Too Soon?

Today, it was dark before I got home from work. This was partly due to the fact that today was my first attempt at commuting to and from London, but the feeling of pootling along the cold, dark streets, peering into other people's houses, served to remind me of just how close we are to a brand new season. In that spirit, here are some excellent winter-y knits to enjoy as the nights draw in and the leaves keep falling. They make me think of ski lodges and hot chocolate and roasting stuff.

Reindeer Jumper by ASOS, £40

Geo Reindeer Top by Forever 21, $19.80

Vero Moda Cardigan at ASOS, £45

And one (very overpriced!) little number for the boys...

Gant Reindeer Jumber at Very, £150

Specs Appeal!

Today I invested in a new pair of glasses. I seriously reckon that specs are one of the hardest things to shop for; you get so used to your usual face furniture that even a slight change can feel really weird. Plus, they are a massively expensive (yet hugely unglamorous) thing to fork out for.

Fortunately, there are a couple of good independent frame stores in Brighton, stocking a range of offbeat and interesting options. I was looking for a pair that would give me that design-y, architecture lecturer vibe; chic, strong, and cool. I'm not sure if I quite achieved that, but the ones I selected did have a certain Great Gatsby / 1920s Oxbridge student feel about them, which I liked. With their more rounded shape, I think they'll be the perfect companion pair for my current angular nerd specs. I'll be sure to post a photo once I've picked them up.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on the lushness that is the Anglo American eye-wear collection. I tried on loads of these, but sadly they all seemed to big for my pointy little shrew face. My husband got himself a lovely Buddy Holly-style pair, though, in a beautiful matte black finish. I'm very jealous.

The specs themselves are very stylish; it's a shame that the company's website is so dodgy, though. Come on, Anglo American! Up your game!

Rainbow Androgyny

Here I am tempering bright blue tights, purple brogues, yellow houndstooth check, and a ginger hair explosion with a crisp white shirt and a masculine Crombie-style coat.

As with my take on neon loafers, what I enjoy about this look is the slight feeling of disharmony; sharp masculinity and a streamlined, even Mod-ish, element combine with a vivid and colourful palette to create something else entirely. Plus, I'm wearing bunches! What's not to like?! It's all jolly good fun.

Give Me Athena, There's No Meaner

Just a quick post in praise of super-group Wild Flag, who remind me of some of the best and most passionate riot-grrrl loves of my youth. This is due in no small part to the presence of Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney, upon whom I once inflicted myself at a London gig. I was very, very gushy, and they were clearly highly uncomfortable and keen to be left alone. Wise, wise women.

Wild Flag - Romance from Merge Records on Vimeo.

I still have a signed Sleater-Kinney vinyl sleeve tacked up inside one of my cupboard doors, so that I can admire the ladies looking fine in Oregon-appropriate knitwear any time I want. Man, I used to make a real effort to dress as if I was on the 'You're No Rock and Roll Fun' single cover back in the day - hooded duffel coats, striped scarves, and knitted hats a-go-go. It is so nice when your icons (and their personal and musical styles) stand the test of time.

Hurray for Wild Flag, then! Long may they rock!

Manufactured Imperfections

I've been thinking about this news report from CNN, which suggests that there is a trend for crooked teeth gripping the young women of Japan. A dental surgery in the Tokyo district of Ginza has apparently started offering stick-on sets of wonky gnashers, so that naturally-blessed people can finally achieve that less-than-perfect look. The argument put forward in the article is that these crooked teeth are desirable precisely because they make the wearer less attractive - that 'bad' teeth can help to make beautiful women seem more approachable. Hmm.

There is a sense that the article is attempting to appeal to its readers' sense of novelty; 'Oh, look at those crazy foreign people and how wrong they've got their approach to dentistry! Who would elect to make their teeth worse? Can you imagine aspiring to be ordinary? Ha ha ha!' But the manufacturing of apparent imperfections is not a uniquely 'Other' phenomenon. For an America's Next Top Model nerd like me, this story immediately called to mind Chelsey from Cycle 15. In her case, the gap between her front teeth was deliberately widened (by Tyra's royal decree, of course) in order to give her a different look. Nobody within the show - the judges, the 'clients', Chelsey herself - even raised an eyebrow. Indeed, as this article in the Guardian makes clear, imperfect dentistry (including overlapping veneers) had its popular moment in the US, too. With this in mind, it hardly seems appropriate to marvel at the difference of the Asian other.

Chelsey from America's Next Top Model

The motivations assumed to be behind American's mouth makeovers are notably different to those ascribed to Japanese consumers, though. The Guardian piece talks about the gap-toothed smile as being 'one of fashions most sought-after accessories' and references 'unusual beauty' and 'unconventional looks.' In the case of Chelsey, of course, the atypical dentistry was intended to make her more 'high fashion.' In the case of the Tokyo women, however, the 'fad' is assumed to be the result of something like the inverse of this tendency. It is not seen as a bold, avant-garde aesthetic choice - an attempt to seem beautiful in an extraordinary or an unconventional way - but as an attempt to erase that which might be seen as extraordinary. Western women, the differing coverage suggests, adjust their teeth to appear stunning, whilst Asian women adjust their teeth to seem less confrontationally, intimidatingly beautiful.  

Why exactly these two tendencies - based on pretty much the same idea of manufacturing what one might think of as dental imperfections - should be viewed as being based on two such different motivations I am not quite sure. Certainly there wouldn't at first glance appear to be any obvious reason why 'yaeba' (the Japanese term for wonky teeth) should be any less related to obtaining culturally accepted standards of beauty than the diastema canyon. A gap toothed grin deviates just as much from the all-American smile as does a look involving accentuated canines. As Giant Robot suggests, the crooked smile is available for interpretation as truly beautiful - it's 'cute' when 'everything looks like shards of porcelain.'

Why the difference in emphasis, then? It seems that there are certain discourses of race circulating here - the passive and infantilized Asian female versus the red-blooded and hyper-sexualized Western woman. The white woman opts for weird cosmetic dentistry to seem more unapproachable, the Asian woman does so in order to seem less so. I think the differences in the way manufactured imperfections are reported and discussed needs to be analysed with a critical eye. We need to question those discourses of 'otherness' which ignore points of convergence between cultures. We also need to acknowledge the divergent ways in which we discuss the manner that women of different racial backgrounds subscribe to culturally-defined ideas of the beautiful.

Starry Eyed Mascara Eyes

I am feeling the love for my Lancôme Hypnôse Precious Cells mascara today, so I thought I'd share. I bought it for my wedding, when I was investing in some more luxurious cosmetics, and I have to say that the stuff has really worked out for me. It's neither flaky nor smudgy, lasts for ages, and (most importantly of all) does wonders for my usually inconspicuous lashes. Here I am going for a slightly exaggerated, 1960s-type of look.

The manufacturers claim that it helps to encourage natural lash growth, but I certainly don't see any effect on that front. Then again, I rarely wear mascara; I never bother with it if I'm wearing glasses, and I would say that blusher and concealer are far more central to my everyday beauty regime. One application a week is hardly likely to provoke an instant Rapunzel-effect! The one potential downside is that the stuff tends to clump a little bit if you go for multiple coats; I didn't mind a bit of clumping for this kind of heavier look - it actually sort of adds to it, in my opinion - but it could prove irritating if you were going for a more natural vibe.


Make up is obviously a hugely personal thing, and this mascara might not be every woman's cup of tea, but I think it's fantastic. It's creamy, nice to apply, and smells really lovely in a way that a lot of the cheaper brands just don't. Plus, a coat or two on my bottom lashes provides a much-needed distraction from my ever-expanding eyebags... a winner all round, as far as I'm concerned!

Colour, Collars, Carven

The Carven Spring 2012 collection, shown as part of Paris fashion week, is really lovely. The evening wear looks are fresh and unexpected, the chunky shoes (though reminiscent of a lot of the flatforms around this season) give the looks an intriguing masculine edge, and the bold cut-out detailing gives the collection a sense of vitality as well as continuity and coherence.

The collection features some super-short silhouettes, which obviously look gorgeous on the models. Equally obvious, however, is the fact that my purple-white sausage legs would look infinitely less desirable in this abbreviated variety of skirt. Ditto the unmade-up faces. There are some elements of the show which do really tap into my current style preoccupations, however, and which I therefore both covet and wish to approximate in some kind of budget version.

I'm very keen on the golden / mustard tone which punctuated the second third of the collection. It's not a colour I would usually experiment with, but Carven made it look so sumptuous that I might just have to give it a go. I think that the palette in general is pretty delicious (not to mention the prints!); it manages to retain a real sense of femininity whilst also seeming bold, strong, and modern.

I also love the way that shirt collars can be seen peeping out from the necklines of dresses. I have tried this kind of look before, but always in a more winter-y way - white shirts buttoned to the neck beneath grey woollen dresses or pinafore-type numbers. Here, however, not only do the colours help to make the outfits more season-appropriate, but a number of the collars themselves are autonomous. That is, one need not wear a shirt in order to get the collar effect, but can just wear the collar separately - shirtless collars rather than collarless shirts! I think that's a genius idea for when the weather turns hotter and nobody wants to layer up.

In short, I really like the whole collection. Well done to Guillaume Henry. I want to finish off with an outfit that manages to encapsulate all of my favourite elements, and which I will have filed away in my noggin as style inspiration come spring. I love the colours (the mustard with the blue lace against the baby pink, combined with the acid bright shoes), I love the buttoned up collar, and I love the very neon librarian feel about the whole look!