Messenger of Orange Dreams -- Hermes SS09

I love Hermes boxes. There is something magical about those plain, tangerine-coloured boxes -- they open, and something colourful and luxurious and complex emerges. Orange is such an underrated colour. There are two scarves from the current Hermes season which incorporate shades of tangerine that I'm loving, and I can't decide which one I like best...

1. La Rosee -- this one is so striking unfolded! I love roses, the look and the smell and the taste. If you have never had anything rose-flavoured, you should try it (you can find rose syrup or nectar at a lot of specialty grocery stores). It's sweet and tart and delicate all at once.

2. Fantaisie Pittoresque -- this one is my current favourite. It reminds me of French toile fabric, and is available in Dutch blue as well (but I like it best in the orange and red).

Here it is folded in the blue variation:
People think of silk scarves as a bit matronly, but I disagree. Elegance isn't matronly. Over a pair of faded blue jeans and a white tank top, with big sunglasses and your hair pulled back, or knotted around the neck for a work-safe alternative to funky jewellery...

The Want List: Eccentricity

The want list: vol. 02 (4/27/09) by myoubi featuring J Crew cardigans

4 Things I am obsessing over:

1. Cupcake dress -- I actually own one cupcake dress already (courtesy of Betsey Johnson, mistress of cupcake-dom) but ruffles are addictive! The features of the cupcake dress are a slim bodice and cinched waist with a flared, ruffled, or otherwise voluminous and embellished skirt. There are some beautiful ones on ebay at the moment...

2. Leopard print bag -- I LOVE leopard print! I owned one glorious leopard-print satchel when I was fourteen, and literally wore it until it broke (irreparably, in three places). Now there are some on sale online that I am seriously coveting.

3. Caramel cardigan -- it's a good basic. Goes well with black (so, most of my wardrobe...) and travels to work and to conservative parties. Also can be used to tone down the effect of outre jewellery for meeting parents and other Very Important People.

4. Buckley belt -- have been on the lookout for a good huge, aggressive, buckley belt that fits for some time. Somehow none of them seem to look right on me...

Shoes of the Week: Lanvin

Loving the new Lanvin shoes! There are many-many that I love at the moment... these mary-jane booties (pictured in Anthracite) are neatly-designed and practical. I can see getting so much use out of these, and loving them every time. Plus that heel seems very well-balanced -- I don't know, the new chunky triangular heels look really nice but they are often set too far back for my foot. It's definitely a problem.

I couldn't resist posting these as well, though... on the Marie Antoinette end of things, here are two delightfully decadent pumps which I would love to own:

(excuse the sheisty image quality; images courtesy of Barneys.com) I particularly enjoy the strass detail on both heels. Put a little shimmer in your step.

The Want List: Temperate Tuesday

The Want List: vol. 1 (04/21/09) by myoubi featuring Catherine Malandrino tops

4 items I'm obsessed with lately:

1. Clown-collar blouses -- I couldn't find many good examples on Polyvore, but the grey Catherine Malandrino top shows it best: a simple, slim-fit blouse with a wide circular ruffle like on a clown's costume at the neck. I think they're wacky and delicate at the same time.

2. Winklepickers -- I am obsessed. I must have a pair of these super-pointy-toed men's boots. I am thinking black suede chelsea boots with a cuban heel and a long elegant toe...

3. Statement ring -- have been looking for a nice, large, shiny ring for a while. Any of these would suit my purposes: casual and dressy and unusual at once.

4. Striped blazer -- unfortunately I came to this one two years too late. All of the striped blazers now make one look like a comic book convict.

Shoe of the Week:

I'm not very adventurous when it comes to footwear: give me black and buckles and a stiletto heel and I'm over the moon. These Manolos are perfect. Unfortunately the heel on Manolos tends to be set slightly too far back for me, but we can dream...

Sirens: new Agent Provocateur Collection is out

actually it's been out for a while. It was so boring that I almost didn't want to write about it.

I was really impressed with the Witches collection -- it was fantastic -- and the Pirates collection also had some very nice pieces. The Virgins collection was a bit of a letdown, although the lovely expanded bridal collection (Brides of Odysseus) almost made up for it. But the new Sirens collection is not really very seductive to me. Yes, it's spring going into summer, and that means a lighter, more playful tone -- but there are ways to make that sexy, and then there's... most of this.

My favourite line from the collection (besides the return of the Dita Playsuit, which I loooove) is Mae. The shape of this bra is very flattering to smaller busts:

and while normally I'm against the whole existence of yellow, it's brave of AP to do an entire line in goldenrod (Jodie):

But most of this collection is stuff AP has done a million times before, and what is new, isn't necessarily fresh. Kathleen is tough to wear, and runs dangerously close to looking cheap; Denise is pretty enough, but we see something like this in almost every AP collection. On the whole, I'm not excited.

Fortunately, my local AP still has this set in stock from January:

Awesome Find: DVF Lizzy Skirt

Heathers is one of my favourite movies. The first time I saw it, I fell in love with the skirt Winona Ryder wears in this scene with JD:

A high-waisted black pencil skirt with suspenders -- gorgeous! I've been looking for one for so long, but never found one that I quite liked. Then through Doe Deere Blogazine I happened upon Beacon Vintage, and saw this glorious thing:

The Lizzy skirt, by Diane von Furstenburg.  Exactly what I'd been looking for! And it was in my size!

I'll post pictures as soon as it arrives. But in the meantime, I leave you with this: