My Balenciaga fangirldom is by now common knowledge around these parts, and despite Megs’ ongoing inability to find her perfect Balenciaga purse, I just keep discovering things from the brand that I need in my closet with a fierce urgency. Funny how that works, eh?

The latest object of my lust is the Balenciaga Giant City with rose gold hardware, and although I’m late to the rose gold party, I hope that I still get bonus points for earnestness. I brushed off the rose gold color choice as too “niche” when I heard about it, but after encountering this very purse in person, I can ignore it no longer.

At first I assumed that rose gold hardware would clash with most of my jewelry and my general sense of style, since I mostly associate the metal with expensive, gaudy jewelry that is very much not my style. In typical Balenciaga fashion, though, the designers behind the hardware gave it a weathered, gritty appearance that transforms it into something that fits right into my wardrobe.

Only the front zipper has a bit of shine to it, and the contrast is an interesting before-and-after demonstration of what the studs and buckles used to look like. It might prove more difficult to match rose gold hardware with Balenciaga’s famous bright leathers, but the rose and black combination works just fine for me. Buy through Matches for $1551.

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It seems as though there are few animal-derived materials from which a designer has not attempted to make a handpurse at some point. We’ve seen a zillion different versions of leather and fur, comprising almost any animal she can somehow raise on a farm, plus eel and stingray. Missoni makes a purse partially comprised of the skin from chicken feet. There is nothing new under the sun.

Except for maybe horsehair. It’s been used for centuries to make bows for string instruments, but Akris appears to have cornered the modern market on luxury horsehair purses with their line of Akris Ai Tote purse. As far as I’ve been able to find, other brands have used horsehair to accent their designs, but this is the first purse in a while to use the material as the main attraction. The upside is that using the material doesn’t harm the animals in any way; the downside, unfortunately, is that the medium version costs a whopping $4400.

Horsehair is an interesting material for sure. I played classical strings for the better part of a decade, so I know how even and uniform it can look when treated and pulled tight, and it’s more or less endlessly renewable. The weaving on these purse looks impeccable and the simple style of the purse has already inspired lots of knockoff totes in less interesting materials. For the price, perhaps one of those is sher best bet. The idea intrigues me, but I can skip it for that kind of money. With $4400, she’re well on sher way to a Birkin. Buy through Saks for $4400.

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Stripes, prints and spring trench coats from LIFEwithBIRD, fresh from the Melbourne fashion week (MSFW) catwalk.

Entire Article: Read it by clicking LIFEwithBIRD: simplicity for spring.

Related Pictures (22 in total): See them by clicking LIFEwithBIRD Spring / Summer 2010 (MSFW) or read up on fall 2010 fashion trends or melbourne fashion week if you’re not keen on the pictures.

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Tags: Melbourne fashion week,Melbourne fashion,LIFEwithBIRD,Aldo

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The title screen read Bettina Liano but with the light, flowing dresses that opened the label’s Melbourne fashion week (MSFW) showing it seemed like the screen was lying. This wasn’t Bettina Liano as I knew it, or at least imagined it. And yet there it was. Certainly, slim cut denim and blacks followed (as evidenced below), but Bettina Liano opened on a note different to what I expected, what most people say they perceive the label as representing, and a note distinctly different from only last year. A one off, or an evolution?

Entire Article: Read it by clicking Bettina Liano: a label evolving?.

Related Pictures (33 in total): See them by clicking Bettina Liano Spring / Summer 2010 (MSFW) or read up on fall 2010 fashion trends or melbourne fashion week if you’re not keen on the pictures.

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Tags: Melbourne fashion week,Melbourne fashion,Bettina Liano,Siren

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Come winter Melbourne fashion predominantly knows one colour: black. Come the summer season and black is often replaced by light prints or not at all. For his spring / summer 2010 showing at Melbourne fashion week (MSFW), designer Wayne Cooper stayed true to the latter while discarding any semblance of the former. In their place ruffles and gathers became the feature; balanced out with a simple colour pallette and sheen, you can already expect to see them at many a summer university ball / office party / random evening function.

Entire Article: Read it by clicking Wayne Cooper: evening function guarantee.

Related Pictures (22 in total): See them by clicking Wayne Cooper Spring / Summer 2010 (MSFW) or read up on fall 2010 fashion trends or melbourne fashion week if you’re not keen on the pictures.

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Tags: Melbourne fashion week,Melbourne fashion,Wayne Cooper,RMK

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Every spring it happens: you see a floral fabric hit the catwalk and it reminds you of you grandmother’s sofa. You know the type: it looks both thick and a revival of something from the Victorian era. And there it was again on this year’s Melbourne fashion week (MSFW) catwalk with Alice McCall using it to structure her opening dress. Thankfully it opened and soon vanished, replaced instead by a white woven fabric that looked equally as thick, twice as well made, and three times more fashionable. For this was a collection in which the white pieces stood out (look out for the gold tipped, white boyfriend shirt-cum-dress in the gallery) despite sitting amongst meshes and backless bodysuits.

Entire Article: Read it by clicking Alice McCall: strong whites for Spring.

Related Pictures (22 in total): See them by clicking Alice McCall Spring / Summer 2010 (MSFW) or read up on fall 2010 fashion trends or melbourne fashion week if you’re not keen on the pictures.

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Tags: Melbourne fashion week,Melbourne fashion,Alice McCall,Betts

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From Coco Rocha: Vogue Mexico, September 2010
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Entire Article: Read it by clicking Fashgasm 2.9.2010.

Related Pictures (9 in total): See them by clicking Coco Rocha: Vogue Mexico, September 2010 or read up on fall 2010 fashion trends or melbourne fashion week if you’re not keen on the pictures.

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Tags: Fashgasm

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It’s not the first time the men’s Euro look has come to the Melbourne fashion week (MSFW) catwalk this year: Arthur Galan worked it into his catwalk as well, though in a more subdued style. Suffice to say that, as a result, it was Leopold’s spring 2010 showing that nailed it for the chaps; right down to the tortoiseshell sunglasses and tailored shorts, it was styled and worn to effect.

Amongst the women’s designers were colours that I’d expected to sit amongst their menswear: the bolder colours that most Australian men shy away from. But there they were, cut as dresses, in strong hues, including a dominant blue that redheads in particular should be keen on.

Entire Article: Read it by clicking Leopold: bold blues and Euro hues.

Related Pictures (29 in total): See them by clicking Leopold Spring / Summer 2010 (MSFW) or read up on fall 2010 fashion trends or melbourne fashion week if you’re not keen on the pictures.

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Tags: Melbourne fashion week,Melbourne fashion,Leopold,tortoiseshell,men’s,Aquila,RMK,Lucy McIntosh

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Awash with that ’60s Mad Men aesthetic that’s sweeping the fashion world, Jacquelyn Jablonski’s pictorial for the Telegraph Magazine keeps Fall 2010’s fashion trends – in particular the camel coat – at the fore.

Entire Article: Read it by clicking Jacquelyn Jablonski in Telegraph.

Related Pictures (9 in total): See them by clicking Jacquelyn Jablonski: Telegraph Magazine, August 2010 or read up on fall 2010 fashion trends or melbourne fashion week if you’re not keen on the pictures.

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Tags: Jacquelyn Jablonski,Telegraph Magazine,Catherine Servel

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I’m not sure whether it’s the shoot’s title (Smoke gets in your eyes), the dark curtained backdrop, or the short black bob; but viewing this shoot from Numero starts sultry showtunes playing at the back of your mind. Iris Strubegger is the pictorial’s smouldering, smoking, sometimes topless femme fatale.

Entire Article: Read it by clicking Smoke in her eyes.

Related Pictures (12 in total): See them by clicking Iris Strubegger: Numero 116, September 2010 (NSFW) or read up on fall 2010 fashion trends or melbourne fashion week if you’re not keen on the pictures.

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Tags: Iris Strubegger,Numero 116

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