The Thousands

There are many valuable lessons to be learnt from Patti Smith’s autobiography Just Kids. Always sit in the Hotel Chelsea lobby if you can, Bob Dylan or Andy Warhol will no doubt pat you on the head. Make tie racks from crucifixes. Be skinny. Don’t hustle. But my favourite is: write, don’t type. Writing is creating whereas typing is just for kids.

It’s something NZ-born, Sydney-based Amy Kaehne has probably taken to heart in her AW collection inspired by the dreaming bohemes, the scheming starlets and Patti-esque poets of New York’s 60s and 70s. Past ranges have looked to the Velvet Underground, Jack Kerouac and the wild western beaches of New Zealand. Conformity obviously does not score well with Amy … right back to her days sporting co-ordinated kindy outfits down to matching hair attire (peep a pic here… so adorbs!)

For ‘Just Kids,’ my favourites are the chunky cord trousers, the dip-dyed slips, the magic pouch-like velvet dresses – can you have lived through the 90s and not love all those things? Correct answer, you cannot. Most of us may have missed the Smith-Mapplethorpe zeitgeist, but if we suit up just right, we can pretend. Just like kids.