Daniel Henney

The elegant Daniel Henney in China Vogue Men's.

Are You Happy?

Father and Son

Edison Chen and his father... so sweet right???

Lara!

Lara Stone stars in the amazingly consistent fall Calvin Klein campaigns (top to bottom): Calvin Klein Collection, cK Calvin Klein (yes, this is the correct way of expressing this line), Calvin Klein Jeans.

Prada Shopping Bag

In time for summer, the Prada B.Y.O (Bring YOur Own) bags are the label's bid to go green. These lightweight cotton (top) or nylon (bottom) shoppers are for you to use instead of collecting more plastic bags at the supermarket. The prints are vintage from Prada archives.The price of one B.Y.O Bag is SGD360. Would you pay this price for what amounts to a shopping bag even if it is Prada?

Menswear Spring 2011 Show Schedule

Here we go again!

The Milan Fashion Menswear Spring 2011 shows are scheduled for June 19 - June 22

June 19:
D&G, Costume National Homme, Calvin Klein Collection, Burberry Prorsum, Versace

June 20:
Bottega Veneta, Emporio Armani, Gianfranco Ferre, Salvatore Ferragamo, Vivienne Westwood, Giuliano Fujiwara, Moncler Gamme Bleu, Prada, Roberto Cavalli

June 21:
Ermenegildo Zegna, Z Zegna, Gucci, Etro, Canali, Neil Barrett, Pringle of Scotland

June 22:
Dsquared2, Dolce & Gabbana

Paris: June 23 - June 27

June 24: Viktor & Rolf Monsieur, Alexis Mabille, Issey Miyake, Louis Vuitton, Gaspard Yurkievich, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Dries Van Noten, Yohji Yamamoto, MR by Roland Mouret

June 25: Junya Watanabe, Yves Saint Laurent, Walter Van Beirendonck, Kris Van Assche, Comme des Garçons Homme Plus, Cerruti, Givenchy, John Galliano, Balmain

June 26: Kenzo, Dior Homme, Ann Demeulemeester, Hermès, Raf Simons, Bernhard Willhelm

June 27: Lanvin, Agnès B, Paul Smith, Dunhill, Thom Browne

Obsessed With Watercress

"Watercress pottage is a good remedy to cleanse the blood in the spring, and help headaches, and consume the gross humours winter has left behind: those that would live in health, may use it if they please; if they will not, I cannot help it. If any fancy not pottage, they may eat the herb as salad." - Nicholas Culpeper, The Compleat Herbal, 1653.Water Cress (Nasturtium Officinale) is a hardy annual that grows naturally in the soil on the banks of cool to cold streams and spring-fed ponds. It can be found all winter long in unfrozen, sheltered areas. You can eat the leaves and stems. They have a very peppery taste. Waterfowl eat it and fish like it also. The small floating leaves are rounded, dark green and waxy. The branching stems can spread out for 2'-3' over the surface. Slender roots hang down from the nodes of the stems. It is a very good oxygenator. It develops many small white flowers over the growing season. Plant in garden soil and put the pot by the edge of your pond with a couple of inches of water over the pot. It will quickly form a mass of foliage and can outgrow a small pot within two months. Watercress tolerates sun, shade or partial shade equally well. You can also start it from a freshly purchased bunch. Make sure you can see the fine white roots on some of the stalks. Push these into wet soil and soon you will have enough Water Cress for all of the salads and sandwiches you could possibly want.

He Said She Said

"The attributes of a great lady may still be found in the rule of the four S's: Sincerity, Simplicity, Sympathy, and Serenity."
- Emily Post

Weekend Reading List

I'd never taken a morning flight to London before and found out that the SQ 308 flight that leaves Singapore at 9am for London is probbaly the most civilised flight you can take, if you, like me, have a very rigid body clock and are prone to jetlag. It's more civilised than the red-eye for me because by the time those midnight flights actually take off, it's already three hours pass my normal bedtime. What with the feeding and fuss that goes on and on when you board a flight, I'm jet-lagged even before I start. And how people can eat a three-course meal plus cheese after midnight is rather beyond me, and reminds me of those Enid Blyton midnight picnics in my beloved childhood books.Yes, gentle reader, I consumed Enid Blyton books like a caterpillar consumes a jasmine bush - rapidly, remorselessly, thoroughly - not a leaf unchewed. By the way, those books are forever desecrated by Enid, the 2009 biopic I watched recently. Helena Bonham Carter, as Enid Blyton, is an unsympathetic, damaged, and hypocritical monster. The accent is wonderfully posh (who speaks like this anymore? Not anyone in London, let me tell you), but the character appalling, and makes one reappraise Ms Blyton's prodigious output in a negative light. All is not innocence and summer picnics and cute kids.
Back to the flight: It's 13 hours or so, and when you reach London, (it's bedtime for my body clock), just enough of a stretch for you to take a hot bath, order a meal, and then sleep for a very long time. And then it's the next day, and you can go about your trip as buoyant as a butterfly. Of course I stayed awake the entire flight (it is day for me after all!) and read the 1931 Agatha Christie book The Sittaford Mystery from cover to cover. It starts and ends with a seance - very thrilling. If I wasn't on a flight, I'd never be able to read uninterupted like this, and so I was very pleased. I hope no one is going to make a biopic of Dame Agatha Chrsitie and spoil her wonderful books for me, or else another great pleasure will be sullied.
Did you know that Gustav Klimt was also a fashion designer and photographer? I'm looking at a very interesting little book from Assouline titled Klimt & Fashion. It studies his portraits with emphasis on the clothes and frabrics, some of which were actual dresses and prints he designed with his mistress Emilie Floge, who managed an important couture house in Vienna in the 1910s. The photos of Ms Floge wearing those Werner Werkstatte clothes are inspiring.To recover from London, I'm reading the collected writings of Diana Mosley, The Pursuit of Laughter: Essays, Articles, Reviews & Diary of The Most Controversial Mitford Sister. Those Mitford girls are so very twee.

Sex On A Beach

Sean O on a beach...Allure Homme Sport ad by Bruce Weber with Andres Velencoso for Chanel, shot at Islamorada, Florida.

Mexico Elle Men

Simon Nessman in Mexico's Elle Men. Photographs by San Sierra and styling by Joseph Episcopo. Yes, Mexico.

Casting

Who would you pick? Who would I pick?
Francisco, 18, Colombia. Ave.Sasha, 23, Serbia, Ave.Kai, 27, LA, Upfront.

Chanel Cruise

Summer Hats

You need to wear a jaunty summer hat now (like on the young Victoria), like a panama (top) or a boater, to stave off the wrinkles.

He Said She Said

"Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself." - Henry Miller (1891 - 1980)

Poster Girl For Photoshop

Isn't Photoshop Day Cream amazing? Why bother with diet, exercise (you see, all that exercise hasn't done much for her has it?) and sun screen when all you need to do is religiously slather on Photoshop Day Cream, Night Cream, Serum, Sandblaster (the full range), Spraypaint, laminate, and look like Madonna: Embalmed, that is.

Out Of Africa

Director Sydney Pollack's iconic 1985 film, Out of Africa, is now 25 years old. I just watched it and found it still fresh, and splendid, and I'm left wondering when Hollywood ceased making films like this; It stands the test of time, and in its scope, seems almost European. The costumes (costume designer Milena Canonero) and sets (the late set decorator Josie MacAvin) are stunning, and the film is filled with beauty. For Pollack, the crux of the movie is about possessiveness, in terms of the romantic relationship between the lead characters Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton (Meryl Streep and Robert Redford) and of course the larger backdrop, European colonialism in Africa. So belongings - crystal, china, furniture - are strong compoments in the story. As Streep's character evolves and learns more about Kenya, African pieces make subtle appearences in her house and wardrobe.

Going Studdy

The (really) ubiquitous Birkin bag has come under a lot of abuse of late (...as of 2008? when the rest of the world actually caught on?). In the latest incident/eyesore, Lady Gaga got her other Birkin studded (the white one was doodled upon). Is this cruel and unusual punishment, or has she actually made them look cooler?
I think it's pretty cool, especially its rather sloppy amateurish application. Give?

Fall Finally

The Steven Meisel cover of Eva Herzigova reminds me of a Gustav Klimt, with the body contour obscured by the patterned background and the arm placement, and the graphic pattern of the dress... what do you think?