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.

Luella Leulla, Oh!

After catching Luella's S/S 09 collection play homage to Alice In Wonderland's tea-party, with her trademark grandma on acid approach tweed jackets setting off candy coloured dresses/separates (avec pearls of course), I was ecstatic to see ASOS.com's Jazz House collection inspired by the line. Always accessible, Luella Bartley is one of the few top-end designers to cater for a younger market than her rivals - a wise move considering that the under-25s are proving to be the biggest spending demographic in the world of retail right now (mortgage repayments? Pft). This makes transition from catwalk to high street a much more fluid one. I personally think it's great to see more designers in tune with the Joey Blogs consumer coming out of the closet...Marc Jacobs, Erdem, Marni, LV have all rocked looks I can't wait to see in Topshop et al this season. I've fallen hardest for this fuscia petal dress (pictured left), if only I had the chest to carry it off... :(

With bare wrists and not enough necklaces to my name, I've been trying to find a cassette tape necklace since May! I recently attached a cutout cassette that came with a friend's handbag onto a sterling silver necklace to temporarily satiate the desire. But if anyone sees an authentic tape necklace just like this one, available in the UK, let me know!

Apart from wishing money into my account (so far: zero progress), I have also been hibernating from friends after recently losing my job as an editorial assistant a mere month into the job, now am feeling too embarrassed to tell them my fantastic first job is fantastically over. Although, in truth economically unfriendly times lead to no work, which lead to boredom on repeat, which meant that what at first seemed fantastic soon turned into monotonous routine; even four hour pub lunches can get boring with an office of 5 and nothing to do. Anyway, it was hardly surprising the publishers' magazines have folded only being quarterly and therefore not that important to the brands they were made for...Here's hoping the company come back from it and something good turns up for me soon!

Whilst hibernating I have had time to catch up on DVD boxsets including The L Word and Grey's Anatomy after recently finishing Dexter with the boyfriend. At this moment I'm gobbling down S3 of L Word (although I've seen them before) and S2 of Grey's (virgin viewings!) simultaneously, so it was funny and befuddling to see the magnificent Leisha Hailey (who plays Alice on The L Word) making a guest appearance on Grey's. Not only that, but then another patient's grand-daughter was referenced to as Alice who "has a lovely girlfriend" in the same episode - surely another bit of L Word intertextuality right? Ah, all this is giving me Shane-pangs again...

I Heart....

This week I'm loving Garance Dore, Broke and Beautiful and Style Bubble's fashion blogs. A colourful circus of Parisian glamour in a digital age, a blow-by-blow history on capes (and capelets!), and goblets of colour blocking, layering and D-I-Y trendsetting. I'm particularly loving this get-up, which might look like the murder of an unsuspecting ostrich to some, but I reckon this girl pulls it off with an air of sophisticated nonchalance (if there is such a thing?)

Although my own personal style falls within more conservative boundaries, I'm hoping to lose my fashion inhibitions and open up to a myriad of traffic-stopping (for all the wrong and right reasons) couture. Argh! Watch me get flattened into fashion roadkill!...I've started with wet look-legging and purple tights. Not together. Hmmm, on second thoughts...

In other news, I have been crushing on Frederick Blood-Royale for a while now, which is a big no-no for the following reasons: 1.) He sports a pretentious handlebar moustache and probably smokes a pipe without irony 2.) He's a TV presenter pretending he doesn't want to be a TV presenter 3.) He's a music snob. And finally and most pertinently, 4.) He used to date Peaches Geldof.

Despite these entirely valid reasons to steer well clear, I was doomed from the start when a (sort of) love at first sight intruded upon my fluttering heart after spotting him on the back of a monthly music rag. I spent the duration of the night wearing his torn out face as a mask after a friend and I lovingly christened him Desmond. And he'll always be Desmond in my heart. This borderline obsession led me to purchase 2 tickets to his band Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man's gig at Hoxton Bar and Grill next week. This makes me the worst kind of music fan - the kind who purchases tickets to see a band based on the perdiness of its lead singer. What a tosser I've become...