Wedding Fever

Paula Yates marries Bob Geldof in 1986. Spot the rockers in the wedding party!

My sister, Banana meet-Cute is staying with me from Melbourne and is quite the royalist, so we are preparing for the royal wedding on Friday night. When I say prepare, I mean fully stocked with bubbly (I'm thinking Prosecco) and have requested wedding themed cup-cakes, as she is quite the baker. I'm not really into the royal family, was never interested in Diana (although did watch her wedding in 1982 - only because I was promised Charles & Di chocolates) - but lately I've been caught up in the "Who will Kate wear?" hoopla. My personal fave would be Alexander McQueen, but I'm thinking McQueen may be too edgy. Stella? I have a feeling Kate will accentuate those shoulders and go strapless, bias cut or drop waist in a fairly tailored design - mind you Bruce Oldfield has said that you can't go sleeveless in Westminster Abbey? "'It will have sleeves, it has to have sleeves. You can't walk down Westminster Abbey in a strapless dress. It just wouldn't happen. It has to suit the grandeur of that aisle, it's enormous." Oh well - time will tell! More importantly - who will KATE MOSS be wearing next month? Now that Galliano is vetoed....In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite wedding dresses of all time.

Unmarried Helena Bonham Carter & Tim Burton in a fantasy wedding shot,

from Vivienne Westwood's book 'Vivienne Westwood Opus'



Dita Von Teese marries Marilyn Manson Goth-style in electric violet Vivienne Westwood, 2005 (Milliner Stephen Jones is holding her train).



A classic. Bianca Jagger marries Mick Jagger in a YSL suit. The jacket (and lack of a shirt caused quite the stir back in 1971



Gwen Stefani in Avant Garde, pink dip-dyed Galliano. This dress blew me away, it is so Gwen, and I love the structure and the colour.

Rock star wedding! The inimitable Paula Yates marries Bob Geldof at 26 in a blo0d-red satin dress, a gift from Jasper Conran. I met her when I was working at Harrods - she seemed very shy, very sweet.

Carolyn Besette Kennedy marries JFK Jnr in Narcisco Rodriguez in 1996- a classic in bias cut cool. This was one of my favourites and captured the zeitgeist of 90's minimalism and fitted tailoring.

Carrie Bradshaw in Westwood for the long awaited wedding to Big. If only the makeup and hair was softer though. the red lips & scraped back hair look too harsh.



Another rock star wedding. I love Pearl Lowe. Here she is marrying Danny Goffey with gorgeous Daisy Lowe. look at that cake! Dark chocolate strewn with rose petals, mmm.



Pammy and Tommy get hitched in Cancun in 1995 within days of meeting, after Tommy stalked Pam and followed her to Cancun where she was working on a shoot. I'm sorry but I love that she got hitched in a white bikini - Rock & roll!

Kate Moss for LV & other Fashion Spectacles

My favourite, Kate Moss caused a mini furor when she surprised guests at Marc Jacob's Louis Vuitton show in Paris this week, appearing on the catwalk in leather gloves and hot pants, smoking a cigarette. Kate rarely graces the catwalks these days so her appearance, strutting out in her custom LV outfit was a treat for the glitterati - just maybe not for those who adhere to the French law of no smoking inside public buildings.

Kate Moss for Louis Vuitton

This is why I love Marc Jacobs - he loves a stunt (Victoria Beckham in an over sized shopping bag, anyone?) With two of fashion's greatest showmen out of the picture (the late, great Alexander McQueen and John Galliano), we need all the surprises and stunts we can get! One of my favourite McQueen fashion show moments was his stunning Kate Moss hologram, screened at a show in 2006.

Alexander McQueen Fall 2006 Ready to Wear

Lady Gaga was Alexander's muse and it was fabulous to see her making her catwalk debut, growling and gurning (and also smoking!) for Thierry Mugler, also at Paris Fashion Week. The spectacle was a bit of a pick-me-up for the fashion crowd following the news of Galliano-gate. (NEWSFLASH - Ricardo Tisci from Givenchy is being touted on the social media circuit as the replacement for John Galliano as Head Designer at Dior! Official confirmation pending...)

Lady Gaga and her stylist Nicola Formichetti during and after the show

Although, we also still have the wonderfully irreverent Jean Paul Gaultier, who used to be dubbed the Enfant Terrible of fashion. He was the one who had Madonna walk his catwalk topless and invented her conical bras.

Madonna and John Paul Gaultier, 1992

JPG was also in the media recently for his inspired move of having beautiful Aussie/Croatian model Andrej Pejic walk in both his Men's and Women's Spring 2011 collections. Andrej is also flaunting a cigarette! Must've been the big trend in Paris this Fashion week!

Andrej Pejic for John Paul Gaultier, Spring 2011

And last but not least, we can't forget another Enfant Terrible of fashion, the British designer Vivienne Westwoood - Queen Viv. Having Pamela Anderson strut her runway at Paris Fashion Week in 2009 was inspired! In a way, you can see how the two have struck up a friendship - strong, kooky, crazy chicks!

Pammy for Vivienne Westwood, 2009

Big Hair!

Aaah, big hair. I’ve always been a fan, be it unintentionally with my 80’s poodle-perm, or by getting my ex 60’s model Mother backcombing my locks. I recall one day smooshing up my bedraggled locks and remarking to boyfriend “I love the just got out of bed look”. He replied with “I love the just got in to bed look.” Ha! I was lucky enough to see Alison Mosshart live at the Dead Weather last week, and she was rocking the coolest long ink-black shag which flew about as she convulsed to the music. And my head full of ‘Dust it’, it survived the heady, humid sweaty environs of the gig, plus no small amount of head thrashing. Brilliant. (Love this photo of Alison Mosshart by Shawn Brackbill)

However, as long and wavy as my hair gets – it does not like to be big. It likes to lie flat to my scalp, and the oilies don’t help. So when I discovered dry hair powder, I was elated! Not so elated when I saw the Bumble and Bumble version for around $80 at Mecca. But very excited to find Batiste dry shampoo for $16 at the local chemist. Rub into the roots and soak up the oil, puff up your hair the bottles say. Mop up oil they do like a charm. Make big hair, they do not. Thus, I was super excited when my friend and stylist supremo introduced me to’ Back combing in a bottle’ – Osis ‘Dust it’, the most amaaaazing product! Finally, without pfaffing about with rollers that don’t work, back combing, teasing & hair-spraying that drops out at the hint of a breathe of wind or turns into a lop sided crunchy helmet– I can achieve ROCK STAR HAIR!

Granted, it feels GROSS. I bit like a mélange of wax and a and, a rather unpleasant gritty feeling on your scalp. But by golly, the stuff works. I sprinkle a dusting into my scalp, rub it in a bit, poof up the roots and, et voila – big, tousled, just-been-moshing-at-a-rock-gig hair.

Some of my hair idols include Cindy C, who rocked the most impressive barnet throughout the 90's.

Another fave big hair goddess – Pammy. I love Pammy. If anyone perfects that sexy, tousled just-rolled-out-of-be-with-a-rock-star look, it’s Pammy. I don’t know if it is merely back-combing or a clip on, but I love that ‘pouf’ she gets at the top -back of her head, like ‘hair bustle’, if you will. I guess her hair is so fried, a bit of hair spray would convince it to behave anyway you like. (I'm sorry, you may balk at the pic below, but it is a great representation of Pammy's hair at it's disheveled rock chick best - and I love Tommy Lee.)

My latest big hair fave – Madonna in the latest Dolce ads, trussed up as a glam, buxom Italian housewife. Loving that uber sexy just-got-out-of-bed 60’s hair Madge! (Pics from Vanity Fair)