every girl crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man

The precision, the details, the rules - I have a bit of a thing for men's dressing. I love reading GQ Style, it's like erotic literature to me. 8 years ago, when I was doing my fashion journalism masters it was suggested to me that I should watch 'American Gigolo' with Richard Gere, as he looks so fantastic in all of his suits - it's the film credited for making Giorgio Armani popular in the U.S. I have finally gotten round to watching it after all these years, and from a sartorial point of view it did not disappoint. I also enjoyed some of the spicy scenes too, whatchagonnado? The heavy use of Blondie in the soundtrack didn't hurt either. This scene gives me a wide-on - TWO DRAWERS OF TIES.



Lauren Hutton is of course perfection in it too. There's a great scene before Julian and Michelle get it on for the first time and there's a close-up of him taking her red Bottega Veneta clutch and carefully placing it on the table. It's those details ladies, am I right? 

you'll never get rich

As much as I love charity shops (had you noticed?) I do have a few favourite vintage shops. And let's not even get started on my River Island addiction. One of my favourite vintage shops is Beyond Retro on Cheshire Street, and no, not just because of the cat that lives there. The Brick Lane area is awash with vintage shops and it can be quite a headache, but if I'm short of time I tend to only visit Blitz and Beyond Retro. I like Blitz because I find it cleverly curated, which coupled with the smell of coffee from the in-store cafe makes it a nice, sensual shopping experience. Beyond Retro I like because I think the prices are reasonable and I've had some fortuitous times with their sale rail.  Which leads me on to this outfit: 

This dress was £12 from the Beyond Retro sale rail a few months back, and the shoes were £9 from their sale section on Friday. I love the pronounced shoulders and pulled in waist shape of the dress; it's that '40s silhouette I find so flattering, with a '90s print. And the green shade brings out the colour of my eyes, if I do say so myself. The tap/bowling/clown style shoes were from the Clarks sale, I was hoping with this dress I might look a bit Rita Hayworth rehearsing with Fred Astaire. A long shot, I know. 

Mae Clarke - bride in Frankenstein

There's so much I love about the late '20s-early '40s horror films, but a big part of my enjoyment (because I'm a shallow, clothes obsessed woman) is the costumes. All the furs, the loooong eyebrows, the men's long, pointy shirt collars. I absolutely adore the lace dress Mae Clarke is in for most of 'Frankenstein' (1931), the picture I've included is the best I could find but it's terrible SO WATCH THE FILM. I also love her wedding oufit, especially the head thing and the big long train. So dramatic, so gothic. 

I know my life would look alright if I could see it on the silver screen

Haven't blogged anything for ages, been wearing the same shit all the time because the weather is basically still wintery. Going for comfort, today I wore this men's baseball top with a print of James Dean from the film 'Giant' on it. It was £1.25 from my old Sue Ryder shop, purchased on one of my few visits back there since I left.

I love baseball tops; I've held on to some great 1970s ones of my parents that I will have to blog.

children of the night

"Listen to them, children of the night, what music they make!"

I have been meaning to get my classic horror movie education since I watched the 1920 adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring John Barrymore, so I rather selfishly bought my boyfriend a box set of classic horror films for his birthday this year. We had both really enjoyed Mark Gatiss' series 'A History of Horror' so I thought he would like to see these to. 

We kicked off by watching 'Dracula' starring Bela Lugosi. Obvi its an adaptation of Bram Stoker's book, which by the way, if you haven't read YOU MUST. I know the story has been remade so many ways but I still recommend a read. I also recommend that you read Robert Louis Stevenson's 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jeyll and Mr. Hyde' if you haven't already but hey, I like books. 

It was great, I love 1930s make-up with the long, thin brows. I also love classic movie posters and I will get this one:

I have also decided that it is time to watch Tod Browning's 'Freaks', even though it will scare the crap out of me, and I am particularly fearful of anything starring Lon Chaney as his character transformations are terrifying. I know I am very behind the times with all this but I still thought I'd share. Shinfo.

the rainbow connection

It's no secret if you know me irl; I love The Muppets. I was so excited when the new film came out last month, and I was not disappointed. It really is great, I cried with laughter and skipped home. To get in to the spirit of things, I wore my Muppets tie, which I have had since I worked at the Sue Ryder charity shop; it has been on hold for such an occasion. I made Furr wear my Kermit jumper, and my flatmate wore a Muppet t-shirt, so I was in good company. 

scary kids scaring kids

Part of a pointless death rattle from this blog.... my Halloween t-shirt from a charity shop in Worcester Park when I went at the start of the summer, £4. Love the colours.

 I also thought this nail varnish was worth a mention, it's Estee Lauder 'Wicked Green'.

bolo job

=The style inspirations for this look:

It is a bit weird but its my favourite outfit at the moment, I feel comfortable and confident in it. The basic outfit is all just cheap H&M. I like how the hat (from the Next sale, swish) picks up on the colour in the espadrilles (Kurt Geiger sale, double swish) but the 'key piece' that makes this look current is the little bolo tie and that was of course from... THE SUE RYDER CHARITY SHOP I USED TO WORK IN! I've had it for a couple of years but have only just figured out how to wear it in a way that works for me. I love when you buy something because you like it but have no idea what you will wear it with so you squirrel it away and then years later it is your new favourite thing! I have another 'western' bolo tie bought at the same time which I will blog at some point. I basically love Americana/western/cowboy stuff, I have loooadsss of it (I once got yee-ha'd on the way to work. Twice. By two separate people), I love the kitsch/quirkiness of it. This is a floppy hat rahter than a steston so its thematically confused, but that's probably a good thing.

flairs

"Well, I thought I remembered you saying that you wanted to express yourself"

Spotify keeps reminding me that, like my good self, TGI Fridays in Britain is 25 years old this year. Fridays is where we would always got for birthdays and special occassions in my family, until my dad got too old and crochety and couldn't handle the waiting and didn't like their choice of sweets anymore. We had some great memories form times there though. I guess the fajitas at old orleans are just as good.

Anyway, this spotify ad reminds me of flair (and the great scene if Office Space about it). Flair are the badges that TGI's staff wear on their red braces to express their personalities and wackiness. Its a bit sick and American, but I do love a good pin badge. Me and my brother still have our collections of pin badges from when we were kids, and when I was into greeby skater chic style in my teens I wolud go and ogle the board of badges in Rock-a-round in Reading. Then came facebook and their flair app. I have just signed in to mine and here is a pick of the best (mainly Futurama) and some newbies :

let's misbehave

another movie clip post, oh well.... The other week I watched the film 'Easy Virtue', a film version of the Noel Coward play, and you can't not love it. The cast is great, and Jessica Biel looks purely stunning throughout, loved the 1920s fashion. Some great songs too, makes you want to cut a rug, roaring twenties style. Ben Barnes is in it, I didn't even know he existed until I saw it but apparently he was in some weird shit boyband (cheers youtube) but now he is some singer/actor, also in 'Killing Bono', which I keep seeing ads for at tube stations and would quite like to see:



and he was in 'Dorian Gray', which I've been meaning to watch since it came out.

thou shalt not blow thy minds on school nights

My dear old friend Sammi came to stay this weekend. It was really nice to have that quality time. We watched 'Sweet Charity' as we both love a good musical. It was like being back at my old uni room in Lancs, squashed on to my single bed. Here are two of my favourite clips:



We're both big Rat Pack fans (we used to sing 'Me and My Shadow' in two parts, ha losers) so this is an obvious choice. Definitely a cult. Now for some amazing Fosse choreography:



and lastly, I love the daisy dress and daisy in hair Charity wears for her DOOMED wedding, couldn't get a good pic of it though.

witches and crazy bitches

Yesterday myself and my good friend Mat watched two excellent films. First was Thelma and Louise. I've really been wanting to watch this since last months Vanity Fair did a Thelma and Louise reunion piece, then we saw it at Chiswick carboot yesterday for 20pence so I made Mat buy it, ha! I think it is everyone's dream to road trip around America (near rape and murder aside) so this film indulges that lust for wide open roads and dusty landscapes. Also Thelma and Louise look HOT in their double denim and yeehaw get ups.
I'd like to break out of my safe, well behaved life and express my crazy, get all sunkissed, Thelma style. SCHAWING!

Then we watched Hocus Pocus. Now, when I was younger Omri Katz was one of my first crushes and I had this film taped off of the telly and I would watch it nearly every day... I don't know what the appeal was, but the angsty drum bashing scene probably helped, and his of-the-age flicky curtains hair. Now I like his tie dye t-shirt and wall hanging, and the dude that bullies him who wears a leather jacket is a BABE. SJP as a nympho witch is a bit of fun. Also pretty pleased to be reminded of another 90s American slang term for puking to add to my vocabulary: ralphing.

my daughter's a tramp!

This weekend I watched 'Riding in Cars with Boys' with my sissy Beef for like, the hundredth time, it is a pure Cox sister classic, highly quotable and makes me cry every time - but it also really funny in places due to some great subtle comic performances. The children who play Jason are brilliant, Drew Barrymore is excellent and I absolutely love Lorraine Bracco in anything she does, shes beautiful and has the best voice. Its also a good movie for some '60s and '70s fashion. I have read the book that it is adapted from (a true story) but I think I will have to re-read it again now...

who takes care-a you?

I bought the soundtrack to this film last year and I watched it for the first time in years last week. It was a childhood favourite in our house; I was pretty terrified of all the gnarly faced gangsters and I really wanted to be Madonna as Breathless Mahoney. Of course watching in now with the benefit of experience I see that Warren Beatty and Madonna are actually rubbish and Al Pacino is genius, as usual, "Yor doity Lips, you need a bat'". I imagine it was a great, groundbreaking film in terms of looks, it certainly pre-dates 'Sin City' in its style of comic book rendered to film. Researching into the past of Dick Tracy, I can see that they stayed true to the characteristic grotesqueness of the mob. Really cool. I would love to have a party with the theme 'Gamblers, Gangsters and Gun slingers' (you can tell my current obsessions) as I feel that leaves scope for people to come in some rad fancy dress, from mobsters, to Prohibition dealers, cowboys, Pulp Fiction...

saturday night beaver

Yes, I am a prude. Yes, I avoid films with boobies in, in fact any female nudity in. And yes, I have strong feelings about the dangers of pornography. Despite all that, I fucking love this film. Although Heather Graham's body is so perfect, if there is some way to vote her off of the planet then I'm up for that.

what a knockout

that blog title makes me groan a bit too.

I finally watched 'Raging Bull' a couple of months back and spent the whole thing besotted with Cathy Moriarty's as Vikki LaMotta, Jake LaMotta's long suffering second wife. Everyone has seen the movie so I won't go in to detail but I loved it; the way that it was shot as if it was a geniune 1940s film, at times excruciating to watch, heartstoppingly beautiful, ahhhh. I wish I could be a pool hotty like Moriarty when I go on holiday this year, definitely going to get high waisted bikini bottoms (spotted some in the H&M catalogue). And her hair! She's an angel. I love how she looks like an angel with a bit of a hard bitch edge and a husky voice.

And a simple yet effective, respected fancy dress option for the lads; borrow your bird's dressing gown:

suck me beautiful

Now that I don't have to dash home to Reading every Friday night (nothing wrong with the 'ding, but waiting at Paddington station for an hour or cramped on a slow train for over an hour is a bit of a buzz kill after a working week) I like the idea of watching a film and eating treats so tonight it was....'Suck' and Baklava.

As mentioned in a previous post it is something I've wanted to watch and it was only a fiver so its ended up in my life. I actually enjoyed it. On first watching, or to the untrained eye it might look like a pile of wank but when you notice the clever camera use and the effective stop motion animation, plus the fact that they managed to get Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop (forgetting the insurance adverts, not very Godfather of Punk...), Henry Rollins, Moby and Malcom McDowell you realise that something pretty good is going on here. Rob Stefaniuk wrote, directed and acted in the film, as well as writing and performing all of the fictional band 'The Winners' songs - and they're not bad.

As with 'Scott Pilgrim' here is a bullet point list of the films high points (in my opinion):

• 
  Iggy Pop - he is my current crush and obsession thanks to reading a lot of Nick Kent who was a friend, fan and life saver of Iggy's in the 70s - more on this subject in another post with some great pics. Also Iggy's star print shirt in the film is rad, will be ebay hunting one out.
• Someone dies in a burst of flames after being stabbed through the heart with a flying 'V' guitar. Excellent.
• They have cleverly used old footage of Malcom McDowell from films he did in his youth to use in a flashback sequence; this is another great example of how the film is subtely smarter than you think it will be.
• The Hugo character, played by Chris Ratz is amusing. At first you think he's going to be an ineffective caricature but noooo.
• The classic vampire slayer role of Van Helsing is reprised as Eddie Van Helsing. I love a pun.
• The female lead character is kind of a babe and she has some good make-up and clothes looks, namely the black glitter eyes, and the leopard print floppy hat and mac combo.
• Henry Rollins, who is a joy to listen to anyway, is very convincing as an irritating radio DJ.
• Dimitri Coates of the band Burning Brides plays one of the head vampires Queeny and he looks fucking cool. He lip synchs to some of his bands songs in the film and it works brilliantly and the songs aren't bad. 

 


So 'Suck' did not suck.











I also bought 'Boogie Nights' at the same time, which I'm sure people who know me and my 'no boobs, no nudity' film policy will be suprised by, but I saw it a few years back and loved it, so expect a boring, rambling blog on that soon!
Oh Iggy's Swiftcover ad where he's in bed with his doppleganger puppet has just been on... oh dear...

want me to do your hair?

1975's Shampoo is a great fashion and music film, and sometimes that's all a film needs to be. Warren Beatty is a babe of a hairdresser on a bike who goes round shagging his clients; aaallll his clients. Goldie Hawn is a super cutie and I want her velour basketball top style mini dress and Julie Christie is beautiful and stick thin and I want her backless sequin cocktail dress and fur coat (but I'd like to look like her in it...)