Yesterday, I went man shopping.
This doesn't mean I went out and shopped for a man, though it would be nice if that was possible (6ft+ please, dark haired preferably, with infectious sense of humor and love of books).
No, it means that I went into the men's section of the department store where I work and shopped for a guy. Admittedly this 'man' was my Dad, but that didn't lessen the enjoyment.
Guys' clothes have such simplicity and gorgeousness about them.. very few items are fussy, most were beautifually made and had the simple edged lines of coolness (there were a course a lot of fuddy duddy, grandpa inspired items, but I didn't look at them - no offence grandpa).
I ended up buying a gorgeous periwinkle blue tshirt from industrie and a green French Connection scarf, which had a myriad of colours woven through it.. very nice.
That's my Christmas pressies for Dad solved.
Inspiration Item #14
So the Satorialist was in Australia again (unfortunately he skipped Brisbane).
How gorgeous are these outfits?
I was doing some flickr foraging in Grey's Anatomy ad breaks when I stumbled across Lyell. As you can see from the quantity of the photos I was impressed. Very impressed and slightly intoxicatingly in love.
I discovered that Lyell is the lovechild of Emma Fletcher, an Australian designer (yes, I know yet again another brilliant child is spawned from our shores).
Apparently she was inspired by a childhood in Sydney where she was dragged by her mother to an inordinate number of flea markets and antique shops (ok, the article didn't say dragged but 8yr olds aren't that keen on antiques, even abnormally stylish ones). 
Fletcher won the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award last year and used it to fund this collection. Personally I'm also loving the Fall collection of the previous year which heavily dipped into 1920s 'I'm trimming the hedgerows' type elegance (will have to blog later down the track - can't use all the pretty images at once). But if you can't wait have a look at www.fabsugar.com/994358.
Emma Fletcher also owns a small boutique in nyc where she stocks her own designs and rare vintage finds from European labels.
I'm not the only one who's in sweet love with Fletcher's designs. Apparently Michelle Williams has been shopping at the store since 2004. And quote: "Her fans also include like-minded, low-key beauties, such as Natalie Portman and Zooey Deschanel, who sports Lyell in her new movie Gigantic." (www.elle.com/Fashion/Fashion-Spotlight/Lyell).
The label is going into its fifth year and can be found at www.lyellnyc.com.
