3 TUNES/ WEST COAST

Whether you're a west coast kid, or not, there's a song for you these days.
Songs about the West Coast keep popping up everywhere I turn. The Neighbourhood, Lana Del Rey and Bel Heir all have amazing songs about said topic. Surprisingly though, all songs project some sort of black and white imagery - in my head at least. Quite a different take on the traditional 'Cali vibe', which may be due to the aesthetics and/or music videos of the musicians. Either way, this is the kind of west coast vibe I can dig.

DOODLE/ 01

BEARDS - There really is a strong showing of facial hair on men these days.. and who doesn't appreciate a good beard? Well if it's on a croqui (aka fashion illustration) my lecturer at university didn't. We weren't allowed to give our drawings facial hair, because frankly that could quickly end in a disaster. But I was curious, so this is really my first attempt, after browsing through street style photos of many handsome bearded men. Here's hoping it's not a disaster!

3 TUNES/ LA LA LA

After a month or so of non-stop World Cup watching, certain things have become routine to me. The time matches are on, the names of players from each team, the anxiety I endure when full time is nearing and my team of choice is yet to score .. and Shakira's World Cup song La La La (Brazil 2014) playing before, after and in-between every single match.

The number of times I've heard that song could have pushed me to two extremes - extreme hatred or extreme love - after hearing it way too many times to count in one month. Oddly, I am leaning towards the more positive extreme. Maybe because Shakira's song is the lesser of evils which I've had to endure - the actual official World Cup song and the irritating voices of local commentators being said evils.

Any way I rationalise the thought, the fact is those three little words.. (err, sounds?) are constantly stuck in my head.

"La la la", so simple, so easily recognisable, so addictive. It made me think of other "la la la" songs.

Probably the last known popular hit would be that of Naughty Boy featuring Sam Smith, also called La La La. Unlike Shakira's catchy use of "la la la", the lyrics of Naughty Boy's song use the childish mentality "la la la I can't hear you" to tell a story. Likewise, the same childlike presence occurs in the much more recent Playground by British electronic musician, Lxury. Much like it's name, Playground offers that feeling of being back in primary school with children running around, but in a new exciting way; conjuring similar feelings as that of Naughty Boy's, without the lyrics.

Different feelings, different sounds but that same simple "la la la" that everyone can relate to. There's clearly an addictive quality that reels everyone in to sing along, and if you don't agree la la laaaa. 

ps. There are 4 different versions of Sharkira's La La La, just sayin'.

02/ LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOYS

As June comes to a close, it seems it's all about the boys these days.

We're currently smack dab in the middle of the World Cup in Brazil and Spring Summer 2015 Menswear collections are showing as we speak. From football players to models, all eyes are on the men of the world - and what they're wearing, of course. 

I always found menswear strangely fascinating. Not only because of the handsome men in the clothing (I'm a girl... it's kind of hard not to notice the male models), but because of the details. 

Whether I'm looking at a football team's kit or a designer's runway show, I'm noticing the details. The new silhouettes, colours and  fabrics make for interesting modern menswear, which is far from the basic 'shirt, pants, jacket, shoes' situation of years past.