly undone spaces.

My favorite challenge is to succed in saving, optimizing and promoting everything that is in the original place instead of transforming it, it’s more economical and ecological. Composing with little defects can push us beyond automatic reflexes in term of taste and push us creatively while keeping a bite with the story of the place.

You can see more of her on her blog, Ensuite. She's also been interviewed about her work on Parisian bento cafe Nanashi, here.

Her work sits somewhat close to that of Cheri Messerli, of Scout Holiday.

I like the use of pastel colours, organic prints and found objects, a deference to the philosophy of wabi-sabi, the lightness.

mood #1

2012-02-28T14:41:00.003-08:00

mark lanegan & isobel campbell

2012-02-26T13:45:00.002-08:00

LISTEN

imagine all the people

2012-02-21T16:54:00.005-08:00

PEACE

if wishes were kisses

2012-02-21T15:56:00.001-08:00

Masking Tape, Father Rabbit, $49.95

remember the flowers i sent, i need you babe

2012-02-21T14:40:00.003-08:00

Irving Penn, Various

athena

2012-02-20T16:49:00.000-08:00

I love Athena Calderone for the same reasons I love Emmelie Brunetti.

She could have walked right next to Keith Richards in his heyday and no one would have batted an eye. She's beautiful but relaxed, wears vintage and designer pieces with equal aplomb and never looks too done.

An excellent cook, a mother, a fringed brunette, amazing vintage clothing, an enviable and homey home full of worn wood, embroidered prints and art oddities.

Her blog.

Her Tales of Endearment article.

thursday sunday

2012-02-19T16:48:00.000-08:00

The jumper I designed in collaboration with super amazing Melbourne label Thursday Sunday is in my clutches. The softest thing you can imagine, it's silk angora, handknitted and the perfect, slouchy fit. It's a very limited run of 20 jumpers, each hand-numbered, so if you'd like to pre-order, please make contact with the label. Shot, simply, in my backyard with plenty of tea and apples to snack on.

Many thanks to...

Greta Van Der Star

Talei Lepper of Stephen Marr Takapuna

Laura / Red 11

SM

2012-02-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Sherie Muijs makes beautiful, clean, simple shirts for both men and women. And she lives a beautiful, simple life. A few months ago, I worked with her to create her new lookbook. Have a look. And keep checking back, as she's recently started writing regularly in her online journal.

make it easy on yourself

2012-02-15T13:56:00.000-08:00

You have to feel the words coming out of silence.

Scott Walker: 30th Century Man

Dark existentialism... a grotesque, baritone crooner who mixes anxiety and horror with a black humor.

hello, i love you

2012-02-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

A collection of friends and free ideas for Valentine's Day for Miss Crabb.

Our song.

Stephanie Downey's Big Love

New lingerie.

And coconut gelato shakes for breakfast.

mr kitly

2012-02-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

Melbourne-based website Mr Kitly is full of the most beautiful handmade items, books and magazines.

CLOSED: black magic woman

2012-02-09T12:43:00.000-08:00

Leave a comment on this post to win this beautiful set of Lonely lingerie.

I have one too.

My boyfriend calls it the sexy spider.

Mesh & velvet.

It's very Stevie Nicks.

Competition ends midnight on Valentine's Day, New Zealand time.

Love is all you need.

And lingerie.

Update: Competition is now closed, congratulations to Louise Garland.

published: guitar girl, russh

2012-02-08T17:31:00.000-08:00

Mmm, this reminds me I need to pick up my guitar again. It's been collecting dust this summer.

Had a lot of fun writing this article for Russh in 2010.

Hope I inspired some ladies to ditch their 'band aid' aspirations and pick up an axe instead.

catbird

2012-02-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

Immaculately curated gifts and jewelry at Catbird NYC.

A Tarot Card candle, with scents of pencil shavings, incense and turkish rose?

A Campfire candle, with woodsmoke, saddle leather and honey.

And of course, piles upon piles of delicate, fine as thread rings.

published: the eccentrics, russh

2012-02-06T13:19:00.000-08:00

Marchesa Luisa Casati, Isabella Blow, Julia Frakes, Daphne Guinness... Mad dressers and wonderful women!

Interviewed the incredible Consuela Castiglione of Marni for this feature too.

What a treat.

health kick

2012-02-06T13:14:00.000-08:00

Coconut & Quinoa joins my favourite healthy food websites, 101 Cookbooks and My New Roots.

reading list: a book of common prayer

2012-02-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

Just finished A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion.

I've never read any of her fiction before, just essays.

It made me feel quite odd, like I wasn't wearing my glasses.

It was written in 1977, is reminiscent of Patti Hearst's story, through the eyes of the mother.

AK47's, airports, Boca Grande and many a strong drink.

A more eloquent analysis here.

Joan Didion's art has always been one of understatement and indirection, of emotion withheld. Like her narrator, she has been an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time, a memorable voice, partly eulogistic, partly despairing; always in control.

asleep & awake

2012-02-05T14:28:00.001-08:00

hangin' round

2012-02-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

Kate Sylvester's Sylvester line. Just perfect. Just arrived in store.

a treatise on white magic

2012-02-04T23:40:00.000-08:00

Emmelie Brunetti.

Just amazing.

tea & oranges

2012-02-04T23:33:00.000-08:00

All I can think of when I listen to this is that Leonard Cohen is 77, that he will die one day soon and that I will cry and cry when he does.

Always profound...

she's wild at heart

2012-02-04T19:10:00.000-08:00

Zoe Marianne's Wild At Heart is an endless stream of carefully curated imagery, almost all of which I have never seen before. Old and new, dark and light, images of poets, artists, musicians, dreams and dreamers. I have been a fan of Wild at Heart for many years - it's an endless source of inspiration and imagery. Her answers here, too, form a reading, watching and listening education I can't wait to embark upon.

Your website, Wild at Heart, speaks volumes about you. But it's full of images and not too many words. So it's hard to know too much about you, although the important things are immediately apparent. Could you share with us a little more - what do you do each day?

I'm a woman of few words but I like to think it's the quiet ones that sometimes make the most noise.
Still waters run deep.

Everyday is different. I collect and curate varying kinds of material for the purposes of art direction, advertising and research, which is reincarnate for the brands I work with. New surroundings are instrumental in conjuring novel ideas or nods-to so I'm in constant flux, it is a rare thing that two days are ever the same.

You're inspired by many of the things I love - perhaps you could say our idols are the same - Patti, Stevie, Bob, Cat...

For those who underscore the principles of romanticism and the ideology of the expressive, it's hard not to be drawn to the magnetism of those figures. Attributes of the erudite dropout have a strange kind of magic don’t they?

Could you make a list of most loved songs?

Be bop a lula/Gene Vincent
Birdland/Patti Smith
Cinnamon girl/Neil Young
Gold dust woman/Fleetwood Mac
Gymnopedie no.1/Erik Satie
I wonder/Brenda Lee
I'd have you anytime/George Harrison
I'd like to walk around in your mind/ Vashti Bunyan
Loretta/Townes Van Zandt
Mon amie la rose/Francoise Hardy
Oh Yoko/John Lennon
50 ways to leave your lover/ Paul Simon
Rumble/Link Wray
Duchess/Scott Walker
She belongs to me/Bob Dylan
Shivers/The Young Charlatans
Strawberry letter 23/Shuggie Otis
Mystic Lady/ T.Rex
The lady with the braid/Dory Previn
What difference does it make/The Smiths

Books?

Amerika/Franz Kafka
Bonjour Tristesse/Francoise Sagan
Breakfast of champions/Kurt Vonnegut
Brideshead revisited/Evelyn Waugh
Call of the wild/Jack London
Franny and Zooey/J.D. Salinger
Gone to earth/Mary Webb
Illuminations/Arthur Rimbaud
La bâtarde/Violette Leduc
Les fleurs du mal/Charles Baudelaire
Light in august/William Faulkner
Nadja/André Breton
Slouching towards Bethlehem/Joan Didion
Songs of innocence and of experience/William Blake
Steppenwolf/Hermann Hesse
The golden bowl /Henry James
The subterraneans/Jack Kerouac
The sun also rises/Ernest Hemingway
Them/Joyce Carol Oates
To the lighthouse/ Virginia Woolf

And films?

3 Women
Alice
Black moon
Brewster McCloud
Bronco bullfrog
Céline and Julie go boating
Cléo de 5 à 7
Domicile Conjugal
Grey gardens
L’eclisse
La collectionneuse
Les Demoiselles de Rochefort
Marie-poupée
Meshes of the afternoon
Night of the hunter
Pierrot le fou
Simple men
Stranger than paradise
The blood of a poet
Wings of desire

What's important to you? What have you been making, doing or creating recently?

The pursuit of knowledge and freedom.
Conviction and candour.
Recently I built a little house with my father.
Currently I’m making it a home with my beloved.

Do you love to cook? If so, what do you make?

I do, travelling across the Balkan and Anatolian peninsula as a child I was privy to many cherished culinary traditions and developed a resolute taste for seasonal cooking at a very young age. Travel is still one of the most influential factors for me, nothing else has been more exploratory or quite so significant in provoking a sense of inventiveness. I seldom stick to the same recipes but always make local, organic produce a fundamental part of whatever it is I'm making.

What are you excited about wearing, now or one day soon, whether it's real or something you dream of.

That intangible quality of flowers in one's hair on another warm California day. More Charles Anastase. Rodarte & Rochas.

Thank you, Zoe.

“All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.” — Susan Sontag

the plant journal #2

2012-02-01T17:33:00.000-08:00

A new issue of The Plant Journal.

In the same vein as Apartamento and The Travel Almanac, this is my favourite magazine format and I am glad it's being explored so well. Thick, A5 format printed on recycled paper; artful, simple shoots; a focus on interesting people, creative writing and a dedicated investigation of very small details, DIY and a complete and utter lack of gloss.

Also, macrame plant holders and a feature on the gardens of film Mon Oncle? Perfect.

sundays with areez

2012-02-01T15:39:00.000-08:00

I love this.

Areez Katki is a very clever man.

And now, each Sunday at the Miss Crabb store, you can spend the afternoon with him, surrounded by delicious silky clothes and soft, cosy knits; sharing ideas and tea-time treats.

dirty hair

2012-01-31T15:57:00.000-08:00

I don’t blow dry my hair straight away when I get out of the shower. I used to wash my hair every morning, but sometimes I think it looks better not totally clean. I think it is awful to have your hair too well done. When you are young, it looks cheap to have your have your hair perfect, and when you are old, it looks tacky. It looks like you want to look wealthy, which is very vulgar — Ines de la Fressange

Make your own salt spray.

all watched over by machines of loving grace

2012-01-31T14:06:00.000-08:00

Adam Curtis is a documentary film maker whose work deals with understanding the confusing threads of capitalism, international politics, finance and computers. He's very good at presenting complex ideas in a way that is easy to understand. I enjoy reading his blog, and perhaps a good introduction would be his series 'All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace'. It's a three-part series on the failure of computers to liberate us or create freedom, and how they've "distorted and simplified our view of the world around us". Something I'd think about a lot more than I do already if my Facebook-atrophied mind could concentrate for longer than a goldfish.

perfect outfit

2012-01-31T12:43:00.000-08:00

Gia Coppola.

Who, like her celebrated aunt, always dresses like she has far more important things on her mind.

Like movies.

Photography.

And books.

But always looks impeccable.

The best way to look.

published: style on the shelf, russh

2012-01-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite features I've written so far, I wrote this in 2009 for Russh. From Bonjour Tristesse to Lolita and The White Album, it was a pleasure to draw the parallels between my favourite books and my favourite collections.

listening: townes van zandt

2012-01-30T18:07:00.000-08:00

The subsequent long line of haunting Americana featuring such luminaries as the Cowboy Junkies, Uncle Tupelo and Lambchop could be said to start here.

metamorphosis

2012-01-30T17:34:00.000-08:00

Could this Something Else by Natalie Wood collection be any better?

A polka dot outfit for meetings.

A creamy slip dress for evenings and picnics.

That printed minidress worn with a maxi over top.

I love it all, and I love what Maya Villiger has done with the video.

Cut and paste, it is the best ever melding of zine DIY and technology.

ladies who lunch

2012-01-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

Artist Kirra Jamison's sideline website is an inspiring melange of women, their homes, gardens and their favourite recipes. This feels like home.

KEKE

1: All images sourced from Keke. 2: I found this via the ever wonderful Jessica Stanley.

the perfect steak

2012-01-25T19:35:00.000-08:00

Choose a good cut of meat. My favourite is eye fillet - tender, no fat or gristle. Also the most expensive, but if you only eat meat once or twice a month then it's nice to go all out. You want about 200g of meat per person.

Ideally, you'll have a heavy, cast-iron frypan or grill pan.

Set your element to very hot.

Brush one side of the steak with olive oil, and grind on lots of fresh black pepper.

Never salt your meat before you cook it.

Sear it.

(Rare: 2-3 mins each side. Medium: 3-4 mins each side)

Brush the other side with olive oil, and another grind of pepper.

Sear that side.

Take it off the heat, wrap it in tinfoil and rest for 10 minutes before serving...

Ideally with a simple green salad, crispy roast potatoes and a glass of red wine as big as your head.

Herb butter if you can be bothered.

Best cooked topless with Zeppelin on the stereo a la Kate Moss.

For perfect classic and simple dishes that you wish you'd been taught as a teenager, this book is the best.

green is the colour

2012-01-24T17:56:00.000-08:00

I taught myself to garden.

Only because I couldn't find anywhere online to tell me how.

Do you know anywhere good?

Here's how I do it.

You'll need:

- a trowel

- gardening gloves

- compost

- organic potting mix

- a watering can or hose

1. Think about the climate where you live. Is it sunny, frosty, wet, windy, hot?

2. Think about the space you have to create a garden. If you're in an apartment or renting, buy as many containers as you can fit in your outdoor area. You can buy half-wine barrels, terracotta pots, pre-made wooden planter boxes. If you have the time, and the space, a clear patch of garden or lawn can be dug up for a 'proper' garden.

- place pegs at each corner of a 1m square (or larger, if you have space)

- string between to create guidelines

- dig up this area with a big spade, turning it over and aerating the soil

- cover with plastic for a month or two to kill all the weeds

- then, dig in a big bag of compost (from the garden centre) or some you've made although that's a different post

- leave it for two weeks

- now you're ready to plant!

3. Choose plants to suit your space and climate. Here's a good guide, if you're in New Zealand. A quick search will turn up the right guidelines if you're elsewhere in the world.

To be continued...

tapestry

2012-01-24T17:55:00.000-08:00

On a massive hippie trip at the moment.

I'm off to India in September and I can't wait to discover beautiful embroidered pieces and ikat print dresses.

My mum had the most amazing Indian print dresses for pregnancy - I wish I could get hold of them now!

Anyone got any good leads for eBay finds?

chandelier

2012-01-24T17:48:00.001-08:00

It's a flower of light in a field of darkness.

the second sex

2012-01-24T17:48:00.000-08:00

"Sex pleasure in woman is a kind of magic spell; it demands complete abandon; if words or movements oppose the magic of caresses, the spell is broken." — Simone De Beauvoir

plain

2012-01-24T17:45:00.000-08:00

An interesting plainness is the most difficult and precious thing to achieve — Mies Van Der Rohe

published: russh

2012-01-24T17:44:00.000-08:00

A reminder of an amazing two months spent in Tokyo in 2010. I was just hanging out, but got to write a few stories on the side. Meeting clever girls and creative types; chowing down on the best vegan food ever; wandering the streets of Aoyama in awe of the flagship stores of Comme des Garcons and Prada; hitting the cat cafes of Naku Meguro; the metal bars and the temples.

I love Japan.

insight

2012-01-24T17:25:00.000-08:00

Favourite looks from the new Insight collection dropping soon.

Bright and bold.

I want to slope around in this jumper and jeans outfit every weekend.

Don't you?

freewheelin'

2012-01-24T15:46:00.000-08:00

pussy

2012-01-24T14:35:00.000-08:00

Today, I become a cat woman.

Gershwin, welcome to the family.

a real need

2012-01-23T23:24:00.000-08:00

100 ways to live a better life.

published: russh

2012-01-23T23:00:00.000-08:00

The New Black Eye, for Russh

happy birthday, baby

2012-01-23T22:44:00.001-08:00

nothing more

2012-01-23T19:07:00.000-08:00

Black shirt, cream blouse, messy hair, big smile.

published: russh

2012-01-19T16:56:00.000-08:00

On being vegan...

in the morning, when we rise

2012-01-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

Bon Appetit's 'Food Lovers Cleanse'.

This I can do.

Bon Appetit is new to me. It's pretty amazing.

Especially if, like me, you're curious about what people like The Black Keys eat.

This is also good.

lydia

2012-01-18T15:34:00.001-08:00

Lydia, by Lover

to beautify the already beautiful

2012-01-17T12:53:00.000-08:00

Rose Garden 07, Graham Lott

These are uncut roses, still on the plant, and photographed at mid-day, despite the deceptive lacquerwork effect that suspends them against the dead of night. Roses naturally group themselves in these charmed bundles, calling into question our lingering obsession with a type of naturalism that is actually severed from nature, evidenced by the abundance of cut-flower still life's stretching back to 17th-century Dutch painting. The pressing desire to domesticate, to beautify the already beautiful.

salvatore ferragamo

2012-01-16T23:46:00.000-08:00

Me and mum, Christmas day.

Lake Forest, Illinois

By MELISSA COKER

Twenty ninth of December 2011

From Lula.

I'd love to find a pair of these. Ladylike and 60s and French... and perfect.

Are they the Chanel 2.55 of shoes?

I think so.

published: us nylon

2012-01-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

I wrote about Twenty-Seven Names for the February issue of US Nylon. An old favourite, US Nylon was the first magazine I started buying on a monthly basis as a teenager. I used to flip through the pages in awe of Dani Stahl's perfectly packed bags, discovering the newest music and coolest girls. I even bought their books, NYLON PRETTY and NYLON STREET. Their music issues are always perfect.

Thanks for having me.

melancholia

2012-01-15T16:36:00.000-08:00

Deepest sadness and worlds colliding. A wonderful film, not only for Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg (and the incredible setting).

Charlotte Rampling does a good bitch.

But you know what? I can understand why Lars Von Trier turned on it, found it too close to a palatable American cliche.

Despite the subject matter, it was all too easy to digest.

the rising storm

2012-01-15T16:18:00.001-08:00

The best music website you've never heard of.

bag lady

2012-01-12T15:25:00.000-08:00

On the way.

Mulberry, The Lily

A new year calls for a special new bag.

he merged perfectly with the hallway

2012-01-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

I will love Patti Smith the most, always and forever.

Horses, on repeat.

Would love it on vinyl.

Would love to see her again.

Dancing in the aisles.

In a sea of possibilities.

The best boyfriend gave me a framed print of her for Christmas.

It will make you feel like super woman every time you look at it, he said.

I put my hand inside his cranium, oh we had such a brainiac-amour.

All grown up but still a punk at heart.

sweetness

2012-01-11T01:26:00.000-08:00

This is so wholesome and sweet. I love high waisted bra sets, side parts, tortoiseshell barrettes and cosy cardigans. And eyebrows. This beautiful girl reminds me of my lovely friend Niamh.

floral tribute

2012-01-11T00:45:00.000-08:00

Peony, Susannah Blaxill

It's hard to believe this is a painting.

Peonies are my favourite flower, but since the season is so very fleeting, this is a nice reminder of their beauty.

I used to buy flowers each and every week.

A little treat for myself. On a Sunday. Clean sheets and lilies by the bed.

But lately, we've been staying out late, walking home in lieu of a taxi and foraging for blooms on the way. They look a whole lot better.

peachy keen

2012-01-10T18:09:00.000-08:00

My Chameleon has been a favourite online haunt since it opened.

Giselle, the owner and buyer has an eagle eye for new and wonderful designers.

And old favourites too.

She was kind enough to offer me a treat.

I feel very lucky.

I chose this jumpsuit by Dress Up (and purchased a pair of these sweet peach patent lace-ups myself).

I think it will be the perfect outfit for a summer day.

By the way, Stephanie, the designer of Dress Up, keeps an excellent diary.

waste of space

2012-01-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

2012 means living a more sustainable life (what does that even mean?).

Treading gently. Less waste. Being more thoughtful with what I buy, and what I throw away. What I put in my body. What I read, watch and see. Where my money goes.

I'd like to watch this film.

Exciting stuff.

But seriously. It's so important. And so easy (and far too easy to forget).

Buying local.

By people who care about what they're making or growing.

Keeping a cloth bag in your handbag for groceries.

Only buying favourite magazines.

{Will I keep this forever?}

Composting.

Recycling.

Buying a Keep Cup.

Eating fewer animal products.

Using a metal water bottle rather than a series of ones that just get relegated to the rubbish.

Growing your own herbs.

Buying second-hand whenever possible. Books, furniture - they just have so much more soul.

I'll never be able to give up my favourite trashy treats.

But everything in moderation.

1. Mark Borthwick's home in 01 magazine

2. Lucy Marr in her glass house by The Selby

3. Russh editorial

sweater weather

2012-01-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

The sun has finally come out in Auckland.

But, winging its way to me is the sweater I designed in collaboration with Iris and Mara of Thursday Sunday.

I'm eagerly awaiting the courier man's knock.

Do you like it?

It's just loose enough, perfectly slouchy. The softest of grey with woodland green shoulders.

For wearing with Isabel Marant Dicker boots and simple shorts.

The offset to a light silk skirt.

With cuffs that reach just to your knuckles. And a hem that hits the hips.

Something to cosy up in when autumn hits with a glass of red wine. Or a cup of this.

Something to think in.

{Woody Guthrie's New Year Resolutions}

morning glory

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Andreas Gursky, Rhein (1996)

We've become so much more aware of what we eat and drink over the past year.

Starting each day with a green juice or smoothie rather than coffee makes the morning feel so much better.

They're not as difficult to drink as you might think - the taste of the greens is hidden by the fruitier flavours.

Recipes...

Green Juice.

Green Smoothie.

And if you're interested in learning more about juicing, this book is a good resource.

la guggenheim

2012-01-05T00:34:00.000-08:00

Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist

Reading Peggy Guggenheim's biography, Mistress of Modernism.

Wildly wealthy and quite wicked with men, she gallivants her way around Europe, eschewing the expected marriage to someone fitting, instead amassing a collection of modern art that would form the basis of the Guggenheim Museum.

Violent affairs with Duchamp, Beckett and many more, her lavish bohemian lifestyle is an inspiration.

A sprawling chateau in the south of France.

Fast cars.

Three day parties.

Her children named Sinbad and Pegeen.

Monthly checks to all her friends.

But more than that, a real iron belief in art. A love of breaking tradition, of supporting the anarchist movement, of poetry and abstract paint on canvas, no matter what the naysayers said.