Welcome to click click, the sporadic review of what I find worth clicking on the internet.

Details of an 1874 Levi’s denim 3 pleat blouse, via Loomstate and Just Goods.

• Interview Translation: Coco Chanel on fame, trousers, creativity and the moon – this wonderful post reveals a lot. I had watched the 1969 footage and was intrigued by the designer’s body language. I searched and couldn’t find a translation, so I’m grateful that brilliant Lucie provided.
• The Beheld – what Final Fashion is to clothes, The Beheld is to beauty. I’ve enjoyed digging into Autumn’s archives. Two recent posts riffing on ideas of intimacy and appearance – The Privacy Settings of Pyjamas and My Love of Slips.
• Six Theses on Pinkification – talking about symbolism and significance of my other favourite colour.
• The Blind Hem – a new collective my-kind-of-fashion blog with a great set of contributers.
• “Brand Me” – this article was making the rounds amongst the Toronto twitter contingent this week. I don’t think any of these subjects just “happen to be blonde”, and to be honest, I would consider myself one of them. The implication that self-creation is somehow insincere doesn’t reflect my experiences at all. I also think that the word “branding” is more accurately applied to inanimate products than people.
• How Maggie Thatcher was Remade - a closer look at the history of a very deliberate aesthetic strategy. See also - Costuming in The Iron Lady.
• waiter, there’s a hair in my satire – A great collection of caricatures mocking the excesses of Ancient Regime hairdos.

Old-school karma for new-school friends -

• Yes, Jessica? - “My name is Jessica. I live in Chicago with my two dogs.”
• Dressful – “exploring fashion beyond its surface: trend interpretation, fashion blogging, visual inspiration, fashion industry analysis and commentary.”
• Anytime Yoga – “I’m a longtime yoga student and an amazingly busy person.”
• Be Fabulous Daily – “icons and inspirations, as well as active strategies for frugality and wardrobe-editing that I’m pursuing in my own life.”

Welcome to click click, the sporadic review of what I find worth clicking on the internet.

Aren’t these costume caricatures wonderful? Check out these waltzers. There’s loads of them, and more – on this page full of treasures.

• Dancing with the Stars – Lewis Lapham draws erudite connections between celebrity, the worship of graven idols, politics and tabloids. Well worth a slow read.
• The Horror of the Milan Shows - revisiting Liberty London Girl’s classic insider rant (in 6 parts, both from the editor‘s and publicist‘s perspectives) is entertaining and educative. My Milan fashion week couldn’t have been more different. But then again, I didn’t have any jobligations. And hey, just for counterpoint, why not read an outsider rant from a jock?
• Iowa fashionistas savage Cintra Wilson – it’s easy to imagine Iowan ire making Wilson smile. She actually let the Hawkeye state off pretty easy. If you are in New York on April 3, go to this! Wilson is giving a free talk about her perfectly titled book “Fear and Clothing”.
• “Il Papa non veste Prada ma Cristo” – disabusing us of the fashionable urban myth that the Pope wears Prada. The devil wears Prada, the Pope wears Christ – the red shoes represent the martyrdom of Saint Peter, the first Pope. Speaking of Prada mythology, the living designer is not so pleased to be curated and compared alongside Schiaparelli.
• Said Language to Fashion: “OMG, I Die” – Sarah Nicole suggests you create your own Manual of Style. Fashionable phrases lose their freshness so fast.
• Looking Forward - The curse of the catchphrase: Christian Siriano’s boyfriend talks about the lingering aftermath of the Faustian bargain the designer made with reality television.
• If the Clothes Fit: A Feminist Takes on Fashion - this is the mirror image of my post on fashionable feminism. I especially loved the reminder of the Green-White-Violet colour symbolism. Big hat tips to this great post on The Frisky for making the connection.
• The Identity Crisis – an interesting response to my post on self-creation. I disagree with the premise that conscious self-creation is somehow disingenuous, as I believe a successful identity reinvention is just as much intuitive as it is calculated. Also check out a previous post by Paul, The Plight of Personal Style.
• OWN Visionaries: Tom Ford – watch the revealing Oprah documentary about fashion’s premier ‘personality’ designer.

All the latest karma can be seen on the promenade…

• The Style Confessions - “a fashion blog devoted to inspiring women to feel glamorous and beautiful”
• Virtual Makeup Artist – “Send me a picture of yourself and win a fanciful and extravagant virtual makeup.”
• Boudoir de la Mode –  ‘Fashion is as profound and critical a part of the social life of man as sex, and is made up of the same ambivalent mixture of irresistible urges and inevitable taboos.’ Rene Konig
• The Beheld – one of the best beauty blogs I’ve ever seen. Check out this post about the problem with fitting human shapes into geometrical (or fruit-shaped) slots.
• Coffee and Heels – “Fashion editor, writer and international daydreamer. Rockstar girlfriend. Vegetarian.”
• Crazy With It, Crazier Without – “WRITE ME ELECTRONIC LETTERS, CRAZIES!!”
• Meaghan Gallant – “Dream big, make miracles.”
• Adventures and Tea - “hopefully during my journey I’ll figure out what exactly it is that i’m doing… ;)”
• Careers in Fashion – it’s always an honour to be included in a lineup of much-admired fashion bloggers.
• polished – “Express your best self without saying a word.”
• Une Fille Comme Les Autres – this shoutout made me smile, a lot.
• The Secret Goddess – “I believe we are all goddesses inside and that we all deserve to live our most awesome lives <3″
• Rachel’s Symbiotic Life – “My blog is all about Food, Fashion, Beauty, Art, Photography, and Health.”

Welcome to click click, the sporadic review of what I find worth clicking on the internet.

Attitude icon and former Canadian prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. In three words, “just watch me.”

• “Hello, I Love you” or “Why Fashion Blogging Smells Like Raw Fish” - a popular teenage fashion blogger long before bloggers were famous, Isabel has never received the kind of accolades her USA equivalents have. This is a heartfelt post that reflects on the arbitrary nature of success in sophomore blogging.
• Stars, stripes and selling clothes - the fashion bloggers that are industry-insider hyped don’t necessarily have any actual influence on sales. Guess who does? Celebrity fashion bloggers. Unfortunately, news-stand economics apply online too.
• The 9 Lives of Carine Roitfeld - the transition from editor to brand is well underway. Watching her “work” is pure delight - ”Zis is ze luxe.“
• The Oral History of Menswear Blogging and Street Style - a fascinating discussion about the adolescence of fashion blogging’s little brother.
• The Only Remaining Online Copy of Vogue’s Asma al-Assad Profile - Vogue occasionally has lapses that reveal its peculiar politics, though beyond the ideology the lens of fashion can be an unintentionally revealing one. Context.
• The Rise of Consumption Equality – what separates the rich from the rest now? Just fashion, apparently.
• iPood: Why You Shouldn’t Use Your Child as a Billboard – I was just chatting with my Mom about this – how the main difference between the clothes I wore as a kid and the clothes my niece wears now is the ubiquity of messaging – whether branded or ironic – all over them.

Happy new karma for keeps, peeps -

• Spoonful of Justice - these kids mashed up my paper dolls to create cutlery themed superheroes. This made me smile! I love seeing people use paper dolls as they were meant to be used – for playing with.
• Men’s Flair – Winston Chesterfield makes “A Case for Fashion Illustration”.
• Travel Write Draw – I adore discovering that my blog archives are inspiring to other fashion illustrators, and that sharing my experiences is helping others overcome their own post-grad anxiety.
• Wendy Ding - it’s amazing to me to see someone not only take inspiration from my blog, but take action. Well done on a banner year, Wendy!
• Love At First Blush – Sabrina was top of the class at my fashion school, I love seeing what she’s working on now.
• the stairs magazine - “a collage of words, looks, quirks and pics”
• Styled Silhouettes - “Don’t say a word, let your clothes do the talking!”
• Fits & Starts Vintage - “repeated bursts of activity”

Welcome to click click, the sporadic review of what I find worth clicking on the internet.

I love these photographs of teddy girls by Ken Russell. I particularly enjoy the duality of these two photos – a vivacious girl in a quartet of girls, and then again surrounded by Teddy Boys, in a scene of bomb wreckage. BONUS: teddy boys grow up.

• Musings of an Inappropriate Woman – if you’re not already reading Rachel Hills, now is a great time to start. She’s writing a book and looking for stories about how people relate and mate. Her posts deliver high-density discussion at the intersection of women and culture.
• Punk Community a ‘New Social Disease’ - Indonesia is trying to rehabilitate punks. The narrative here is bizarre - followers of fashion senselessly criminalized. ALSO: a video portrait of Malaysian skinheads.
• Writers who don’t read – or maybe, they’re reading, but not books. Can mobile media consumers produce some type of literature? This relates to that “karaoke culture” McLaren was talking about.
• The problem with pre-fall – the subdivision of seasons leads to some pretty ludicrous descriptors and specialized shipments. Fashion seems to revolve more around social seasons than planetary oscillation.
• A discussion with Anna Wintour – (starts at 21:00) Charlie Rose interviews her in 1995, and then again in 2002 about Yves Saint Laurent. PLUS: British magazine editors Tilberis, Wintour and Brown, collated.

Karma kisses under the mistletoe for all my teds -

• the dexterous diva – Jo throws me a few questions about being creative and calls out for more – why not tell Jo about your schtick?
• Thinking In Shapes – “I post about vintage-inspired style and clothing construction.”
• Rebecca Howden – “Books, gender, fashion, culture, life”
• f514 – this is a wonderful fashion blog by a Montreal makeup artist, I adore her enthusiasm, honesty and ambition.

Welcome to click click, the sporadic review of what I find worth clicking on the internet.

While Occupy was occupying the media, I joked on Twitter that I was anticipating a “police state chic” Meisel editorial for Vogue Italia. Then I found out it happened five years ago. Hat Tip to The Grumpy Owl.

• You Say You Want a Devolution? – incredibly fascinating Vanity Fair essay about the strange inertia of modern culture and aesthetics. Thanks Lucie.
• Malcom McLaren Speaks About His Life and Authenticity vs Karaoke Culture - a magnificent speech by a great iconoclast near the end of his life, making a poignant point about how education shapes our culture.
• Where have all the wild girls gone? – Sarah Nicole tries to untangle what could be wrong with fashionable conservatism. Personally, I’m not nostalgic for the fashions of the early Aughties, at all. BONUS: revisit Rachel Rabbit White’s take on the same topic.
• Freakonomics Radio – my newest go-to podcast, all about the “hidden side of everything” with a side dish of baseball philosophy. Peripherally relevant to the world of fashion: The Folly of Prediction and Faking It.
• 20 Signs You’re A Real Fashion Blogger - I’ve been a fan of IFB since it began, but lately I’m beginning to feel a real gulf between IFB content and my own identity as a fashion blogger. This list pretty much confirms that I am no longer a “real” fashion blogger.

karma kickbacks to internet kindred…

• FashionSchools – a recent interview I did on the subject of finding your role in fashion.
• Joanne Faith – “More than being ‘just a fashion blog’, she also loves to talk blogging, Auckland, and living a beautiful life.”
• Dana Constance Thomas – “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
• I Want You To Know – “Anything is possible, so expect a mix of musings.”
• Natalie Brooke Designs – “WLFD (We Love Fashion Design) is my Personal Directory of  artists in the Fashion Industry who inspire me.”

Welcome to click click, the sporadic review of what I find worth clicking on the internet.

Lists, To-dos and Illustrated Inventories of Great Artists gives glimpses into the way great minds work in between all the mundanities of every day life. This wonderful graphic packing list was created by Adolf Konrad on Dec. 16 1973.

Welcome to click click, the sporadic review of what I find worth clicking on the internet.

These lovely scans are from the JEAN SHRIMPTON tumblr, featuring the 1960s fashion model with that silent, sensual quality, elfin features and exquisite profile. The Shrimp is the spitting image of modern beauty – read some interesting comments on that subject here.

• BE LINEN – a visually tactile modern story of an ancient fibre, European linen. Via Fashion-Incubator.
• Grit Is More Important Than Talent – and what is grit? The ability to get on with it and get over it. Related on the flip side: The Surprisingly Relaxed Lives of Elite Achievers. The gist? Potential is nothing, practice is everything.
• Can You Trust the Editorial Integrity of Personal Style Blogs? – If you can’t stand seeing popular personal style bloggers wearing head-to-toe free swag, there are a zillion (relatively) unpopular personal style bloggers you can follow. Read some of their thoughts on the C/O conundrum here.
• Dalston Superstars – nothing like a quasi-reality program with pierced tongue in cheek – the audition vox pops are also rather chilling – especially if like me, you live within earshot of these characters.
• Tokidoki Tattooed Barbie – you know a trend is totally mainstream when it gets cast in plastic for the kids to play with. I think this bad-girl Barbie looks pretty cute actually – reminds me a bit of Gala Darling.
• Juggalos classified as a gang in FBI report – One of the most unlikely modern style tribes gets the terror treatment. Insane Clowns as organized criminals? Someone should make a TV show about this.

Karma tips for hat tips -

• All Women Talk – when Final Fashion is included in a shortlist of recommended sites including Business of Fashion and SHOWstudio, I know I’m doing something right. Honoured!
• zoobia.net – “Follow your heart, it’s the only voice that matters.”
• Anaïs et Chloé - “notes in laid-back, dressed-down, cozy and effortless mood”
  
• Fashion Management at George Brown College- “This guide will lead you to some of the best resources available on the topic of fashion management.”

Welcome to click click, the sporadic review of what I find worth clicking on the internet.

Fellow Canadian-girl and model-gazer Lynsie Roberts took photographs of London Fashion Week in September, pretty virtual postcards that remind me of one of my favourite-ever fashion weeks to date.

• Inner City Youth, London - (heads up, music autoplays) a compelling photo-essay about the lives of disaffected youth in London housing projects – the same kids who participated in the riots. Their clothing and music – Grime – is heavily American-influenced, but with a London inflection. HT The Grumpy Owl.
• The Movie Set That Ate Itself – reality is stranger than fiction is stranger than reality. I’m curious about anti-capitalist cultural backlashes. This example is so far-fetched.
• When personnel get personal – Gucci designer Frida Giannini has been coy about revealing the man in her life for a while, and now we know why. Romantic/business partnerships in fashion aren’t that strange, but this is certainly a high-profile one.
• Diving for McQueen – a really stellar video of a conversation between Sarah Burton and Cathy Horyn. Both design and media revelations are made – the essence is that what modern designers are missing is attention to craft, and what modern writers are missing is unique information.
• A skinhead’s journey from racism to redemption and Reformed skinhead endures agony to remove tattoos. An interesting story about going from subculture to mainstream, and how critical the transformation of appearances can be.
• Anatomy of a Listening Event – what it’s like hanging out with Jay-Z, listening to “Watch The Throne”.
• Vreeland: “I see this in lettuce.” Burrows: “Done!” – nice recap of the life and work of New York designer Stephen Burrows. This blog – On This Day In Fashion – is currently on hiatus, but the archives are well worth a browse.

Karmalinks for shared affinities -

• Doll from the Attic – “The Attic isn’t just where we left yesterday, it’s where we’ve relished in the company of a dream or two.”
• Charlotte’s Notes – “Professional Illustrator and Artist based in Surrey, England.”
• Nextness – “Your one stop shop for what’s now and what’s next.”

Welcome to click click, the sporadic review of what I find worth clicking on the internet.

These photos by Mike Brodie “Polaroid Kidd” capture the lives – and looks – of modern migrants.

Karma for your mama -

• Vitamin Daily – asked me to share some of my London-on-a-pint-budget tips.
• Flare.com – features Canadian fashion bloggers wearing our favourite Canadian clobber. I chose Butikofer.
• Another Garcon – my Paris fashion week friend, Jonathan, observed me sketching outside Balmain.
• Top Fashion Style – dubs one of my tweets the top of the week.
• Urban Updater – “I just love to shop and love to share my fashion thoughts and ideas with you!”
• MIGDALIA – “My dolls can stand alone, their attitude allows them to be without support, without a man.”
• Girls Are Made From Pepsi – “Ummm…what it says on the tin.”

Welcome to click click, the sporadic review of what I find worth clicking on the internet.

I was asked to render, in cosmetics, someone I consider a beauty icon. I chose Amelia Earhart. Thanks Sarah Nicole Prickett for an ace assignment. She’s doing cool and unusual things at the new Toronto Standard site – also check out Who’s Afraid of Kanye West, and the Uniform Project.

• Exactitudes, Street Style Categorized – Someone’s picking out the patterns of how real people dress, and it’s fascinating.
• Meet the Swenkas – Barima introduces us to a phenomenon that is the African version of a Voguing pageant.
• The Mark of Princess Hijab – this Parisian graffiti artist hijacks fashion advertising in the Metro and lets you decide what it means.
• Fashion Blogging Grows Up – the state of the union of fashion blogging is still under review, but there’s no doubt that the money is flowing towards fashion blogging now. Cue goldrush. Speaking of goldrush – street style is growing up too.
• London Fashion Week… On Acid! – VICE takes the high road to Top Shop.
• Jay-Z’s Hegemony in the Age of Kanye – rapping politics, echoing Beyonce’s duet with Gaga. This theory extends to fashion too – watch carefully who the Lagerfelds and Wintours select to feature – this is all about how established powers maintain relevance.
• how i kicked my time management habit and became exceedingly more productive, profitable and thrilled – Danielle LaPorte tells us to get off our own backs when it comes to productivity guilt. Good stuff – move towards it.