Rescu. has the ultimate list for online shopping for Australian women. And they all ship straight to your door! Prepare your credit cards…
Gone are the days when living in Sydney, Melbourne or Perth meant being excluded from online shopping’s best portals.
Rescu. has collected the best online stops for your retail fix – and many have decent return policies, just in case you impulse-bought….
Andotherbrands.com: Aurora, which runs UK pretty-dress havens Oasis and Warehouse, is finally shipping directly to Australia, opening their site on 15 May. Oasis is a high-street brand beloved of UK celebrities – it’s not quite Kate Middleton, but it’s close.
Topshop.com: Speaking of the UK, the big flagship for British affordable fashion – with its own twist – has cheap Australian shipping, and thank god for that. Nobody can do an on-trend studded jacket like they can.
Shopbop.com: Shopbop is one of the biggest online retailers worldwide – partially because its online range is enormous, and partially because the dresses in particular are just so pretty. They do affordable shipping and have some of the top casual labels, like BCBG Max Azria. Check out our interview with them here.
Shopstyle.com: Consider this a step up from Shopbop in terms of expense and labels. Shopstyle has the ‘in’ on all the exclusive New York stores you can only hope to visit – Bergdorf’s, Neiman Marcus, Saks – and it’s worth browsing for their bag collection alone.
Net-a-porter.com: This is the doyenne of online shopping for designer pieces. It was here before the rest and it remains a force of its own. Many a working woman has spent her lunchtimes looking for Oscar De La Renta dresses here, just for fun.
ASOS.com: This is where you go for affordable, edgy pieces which won’t break the bank. ASOS’s designers are geniuses, their shoe collection is amazing and the free-returns policy is worth your while. Go browse.
Happy shopping!
Image: Net-a-porter.com.
14-year-old Julia Bluhm, an American, made fashion headlines last week by circulating a petition for Seventeen magazine asking it to tone down on the Photoshopping.
The demands of the petition were pretty modest – and it collected 60,000 signatures. Bluhm asked Seventeen to include one – just one – un-Photoshopped, unaltered photo spread per month, to stop women of her generation feeling the pressure of impossible beauty standards.
Seventeen has just made a major PR slip-up. Not only have they rejected the petition, they’ve gone on record saying they felt bullied by it. Bullied by a 14-year-old girl? Poor play, Seventeen.
They felt “aggrieved” that they had been “singled out for picture-doctoring practises that are common in virtually all glossy magazines”.
They also say that what they do is “far less extreme” than other magazines, and even lash out at teenage girls on Facebook who “Photoshop their own faces in photos”.
The editor, Ann Shoket, said she thought they did a “phenomenal job” celebrating real women and girls, but refused to give any ground to Bluhm’s petition even though it’s had worldwide attention and acclaim.
Rescu. hopes Seventeen, which is not popular in Australia, learns from the experience.
Image: Seventeen magazine.
Your muses this winter? Paloma Faith, Dita Von Teese and 1930s starlets.
The hat is back big-time, and Rescu. is celebrating. So how to wear a more vintage look than the usual woolly slip-on cap?
First select your options. Faux fur is very big this year: think Doctor Zhivago. Pick Russian-esque shapes, boxy and large – but nothing too oversize or you’ll look like a caricature.
Flat caps are also in, in charming shades of tweed, and the knitted snood is a big seller for women who want to keep their hair bound up.
However, the big retro hat trend for our cooler months is the wide-brimmed felt hat, worn with 1940s flair. It’s surprisingly warm, versatile and so in-fashion that Mila Kunis and half the world’s models appear to own one. Pin a vintage brooch on the side for nighttime glam.
If you’re feeling stylish, opt for a thicker, pill-box style hat, or a flat beret with some kind of retro detail like a bow or applique.
The sleekest shape for autumn-winter? The turban – but it has to be worn with maximum aplomb, so you don’t feel self-conscious. Turbans in the 40s were worn purely for evening and with swept-back hair, but you can update it for modern work and daytime by wearing barely-there make-up and messy locks, just to emphasise its casual chic.
Look for warm knitted ones rather than silk or satin. Of course, if you want to look like a proper vintage siren, accessorise with dark plum lipstick and cat’s eye eyeliner. And if you’re really feeling the rain, pop on a scarf underneath the hat, sweep both ends around your chin, and swan around feeling like Lauren Bacall…
Image: Knitted turban from ASOS.com.