Fashionable Eye For The Blind Guy...And Gal

Mare and I write a seasonal column in Dawson's fashion e-zine. He puts together a whole bunch of people's opinions on whats going on in fashion that season so that Visually Impaired People (aka VIPs) can keep up. Because obviously VIPs can't go window shopping or see what people are wearing. Now Im no fashion expert, Mare may claim to be though :) so its just what we've seen happening around us here and what we like.

Its been going for a couple of issues and its been read by VIPs and sighted people alike. Dawson's been interviewed by a couple newspapers and radio stations, and even people from overseas are taking note of his efforts.

Check it out at http://myspace.com/fashionable_eye or in the side bar on the bottom right of the page

The Winter 07 issue is coming out soon and you get to read Mare's and my column before anyone else does - you get an advanced preview of what Mare and I have noticed in Women's and Mens shoes and accessories in London.


Sexy Stocking Style

With the cold wind blowing up our intsy wintsy mini skirts – it’s a wonder we haven’t got frostbite on our tootsies! Yes, winter is upon us once again and well into the swing of things. Well…for some anyways. Here in London, its summer and I guess it’s comparable to a winter day in Sydney. When it is 20 degrees Celsius, the singlet tops and mini skirts come out as if it were a 30-degree day in Australia. As you can tell – I am yet to have acclimatized to the cool breeze of the English Summer. This makes my article a lot easier to write as I feel we have much similar weather although oceans, continents and the equator part us.

Mini dresses with cute stocking are a must this season! So easy to dress up, the stocking is a staple part of any fashion conscious wardrobe. They can be worn with mini’s skirts, maxi dresses and of course the good ol’ hot pants! So…what shoe to couple with this fantastic combination…? The choice is yours!

Firstly, the obvious choice for winter are boots. These can vary from the thigh high, “I’m feeling very sexy” stiletto boot to the flat, ankle high, “I’m funky” kind of boot (covered in last season’s article). Warm and comfortable I am yet to meet a girl without a trusty pair of boots she can slide on in the winter when the rain sets out and she has to go and play! For me, the choice is a pair of slouchy, calf high black boots, with a small stiletto heel and a cute gold bow at the back. Although originally I though the gold bow would be limiting with my wardrobe choices, I have found that the hint of colour goes with just about everything!

Boot outfit idea:
Long sleeve knee length dark green patterned wrap dress with black opaque stockings teamed with knee high, pointy stiletto boots – with a brown/beige trench coat for the outside wet weather and Burberry print classic wooden handle umbrella.

Secondly, there are there is the choice of a classic pair of pumps or the new version of the pump. The classic pump is the pointy-toed enclosed foot shoe. There have been many variations of these this winter with different colours and patterns. I find that Wittner always has a wide variety of classic pumps and also a range with a fashionable twist. Visit http://www.wittner.com.au/ for all their styles. The ‘tumbla’ is a current favourite which comes in a medium brown and jet black leather with a cute leather soft buckle style feature on the front with some frills.

The new pump is a slight change to the classic pump and comes with many different features. Firstly, the heel can come in any shape including round toe which is currently very popular. Also the platform at the front of the heel can add some much wanted height for those that are a little…that’s say, vertically challenged or who like the extra length in their legs. The height can range from a couple of millimeters to a couple of centimeters. Kylie Minogue and Jessica Simpson are famous fans of these updated version of a classic pump – both who love having super long sexy legs!

Pump outfit ideas
Turquoise long sleeve 60’s style mini dress with dark brown patterned opaque stockings and new pumps in a colour that is one shade darker than the stockings.

Another option is the sling back. Although this might be the slightly colder, wetter and less comfortable option, it can look super cool with this season’s trendy colours in fashion. For a more Indie / Rocker chick look, try mismatching your dress, stockings and shoes in different bright and interesting colours, patterns and shades. Note: if you are going for a classic classy style, stick to enclosed shoes with stockings, however, for a fresh and chic style you can’t go wrong with Indie style this winter.

Funky style outfit ideas
Purple trench coat with coloured patterned vintage shirt underneath, purple patterned opaque stockings and bright green peep tow sling-back stilettos.

My handy winter tip – If you are wearing Black plain opaque stockings and it’s an extra chilly outside – put on two pairs! It’ll keep you twice as warm and no one will know the difference!

So, there you have it – a few different ways to glam up the opaque stockings that will keep you warm all winter long.

Until next time, Love and peace.
Maree


The London Vibe

Damn there are a lot of fashion styles in London! And they are all a lot more extreme than those in Sydney. For example, the punk. In Oz this generally means wearing torn pants, a few piercing and spiky hair. But here in London, they live the punk life. There are Mohawks which are 30 or 40 centimetres tall, black boots with thick platforms metal clips and buckles, and piercing so big you can tie up a pony, and this is just for the guys.

Newtown’s got nothing on London’s Camden Town. This is where erect Mohawks, spiked dog collars around the neck and jeans with more holes than denim began. Usually there are guys dressed like this hanging around Camden drinking. If someone tries to take a photo they yell, swear and chase them away. Unless you ask, then they charge a pound to pose for the photo with their tongue out and middle finger up. The money often goes to support their drinking problem and addiction to hair spray.

There is also the American-type black gangster style, but again more extreme than in Oz. You can get a track suit with little dollar signs and bling diamonds printed all over it – that’s the matching top and pants with the same print – and people wear it!

But for me, the clothing styles of the black women are the most fascinating. Their hair is styled in the most imaginative ways with some parts long, others short, some in a weave and the side burns gelled and shaped in a vine-like curl which is plastered to the side of their jaw. This is usually all on the same women. It makes the long straight hair style seem dead boring.

As for the guys shoes and accessories – which is what this column is about – the shoes are getting pointy. If we take London as an indication of the soon to be Ozzie fashions, then casual shoes like vans and sneakers are getting more pointy at the front. Also the late 80s and early 90s Reeboks are popular. These are very plain, white sneakers with a boxy shape.

And for the accessories – if you like the gangster wear then you need a hat with the tag and stickers still on it. You wear the hat loosely with the brim straight and the hat slightly skewed pointing just away from centre. Other accessories are the leather wrist band, which has been around for a while but is still in. And the scarf - I hear its cold in Sydney town so a patterned scarf is great too – there are heaps of various designs to choose from over here and its only a matter of time before they land down under too.

Take care,
Tomasz

"...life is a Cabaret..."

Mare and I went to the theatre on the weekend. I've been keen to go for a while because London and New York are both know for them. We finally got around to doing it.

There are stalls in central London where you can buy discounted theatre tickets. Its mainly for tourists and judging by the harsh, annoyed attitudes of the people working there its mainly for American tourists. God bless em.

We decided on one called Cabaret cause we didnt have a clue. And we got a bit dressed up for the occasion. So has anybody seen Cabaret? No? Well, one of the first scenes had a butt naked sailor run onto stage, flopping around, yelling "You want some of this?! You want some of this?!"

Thoughts going through my head at that point were - how do we always get into weird situations like this?
Thoughts going through Mare's head - I love that we get into weird situations like this...
















I think the poster should have been our first clue that this was going to be a rather sexy show.

Fellas, if you ever go, dont worry, there were occasional naked women too.

And there was a story line - I didnt catch it but Im sure there was one there. It had something to do with a slightly quier American author going to early Nazi Berlin when it was apparently a wild party town in 1931 - Nazi Berlin/wild parties - I dont see it. He meets a woman working in a caberet, they sing, there's random nudity (which Im sure has somthing to do with a theme of raw human nature of aggression and sexuality, but I couldnt see that past the single fat guy in the audience with the bonculars), the Nazi's gain power and take over the show.

All in all it was an interesting and great night. We're going to see a lot more theatre while over here - note that they are not all like this one. There as tens if not hundreds of them scattered through out the city.

Next weekend Nate comes back from Africa so we're going to take him to one.

What Londoners think of the latest bombings...or wanna be bombings

'At least the IRA's bombs went off...'

This is in regards to the two (or was it three?) car bombs found in London over the weekend (Mare and I are ok, by the way).

One of the almost-bombs was outside a trashy club called TIger Tiger - if it went off it would have done everyone a favour :)

The above quote is what our British housemates think - pretty funnny I recon. And it shows the situation in a new light. All this hype around terrorists and all is over done. The truth is that Londoners are used to bombings here, its not big deal. I personally forgot that the IRA used to mess with England all the time. They would drive a bomb into the underground carpark of a business building, call the occupants and warn them (as you would expect from a polite Irishman), everyone would be evacuated, then blow the building up. Job done, the government's pissed off, nobody hurt.

The ones from the weekend didnt even go off. And the driver couldnt even drive the car - he swerved and crashed the damn thing. It makes you wonder, how serious are they? Or is it just a houx to scare people? Even so, they were nothing compared to what the city has been through in the past, and the people know it. Its like water off a ducks back. Even when the underground bombs went off a few years ago, they just dealt with it. The next day everyone just walked to work instead of catching the train. A couple of terrorists arent going to stop them. What? The new Burrberry coat isnt gong to pay for itself...

So Londoners dont think much of the latest bombings. As for the media, police and government, they are going crazy! There are constant updates on the situation which is pretty much the same all the time - 'a person has been held because they could have done something, we can't tell you what, when, how or why, there may or may not be others, but what we do know is be scared - we're on critical alert (whatever that means).' Besides that hype, life goes on as normal. If we switch off the news and dont read the paper, life doesn't change and we feel a hell of alot better!

Paris in Pictures

The other side of Notre Dame






















On a boat cruise on the way to the tower

















The happy 25th anniversary couple






















Tom after lunch on the second tier up there

















The night view from our hotel room

















The serious side of Mare's art appreciation at the Louvre

Paris - the bagette stereotype is so true!

Everywhere people are carrying bagettes some are even eating them. I think its a look in Paris to carry around a long thin loaf of bread. So we tried it and they are really tastey - very fresh. The other stereotypes like the barets - not as true.

Mare and I had a spectacular time is Paris. It was short but sweet. The highlight was eating lunch with my parents ON the Eiffel Tower. It was in a plush restaurant about half way up the tower. The food was mouth watering and the service was pretty good too. We sat next to the window with amazing views of paris - all the popular sites like Arc de Triumph, sacre coeur Basilica (Im sure the spelling is wrong here so pronounce the words phonetically, cause thats how I spelt them:). For those who have been to Paris you will understand what Im talking about. For those who have not - it will all be giberish.

Anyways, Mare and I stayed in the red-light district, Montmarte, as you do. We got the room included in our plane ticket. To our suprise, it had a view to die for. For those who have been to Paris - we had the basilica sacre coeur on the right and the Eifell Tower on the left and all in between too. For those who have not been - sucked in :). just kidding. It was an amazing view - check out the photos.

There is a lot to write about, like Notre Dam and the area, how freakin huge the Lourve is, and all the history and museums scattered around the city.

One thing that I had heard about and experienced while over there was many of the French peoples aversion to speaking English. Its kinda funny. They speak it very well. They will greet you in French, thats understandable, and they will continue to speak in French, which is ok because we are in France. But if you do not try to do the same, or act in anyway impolite while speaking English, they will act like they dont speak the language - until, off course, there is money to be made. Then they seem to understand your every word. They live off tourism in many places and they know it. Most tourists dont speak French. Maybe, they are just too proud to be submissive to any other culture and language - why? "...Cause we're French" (pronouced 'fhench')

The easiest way to get around this is to say "Bon jouir, hello" and then speak english. It shows that you would like to but cant speak the language - it worked well for us. Before I got the hang of this, I messed up a couple of times. The best was greeting a bar-tender with "Hello, merci."
This means "Hello, thank you" - no wonder he didn't understand my english when I asked which way to the Moulin Rouge. It turned out that it was just down the road from our hotel and he told me to go left - why? "...cause we're Fhench"