coastal western

its once a year when the Hokianga riders come
gallopping into town.
i love the contemporary colonial cowboy look.
it works best with a real live horse as an accessory.

style slouch

a local beauty wearing her tiara and hoodie
skulls and prince of wales check shimmy into the store.

rust never sleeps

what a beauty ! tucked away in the tall grasses -
this car doesn;'t need the sexy girl - she's loved
up all by herself......

in memory of Kate Harbutt

these exquisite evening 'kete' are by Kate Harbutt
and graced the Outpost with their presence earlier
this year.
beautiful pieces made by a beautiful person.

still life n.1

an aerial view of what's in our window -
black & white and a kauri gum bom bom by Ewan Morris, Hokianga
evening kete by Kate Harbutt, Hokianga
picnic cutlery by Pandora, Milan
koru glass dish by Julie Collis
dishtowel by Ingrid Anderson
ylang ylang soap and body lotion from Marseilles
melamine plate and tumbler from Thailand
fresh flowers from my garden

cab-net

if it were a tele-possiblity
this is the bathroom cabinet i want right NOW!
by that quasi genius of a Marcus Benesch. and
then i'd want to enter into the jelly bean room
to do my home work.
that's just the sort of week its been round here.

tattoo two

These are the legs of a guy who was erecting scaffolding at the
Rawene town hall. He came in for a browse and a chat at the Outpost. It was only as he was leaving that I caught sight of his
tats. I really like the low key positioning and the styling with
the socks and boots.

keep on truckin'

this is our summer campaign - however on
the territory it won't be expressed with billboards
but by another manner which we will document on
this blog.
the story of the kohukohu truck is an event -
an unintentional artwork evolving over the decades,
its gentle decline was violently terminated when it was
abruptly relocated.
to the relief of half the village which had thought of it as
an eyesore and symbol of nothing ever changing and to
the horror of the other half of the village which had relegated
it to iconic status.
an evening wake was held in its honour with candles and speeches
and an impromptu cocktail party.
the passing of its era was noted in the arts page of the local
paper.
monument to beauty ? metaphor of time ?
or just a heap of rusty metal ? one thing is for sure :
" things are more like they are now than they ever were
before."

blue

this is a rendition of maude from motuti marae.

moon day

this blog is meant to be a people style blog
and surreal landscapes are instead making their
way into my posts.
maybe i'm just observing details of a context and have yet
to find people- style that relates to it.
i'll keep looking and
keep you posted.

island de-lites

its the intense light that makes everything alive, clearcut, vivid.
two different buildings in island bay.

exterior interior

tattoo graffitti in Onehunga
& loft interior Karangahape Road

yee ha!

cowboy hats like the boots
reference the 'west'
but really, in design terms -
they are timeless.

parnell street, rawene

i really like the confident use of colour
and the graphic contrast of the stripes
with the soft and fluffy of the hat.
the pendant is two dolphins forming a
heart.

skull king

the rural bumper sticker -
used to ward off distracted oncoming traffic
or a conversation piece debating
metaphysics vs fatalism?

black is the night

Saturday night - Rawene Town Hall
Whirimako Black accompanied by guitarist Nigel Gavin.
An intimate, mesmerising, inspiring & soulful performance.

Sunglasses at night - sometimes make perfect sense.

homage to sofia and cristina

to Sofia for blasting the cobwebs right out of
costume drama - a feminine/ist modern masterpiece
in Marie Antoinette.
to Cristina who is a modern day Marie Antoinette but
doesn't do champagne and more importantly doesn't
lose her head !
Cristina sent in the second picture from Sicily last night.

spring thing

flower petals are the best colour swatches.
with their precise and intense tone
and their sublime shading
available for a limited time only.
both this kowhai and magnolia
confirming spring deliveries are on
schedule this year.

re-capping

its not just about what you wear or even how you wear it -
its who you are that makes the style statement.

fashion revenues are currently revving with bags and sunglasses
but its actually hats that you want to be wearing.

on the wall

The House Lei is by artist Christine Butler and is made from used plastic shopping bags. In Pacific Island homes Leis are hung around photos of family and friends.

The ornate plaster wall columns decorate the courtyard of Frans's house in Marocco. Against the uneven blue surface they float like clouds.

a lite change

the same view - out the backdoor of the Outpost - five minutes apart.
always an inspiring end to the working day.

gumboot weather

I 'll admit I'm partial to coloured and decorated gumboots. Why not pink ? They have taken their time , as an item, to be 'designerated'.

It was in fact only this summer that stylish Glastonbury attendees got their gummies in sync with the rest of their look.

Here we have a pair of true blue Hokianga working gummies which were left outside the Rawene Four Square.

The fact that gumboots have entered the fashion realm was not lost on this pair's owner who exclaimed gleefully 'these are not Ponsonby boots' !

Indeed they are not - the mud and grit is definitely local and the built in ridges are a functional design detail for what ? I will have to find out.

They are almost certainly steel capped.

In fashion, one day you're in & the next day you're out!

Or one day - you're out...there.
Which is precisely where we are - except of course, over time, there becomes here.
Everything is relative and so are terms like being 'in' and being 'out'.

This is a shot of out there /out here that I love.

My sister picked up this hat for the Outpost from Bolivia
The bindi is glitter and glamour without resorting to lipstick.
The kefiyeh was in until recently,but , I believe from recent reports is now out.
The military cotton jacket has been decorated with pingao brooches made by Kate Harbutt.
Pingao is a native grass that grows on the sand dunes here.