Loving: Royal shoots that leave me feeling flushed.

This November, you can pick up two different Vogues with royalty-themed shoots. Vogue Australia features a spread on Cara Delvingne, or Queen Cara, by Benny Horne. The idea of her sudden enthronement in the last few years as fashion royalty is taken in a literal direction but a wonderful one. Dolce kind of made us all go crazy for dressing like princesses again and I have to admit at my child-like giddiness. I love, love, love these shoots! The editorial in Vogue Japan is, understandably more haute, more experimental and so eerily beautiful with Nadja Bender being photographed by Camilla Akrans looking like a bored and listless princess. Each shot is like a work of art. And those interiors? DANG. Perv at the shots below.

My excitement for the new KARA album is in Full Bloom!

I'm majorly excited for the sound and look of KARA's upcoming album "Full Bloom". So much amazingness in one preview! I mean, the androgynous suiting? DYING. And the Dolce (actually Dolce or no? I can't find any info online!) looks? Perfect. The contrast between friggin' princess attire and white dresses and sharp suits makes for an interesting look for the album. The wardrobe and its more cohesive nature seem to match the snippets of the sounds we've been getting. KARA have always been great but these songs seem to up the ante. It's all very sharp, put together and on point.

Girls, you're looking and sounding hot.

Also: can you say SPARKLY?

And a song from the album!

July Photo Diary.

Try this on for size - Men's Summer Sale Picks.

Sale Picks - Men - s/s 2013 by fitzpac featuring t-shirts

T shirt, €5,81 / Pants, €23 / ASOS Leather Biker Jacket, €105 / Villain Stripe Jumper, €70 / Spy Jeans Slim Fit, €52 / Analog Jeans Creeper Skinny Fit Clear Wheel Wash, €53 / TOPMAN Multi Heritage Blazer, €47 / Levi’s Levis Jeans 504 Regular Straight Inked, €67 / Amh20 Waterproof Zip Jacket, €58 / ASOS Slim Jean With Authentic Wash., €21

I did a lot of time-consuming creeping on Mr Porter, Asos, Topman, River Island, Cos and Urban Outfitters so you didn't have to. Here's the best of the best bargains online at the moment for the boys.

(Woop - alliteration.)

Men's Summer Sale Buys by fitzpac featuring cardigans

Cardigan / River Island Red check peacoat, €58 / River Island Navy slim chinos, €23 / TOPMAN Washed Black Oversized Hoody, €12 / TOPMAN Blue Chambray Dip Dye Long Sleeve Shirt, €12 / Dolce & Gabbana Fine-Stripe Cotton Shorts, €120

Summer Men's Sale Picks - Accessories by fitzpac on Polyvore

Herschel Survey Backpack, €44 / TOPMAN Blue Textured Stripe Beanie, €3,49 / TOPMAN Brown Moc Alligator Skin Document Case, €27 / Case Scenario Keith Haring Macbook Pro 15" Case, €12 / TOPMAN Black And White Stars And Stripes Beanie, €4,65 / New Balance 420 Sneakers, €49 / River Island Grey suede lace up brogues, €35 / River Island Grey canvas minimal lace up shoes, €23 / ASOS Chelsea Boots With Leather Sole, €43 / Lacoste Live Round Sunglasses, €58 / Cheap Monday Pschometry Wayfarer Sunglasses, €16 / Calvin Klein Jeans Wayfarer Sunglasses, €47 / Golden Child iPhone 4 Case, €5,81

Sale Picks Summer 2013 - Men by fitzpac on Polyvore

TOPMAN Tan Leather Backpack, €58 / TOPMAN Indigo Textured Stripe Beanie, €3,49 / Lacoste Live Round Sunglasses, €58 / Vans Skatey Wallet, €13 / River Island Hi-Top Sneakers, €28 / ASOS Slip On Sneakers With Paisley Print, €16 / Dune Metal Detail Shoes, €76 / ASOS Sandals With Cross Over Straps, €23 / ASOS Shoes in Suede, €35 / Ben Sherman Leather Belt, €17 / River Island Black silicon minimal watch, €14

Sale Picks for Men 2013 - Summer by fitzpac on Polyvore

TOPMAN White Denim Pocket Oversized Long Sleeve Oxford Shirt, €17 / Iro Smart Overcoat, €295 / TOPMAN Burgundy Textured Long Sleeve Smart Shirt, €17 / Art Disco Burgundy Sweatshirt, €35 / River Island Black and white number print sweatshirt, €17 / Rock & Revival Skinny Jeans, €39 / ASOS Chelsea Boots With Leather Sole, €43

Some of my favourite fashion gifs.

Because pictures are clearly no longer enough....I kid. But when they move it can be pretty fun and pretty pretty. - Say that ten times fast.

(First three gifs - tumblr - final image vogue.com.au)

Dolce and Gabbana play with crowns and medieval art.

Considering the recent announcement of Pope Benedict XVI's decision to retire from his papal office, the Vatican has been in the limelight of late. Dolce and Gabbana's recent collection combines the ritual of religious practice and religious art upon the catwalk. The parallels between the theatrics of religious ceremonies and runway shows are apparent and one can draw comparisons to modern consumer culture and our idolising of labels, celebrities and objects. The fashion house imbued their garments with motifs from mosaics in Monreale. The twelfth century mosaics in Monreale Cathedral are particularly striking examples of colourful Arabic, Norman and Byzantine influenced Italian medieval art. (Not to be a know-it-all, but it's not baroque - that didn't come for five more centuries.) I tried to match more of the prints to specific episodes from the scheme. This turned out to be unbelievably difficult and so I only have two examples.

This dress:

features the figure in the architectural setting on the left, who is part of the scene of Jacob being blessed by Isaac and comes from the nave of the cathedral.

And this charming man

is King William II, the patron of the cathedral, presenting a model of the building to the Virgin to whom it is dedicated.  

The colours, too, draw religious parallels - reds, blacks and whites. We imagine the luxury of the cardinals and pope in reds and jewels and nuns and priests in more stern blacks and whites.  

Pomp, ceremony, luxurious prints and crowns - what more could you ask for?

There are many more beautiful pieces that deserve attention but I didn't want to go on and on. See the whole collection here. 

(All images of the collection are from vogue.co.uk and the images of the mosaics are from wga.hu)

Dolce and Gabbana S/S 2013 - Campaign Shots

Exciting! I'm loving the direction Dolce & Gabbana has taken in the last few seasons - the brocade and embroidery, lace, florals, big jewellery, plaited buns. These shots make me want to go back to Italy right away and to skip straight to my summer wardrobe. Really feeling the palette and the stripes!

Puppy Love for the Hairband.

We loved them as (little) girls (I'm hardly a woman yet, am I?) and now the likes of Dolce and Gabbana are making them crush-worthy again. I guess if you encrust anything in the right amount of sparkle-pretty-shiny, anyone will love it...But, yeah, I think it's the level of elegance brought to these particular headpieces - not quite hat, not quite hairband, not quite tiara. Enough like a crown to feel a little like you're playing dress-up, while still being dolce.

Oh, I'm so funny.

RCFA

Redken

Grazia Magazine

My Amsterdam Look

I'm doing a module in Northern Painting this year and I also had a reader suggest I enter an awesome easyJet competition asking bloggers to come up with looks inspired by Amsterdam so I thought "Why not?". I said I'd give it a stab and label it "study".

When I think of Amsterdam (despite never having been there), I am dually inspired by both the old and new.

The old (the buildings, the Vermeers and Rembrandts which immediately come to mind) is opulent but restrained, pious but sensuous and with an eye for detail and so it was a great opportunity to use the abundance of Baroque-inspired clothes in stores at the moment to put an outfit together. The result is a decadent outfit composed of a gold and red palette, velvet, jewels and pearls - perfect for randomly looking way over-dressed! (PS As an art historian I know how problematic the term "baroque" actually is and that the works below don't even really fall under this title at all so I'm using it in a very vague, fashion-trend specific sense here!)

1. Dolce and Gabbana 2.Alexander McQueen 3. Topshop 4. Dolce and Gabbana

The new inspired the day looks. The street style of Amsterdam is majorly inspiring - so urban, so contemporary, so easy, so cool. It's an aesthetic I love; simple, rad clothes that are easy to wear and have clean lines. And it inspired the below; two chic outfits for ambling round the city like an It Girl.

1. Zara 2. Jil Sander 3. Zara 4. Topshop 5. JW Anderson 6. Jil Sander 7. Isabel Marant

But, yeah, it was mostly just fun to put outfits I can't afford together. Oh, and to creep on street style...I mean "study". It was fun to "study".