Mini Trend 2: Lace Dresses

Lace Dresses

Fashion bloggers and style icons all over the web have been rocking vintage-looking, delicate lace dresses, despite the bitter weather conditions. It's easy to see where the trend comes from :there were lace frocks a plenty on the spring summer catwalks - from Chanel's little house on the prairie inspired designs, to Oscar De La Renta's black widow gowns.

Now, this is a trend that I definately want to follow. Worn with sheer black tights, a sheer lace dress is the perfect trans-seasonal piece for your wardrobe. Take your lead from Abbey Lee and casually throw on haphazord layers of thin cardigans, scarves and jackets, finishing off with a pair of flat lace-up ankle boots and, if you're still feeling the cold, a Russian fur hat effortlessly finishes the look

Photos: Ashley Olsen wearing Alexander McQueen, Fashion Squad, Alexa, Where Did You Get That, K, Natalie Off Duty and Abbey Lee Kershaw from Stockholm Streetstyle

The New York Dolls

I have discovered a magical website that I wish to share with you, my readers.

The Kouklitas are a line of fashion rag dolls designed and made by Andrew Yang, an artist and illustrator based in New York. Each doll is hand made and hand painted, and their dresses are made using couture sewing methods. There are 27 dolls on the website, each has been named and given their own little story. You can also have your own custom made doll (if you have a spare $500 or so to spare!)

Yang has recently collaborated with Block magazine and produced an editorial starring his Kouklitas dolls dressed in miniature versions of some of Spring/ Summer 2010's biggest designer looks. From Lanvin to Gareth Pugh to Proenza Schouler.

This one eyed beauty dressed in a heavily petticoated dress is Ingrid St Clare

"Ingrid St. Clare was born to doctors Louis and Isabelle St. Clare in London during the last half of the nineteenth century. Her parents were known as the most controversial scientists of their day, performing strange and illegal experiments on asylum patients and eventually themselves. Ingrid was known as “their most beautiful creation.” She was known for her Cyclops like eye, and massive intellect. She spoke over seventeen languages, had mastered calculus by the time she was three, and her pencil drawings on napkins at the dinner table were said to have greatly influenced the work of architect Charles Devey. She married young, and had three healthy albino children. It is interesting to note that she was actually partially blind.

Ingrid’s ensemble consists of five mix and match pieces. The base item is a long white cotton shirtdress with bias cut ruffles at the neck and cuff. The jacket, apron, and hem of the long under skirt, are all custom dyed muslin to match the color of Ingrid’s eye. Her cotton striped skirt, and floral printed underskirt, were dip dyed to a similar effect. Her kanekalon wig is hand made.

*Ingrid’s irregularly colored gown was a result of an explosion in her parent’s laboratory"

Mini Trend 1: Leather Shorts

With the promise of warmer weather getting closer and closer as the snow thaws, some of us are already planning our summer wardrobes. More and more people are looking to the internet, and the scores of fashion bloggers and street style websites for inspiration. I have come across a wide range of mini-trends adorned by style icons all over the web.

Leather shorts

Not my cup of tea, but I've noticed black leather shorts cropping up all over the blogosphere lately. An unusual choice for the warmer months perhaps, especially amongst all of the pastal hues, frills, lace and chiffon that will be literally floating around this summer. However, team your high-waisted leather shorts with bare, tanned legs; the highest cage sandals you can get your hands on; a loose fitting jersey tee and just-got-out-of-bed hair and you have yourself a refreshingly different way to show skin and stay stylish with a Parisienne twist.

Photos from Karla's Closet, Jak and Jil (photo of Caroline Sieber), Ballad of a Thin Girl and photograph of Chloe Sevigny

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Rouge

My hair has been varying shades of red and orange for the past two years now. Burnt orange, copper, mahogany, ginger. It has become a sort-of obsession of mine to dye my locks a different shade every other month or so.

1. unknown
2. unknown
3. seecreatures.com
4. unknown
5. seecreatures.com
6. nishe (flickr)
7. michela heim

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home is where the art is

this is what i want our home to look like:

flowers everywhere - in old paint cans, in used glass lemonade bottles, in an assortment of vases, in tea pots, in tea cups, in different coloured glass vials. exposed floor boards in every room - some painted white, some traditionally varnished. heavy old wooden furniture - bureaus, chests, dressers. unique, point of interest light fittings, hanging low from ceilings, over kitchen tables, mounted on walls. patterned wallpaper in hidden nooks, on chimney brests, on feature walls. pretty, dainty dresses, hats, jewellery and furs used as decorations - draped over furniture, hung on walls. an assortment of pictures and mirrors hung haphazordly on walls. kitchen dressers displaying a range of china. french country style kitchen. floral tea sets displayed on mantle piece. gold gilted frames in every room. white walls. antique signs. antique dressing tables, cluttered with knick knacks, jewellery and tea cups. wooden beams. ornate vases. sleigh beds. candleabras. taxidermy.

what would your dream home be like?

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Wallflower

Beautiful floral walls (and sofas) make a background for some of my favourite photographs. Sometimes they challenge the subject of the picture, try to insist that we give our attention to them. Sometimes they are subtle, and we only notice the detail on our second glance. Either way, these backgrounds make these photographs what they are.

cherry blossom girl, cherry blossom girl, heytcha flickr, unknown, nishe flickr, olivia bolles, unknown, sophomore lookbook, michela heim, marie hochhaus, marie antoinette, unknown

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By The Time It Gets Dark

Sometimes, you don't have to trawl tumblr and Recordis photography and flickr to find a talented photographer. These photographs were taken by my very good friend, photographer helen kirkbright. They document her time spent in Australia and a holiday in Spain. I love photographs captured on film cameras. We're so used to polished, shiny brand spanking new digital images that it's refreshing and interesting to see the world through the eyes of humble old-school film. Please visit helen's blog to see more of her work

xx