Ray of Sunshine

Tights by Mieke Diedeling

Mum and Dad have just returned from holiday and came bearing a ridiculously generous booty of gifts. There were no dodgy souvenirs in sight, just treasures like these unreal tights by Mieke Diedeling.

Hand silk-screen printed they are like a little ray of sunshine - especially when Melbourne's top temperature is struggling to reach double digits!

Take a gander at more of their designs over here.

From 21 Euro, available from Mieke Diedeling.

Swing Me To The Stars

Image: Deezen

Necklace Swing

Swing high.

Swing low.

What could be more poetic that swinging on a necklace?

Made from grey felt balls or oiled beechwood, each Swing Necklace is made to order and is the perfect home accessory. I want need one now!

Starting from US $1,000, available from Sleek Identity.

Found via.

Don't Let It All Unravel

Video: YouTube

A Short Film By Sarah Cox

Sometimes issues like climate change and environmental awareness get ridiculously overcomplicated. And then sometimes a message so perfect in it's simplicity comes along and cuts straight to the chase.

In just two and half minutes, this short film by Sarah Cox will change your perspective. Watch it with your kids. Share it with your friends. If it doesn't inspire you to make urgent changes, then I don't know what will....

Dyed and Gone to Heaven

Images: not tonight darling, i'm washing my hair

Angelo Seminara

These 'do's are seriously blowing my mind. Created by hair stylist extraordinaire, Angelo Seminara, they appear to be the work of a dab hand with a crimper. But look again. Seminara actually dyes the hair with a repeated pattern!

To achieve this look he creates the patterns electronically, and then cuts a stencil by hand. The hair is then secured to a board and the dye painted on to sections with a brush.

Imagine the tie dye version!

More images are over here.

Found via not tonight darling, i'm washing my hair

A Moment of Change

Image: The Age

Change can take your breath away.

Change can make you feel electric with possibilities.

Who knew at the beginning of the week, that bottled up in today would be such a magnificent moment of change.

It’s amazing to think that it has taken Australia until 2010 to have our first female PM. And now that we do, I wait with hope and anticipation to see how the rest of this story unfolds.

My greatest hope is that Julia takes flight and that media coverage doesn’t reduce to obsessive analysis of what she is wearing, her hair colour or the fact that she has chosen not to have children – as we so often see when a female politician gives the boys a run for their money.

Change can be a good thing.

Style Stalker

Image: Naag

Naag

I don't mean to come over all Single White Female but when it comes to Aggy, I'd happily copy anything she wears, watches, listens to or does - except maybe that buzz cut she's currently rocking!

Style stalking Agyness Deyn (and her mates) just got a hell of a lot easier, thanks to Naag, their new site that shares the things they love to do, see and feel while living and hanging out in New York.

Yup. When it comes to Aggy I don't mind being naag-ged morning, noon and night!

Crystal Ball Gazing

Image: Kelly Lynn Jones

Trend Forecasting for 20111

In the latest Good Weekend, there was a brilliant interview with the world's foremost trend forecaster, Li Edelkoort.

In case you missed it, here's a run down of what Edelkoort sees for 2011:

• "Water is the metaphor - fluid - the fluidity of fabric, the drape, even in heavy velvets or corduroy."

• Blues - dark blues, navy and turquoise - will be most important. Other colours of note include grey metallics, and the return of browns, naturals and brick and terracotta.

• "I'm betting on yellow being the new pink. It took 15 years to bring pink to where it is now, which is everywhere, on every product in the world. It will take 15 years for yellow to do the same. But I think, possibly, yellow may become the icon colour of our age."

• When it comes to design materials, "the sharpness of things are going to soften, disappear. There's going to be marbling, mottling, feathering, fluttering. Fabrics and materials want to be three-dimensional."

• In food you will see ingredients blended, steamed, moussed and frothed - "Everything mixing and foaming will be important."

• Perfume will a layered scent in the form of a veil or mist, and eventually will become powdery or talcy.

• In furniture, "it's organics, landscaping interiors with pebbles and rock and boulders. Lots of grey and natural bark. Cocoon chairs, lots of animal representations, lots of skin, hide, timber. Very humble materials: everyting crafted by hand, or machines crafting as if by hand, I call it landscape interiors.

• And finally, for fashion Edelkoort sees the espadrille having a moment and a new category: a half-garment between scarf and waistcoat.

Shoe Babies

Images: ecouterre

Melissa x Vivienne Westwood Collaboration for Kids

Brazilian shoe brand, Melissa, have teamed up with Vivienne Westwood to have babies.

Following the success of their earlier collaborations, they've just launched mini-me versions (minus the heels) for tots. Kitted out with baby-friendly Velcro fastenings and smelling of Melissa's signature bubble gum scent, they are so darn cute - I just pray Suri doesn't get her hoofers in a pair and ruin the romance of it all!

Found via ecouterre

Practicing Failure in Advance

Image: Booooooom

Big changes are coming my way. They make me feel giddy with excitement and also scare the crap out of me!

Over the weekend I came across this excerpt from Seth Godin's latest book, Linchpin:

Anxiety is practicing failure in advance. Anxiety is needless and imaginary. It's fear about fear, fear that means nothing.

I'm going to use this to slay that niggling voice of self-doubt that sometimes gets a bit too loud for comfort...

The Big Picture

Images: Kubideh Kitchen

The Conflict Kitchen

It's easy to underestimate the impact some people have on your life.

My high-school International Studies teacher was one of those people. Instead of following the well-trod path of mediocre, high-school curriculum, he introduced us to the likes of Noam Chomsky and Geoffrey Robertson Q.C. and passionately shared the truth of countries like East Timor and Nicaragua. Every class was a lesson in the big picture.

Another place serving up a good dose of the big picture is The Conflict Kitchen. This take-out restaurant only serves cuisine from countries the United States is in conflict with. The storefront rotates identity every four months to highlight another nation, and each iteration is augmented by events, performances and discussion about the culture, politics and issues at stake for that country.

Images: Kubideh Kitchen

To launch they opened with the Kubideh Kitchen, and are serving up an Iranian menu that has been developed in collaboration with the local Iranian community. The packaging is custom-designed (see above) to include interviews with Iranians on subjects ranging from Iranian food and poetry to the current political turmoil.

How about that for food for thought?

Conflict Kitchen is located at 124 s. Highland Ave, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Desperately Seeking

Images: Los Angeles Times Magazine

Top 50 Personal Ads

Scratch that voyeuristic itch with the Los Angeles Times Magazine's list of Top 50 Personal Ads. They've done all the hard work for you, and scoured their pages for the most amazing, bizarre and flat-out hilarious ads they could find.

Forget 'Greatest Sporting Anthems' or 'Funniest Pranks & Practical Jokes' this is one countdown I wish Bert would do!

Light My Fire

Images: entronica

Vintage Matchbooks

The closest I've ever come to collecting anything was a five day encounter in 1993 with the idea that accumulating matchbooks might be my go. Unfortunately my short attention span meant my collection only ever consisted of two before I tired of the idea.

Even though I didn't get very far with my collection, I've continued to carry a torch for vintage matchbooks - every cover is like a mini pop masterpiece. Take these treasures that were recently unearthed at a NYC flea market. Made by Lion Match USA, these matchbooks are like 'time capsules' that capture the aesthetic of the 1930's.

Are you a collector? What have you had more success than me in amassing?

Heart That's Pounding

Image: Mess and Noise

Sally Seltmann

Our home is always humming with a tune. And this weekend it was Sally Seltmann's latest album, Heart That's Pounding, over and over and over and over...

It's not just Seltmann's lush, luminous sound that I'm so taken with, but also the magical way she threads words together. In fact, it's been said that lyrically this Australian singer-songwriter is like a modern Sylvia Plath - and I don't think that's an exaggeration in the slightest.

This is perfection.

Video: YouTube

Goal!

With the World Cup kicking-off in 12 hours, here's my round up of soccer related shenanigans that have caught my eye.

Dutch World Cup T-Shirts

Image: Neatorama

Get in on the action with these t-shirts created in support of the Dutch team by Bas van de Poel and Daan van Dam. The heads of players from the Dutch National Team are are printed on the underside of the tee, so all you have to do is pull it over your own head when they score and run around like an idiot. Bonus points if you're a girl and brave enough to give it a shot!

Football PostCarden

PostCarden are back with a soccer pitch edition of their wonderfully quirky pop-out cards. Complete with goal posts and a flickable ball, you can grow your own pitch and relive all your favourite glory moments...or fantasise about what should have been!

Wong Wong x Happy Socks World Cup 2010 Collection

Image: hypebeast

New York style collective, Wong Wong have teamed up with Happy Socks to create a World Cup collection. Traditional soccer powerhouses such as Italy, Brazil and Argentina feature in the line-up, however Australia failed to get a guernsey. Hopefully this isn't a bad omen for Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!

Handwriting Envy

Images: Primele

Calligraphy Stamp

I've always had serious handwriting envy of my mum. Every word I write looks like a collection of long, skinny spider legs. Whereas her letters are always jolly, perfectly rounded and satisfying.

I've finally found a way to fake it 'till I make it though! Check out these customised calligraphy stamps from Primele.

Sorry mum, but you've just been pumped from your pedestal!

From US$ 35; available online from Primele's Etsy store.

The Winter Creep

Images: Frank, Food and Me

Frank, Food and Me

I'm trying awfully hard to keep the winter creep at bay. Every morning I start out with the best intentions, but by 10:30 a delectable morsel from Frank, Food and Me is usually calling my name and I become a woman possessed.

I tell myself that since they use heirloom recipes and ingredients from sustainable, local sources; these sweet treats are nice not naughty.

Come and see me in Spring though, and my thighs will tell you whether I can have my cake and eat it too!

Try Frank, Food and Me here.

Love It or Loathe It: Scrunchies

Images: American Apparel

Speaking of Sex and The City, do you remember the episode where Carrie tsk-tsked Jack Berger for giving his leading lady a scrunchie?

Well it seems, Jack might have been onto something. Having graced the ponytails and wrists of most women in the early 90s, it seems the scrunchie is having another moment.

So, will you bust out a side pony and scrunchie double-combo any time soon? Or is it a case of remembering this trend from the first time around and being happy to leave it to 1991?

Update: It seems Scrunchies won't be making a comeback when it comes to you lot, with 79% saying you loathe them!

Trend Spotter: Scrunchies
Love It Loathe It
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Update: It seems Scrunchies