Current Obsession: Jen Kao Wedges

How sick are these wedges by Jen Kao? (The correct answer is "so sick.") It's the perfect Frankenstein's monster of a shoe, simultaneously calling to mind ski boots, patchwork, and that Christopher Kane collection with all the galaxy prints.

Jen Kao? More like Jen Wow! (Sorry. Bad puns are sort of my thing.)

Office Space: Some Inspiration for Your Work Week

Let's face it, Mondays can be rough, even for those of us who've been blessed with jobs we love. (Okay, it's probably Tuesday by now in some time zones).

How about injecting a little fun into your workweek? Fifties style glasses or bold coral lips can shake up even the most staid office-appropriate ensemble.

And who needs a shirt? Bust out your favourite bra instead! (Just kidding. That one's best left for the pages of Vogue Italia. Unless you're a stripper, I guess.)

(Also, nix the napping.)

Top to bottom: October 2010 Vogue Italia beauty supplement, Elle Poland, Elle Singapore July 2011. All images from Fashion Gone Rogue.

Blast From the Past: Vogue Does Disney

The one and only time I went to Disneyland was around 2001. I was 10 years old and wore shorts, T-shirts, and Mickey Mouse ears the entire time. It was not a great moment in fashion.

Ten years earlier, however, Vogue UK took a much more fashion-forward trip to the land of roller coasters and screaming children.

Doesn't it sort of make you want to roll up to the nearest amusement park in a vintage skirt suit?

(Scans courtesy of The Fashion Spot)

Adventures in Etsy: Of Hogs and Hedges

You guys, I'm babysitting a hedgehog(!!!) this weekend. His name is John-John, he hates me (I tried singing The Cardigans' "Lovefool" to him, but this only served to annoy him) and he is actually the cutest thing ever!

The new love of my life. (Please ignore the camera phone picture quality and how weirdly disgusting my carpet looks).

In honour of my temporary foray into hedgehog-parenting, here are some painfully adorable hedgehog-themed accessories I found on Etsy.

Hedgehog flats by emandsprout ($24):

I feel like it would be impossible to have a bad day with these on your feet. How much do you love the fact that the hedgehogs have little flowers in their hair (or in their spikes, I guess)?

Hedgehog hair clips by CuckooBoo ($5):

I'm pretty sure that these are actually intended for small children, but I'm also pretty sure that the world would be a way better place if we all wore adorable animal-themed hair bows all the time.

Hedgehog necklace by Piggy ($18):

For the sophisticated hedgehog-wearer. (As if there's any other kind).

Raquel Zimmerman by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia

As I was scrolling through Fashion Gone Rogue, this spread stopped me in my tracks. I guess that in a sea of crazy fashion spreads, it's raw, simple images like the first picture in this spread that are truly shocking.

I'm not even sure that I totally get grasp Meisel was going for here, but I like it. The juxtaposition of the wig-wearing, overly made up, pose-y Raquel and the wet-haired, grinning Raquel is really cool.

The deliberate fakeness of the black wig photos feels very Cindy Sherman to me.

What do you think?

Christian Dior Couture Fall 2011: Barbie, Time Travel, and Outer Space

When I was a kid, my favourite movie wasn’t Sleeping Beauty or Home Alone but the little-known cartoon flick Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World. When my parents would take me to the video rental place, I’d gravitate to this out-dated 1980s TV special (which I referred to as “Barbie in Space”) like a bee to honey, or Tommy Ton to Anna Dello Russo.

Guys, this movie was CRACKED. OUT. After discovering last year that the cinematic light of my preschool life had been uploaded to YouTube, I decided to re-watch it. The plot, which had seemed totally logical when I was three, goes a little something like this:

Barbie and her rock band go to space, and when they arrive back on earth, they somehow end up back in the 1950s. Luckily, the first person they meet is some sort of time travel specialist who helps them get back to the eighties. Interspersed throughout are shopping montages and dance sequences.

So it makes sense that while many members of the fashion press panned Dior’s first couture collection sans Galliano for lacking focus, I saw a clear unifying theme.

Think about it: The bold makeup. The celestial elements. The eighties meets fifties silhouettes.

You guys, this collection is totally Barbie in Space!

On a non-Barbie-related note, I love the scalloping detail on some of the pieces in the collection, like the Nemo-coloured skirt above. It reminds me of Christopher Kane's Planet of the Apes-inspired season (S/S 2009), one of my favourite collections of ALL TIME.

What did you guys think of the new Dior? Am I seriously the only one who liked it? And am I the only one who remembers Barbie and the Rockers?

Minimalism vs. Maximalism

Okay, I hate when bloggers waste valuable word-space apologizing for their lack of blog activity but I have seriously been the worst lately.

Now that that's been acknowledged, on to the fashion! I've basically realized that I tend to gravitate towards one of two styles of dressing lately. Over the top madness or total Calvin-Klein-in-the-nineties simplicity:

Any other fashion schizophrenics out there?