Kingdom Of Style

Greetings Earth Beings

I am Zoltar from the planet Hogg on Galaxy 9. We have infultrated your planet because our resources of Carbon Monoxide needed to run our planet have dramatically depleted and your planet has an excess of this gas. We mean you no harm but we will wage war if you stand in our way. We are real mean. I am personally a high commander in HoggCon 1 and a bad mamma jamma. I have killed people you know. Our leader and planet founder is a wise and strong female called Pam Hogg - she is one million, three hundred years old. She made us wear some bad ass uniforms to strike fear into the hearts of all other Beings in all other Galaxies.

They are really cool and you will feel inferior in your own lowly togs. Earth Being Joan Burnstein, our Earth contact and guide, is making sure she keeps us stocked up in uniforms and Browns is our Earth clothing station. Don't be tempted to try and disguise yourselves as Hoggites because your woeful lack of any magic powers will immediately alert us to you and we will take immediate action. We will take your pathetic Earth asses doooowwwwnnnn. Oh yeah.

Zoltar from Planet Hogg

Go East

There are many places in world I'd visit if the travel bug ever bit me. I'd like to visit cities and towns with a strong medieval history like Romania. I'd also head for Russia and Ukraine as I imagine these places to be so rich in history, art and culture that I couldn't fail to be inspired.

In recent times we've seen some superb fashion come out of all those places with great designers, such as Vika Gazinskaya, and honest to goodness streetstyle.

I was pretty thrilled to find the work of Ukrainian designer Olesia Makhonko and her label Molessa. She set up her own label last season after gaining experience from several designers including Alexander McQueen. The bold, graphic shapes are influenced by her love of Russian Constructivism, one of my favourite art movements, which was why I was immediately drawn to her work.

Olesia says of her work:

"Creating my garments is a very intimate process for me. I can compare it with making a sculpture. I have 100% control over how the idea for the translates from sketch to the finished piece. I am very much a hands on designer and love to work with fabrics and create shapes. My designs are very clean, geometric and architectural. I admire the work of great masters such as Balenciaga and Vionette, and admire their creativity when approaching shape and structure. It is very important to me when I'm creating my collection to maintain a creative concept whilst keeping my clothes very wearable and comfortable."

I haven't seen red worked in a way I truly love for a long while but the red dress with the PVC bust detail looks deliciously futuristic and bold. It wipes clean any naff connotations with the colour. I'm sure Chris DeBurgh's lady wasn't wearing this little number when he coined the song!

Queen Michelle

Wear Christmas All Year Round

Sometimes you'll find someone who does something that leaves you saying to yourself "why didn't I think of that?". With my love of oversized neckpieces you'd have thought I'd be all over wearing christmas tree baubles round my neck like this young fellow spotted on Facehunter. Genius! The options are unlimited. Especially as many tree decorations aren't particularly Christmassy. I imagine weaving lots of obscure looking little baubles into some kind of multi strand necklace.

Queen Marie and I do like to go to BHS and Asda to procure our baubles as both stores have a great selection of interesting shapes and colours. We also head to Accessorize for more expensive but real cute little decorations. Thank you random young man for the inspiration!

Queen Michelle

Halloween Thoughts

Oh how I used to adore Halloween when I was little. Unsurprisingly I always wanted to dress as a witch. It never occurred to me to be a princess or a fairy, I was all about the pointy hat (the best bit), black rags and broom sticks. It could have come from an obsession I had when I was really little with Meg & Mog books. At primary school when it was time to read at the library I would head straight to those books every single time. A couple of weeks ago when I was in town I spotted a Meg & Mog book in Waterstones and almost bought it. So I think being a witch is quite natural for me.

Unfortunately I never got the chance to go to a fancy dress party as an adult, although Lady Maxine and I did once go to the pub dressed up one Halloween. We went as Heaven and Hell. I was actually Heaven. Alas I'd drank a bottle of white wine before hand then proceeded to guzzle several large vodkas in a very short space of time and was home within 2 hours feeling more like hell. That was the end of that. I haven't had the chance to get dressed up since.

Lady Coveted has written a great series of articles about getting ready for Halloween using clothes already in her wardrobe (she's looking particularly hot as a 60's housewife). A great idea, especially since she is currently in a similar jobless situation as me so getting dressed up is better when it's free. I reckon I could easily do a witch from what I have in my closet. I might even dress up at just sit at home! Tragic but fun at the same time.

If I were to dress as a witch this time I'd ditch the black bin liner and wear something much more refined (the Queen Mum hadn't created anything for me that year so I ended up wearing a bin liner as a dress. She simpIy cut 2 armholes and popped my head through the top and Voila! before your very eyes I was transformed into...kid in a bin liner! ).

However, if i did it now I'd ditch the bag. I reckon I'd be a most chic witch if I could procure this Reem dress from Koh Samui.

Going onto that site just kills me. They have a 20% Halloween sale on til Saturday which makes looking even more painful. On the plus side I reckon I could DIY something similar to this dress with straggly ruffles and different types of lace panels all hanging quite loosely. It'd be like lace patchwork.

In the meantime though I might have a riffle through my own closet and see what I could wear if I were to be so sad as to sit in the house drinking tea dressed up...

Queen Michelle

Good Christian

Christian Wijnants is a name which has been floating around for a wee while now.

This Antwerp based designer won the Grand Prix at the Hyères Festival and was also a finalist in 2007 at the Mango Fashion Awards. After Hyeres he was snapped up by shops like Colette. He'd also, unsurprisingly, done a stint at Dries Van Noten who is clearly a huge influence for him.

He has had his own label since 2003 and presents during Paris Fashion Week. He hasn't got his SS09 collection up on the site yet so I don't know what it's like but the AW08 really appealed to me on many levels. I actually love print and colour but I am really picky about it as it has to quite specific and I can safely say he gets it bang on for me.

The colours are exceptionally rich and the prints quite painterly and understated as opposed to harsh or garish, and whilst it's folksy in places it doesn't take it to costume levels.

Queen Michelle

Devastating Devastee

I am really loving Devastee's latest collection, oddly entitled 'Happiness is in the Dark and at a Darker Beach'. I often wonder where the macabre fits into what they do and why they are so intrigued by all things dark. Calling a collection Embalming Party is pretty genius though.

This monochromatic collection seems very resort-ish in appearance to me, with stripes, loose silhouettes and light-as-air fabrics, that would be quite at home on a yacht in St Tropez.

I really like how simple and clean it all is. It seems to have no pretensions about being anything else - just good old Parisienne chic.

Queen Michelle

Aldo Hearts Margiela

I never thought Aldo would be inspired by Martin Margiela but when I popped into the shop this morning I saw a pair of boots that are indeed inspired by the label.

I saw the real deal in Selfridges in London when I was there in September, but at over £500 they sure weren't cheap. I had been hoping someone would do a good version of them...and Aldo have come up trumps. The downside is I had to get them. Doh!

They are surprisingly architectural with a half-wedge, nice pointed toe and made of lovely soft suede. They are also a good height for stomping around town.

I may have been very naughty buying them but it could have been worse - I could have bought the real thing!

Queen Michelle

Elastic Cage Dress

At the weekend I used all my elastic and created my own version of the delectable Brian Lichtenberg bandage dress. I used the way I created my leg cages to make this dress, although I did have to add extra vertical straps up the sides and the back to keep the horizontal straps in place. I didn't make it super tight so I could fit clothes underneath it.

 

I will perhaps try this with fabric straps instead of elastic so I can do it in another colour - providing I have the patience to create another one! I will also have to add shoulder straps as it kept falling down because I made it reasonably loose. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the end result. It may not be as nice as Brian's but for now it will do me.

Queen Michelle

It's Nice To Be Nice

I just want to take a moment to clarify how we deal with insulting or overly rude comments, since I had someone called Kath making comments that were insulting to both me and the readers of this blog. If people do want to insult me then they best be prepared to get the sharp end of my tongue - I don't suffer fools gladly, but when it comes to insulting readers who have done nothing wrong then I must intervene.

We run a happy ship here at KOS, even Queen Marie's rants are all done in humour, and mostly people get the tone of the posts and enter into the spirit. Sometimes we do have heated discussions in the comment space, but usually people are respectful of each other and that is exceptionally important to us. If you feel you have read something which offends you then please take the time to read the comments because if no-one else is getting the same vibe from the post as you then perhaps it's worth considering whether or not you have misunderstood the tone. The chances are you have as we are rarely out to insult anyone.

I am unsure about why Kath was offended about my Job Shop Style post except to say she seemed unhappy that I wore designer clothing, so for me Kath was just being deliberately rude and trying to provoke a response which is unhealthy and I will not tolerate it. Make no mistake, people like Kath will be banned from commenting. As I said, I don't mind people trying to insult me but angling remarks to the other readers, who have not said anything at all offensive, will simply result in an immediate ban, which is what has happened in this case.

This is our blog and we could come on here and moan endlessly about how shit our lives are but instead we try and be positive and look at the funny, ridiculous, fun side of life, even if that means standing in the dole queue dressed up like an idiot.

I feel sorry that I have to remind people to be nice. But there will always be the Kaths of the world who need reminding. I have said this many, many times - we are very lucky to have great readers who seem to completely understand myself and Queen Marie and know we don't ever set out to offend. If you do ever feel like we have posted something so abhorrent to you then please take the time to consider if it's what we meant, and by all means question it but do so without resorting to rudeness.

Maje Pour Vous Et Moi

Maje, created by designer Judith Milgrom in 2000, is one those European labels I keep seeing in magazines, even UK ones, and wish I could get to see in real life.
 

I imagine it to be like a smaller version of Zara or Topshop selling slightly quirky basics as well as more trend led pieces. It isn't a really a chain store as such, even though there are over 70 stores across Europe, so I imagine the quality would be superior to Zara or Topshop and the price not too expensive.

French labels do have the whole understated thing down pat and pieces like these are ideal for wearing with more dramatic items as they aren't too basic, so any outfit with these as a foundation could be pretty interesting. Perhaps the shop will venture into the UK eventually so I can see it for myself.

Queen Michelle