Life in Plastic, It's Fantastic!

The world's most expensive Barbie doll is on display at the Barbie Basics Collection Launch during Rosemount Australian Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010/11 at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay on May 4, 2010 in Sydney, Australia. 

Mattel Principle designer Robert Best

$600,000 is the value of the necklace and diamond created by master Australian jeweller Stefano Canturi for Barbie at a special function, hosted at Fashion Week’s Rosemount Bar.

“She was a dream to work with,” Canturi said of the fashion icon, who at 50 looks a lot fresher than some of the models treading the runway for local designers. The not so living doll was in Sydney for the launch of the Barbie Basics range with her personal stylist and principal designer Robert Best.

With a Sydney Opera House backdrop Barbie was making the most of her moment in the sun because, Best revealed, next year her toy boy Ken turns 50 and he might be enjoying a not so basic fashion moment.

Source: Vogue Australia 

Photos by: Robert Gray/Getty Images AsiaPac

Dion Lee

After getting my daily dose of Jack & Jill's blog last weekend, I found myself drooling over this delightful collection by australian designer Dion Lee. Drooling is an understatement when you see these beautifully constructed pieces (I'm not lying!).
So I've decided to compile some pictures of his recent SS 2010/11 collection, for you to meet this australian fashion genius.

Who's Dion Lee?

After unveiling his debut collection at RAFW, Dion Lee proved himself as a new designer to emerge from the Australian fashion industry.

The 22-year-old Sydney-based designer graduated from Fashion Design Studio, Sydney Institute of Technology in early 2007 and has already secured himself some stellar stockists to start selling his wares.

Inspired by the construction of clothing, the Lee's work focuses primarily on innovative cut and pattern making. Often woven and intertwined, the young designer utilises structured and fluid tailoring, transparency and opacity and functional detailing to create a modern balance of innovation and wearability.

Dion Lee's Spring/Summer 2008 collection was inspired by the functions of the human body, specifically the concept of mitosis. Using cell division to inform the construction of his designs, layers divide and separate in two, creating graphic, cell-like shapes and functions.

A relative newcomer on the local fashion scene, Lee already holds impressive credentials, having gained industry experience working with Tina Kalivas, and has acquired a host of awards including the 2007 Crosier Eveningwear Award. Watch this space!

Source: Vogue Australia 

Obsession du Jour: Aurélie Bidermann

18k Gold Lace Cuff $1,890

Do Brazil gold-gilded braided bracelet $385

18K Gold Lace Ring $465

18K Gold Goose Feather Necklace $2,205

French jewelry designer Aurélie Bidermann launched her eponymous label in 2003 and quickly gained acclaim for her avant-garde creations. Trained in gemology with a masters in art history, her eclectic pieces are renowned for their unique craftsmanship - vintage laces, leaves and real swan feathers are immersed in precious golds to make breathtaking necklaces, earrings and cuffs. Do like fashion icon fans Kate Moss and Lou Doillon and arm yourself with one of her talismanic mother-of-pearl charm bracelets.

You can buy these amazing jewelry at Net-A-Porter 

Tutu Madness

A tutu is a skirt worn as a costume in a ballet performance, often with attached bodice. It might be single layer, hanging down, or multiple layers starched and jutting out.

There are several types of ballet tutu:

Romantic Tutu: three quarter length bell shaped skirt made of tulle. The hemline falls between the knee and the ankle. The romantic tutu is free flowing to emphasise lightness, to suit the ethereal quality of the romantic ballets such as Giselle or Les Sylphides. It is said to have been invented, or at least popularized, by Marie Taglioni.

Classical Tutu (bell): A very short, stiff skirt made with layers of netting with a slight bell shape and fitted bodice. It extends outwards from the hips and does not use a wired hoop. It is usually longer than a classical (pancake) tutu. These can be seen in the famous ballet paintings by Degas.

Classical Tutu (pancake): A very short, stiff skirt made with layers of netting that extends straight outwards (from the hips) in a flat pancake shape, and has a fitted bodice. The pancake style has more layers of net and usually uses a wire hoop and much hand tacking to keep the layers flat and stiff.

Balanchine/Karinska Tutu: also known as the "powder puff" is a very short skirt with no hoops, and fewer layers of netting than the pancake or classical styles. The skirt is loosely tacked to give a softer, fuller appearance. This style was designed originally for the ballet version of Georges Bizet's Symphony in C.

Platter Tutu: A tutu with a flat top that sticks straight out from the ballerina's waistline.

According to TutusChic, this is a nylon petticoat not a tutu, a lot of people confuse them with ballet tutus.

Tutus are usually made from the following materials:

muslin

organdy or organza

tarlatan

tulle

voile

nylon

Images from: WEHEARTIT

"All that is beautiful in the world ought to be in an Assouline book"

So yeah, this is my weakness. 

Karen Walker Eyewear

Yowza! Once again Karen Walker did an amazing lookbook for her 2010 Eyewear collection. Aren't you loving these sunnies? They are absolutely cool!

Françoise Nielly

Bio
Growing up in the South of France where she lived between Cannes and Saint-Tropez, is never far from the light, the color sense and the atmosphere that permeates the South of France. This is coupled with her studies with her studies at the Beaux arts and Decorative Arts, and her sense of humor and of celebration.

Françoise Nielly's painting is expressive, exhibiting a brute force, a fascinating vital energy. Oil and knife combine tsculpt her images from a material that is , at the same time, biting and incisive, charnel and sensual. Whether she paints the human body or portraits, the artist takes a risk : her painting is sexual, her colors free, exuberant, surprising, even explosive, the cut of her knife incisive, her color pallet dazzling.

Françoise Nielly is a passionate woman who loves life, wide open spaces, sushi, blue lagoons, the Internet, humor, books, Paris, New-york and Vancouver. Resolutely inscribed in her epoch, she is an accomplished artist ; 20 years of artistic expression explain the maturity of her work and the perfect mastery of her art.

She lives and paints in Paris near Montmartre; shows and sells her work in Europe, in Canada and in the United States.

Obsession du Jour

Rebecca Taylor Summer Silk-Satin Playsuit $295

Paloma Barcelo Marina Suede Espadrille Sandals $195

Chloe Tilia Acetate Sunglasses $295

Buy this fabulous summer look @ Net-A-Porter