Bianco in the Spring

Spent most of the afternoon attached to the outside window of Shoe Connection staring at these:

Tony Bianco Fairlie wedges (Aus $179)

Tony Bianco Fairfax (Aus $179)

Tony Bianco Kortina (Aus $189)

I simply love these wedges. If you have slightly larger ankles like me then the Fairlie are the better style (comes in a cobalt blue colour as well) as ankle straps only accentuate. 

Weekend Couture

My favourite show of Fall 2011 Couture in Paris - Giambattista Valli (his first couture show) - classics worked into modern luxury with fur, feathers, embroidery and plenty of details:

Braving the winter cold...

There are some gorgeous anoraks on sale at Witchery right now. Perfect for braving the wind and cold. Looks chic worn casually with jeans but can you can dress it up a bit with black jeans and ankle boots for the evening.

Witchery utility anorak (Aus $129.95) and longline utility parka (Aus $99.95)

Spring Sailor Ahoy!

Saw a friend try on this dress the other day, it is a more elegant way of doing the Spring nautical/rivera themed dressing. A simple platform heel like the No1 Shoes Onyx heel or an open-toe in black or red would look good with this one:

Portmans Bold Stripe Dress $110

P.S. This would make an excellent races dress with a red or hot pink fascinator.  Just think about it, when you see a patterned shift or three-quarter sleeved dress, what would Pippa Middleton do? WWPM (putting this on wristbands as I write this post...)

Maxi Skirts for Spring

Love this look for Spring, long black sheer or nude pleated maxi skirts worn with a tank top or white t-shirt with a cropped black tux blazer

Glassons sheer maxi skirt $60 (I also spied a pleated one in black and nude colour in the stores yesterday)

Pleated Maxi Skirt $169 @ Country Road

While we are shopping at Country Road let's give this skirt a very Prada shout-out, a great skirt for weekend casual wear worn with a t-shirt tucked in and styled with a statement necklace

Jersey Stripe Pencil Skirt $89.90 @ Country Road

Inspiration...

Prada Spring 2011 RTW courtesy of Style.com

Abbey Lee Kershaw courtesy of Altamira

Defaulting times call for desperate measures...

Popped into No 1 Shoes today and loved for $60 and under...

This one below comes in grey which gives it a bit more oomph than the black

Witty wedge in black, City wedge in black (both $59.99) and Onyx Court in Black ($39.99) all from No 1 shoe warehouse


If the U.S. defaults, we will be prepared.

Hats + Leather

Inspiration

Image courtesy of Fashionfame.com

Image courtesy of Jak & Jil Blog

Madison wide brim hat and Medina leather jacket from Max, Asos leather biker jacket with quilted shoulders

Wishlist from Asos

Free international shipping and a strong NZ dollar is all the encouragement I need.

Asos leather quilted collarless jacket, Asos premium leather bag with leopard print trim and Asos ACT suede and wood platform ankle boots.

Sunday viewing: Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton

Part one of an insightful documentary on Marc Jacobs preparing for his own line and for Louis Vuitton Spring 2006 collections. What you really take away from watching this documentary is Marc's obsession of creating beauty amongst ugly and how much contemporary art influences his collections.

The Return of the Kitten Heel

Kitten heels are being cited everywhere as the major trend for 2010/2011. Mrs O has been wearing hers since...well ever...and anything she does is instantly in vogue...

As much as I love my borderline stripper heels...kitten heels would be a fantastic break...

Image from Style.com

The kitten heel of Europe's fashion elite for 2010 is the Valentino studded kitten heel. Fusing practicality, femininity and an element of the warrior women trend of 2009, this heel has it all. I love it that patent is being worked into something more elegant.

As seen in Valentino Fall 2010

Image via The Sartorialist

Trend 2010: The" Watch Bracelet"

The "watch bracelet". Not to be confused with "bracelet watches" (bracelets with a watch face in them). I think someone needs to a write an urban fashion dictionary explaining these things.

Sorry back to my original explanation of the "watch bracelet", getting a chunky silver/chrome watch (mens or womens) and piling on the silver bangles and chains on top. If you are like me and have small hands, the Witchery watch below is a nice alternative if a male chrome watch swamps your wrist and destroys your ability to type. Witchery are not stocking these in Wellington or Christchurch but you can order it online (also comes in a gold colour).

Image from Tommy Ton for Style.com

London Round Metal Watch $229 (Aus) from Witchery

Hello, you do not know me yet but we are going to become friends...

Sasha Wedge Boot from Rubi Shoes @ Cotton On

$39.95 (Aus)

Love, thrash and throw-away 

Lanvin for H & M

New Zealand's Own

Came across a prolific 15 year old mini stylist in lookbook.nu who is doing New Zealand proud. Lily B. is a 15 year old student from Auckland. Her latest image with a blazer and Dotti leggings with the madonna inspired necklace and gloves is a great combo. So good, I might sneak out and grab myself a pair of those leggings to wear with neutral tunic tops...

Here are some of her other looks on lookbook.nu:

Neutrals + Corset

Helena Christensen

Rue Du Mail S/S 2010

Starting to really love this look, I was a bit precarious about the lingerie as outerwear trend right up until beautiful neutrals came into play. Mashing it up with light denim like Helena's stylist in Elle magazine or wearing corset style dress with ankle boots is a great take on this trend.

My Latest Addition

Vantino heels from Wittner Shoes

These are my new children, adopted from my latest trip to Sydney. Saw a woman wearing these bad boys also from Wittner shoes coming into the international departure lounge while I was outside shamelessly gorging myself on my Krispy Kreme addiction. They looked AMAZING on her:

                                                        

Update: You can find these now at the Wittner outlet store in George St, Sydney (if there are any left!).

The Beginning.

And there was light...or in my case a pair of Wittner shoes...and a copy of Vogue.

This will be a blog focused around the latest trends in international fashion, New Zealand shopping and images of where we all draw inspiration from in our daily style from photos, muses, objects and other peoples daily street style.

And of course the latest entrants in my wardrobe.

This is a New Zealand based blog, so forgive me if most of my retail buys are from Australian retail chain stores but my inspiration will be international!

xx SV