If you can look beyond the bizarro world cluster fuck first outfit (2005? Yeah I thought it was you, I'm just about picking you up on my Motorola RAZR... right?), these pictures from the new Topshop look book are pretty nice. I love that Topso are so willing to fully embrace hair trends, as demonstrated by the ratty, colour-dipped, plaited strand ponies they've included here. So many high street stores nail the fashion but then opt for a nice safe blow-dry or bun or something which is all very well and good, and looks tasteful, but I'm far more into this kind of ugly shit that Topshop are brave enough to pull off. As someone in the world of hair, of course I like it, and I'm sure Topshop's teen market who take a look from the lookbook and just work it head to toe will get behind too. I guess I just like the fact that they're not afraid to alienate people to stick with their vision. It's not often you see that in the money makin world of the high street.

Speaking of which... kind of. Anyone remember the Chicks? Criminales Coches Pistolas Y Chicas? Lead singer Isabel Reyes Feeney was the first IRL person I saw with a dip-dyed ponytail. All black with neon green ends. God I loved her.

I've talked about Jennifer Behr on here before, but I just spotted her latest collection on Bleach Black so I've got to be predictable and mention it. There's not actually so much I love this time around, although there are two stand outs. Of course I'm not planning on dropping two hundred bones on a bit of satin any time soon but this would take about ten minutes to DIY with the aid of my trusty pliers so maybs I'll make the most of this upcoming quiet weekend and get on the case... I do have a lot of old tights to work with.



The studded bow is cute too, although it would be alittle more tricky on the DIY front. Love this picture of it in action in Teen Vogue. Clearly I like all things studded (wow really? I know I'm pretty discrete about it) but even I am starting to question when the love affair is going to end. Getting a bit silly now, isn't it? Studded knick knacks next? I wouldn't be surprised, in fact I'ma get on the case right now.

Of course, you can see all of Jennifer Behr's collections and make your purchases at her site.

As Tavi-gate rolls on (this post in particular is incredible. I know subs are hard to come by but just email it to your mum or something and get her to proof it?), one statistic currently blowing my mind concerns the fact that today is me and my old man's anniversary. When we first got together, Tavi was a baby. I don't know which of those things freaks me out the most. We were drinking warm pints of Carling and trying to avoid the sticky carpet of Corp, she was toddling. Nuts? I dunno, not really, but it's still gently busting my brain out of its comfort zone.

Long may the mighty Tavi reign, large may her headwear grow and above all, happy umpteenth anniversary to my mister.

Pray for sunshine!

Charles Blake Cochran was one of the great showmen of the early 1900s, starting life as an actor but making his career eventually as a publicist for other entertainers. His most famous client was Noel Coward but in one of the many hundreds of books about the 1920s that I've been reading lately (yes still), I came across CB's Young Ladies, a dancing troupe that he managed who performed at the Trocadero in the interwar period. That's the Trocadero as was, of course, not with Rainforest Cafe and Ripley's. These chicks don't dig animatronic orang-utans and big elastic band balls, you can just tell.



It would be crass and, more importantly, incorrect to compare these gals with strippers or even 'dancers' in modern clubs, but essentially their pivotal role was to look nice, entertain and keep the men coming back for more. Still, at least they were talented and graceful and were judged on such things as their posture and composition rather than the size of their bosoms.



I love these pictures of them that are part of a set on Getty. Can you imagine the bros at Spearmint Rhino enjoying their surf and turf being entertained by gals in bin bag-esque ball gowns? With matching turbans? And nutso glasses. They're all so stunningly elegant, it's hard to believe that these girls were considered the bottom of society, the type of woman that no man could take home to his family. Look at 'em! More to come when I have time. For now, a trip to Brighton beckons...

If you click on the picture below you can see CB's gals and some of their contemporaries in action!

LONDON CLUBS AND CABARETS - TROCADERO RESTAURANT

Strange but true; Charles died after getting in a bath of scalding water.