Summer into Fall

The first few yellow leaves have begun to fall when the wind picks up. It's also been cool enough in the mornings & evenings to remind us that autumn really is on the way. But it's still late summer & it will be while until summer clothes are put away. Tights, scarves, blazers, & sweaters keep favorite skirts & dresses out of storage. For Antipodeans, it's probably much the same in reverse, no?

For some general guidelines, this is a good slideshow (though some fashionistas will disagree). If you went neon this summer, here are some excellent ideas.

Saturday update: Back on Monday. Meanwhile, flowers inspire (get some). Halloween prep (yes!). Also a very happy Rosh Hashanah to our Jewish friends. If you're scrambling for a terrific honey cake recipe, here's the best. xo

(photograph via Lawrence)

Flower Power

Whether you wear flowers on your head or elsewhere, florals are big this season. GG's editor suppresses a giggle, though, at breathless declarations that flowers are making a comeback. Really? Where did they go?

The influence of Mad Men is also everywhere in style & fashion this spring & will continue as the fifth season airs here in the States. There are plenty of beautiful pale lipsticks available for those tired of red lips or who are convinced (incorrectly) that they cannot wear any shade of red. Megan Draper wore Nars Belle de Jour in Sunday's MM premiere. Bella. If that is too expensive, Revlon has some great pale shades. (For those wanting an eyeliner tutorial, here's one. It really is not difficult.) Finally, a short post with thoughtful comments on mod fashions in "A Little Kiss."

ciao-meow/GGCM

(Jean Shrimpton by Bert Stern)

Fashion Week

GG Central could use a mental health break this evening & maybe you need one, as well. For fashion week in London, we recommend Liberty London Girl & London Fashion Week. For New York, check in with New York magazine. The round-up is exhaustive.

Don't forget the real-life couple, photographers Garance Doré & The Sartorialist who are covering New York.

If fashion week is not your thing: the US Open is on television & is live-streaming, here.

ciao-meow/GGCM

(Funny Face still via Audrey Hepburn Annex)

Vote for Dare to Design Finalists 2011

It's that time of year. Vote for your favorite in the Shabby Apple Dare to Design Challenge. This year there are fifteen finalists, 13 dresses & two skirts. Visit the SA Apple a Day blog & choose.

A little tip: GG's editor found it helpful to visit every link to see the patterns & supplementary drawings. You might not fancy the fabric or the colors & embellishments used on a dress or skirt but will like the pattern.

Voting is open until September 11th; the winner will be announced on September 15. Good luck to the finalists!

ciao-meow/GGCM

(Suzy Parker in Givenchy by John Rawlings/Vogue, 1953. Available at The Condé Nast Store)

Stylish Summer Cool

Just wow. This is Julia Sarr-Jamois, editor of Wonderland. (Here are some more photographs of her; here is an interview.) Julia lives in London but is half-French, half-Senegalese, all stylish. (Psssst, Julia. Drop the cigs.)

ciao-meow/GGCM

(photographs via Vogue Italia & Coco & Creme)

Let's Bring Back Swim Caps

GG's editor wears one anyway but we have the style-blahs presently. Our mum has told us that these let the water in but honestly, water creeps into the excellent quality cap we wear now. (She calls these 'bathing caps' btw.) Our hair has grown so crazy-long that the flower appliqués might hide the weird lumpy-bumpy look, too.

There are two cute & affordable caps available on The Vermont Country Store site. Here are some cute caps at Headcovers.

ciao-meow/GG Swim Central

PS: Here's Jeanne Moreau looking fabulous in her cap. We're convinced. C'mon, join us!

(photographs via Pinterest)

Shrimp Shots

We remain under the weather but are enjoying these links to Jean Shrimpton. People (us!) always think of David Bailey first when looking at Shrimp shots, but there were others, including Terence Donovan, John French, & Brian Duffy. Visit Brian Duffy's beautiful website - you can watch a documentary The Man Who Shot the Sixties.

ciao-meow/GGCM

(photographs via We Heart Vintage)

Shabby Apple's Dare to Design 2011

So you flip through magazines & scroll through fashion & style blogs. You look at pins on Pinterest. And you think "Bah. I could do better..." OK. Here's your chance, big shot. Whip up a design of a skirt, dress, or blouse & submit it to Shabby Apple's Dare to Design contest. Yep, you should. You know why? You don't have to sew it, that's why. (Though if you want to, that's great.)

There aren't many rules, but here are the few. You have until August 10. Will we enter finally? Not sure. If we do, we'll make sure you know.

ciao-chic-meow/GGCM

PS: Here are some free online art tools to check out.

(Genevieve Naylor photograph of Suzy Parker via Dovima_is_DevineII)

Mad Men Fashion Flipbook

We're going through withdrawal! Presently we're listening to Season 3 commentary. (Next up: Season 4 commentary is recently available via Netflix in America & Canada.) A quick trip to AMC's Mad Men site is fun. There are games, trivia quizzes & videos. If that seems a bit much, a quick trip through the (fairly) new fashion flipbook is amusing. Janie Bryant comments on some of her favorite outfits & characters. For an inspired Mad Men menu, hop over to the funny Ezra Pound Cake. We're making two recipes for the upcoming holiday weekend.

ciao-meow/GG MM Central

(photograph via Lionsgate)

Good Grace

A GG Central favorite - fellow cat lover Grace Coddington. Read a terrific new interview in Intelligent Life.com. If you are a Netflixer of the Instant Variety, The September Issue is available on demand. It's just the thing to escape for a bit during this stressful time. (The fun of a fashion magazine with none of the stress: we'll take it.)

ciao-chic-meow/GG Style Central

(British Vogue, August 1962 by Carapetian)

Drawing Fashion in London

For lucky ducks in London (or who will be) before 6 March 2011, there's a new exhibit at London's Design Museum on fashion illustration. In the museum shop is beautiful catalogue, a set of 6 cards, & two reproduction prints. (image by François Berthoud via artnet(dot)com)

ciao-cheerio-meow/GGCM

From the Design Museum website:

"Drawing Fashion celebrates a unique collection of some of the most remarkable fashion illustrations from the twentieth and twenty first centuries. These original works define the fine art of illustrating fashion, from the collections of Chanel, Dior, Comme des Garçons and Poiret as well as Viktor & Rolf, Lacroix and McQueen. This exhibition showcases fashion illustrators at their creative heights: Lepape at the beginning of the century, Gruau in the 40's and 50's, Antonio throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, to current artists Mats Gustafson, Aurore de la Morinerie and François Berthoud. Film-clips, news reels, music and photography will sit alongside the original illustrations to reflect not only the spirit and the style of the decades but also the wider social and cultural changes of the century."

Daring to Design - Week's End

You don't have to be designer, nope. Visit Shabby Apple's website & learn all about it. GG's editor loves Shabby Apple & thinks that you ought to consider some creative activity this weekend. The contest opened on August 15 & closes October 15. It's really, really not too late. You can find out more on their blog An Apple a Day.

As loyal readers know, Giulia does not need a dress--she has the perfect outfit every single day. She's incredibly chic. It's also very chic to have good manners & care about others. That's why we are pleased by the following from Shabby Apple Dresses website:

We at Shabby Apple Dresses love to help women dress but are also commited to helping women live as well. Thus we are supporting the fight against global poverty by partnering with Unitus-a non-profit organization that accelerates access to life-changing financial services for those at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Shabby Apple donates 5% of its net sales to support work in India (where Shabby Apple Dresses has sourced many of its dresses and the textiles used to manufacture its dresses). In addition, each Shabby Apple Dresses customer has the opportunity to donate an extra five dollars to Unitus every time she buys a dress. Shabby Apple Dresses and Unitus are involved with 10 of India's most promising microfinance organizations that provide financial services to more than 1.6 million hard-working women and their families.

Every $100 donation from Shabby Apple Dresses provides at least 20 women with access to financial services - and the chance to live a life without poverty.

Each new Shabby Apple Dresses dress features a unique hang tag with a micro-credit success story.

Now, isn't that fabulous? Go forth & design!

ciao-chic-meow/GG Central

(Christina Hendricks of Mad Men via AMC; Shabby Apple dresses collage)

Cool, Calm Green - Week's End

GG thinks that if she ever dons a fancy frock, this is the one she'd choose. A roll of the eyes, but actually green is her color, for sure. She wears a green cotton (organic, of course) collar, seen here.

For last year's post about the dress on GG's editor's blog, click here. For a wonderful dessert, Crème de Menthe Trifle, click The Clever Pup's blog. (The dessert title inspired our name for the dress.) For Nick Bartoletti's wonderful Clise Mansion photo shoot, please see here. If you want to do a little green shopping, check out these Darfur Baskets (ooh, sneaky), here.

Have a calm, cool, green weekend. We're trying--but it is the umpteenth day (month?) of 90+ degrees. Oof.

ciao-meow/GG's personal shopper

[photographs by Olga & Nick Bartoletti]

Les Modes

It's a busy week, therefore some fun is most necessary. Last night GG & her editor were looking at hats & old French fashion magazines. These are covers from Les Modes (a French fashion magazine) to entertain & inspire you. All are watercolors by Félix Fournery, 1908 (via LIFE archives). Look at those hats in the first image. Wow. GG is desperate for a summer hat...but her ears, where do we put her ear-tips? (She does not like the cut-out option. We can never win with her.) It is our considered opinion that GG should wear green feathers in her red-orange hair (like the third lovely lady). Very fashionable & chic, non?

Bonne nuit/GG's milliner

Dr. Zhivago style

Oh we're not nostalgic for revolution, dying, & starvation. No, no. We have to read & write about that all of the time. No, the film is on our local PBS station tonight. So we've been thinking about how cozy the clothing looks (if one is not a freezing peasant...an important point).

We've been in need of a winter hat for a few years & this elegant headband from Pipsqueak Chapeau Etc caught our eye some time ago. It would do nicely in place of the big-fur hatted look in Zhivago. We miss our brown suede shearling-cuffed Lara coat from Strasbourg. Nostalgia for cozy dark velvets, embroidery, gorgeous jewellry (you can fake it) & scarves.

Hoping for a white Christmas but pretty sure it's not in the cards...

bisou,
GG's cold-eared editor

GG Gourmet Central's Collector's Issues - Paris

GG's editor was so happy to see a new Gourmet Collector's Edition at the newsstand--it cheered her right up. (Of course, we always buy the Rome & Italian issues, if we're not subscribing that year.) The last Paris issue we can find in the apartment is the one pictured above, from 2001. Gorgeous recipes in there, as well. We'll print some of the ones we make regularly in the next few weeks.

Paris Breakfasts artist extraordinaire, macaron-obssessed Carol Gillott must be happy, about the new issue of Gourmet, as well. (We haven't seen the blog in a few days.) There are some good variations on a classic macaron recipe, if you're so inclined. GG is dreaming of slinking (she is a cat, after all) in to Ladurée (any of the shops), ah. GG is dreaming of being in Paris (or Strasbourg), Rome or Naples, period. Macaron or gelato, it doesn't really matter--how about both?!

Bon weekend, darlings!
xoxo, GG Central

GG, Petula, Julie, & Petulia...Downtown

GG heard the song Downtown for the first time this afternoon; she perked right up in our 90+ degree heat. The American version of Colour My World was the first album GG's editor bought all on her own; it took so long to save up those pennies. Her mum had The Beatles, Stones, et al, covered...plus the LP with Downtown had already been toted to the States from the UK.

GG's editor & her cousin Sabrina spent a good deal of the summer playing sweet Petula AND bad boy Mick & friends, & of course: The Beatles.

A meeting downtown tomorrow about Darfur. That's all that can be said, but it's disheartening. Hence, the sudden inspiration to download (on dial-up!) Downtown. GG Central now has four whole songs on its iTunes playlist. Yes, we're that poor! (Oh, it was only 99 cents....a petit riens is necessary.)

Just hearing Downtown reminded us that GG is named after two British Julies who were icons in the GG Central family: Christie & Andrews. A perfect combination. GG's human grandmother is a major film fan & anything with Julie Christie definitely fits the bill. Our baby sister was nearly named Petulia. Which we think would have been just fabulous.

TTFN, darlings!

xoxo, GG & her editor

1960s Dior Fashion Show

A little French fashion fun...

Bon week-end from GG!

Yves St. Laurent, 1962 - Fashion video

Ah well. Nothing to add.

Ciao darlings, GG

Les Parisiennes

Giulia's editor started her Christmas wish list when she saw this lovely book celebrating French women. Some of our best friends are French!