There has been no images of Mischa Barton for a while. Ever since she failed to continue her career after The O.C. with her short-lived 'The Bautiful Life' TV show she sort of fell off the radar.

She did make an appearance at Cannes last week for the amfAR gala, where she was a host. She then looked quite a lot like her old self in a strapless sequinned black gown, which made me hope for a comeback.

Last night she was seen out at Mahiki in London wearing a Matthew Williamson dress and blouse combo that, to me, looked more like Giles. Her insect-printed top reminded me a lot of one of my favourite up-and-coming London designers. Charlotte Taylor debuted her namesake line two seasons ago and I've been a fan since. Her animal prints —the now signature penguins and also ants, lobsters and robots— are super bold and are a brilliant mix with the vintage cuts of the, mostly, silks that she uses. I'm also a huge fan of the turbans, which are part of the kind of colonial British heritage that Charlotte includes in her clothes.

Wouldn't Mischa look incredible in any of these pieces?

Check out Charlotte Taylore's web here and don't miss her blog.

[Zimbio, Charlotte Taylor]

Collage Sunday, 06.02.11

Having Mischa Barton as the centre of our Collage Sunday seems a little anachronistic, I know. But when Giulia did her Rachel Zoe's girls post I felt like there was a main figure missing. It would have been unfair to simply add a couple of pictures of Mischa in it because, even though she's not fashion-relevant at the moment, hers and Marissa's wardrobe in The O.C. marked a before and after on the role of fashion on TV (at least for younger, hipper audiences than Sex and the City's). Mischa and her alter ego personified the ultimate boho chic style (brought to perfection in the Missoni look below and in this other one) in the most effortless of ways. She seldom wore heels on TV and every bag design Chanel ever made was worn by Marissa to school. In 2006 Mischa left the show in style wearing Chanel's SS06 closing look paired up with gladiator sandals for her graduation after three years of continuous hits.

On a more personal note I'd like to comment on The O.C.'s influence on my friends' and my own fashion sense. This show encouraged in us the idea of fashion as a way to express yourself in a natural way. And because of that, and because of how much some of us tried to emulate it I'd like to dedicate this post to my friend María. Her Prada boots and D&G tops were the Coop to my Cohen argyle jumpers.
I'm off.

[Pictures: OC-addict.com]

OCd

This week, I had a couple of those days when you really fancy sitting on the sofa eating junk and watching lots of episodes of your favourite show. In my case, this could only mean and O.C. marathon. I thanked God for the existence of online streaming when I found out I had never brought the box sets back to London from Madrid. And finally I started watching again and remembered why it's my favourite show ever. It very much opened way for shows like Gossip Girl in terms of fashion. These are some of the reasons why you should watch it if you haven't and why you should do it again (and again) if you have.

1. Marissa's Chanel collection. 2.55's, Jumbo's, you name it, she's got it. She also wears a lot of Chanel clothes. My two favourite ones from the first season are the burgundy patent leather one and the little baby blue one she wears to therapy. She's always perfectly dressed for any occasion. It was her who introduced me to mojitos in that sexy LBD number and to the band 'Rooney' with her rock-chick look. (And she reminds me SO much of my friend María).




2. Seth Cohen was pretty much my personal epitome of style and cool until I was 20. He was unique and happy to be so but also very effortless. Week after week, I'd try to emulate the smart shirt and casual jumper combo to go to school. I also tried giving Chrismukkah a go (even though I am not Jewish) but people didn't seem to even understand it in Spain.



3. I LOOOVED Kristen and Julie. The fact that they wore perfect hair and jewellery to 'yogalates' practise made me giggle and melt in delight at once. I do have to say I become fonder or Julie's looks in later seasons. A special favourite episode of mine is 'The Rainy Day Women'.

4. Every teenage show has and 'I love you' episode but I will remember The O.C.'s forever. Marissa (in Chanel) declares his love to Ryan and he replies 'Thank you'. The comments about the incident throughout the episode are absolutely priceless.

5. I was the biggest fan of the Anna-Summer-Seth triangle. It made things so much finnier, and wittier. Anna also had a super quirky but very cool style that delivered moments like the one below, slightly 50's look with a polo shirt and a fleece jacket or the lace number under it.


I'm off.

[Pictures: screen caps]

soVIP decade

A certain Welsh source whose name I can't reveal recently brought to my attention that this December wasn't only the end of 2009 but the end of the first decade of this new century. With this in mind, I started looking back both at soVIPzone's archive at at my immense iPhoto collection. I selected my celebrity fashion highlights of "noughties".

She has been flawlessly elegant for ten whole years thanks to an endless number of Armani gowns and her recent, more fashion-forward choices.

She got high. Then she got clean. Then she dumped Pete. Then she had a sandwich. Now she's just stunning.

Ash and MK became an iconic fashion duo and launched their diverse brands. But they also became individuals. Ashley recruited the slick dressers of the world while Mary-Kate took a more bohemian, yet chic, tangent.

Rachel Zoe went from creating style-clones of herself (see below) to being the first stylist celebrity and creating a clothing line, publishing a book and getting her own reality TV show.

In The O.C. you couldn't help but love Marissa and all the Chanel she wore to high school. And Mischa never disappointed red carpet-wise either, until Ms. Zoe was fired, that is. We enjoyed it while it lasted.

Fortunately, Nicole managed to collect or her Zoe wisdom and reinterpret it into a new style. One that successfully worked. She also parted ways with Paris and had a couple of offsprings that made her put on the few pounds she needed to make the most of her beauty.

Skinny, chubby, orange, white, knickers, drugs, biker jacket, leggings. They all work in many combinations when talking about Lindsay. She too, had her moment of fashion stardom courtesy of Rachel Zoe. But that moment was even shorter than Mischa's.

Both Summer and Rachel took longer than Marissa and Mischa to get interesting fashionably speaking but it was worth the wait. Rachel Bilson slowly turned into a ridiculously cute chic woman that didn't go off the rails.

Tom left the Gucci group. And the past ten years are history.

Anna and Carine went from signatures on the first page of Vogue to iconic fashion celebrities, filling the party section of Style.com and Scott Schuman's shots.

Victoria kept everyone talking about her diverse range of highly calculated everyday outfits. Whether we liked them or not, it was good entertainment.

She also kept us amused with her extravagant travelling ensembles. Let's make special mention of the hats and the black leather in its multiple shapes that are Beckham staples by now.

Katie had a cut and a beautiful mini-me. Contrary to popular annoyance soVIPzone was awestruck.

Kanye was cool for about 10 minutes. Then he opened his mouth.

Brad and Angelina made it official and turned the Jolie-Pitt family household into a United Nations orphanage. Plus, Brad wore a lot of Tom Ford.

Yves passed away and we lost one of the fashion geniuses of the century. Oh, and Stefano looked sharp at his funeral.

We got hooked to the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite. An addiction that is destined to outlive the decade.

Chuck Bass. Girls want him, guys want to be him.

Lauren Conrad took the hoodie off and ditched Laguna for LA. It was all amusing cute blonde locks and manis but the bad scripts and annoyance of the Heidi/Spencer combo made it too much.

We saw a new era of supermodels being born. Claudia and Linda were substituted by Daria and Anja. (And I didn't complain).

It all started with that dress on the left. It was all dashing smiles and spot-on fashion choices from then on.

Rihanna changed her umbrella for some YSL and ended up as a musical cross between a dominatrix and housewive with a quiff.

[Picture credtis: JustJared, Celebrity Gossip, Style.com]

I'm off.

everybody loves Hervé

Correct me if I am wrong, but I do not quite recall this happening in the recent past. The Hervé Léger craze of mini-dresses started out as something unusual that pleased the eye but soon turned into a common piece in every Hollywood starlet's wardrobe. However, far from serving as a device to look young and stylish, it just brings out the tackiness within and enhances the wrong curves in most cases. Only a handful of celebrities were able to pull it off, while the rest of them who tried failed tragically. Have a look.

Thoughts?

[Pictures credit: JustJared, Gossip Girls, Mischa-B.com]

I'm off.