Satyenkumar Shirting AW09.

Of the nigh on ten shows I attended at last season's LFW menswear day, Satyenkumar proved itself the most enjoyable. Granted its success was in part due to my being placed in a row where I actually had a chance of deciphering what garment was what fabric etc., but it was undoubtedly because of the clothing too - a heady fusion of Swiss voile, tulle and a kaleidoscope of colour.

But the bright pastels of his SS10 collection wouldn't be my first port of call having embarked on wardrobe-enhancement since the AW09 shirts trump all else. From bib-detailing to sheerness to panels and numerous hues of blue, this is definitely the shirting range of the season.

^ Peachy beige shirts in net, and mercerized cotton.

^ Midnight blue digital peacock print shirt and bib-detail shirt.

Images from Oki-ni

Nushu proffers bargain boots.

As fabrics go, suede has always appeared staid and too-traditional for my taste. It reminded me of native-American/Indian costumes and trawls through vintage and thrift shops that sold tat and smelt off, wherein there'd almost invariably be a collection of ill-fitting, too-rich brown suede jackets whose only chance of leaving the shop-floor could only occur if stock was being given out for free.

But River Island, of all places, has altered my opinion. Despite the majority of their stock being of the arbitrary-number-covered tees and shirts striped-to-the-nth-degree variety, their range of footwear by Nushu rarely fails to impress. I mentioned I finally caved re: quest for the boots and the below-pictured pair in deep chocolate brown is what sealed the deal.

^ River Island/Nushu chocolate brown lace-ups

For €54 (sale price), these seemed the best available blend of chic and cheap. They'll ensure you swelter rather than shiver during Winter, give you a few inches more in height if you're that's what you're after and the resounding thud of each step makes you sound important, to boot (pun fully intended). It's probably the most impulsive purchase I've made but has strangely proved the most sensible since they've not left my feet for nigh on a week now. Here's how I wear them...

Navy trousers from Zara, grey socks from M&S (best socks for a fiver going, by the by)

Next on the AW list, a decent pair of desert boots...

The Full Circle: accessories to staple white tees.

Cardigans (well, those of the bulkier variety) really aren't all that practical. I contemplated using my BT2 gift voucher on that Junk de Luxe number but, in all likelihood, it wouldn't get worn that often since the Dexter Wong for Lens donkey jacket is sufficiently insulating and there's not a day goes by it's not worn. What I really need right now, surprisingly, are tees for extra warmth for the trek to college and prevention of over-heating mid-lecture.

Whether they're in tatters, discoloured due to an idiotic approach to washing or just ill-fitting, my t-shirts aren't fulfilling their role as wardrobe staple that sees you succeed with even the most random selection of clothing. I'm somewhat better off now, thanks to Full Circle's SS09 military model. I needed a good white tee. I love epaulettes. Hence...

^ Full Circle SS09 tee, bagged for the bargain price of €20 in Grafton St.'s BT2

All this FC-appreciation got me thinking about my chance rendezvous with Steve of Buckstyle during last season's London Fashion Week menswear day. Immaculately attired outside the Satyenkumar show, he was lauding the goody-bags at Lou Dalton which held the most exquisite black leather driving gloves, which Dalton (now accessory designer for the brand) had designed for Full Circle. Not only has she fashioned the aforementioned but the creative collab. has also yielded the below-pictured range of practical yet aesthetically pleasing bags...

^ Lou Dalton for Full Circle bags. On sale next season.

Feeling the left more than the right. Regardless, they both make for college-suitable baggage.

Images from Hypebeast and Coutie

Margiela- and MJ-inspired Horror Garb.

Spending more time studying the notion of the 'abject' and its application to the Horror genre of film, than researching possible Halloween outfits is no fun at all. Well, not exactly, we do get to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre as part of the case-study but it still means I'm currently costume-less.

Like unwavering self-confidence, blissful ignorance and pocket money, the ardour for Halloween costume-construction is something that many of us lose following that rude awakening - the transition from childhood to adolescence. I might take an avid interest in putting together what to wear during my daily life but when it comes to All Hallows' Eve I'm don't compare to gothic-obsessed childhood-self since I never fail to be stupidly busy at this time of year. This year, though, I'm at least attempting to conceive an idea, which has been partly inspired by American Apparel Dublin's Halloween Party theme (Zombies and Cheerleaders) and the Margiela so-covetable-it's-maddening gear Joe of 00o00 posted recently...

^ Martin Margiela AW08 nylon padded jacket.

From the AW08 collection, the jacket could perhaps make the perfect fusion of zombie/cheerleader in that it directly references the below-pictured as well as being an all 'round superb piece of outerwear artistry.

^ Stills from MJ's Thriller

Yes I know neither he (MJ), nor his gurl, are cheerleaders but it's got the whole teen-terror theme going on and he does become somewhat zombified by the end of the video so I reckon it's justified (plus Margiela's no longer designing at MM so it'd be in keeping with the 'dead' aspect...actually, no, that's stretching it too far...). But the making is in the combining the jacket with - I'm currently thinking - a white slashed tee or vest, some scuffed jeans and hi-tops perhaps?

Do note that this won't actually be my costume unless someone leaves me something of significant worth in their will between now and Thurs. What have you got planned for the sartorial screamfest?

Images from BryanBoy, The Daily Mail and Fake Hustle

Clarks Commemorates the Desert Boot.

Alleviating alcohol- and partying-induced aches is no mean task. However, I find the process of recovery is expedited somewhat when footwear- fetishizing is involved. After countless hours of traipsing around in search of THE boots, I eventually succumbed to dark brown suede. No they're not exactly what I'd envisaged but they're pretty damn fine all the same. No pics as of yet since I've returned to the homeland - sans entire - wardrobe for the weekend but a post is soon to follow...

What I do have though is a serious, and entirely unexpected, lust for Clarks. Once the prime purveyor of school-appropriate and irritatingly conservative footwear has pulled a bit of a Madonna and reinvented itself, all in the name of the desert boot. Invented by Nathan Clark in 1949, primarily for the off-duty soldier's use, the desert boot has proved itself both practical and aesthetically pleasing. I don't think it's looked quite as hot as it's seeming now, though, what with the launch of Clarks Originals 60th Anniversary collection. There's one for each decade, from the 50s Harris tweed to the 00s vintage sand suede. The 90s Britpop-inspired model has me contemplating beans-on-toast for a month if it'd mean i'd have a chance...


^ 00s Vintage sand suede



^ 90s Britpop/Union Jack calf suede



^ 80s acid-washed denim (advertised as 'for women'...personally, if I were a few sizes smaller, it'd not stop me...)



^ 70s Fringed deep purple suede



^ 60s Liberty print



^ 50 Harris tweed

Note: Just for the filmic fun, I recommend watching Tom Tykwer's 'Run Lola Run'/'Lola Rennt'. Can't recall what footwear she sports while sprinting through the streets of post-unification Berlin but, regardless, for formal experimentalism, video game logic and questions of chaos theory it's just what the doctor ordered.

Images from Hypebeast

Anthony Burrill x Offset: Making It All Free.

So thoughts on the exploitation of ethnicity and the excess of Carmen Miranda's cornucopia hats have all been spewed (see previous post if this entirely unintelligible...) and I've snatched a few moments for post-essay blogging (and excuse the brevity, got a presentation on the influence of Brecht on the horizon...).

UK creative Anthony Burrill has designed a range of tees as part of the upcoming and v. exciting Offset. Due to take place in this fair city in early November, Offset is a festival for all things creative which culminates in a 3-day long conference on, you guessed it, all things creative. I'd rave further but time's severly limited so head ye to their bold and bright site for more info if you're fond of the idea.

^ Anthony Burrill and his exhibition, "In a New Place"



^ The Burrill x Offset tee (which unfortunately isn't actually free, €30 isn't exactly extortion though!). Grab it from 26th Oct to 9th Nov at BT2 Grafton St.

I've never been one for all-up-in-your-grill giant slogan tees but the Burrill number is winning me over, chiefly due to the fact that the message couldn't resound with me more. Much of the work I feature on this blog is designer-branded and often firmly placed at the higher-end of the retail market. The sad truth, dear reader, is that I can't afford most of it so I tend to just fawn over it profusely. So let's please all make it all free!

Cardigan Craving: Junk de Luxe.

Due to my more than short attention span, I tend to alter my focus from certain brands to others each season, which means few ever seem worthy of investing in each time 'round. Junk de Luxe is the one high-end-of-high-street label that always manages to buck the trend. Granted the majority of their collection is, each season, composed of what I like to call "safe stock" (i.e. a profusion of conventional cuts rendered in grey and black), they always manage to secure my attention with one or two items that hold that bit more quirk-appeal than the remainder.

For AW09 I'm hankering after the below-pictured warped harlequin-esque print cardigan in, eh ironically, grey and black. But what it lacks regarding the chromatic it makes up for with geometrics or at least that's my logic. And it has pockets, which too few cardigans are in possession of. And I have a €50 gift voucher from the beautiful people at BT2 (who lavished breakfast pastries and said gift vouchers on us bloggers last Saturday) so more Junk will inevitably be added to the trunk, I reckon.

Image from BT2

Shake Appeal AW09.

This blog wasn't ever intended as a platform to fuse fashion and film but what with so much of what would have previously been blogging time now given over to film and its accompanying theories, everything's melding into one. And, I guess, that's no bad thing since there's always been considerable crossover between the two disciplines.

Currently, I should be penning an essay on exoticism in Latino and Latin American cinema (the exotic excess of Carmen Miranda anyone?) but I've gone the way of respite rather than research with the help of Shake Appeal's AW09 lookbook. I'm not feeling entirely guilty, though, since the whole affair has got something of the exotic 'Other' about it. Shot with what look to be tropical gardens and palace-esque structures as backgrounds, the lookbook caters both to the escapist and sartorialist.

Founded by London Instituto Marangoni-grad, Chanachai Ohpanayikool, this Bangkok-based label combines an easy casualness with elements which are guaranteed to simultaneously smarten- and toughen-up. The pairing of a breton tee with fairly civilian rolled-up khakis, might seem at first to lack anything of particular interest but its this nonchalance which appeals the most, I reckon, and anyway, with the addition of grey suede deck shoes, there's not much to criticise. Ohpanayikool gets dressier with a striped cowl-neck and some greed-inducing nylon outerwear. Granted, it's not the clothing equivalent of a major scientific breakthrough but it is wearable and then surely worthwhile...