Fash Mob »

• To sleeve or not to sleeve – on tattoos and high fashion

  March 27, 2012 @ 4:00 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  

  Here’s Katie Fogarty, in a Blackbook editorial shot by Jason Kim, via Fashion Gone Rogue. I love the unexpected juxtaposition of high fashion and the full sleeves of tattoos, although it does beg the question: have tattoos transcended the mainstream and become more mainstream than those that we consider so? As in, are tattoos more accessible and acceptable to general society than €2,000 frocks are €4,000 bags?

  Emma and I had a discussion about tattoos one day, and she made the point that tattoos were originally designed to make a statement against the establishment, against the culture of consumerism and commodification, against globalisation and the homogenisation of style and opinion – and that now, when teenagers are having tattoos of the Playboy bunny emblazoned on their bottoms, well, who’s subverting who? Are tattoos now merely a way to fit in?

  If a fashion magazine sees fit to paint tattoos on its model before adorning her in the latest couture and designer jewellery, what is the statement being made, if there is one?

• Photo diary – Lyon

  January 30, 2012 @ 7:30 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  Last year, I went to Lyon with my Mum and aunt for a weekend. It seems like approximately 10 years ago now, but as I only just got around to taking the photographs off my card, here’s a photo diary / visual vomit for your Monday morning. Enjoy!

  

  Lace making at the market in Lyon – check out this glam granny’s nails! So amazing.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

• Oh my Lindsay – Lohan’s Playboy issue sells out

  December 19, 2011 @ 4:30 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  So Lindsay Lohan’s Playboy edition has sold out – and with, in my opinion, good reason. I think Lohan looks stunning in the magazine of which, I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan, although my granny used to say its articles were brilliant – did you know Hunter S Thompson was published in Playboy?

  

  I might go out today and see if I can buy the issue, if nothing else, I think the picture spread (understandably NSFW) is quite beautiful, and in a weird way, Lindsay Lohan has always really kind of … affected me, for want of a better term. I think it’s because we’re the same age and I feel very sorry for her, having made mistake after mistake in such a humiliating, public way.

  In other news, 2010′s Playmate of the Year whose name I don’t care to recall has cattily remarked, upon seeing Lilo’s Playboy spread, “I just think, if I knew I was doing Playboy, I maybe would have worked out”. Miaow! And also patently ridiculous, because Lindsay’s body (airbrushing rumours aside) looks amazing.

• And, in a break from regular programming . . .

  November 14, 2011 @ 3:30 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  Yesterday I did a bit of a search for Irish fashion websites as I was trying to put something together for this Wednesday’s paper – the column is going to be a cracker, I’ll tell you now, and I ain’t even talking about Christmas – and I turned up Irish Design Shop, a website, well, selling Irish designs.

  It’s a really slick site and some of the products for sale there are, frankly, brilliant. I don’t even like craft, as a rule; I object to things that look “home-made” and even more to things that are home-made, as gifted by people who just can’t be bothered thinking about what one might actually like. I appreciate that may not be a very popular point of view. (Feel free to disagree in the comments!)

  One of the items for sale on Irish Design Shop is this map of Dublin by Alljoy, a design company based in the city centre.

  

  It’s a laser-cut paper print of Dublin city, with all of its trademark landmarks in tow – can you see the Molly Malone? Trinity College? The DART? I love it. I think it’s just such a sweet idea, really well executed and a really beautiful print that anyone should be thrilled to put on their wall. Top marks. I’ll have one for each room, thanks. At €48 each, that’ll give change of €200 . . .

• Things I’m loving . . .

  October 3, 2011 @ 10:30 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  So I know, I know, I’ve been out of commission. Seriously so much going on at the moment, lots of which I will share with you this week so you can partake of the thrills and spills of my fashion rollercoaster (yeah, right!) but for now it’s time for a new series: things I’m loving*!

  1. These skateboards via STOP IT RIGHT NOW. Seriously, have you seen anything more amazing? I showed them to a friend the other day and she says, “well, what are they? Skateboards?” And I say, “yes, they’re skateboards”. And she looks momentarily baffled, before: “Do you even skate?” So I say, or, really, shout: “NO! But they are CELINE skateboards! CELINE!” She still didn’t get it.

  

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• Socks, snakeskin and, oh yeah, adult women who look like dolls

  August 3, 2011 @ 1:30 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  

  I know, I’m sure you could have lived without seeing that video, for Prada by Steven Meisel, but isn’t your life that much fuller for having seen it? No? Oh.

• Limited edition UK stamps for the 2012 Olympics

  July 26, 2011 @ 10:30 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  Okay, so I know this isn’t fashion-related, per se, but I couldn’t resist posting these stamps – for London 2012. I love the 1980s vibe of the illustrations; they remind me of the Enid Blyton books that kept me company in those very odd years between childhood and adolescence.

  

  See the rest after the jump!

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• Lindsay Lohan, Mary-Kate and Ashley, Miu Miu – and Elle

  June 15, 2011 @ 10:30 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  So US Elle magazine has a tumblr! This makes me ridiculously happy and was an immediate addition to my Google Reader (which, granted, is fast getting out of control). Anyway on its tumblr it has a lot of street style shots, seemingly papped in or around the Elle offices, as well as celebrity fashion shots, fashion show picks and random new items . . . as well as this video of Lindsay Lohan, shot by Richard Phillips.

  

  Kind of mesmerising, isn’t it? I’ve watched it approximately four times now and it shows no signs of getting boring, despite the fact that nothing happens. LiLo also reminds me, eerily, of Marilyn Monroe in parts, then of Brigitte Bardot, then Megan Fox . . . she’s surprisingly versatile. (Did anyone read the issue of Vanity Fair where in their opening survey part, where they quiz Americans about what they think about various topics, most Americans believed LiLo would die before Keith Woods?)

  

  Another pick on Elle‘s tumblr is this shot of Mary-Kate and Ashley at the CFDA awards earlier this month. I love that they’re wearing matching bags – it reminds me of the early days of the Olsen twins, when their “twinness” was what made them adorable.

  

  Lastly, these Miu Miu shades are going to be big news for autumn (or Fall, as the Elle folks call it). I’d better start buying up all of Dublin’s glitter supplies now, for my DIY version (seeing as, let’s face it, I probably shan’t be buying the real deals).

• Tracey Emin at the BAFTAs

  May 23, 2011 @ 9:50 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  I’ve always had a tough time warming to Tracey Emin. I think it’s because a lot of her work has been so, for want of a better term, anti-feminine. Because she’s been tough, rather than girly; hard, rather than soft. She’s always seemed to me to be the kind of woman who’d be low on sympathy, and high on self-analysis. And maybe that’s right – but then I read Lynn Barber’s interview with her in the Sunday Times magazine of May 8th, and I changed my mind.

  “The truth is, I just don’t want to get hurt any more. Living without affection is very hard but it’s far better than feeling hurt and demoralised and losing faith.”

  That’s Emin, on love and relationships and living – and working – alone. And my own hard exterior melted just a little bit.

  

  And here she is at the BAFTAs, looking really quite lovely. (Do you think our collective problem accepting Emin as a woman – because heaven knows she’s not described in the same glowing terms as other female names – is that she’s not beautiful in a mainstream way? There’s something a little bit Frida Kahlo about her, and I just don’t think that’s how we like our women, even now, today, in an era of enlightenment and acceptance.)

  PS Sorry I stayed away so long. I have giveaways over the next few days as some kind of consolation, and I’ll also be thrilling you 24/7 with celebrity fashion (as above!), new high street looks and pithy swipes at male GAA stars, if you’re lucky.

• It’s a passion – an emotion . . . Burlesque

  December 14, 2010 @ 3:26 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  Recently a friend told me he was going on a date with a burlesque dancer. “You know,” says I (very judgily, I’ll admit), “that’s just a posh word for ‘stripper’?” He took a moment, and then responded with: “Well, she keeps her nipple pasties on.” Quite.

  

  I am, however, open to the idea that Burlesque, starring Christina Aguilera and CHER, may entirely change my mind on this point. In fact, I would welcome the idea as it looks even better than Showgirls – and, furthermore, the costume sketches look amazing.

  

  

  

  

  What do you think? Are you dying to see Burlesque, or would you rather die first? (If you haven’t seen Coyote Ugly, then watch that first – and be prepared to emerge from Burlesque wishing you could go to LA and become a dancer in a seedy club.)

  Images courtesy of Sony

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