juliette hogan summer o9

all images via juliette hogan

can it be true that juliette hogan is not stocked outside new zealand? if the website is to be believed, some discerning australian and international boutique owners need to rectify this situation quickly. i love this collection. apparently the label has been described as "quietly sophisticated clothes that well mannered girls want to wear." i'm not sure if i am always as well-mannered as i'd like to be, but i have a feeling i'd get away with it if i was wearing any of these beautiful pieces. the hint of black bodysuit beneath the sheer flesh pink folds of fabric on the ballet dress makes the model look like a ballerina in quiet repose. and the elegantly floor-sweeping length on the pink skirt is so refreshing. i love the way pearls are worn with every outfit- juliette's clothes are obviously for the kind of girl for whom grandmother's pearls are a signature accessory. can you tell that's the kind of girl i'd like to be?

kat macleod, i love you

all images via the jacky winter group

i want to live inside one of kat macleod's pictures. i can't get enough of her charming little illustrations that combine dreamy watercolours with quirky collage. the stylish and charismatic characters that inhabit her pictures are the girl i want to be. or maybe i'd rather be the talented and beautiful kat herself? if you want more kat, you can read a wonderful interview at the design files, see more of her work at the jacky winter group, and buy a limited edition print of one of these beauties via lamington drive. 

the last debutantes

many of the debs wore couture- the black and blue gowns christian dior gowns were worn by margaret mckay and her mother at margaret's coming out dance, and the brown and cream tulle gown is by balmain, worn by elizabeth hyde parker at london dances.
images via kensington palace

i have a strange fascination with old-school debutantes. i can trace it to a mixed bag of early influences: the photos of my mum looking pained at her suburban sydney coming out in the 1960s (with an escort that looked like elvis); the glamorous social pictures taken at the crillon ball, and repeated viewings of 'andy hardy meets debutante'. it's logical that i should be interested in the phenomenon, combining as it does my fascinations for rich people, vintage dresses and upper class frippery.

obviously the original premise of a debutante ball pretty is pretty odd to a modern sensibility: parading young women in front of an audience to announce their readiness for marriage? it's certainly an anachronistic tradition; but the dresses, the parties, the manners and the excitement all set my heart a-flutter nonetheless.

so naturally whilst in london recently, i was very keen to catch 'the last debutantes' exhibition at kensington palace (on display until 31st jan 2010). the exhibition focuses on the 1958 crop of debs- the last year that eligible young ladies were presented to the queen. although the exhibition space (the late princess margaret's apartments) is something of a confusing rabbit warren, the exhibition features a lovely collection of objects, including diaries, invitations, photographs, dresses, evening bags and other ephemera saved by the girls. it sets the glamour, charm and indulgence of this disappearing world against the backdrop of the social unrest, political activism and teenage culture that set the scene of change in britain during the summer of 1958.

i must admit i thoroughly enjoyed it. if i squint my eyes to see past the snobbery, sexism and excess of the debutante's world, there is really something quite lovely about it.

godard's girl

reuse, recycle

the other man's treasures via poetic home

is this not the cutest idea ever? this is a d.i.y. i can see myself attempting (or perhaps directing my boyfriend to attempt). i have often seen nests of cheap tables with those retro legs in op-shops, but these days, a vintage suitcase with character at a reasonable price is hard to find. and i must say that if i ever found a vintage suitcase as cute as that green hat box, i would be reluctant to risk ruining it! my grandmother used to keep old letters and photographs in a lovely plaid zip-up hatbox like that. i wish i knew where it was now.

zooey does the charleston

zooey deschanel by autumn de wilde via her portfolio

i love this shoot. the colour is wonderful, and hasn't autumn captured zooey's kooky playfulness perfectly?

the whispertown2000

myspace, the whispertown2000's tour tumblr, lullabyes blog

"once upon a time, in a far away land, where the rivers and creeks begin, above the clouds where the sun doesn't burn, and the snow doesn't freeze, where the stories you hear are easy to believe, where nothing is thought and everything just is, and all of the takes turn into gives, and at night with the moon through the trees you can see, an irish lad, a man of the sea, a mexican princess, and then there's me. the irishman, colt maloney, on melodic bass, high and then low and keeping the pace; the man from the ocean, tod adrien wisenbaker, twisting and pulling his guitar and his harp, as if all the notes were there from the start; and born in tijuana, a voice so pure it can haunt, vanesa corbala, in harmonic taunt; and me I came from the oregon coast, morgan nagler they called me as I followed the road, past the buildings and the lights, past the signs and the pavement, till everything was dirt, it was brown, blue and green, and the songs they were born living in a dream. and we put them on tape and we cant hardly wait, to play them and sing them we can't hardly wait."

-morgan nagler of the whispertown2000 via livin in a dream

download a recording of the whispertown2000 performing live at SXSW 2009 at lullabyes blog.