PERFECT PEOPLE: ALEXA CHUNG

It's been well-documented in the fashion world how amazing Alexa Chung's style is... but I thought I'd give a little photo montage to those who are still asking me Alexa Who?

WWD: FASHION'S HIGHLY QUOTABLE CROWD

WWD compiled a list of favorite fashion/entertainment quotes from 2008. Here are my handpicked highlights. Please remember that Karl Lagerfeld could be like, "Ho, ho, ho, Green Giant!" and I would think it was brill and post it on my blog. He can say absolutely anything he wants. Anyway here are my picks:


"Since John McCain is unlikely to give two gay hoots about my gay civil rights, I'm going with the good-looking one. Apart from being the right candidate, Mr. Obama looks better in a suit, which can only be a good thing."
-Simon Doonan, Nov 4


"Had I been tall and blonde I might have gotten more roles and made tons of money, but then I probably also would have gotten hooked on drugs and ruined my career by now."
-Salma Hayek, June 19
(I'm sure this is out of context and blah blah blah, but she might just have said, "I'm a little bitter and proud of it." Shorter story.)


"Temptation has to be permanent."
-Karl Lagerfeld, April 7
(See?! Like, what? What does that even mean?! Genius.)


"What would I rather be doing? I'd rather be doing anything other than talking about what I'd rather be doing."
-Casey Affleck, Jan 17

FREAKOUT: MY CATS AND THE NEW CHRISTMAS TREE

I've never seen anything funnier than our cats when I brought home their first Christmas tree ever. They were like, what IS this MAGICAL BEAST? Who is the insane GENIUS that devised a furry, smelly, sticky item in which I am allowed to stick my paws and face?

They sniffed it endlessly, then chewed on it, then circled it, then drank the water from it, then suddenly completely lost interest altogether. HILARS.

RANDOM GIRL CRUSH IN JAKARTA!

Stole this from Face Hunter. I heart this chick. I feel like if we spent 5 minutes together we'd start some sort of company.

REALLY GOOD HOLIDAY PRESENT: TOM'S BOOTS

"Tom's unveils its latest style: vegan-friendly wrap boots ($118). For every pair purchased, a child in need receives a pair of shoes."

tomsshoes.com

RANDOM: CUTENESS

Aw.

I like the colors in these.

RANDOM: STEVIE WONDER

In honor of Thursday, I am posting my Top Five Stevie Wonder songs. Because I can do whatever I want.

5. My Cherie Amour
4. Part-Time Lover
3. I Wish
2. Hey Love
1. I Just Called to Say I Love You




Have a nice day, ya'll.

KEY ITEMS: NAVY LONG BLAZER

Need it, need it, need it. Navy is SO much better than black for a long blazer... now that it's been so clearly pointed out to me by these two photos, I have no idea what I was even THINKING considering buying a longer black one. Navy is so much better. OMG.

hahahahahahahahahahaha GO FUG YOURSELF.COM I LOVE YOU

My fave website in the world is Go Fug Yourself.


British Independent Film Awards Fug Carpet: Sienna and Keira
FUG FILE: CHEER UP FOLKS, DIALOGUE, TERRIBLY SHORT



KEIRA: Um, Sienna? What are you doing?

SIENNA: Shh, be quiet. I'm trying to do your silent pouty thing where you look kind of coy and cross and hungry all at once.

KEIRA: Not bad, not bad. But it's better when you open your lips up a little bit.

SIENNA: You mean, like this?



KEIRA: Yes, much better. See how bony our cheeks look? And how it looks like we're about ten seconds away from delivering a disparaging quip?

SIENNA: I love this. I'm going to do it forever.

KEIRA: If you do, I'd appreciate it if you didn't sully my trademark with those weird sleeves. In some lights they look plastic. And are those... bugs? Snakes?

SIENNA: Bollocks, I don't know. I just assume I look fantastic in everything so I don't really pay attention.

KEIRA: Also, I don't wear shirts as dresses. Just a tip if you're going to keep trying to replicate my face.

SIENNA: But you DO look like the star of a cheesy televised ballet about the ghost of a girl who drowned in Swan Lake. Why is the bodice detail of your dress somewhere down around your lower rib cage?

KEIRA: I don't know. I ALSO tend to assume I look fantastic and don't pay attention. Isn't that weird? We're like SISTERS.

SIENNA: Yes! Really hollow-cheeked sisters. Bloody brilliant. Let's go inside and chew on some air.

NY TIMES: FLY GIRL

FACEBOOK: NANCY NARCISSIST

Nice. Click on the image to read it close up.

OBSESSED: LEGGINGS!!

More leggings. This time, latex and faux leather.

Topshop and American Apparel are my #1 and #2 Legging Destinations currently. All available online.

Here are my inspirations:




This is from Topshop:




American Apparel:




Jean Paul Gaultier. Loving the idea of wearing leather leggings with Fair Isle.

ON BEAUTY: DON MARQUIS

I've discovered the poetry and the story of Don Marquis, who is my new favorite poet. A cockroach named Archy writes his poems. Here's the scoop:

http://www.donmarquis.com/archy/

The circumstances of Archy's first appearance are narrated in the following extract from the Sun Dial column of the New York Sun:

Dobbs Ferry possesses a rat which slips out of his lair at night and runs a typewriting machine in a garage. Unfortunately, he has always been interrupted by the watchman before he could produce a complete story. It was at first thought that the power which made the typewriter run was a ghost, instead of a rat. It seems likely to us that it was both a ghost and a rat. Mme. Blavatsky's ego went into a white horse after she passed over, and someone's personality has undoubtedly gone into this rat. It is an era of belief in communications from the spirit land.

And since this matter has been reported in the public prints and seriously received we are no longer afraid of being ridiculed, and we do not mind making a statement of something that happened to our own typewriter only a couple of weeks ago.

We came into our room earlier than usual in the morning, and discovered a gigantic cockroach jumping about on the keys. He did not see us, and we watched him. He would climb painfully upon the framework of the machine and cast himself with all his force upon a key, head downward, and his weight and the impact of the blow were just sufficient to operate the machine, one slow letter after another. He could not work the capital letters, and he had a great deal of difficulty operating the mechanism that shifts the paper so that a fresh line may be started. We never saw a cockroach work so hard or perspire so freely in all our lives before. After about an hour of this frightfully difficult literary labor he fell to the floor exhausted, and we saw him creep feebly into a nest of the poems which are always there in profusion.

Congratulating ourself that we had left a sheet of paper in the machine the night before so that all this work had not been in vain, we made an examination, and this is what we found:

expression is the need of my soul
i was once a vers libre bard
but i died and my soul went into the body of a cockroach
it has given me a new outlook upon life
i see things from the under side now
thank you for the apple peelings in the wastepaper basket
but your paste is getting so stale i cant eat it
there is a cat here called mehitabel i wish you would have
removed she nearly ate me the other night why dont she
catch rats that is what she is supposed to be fore
there is a rat here she should get without delay

most of these rats here are just rats
but this rat is like me he has a human soul in him
he used to be a poet himself
night after night i have written poetry for you
on your typewriter
and this big brute of a rat who used to be a poet
comes out of his hole when it is done
and reads it and sniffs at it
he is jealous of my poetry
he used to make fun of it when we were both human
he was a punk poet himself
and after he has read it he sneers
and then he eats it

i wish you would have mehitabel kill that rat
or get a cat that is onto her job
and i will write you a series of poems showing how things look
to a cockroach
that rats name is freddy
the next time freddy dies i hope he wont be a rat
but something smaller i hope i will be a rat
in the next transmigration and freddy a cockroach
i will teach him to sneer at my poetry then

dont you ever eat any sandwiches in your office
i haven't had a crumb of bread for i dont know how long
or a piece of ham or anything but apple parings
and paste and leave a piece of paper in your machine
every night you can call me archy



Amazing. One of the poems really got me (it made me cry) ... it's called The Hen and The Oriole.

well boss did it
ever strike you that a
hen regrets it just as
much when they wring her
neck as an oriole but
nobody has any
sympathy for a hen because
she is not beautiful
while every one gets
sentimental over the
oriole and says how
shocking to kill the
lovely thing this thought
comes to my mind
because of the earnest
endeavor of a
gentleman to squash me
yesterday afternoon when i
was riding up in the
elevator if i had been a
butterfly he would have
said how did that
beautiful thing happen to
find its way into
these grimy city streets do
not harm the splendid
creature but let it
fly back to its rural
haunts again beauty always
gets the best of
it be beautiful boss
a thing of beauty is a
joy forever
be handsome boss
and let who will be clever is
the sad advice
of your ugly little friend
archy

OBSESSED: JEWEL THIEVES

THIEVES IN DRAG CLEAN OUT HARRY WINSTON

How awesome is this??? Sorry, I mean, how terrible is this.


From the Huff Post:
PARIS — Armed robbers _ some disguised as women _ snatched euro85 million ($108 million) worth of diamond rings, necklaces and luxury watches from a Harry Winston boutique on a posh Paris avenue in one of the largest jewel heists in history, officials said Friday.

The gang of three or four robbers threatened about 15 employees with handguns and hit some on the head before taking the jewels from display cases from the store near the Champs-Elysees, said a police official, who was not authorized to be publicly named under agency policy.

At least two of the bandits were men wearing wigs and women's clothes, the official said. The robbers also spoke a foreign language at times and appeared to know employees' names when they robbed the store before it closed early Thursday at the height of Christmas shopping season.

The brazen theft was among the world's costliest jewel heists. Five years ago, thieves plundered 123 maximum-security vaults in Antwerp, Belgium, stealing $100 million (euro78.96 million) worth of diamonds in the biggest theft in the world's diamond-cutting capital.

"We are cooperating with the authorities in their investigation. Our first concern is the well-being of our employees," New York-based Harry Winston said.

Rhonda Barnat, a spokeswoman for the company, did not provide further details.

The boutique on Avenue Montaigne was closed to the public Friday. Employees who came out for cigarette breaks refused to speak to reporters, and three of the five display windows stood empty of their usual wares.

A Paris judicial official said Harry Winston declared to insurers that the stolen goods were worth euro85 million ($108 million). The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.


This is the kind of headline every good fashionista prays for. Trannies, jewel thieves, Harry Winston, Paris. I'm sorry but jewel thieves are so cool. I'm sure I'm on some kind of FBI list now... but there is clearly an inherent glamour in jewel thievery. In a fierce Angelina in Mr and Mrs Smith kind of way. This is well documented by Hollywood and romance novels.

If I were a jewel thief I would only wear Burberry Prorsum. I would be sort of a formal rocker jewel thief. I would wear this:




And I would carry this:





For the record, FBI guy - I can't even get my laundry done in the same week as my dishes. I hardly could plan a jewel heist. You can call off the investigative team you were assembling.

KEY ITEMS: SWEATER JACKET

This look from this month's Lucky magazine is fierce. (I know I'm a sucker for the sneakers and t-shirts - what can I say, I'm consistent)

But the sweater jacket is amazing and a statement piece that you can throw on over anything. I'd wear this with all black and heels too. I love mixing black and navy - it's one of my fave things to do. Sometimes I just sit around mixing black and navy.

Here's another sweater coat from Shopbop.com - same deal. Awesome woodsy cozyness - so chic mixed with sleek city pieces.

PERFECT PEOPLE: ROSIE HUNTINGTON-WHITELEY

This is such an amazingly chic and classic look.

I think it's kinda fabs to rock pale colors for the holidays in a look like this.

I love her colors, they are perfect. Jewelry, bag, shoes - all perfect.

I would like to find a cream vintage dress like hers, and wear it with this cardi from Anthropologie. And sit in a field of wildflowers.

OBSESSED: LIFE IMITATING, UM, ART

This just in! From The Frock Report on The Times from South Africa:

"Wow now this is big news if it is in fact true Gawker has reported that imminent thawing is afoot. The Nuclear Wintour may be on her way out - Si Newhouse may have flown to Paris to offer the top Vogue job to Carine thereby deposing Wintour and putting an end to her oligarchy and hopefully dark glassed in the front row.

Robert McKay however just sent me these prize gems from Carine - perhaps something got lost in translation? Love the stupendous bitch slaps “People always say that I weigh my staff, and it is totally wrong. All my girls are very skinny and very chic and very beautiful. And if they are not beautiful, well, then they are very charming. So people always say that I weigh them, but no. I don’t weigh my girls.”

“Some editors, they have that, they know all the designer from the beginning of the nineteenth century. They know this is triple cashmere, this is simple cashmere. Maybe they went to fashion school. Me, I don’t. I just get a feeling about what is exciting. It is all just from feeling. So I don’t know - I think maybe I have a talent.”

Here it comes ….

“It’s very difficult not to become a puppet. Like Anna, she becomes so iconic that she becomes like a puppet. I don’t want to be like that, I don’t want to wear this uniform, I don’t want to be just an envelope.'"

She's kind of hardcore too because, according to Gawker, Carine does not know how to use a computer. That's some old-school fashion shit.

It blows my mind how this is exactly like the plot of Devil Wears Prada. Where's Anne Hathaway when Anna needs her? I don't love AW but I'd like to see her pull a Miranda Priestly and take Carine DOWN with style.

I do think Paris Vogue is way better than American Vogue, but it's not as good as Spanish Vogue. I'm just saying.

OBSESSED: GUY-TASTIC GIFTS

This is the ultimate guy gift. I save all such ideas because seriously, guys are so difficult to buy for.

Here's the scoop from Chronicle Books (dot com):

"Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts -- In 1982, George Lucas saw potential in the fledgling videogame industry and created his own interactive-entertainment company. Twenty-five years and dozens of award-winning games later, LucasArts has earned a prestigious place in the industry and in the hearts of gamers everywhere. Rogue Leaders is the first substantive survey of a videogame company—a deluxe compilation that traces its history through never-before-published interviews. In addition, more than 300 pieces of concept art, character development sketches, and storyboards have been lavishly reproduced to showcase the creative talent behind such videogame classics as The Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, as well as games that were never publicly released. A thrill for millions of videogame and LucasArts fans around the world." ($60)

I know who's getting this for Christmakkuh.

KEY ITEMSSSSS: AMAZINGNESS OVERLOAD

Scanned this from the J.Crew catalog.

Quirky glasses, white button-down, converse-y sneakers, and loads of pearl-like necklaces. It's a collage of my four favorite things. It's a quartage.

J.Crew never fails. When in doubt, J.Crew. This goes out to those in need of gift ideas, too. No woman is gonna turn down a little sweater from the Crew. Or a plaid shirt (if you're buying for a boy).

More on holiday gift ideas to come!

OBSESSED: MON DIEU!

It just took me about five looks and one embarrassing conversation to grasp the hilarity of this chair.

Vilain! Coquin!

OBSESSED: MICHELLE OBAMA

Speaking of incredibly pressing issues.


Dear WWD,

Best. Feature. Ever.

Honestly, no other article in the current media has addressed what has been primarily occupying my mind since the election. (I'd say a good 37% of the time I am awake I'm thinking about what Mrs. Obama should wear to various events)

Thank you WWD for asking the question "What should Michelle Obama wear?", and in case you're wondering, I think that Diane Von Furstenburg, Michael Kors, and Marc Jacobs did the best and most plausible ones (I mean, Lacroix's was amazing but a little planet Mars), and that Betsey Johnson's was mad weird but I guess that's to be expected.

Sincerely yours,
Janie

KEY ITEMS: LEGGINGS

I thought this piece by Cormac McCarthy in Vanity Fair this month was brilliant:



And then I saw these leggings in WWD today.



Inspired by both, here is my ode to leggings, in the style of Mr. Walt Whitman.


Leggings!
by Janie Marshall (borrowed heavily from WW)

O leggings! Ever push'd elasticity!
I sing of the simplicity.
Caressing the leg, in pleather or texture or beautiful black,
I have no other piece in my closet that makes shoes look as good.

Not jeans, skinny, wide-leg, or boot-cut,
Nor skirts, pencil or ballerina.

Leggings have brought us richness and variety.
And other leggings will bring us richness or variety.

Though I mourn that Lindsay Lohan was onto something here,
I would raise my voice in praise of glorious leggings.
And I scribble 'Kova & T nylon-spandex faux leather' on my Christmas list.

OBSESSED: A PEACE TREATY

I sorta thought this article on the chafiyeh was hilarious on a lot of levels.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/01/iran-chafiyeh-rap-music/print

For those of you too lazy to link (I'm in that club), here's the headline, which tells you what you need to know.

"Iran's underground rap artists take to wearing symbol of Islamic revolution"

An excerpt:

"For nearly 30 years its distinctive chequered pattern has been a sacrosanct symbol of Iran's Islamic revolution and an essential garment for its most committed adherents.

But now the chafiyeh, the black-and-white scarf proudly worn by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his loyal followers, has become an unlikely fashion item for young Iranians drawn to the same western pop culture that country's leaders disdain."

I don't even know where to start. That's like a black hole of style.

For those of you that got a chefiyah and wore it for a month straight like a year ago and then totally couldn't believe you ever did it in the first place (but kinda missed it when it was gone for its two-tone accessorial simplicity) - there is hope and there is a future. And it's called A Peace Treaty. The story is great and the product is greater. Go get you some. These are my picks.

OBSESSED: CHRIS MATTHEWS FOR SENATE IN OH-TEN

WHOA! Chris Matthews for Senate in '10! Where do I sign up???

From the Huffington Post:

"Leading the pack of prospects -- at least in celebrity -- is Chris Matthews, the MSNBC "Hardball" host and a former Capitol Hill Democratic staffer. The Philadelphia native has been toying with a run for months, and this week he sat down with state Democrats to discuss the prospect of taking on the five-term GOP senator."

This story is unsubstantiated by the way, according to Huff Post. I must add that I have done no fact-checking of my own, unless you count tracking down CM's high school yearbook photo and drawing hearts on it.