Be inspired

Chris Rock in Good Hair. Photo / Supplied

Being fashionable isn't just about clothes - although they do help. It's about being informed and taking inspiration from anything and everything, whether it be a documentary about hair, a magazine about strong women or the clothes that well-known designers send down the runway. So what should we look out for this winter?

Do you remember?

Looking back was one of the key movements from recent international shows, with designers rejecting the constant race towards the brand new and focusing on the best of the past. Marc Jacobs' minimalist collection referenced his own archive, and Prada's collection had a prim Mad Men vibe to it - complete with full skirts, dresses that enhanced the bust and beehives, which also appeared on models at the retro Rochas show (inspired by Goldie Hawn's 1969 film Cactus Flower). Chloe referenced 1970s American sportswear, as did Phillip Lim and Kenzo. The last collection designed by the late, great Alexander McQueen also harked back to another time, referencing Byzantine art, eternity and angels - a stark and poignant contrast to his previous futuristic range.

Laugh about it

Speaking of retro - young comedian and "one to watch" Rose Matafeo will reflect on the decade that would have changed her life, had she been born at the time. The teenager's mouthful of a show - "Life Lessons I've Learnt from the 60s Based on Things I've Seen on the Television" - is part of the New Zealand International Comedy Festival that begins in Auckland on April 23. Matafeo's "Guide To The Uncool" show with friend Heidi O'Loughlin last year was a hit, and we can't wait to see more. Expect Burt Bacharach tunes, beehives and lots of awkward humour.

April 24 - May 1, The Basement Theatre, tickets $16 from Ticketek.

Fur ball

Fur is back, whether you like it or not. Almost every autumn 2010 collection shown on runways over the past month or so has featured fur, both real and fake - Chanel's recent collection shown at Paris Fashion Week last week was a riot of fur, with fur coats, fur embroidery, fur boots, fur capes and even fur trousers. Or if it wasn't fur, it was shearling, which appeared at Marc Jacobs, Burberry, Celine, House of Holland, Ralph Lauren, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Vanessa Bruno, Karen Walker and more. Unfortunately Walker's examples won't be available here (she has adapted the range for our spring/summer), but if you want to reference the trend now, there are plenty of fur jackets in the current winter collections in store now - from Lonely Hearts to Kate Sylvester to Sera Lilly to Stolen Girlfriends Club. Expect fur and shearling to get even bigger next winter.

Watch it online

It's taken a while, but big-name brands seem finally to be switching on to the power of the internet - and we're not just talking about blogs. Last month the New York Times declared that "live streaming is the new black", with influential labels like Prada, Marc Jacobs, Rodarte and Alexander Wang making their most recent fashion shows available online. Burberry went one step further, streaming their London Fashion Week show in 3D. The beauty of this virtual craze is that it removes the exclusivity of fashion shows - Marc Jacobs may not have invited you, but you can still see what he has to offer for the upcoming season. It makes sense too, with the public's seemingly insatiable appetite for new fashion - why wait for Style.com to post photos, when you can watch it live and form your own opinion?

Will live streaming become the new black here in New Zealand? Some designers already put videos of their most recent shows online - Karen Walker and Kate Sylvester immediately spring to mind - and NZ Fashion Week hosts a website with videos of shows. But come NZFW 2010 will designers take matters into their own hands and be streaming videos on their own sites?

A guide to being preppy

Get your Ralph Lauren polo shirt crisp and ready, Vampire Weekend are coming to town. The band are famous for their take on collegiate preppiness and love of a good polo shirt - singer Ezra Koenig told the Guardian in January, "The way I look at it is: it's my God-given right to wear a cricket sweater, just as it is my right to wear a [Ralph Lauren] polo shirt".

The cover of their recent album features a vacant looking girl in a white polo shirt, and their most recent music video has a preppy young girl playing tennis.

Somewhere with sofia

Whimsical 20-somethings will be giddy with excitement to hear that director Sofia Coppola's latest feature is set to be released sometime this year. Somewhere follows Johnny Marco, "a bad-boy actor stumbling through a life of excess at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood. With an unexpected visit from his 11-year-old daughter, Johnny is forced to look at the questions we all must confront". The film will star 90s favourite Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning, little sister of budding fashion plate Dakota.

The fashion set love Coppola, who has a subtle sense of style that has seen her become Marc Jacobs' muse and a face of Louis Vuitton. Her past films Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette are a stylistic pleasure to watch, so expect Somewhere to be the same. Or if flashy fashion and Carrie Bradshaw are more your thing, Sex and the City 2 will be released.

Print isn't dead

We love magazines, and are always eager to check out new ones. The latest on our must-buy-and-read list is the charmingly titled, The Gentlewoman, the new sister magazine to Fantastic Man. The launch issue has just been released, with one of the best cover girls we've seen in a long time - Celine's creative director Phoebe Philo, photographed by David Sims. The bi-annual magazine is edited by Penny Martin, who described it to Women's Wear Daily as being about "modernity and women that are just fantastic". The first issue features profiles on Philo, artist Jenny Holzer, open water swimmer Lynne Cox and Japanese architect and the first woman to be appointed as director of the architecture sector for the Venice Biennale, Kazuyo Sejima. A celebration in print of stylish, successful and interesting women - which is what all magazines should be.

Film club

The world of film is always a sartorially inspiring place, but the upcoming World Cinema Showcase is set to be especially appealing with several style-related films on offer. Tom Ford's directorial debut, A Single Man, has already been lauded for its stunning visuals, a reflection of Ford's almost obsessive attention to detail. Set in the early 60s, the wardrobe of crisp suits, perfectly flicked eyeliner and bouffants will have you smitten. Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky follows the darker period of Coco's life when she became benefactor to famed composer Igor Stravinsky; it also got the approval of current Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, who designed a dress especially for the film and allowed vintage Chanel garments and accessories to be worn throughout.

The world of modelling gets a shake-up in Picture Me: A Model's Diary, an honest and interesting documentary that follows Sarah Ziff behind the scenes at fashion shows, castings, parties and photo shoots and examines the darker side of the industry. For something a little lighter, there's Chris Rock's documentary Good Hair in which he sets out to find out why his "African-American sisters crave different hair from what the Good Lord gave them". The film follows Rock as he visits salons, wig stores and Indian hair suppliers, as well as interviewing the likes of Salt-n-Pepa, Al Sharpton, actress Kerry Washington, singer Eve, and rappers Ice-T and T-Pain.

World Cinema Showcase, Auckland March 25-April 14, visit www.worldcinemashowcase.co.nz for sessions and tickets.