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I seem to be all about themes lately. Last week was unintentionally French-themed, and this week I'm about supporting excellent causes. If you haven't already read my post on Peppermint mag's website or my little bit about it in issue #11 of the mag itself about Do it in a Dress, go ahead and do so now! Alternatively, head to the actual Do it in a Dress site, because I need my beauty sleep so I can't be explaining it all over again here!
Tonight I just thought I'd put some pics up, seeing as I haven't done any refashioning posts for a while (that would be because I've hardly had time to scratch myself, let alone stitch anything). I've remade a school dress for the girl behind the excellent Do it in a Dress campaign, Chantelle Baxter. Here's how it looked to start with.
Any Melbourne girls know which school this is from? I am thinking it's a private girls' school, it somehow just gives that impression. Anyway, I thought it should still look school dressy for the purposes of the project, so I just chopped a bit off the hem and made it into necklacey bits ...
... and at the back I have attached blue and green strips of bias binding that will trail behind Chantelle as she walks around next week spreading the word about the project, which is basically to help girls in Sierra Leone get to school.
The Sierra Leone flag is blue, white and green, hence the colours I chose. I learnt that from doing this project. Let's hope it raises enough funds so that lots of girls in Sierra Leone get to learn things too! And now I better get to bed. Someone's waiting rather impatiently there for me.
Aggh! Can you believe it's nearly the end of September!? Where has this year gone?
More to the point, are you ready for Buy Nothing New month?
Seeing as I only rarely buy anything new, October really shouldn't be too much of a problem! But if you're not into the make-do-and-mend mentality or all over the op-shopping yet, come and get some styling tips this Fashion Friday between 12-2pm at Hunter Gatherer Royal Arcade, and the Fitzroy, Brunswick, and Moonee Ponds branches of Brotherhood of St Laurence. I'll be at one of the stores, and if you don't see me, you'll get to meet one of my lovely blogger buddies! We'll all be styling up a storm!
It seems that it's a week of all things French, or at least things that sound that way. Tonight myself and some other ladies who like to chat about sustainable style-related matters met at Paris 99 in Elwood to nibble on cheese, crackers and chocolate - and check out some fabulous vintage designer pieces, naturellement!
Unfortunately due to the chic low lighting my camera decided to go on vacance in the room where all the clothes were, so you'll just have to imagine the black patent leather Givenchy super-high heel peep-toe booties (that sadly were not in my size), flirty little Missoni dress and the rhinestone-framed Nina Ricci sunglasses which would have made every day a holiday (dammit, I am still thinking about them right now!). Of course you could also check out the blog to see some of what's on offer.
The owner, Yahav Ron, explained that he did not start out thinking of his business as anything particularly sustainable, but apart from the air miles that may be involved in transporting vintage (or second hand) clothing, I'd say it's pretty earth-friendly - it's recycling, after all. And the shine from those rhinestone sunnies would save me heaps on my lighting bill...
As you would all know, I love dressing up. I also love eating. Especially fancy cakes and such, and especially when it's for a good cause.
So I was delighted to attend National Breast Cancer Foundation fund-raiser L'Heure du The at The Langham Hotel on Saturday. Such a glamorous hotel!
The delightful Kyra Pybus of Pybus PR managed not only to help put the event together, but to look outstanding in this gorgeous Luca Luca dress from Paris 99 (stay tuned - I'm going there this Wednesday so will have more for you later this week!) Here she is with a lady called Jess who looked stunning in a hat that she made herself! Clever AND beautiful. Like all the ladies I know, of course!
It was a lovely afternoon filled with tea-sipping thanks to Madame Flavour teas, yummy treats from Pierrick Boyer and this stunning display from Madam Virtue.
Offering the display a bit of competition: Lisa from Stylus Muse (more photos from the event on her blog), Kyra, Iolanthe and Jess.
And a young lady in an amazing dress taking photos of the display.
JC and Dean, the gents from Madam Virtue, were seated at my table (and were responsible for one of my friend's wedding dresses!) so I got to have a chat.
Here is JC with Kyra - check out his Chanel (the event theme was Parisian Chic)! He's such a renaissance man: couturier, interpreter for the UN (he speaks TEN languages. I am in AWE) and he also has something to do with the legal profession. Who knows how he finds the time to attend high teas!
And here is Dean with Thom from Everyone's Celebrity and Lisa again - more Chanel in the form of Lisa's black box handbag.
Lady Melbourne was fairly dripping in Chanel... (click here to find out where she got it!)
My own little bit of Chanel really was little.
I got this perfume bottle brooch at a Chanel event ages ago when I worked in Tokyo, but have never worn it until now as I was so scared I would lose it! JC told me it's quite rare and was originally only made for the Japanese market.
Speaking of perfume - I found the Peony Haute Perfumerie stall at the little market next to the high tea very interesting.
They stock the perfumes that were used by Napoleon and Josephine, among other beautiful products.
They also were the only stall with a big plate of macarons. No wonder I spent so much time there, haha. Although there were plenty of macarons at the high tea itself too, as Suzanna is conveniently modelling for us...
Everything was very glamorous - I loved the floral arrangements (by Domain flowers) 
More flowers... my jacket is fake fur of course! (I made it aaaaages ago... do you know how much of a MESS fake fur makes?? I found bits of it in my tea for weeks after I finished this jacket!)
And this was pretty impressive too... an Eiffel tower made completely from chocolate!
After the party was over, Thom took this lovely shot of us by the Yarra enjoying the sun. My dress was $10 at a flea market in Tokyo, I made the belt from a straw hat, and my parasol is by Chanel and was another freebie from when I worked at Vogue! Nice mix of high and low, yes?
Well, continuing with the theme of out-of-date blog posts, allow me to present you with something that happened last weekend, which, as you would know, is an eternity in the blogging world. Sorry! Anyway, this is the RMIT student runway show - the first one. There were two shows with 15 students in each of them showing 5 outfits each, but this is just a little selection from the first show.
Architectural inspiration from Amelia Agosta. Dare I say that students always attempt this sort of thing, but this collection was very well executed.
Elyse Barker went with an overblown flower theme in candy tones...
...and in bright gold (gold hibiscus!) - I would totally wear this jacket, although maybe not at the office...
Laura Hui Shan Li played with illusions and moulded her pieces to the body.
She used leather for a lot of the pieces. Here you can see the back of a huge mask - and a detail of the pom pom chain ponytail which most of the models were sporting.
Remie Cibis sort of reminded me of Ann Demeulemeester/90s grunge gone clean, which is not my kind of thing at all usually.
However, I loved the plaits (although this look would never work on my wussy flyaway hair) and I also loved the huge white stitches which in some places were used not only as decoration but as a construction detail. You can see them on the model at the right below (around the yoke of the garment)...
... and also on the back of this long waistcoat.
Franca Sabatini's skirts were somewhat impractical...
... but her blouses were sweet, the mask idea was fun, and the shoes were amazing. It's hard to see here but they were white booties with what looked like carved, curved wooden platforms which resembled blades on ice skates.
Stephanie McPherson's collection was quite commercial in taste, which makes me think she'll probably be snapped up quite quickly once she graduates. 
I'm not sure what the prints were - maybe shells? Her designs were all very flattering, real-world friendly, and would have appeal across all age groups - and depending on the styling could look fashion forward or office-appropriate. 
Emmarose Kinsman's work seemed simple, but I bet the cutting of these pieces is actually quite tricky. I love the pop of colour in the tiered dress on the left.
And this dress is decorated in yo-yos, which as you all know are very handy and can be used to pretty up lots of things!
Jon Cordiano had some interesting silhouettes which showed off his construction skills.
I'm not going to say that this rope dress was flattering, but it was certainly interesting and displayed his skill.
I actually think it looks beautiful from behind with all the tassels swinging.
Menswear doesn't usually do much for me but I think we can expect big things from Chris Ran Lin. I loved the gold rope (?) motifs printed? or embroidered? on this navy suit.
His textured knitwear was nothing short of fabulous. I had actually seen this jumper on a female model in a photo at the exhibition I went to the other day, so it could definitely work as a mini dress.
Toned down a bit, this intricate cabling on the sleeves could be perfect to add interest to winter woollies, or a coat, as he's shown here.
I think he had a bit of an under-sea theme going - this hoodie/cropped jumper reminded me of an old fashioned deep sea diver mixed with some of the characters in Pirates of the Carribbean.
Kind of tentacley and barnacley, don't you think?
The finale was such a joyous occasion - the last show for MSFW but for many students, the first major one in what I hope will be long, successful fashion careers!
