Look, I’m not an NCIS fan, but I do like a bit of Michael Weatherly, and Pauley Perrette seems like one cool cookie, and this is another reason why.

In a magazine spread for CBS’ Watch! magazine – Pauley gives a fashionable second impression of several famous Impressionist paintings. My favourite out of the five pieces would be the one above – Edouard Manet’s Berthe Morisot with a Fan. How stunning does she look?

The spread was taken at the Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris, France – and how could you not be inspired by the city of food, fashion and art? Editor-in-chief Jeremy Murphy thought that with Pauley’s character being known solely to be the Abby, the geek-nerd/science gal of NCIS, though with a modelling past – would stand out even more with these new representations of Impressionist masterpieces.

Click here to read the rest of the article and to see more pieces by Degas, Cassatt and even Berthe Morisot – the lady with the fan.

Ah, the French. Le Francais. So innovative in so many ways, and it seems that our very own Marie Claire magazine could have been, if only they hadn’t used Jennifer Hawkins as a ‘body icon’.

The amazingly observant writers at French Elle magazine have proudly graced their cover, and pages with a SEXY curvy model in the form of Tara Lynn. Now this is what I call a body icon. These are photos which make me feel amazing and excited to be a woman, a curvy model on a magazine that isn’t afraid to appeal to women that actually exist, and don’t encourage me to lose my curves, only to expose more bone than flesh like those on the runway and in every magazine fashion spread.

This sort of ties in to my earlier post about Jessica Simpson and her new show called ‘the Price of Beauty’. We should encourage being inspired by other cultures, be inspired by bodies that don’t look like the fashion magazines’ idea of ‘ideal’ and embrace who WE are.

See more amazing photos of Tara Lynne at Jezebel

Tomorrow is the last day at my current job; where I’ve been for the last 3 and a half years.

Moving on to the next job, I’m excited, nervous, mostly nervous but happy to have a fresh start for 2010. But I want to glam up, and make a good strong impression from the get go.

Of course, I am not this stylish and I don’t have this budget, but one day. :)

Rihanna’s recent single ‘Hard’ – not about how toned she is after a gym session, or the self defence classes she may have been inspired to take – but more how she is stronger than ever mentally, on the runway, walking down the street. In general.

And with this up in yo’ grill – wouldn’t you be scared?

I would feel tougher with a ‘knuckle duster’ goin’ around but she makes it look glam, without being menacing. That’s hardcore.

Even Alicia Keys is getting in on the act – well, not with ‘bad’ but with.. LOOOVE. All sparkly!

And you can own one too – (and think of your own word!) here!

What would your knuckle duster ring say? Mine would probably say E M and then E T I B (reverse it… think about it) Clever huh? I can’t take the credit.  Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) used it whilst being tied up in Alias.. she’s feisty.

This is uncanny. Was about to post further thoughts on how ridiculous – but perhaps strategic Carrie’s dress choices were and I came upon this from one of the last episodes of season 6. Does this not look like my ideal Valentine’s Day dress or WHAT?! Completely by accident – I only typed in ‘pink dress’ into Polyvore in order to find that – and what do you know. Carrie wore it.

Thinking further on the phenomenon of being introduced to Sex & the City for the first time, and pondering Carrie and her fashion choices to do the most mundane things, or go down the street, or go on a first date – I think she treated every day like Valentine’s Day. I can only think she treated every day like she wanted to be romanced, as opposed to someone that would only dress up for a given occasion or being invited to a ball.

What do you think about Carrie’s choice to dress like she was going to a ball EVERY day? Comment away!

On Day 2 of the leadup to Valentine’s Day.. here is a taste of romantic fashion.

Of course, this is completely hypothetical, and most likely the outfit I would have my ‘character’ wear in a romantic comedy. I wouldn’t leave the house in this! But in my ‘movie’ fantasy (where I’m played by Jennifer Garner) – here is the type of outfit I would wear..

Cutesy Valentine’s Date by popcouturist featuring Forever21 dresses

I’ve mentioned Twitter a-plenty and wondered how something that encourages the briefest of interactions can inspire so much dialogue, and bring about inspiration in so many forms. Whether that be the ability to bond over a TV show via hashtags (Masterchef or So You Think You Can Dance ftw), whether it be via communicating with someone local that you’ve added via a mutual friend, or via re-tweets (RTs) of interesting blog posts and articles that you wouldn’t have otherwise come across.

Via this very medium, I noticed that celebrities let alone advertising agencies and their clients were using it to promote products, concerts, songs, or appreciating the competition! Who knows who was the ‘first’ to start the trend – how would that really be calculated? Lily Allen (@lilyroseallen) caught my attention first by how blunt, and honest she was with her tweets,  but then what made her altogether more genuinely wanting to interact with her fans was the scavenger hunts she would create, via tweet clues – in random cities where she would perform, she would hide concert tickets for tweet followers to find. In some cases, she would be hiding alongside the tickets! A twitpic attached to the announcement that the tickets had been found would show that she was more than willing to meet the scavenging twinners (tweet-winners… lame?)

Perhaps it was the idea that if Lily Allen could promote her concert, promote her music via this method in a creative way, if Ashton Kutcher can promote his wife’s butt, and if Miley Cyrus can pimp best buddy Demi Lovato’s new album, the sky is the limit! After all, celebrity influence counts for a lot, and if you pay attention -  models are less used on magazine covers than movie stars, singers and such in order to encourage passers-by to pick up a copy.

The fun of such tweets is where the Levi’s campaign spearheaded by Host comes in. Under the tweetname of @iSpyLevis – imagine this.

On the streets of Melbourne or Sydney (more cities in Australia and New Zealand to be scheduled) a guy or girl is wearing a pair of Levi’s Jeans. Possibly a few people are. But imagine via twitpics, and tweet clues if you go up to a certain person and ask them ‘Are they Levis’; imagine the response being that they drop their pants and give them to you. On the spot. Re-read that. They drop their pants. Let that sink in.

With clues such as ‘on the street in 10′ – the twitpic attached illustrates the footwear that the ‘Spy’ is wearing..

Apart from shoewear, imagine a clue where the Spy languidly says ‘Just havin’ a read’…

If that doesn’t inspire you to go on a scavenger hunt, I don’t know what would.  If I could have left my shackles/chains/desk – I would have gone on the ride, being as close to Melbourne CBD as I am, but alas I could not join the pursuit.

Twitter friends didn’t do anything half-hearted when pursuing a new pair of jeans! In some cases, for those less chained to their desks and bound by a heavy conscience – an ‘enthusiastic’ girl has nearly crashed her parents’ car in pursuit of the Levis’ girl. Or there was a resourceful guy that used Google Maps to the infinite degree, found where they were and won the pair!  Another guy in particular had the time (shaking fists in jealousy) to stalk * follow * the Levis clues for 3 different occasions and won 3 pairs..! Nice healthy addition to the wardrobe!

Without directly marketing the jeans, or pimping them out via a C-Grade Australian soap star, what Host and their strategic media unit partner in Bring and PR Agency ‘One Green Bean’ have created are people talking about Levis again. They have indirectly fuelled a new mindset about Levi’s and rebuilding its reputation from what used to be known perhaps as ‘Dad jeans’ or reversing the imagery that they were high waisted daggy bluejeans. Plus, its just a little bit naughty to be chasing someone in hopes of getting them to drop their pants… Needless to say really!

It doesn’t look like slowing down at all, perhaps the iSpyLevi’s campaign triggered the PR department of Project Runway Australia to conduct their own scavenger hunt with couture pieces and hard to find labels on the run through the streets of Sydney and Melbourne. I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for a) free clothes and/or b) hot guys I can chase in the pursuit of said free clothes.

Whilst I don’t know a lot about fashion, nor do I know what colour is in this season; I know what I like. I definitely have style icons in Sarah Wayne Callies, Charlize Theron, Ginnifer Goodwin and a handful of others, but if they start wearing leggings as pants, or those crazy MC Hammer pants – I’m certainly not a mad celebrity whore that would actually be influenced enough to wear them!

In being a career woman and trying to be stylish in a neat casual environment in the digital media industry, I want to stay feminine but comfortable. I don’t need to wear heels to ‘make’ the outfit; the colours and cut of the clothes should be enough. At least that’s the style I aim to achieve each day.

And thanks to a local boutique near home that I practically wander in each Saturday, Honey & Beau have quickly become one of my favourite labels. I have at least 4 or 5 pieces in my wardrobe that I consider staples; investment pieces that I can team with lots of different things.

So I thought I’d share with you a few items in the Winter collection from this year; to introduce you to the label, and to inspire you to be a bit adventurous but still sophisticated and girly with your wardrobe. Sometimes feeling a bit dolled up can make the work day a bit more bearable.

The Tuxedo dress; when other labels are trying to make women wear manshirts, with a cute belt and what not, here is the Tuxedo dress. Adorable!

The Dietrich Deep V dress – absolutely love this dusty grey purple dress which can work with or without leggings.

The Dietrich Scarf Top – look at this outfit! I’m in love with the colours and the cut is so flattering.

The Jennifer Knitted Dress – again this colour is just gorgeous; and the cut of this dress is stunning, whilst I’m in love with the loose sleeves.

Coming to stores next week is the new Spring/Summer 09 collection which makes use of brighter berry tones, and cute little cropped jackets. Visit their website here to look for nearest stockists.

This week in an unusually chilly autumn, marked the start of the Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in Sydney – and despite the name of this site being pop couture; I can’t claim to be very knowledgable about the world of fashion, or what’s in, or what’s sooo 2 years ago. I just know what I like. I’m not speaking for anyone; just me! So, of course sharing is caring; and here are the pieces that I just couldn’t take my eyes off.

The Harper’s Bazaar Australia website describes Simone & Nicky Zimmermann’s Bittersweet Nightshade collection as being inspired by plants that flower at night. Sort of like Toy Story with the toys that come out and play at night without the humans knowing! Only.. these plants don’t talk? They just strut sexily down a catwalk.

I love that the collection featured dusty lilac, soft creams, a splash of turquoise, coral, and pink with brilliant shapes featured in a very wearable collection. I loved that the models had a very natural makeup look, warm, dewy and a sheer coral lip; but nothing that would inspire thoughts of Lady GaGa and sparkles, and lightning bolts.

Below are just a couple of what I thought were gorgeous and something that maybe one day I could wear to work. I mean as a single girl in a sea of IT males; one has to keep her girly identity!

P.S I wouldn’t wear bathers to the office..!