Style Icon - Christine Centenera

Forget Fearne, Alexa (god help us) and fellow fashion slave tosh, style icons don't measure up to this funky fashion ed. Nobody does laid back luxe as well as Christine Centenera, of Harpers Bazaar Australia. Up there with the likes of Kate Lamphear (Elle US), these ladies consistently channel the right amount of tough luxe, whilst integrating casual basics. The result: insanely edgy outfits that don't scream pretense but allude to something that's off the scale cool.

I'm loving the mix of slouchy boyfriend jeans, biker chic jacket with armoury details, all perfectly offset with elegant courts. This girl can't go wrong!

Who would have thought that a leather mini would make an outfit look so stylish. The assymetric zip detail lends a rock and roll vibe to basic seperates.

A diaphanous shirt, teamed with leather look slacks is the perfect marriment.

For me, this ensemble exemplifies why Centenera deserves her accolade. Rich earthy tones, puntuated with gold accents...need i say more?

These boots, juxtaposed with an ethereal dress creates my favourite 'pretty tough' aesthetic...beautiful! I have similar boots and i love to team them with jeans, oversized knit and blazer.

A basic jersey dress is made all the more appealing with a silhouette enhancing jacket with splices of leather, girly draping and chunky wedged shoes. It's rock and roll but with feminine undertones.

Fashion Foibles

The bane of my life is that I just don't get to experience disposable income in mighty amounts. It's just not on. My job forces an abundance of delectable fashion before my very eyes, teasing and never not tantalising. Mostly, I can't afford the pieces that have me beguiled. Fashion is, quite simply, a constant fantasy and only when I buckle under the pressure of the voice that says, "Don't eat, buy me" do i get to embrace what i love so much: clothes, shoes and all the pretty accents that go with. I literally get lost in perusing etailers and their 'New In' departments. I must remain in the loop of what's creeping in and what's dominating amongst the stream of trends. Some may say it's a fluffy existence. I say it's an affinity that we all dabble in, i'm just an extremist! Here's a few beauts that i might not have to starve myself for...

Studded Leather Jacket £250,00


Straight Trousers £39.99


Grey Chiffon Ruffle Bolero £45



Coral Fringed Crop Vest £15.00


Black Tube Skirt By David Koma £275.00Two Tone Sandals £79.99Mocassin Loafers £19.99

Kate, Our Perfect Princess

Well i'm eating my hat as I type. All notions of Kate steering clear of the McQueen aesthetic has shocked, albeit provoked elation. Welcome Kate, our contemporary addition to the monarchy, dressed in a breathtaking ivory creation by Sarah Burton, Creative Director of Alexander McQueen. Kate projected herself as a vision of beauty, whilst retaining her signiture classic style but suprising with her choice of outlandish designer. The dress was reminiscent of Princess Grace's (once Grace Kelly), with high collar, arms enrobed in lace and ballgown silhouette. Very Kate. Very understated. Very overwhelmingly beautiful and all accessorised with the warmest of smiles. After much speculation, my bets were firmly held on Bruce Oldfield. That integral link to the history of royal dressing seemed obvious, and Mcqueen too extravangant, but Kate's choice has certainly solidifed her status and won her the deserved accolade of our modern day Princess.

Kate glows in a, quintessentially British, gown fit for our future queen

Princess Grace wears the iconic wedding dress that became synonymous with 50s elegance

This Week I Mostly Need/Want/Desire...

Quite often, my style preferences oscillate between the pretty 'proper' sloany look (loafers and chinos eceterarr), to the whimsical wonders of brands such as Marchesa, and then elements of tough luxe with stud strewn biker boots, or booties if we're going for a complete contradiction. That's the point of fashion though, right? I have consistently played with the theme of grown up chic and felt quite cosy in my loafers and blazers. However, the rebel in me is dabbling in leather jackets of late, and quite liking the care-free element to stomping around in...stompy boots.

With a new barrage of collections settling in (very nice they are too), here's my latest wants/needs/must-haves to keep me going, until I settle on a something new...boho chic? Could definitely make that one work with my hippy-appropriate tresses...

Studded Biker Boots
Jimmy Choo £719 Mytheresa.com

Rita Leather Jacket
ACNE My-Wardrobe.com £700

Baseball Jacket
Topshop £42

Ballerina Flats
Tory Burch @ Net-a-porter.com £200

Safari Jacket
Warehouse £80

Richmond Bag
Jaeger £299

Strapless Gown
Notte By Marchesa @ Net-a-porter.com £825

Double Bracelet
Balenciage @ Mytheresa.com £125

Crochet Waistcoat
Topshop £45

Croc Loafers
Miu Miu @ Mytheresa.com £325

Sandals
Miss Sixty £106

Shoe Porn...yikes!

If shoes were monsters...like a built-like-a-brick-shit-house scary pantha...These Camilla Skovgaard creations are F.I.E.R.C.E (more firece than the fiercest in fierce land! Raaaaaaaarrrrrrrgh!

Hunter gets slick

Yes, it may nearly be summer...but in these stylish Regent Hunters from Surfdome.com, i'd definitely forgive the Summer showers. Rain, rain as hard as you can...

Supermodel Crush - Giselle Bundchen

Whether she's frolicking on a carnival float in Rio or gracing her first Vogue Paris cover, she's a captivating beauty to be reckoned with...

Bag Craving

Could murder a slice of BREE from Jimmy Choo 995

Or A Peppermint Natasha From Marc By Marc Jacobs 290

A (Cadburys) Slab Of Greenwich From Michael Kors 195

A Battenberg Of A PS1 From Proenza Schouler 1085

Sky-High Shoe People

Every once in a while the 'Gaga' in me is drawn to some seriously zany footwear. Statuesque I may already be, considerably so, but this does not deter me from indulging in superfluous heelage. Kat Maconie's SS11 collection is inspired by the architectural wonder that is the Lloyds Building in the city of London and the grey panel and gold accent detailing on her loafers below are sky-scraper perfection (available at Urban Outfitters.)

I'm a big believer in accentuating one part of your outfit only. So, if you're channelling strict minimalism, or a conservative colour palette, then go all-out with some head turning heels. I have cherry-picked my favs from Urban Outfitters, Net-a-Porter and My-Wardrobe:

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN

JIMMY CHOO

URBAN OUTFITTERS

URBAN OUTFITTERS

I'm no sooner brought back down to earth, with a thud (I must be a six footer) and, realistically, a pair of Balmain' sex kitten simpletons will suffice.

BALMAIN

My Casual Affair

From the epic and ridiculously cool brand collision, that is Adidas X Diesel, spawns a shoe called the Forum Mid. For a trainer, and coming from a casual-shoe débutante, it's super hot. Completely debunking the notion that my style isn't suited to anything pertaining to sports and practicality, I am quite fancying myself in a pair of these. I'm pretty certain that the leather and zip elements would integrate nicely into my stylish sartorial pursuits.

Available, in the UK, from Carnaby Street, High Street Kensington and Covent Garden Diesel Stores.

New Media

Following on from my last two snippets of sound (quality sound, in the guise of Oh Land and Herts. LOVE!) I will continue to post my favourite music vids of the moment. Fashion, interspersed with the odd fierce song, makes for a pretty spruced-up blog stream, yes? Thought so. Current music-to-my-ears is Adele - mesmerising vocals! "Someone Like yooooouuooooooo".

HURTS - Stay (Official Video)

Oh Land - Sun Of A Gun

Glossie's Shrine

My collection of Vogue magazines spans over the past five years. So that's sixty odd glossy fashion gems that I proudly possess. Although, not a huge amount, quite embarrassing actually, when you consider that the magazine's inception was waaaay back in 1892.

Still, much better than being perched on a dust infested rickety shelf unit in a sorry state, (shoot me i'm, sometimes, careless), Conde Nast is to launch a one-stop magazine hub, displaying all current Conde Nast titles. I had hoped that this would include all previous issues dating back to poignant eras, but then I guess that would be too special and, also, who would want to reveal the A.M.A.Z.I.N.G Vogue House library to a million plus mucky paws? I have, very fortunately, had the privilege of perusing the formerly mentioned (all in aid of some research for the Vogue fashion team) and it's by no means the kind of library that we're all accustomed to. It's beyond brilliant and fun - it has cavernous book shelves that glide across the floor for easy access to hard-to-reach tomes.

Conde Nast Worldwide News opens in March within the Vogue HQ in Hanover Square, London. Whether you want to browse any of the 130 current issues of Vogue, Tatler, Vanity Fair etc, play with all of Conde Nast's iPad apps or scan images and info, you can do so in the stylish setting of Vogue House. There's some serious posh people/covetable clobber watching to be done here. It's glamour on ridiculous levels...

A Chance To Delve Into the Fashion Modelling World Is Upon Us

Fans of the former fly-on-the-wall documentary Babewatch (the show that discovered Vernon Kay), about Select Model Management, take note:

Starting on 23rd February, Channel 4 brings us a new dose of opportunity to model gawk and follow the day-to-day runnings of , this time, Premier Models (the model agency responsible for stellar supermodels Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiefer, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista) in a new documentary called, quite simply, The Model Agency. Crikey O'Riley - wait I cannot...

The Future's Bright

For Spring/Summer 2011 the general consensus is to flout all previous notions of bare minimalism and usher in a season imbued with riotous colour. Jil Sander, DKNY and Aquilano Rimondi forbid us to adhere to the fashion protocol and encouraged an unabashed marrying of sprightly hues - splicing cerise with crimson, cobalt blue with acid green and igniting a fluoro frenzy. Sober your ensembles with gold accents for a jaunty decadence or complete the look with a motorbike jacket seen at Burberry and Balanciaga. It’s a tough luxe look fit for any summer soiree. A winter ensconced in chunky knits has left us yearning for the freedom and fluidity of the obligatory summer maxi dress. Diaphanous gowns dispersed throughout the collections at Dries Van Noten and Thakoon whilst Paul & Joe and Erdem Moralioglu opted for ostentatious floral prints to adorn their take on summer’s definitive trend. Not wanting to forego last season’s nude invasion? The likes of Jenny Packham, Roland Mouret and Ports 1961 have produced deftly cut garments in a palette of subdued tones, an antidote to the reigning overt colour spectrum that dominates this season’s trend line up.

Jil Sander

Loewe

Burberry

Aquilano Rimondi

Mad Men Season Four. Elated!

The beautiful cast

I am at a loose end. I am nearing the end of Season Three of my MAD MEN boxset. I remember an article in the Daily Mail, chronicling the narrative of the series, soon to grace our screens. It seemed a story concept that I must discover. A portrait of the Madison Avenue pioneers, the advertising industry in the late 50s and early 60s where frivolous spending, conspicuous drinking and smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes was prevalent. The awe inspiring sartorial pursuits of this era are unmissable. What a woman would do for Betty Draper's and Joan Holloway's closet... Then there's the ruling quest for the American Dream, which is far from reflected in the, sometimes dark, personal lives of the main characters. It's a glamorous but messed-up world and I have been hooked ever since.

But fear not my fellow MAD MEN aficionados, Season Four is to be released on Tuesday 29th March 2011. I have, seriously, been in a state of not knowing what to replace this epic TV viewing with, or rather could anything possibly compare? There's me thinking that my days of ogling, the suave, Don Draper were no more. Too excited.

Mad Men Season Four. Gasp!