#1077 Australians do it better

Photo: Chronicles of the Fashion Cupboard

Just saw this photo on the aforementioned blog and had to repost. What a babe. Her name's Angela and she's an intern at ACP in Sydney. The hotness.

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#1076 I love Kanye West

"I feel bad that people believe this kind of stuff or any random rumor that is taken as fact because 'it's on the internet.' This rumor is particularly ironic because I was actually happy with a business class seat and was offered a seat in first class. A friend of mine was sitting in coach so asked if they could bump him up to business instead of putting me in first. There was absolutely no altercation in any way. There's been many a time where I've given someone in coach my business or first class seat in order to sit next to a friend I bumped into. I really could care less about where I sit on the plane. It's hard to deal with the rumors sometimes. As a good person with a warm heart, it does bother me. I'm not bigger than feeling pain, embarrassment, stress and worry. Have you ever been lied on??? How does it make you feel??? You wanna tell everybody it's not true right? Thank you to all my fans who still love and support me even though it's not the trend right now! I'm sleeping in the studio and I won't let you guys down!"

[Kanye's Blog - in response to a rumoured meltdown over being given a business class seat.]

Does anybody else feel bad for Kanye West? That guy gets such a hard time constantly. I'm so into him. He's talented, makes the most amazing music and he's so honest and uncompromising in his approach. People constantly call him arrogant and big headed, but he's just telling it like it is.

All I can go by is my own personal experience - hearing him speak at his pre-show press conference in Auckland in 2008. I found him to be incredibly intelligent, well-spoken and an all round insightful character.

On being quoted saying "Hip Hop is over":
"I didn't say that, that's a complete paraphrase. What does that mean? That statement, hip hop is over for me now... That quote is, like, so wrong, I never said that... It disturbs me that they paraphrase me and say 'Kanye said that hip hop is over', I would never say anything like that."

On his knowledge of New Zealand hip hop:
"I'm like completely just an ignorant like big artist and stuff and I admit to that. You know how artists all cool like they down and stuff, I'm just so not down!"

The price of fame.

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#1075 Someone snuck a camera into the ANTM judging panel

Photo: The Cut

Remember way back in December when America's Next Top Model was filming in New Zealand? Those were the days. Chasing celebrities, getting removed from restaurants by bodyguards, helping Jay Manuel pick up suitcases... And remember how it was so under wraps and nobody was allowed to take any pictures or reveal any information for fear of breaching the $USD5,000,000 confidentiality contract? Well somebody managed to get a camera into the judging panel and snap this photograph of Andre Leon Talley in custom-made Ralph Rucci - it showed up on Fashionista and The Cut today. It could well have been supplied by the producers (update: it was supplied by the producers), but either which way it's irrelevant. What is relevant is the giant Maori carving behind ALT. That thing is massive. Massive and kinda reminiscent of... Oh wait.

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#1074 Auckland Fashion Festival announced

Auckland's first ever Fashion Festival (the NZ Fashion Week organisers' one, not that other one) has just been officially announced, and I've got the details. It'll be a one day/night in-season (Autumn/Winter) show on Tuesday 16 March. 16 designers, including Adrian Hailwood, Cybele, Workshop, Huffer, Juliette Hogan, Kate Sylvester, Stolen Girlfriends Club, Trelise Cooper and Zambesi will show 10 looks each. Tickets are $45, and are limited to 700 guests. The event will also include the New Zealand Garage Sale, and live music mixed by George FM DJs. Being an in-season show, everything you see on the catwalk will be available for sale in stores at the time. The whole thing follows the newest trend in fashion - accessibility. Everyone's doing it; Burberry, Prada, Z Zegna and Dior Homme all live streamed their shows for the public to see at the menswear Fashion Weeks last month, and it's just the beginning. You can buy your Fashion Festival ticket online now from iTicket. And, yes, that's the logo above. Will you go?

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#1073 Backstage at Paul Smith

Yuri Pleskun - All photos: Steve Wood

"Alright boys, that was good, that was good, but some of you were looking a bit glum, a bit down beat. I want you to be full of energy, you're having fun, you're on your way out to a party. Let's do it!" I'm sitting backstage at Paul Smith, and the man himself has just finished his preshow pep talk. All the boys are cheering. In a corner of the room sits a 20-or-so-year-old English model named Jonny. He's being interviewed by an Italian fashion TV channel. As it ends, they tell him to say hello to the camera. "Who am I saying hello to?" he enquires. "Say hello to whoever you want," comes the reply. He looks straight down the barrel. "Hello to whoever I want!" Then, pausing, "Oh wait, let's do that again. That last bit made me sound like a proper wanker didn't it?" The boys cheer again. Click here for the whole story.

All the photos below, with Jethro Cave, Marcel Castenmiller, Ethan James, Ty Ogunkoya, Armando Cabral and Paul Smith.

Jethro Cave and ?

Ty Ogunkoya and ?

Ethan James, Marcel Castenmiller and Tomek S

?, Jonny, Stephane, ?

Jonny

Jethro Cave and Frey Mudd

?

Jonny, Paul Smith and Armando Cabral

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#1072 To market, to market we go

What: Plaything Gallery's monthly market.
When: 12-4pm, Saturday 13 February.
Where: Plaything Gallery, 21 Dacre Street, Newton
What (take two): Vintage clothing, cool crafts, art, second hand bric a brac, collectables, baked goodies, zines, comics, free drinks, barbeque. Under $100 stalls from MADE and Store Room and a sweet sale stall from Lonely Hearts.
Why: Because it's the perfect place to buy your babes a Valentines Day gift!

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#1071 Thirty nine dollars, sixty cents

All photos: Olly Rose.

I snatched two opportunities to go shopping while in Paris. The first, on the second-to-last day of Haute Couture in between shows, the second, on my last day before flying out. Three stores - Comme des Garcons (for the Comme Play Chucks), UNIQLO and The Gap. UNIQLO is my favourite of the chain stores. It's like the Japanese version of H&M but better - great basics, no unnecessary details, the best unbranded knitwear. I was after another cashmere sweater like the navy vee neck I bought in New York, but when I got there, all the cashmere was gone. What they did have, though, was a giant selection of heavy lambswool cardigans. And they were cheap. So, so cheap. €19.90. $NZD39.60 at today's exchange rate, but I'm pretty sure that while I was there it was more like $35.00. How anybody can make a profit on a fully knitted lambswool cardigan while selling it for less than forty NZD is beyond me. The mind boggles. I picked up the forest green melange version, it being the colour of the season and all. The shirt is +J (Jil Sander for UNIQLO). It was ten euro more expensive. The mind boggles.

More photos below.




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#1070 Bear with me

Photo: Dayne Johnston

I'm best man at my best good friend Sheida's wedding tomorrow so right now I'm running around the city like a crazy man trying to get everything organised. So please bear with me - I might not get a chance to post today. In the meantime, feel free to amuse yourself with my photo diary. There's a special looped photo on there too, but don't look at it too many times or it will drive you crazy. Until next time...

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#1069 Slash probably a case of mistaken identity

Photo: Mysteria

There have been no further sightings of Slash, and my source has no photographic evidence to back up the claim, so I'm going to go out on a wild limb and say that it was all most probably a case of mistaken identity. Perhaps my mate saw Angus Young of AC/DC and got his heavy metallers confused. It'd make sense - AC/DC is currently in Auckland and will be playing a show at Western Springs tonight. Let's hope he busts out that school uniform.

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#1068 Is Slash in the city?

Everybody's favourite top hatted axeman, Slash from Guns'n'Roses, is apparently in Auckland right now. According to a source, he was just seen walking down Auckland's Karangahape Road. The sighting would seem to conflict with Slash's own Twitter account, however, with one of his latest tweets saying, "Thurs the 4th I'll be performing w/Beth Hart at George Lopez' Help Haiti Benefit at the Nokia Theater." It's a little after three in the afternoon (the third) right now in Los Angeles, so if he caught a flight tonight NZ time, he could still make it back for the show. If anybody has any more sightings, please let me know - isaac@isaaclikes.com

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