WINTOUR&GUINNESS ONE TO WATCH: FEIT

Ever heard of Tull Price? If not well where have you been hiding? Under a rock? Price was the man that launched Royal Elastics and is currently the president and creative director of Rag & Bone Footwear. In his spare time, and yes I am wondering where the hell he finds this 'spare time' he has along with his brother Josh created a sustainable brand which they named Feit. Hikers, slippers, leather wallet and other pieces such as ipad cases have been designed and handmade by master craftsmen using all natural materials. Not currently stocked in Australia, the brand can be found at one of my favourite stores, Dover Street Market in London.

Check out the Feit website here for more information.

WINTOUR&GUINNESS: MONTBLANC TEAMS UP WITH UNICEF FOR THE SIGNATURE FOR GOOD COLLECTION 2013

Education is a fundamental human right and an important asset for any young person and our upcoming generations. The new Signature For Good Collection from  Luxury brand Montlanc, with its symbolic brick motif, is designed to make a valuable and lasting contribution towards helping children learn how to read and write across the world.

Each piece of the collection has an individual number and by registering that number, one is able to monitor the progress of the initiative and learn how UNICEF is improving educational opportunities for children around the world. By purchasing any piece from the collection, you are making a valuable contribution towards building a better future, just like the motif along with Montblanc and UNICEF you are helping to brighten the lives of children, one by one or brick by brick.

For every piece in the Signature For Good collection sold between the first of March 2013 and the 31st March next year, Montblanc will donate a part of its proceeds to support the UNICEF education programme.

The new Signature For Good Collection builds on the brands heritage and presents unique versions of the platinum-plated LeGrand and Classique, each as a fountain pen, roller ball and ballpoint pen. A blue Sapphire, echoing the colour of the UNICEF brand can be found on the cap of the pen, whilst a finely engraved symbolic brick motif pays tribute to the charitable initiative.

The jewellery collection was created using stainless steel and is made up of reversible cufflinks, bangles and key rings, once again echoing the brick motif which runs through the collection.

My favorite and I expect the same for many is the Signature For Good leather collection. Black Saffiano leather is used meticulously and each piece is produced by their master atelier in Italy. With its impeccable details, the collection is made up of a pen pouch, a wallet with a pocket book holder, a business card holder, a notebook and my favourite the notebook with its zip feature and inside the exclusive Signature For Good brick lining.

For those wanting to know a bit more about this amazing collaboration between Montblanc and UNICEF, check out Montblanc's website here.

WINTOUR&GUINNES: HELLO WINTER, I THINK ITS TIME I MAKE MY WAY TO MARCS AND GET MYSELF A COAT

If like me and you are a lover of Australian fashion and addicted to Instagram you need to follow Luke Scott who is the menswear designer for one of my favourite Australian labels MARCS. Now unlike Mr. Scott I am not in the possession of a model like body so I find it hard/awkward to wear some of their really fitted shirts and tops but I love their coats this season and luckily for me this week they are offering $100 off all of their winter coats. So have a look below, choose your personal fave and make your way to MARCS now.

For more information check out the MARCS website at www.marcs.com.au

WINTOUR&GUINNESS: MODEL OF THE MOMENT KATE UPTON COVERS AMERICAN VOGUE'S JUNE ISSUE

Kate Upton has scored her first ever US Vogue cover, posing in a Dolce & Gabbana bodysuit for the June 2013 issue. The 20-year-old model was photographed for the magazine by Mario Testino and her accompanying editorial sticks to an All-American Girl theme. Check it out now.

WINTOUR&GUINNESS: JUST AN AVERAGE WEDNESDAY EVENING TALKING FASHION, ART & INTERIORS WITH MEGAN HESS

The summer is officially done and dusted and the coldness of the autumn months arrived just in time for my evening with Megan Hess. Hopping on the tram after a day in the office, I wrapped myself up in my All Saints pea coat which until last week was hidden in the back of my wardrobe. Making my way towards The Willows venue on St. Kilda Road, I meet my good friend Lynne for a quick pre-event drink at Balencea, where I tasted for the first time a Kir Royale, which is a cocktail of champagne and chambord; a delicious raspberry flavoured liqueur. Throwing on our scarves and coats once again after our drink we made our way to the event eager to meet the lovely lady herself and to hear the amazing stories behind some of her most famous works.

 

Each and every one of us was there that night to meet Megan, to understand the many influences behind her new book Fashion House and to listen to her discuss the journey in which she took to get to where she is today. And if there was any doubt as to how successful Hess has become - one only has to look at the long list of very high-profile clients she works with regularly. Chanel, Laduree, Hermes, Tiffany & Co. and Bergdorf Goodman, the list goes on and on. With everyone sipping on Champagne, the wait staff walked the room with delicious canapes. Rare roast beef on a crispy potato cake and the buffalo mozzarella and tomato bruschetta being two of my personal favourites.

Making our way around the room we meet some lovely people including the fashion loving Lisa & Lisa, who I have been following on Instagram lately and who are big fans of Hess and her work. Throughout the evening they showed me some special pieces they have been collecting of Megans, including books, bags and gift cards from a trip to Bloomingdales, all stamped with Megans signature illustrations.

 Making our way from the main hall into the conservatory, we took our seats eager for the talk to begin. With an impressive introduction courtesy of the evenings MC Sally Williams, Hess was greeted with a rapturous response from the crowd. There was no waiting around as Williams and Hess began their conversation delving deep into Hess' past. Discussing her time living in London, the crowd were told of her love of drawing in her spare time while she worked in graphic design and how she persuaded her boss' at Liberty London to allow her to illustrate their catalogue rather than commissioning another illustrator. With those initial illustrations being a huge success, this resulted in more and more illustrating for Liberty. It was after some of her work was published in British ELLE and Vogue Italia that Candice Bushnell's publishers got in contact. The rest they say is history.

 

 Throughout the talk we learned about some of Hess' girl crushes. These included the golden girls of the 50's and 60's such as Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren and modern icons of fashion such as DVF, Tom Ford and Tamara Mellon. We also learned about Hess' trip to New York to Montblanc's headquarters where Hess was one of the few people to ever have their own Montblanc pen created. Sitting down using a piece of technology which Hess described as something NASA might own - Montblanc were able to create a pen that meets the needs of Hess when drawing. The way she holds the pen, the amount of pressure she applies to the paper - these factors all came together to create a pen that Hess' aptly named Monty. Being that there is only one Monty in the world, one could see how nervous Hess was to leave the pen lying around. What excited Hess even more so was that she was in excellent company when it came to getting her own personalised pen. Its turns out both Bill Gates and Johnny Depp have had their own pens produced by Montblanc.

 

The evening ended with a brief questions and answers round where Hess was asked about whether she would ever like to live in New York since the majority of her clients are overseas and if she would ever produce her own clothing line. The answer to both were a no. But one can never be so certain. With a line of home furnishings, stationary and scarves being added to her line of products this year - Megan Hess is a brand that I see continuing to grow over the next couple of years.

 

One could almost say that she will never stop going until she becomes as big as the person that initially inspired her interest in drawing, the Russian painter Romain de Tirtoff. 

 

I for one, certainly hope so.

 

Make sure to check out Fashion House as well as the Fashion House stationary range at your local bookstore as well as online at www.meganhess.com 

WINTOUR&GUINNESS: THE TELEGRAPHS LESSONS FROM THE STYLISH PIECE ON SOPHIE DAHL

This week see's a great article by The Telegraph in London about Sophie Dahl on her style evolution, her career to date and her most controversial moment in fashion. The entire piece can be found here but below is just a few key snippets for all those Sophie Dahls fans.

Heels or flats? Flats. I love ballet shoes from Capezio. They're like respectable slippers

  Favoritejeans: Skinnies from Topshop and when I'm going posh, Citizens of Humanity

Diamonds or lipstick? Both, but these days I go easy on the red lippy otherwise it looks too dolly

Hot date fallback: It would still be Versace. It's just impeccably cut. Wear it with poker-straight hair and it's classic Versace, but tone it down with flats and it's timeless

Can't get by without… Rigby&Peller. The best underwear ever

Your daughters Lyra and Margot's style? They're only two and seven weeks, but it's probably Enid Blyton meets Picasso. I like JoJo Maman Bébé

Every home should have… Books, pictures, clutter. The first time I went to Jamie's flat I knew we were a match because he had all of the above

WINTOUR&GUINNESS: GEORGIA MAY JAGGER JOINS JERRY HALL FOR SUNGLASS HUT MOTHER'S DAY CAMPAIGN

Top model Georgia May Jagger teams up with her famous mom Jerry Hall for the new Mother’s Day campaign from Sunglass Hut. With Mother’s Day just around the corner, the duo’s fun and loving portraits couldn’t come at a better time. Looking all smiles, Georgia and Jerry both wear black ensembles with cat-eye frames from Sunglass Hut for Matt Irwin’s colorful photographs.