i heart Vogue Italia March 2010

I stumbled across these images on coutequecoute.blogspot.com, the rabbit head shot has to be one of my top images for 2010, it is just so beautiful.
Credit: Vogue Italy

i heart Sonia Rykiel Autumn/Winter 2007-2008 Ready to Wear

The loose woolen jumpers and dresses, the high boots, the subtle colours. Sonia Rykiel does Winter fashion well. I know this collection is old, but its style is timeless. The big head bows, the big rasta hats, the dark eye makeup and the over-sized clothes make for a cool, classic but grungy style look. Love it!
Credit: Images from LeadFashion.com

i heart Dr Martens

Milestone anniversary for Dr Martens

What do British 1980s groups Madness and The Cure have in common with current teen heart-throb actor Robert Pattinson, Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama?

Believe it or not, the Dr Martens brand of boots and shoes.

And as the footwear firm turns 50, it is looking back on a remarkable transformation from tiny German company making orthopaedic boots to fashion icon, whose shoes are worn by trendy artists and world leaders alike.

The key turning point came in 1959, when two German medics sought to market a shoe with an air-cushion sole, developed by one of them - Klaus Maertens - to help him convalesce after a skiing accident.

"The magic moment happened when, through an advert in a British professional magazine, the Griggs family - working boots makers - met the German doctors Maertens and Funck," said Martin Roach, who has written a history of the firm.

"At that time it was an orthopaedic boot sold 80 per cent to German women over the age of 40. They felt there was a bigger market but they needed a partner, hence the ad," said Roach, author of Dr Martens, the story of an icon.

On April 1, 1960 the first pair of Dr Martens - the name was anglicised for ease of pronunciation - was produced by the Griggs factory in the village of Wollaston in central England.

Eight eyelets, ox blood red with distinctive yellow stitching, the new design was dubbed 1460 after the date of its creation.

And rather than hobbling middle-aged Germans, the target market for the new boot was aimed squarely at working-class Britons seeking a more comfortable and cheaper alternative to other footwear firms' rigid-soled leather offerings.

"My grandfather was the first one to sell Dr Martens in the world. We've sold the brand for the longest," said Nick Romona, owner of the British Boot Company in the trendy north London borough of Camden.

"It was a good, strong, comfortable, affordable work wear for the average working men in Britain ... for a lot of (those) that picked up on them, like the punks and the skinheads, they were a good pair of solid, decent boots."

Within a few years the 1460 became an essential accessory for musicians wanting to play up their working-class links, including The Who's Pete Townshend, who was followed by dozens of other stars.

"Usually when a new subculture appears, it gets rid of the symbols of the previous sub-culture. But not the Doc Martens. It stayed with the skinheads, the punks, the mods, the grunges and so on," said author Roach.

Their status as a style icon remains to this day, he says. "The Doc Martens DNA is the same as youth fashion so it will never go away."

Shoe store owner Nick Romona adds: "They appeal to everybody - whether a postman, a schoolboy, a nurse or a judge."

More than 100 million pairs of Dr Martens have been sold since that first pair was unveiled 50 years ago - although there are now some 250 different models, from golden to fuscia, flowered to custom patterned.

But, in a sign of the times, almost all of them have been made in Asia since 2002: only about 50 leave the factory in Wollaston every day, including the vintage 1460 model, made by 10 or so workers on old machines.

The shop in Camden has also become an icon for the Doc Martens faithful internationally.

"It's a very famous destination, we get customers from all over the world," said Romona.

"They want to come here to see where it all started. They come from father to son... especially from Europe. Their fathers will have bought their first DM boots in this store in the 70s and 80s.

"I am personally very proud to be the grandson of the guy who first sold them."

Credit: The Age
Image: Karen Walker from the Fashion Spot

i heart Fantastic Mr. Fox

i heart Zooey Deschanel

Actress and musician Zooey Deschanel, aged 30 and married six months, tells Jane Rocca what she knows about men.

I was born in Los Angeles in 1980, and from a young age I've been endlessly fascinated by men and would say that I still am now. As the singer of a band [She & Him], I like to sing songs from both gender perspectives - that of men and women. I have always been interested in male and female feelings and figuring them out and why they differ and why they don't.

I am from a family of strong women. My mother [actor Mary Jo Deschanel] and my older sister [Emily Deschanel, 33, also an actor, who stars in the TV show Bones] always taught me to stand up for myself and think for myself.

I knew men were physically different to women and that they ate a lot more than women, which is completely not fair - they have such big appetites! - but I was taught that we were all to be treated as equals. Despite this, I still believe men function differently to women. They are programmed differently.

My dad was a cinematographer [Caleb Deschanel was the director of photography on dozens of movies, including The Patriot, The Passion of the Christ and The Right Stuff] and we moved around a lot as a family, which

I found frustrating. I know that it is important to be able to pursue one's goals, and I understood how important that is in making you who you are.

My dad used to listen to a lot of old country music, like Gram Parsons and the Byrds. I always liked the genre and found I mostly gravitated towards older sounds; I like organic music rather than electronic. I was fascinated by old music and old love songs. I always was keen to listen to what men were singing about - everything from broken hearts to abandonment and other blues-inspired themes. I liked how they could be as emotional as me.

I was nine when I had my first real crush on the opposite sex. It was when my dad gave me the videotape of A Hard Day's Night, by the Beatles. For me, that was my first encounter with a romantic fantasy. I was obsessed by their look, their sound and the idea that guys like this existed.

Some of my idols and biggest influences are Brian Wilson, Carole King, Bobbie Gentry, Linda Ronstadt and Roy Orbison. I wanted to be all of them; I was attracted to those kinds of songwriters who put it all on the line.

Brian Wilson is a hero of mine. His songs are so beautiful, and it was through his music I learnt that men do express things from the heart. His harmonies are so full and romantic. It's a feeling that reminds me of being in love and of being free and happy.

I met [She & Him co-member] Matt Ward in 2006 when he was writing the score for a film I was starring in called The Go-Getter. We recorded a song together for the soundtrack to the movie called When I Get to the Border [originally sung by British folk duo Linda and Richard Thompson in 1974], and it sparked a friendship that was both natural and easy. We got along well and worked great together. I told Matt that I wrote music and had been doing so since I was eight. I sent him some MP3s, and he listened to them and liked them and suggested we start recording together, and the rest is history.

Matt is a sweet guy who opened up his arms to my desire to sing, and I liked that honesty and trust. We are drawn together by our similar desires and interests in music. He makes sharing ideas seem easy.

I like to keep my marriage private [Deschanel married Ben Gibbard, singer of the band Death Cab for Cutie, last year], and I don't like discussing my personal life, but I have learnt it's good to keep a balance in friendships throughout one's life. You need men as much as you do women, and men can often add insight that your female friends can't and vice versa.

Men are not as chatty as women, though; sometimes I do need those long conversations.

Credit: The Age