Spring is in the air; you can feel it, smell it and bask in its glory. As the weather starts to warm our toes, it’s only a matter of time before we start trying to cool off at the beach. Trish Stenzel from Miss Fancypants thinks we should do it in style, and I’m going to have to agree with her. Why head to the beach in the same surf-inspired gear you see on other girls, when you can revel in your own individual glory. Based on the beautiful sex appeal of the 40s and 50s woman, Miss Fancypants is a brand that delivers handmade vintage delights that you can gloriously splash around in at the beach. Stenzel lovingly crafts each of her designs, even giving them names reminiscent of the female inspiration that influences her brand’s style; Wanda, Grace, Bettie and Rita. I love the glamorous retro shoots that adds to the Miss Fancypants collection of swimwear; for more info, head to Miss Fancypants here.

Like countless other girls from around the world, I have a bit of a crush on the Olsen twins. Having grown up with Ashley and Mary-Kate on Full House, I still can’t believe the beautiful, pretty well-adjusted young women they’ve become, having become young entrepeneurs who’ve continued the grow their brand. The September issue of Marie Claire US features the hippish Mary-Kate looking achingly divine in an array of expensive couture in not just one cover shot, but three. This is of course the same interview where she said that the industry had used the twins like “little monkeys,” performing for an industry that counted your worth in dollar signs rather than your personal value. Regardless, the shots for the magazine are magical!

AT 8221 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California is the Chateau Marmont. It’s the infamous hotel where John Belushi died of a drug overdose, where James Dean popped in through a window to audition for Rebel Without a Cause and where reknowned fashion photographer, Helmut Newton died in 2004. It’s now going to become even bigger as the backdrop of Sofia Coppola’s new film, Somewhere. In the same melancholic atmosphere of Lost in Translation, the film looks at a famous father (Stephen Dorff) as he tries to reconnect with his 11-year-old daughter played by Dakota Fanning’s younger sister, Elle. The surrounds of the retro-looking Chateau add to the magical quality of the film, where it seems Coppola has an interest in examining the lives of middle-aged men who find happiness after building friendships with mature, younger women. With a soundtrack by Coppola’s partner’s band, Phoenix, a delectable cast and the mystique of the famous Hollywood hotel, Somewhere is sure to appeal to fans who love Coppola’s work aka Lost in Translation. For a look at what to expect head here.

Caitlin Williams

Flicking through your lovable glossy fashion rags has to be a girl’s favourite pasttime; and like a lot of young girls, working there would be even better. Caitlin Williams is one of the lucky ones. Having interned at Grazia and Shop Til’ You Drop, she scored a covetable job at Cleo. As the fashion assistant, she’s prepping for upcoming shoots, sourcing goods and keeping up-to-date with what’s hot in the fashion world. Not only can you see what she does at the magazine through the Cleo staff blogs, but the fashion blogger of The Cat’s Meow is not guest blogging for one of the country’s most formidable fashion blogs, Frockshop. We can only imagine what it’d be like to get to work with clothes all day — awesome. So if you’re into fashion, and your magazines, find Williams and her fashion musings.

The lady behind Uneamericaine

This is Michelle, or as I like to think of her, a French-based Cameron Diaz, because she looks so much like the Hollywood star. Born in Chicago, called Paris home for five years and now resides in the south of France or to be exact, Nice, this young photogenic lady is quite the styleazon. A fashion designer, illustrator and blogger, she’s the designer for American Retro, Zoe Tees and My Lovely Jean and she’s now branching out on her own, which isn’t hard to imagine, since she has a very French Riviera-type style. Head to her wonderful ode to all things French and fashion at Uneamericaine.

Lovin’ the Givenchy!

Emma Balfour

Synonymous with 90s grunge, Sydney-raised Emma Balfour has a face that’s hard to forget. Having graced the covers of international high-end rags like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, Emma now leads a much quieter life as a mum who loves nothing more than letting out creative steam writing short stories and poems. And there’s nothing more beautiful than the infinite wisdom of words.

Emma at home in Sydney

Courtesy of The Selby

Sophie Ward

Words Dani Hanrahan

Sophie Ward made a name for herself as one of Australia’s most celebrated models (and yes, sister to Gemma Ward) but she’s left that world behind. Now based in New York, Sophie exchanged her heels for a new journey, one with a pad, a pen and a curious longing to explore.

The Perth born model-turned-writer is a mix of beauty and brains, at once both introspective and open. After being discovered in the crowd at the Search for a Supermodel auditions, Sophie was propelled into a world where people wanted to know you, but not get to know you. Seeing her younger sister (Gemma) have to deal with the onslaught of sudden fame, Sophie decided the fashion world wasn’t for her. But it did show her “…some really beautiful parts of myself and some really ugly parts too.”

With her big blue eyes, alabaster complexion and lithe limbs, Sophie looks magically otherworldly (thanks mum) and it’s to these other worlds that she hopes to transport people, with her writing as the vessel. “I’d like to create a feeling; a sensation that draws people into the realms just beyond reality. That is the world of magic, and I like living there.” Graduating from the University of Western Australia in 2006, Sophie majored in English and European Studies. During that time she studied Descartes and Kant’s theory of thought – philosophical pursuits that seem to breathe through her words. “Contemplation, melancholy, solitude and obsessing over trying to articulate particular emotions. It all comes from inside – there are really only peripheral influences from outside, and those are mainly voices like Miller’s or Rilke’s.” Her work first appeared in Mark magazine (the online haven of Grazia’s resident style king, Mark Vassallo) alongside Australian writing royalty, Tim Winton (“I saw a future open up that I hadn’t previously explored or been present to) and has since written for Australian Vogue, Follow and Silver magazine.

Having moved from Perth to America, Sophie divides her time between New York, Los Angeles, the French countryside, Sydney and Perth. Like the model she was and the journeyman she is now, Sophie has travelled extensively; from England to Portofino and Vanuatu to New Orleans (where she dined on Greek mythology and Brandy Sazerac’s) but Perth is where the heart is. When she returns home, Sophie lists; driving to the beach, lying outdoors in a hammock, picnicking at Sommerville (UWA grounds) and feasting on her mum’s cooking as the things she loves doing best.

Along with freelance writing and musings on her blog, Big Long Open Gash, she is the queen of her own castle, the Paper Castle, that is – a small, grassroots publishing company that Sophie founded. “I like the idea of a personal space in a digital realm that is intimate whilst also being universal.” It was a natural progression for the small-town girl whose big ideas she believed would be sacrificed in the commercial writing business. “I had the sense that the kind of writing or work I wanted to do now wouldn’t be accepted by the bigger publishers, and that I’d have to alter or change some element of my truest expression in order to work with them, and I didn’t want to make that sacrifice. My publisher gave me the space and the opportunity to be heard and supported before I even thought I was a writer, and so I want to give that opportunity to other people, too. It’s a gift.” Unlike international publishing houses, Sophie’s philosophy behind her Paper kingdom is a little closer to heart. “I’d like to create beautiful books that people treasure as friends, for as long as this lifetime permits.” And she’s starting with The Beginning of an Inexplicable Journey, her philological memoir about a personal human journey or in her words, “a dichotomy: about life and not life, me and not me. For me this book is the best I could do to channel a hugely expansive world into a small and succinct package.” Having come about whilst travelling on the lonely modelling circuit, Sophie hopes readers are inspired by her journey. “I’d like people to know that whatever they want to express can be expressed. There is room for everything in this world. Even when it feels excruciatingly tightly wound up, the experience of unravelling it and sharing it and creating something from nothing is quite an experience. You have to honour and treasure those emotions; they are so universal and so beautiful.” Sophie has an affinity with words, and it’s that love affair that has finally made the former model finally find the person she wants to be. Is she content with the woman she’s become? “I’m proud of the relationships in my life, and proud of the fact that I have had dreams and accomplished them (moving to New York, becoming a writer, creating Paper Castle Press from nothing) and yet as Da Vinci said on his death bed: ‘I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.’ It will always be a process.” A process that begins with an inexplicable journey…

Wind whipping through your hair. The sun’s rays shining magically down on exposed legs. A sky-wide smile enveloping your face. There’s no greater pleasure than riding a bicycle through busy streets, cobbled lanes or around the park. As the last dregs of winter slip away, I’II be out scouring the streets of Sydney trying to find myself a beautiful two-wheeled contraption that I can ride two and from work. Let’s hope I find one…

The beautiful Hannah

The mysterious Landon

Hannah and Landon are mystical creatures of love, harmony and mystery. Every time I pop over to see what they’ve been doing or where they’ve been playing, I can’t help but be transported to another plane; a plane of pastel-faded woods, lacy boudoirs and isolated ravines where it seems it’s only Hannah and Landon on this big, beautiful world. The achingly otherwordly-looking couple both look like models, but in actual fact, they’re just two talented people albeit married to each other. Find their lovely through-the-lens world here.

A happily, ever after…

Photos courtesy of Hannah and Landon</em>