After the longest trip of my life, finally landed in Australia! Yeeeeheee! TTYL! Bisou!

“OH YES!!!”

That’s exactly what I said when Georgie McCourt asked me to do a feature for Australian Vogue. The idea was to take two pages and cover them with a mix of illustrations, photos and texts to give my vision of fashion in Australia.  I love collages like this.  And I also love when I get this much freedom to express myself. It’s a rare gift that I savor each time. So I had a lot of fun with it and fast forward to now and voilà! It’s finally out!

If you read me often, you know how much I loved my trip. The fact that one of the country’s most beautiful magazines has given me the opportunity to once again say how much I looooooved my time there, it’s just so great!

And it gives me the chance to come back to a subject that I didn’t get to talk about much when I was there. I was thinking a lot less about it back then as opposed to now when the thermometer just keeps going up and up, but here…

Beach style! Swimsuits! Australians go the beach all year round and so for them, it’s a real culture and the swimsuits have found their way into all the runway shows. That’s how I saw swimwear from a brand I only found out about at Aussie fashion week.

They’re called Zimmermann and their collection of swimsuits I just couldn’t believe. They were just as beautiful as cocktail dresses (check out the photo above, drawing on top). It brought back my desire to wear one-pieces. If you would have told me that a few months back, no way I would’ve believed you.

But hey, when I was there, didn’t see too many one-pieces on the beach, ha! And just for full disclosure, I haven’t figured out WHATSOEVER what I’ll be wearing on the beach this summer.

Probably just like every other year, I won’t be able to find anything and then, depressed, I’ll tell myself that I’ll find something later and then in the end, I’ll buy whatever I can find at the beach shop for ten-times what I should’ve paid and three sizes too big three minutes before jumping in the water.

So if for no other reason, I have to go back to Australia to 1/ see if the one-piece trend caught on, 2/ buy some Zimmermann suits, and 3/ go give big hugs to everyone over at Vogue! Yep. Definitely essential.

Thank you to Clarice for the pictures of the magazine. You can also see more of them on her blog. And a big thank you as well to my dear Tim, my friend and ally who’s lost in the depths of the U.S., still helping me every day to put my words into English.

Big hugs! Bonne journée! If you happen to see the perfect bathing suit somewhere, give me the tip, deal? What do you think, to one-piece or not to one-piece?

And here is actually THE question… With a one-piece, do you have to roll it down to tan?

Translation : Tim Sullivan

When Schéhérazade first took this necklace out of her jewelry box, I was taken with a wave of nostalgia that in all honesty left me with the taste of gin and tonic. It reminded me of the Bulgari necklace my mom bought for herself back in the 80′s.

It was thick, finely wrought, and never left her neck. I remember seeing it glisten on her tan skin, back when the beach was a scene as glamourous as the nightclubs, where bathing suits were more elaborate than cocktail dresses. For a while now, I’ve been wondering where she left it.

It reminded me of the costume jewelry of Sagan, Deneuve, Carole Bouquet, and more recently, the little flash of genius of stylist Steevie Dance in an editorial for the Australian magazine Russh that has definitely inspired me.

I absolutely have to talk to you again about Russh magazine. I absolutely have to talk to you again about Schéhérazade, about her illustrations, her photos and her soft almond eyes…

Translation : Tim Sullivan

Girls in Australia, they take on autumn with a philosophy.  It never really does get cold anyway.  In the boutiques, sweaters mix it up with swimsuits and sandals.  They pick out a few warmer pieces from a winter wardrobe but wear them with bare legs and caramel skin.

It’s like it’s make-believe winter, just for fun or something.

I love this interseasonal mix but it totally drives me crazy: I’m so jealous!  And here I am, thinking I would come back and find springtime!

Pfff…. Take me back to my Australian autumn!

Translation : Tim Sullivan

In Sydney, I was lucky enough to have dinner next to Heidi and Sarah-Jane, the co-creators of the brand Sass & Bide.  It was a big dinner with lots of invitees, lots of courses and lots of wine.  The kind of dinner that you wonder, when you’re in the middle of applying the last coat of mascara in front of the mirror, exactly what awaits you that night

Which is to say, of course, who... I got lucky.

Sass (Sarah-Jane) and Bide (Heidi) are two vibrant woman, funny, and incredibly warm.  In three minutes I was talking about all my we were talking about everything, from fashion to food to love.

I had already strolled around their boutiques quite a bit.  I like their style.  I like the care they take with their shop windows.  In each one, they have one of their “sculptures,” skulls covered in studs and strass.  They are like miniature cabinets of wonders that catch your eye and guide you toward their strange and sensual world of style.

But what got me the most was their friendship.

A few days later, Sass&Bide celebrated the 10 year anniversary of their brand.  Their closest friends all created a piece of art (Heidi and Sarah-Jane’s is in the first photo, and you can see here, the creations of Kate Moss, Rankin, Daisy Lowe…) which was to be sold in an auction for their charitable project, the collective Shine.

Heidi started giving a speech.  Sarah-Jane next to her, smiling.  We all watched them and it got me thinking…

The creation of a project with two people, it’s a dream come true.  All the joys, the break-downs, the hardships.  I’ve always found it wonderful to work with my friends.

My mind wandered off and I thought of them.  I have a few friends with whom I could go to the edge of the world.  Who I could wake up in the middle of the night to console me, and with whom I could be cracking up laughing in even the darkest of moments, with whom I can have the most extravagant parties or we could just find ourselves simply talking.  Those who piss me off but I love them all the same.  Those who I piss off but who love me even so.  

It’s always just so good to see, a beautiful friendship.

Translation : Tim Sullivan

I’m on the plane and I have the impression that for a few hours now, we’ve been chasing twilight.  Dusk just keeps on keepin’ on, as if we’ve fooled the sun’s path.  

For my last day in Australia, I wanted to go see Jade again.  I asked her if she wanted to meet up at Tusk, seeing as I am completely capable of falling in love with wallpaper with the colors of the sunset.

That was this morning of this never-ending-day I’m still in the midst of living.  And at whatever hour it was, I arrived in Singapore, and don’t even ask me what day it is because I am so completely lost after my 18th Earl Grey.  Actually though, it’s not half-bad of a sensation.    

I miss Australia already.

The distance is good though.  It gives you the chance to take leave.  Long hours on a plane are like a secret alcove where, all alone, disconnected, you can let realty drift away for a while.  Say goodbye, collect your souvenirs, rewind your emotions, and then curl them up into a tight little ball so that they’ll always be available to you, living right there close to your heart.

Translation : Tim Sullivan

Australians, I really like their take on Grunge.

… Aaarrgh but I gotta run!  Big hugs, bonne journée!

… Aaaaah but wait, I forgot to thank you all for the adorable messages you left me for my birthday!  Okay, off we go, and yet another chance to give you all my affection!  Bonne journée!

Translation : Tim Sullivan