Street Boners: Having a laugh at your crazy get-ups

If you're a fan of The Sartorialist, you'll love Street Boners, a tongue-in-cheek version by Gavin McInnes, the former top dog at Vice. He has created an entire lexicon of looks from pocahipsters to the nerdy slut and rated them with a kitten rating system.
Read more about it here and here.

Into Woodstock

If you go down to Woodstock today, you're in for a big surprise (sorry, couldn't resist):

On Albert Street, don't miss Saturdays and Sundays at the Old Biscuit Mill, an organic food market cum flea market filled with delicious nibbles and great finds. Lunch, every week day, at Superette. We recommend the mushrooms on toast and the berry, seed and Belgian chocolate muffins. Pop into What If The World Gallery for an art fix and to David West for a fashion fix.
On Darling Street don't miss the Goodman Gallery and Michael Stevenson Gallery.

PS: That's Woodstock in Cape Town, not you know....

Vintage Fintz

Cape Town ceramic artist, Shirley Fintz is finally sharing her excellent taste. Fintz, a long time lover of vintage dresses, is now buying frocks in bus loads and selling them to friends and clients from the ceramic studio that shares a building with her sister Ilana's yoga studio. They retail for around R500 and are seriously addictive. You've been warned. For more info: +27 82 424 5927.

Kiwi Chic

If you're shopping in Auckland, don't miss:

Ponsonby Road, New Market and downtown around Queen Street and look out for local style at Karen Walker, Kate Sylvester, World, Zambesi.

The World's Most Beautiful Wash Line

Diana Vreeland once said, "Pink is the navy blue of India." Well, orange, red, green, turquoise are the sand, stone, beige, brown. Here, 6 meters of saris are laid out to dry on the ghats along the Ganges in Varanasi.

Photograph: Nadine Rubin

Who says black isn't a color?

On a recent trip to the souk in Dubai, I had a long-held misconception firmly corrected when we stumbled upon this fabric store...

Pssst... Designer Shoes For Less

There's nothing like a recession to make a girl generous, so here is my secret to affordable designer shoes in New York:

On 1st Avenue between 13th and 14th Street, you'll find a storefront that looks more Turkish bazaar than Harper's Bazaar, but don't be fooled. Inside Gabay's (which is owned by Turkish Jews, by the way), you'll find "It" bags and shoes marked down by 80 percent. Gabay's buys the over runs from Bergdorf Goodman and carries everything from Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin to Prada, Jil Sander, Derek Lam, Marc Jacobs...you get the picture. If you're lucky, you may even find Lanvin, Chanel or Azzedine Alaia. Last week I walked out with a cute pair of patent flats by Bettye Muller that were marked down from $500 to $100. Now that's what I call a recession special. Happy shopping!

Biko Chic

It looks like Steve Biko has become South Africa's Che Guevara (following Nelson Mandela, of course, who was given the Che treatment for the first ten years after apartheid ended). In a story for the Associated Press, writer Celean Jacobson reported that T-shirts bearing the image of Steve Biko, the symbol of black resistance worldwide who was killed by apartheid police, can be found for sale at flea market stalls and exclusive boutiques across South Africa.

She asks an interesting question:

"Is [the new trend] a sign the post-apartheid youth culture is embracing Biko's message of racial pride and African unity, or just crass commercialization of one of the most important figures in South African history."

Jackie Radebe, 23, who bought a Biko T-shirt after reading "I Write What I Like," sees him as a selfless leader whose politics of brotherhood are still relevant to South Africa.

"He had genuine compassion for the plight of the people, genuine concern about poverty, crime and loss of pride," Radebe said.

While Biko would celebrate the "breakthroughs this young democracy has achieved," Radebe believes his hero would be disappointed in the country's leaders.

"As far as morals, integrity and principles ... contemporary political leaders seem to be driven by money and self-interest," he says.

Read the full article here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070911/ap_en_ot/south_africa_biko;_ylt=AjsordfrfaK_E7_DpsXbHSgE1vAI

Steve Biko Foundation:

http://www.sbf.org.za

Mashups are the New Black

Today at the Peter Som fashion show, amidst gorgeous metallic flowers, brocades galore, and corn and rasberry patent leather on skinny belts and towering pumps, this mashup made me sit up and take notice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltKyaedTDUU

Call me a romantic, but in my opinion it stole the show.

It is The Police Vs. Snow Patrol, humorously but appropriately renamed "Every Car You Chase."