Wednesday, July 22, 2009

window shopping in World Beauty






Sometimes the best things are right under your nose.

I had a dear fashion friend staying nearby on Waiheke Island last week, And while sharing a divine local red we created a shopping itinerary for a day in Auckland.

There was a discerning fashion designer to buy for, not an easy task.

One of the standout stores to visit to buy a gift for me is World Beauty in Vulcan lane Auckland City. The World team are a bit of an institution in New Zealand and their retailing & display is inspirational.

I have a few favourites around the world now -
Strange Trader in Byron Bay, Orson & Blake in Woolahra, Beker & Minty in Potts Point both in Sydney. L'Eclaireur in Paris, Muji in Tokyo, World Beauty in Auckland is firmly on that list.

World Beauty has a lot of lines exclusive to them in New Zealand which makes them a destination store. The range of candles, soaps, fragrances specifically are delicious. The addition of antiques, collectable picture books and over the top religious icons make it less pharmacy than other beauty stores and more of a wonderful fossicking adventure.

http://www.worldbrand.co.nz/retail.php




Sunday, July 12, 2009

Eye Candy






After a spell of what seemed like the same shape frame in brown, black and tortoiseshell for the last two seasons, here is a little sneak to what fun is on its way for summer.

Sunglass Hut have the bulk of the hottest labels such as : D&G, Versace, Tiffany, Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren, Ray Ban, Prada, Bulgari, Burberry, Oakley, and our current crush Persol.

Luxotica owns all of the licenses for these brands and they manufacture distribute and retail under the Sunglass Hut brand. The have gone from strength to substance in the last few years and we got a kick out of the new summer range in the KAREN office - fun, sporty girly and we want them all! (of course the mens are divine too)

I am a strong advocate in having a sunglass wardrobe - different frames for each occasion, beach, formal, workday, holiday, etc. I struggle being confined to one style.

I think it is going to be a fun season :-)

so from top to bottom :
Ray Ban, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Prada, Ray Ban.

Monday, April 27, 2009

its all about the website!

Our super talented art director David Mendes has re jigged our website and our amazing team are blogging away! - Have a look here. www.karenmag.com 
- it is kinda cool. 

I on the other hand have been quite as a mouse online as real life has bestowed be a milestone birthday as well as the last few weeks in Sydney galavanting around. With fashion week beginning tomorrow I will attempt to put my head down and jot some goodies. 

starting with me uploading shots from the Freidrich Gray show this evening! x 

Friday, March 13, 2009

Jay Harrison in person



Yesterday I had the great pleasure to meet KAREN photographer Jay Harrison in person. 
And what a lovely bloke he is! 
I often work remotely with our contributors as they dash about the planet. Email, Skype, SMS, Facebook and Twitter are all part of the daily touching base with our large band of creatives. 
So to meet up in person after over a year of electronic conversation is quite a buzz - never mind I was baking and the house was occupied with small people, he was just charming. 

- In the usual zero degrees of separation that happens now, Jay's nephew had been at the same kindergarden as my son and we are friends with his sister and live on the same island of 8K residents :-o 
How small is this world?

Jay shot the stunning closing fashion spread "Malibu" in the new KAREN issue as pictured above, starring Viviens beauty Shanay Hall, styled by Edwina Robinson, MU by Katrina Raftery, Hair by Barney Martin. 

falling to earth



I love shoes as much as most women and maybe more. I even have astrological aspects to back this up (mercury in Pisces) translating very loosely to thinks from feet- also in images. 

In saying this you would not guess it - I am really rather sensible compared to my flock and to my peers. I just have feet that need well designed and study footwear. And any shoes that make my legs look incredible are only worn in my bedroom - with soft carpet. 
(Girls gotta have a few props.) 

Come fashion weeks when I am the only one in the front row in flats (beside my fashion week boyfriends) I do feel like I am in a different club at times - and then I realise I am smiling so much more than most others! 
Yes I am very grumpy in 3 hours of wearing those beautiful toe torture chambers. SO it is now that I have finally figured out why so many magazine girls are snooty - they are all in agony - showing off a years salary in designer footwear for the week.

When I say wow those shoes are so high they are always chirpy saying oh they are so comfortable - rubbish!! -  they make her look thin tall and feel powerful. And they ache like hell and are giving her the ugliest bunions as we chat. Not to mention one stumble and her ankle could snap at any moment.

When seeing the fashion pack recently picking their way through lawn and dealing with sand at Swim Fashion Week in their gorgeous silly heels I noticed that the senior or top people were all wearing flats. So the girls climbing the career ladder are doing so in 6 - 12 inches, and the editors and publishers are quite comfortable thank you. Interesting. 

This all brings me to what is happening on the runways for the last 5 seasons at least.
What the heck is happening ?

First we get the two years of hell in baby doll dresses that make you look like an infant or pregnant, together with platform shoes - so a pregnant, clumpy child - mmmm not how I had envisioned looking in my late 30's. 
Then we got the same deal though the shoes got much higher well with their own little step and the skirts got shorter - great now they want me to look more like a child prostitute.
( and do you think any mainstream made variations ??? nope - child hookers the lot of you) 

So as hemlines became more like big belts and shoes something that needed scaffolding I did not hear too many cries from women thinking feminism has just been trampled on .....
I just wondered around in shock muttering to myself. ........how compromised  does this all make you feel ?

And do I need to mention how many tumbles we have seen on the runways of late ?
makes great sensationalised fodder - but if you cannot have a model under a certain age - can you also have a shoe designed for walking in please. 

Not feeling the empowerment of the elegant woman I had pencilled for myself, when as a teenager I looked at women in their 30's and 40's looking so stunning classically beautiful and well it was the 80's - powerful!

Now this new European season the hemlines are lowering, volume is being revisited and now to cope with the longer skirts those masters of the cloth have now put everything with the equivalent of something you would wear if there was open sewers in the streets, high heels with their own high shoes underneath. 

Call me crazy but I do not feel empowered by any of this - if it were just theatre I love it. Translating to the main street - disaster. 

When am I going to feel embraced as a woman by fashion rather than feeling like I should be binding my feet and kowtowing.
 Is this progress ?

Monday, March 9, 2009

Strangeness



Lyn Balzer and Tony Perkins our Editors at Large here at KAREN are putting on a very special show in melbourne this week. 

Famed for their high art nudes, Lyn and Tony are on the eve of another exciting exhibit. Their partnership has a unique strength in this arena, with hundred of nudes captured together. 
The high contrast tones that transmute the incredible illuminated creamy skin and unexpected beauty in the voyeuristic intimacy with the body forming a sculptural masterpiece. With their incredible love for the Australian vivid Blue skies and raw landscapes contrasting the fragility of skin.  

The Exhibition is part of the L'OrĂ©al Melbourne Fashion Festival combining work by fashion designer Konstantina Mittas. 

STRANGENESS by Lyn and Tony 
opens March 12th till March 28th at the Helen Gory Galerie 
25 St Edmonds rd, Prahran VIC gallery@helengory.com 

If you like us you will like them x they are amazing.




Saturday, March 7, 2009

a sneak peek at the new issue of KAREN



 couture couture by GL WOOD 


Tin City By Sonny


Spell Bound By Michele Aboud


Raven By Richard Freeman

                                                Animalia by Sarra Fluer Abou-el-haj


The New issue is now out in NZ and sailing around the globe to reach you in the next couple of weeks. Here is a little teaser if you have yet to pick one up. We love it. 
Nothing fainthearted in this "you are beautiful" Issue. 
I hope you enjoy a little peak and you enjoy the whole magazine when it gets to you. 

We are planning the next one already with an amazing swim story shot at Swim Fashion Week already. 
love to hear your thoughts 
xxx marian