Heads Will Roll!

Sophia Coppola's spectacular biopic of Marie Antoinette divided critics, but they were unanimous on at least one thing - it was a visual masterpiece! The lavish Versailles setting, endless Laduree macaroons and specially-made Christian Louboutins create an aesthetic so pastelly-perfect it (very nearly) brings tears to my eyes. As the late, great and ill-fated Queen of France grew bored of a loveless marriage, she spends like there's no tomorrow leading to a wonderful shopping-and-cakes montage, linked here for your viewing pleasure. Here are a few lovely stills from the film to feast your eyes upon...

Unfortunately, it's not always wholly practical to flounce around in the couture dresses the Dauphin favoured, but we can certainly draw aspects of her look for the every day. The makeup worn in the 17th century court seems to be all about the rouge and lipstick, and I reckon it makes a refreshing change from focusing on your eyes! Apply petal pink blusher lavishly to the apples of your cheeks and a dark, matte cerise lipstick for a royal, Gallic look. Whilst nail varnish wasn't round back then, Marie certainly seems keen on her pastels, so I think she would adore candy colours to make her nails look like mini-macaroons. With all that spare time on her hands, she no doubt had an decadent beauty routine involving plenty of parfum. As for her royal tresses, she liked them high, powdered and extravagantly decorated. 

Barry M nail varnishes in Bright Purple, Mint Green and Pure Turquoise

Bourjois blusher in Lilas D'Or

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Perfume

Bumble and Bumble Hair Powder in White

Hair Band from Charm School Designs on Etsy

''It's not too much, is it?''

Like A Virgin

The Virgin Suicides is Sofia Coppola's first full length feature, and one of my favourite films of all time. It's an almost Grimm-esque fairytale about the five beautiful Lisbon sisters, in the prime of their lives but trapped by their... well, not evil, let's say over-protective, parents. Set in 1970's suburban America, the girls sport some rather lovely, floaty, romantic creations that wouldn't look out of place trotting down the Chloe runway today. Lux, the most rebellious of the sisters, favours high waisted shorts and flowery cheesecloth tops for sunbathing in the garden, and dresses skimpy enough to bring her strict Catholic mother out in sweats! Meanwhile Cecelia, the youngest, prefers to float around in a 1920's wedding dress with the hem ripped off to the knees. And Lux's love interest, the divine Tripp Fontaine, wears some impressively kitsch corduroy suits and paisley shirts, not forgetting his signature aviators to make the girls swoon. 

Along with the costumes, Sofia has thought of everything to really make this film's aesthetic so ethereal. Special lighting techniques ensured the girls hair and skin were positively glowing, giving them an angelic, surreal look. Realistically depicting a house full of teenage girls, the Lisbon's bedrooms are over-the-top feminine and charmingly cluttered, with everything from empty perfume bottles to Catholic memorabilia. The score of the film is spot on, fusing nostalgic seventies numbers such as Heart's 'Magic Man' with the eery, electronic sounds of the french band Air, who composed a whole album especially for the film. Overall, this film is an excellent introduction to Coppola's films yet to come. Enjoy... 

Sofia, You've Got to See Her!

Sofia Coppola is the actress turned designer/ model/ muse responsible for some of the prettiest, dreamiest films around, her most prolific yet being The Virgin Suicides, Lost In Translation and Marie Antionette. She also bought us THAT White Stripes video featuring Kate Moss. The black and white video for 'I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself' showed the world's most famous super model writhing, cavorting and dancing around, ricocheting the band, the model and the director to further international fame. And you've no doubt found yourself humming along to the 'day in the (fabulous) life of' style ad for Miss Dior Cherie, featuring Bridgit Bardot's Moi Je Joue. 

Coppola's professional trademarks are sun-bleached, sugar-coated but haunting imagery juxtaposed with modern, punchy music, and Sofia is her own best advertisement, rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in fashion and music. Her own personal style fits the aesthetics of her films, favouring girly, elegant garments, and she has become a style icon of down town, New York style, and is regularly featured in best dressed lists. I suppose it can't hurt being Marc Jacob's best friend. Here are a few of my favourite outfits of hers, as well as a some images from her work... 

P.S. The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antionette are so wonderful that they require their own posts... watch this space.

Mag Of My Dreams.

Lula is by far the most aesthetically pleasing magazine I have ever had the good fortune to lay my hands upon. Everything, from the gorgeous clothes featured to the especially-designed font, is dreamy and beautiful! With the whimsical styling, pastel colours galore and stunning settings, it is a bit like a Sophia Coppola film in magazine format, and has been known to feature articles on The Virgin Suicides and Coppola's muse and regular leading lady, Kirsten Dunst. It has also featured such other lovely dressed ladies such as Natasha Khan, Keira Knightley and Zooey Deschanel. 

Since I am relatively late to jump on the bandwagon and only have a few issues to my name, I recently looked into buying past issues on Ebay and certain ones are going for as much as £95! Granted it is wonderful, very thick and on good quality paper and - here's the best bit - features very few ads indeed, but even I would say that is excessive. Now I am very glad that, as a testamant to my reverence of this magazine, I refuse to chop inspiring images out... if times get hard I can sell 'em on Ebay! Apologies in advance that this post is very image heavy, but there are so many stunning editorials I want to share...