A Game

This is probably my favourite way to keep myself entertained, if you're in a friends house and they leave you alone in their room then use that time to put on as many of their clothes as possible. Catherine has a picture of me wearing all the scarves she owns and these here pictures are what happened when our friend Saoirse left us alone and drunk in the hotel room on our recent trip to Antwerp.
I think Catherine might have won, she look s like she's got a few layers on me.
We're working on a revised version of the game for our trip to the Kildare shopping village place for the next FBB.

Edit: here is the very funny picture of when Lillian first played this game.

It's like one mind

A while back I was talking about the LEGO accessories I'd made for December's TAC, not too long after Colin over at Trendspot was blogging about the legendary toys and now it's turned up on the coolhunter. Lanvin used a lego gun in their campaign.

Since I lost my casio in an extreme haze of sleepiness I'm currently watchless and if LEGO would deliver this watch to Ireland (seems its currently unavailable for the area) I would have got it but it seems I'm going to have to continue to rely on my phone for the time being.
They've also started making camera's, usb keys and mp3 players, apparently theres also going to be LEGO ghetto blasters fairly soon.I forsee a summer full of LEGO, possibly even sunglasses if I get the time to experiment a bit. Although I fear the kids who dress like they're in skins might grab hold of this one and run with it, therefore ruining it for everyone else.

Bags are better

Since the government introduced the plastic bag levy back in 2002, canvas bags have emerged as probably the most fashionable way of carrying your shopping. They also make a wonderful alternative to band t-shirts for us non-t-shirt wearing folk.

Dirty Projectors:



I bought this bag for a fiver at one of their gigs last year. Unfortunately i don't have a photo of it because Anna has stolen it from me. But, this is the picture that's on it, from their Slaves' Graves and Ballads album.

Antwerp Museum of Contemporary Art:



I love this bag because it is so clever. I got it in the very average Antwerp Museum of Contemporary Art when we were there in January. Another bargain at just €3.

Nokia Trends Lab:



I got this when i was in Berlin. They screen printed it for me right then and there, and then gave me some free beer. That was a good day.

And a few i made myself...

Radiohead:



This illustration is from the sleeve of Amnesiac, i know the photo isn't the best but i can't find the bag anywhere. Also, im not at a rubbish dump in this photo, it was an exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

Why?:



Their lyrics are perfect for putting on bags, i made this elephant eyelash bag for when they played back in April and im thinking about doing a Vowels Part 2 one as well using the alphabet people. Do anyone remember them? I couldn't find them anywhere on the internet, they seem to have modernised how kids learn the alphabet, what a pity.

Cat

Fashionable Animals

This evening i will be preparing my costume for Tuesday's T.A.C. Normally i don't go all out for T.A.C. for the simple reason that it is on a Tuesday night and it's just not far enough into the week to be thinking about having a laugh. However i will make an exception this week as it will probably be the last time im out for some time - im in fourth year and im also broke.

The theme is animal rave so after some discussion with Lillian i have decided to go as a "ravin cat". Lil bought me an amazing gymnastics leotard a while back for an even more amazing €1 which i have been saving for a special occasion as it's not exactly something you'd be wearing to college.

I am also making myself a new collar to wear with my leotard and as i already have a pair of cat ears and a tail im pretty much sorted.

Some nice black satin.

Bit of work on the sewing machine.

Twenty minutes, some ribbon and a piece of elastic later, i have myself a lovely new collar.

I think that perhaps i will need some red and black face paint to bring the whole look together.

Cat

Note: We used to sell these collars at the Car Boot Sale so if you would like one of your own get in contact and we will rustle one up for a very small fee.

A little bit about you : South Korea

When we first set up this blog, we honestly didn't think anyone would be bothered reading it. However, it turns out we were wrong. A couple of weeks ago we got Google analytics and one of my favourite things to do is go to the map and see where all our lovely readers come from. So, this little post will be about the stylish people from around the world who happen to read Offshoot.

Hello Seoul!

I took a liking to the South Korean capital after i saw on StreetPeeper how incredibly stylish they are there. This is a city with the second largest metropolitan area population in the world and therefore a much higher proportion of stylish kids than many other places.

Photos from StreetPeeper

There is a Vogue especially for Korea, and Seoul fashion week. I was checking out a few of the designers that showed at SS/09 Fashion Week on Dazed Digital and was particularly impressed by Lee Younghee, and this photo. She uses a lot of Korean silk and also shows in Paris.

There is also The Seoul Fashion Center which was set up in 200o to help establish the city as a global fashion capital. Seoul was also the location for the 2005 Korean Big Women Fashion Show. An article in the International Herald Tribune details the pressures on Korean women to conform to Western beauty standards. Some of the women who took part in the show said that they had been discriminated against by employers because of their weight as well as being verbally abused in the street.

Cat

A man's opinion

Here at offshoot we love fairly outrageous outfits. I hope to look back in ten years and cry at how ridiculous I looked, otherwise, I think you're just not doing it right. But sometimes we wonder what the other side think of how silly we look and the outfits we love. There are probably many ways of finding this out-hypnosis, studying eye movements, body language etc, but instead we just decided to ask.

We took a photo from the Facehunter and emailed it around to a few of the lads, just too see what they thought, and it is quite amazing what they came up with...

Our mate Sean: "it looks to me like her head's poking out of a chocolate ice-cream cone which has grown a curious fuzzy mould, that or she's just fabulous - who can tell?"

So she went from this;

To this;

"Photograph for a fashion magazine..."

We are quite excited to see today that we've made it into The Dinner Jacket, a quite nice Canadian e-zine. They have a little photo feature about Dublin street style. We were photographed by the girls at Fashion Filosofy with our fellow blogger's at the 7th Fashion Blogger's Brunch.

I am wearing: Black Benneton jacket, Hermes scarf, red hand-made skirt, Jonathan Aston socks, brogues from Schuh and hat from River Island.
Lillian is wearing: Jacket from Free 'P' Star Paris, dress from Asos, shirt from Urban Outfitters, double sided tartan hood hand-made and brogues from Topshop.

Cat

Back to Ballet

So, normally i don't really do New Years resolutions, but this year i decided to finally go back to ballet. I did 10 years almost 9 years ago and i always regretted leaving. But now that im back, its time to update my selection of leotards. The girl beside me last week was wearing an entirely new outfit so i felt a bit shabby in the leotard ive had since i was 13.

Top of the list is this lovely 5th Avenue Shoe Repair leotard, pricey but very lovely. It's from the new collection which you can see here.

Then there is American Apparel, which is opening its first store in Dublin at the end of March. Now i wouldn't normally be considering AA, because it's a bleedin rip-off these days but they have started doing a three pack of leotards for €63, which is pretty good.

I also adore these black teaching pumps from Dance World. I couldn't wear these to class but since we've been having such an extreme winter im optimistic that it won't rain for the entire summer this year so i think ill wear them with a leotard and these amazing pants that im gonna make.

I love how 80's pattern illustrations always are. This one is from Vogue patterns. Im not mad on the check but i do think they could be quite cool made a little shorter and in a vertical black and white stripe.


A trip to Dance World really is in order. Once ive purchased an entirely new dancing wardrobe all ill have to do is practise.

Cat

The perfect man

It's very close to Valentines day and so I started to think of the man, the only man, the best man ever, David Byrne. Ever since I saw his dancing, oh his wonderful dancing in Stop Making Sense I've been infatuated. Not only is he a great dancer but in the inlay for the soundtrack to Stop Making Sense is some of the best fashion advice I've ever heard,' people will remember you better if you always wear the same outfit', he also knows that if you always wear a giant suit people will notice.
Yes it looks a tad ridiculous, but thats really why its so brilliant.
I'll just have to wait until he plays in the National Concert Hall in April to make my move.

YSL unisex line

That's right Stefano Pilati is launching the first unisex line which was announced a little while ago, but now there are pictures. Perhaps it is a little less odd seeing that the collection is coming from YSL the creator of le smoking tux, the ultimate in androgyny. From today until 21st of February you can buy the line in a pop up store in New York. If like me you won't be crossing the Atlantic any time soon you'll just have to imagine how great your life could have been if you had only had that trench coat, or that suit.



Now I know this is just in time for Valentines day and if I were to see a couple wearing matching outfits I might actually throw up. I have no doubt that some horribly annoying fashiony type couple will be strutting around New York tomorrow in their matching suits generally being shit people. I have major problems with couples dressing alike ( it happens often enough unintentionally without starting lines for that specific function, just like that French line Couples don't like that at all). So hopefully if you do have the chance to snap up some of the beautiful clothes from YSL that just so happen to be unisex you'll have the good sense to make sure that your fella doesn't buy the matching blazer.

Dane to be different

Not too long ago I had my heart set on a year away in Denmark, that was until college decided that they didn't want me to have any fun and that I had to stay in dirrty Dublin. I had almost forgotten what could have been and resigned myself to this tiny tiny city when I saw the pictures from Copenhagen's  fashion week and bam the wound was like new. In particular Louise Amstrup  caught my eye. She is usually based in London and this was the first time she showed in her native country. If theres one thing I'm a sucker for it's a nice jacket and I'm loving her structural yet somewhat slouchy pieces (odd combo)

Saturdays in the snow

We don't normally do early mornings here at Offshoot but we made an exception on Saturday to make our way through the snow to The Clarence for some brekie at the 7th Fashion Bloggers' Brunch. And a delicious breakfast it was at that. Champagne and mini-pastries, oh my!

After brunch myself ad Lillian went up to Adam's on Stephens Green for the viewing of the late Anne Bullitts fabulous wardrobe. It was an amazing sight, a room filled with Lanvin, Dior, Hermès, Chloe and Ungaro. I fell in love with a beautiful black and cream silk evening dress with three quarter length sleeves and a lovely mint green bow. We didn't head down to the auction on Sunday because I think we both knew it would be far too dangerous for our purses.

It's a terrible photo but you get the idea.

It ended up going for €90 and the sale ended up making over €70,000 for Crumlin Childrens Hospital helped along by the black crocodile Hermes Birkin which sold for €7,000. Im actually seething with anger at myself for not going because some of the pieces, including Lanvin went for as little as €10 and an Ungaro silk suit for a fiver. Biggest fashion mistake of my life!

Cat

So why were you in Paris?

Actually wasn't a question we were asked too much, people seemed to be more confused about the trip to Antwerp. It was however just assumed we were heading that way for men's fashion week, unfortunately were not organised enough bloggers quite yet and didn't realise we'd been in Paris for men's fashion week till it was a little too late. Our plan of heading down to one of the shows and using our feminine charms to blag our way in remained but a plan because there was just too much shopping to be done. The closest we got to experiencing the buzz around fashion shows was to stand outside the doors of the Maison Martin Margiela office (which just so happened to be next door to our friend's apartment), while a bunch of very fashiony looking Parisians ran in and out getting ready for the show.

So instead of giving an insightful look at the new collections I've decided to be terribly broad and pretty much just say what everyone else is thinking, stop wearing skinny jeans and put on a real pair of pants. It's a return to classic sophistication(or well it seems to be after reading an article in the financial times), which I'm very happy about. It's terrible to generalise a whole city but I'll do it anyway, for me the men in Antwerp were probably the most well dressed I've ever seen. It was all so casual but so well put together, really simple things like how they wore their scarves (just thrown over their shoulder's at the bar, I almost went up to one guy to find out how he had managed to tie his scarf in such a fantastic way), it was kind of like a whole city full of designers. Again this is terribly general but I find in Paris the guys try a little too hard, if you've decided that you want to be cool and indie thats all well and good but at least try and make it look like you didn't try (that was a very poorly constructed sentence but hopefully you get the point).
So to summarise hopefully by Autumn men will be back to wearing real pants and be done with those skinny jeans.

Join the Dots

So, judging a book by its cover is generally viewed as a bad idea. However, when i picked The Accidental by Ali Smith from a pile of books my mom bought, id by lying if said i didn't just want to read it because it had a nice cover. But, turns out that she is a great writer and i absolutely adored this book.

Then, when i was doing some blog browsing on my favourite french blog, the cherry blossom girl, i happened upon some really great images from Lula magazine, and i found this picture again on a double page spread. Lula was set up by ex-Vogue writer Leith Clark and is fashion, film and art all rolled into one. It's a great place to find dreamy shoots. I have only ever accessed it online but if anyone knows where i might be able to find it in Dublin, do please let me know.

The photographer is William Eggleston. Who i now also adore. Lots of great 70's prints. Love love love. He's an American photographer who is apparently credited with securing recognition for colour photography as a legitimate artistic medium to display in art galleries.

So, always judge a book by it's cover. You'll be amazed what you might learn from it.

Cat

What Catherine bought...

Not that much unfortunately. I was restricted by my very tight budget.

Giles Deacon silk top

From New Look on Meir (the main shopping street in Antwerp), it was €50 and i got it for just €15.

Fur collar

From Sussies on Oude Koornmarkt for just €15.

Bow tie

From Episode for a mere €3.

Black playsuit

My new favourite item of clothing. It looks like a tuxedo jacket but is actually a playsuit. Just €20 from Woch Dom, 72 rue Condorcet, 75009, Paris.

Cat

Holidays

So we're back from our holliers. Four days in Antwerp followed by three in Paris. Why Antwerp? Well, it is the diamond capital of Europe and a haven for fashion royalty. So, i think why the hell not is a more appropriate question.

Lillian and I love shopping holidays. There is nothing more satisfying than returning home with an entirely new wardrobe. And so off we went to spend out four nights in a wonderful hotel that was formerly a cardinals residence. Tres posh.

The lovely dining room where we enjoyed our breakfast. I most certainly recommend this place if anyone is planning a trip to Antwerp. It is so reasonable and the owners are just lovely, even if they do think we're a bit bonkers. Rubenshof.

Shopping la la la...

Bonaventura, Aalmoezenierstraat 38

A tiny little handbag shop tucked away on a very unassuming street in the Het Zuid. This place is perfection, Salvatore Ferragamo for €8, yes please. Everything here was in great condition too.

Labels Inc, Aalmoezenierstraat 4

Marc Jacobs €80 and YSL €90

Absolutely incredible. Comme des Garcons jacket for €100, YSL shoes for €90 everything in mint condition, if you go to just one shop in Antwerp, let this be it. Lil bought a great Comme des Garcons purple sweater vest with lovely flower detailing. Website.

Sussies, Oude Koornmarkt 69

Nice pieces, but overpriced.

Episode, Steenhouwersvest 34a

Reminds me of the kind of vintage you find in Camden. Big shop, and the most amazing box of bow ties ive ever seen. Website.

Walter, St.Antoniusstraat 12

Its in an old car park. Go just to see it. And if you have loads of money, go and spend it all here. Website.

Belchique, Kloosterstraat 177

Moschino Cheap and Chic skirt €27, Pierre Hardy shoes €100, Chanel tweed jacket €300. Must i say more?

Mode Museum shop, Nationalestraat 28

Such a great space, but such boring clothes...

We also went to the Maison Martin Margiela exhibition in the Mode Museum which was brillers. And, we discovered that their offices were just two doors down from our accommodation in Paris. Seeing a Margiela clad worker emerge through the front door was quite amazing. Website.

Other treats include Bistro Theo, Nationalestraat 33, it's a cafe in the middle of a Camper shoe shop. Delicious sandwiches and cute little mini waffles with your coffee.

And the Antwerp handjes. Biscuits and chocolates in the shape of a hand. The story goes that a giant used to guard the river and would chop off the hands of those who tried to cross without paying the toll. But thankfully a Roman soldier came along and chopped off the giants hand and threw it into the river. So, according to the legend, the city was named after this, from the Dutch hand (as in English) and werpen (English: throw).

Something else that must not be overlooked food wise in Antwerp is their double fried chips. They're not for the health conscious but are quite a big deal in Belgium. We went to Haute Frituur, posh chips in Vlaamse Kaai. Yum yum.

Offshoot tip: Go in January. I don't know if it's the recession but the sales in Antwerp really were some of the best ive ever seen.

Cat