So what have I been up to in the last few weeks? Instead of sitting down and writing, I have been getting stuck into spring cleaning. All my winter gear has been stored in my closet, and my nice dresses are out ready for the summer events I’m looking forward to (like weddings/birthday parties/work Christmas parties).

Thanks to our spare room finally being cleared out (most of it going to charity) and transformed into a craft/sewing room with a mini library, there's finally enough space in our lounge for me to have my ‘office’ (I think we only ever use the dining table for eating at Christmas) and for my partner to practise his guitar playing (he always leaves his acoustic in the bedroom to play at 11pm while I’m trying to sleep).

I also threw away my tacky souvenir cups and bought some pop art mugs to go with my pop art inspired ‘first kiss’ duvet cover. Cute right?

Now I’m just packing all my clothes and shoes that I don’t need (but were too expensive to give away to charity) for the Big Shwop at Langham Hotel on Saturday. I’m hoping I can get some more summer dresses and shoes but I’m scared at how I will fare against other wine-fuelled female shoppers (is it still a faux pas to elbow fellow shoppers in the face?). If the show this afternoon goes well maybe I’ll have to buy a ticket for tomorrow night’s Herald Designer Sale- even if I don’t buy anything it’ll be worth the experience!

So Fashion Week started this morning (though I believe the partying stated last night) and for us mere mortals who could never get in (for $100-$65 a seat), here is a list of websites/lucky people who get to experience all the fun.

1. The official website which has all the information you need including a twitter feed, facebook page and blog.

2. Fashion Quarterly’s twitter feed, which has information about the shows and pictures.

3. Rumi from fashiontoast has been flown in to document Fashion Week, so check out her twitter feed as well as her reporting at Front Row Diary (they have twitter as well). Why is it I’m more excited by her coming than Pamela Anderson?

4. Joining Rumi is Isaac Likes, a very likeable and fashionable bloke, and check out his twitter for pictures as well.

5.  And last but not least is FashioNZ, fashion site keeping up to date with the shows.

I have always wanted to go to NZ Fashion Week, but at the moment it’s just a dream. But a girl can dream right?

And for those who at least want to dress like the people putting bums on seats there is always Fashion Weekend, which is a lot cheaper at $15 a ticket and most importantly they have The Herald Designer Garage Sale! I’m hoping to go but I’ve already been to the Great New Zealand Designer Sale and The Big Shwop is on the same day and I might not be able to afford both events.

Argh! Why is life so unfair?

“As a fashion designer, I was always aware that I was not an artist, because I was creating something that was made to be sold, marketed, used, and ultimately discarded.”

-Tom Ford

Reading this article on crocodile bags made me realise how naive I was about the exotic skin industry. I always thought crocodile, ostrich skins etc were by-products of the meat industry, and that by using the skins none of the animal was going to waste. That may be so for some animal skins, but not for crocodiles. I then thought maybe crocodile skins came from culling the animals so that people and animals would be kept safe, but that wasn’t true either. The fact is that because A-listers have (been given) crocodile skin bags, now the fashion masses want them and demand has outstripped supply. Now they actually breed these animals to skin and give to vacuous celebrities.

Now because of my indigenous culture, I’m all for using parts of animals you eat and not letting them go to waste (I believe that some North American Indians are the same). We have whalebone combs and other utensils sitting in our museums. I’ve never seen a problem with wearing leather because we already have to kill them for meat, and cow bones are used for carvers to practice on. I would happily wear possum fur because they destroy native forests and massacre rare birds. But killing an animal just for it’s skin (or fur) is just a waste of a life.

Tasteless fashion is something everyone loves to hate. Not only does Glamour have Glam Cam (full of unglamorous fashion), there are many sites like I Hate Your Fashion  (featuring fake tanned floozies and Ed Hardy lovers) and The Fashion Police (bloggers casting a critical eye on ugly clothes and accessories). But what makes fashion tasteless?

Is this tasteless? In my opinion, if you’re wearing jandals and you’re cold, instead of wearing socks you should just put some damn shoes on! I think this is more idiotic than tasteless.

Is wearing a dead mouse brooch tasteless? I know that humans have been wearing the skins of animals ever since we could kill them, but do you have to wear the entire thing? Wearing fur is one thing (unethical) but wearing the head of the animal as a hat? Pretty tasteless. Check out these disgusting Taxidermy Accessories.

Is showing too much skin tasteless? I think it depends on your situation. Want to wear a string bikini to the beach? That’s fine. Want to wear a tiny outfit that advertises almost everything to the club at night? Allowed (especially if you’re single). Wearing a Borat swimsuit to a Halloween party? Someone will probably give you a beer for having the balls to wear such a ridiculous swimsuit (wear it to the beach though and it will make swimmers run for their lives). But wearing jeans that show half your ass to bowling? That’s tasteless.

Well there are just two categories of tasteless fashion but I’m sure you can figure out what not to wear by checking out all the links in my post as well. If you’re still not sure here’s some pictures of fashion victims out in the wild (part one and two). And remember- if mothers are shielding their children's eyes and people start giggling and taking photos- you might be wearing something tasteless.

This was one of C4’s promo songs during NZ music month, and they finally made a video. Love the idea of time travel being sold in an infomercial and the very complicated construction of the time machine!