When the Fashion156 eBay Paint Issue was going on, I had this jacket by Steve J & Yoni P on my eBay watch for such a long time until I doh doh doh missed it in true schoolboy error style but in a pleasant surprise, I found out I had lost to Wendy B who of course wears it with great panache as she does with most things.  Still, the jacket was a prototype that was to be developed into one that had.... grey jersey sleeves! 

Not just that they're grey jersey but that they're SNUG ones that even if you're bare armed underneath .  Oh dear... I fear I'm missing the true point of the jacket really by banging on about grey jersey snug sleeves.  Yes, those are might puffy sleeves.  Not just one puff but three perfectly rounded ones that run up the upper arms and when you poke them, they emit a soft pillowy sound, the kind that posh hotel pillows make.  The onamatapaiec fun doesn't end there as the front also does up with clips that make satisfying  clinking sounds when they are snapped into place. 

Actually, again, I'm being incoherent and getting easily distracted because the REAL point of this Steve J & Yoni P jacket is that it is the exact kind of shaped and sculpted armour that I've been hankering after to really elevate my winter.  If the nights are going to be dark and textures/prints need to be covered up, then I'd rather have a distinct shape on me moving not-so-stealthily about the night. 

Today I went for all black just to let the jacket do all the talking...

But I will of course clash shape with shape... my 1p eBay puffball dress which I will love and keep forever...

Or collide print/colour with shape with the help of Mary Katrantzou...

I was gutted to miss their S/S 09 show which was at the Korean embassy in London.  I might have to take back my previous comment about cuddly toys.  I'd like to take home some of their woodland creatures but only if I can emulate that same combination of cuddly toy and uniquely constructed dresses that looks altogether unexpected.  However, the whole collection is an amalgamation of so many things that you just can't box it into categories of mould it into how you want to see it.  I see geek glasses - do I detect a Lula-girly vibe?  Nope... the construction of the dresses, especially the warped metallic pleats shelve that idea.  There's a hooped skirt... is Victoriana coming back?  Nope, I can only see it as a reference to Beatrix Potter's era except Steve J and Yoni P have taken Potter's vision and mangled the animals, the flora and fauna into something that is their own.  Strip away all the elements that might throw you off course though and the clothes still stand on their own... surprisingly sharp tailoring and nifty design details aplenty.