New GG and The Mysterious Miss Bennett

Season 2 of Gossip Girl just started last night and it was EXCELLENT! Most shows normally need to re-find their feet on the opening epi but I think this could contend for one of the best episodes in its - so far - short life. Favourite wardrobe moments: Blair's Alice + Olivia floral dress (with matching headband of course) with the neon pink empire belt accent. Best addition by a candy-striped mile was her eye-popping orange and straw bag. Apparently the originals, designed by Kate Spade, have all sold out and I fear cheaper imitations will only look, well, cheap. So will just have to keep fantasising (darn ITV2 giving us GG-gems 5 months late). Chuck's white suit with the black lined blazer and trousers at The White Party not only looked sexy as hell but I loved the idea that he's got this liqourice black persona so transparently coded in his image. Also his straw hat was perfect Playboy accesorising (pictured left on Miss Meester).

I've recently been thinking about Kim Taylor Bennett since seeing her on one of the infinite number of BBC3 list shows, which are strangely addictive (I think it's the concept of the countdown and the fact it appeals to the large part of my brain with ADD). Her style gets better every time she pops on screen to jibe some Z-lister scandal, which she always manages to deliver in equal parts cynicism and kitten-cuteness. I think my boyfriend's crush on her may have influenced my taking to her, in the same way we both fell in love with - although in very different ways - Alexa Chung when she first appeared on Popworld. Weirdly, I can't really find any stills of her which represent her quirky boho-style but did come across this haphazard YouTube montage, which doesn't really do her current style justice. I guess as a journalist, she's more into writing/talking about those hanging off the fame Richter scale, than being one of them. A good thing definitely but not when you need to reference her for your blog which boasts a readership of one --- Or maybe she's just waiting for her big break?

Another slightly more famous rising starlet I've been into lately is Little Boots who's skills with a tenorion are pretty frickin' dangerous. I remember reading like a 20-word piece about her last spring but for some reason got it into my head she was a DJ so didn't really look any further into it, but her 'Brighton-gay-disco' look really appealed to me then and stayed etched in memory. It was only when reading a feature in a weekend supplement I realised she's a hotly tipped electro-popstar named after some mental Roman Emperor. Take a peek at her Meddling here.

Last night I went to see the much hyped (in my head that is) Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man and while Desmond's siging voice - going by the moniker of Frederick Blood-Royale - evokes the mental imagery of a stalker on heat, his weirdly sexy 'tache face and wonderfully lithe torso more than made up for it...(wait, now I sound like the stalker!)

The band's performance lacked the gravitas its lead singer evidently thought it held and a crowd that could only muster up enthusiasm each time Desmond removed an item of clothing, was a perfect reflection on the group. There was no rapport within the band itself or their audience (Desmond even managed to forget his lead guitarist's name) and they have no actual songs to speak of. But the night itself was fun and seeing Desmond in the flesh (and quite a bit more than I ever thought I would) was pretty darn ace.