42. One of the last days of summer

Its been a long time between drinks girlfriend, but this just had to be shared.
Dark, dark, bitter chocolate with a smudge of olive. A complex and beautiful colour that the crappy Iphone pic does not do justice to.
Woven leather and canvas.
Coveting heavily.
It was possibly my last swim of the season. I was chastised for that remark by someone I know .... but I stand by my prediction.
North Bondi, early April.
The sun was hot but the sand was cool under foot, the season was changing. The water was clear and comfortable. Two swims and a lay on the sand. sigh.
I heart Sydney.

41. Why I cant watch Italian movies atm

Gift of a freind who recently returned from a 1 month holiday in Italy (Thx Wayne Cox)
I love a loafer, God knows I love a loafer: Im building a built-in just to house mine. (Hmmm note to self, possible new blog, something like I pap'd your loafer, OK maybe not)
Back to the Italian guy ... Im not a fan of the man bag, esp if said man bag comes with a chain shoulder strap.
WTF?
Having said that ... this image is considerably chic and raises much jealousy within me.
Hence why I cant watch Italian movies atm.
How can it be chic, Im confused, he's carrying a bloody purse with a chain strap and he's straight!?!
It makes me feel uneasy.
I have to stop looking now.

40. Hey Goldmember

I like big bags and I can not lie.
Never let it be said that I ever complain about the over sizing of a handbag.
I loved watching Nicole Ritchie (when she was interesting, b4 she got married, had kids and got kicked off TV) carrying handbags even bigger than her oversized head.
But I have reservations about this one.
OK, she’s got the Midas touch …. But she touched it too much (thanks Beyonce)
Hey Goldmember, hey Goldmember…
And when you’ve got a bag big enough to camp over night in, WHY carry your shopping in a Thomas Dux paper bag.
Isn’t that defeating the purpose of an extra large carry all?
I mean aren’t you supposed to be “carrying all” in it?
Hell, I don’t know, maybe she’s got an unlicensed day care centre in there and she didn’t want to mix cleaning products with her 3 year old daughters nap time.
Maybe she’s a bagoholic. (oh that’s new …. Im gonna use that again)

39. man crush

ho hum .... cotton shoulder bag.
But whack Marc Jacobs on the side and me likey.
Seriously, Id drink water if MJ made it.
OK ciao .... gotta go check online to see if he does.

38. as the dust settles

A couple of nights ago Tracy Grimshaw was wearing a space suit on ACA, masquerading as fashion.
It was a zip thru beige one-sie with HUGE shoulder pads and contour panels down the side of the bodice.
It was very Claude Montana circa 1987.
I should have taken a screen shot.
Its a shame she was stuck behind that desk because I really wanted to see her try a bit of Voguing.
You know, spread knee squats and flap your bended elbows around your head, sort of thing. (Madge is so last century now, lucky for her she lived long enough to see the 80's return and date that hot Brazilian boy)
The Gaga dust is settling over Sydney and I know we will never be the same again.
When stalwarts (I love using that word) like T.G get caught up in trends inspired by La Gaga, then our world has truly shifted.
I took the pic of the girl above the week Sydney was griped with Gaga fever and then kinda forgot Id taken it - until I saw ACA and it all came flooding back to me.
She's got yellow hair (the girl above not T.G) and this was not the result of some mild over / under processing home bleach job issue - this was full-on, vitamin overdose, golden, sunshine yellow tinted hair.
On purpose.
why 12 months ago we would have looked at her colour choice with a question mark on our face but now we know why - Gaga.
The bag, not really anything special, also has its roots in a recent Gaga look.
Id rest my case, if I had one.
(and wonder what bag T.G carried with that beige one-sie?)

37. Blatant patent abuse

This is painful for me to admit.
Normally I love anything in patent leather, and I mean anything.
But I have an issue with this bag.
Sit close now...
This bag is virtually apologising for itself.
I mean look at that mouth - and if you could understand its muffled Pelle dialect you would hear it yelling "Im sorry"
Its like an enchanted bin liner from H. R. Puff n Stuff for God sake.
It may well be the straw that broke the Camel totes back .... I may be over my addiction to black patent leather.
Stay tuned.

36. Woe be tide

Ive got a lot of ground to cover with this one.
You may have noticed that its more about the story than the bag sometimes, well I think Im going to have to use dot points for this beauty.
Lets start at the very beginning (a very good place to start)
Im at the Queer Screen short film festival thingy Awards @ Angel Place Recital Hall when it swims towards me, hooked over someones shoulder.
Is it a Carp or a very large Goldfish .... more importantly is it a handbag.
Yes, praise be!
This little lady thought "tonight Im going to carry the large, bright orange, lifelike (albeit unhappy looking) fish bag"
Thank you Jesus.
I got excited and fired up the Iphone. She was moving quickly and there was NO WAY I was going to miss this one, so I had to ask her.
Its a first ... I asked a complete stranger if I could photograph their handbag. It came as no surprise to her that I wanted a photo and she told me that her girlfriends name was Goldfish (we're not going to go there) and that was why she was carrying it (we're not going to go there)
Ha .... like she needed a reason.
Here comes the quandary part: What shoes do you wear with a bright orange goldfish handbag?
She chose blue.
Im not sure I agree with her choice of shoes, but then again I was still not quite sure about her choice of handbag, whose to say she shouldn't have attempted a pair of croc loafers (keeping with the aquatic theme) or even gone quirky with some orange Havaianas to compliment said fish bag ... this was a unique situation and called for an open mind.
She swam off into the crowd and we watched the short films.
Unfortunately I abandoned the dot point idea earlier and now I fear I may be rambling, but there is more meat in this sandwich if you stick with me.
After the show we all (I guess about 500 people) gathered in the foyer for champagne and things, it was absolutely bucketing down outside so we were all happily stuck quaffing free champagne and chatting.
Now the woe be tide part, the rain was so torrential that a wall of water came flooding down Angel place and washed through the front doors of the theatre.
Within minutes the whole foyer was 20cm deep in rain water, I rolled my jeans up and took my shoes off ... everyone did the same or headed for higher ground on the staircase.

It was magic.
Heaven.
We had 2 or 3 more drinks and enjoyed the floor show. I had all but forgotten the goldfish handbag at this time as we paddled and sipped our beverages amongst the watery chaos.
And, not unlike the song from the Lion King: The Circle of Life.
here ends the story.
Fish gotta swim.

35. M J

I just like the initials MJ.
No it wasn't a Michael Jackson sighting that inspired me to post this loud purple bag .... but rather Marc Jacobs.
At the beach again last week (Ive papped a few note worthy bags there recently) I stood in coffee line behind this vibrant mountain of nylon.
It looked like a ski parka was eating her right arm and shoulder.
And at Bondi, you never know where people are from ... I mean she could have just stepped of a plane from Iceland, for all I knew and, just as she arrived at North Bondi, realised it wasn't ski weather.
Anyway ... apparently its a bag.
Im a BIG fan of Marc Jacobs, I think he has a wonderfully simple and sophisticated design aesthetic.
Commercial and luxurious at the same time, savvy and sexy and smart (I mean smart in the head, not like "smart" the way 99 looks on Get Smart)
Ive kinda lost my train of thought with this one.
I need to get back into the coffee line.
Ciao.