Hair inspiration

Louise Brooks: total babe. I know I kind of just bobbed my hair, but I think it might have to go shorter...

Hi, stud (redux)

I know I've used this title before, but in a post about studs and spikes, it's far too fantastic not to repeat. You know what else is far too fantastic? STUDS AND SPIKES. Yeah, we saw that one coming. Studded-and-spiked everything is everywhere right now, ranging from sexily prim to punk-reminiscent edgy. And there is NO WAY that something I could describe as "sexily prim" is passing my wardrobe by. Oh hells no. Just look at those SHOES up above. LIKE SERIOUSLY, take in how glorious they are. Unf. So in the spirit of the thing, here's a rundown of a few awesome different studded options, plus three gloriously differently-styled studs-and-spikes outfits. With fanfiction models, because I have way too much fun making up stories about fictional fashion girls.

Accessories are definitely the easiest way to add a bit of spike to your wardrobe, and debatably the cheapest, although once you reach Meadowlark that may not be the case. Nevertheless, as I declared on Facebook while putting together this post, "There is never a time that I go to the Meadowlark website and come away disappointed." 

In this case, Meadowlark have ever so thoughtfully created three ring options - a wee pyramid stud ring, if you want to ease into it; a black gem knuckleduster, for a bit more swag, and a full-on spiked ring, for those times you feel the need to a) reconnect with your teen Goth roots or b) cause some proper damage punching someone. (I'm not sure that I actually would - I don't want to get blood on my pretty things, after all.) They also have this lovely faceted pendant, which isn't quite what I think of when I hear "spikes" but the pointy jagged shapes totally work.

Spiked or studded detachable collars are also excellent for mixing it up a bit - this one is from Etsy, but they abound all over the internet, and you could even DIY one (with or without the shirt attached). I feel like this, layered over a floaty chiffon blouse, would create a fantastic hard-soft contrast. And at the seriously affordable end of the scale (and I don't mean "fashion magazine affordable", I mean "skip buying a coffee for two days") is this adorable Glassons studded hair clip. The hot pink is an excellent pop of girly colour in what can otherwise be quite a dark aesthetic, and at six bucks, it's the perfect "dip your toe in the water" option.

If you're up for more studs than just accessories, I feel like spiked shoes are an excellent way to get the look into your wardrobe without worrying that you're spending too much money on a studded blouse or dress. And because they're down a bit lower than your boss' line of sight, you could potentially get away with wearing a pair of spiked shoes to work (whereas a giant studded collar might be pushing the bounds of "acceptable work wear"). This is certainly what I plan to do with the black-on-black spiked pumps from Mi Piaci. I am totally aware that they are essentially knock-offs of the Louboutin heels I posted above, but a) they are significantly less than $1500 (especially with the discount voucher they thoughtfully mailed to me) and b) I can try them on in-store. So I am pretty okay with this.


The other heels here are the Kate Sylvester patent studded pumps, which are hot-secretary sex in shoe form, and Jeffrey Campbell Lita Spikes. I have a friend who owns the KS pumps and a friend who owns the Litas, and all I will say is that they are really, really lucky we don't have the same shoe size, because if we did, I cannot guarantee their shoes would be safe. And the Glassons stud slippers are both remarkably budget-friendly AND "schlepping around town on days when heels are too much" friendly, which makes them an awesome and quite frankly necessary shoe for my wardrobe. I get swooned by heels all the time, and flats really need more of a look-in. Oh Glassons, is there anything you can't do? (Answer: yes, make clothes using properly enough fabric, but for a cheapie chain store, they do what they do pretty damn well).


And now for the funnest part (seriously, it's the Most Fun):

Sarah's Super Important Event (a cocktail party/design world schmooze) had been red-lettered into her iPhone for months, but what to wear was a big dilemma. She wanted to look sleek and professional, of course, but also a little bit edgy. Her quandary was only exacerbated when she found a pair of Louboutin spiked stilettos, magically in her size and MARKED DOWN FIFTY PERCENT. Finally she came to the conclusion that a little black dress might be the standard, but it was the standard for a damn good reason, and when she found the Kate Sylvester slub-silk dress dress with a studded waistband, she was totally reconciled (bonus: POCKETS for her iPhone). She straightened her hair into an excellently sleek bob, drew on some perfect cats-eye liquid liner and a slick of red lipstick (to match the soles of her shoes, of course), and added her Meadowlark knuckleduster just for a bit more bling.

Mikki had long grown out of her teenage Goth phase, but show her a swatch of tartan and a few spikes, and it did still get her pulse going just a little bit faster. That said, though, this time around there were never going to be any Hot Topic tartan miniskirts, New Rock boots, or laddered stockings, even if she was going out to a grungy dive bar for Saturday-night drinks with a really hot guy. She'd learned some things in ten years, and one of those things was "high heeled boots and tight black jeans". She threw on a Ricochet black leather-trim jacket over her ruffled tartan blouse, added a detachable collar, and when she couldn't decide between her two spiked rings, gave up and wore them both. Pale foundation and black lipstick were definitely out, but smokey black eyeshadow was very firmly in, and all in all she not only took the hot guy home, but got to give fashion tips to the baby bats in the bathroom, so it was an excellent night all round.

Annabelle adored dressing prim-and-proper-secretary, but she also adored leather. Sadly, she thought, never the twain could meet. Until she found this Ricochet leather pencil skirt, that is, and that made everything better. After that, it was a very short step to give into the power of Kate Sylvester's studded merino sweater and patent high-heeled pumps (which really were totally sedate and professional, if you didn't look at the studs up the back...). The three-quarter sleeves of her sweater highlighted her favourite gold feather bracelet fantastically, and adding soft pink-and-grey eyeshadow and a slick of candy-pink lip gloss brought a bit of colour into her otherwise monochrome black. She was really very pleased with the result, especially because the next time she was at the other branch office for a meeting, she reduced the gorgeous lawyer girl she'd had her eye on for the last six months (and who wore the most beautifully tailored androgynous suits) to uncontrollable blushing. It was a most excellent  outcome all round, she thought.

Dream weddings without all the lace (well, okay, maybe a little)

So my best friend recently announced her engagement. YAY! I'm exceedingly pleased for her and her partner, and also becoming increasingly involved in wedding planning. As you do when you're the maid of honour and signed up for making the bridesmaids' dresses, of course. What this means, however, is that I start going off on tangents along the line of "in my wedding I'd totally do it this way..." This is all well and good, except for the fact that my wedding is, at this point, an Extreme Hypothetical. Words have been bandied around for my other best friend and I to have a marriage of convenience (it'd allow us to wear pretty dresses and get pretty house-related gifts, what could go wrong?!) but so far, I'm pretty sure my wedding is somewhere off in the mists of the future.

Instead, what I've turned to are a few dream wedding coordinates, aimed to remove some of the Wedding Industrial Complex frouf while keeping things gorgeous in a multitude of ways. You won't see a long satin pick-up skirt or matching dyed shoes, and there's not a veil in the bunch, but all of them are pretty damn awesome. In my humble opinion, of course. :P

Sophie had always been a bit of a free spirit, but when her darling of a partner proposed with a gigantic yellow diamond and a hopeful look in his love-struck eyes, she realised a rather large wedding was in her near future. Accordingly, loins were girded for a big white dress and all the associated palaver. That is, until she popped into Kate Sylvester one day and found a white lace maxi-skirt and matching camisole. "It's white!" she said to him. "And long! And I can wear it again! And why does your family expect such a huge wedding anyway?" After much discussion, they switched the venue booking from Wellington Cathedral to a gorgeous waterfront restaurant, cut the guest list by half, and cancelled the order for frock coats. Sophie wore her hair loose and curly with a pretty floral headband and a raw citrine pendant she'd always loved, but she kept the mirrored glitter high heels she'd bought for the Big Dress Wedding. Some things are worth compromising on, after all.

Katya was the first to admit she was a bit of a girly girl, so the pink diamond ring her girlfriend picked out was just a little bit perfect. That said, even Katya, inveterate wearer of ridiculous shoes, had to admit that high heels in a Rarotonga beach wedding probably weren't the best option. Instead she went barefoot in a floaty pink chiffon dress from Miss Crabb, threw a Deadly Ponies necklace around her neck and tucked a hibiscus blossom behind one ear. After the vows, she put on a pair of Karen Walker sunglasses and went paddling hand-in-hand with her new wife, who'd opted for a white linen shirt-dress and gold jandals.

When Alexandra evaluated her wedding budget, she realised one thing rather quickly: the Christian Louboutin high heels she'd always dreamed of weren't on the cards. Well, if she wanted a dress, that is. Luckily, Alexandra had never been much of a girl for the big white dress fantasy - she picked out a linen Kate Sylvester frock from her closet, borrowed a vintage string of pearls from her mother, and went straight to Louboutin with her dress budget money.  After much window-shopping with her boyfriend, she finally explained that she didn't actually want an engagement ring with rocks in. They caught on things and were just too flashy. The girls in her office looked a bit askance at the Deadly Ponies ring they settled on, but when Alexandra married her boyfriend in a wing of the city art gallery, carrying a bunch of daisies from her best friend's garden, in gold glitter high heels, she couldn't have cared less.

Penelope decided pretty much immediately upon receipt of her Meadowlark rose quartz ring that she was going to make her dress. It took her two months, two hundred dollars in dupion silk, and more than a couple of evenings swearing at the sewing machine, but once it was finally finished, she was pretty damn pleased (if only that it was finally finished...) She pinned her hair up into the biggest bouffant hairspray could create, added a beaded headband, some pearl earring drops and a pair of her chunkiest wood-sole high heels, and carried a bouquet of peonies almost as fluffy as her crinoline petticoat. After the ceremony, Penelope, her husband and their guests partied the night away, dancing to a live band covering sixties pop hits and Lady Gaga in about equal volume.

Rhiannon definitely didn't dream about a big white wedding, so when she unexpectedly had to marry her charming Nordic coworker in order to keep him in the country, she was more than a little taken aback. And even more so when he insisted upon having a proper wedding 'do (to keep up the image for Immigration, of course - having a grand old knees-up shindig was just an excellent side-effect). Luckily, this Kate Sylvester slub-silk dress with a studded waistband was just the ticket. So what if it's black - men get married in black suits all the time, reasoned Rhiannon, and she had flowers in her hair and on her shoes. Well, yes, the shoes were actually Doc Marten boots, but every princess needs a pair of excellently stompy boots. The Byzantine cocktail ring her yes-Immigration-we're-totally-in-love darling presented her with was lovely, but so was the silver cat-face ring she wore on her right hand. And her outfit just wouldn't have been complete without some red roses to match her tattoos, but she had far better things to do with her hands than heft around a bunch of flowers. A boutonnierre pinned to her dress was just right. Thus attired, she had the best civil-union-in-a-courthouse followed by a raging all-night party ever, especially when her new husband tried to get her to model a wedding veil. Which he had worn all night long. :P

A little bling for your fingers? Yes please!

Now that's some bling and a half, right? A gorgeous chunk of stone, wound with silver wire on a double-finger band, thanks to the wonderful site that is ASOS. Awwwww yeah. Man do I love knuckleduster rings. And chunks of stone. 

This not-so-little beauty won't be finding its way into my jewellery collection any time soon, though, because it's up to be won! Yes, seriously. You could be rocking this out like the badass I'm sure you are. Let's just see another couple of pictures, shall we?

Oh yes. That's a fantastic ring and a half there. Go on, click those pictures and make them bigger, you know you want to.

How could you fossick this away into your own jewellery box? Well, rings are a fantastic way to draw attention to your hands, and there's no better way to add even more bling than through an amazing manicure. Just look at those stunning nails above (painted in OPI Your Royal Shine-ness), thanks to my best friend modelling this hunk-of-lovely. She's like some kind of fantastic cyborg assassin with blades in her fingernails. I am so jealous of those long nails.

So, to be in the draw, I want to hear your ultimate manicure to go with this ring. Would you go for gleaming silver foil, like my friend here? Perhaps a bit of sparkle and glitter? Or maybe a colour to coordinate or contrast with the beautiful purple stone? Leave a comment describing just what you'd do, and the winner will be announced on Wednesday.

Art nouveau supermodel

And Evelyn Nesbit is a babe.

Seriously, though. Babing. And I have hair envy.

The ultimate Ultra party outfit

So Ultra Shoes, one of my favourite shoe stores in Wellington, is having a Facebook competition at the moment. The rules? To put together your ultimate party outfit, including a pair of Ultra shoes, and you could win the shoes featured in your coordinate.


Hmm, I said. Hmm. An ultimate party outfit, you say? Well. Let's try this out then.

As I said in my post to their Wall, "it's not Wellington fashion if it's not black", and really, when you have this much sparkle and glam, who needs colour?

The shoes, of course, are from Ultra - they're the 'Will' by Nude booties, and I figured that even though it's supposedly nearly the height of summer, Wellington weather laughs at 'summer', and therefore a pair of excellent black booties never goes awry. The dress is from Asos, and is just a wee bit fantastic. I mean, seriously, I love sequined dresses, but compared to this, sequins are baby spangles. This is entirely covered in SQUARE PAILLETTES. 

I immediately started thinking about what jewellery I could coordinate this, and Meadowlark delivered with these faceted drop earrings and onyx stud knuckleduster. Oh, Meadowlark, if I didn't have bills to pay, you could totally have all of my paycheques for the next ... like, six months, and then maybe I'd have enough jewellery to satisfy me. Maybe. Adding to the dark, rough-glam aesthetic is the black quartz ring by Stone and Honey, available up at Madame Fancy Pants, and a party outfit isn't perfect without an awesome little bag to hold your lipstick and phone. Kate Sylvester's Willa bag adds a great pattern to the look while keeping to the monochrome colour scheme, and with a thick chain strap, it has the delicacy of a clutch without the annoying "I have to hold my bag all night long and it takes away my function to drink gin and eat nibbles at the same time" issue.

For makeup, I just today popped into the MAC store and found their Glitter and Ice collection, and these five shadows are part of a six-colour palette I'm totally eyeing up for payday (the other colour is a warm, deep maroon). A perfectly smokey eye with highlights of silver on the browbone, and dirty gold on the inner corner, would work ever so well with red hair, and match the slightly-edgy glitziness of the rest.

And if it got really cold? Well, I guess I'd just have to layer on a black leather motorcycle jacket. Something like this Paul Smith studded version would work perfectly. Oh yes. Now, I suppose, the only problem with this is that even if I did win the competition, I suddenly wouldn't be satisfied with just a pair of shoes. In fact, just putting the damn coord together has made me go OH MY GOD DARK EDGY CRYSTAL AND SPANGLE DRESS, and the unfortunate truth of the matter is that this involves $1400 just in jewellery. FML.

Some magic for your Sunday

No, I don't believe in magic proper (despite the number of "You're a wizard, Harry" jokes made at me), but Sunday seems like a day for some sparkle and whimsy, especially when it's been a bit of a grey and rainy day. Click the pictures for extra pretty :)

Ceramic unicorns from Madame Fancy Pants, one of my favourite local stores. They'll never stop getting shout-outs (blog-outs?) from me, as long as they keep stocking such twee-ly adorable things. So, pretty much forever then.

Jelly Shot Test Kitchen is full of super-amazing jelly shots. Alcohol mixed with gelatine? Clearly not just for student parties anymore. I've been debating making some jelly shots for my flatmate's birthday party next weekend, but I doubt any of mine will look as fantastic as these (from left to right: rainbow cake with whipped cream sprinkles; flirtini with edible gold leaf; blackberry cosmo with classic (pink) and pear (white) cosmo in background). More foods should definitely come with sparkles and/or glitter.

Lissie Elle's photostream over on Flickr is absolutely full of beautiful, whimsical and sometimes dark photos. With many more lovely shots I was tempted to add!

Speaking of beautiful photos, how about this magical shot by Tim Walker, via the Emma blog? Imagine a midnight tea party in this garden...

I can't make a Harry Potter reference in my intro and then not post this! Iterations of the golden snitch necklace are all over the internet, but I really like this one for its delicacy and simplicity. From Starbright Girl.

Finally, look at these utterly incredible art nouveau/steampunk pendants made out of butterfly wings over at Harem Royal on Etsy. (From left to right: butterfly, dragonfly, luna moth; dark butterfly fairy wings; brown steampunk butterfly). Butterflies only have a lifespan of a week or two, so using their laminated wings in jewelry isn't as weird/awful as I first imagined, and these really are stunning (with a pricetag to match). My birthday's coming up - perhaps if I wish really really hard the universe will decide I absolutely need one of these!