SUBLIME STYLE; Sarah Assbring.

Oh woe, my much extended Christmas holidays will soon come to an unwelcome end.  The days of having endless time to throw away on detailed blog posts will soon cease to exist as Hilary Term kicks off at Trinity, and I actually have work to do..  But for now, I attempt to make the most of it. 

Sarah Assbring isn't a girl I would expect many people to have heard of, and this is precisely why I'm posting about her.  Since 2003, Assbring alone has made up 'El Perro Del Mar'- which translates directly as 'dog of the sea'- a "melancholic lo-fi indie pop" act from Gothenburg, Sweden.  Often placed incongruous to other buzz-bands of the day, I find that Assbring provides a completely different sound with her sweet, melancholic lyrics and consistently chilled-out vibe.  I first began to listen to El Perro Del Mar when I stumbled across the song "Change of Heart" as part of a free Urban Outfitters playlist.  I absolutely love this song, albeit my constant listening drives my boyfriend crazy..

Anyway, moving onwards to my point..  Not only does Assbring have a lovely voice, but she's got wicked personal style to boot.  I first realised this when I saw the cover of third album 'Love Is Not Pop' which features Assbring in a nautically striped boat-neck top, under a cute cropped leather jacket.  Her hair slicked back, I thought it was quite reminiscent of Twiggy, and I fell in love immediately.

Her short, choppy hair (which she somtimes wears with a full fringe) and kohl-rimmed eyes add an endearing quality to Assbring's overall appearance, and her quirky style sets her apart from other females in the music industry nowadays.

Rather like myself perhaps, Assbring seems to like to wear a lot of striped and checked patterns in high contrast black and white.  She has a clean-cut side to her style which is in stark contrast to the more vintage/thrown together look for which she sometimes opts.

I could find little to nothing about Assbring's fashionability when I searched online.  Plenty about her music, of course, but not a lot about her appearance, or her concert get-up.

Cute little blouses and light colours also seem to comprise a large chunk of Assbring's wardrobe.  These work perfectly with her wide-eyed, 'dear caught in the headlights vibe', and play up the innocent aura she seems to epitomise.  Perhaps she's been overlooked.  Perhaps people feel it's something that's been done before.  Who knows?

All in all, I think I've found myself a new style crush.  Simple, yet effective, Assbring's look definitely works for her, and seems to go hand-in-hand with the brooding, understated music of her alter-ego; 'El Perro Del Mar.'  Definitely check this one out- she's worth it.

 "Sweet talk for hours, 'bout things we're gonna do,

And sometimes I lose track of my heart, but this could never work out, oh.."

EDIE SEDGWICK; Youthquake.

Edie Sedgwick, as we all know, was an American socialite, actress, model who went on to inspire the likes of Andy Warhol and Bob Dylan.  Now, I suppose I'm being a little bit cliché by writing a style tribute to such an obvious source of inspiration, but with such an individual style as hers, Edie will remain a style icon forever.

The First "It Girl"

A girl of old money embracing the modern way of life, Edie was dubbed "the girl with the black tights" by Life Magazine in 1965; her style stood alone.  She would habitually don nothing more than a black leotard, opaque tights and a sweater, and was admired by men and women alike.  Cropped platinum blonde hair and heavily lined eyes gained Edie her signature look, and perhaps hid the insecurities of her childhood, her tragic family life, her battles with eating disorders, and her frequent drug abuse.

After studying art in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Edie dropped out and moved to New York, soon becoming a part of Andy Warhol's innermost circle of close friends.  Now living life in bohemian Manhattan, Edie quickly blew through her trust fund which she inherited when she turned 21 in 1964.  She was featured in many of Warhol's short films, for example "Vinyl", "Poor Little Rich Girl", "Beauty II" and "Ciao! Manhattan."  

Andy & Edie.

Following the end of her close association with Warhol, Edie moved into the Chelsea Hotel after accidentally burning her Manhattan apartment.  It was here that she became close to Bob Dylan, and it is speculated that this relationship quickly turned to infatuation on her part.  However, after Sedgwick discovered that Dylan had married, their relationship terminated.  By this stage, she had squandered her trust fund and began her downward spiral into the depths of drug and alcohol abuse, her life of glamour no longer apparent.

Though Edie seemed to have turned her life around by 1971, with her marriage to Michael Post, she was soon prescribed pain medication which once again caused a turn for the worse.  By November 16th, 1971, Edie Sedgwick was dead, at only 28 years old, leaving behind her a legacy which would influence generations to come.

My personal favourite- Edie Sedgwick by Andy Warhol.

EMULATING THE SEDGWICK STYLE;

I believe that Edie Sedgwick's style is quite attainable.  Leotards, boat necks, kohl.. These are all things that we have available to us very easily, it's just a matter of combining them.  Here are some ideas I've come up with, American Apparel was really quite useful in trying to imitate this look;

The leotard; Cotton Spandex Short Sleeve T-Shirt Leotard- American Apparel, €28

The tights; Opaque Pantyhose- American Apparel, €14.

The eyeliner; Eye Kohl- MAC.

The striped boat neck; Unisex Sailor Stripe Long Sleeve Pullover- American Apparel, €50.

The fur coat; Whistles Allegra Faux Fur Coat- ASOS, €506.39.

The earrings; Edie Sedgwick Shoulder Duster Earrings- Etsy, $65.

I couldn't really find any examples of a mini dress worth posting here, but definitely stay on the lookout for one of these as well!

EXAMS.

SISTER ACT; Peaches Geldof VS. Pixie Geldof.

Daughters of ex Boomtown Rats frontman and founder of Live Aid and Live 8 Bob Geldof, and the tragic Paula Yates, it's really not such a mystery why Peaches and Pixie Geldof are such a fashion icons. 

Both claiming not to follow trends, the girls like to think of themselves as trend setters as opposed to trend followers. But which of the sisters, I am asking, deserves to be crowned the true fashionista? Nothing like a bit of sibling rivalry, I say. Thus I bring you PEACHES VS. PIXIE; a style-off like no other.

PEACHES GELDOF;
Indie fashionista and socialite Peaches Geldof has always been a major style icon of mine, and I often emulate her timeless looks. Replicating the 'Peaches Geldof' look is relatively easy and her clothes are often attainable as they frequently come from high street favourites like Topshop, American Apparel and Urban Outfitters. Compared to younger sister Pixie, Peaches is often criticized for not taking risks when it comes to clothes. It occurred to me though, that this is a positive point; Peaches seems to know what works for her, and this is why she doesn't feel the need to appear in risqué ensembles. Her style is a pretty standard 'city chic', and she seems to alternate from brunette to blonde in seconds.
As an added bonus, Peaches has a posse of trendy friends ranging from Daisy Lowe to Alice Dellal, and pens articles for 'Nylon' magazine (one of my favourites), as well as joining friend Fifi Brown to fabricate DJ-ing duo "Trash Pussies".

VS. 

PIXIE GELDOF;
Though I would usually look to Peaches for style inspiration, it cannot be argued but that Pixie Geldof, like her sister, is a well established style icon and influences girls all over the globe. Even Peaches herself has said "Pixie will be the style icon". But will she? Perhaps unlike Peaches, everything that Pixie wears is chosen to be individual, and she wears primarily thirfted and vintage clothes, shunning the highstreet almost completely. Her quirky style can be quite effeminate, but is also heavily influenced by the rock 'n' roll side of things. 
Not to be left behind by Peaches, Pixie too hangs around with the 'cool crowd', for example fellow British It girl and model Agyness Dean, and designer Henry Holland. She also does her fair share of modelling, appearing on the cover of Tatler, 26 years after her mother had done so, and modelling for Luella in 2009.

ULTIMATUM;
So.. It seems to be neck and neck between the sisters. Which of them is more stylish in your opinion? Which of them would inspire you? And which of the two Geldof sisters would you wish to mirror? 

The Geldof sisters together, in all their glory.

The Perfect GOODY BAG; up for grabs on 'THINK WHAT YOU LIKE'

Good news everyone! I'd like to tell you all about an amazing giveaway over on an amazing blog.

Aisling Keenan, of 'Think What You Like' has put a gorgeous goody bag up for grabs- perfect for chasing away those January blues.  The coveted bag includes a YSL lip gloss, YSL solo eyeshadow, a set of Chanel badges, a MAC Tartan Tale Limited Edition Eyeshadow palette, 'Desire' by Louise Bagshawe and, as if it could get any better than this, a Galaxy bar to top it all off.


Now, although I really want to win this myself, I suggest you all go on over to 'Think What You Like' and enter, because it's as easy as liking the Facebook page, tweeting if you use Twitter, and commenting on the blogpost- you'd be mad not to enter!  The winner will be announced on January 17th, so good luck!

My Current FIXATIONS; musings of a Sunday afternoon.

American Apparel maxi skirts;
Some day I will own one.  Until then, I admire them from afar and ponder the question; "what are the perfect shoes to wear with these?"

Hummus;
Mmm, can't get enough of the M&S humus.  It is absolutely delicious.  I also recently tried the red pepper one- I'm hooked on the stuff!  It's great with pittas, crudités or on plain tortilla chips!  It's quite healthy too, though I believe it's got a relatively high fat content..

Burgundy;
Honestly, who cares if this is considered quite Wintery?  I intend to carry the hue all the way into Summer with me.  New favourite colour, hands down.  And here's a pretty nice vintage car to demonstrate!

Long, straightish and rather plain hair, and I don't mean "grunge" style rats tails, a la Taylor Momsen;
I'm fed up with my fringe, and I'm fed up with short and unruly strands of hair.
So I'm beginning 2011 by attempting to grow out my hair, completely.  It's gonna be a long road baby, but you'll be worth it.
(let's see how long I actually last before I start mourning the loss of my permanent fringe).
Here's Cory Kennedy with said hairstyle.

Collared shirts;
Pointed collars and Peter Pan collars alike, I am in love, and drawn to purchase absolutely every collared item of clothing I can get my hands on.  Well perhaps this is a slight exaggeration.  Every nice collared item of clothing I can get my hands on.  They're so cute, and rather austere, I believe.

Dark lips;
Ok, so I haven't actually tested this look out on myself yet (I'm waiting until I have a spare €20 lying around with which I can buy a nice new Mac lipstick).  But I absolutely love how it looks, from what I've seen lately. The other great thing about this look in my opinion, is that it seems to suit all colouring and skin tones alike. Love it, just like I love Daisy Lowe..

..and camel nails;
I searched for ages to find this colour nail varnish in Cork, seeing as I've been down here since December 20th, and am here until some day next week.  Alas, it was impossible to find!  I checked all my usual high street makeup haunts; Boots, Sam McCauley's.. Then moved on to the less reasonably priced Brown Thomas, but just simply could not locate a bottle of the stuff!  I suspected that American Apparel probably stocked it, but not having one in Cork, I couldn't check.  At long last, Topshop got a shade called 'Geography Teacher' into stock, and I wasted no time purchasing a bottle.

The King's Speech;
Absolutely amazing film with a star studded cast including Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, Michael Gambon.. One of the best I've seen in a while, five stars.

Lazy Days;
I'm still on my Christmas holidays- how generous of Trinity.  I have enjoyed masses of time lying around my house or friends houses watching Come Dine With Me (best show ever), keeping disgracefully late hours and doing absolutely nothing strenuous.  I'm certainly not looking forward to being jolted back to reality on the 17th.

Chai tea lattes;

They're such a warm and lovely combination of tea, spices and milk..  I had a really good one last weekend from Cork Coffee Roasters, the coffee shop I go to every time I get a chance because I adore the vibe in there and it's probably my favourite coffee shop ever.  I like the Starbucks one a lot too though, and it's a perfect Winter drink for me due to the fact that there's only about three types of hot chocolate that I enjoy.  And though I don't usually take sugar in my tea or coffee, chai tea lattes are perfectly complimented by honey.

Cork Coffee Roasters, Bridge St., Cork.

Welcome New Year, here's A PLAYLIST to get you off to a good start.

Unfortunately, the situation with my laptop has not yet been rectified!  For this reason, I'm quite slow to write a blog post.  But it's high time I did write one, I believe, so here goes, all the way to you from iPad notes is LAURA'S NEW YEAR 2011 PLAYLIST.  My music taste is a real mixture of new and old, and this will definitely be reflected in the compilation.  Prepare for a hearty helping of buzz bands, respectfully peppered with some oldies to maintain balance.

Anyway, enough of my mindless chatter, and time for the PLAYLIST to welcome the new year with some great tunes you may or may not have heard!

1. 10 Mile Stereo- Beach House.*

2. In The Flowers- Animal Collective.

3. Surprise Hotel- Fool's Gold.

4. Rebel Rebel- David Bowie.*
5. Air War- Crystal Castles.

6. King's Crossing- Elliott Smith.*

7. Always Wrong- Jaill.

8. Substance- Girls.
(let me recommend their newest EP- Broken Dreams Club.)

9. Wonderful Life- Hurts.

10. In Your Heart- A Place To Bury Strangers.

11. William Powers- Maccabees.

12. Chelsea Girls- Nico.

13. Hoppipolla- Sigur Ros.

14. Burgundy- Warpaint.

15. Galapogos- Smashing Pumpkins.*

16. Dear God I Hate Myself- Xiu Xiu.

17. Where Do My Bluebird Fly?- Tallest Man On Earth.

And I cannot come up with a more perfect way to leave you than with my namesake, my favourite and the most beautifully written artist I know,
18. Glamourous Glue- Morrissey.*

(the * refer to the songs which are some of my all-time favourites)