Style Wilderness

The seminal Seminole experience

2012-01-25T09:18:00.000+11:00

What do you do when someone gives you an entire shoebox (and they had large feet) full of bias binding in all the colours of the rainbow? This was my dilemma (yeah, first world problems) a few months ago when the grandmother of someone I know moved house and got rid of all her haberdashery from her seamstressing career by offloading it into the impatiently waiting arms of my sister, who then, as she had no room either, offloaded it to me (yes, I can hear your wails of envy and gnashing of teeth as it's something akin to every DIYers fantasy, I know).
Having recently drooled over The Folkwear Book of Ethnic Clothing, I was not short of ideas for how to use all this trimming - in fact it was like I'd sent a wish out to the universe and, for a change, it had delivered, as I had fallen in love with the skirts worn by Florida's Seminole Indians (like in the pic below) and the book gives instructions for how to create similar patterns using - such a coincidence - bias binding! (This pic is not from the book, I found it here while trawling the internet)

One of my many freelance jobs is as regular columnist Miss Sew & Sew at Peppermint magazine, and quite a while ago I created a circle skirt out of a bedsheet for that column (let me know if you want me to put up a scan of the article, I didn't get round to it for this post). Being plain navy and mid-calf length, it wasn't the kind of thing I would normally wear, so it ended up sitting in my wardrobe until I realised that it would be the perfect base for a Seminole-inspired skirt. I won't tell you how long it took to stitch all the bias binding on, as I didn't time myself, but let's say I had three weeks of summer holidays and watched quite a few crappy DVDs while pinning metres (kilometres?) of the stuff to the skirt, which now looks like this.

If you would like to make your own version of the skirt, it's not hard - you really just need to cut a huge circle with a hole in the middle for your waist, but as I'd cut the hole too big, I needed to gather the skirt material to fit me and attach a waistband and a zip. But if you're starting from scratch it would be much easier just to cut the hole big enough to slide over your hips and then stitch elastic to the waistline (directly on to the fabric using zig zag stitch, or slid through a casing).

If you are going to do that, make sure you put the elastic in the waistline last, because you want the skirt as flat as possible while you are attaching all the bias binding.

I love how swingy it is! I have never worn this kind of thing before but all the colours make me very happy - as does the knowledge that this project is completed!! But now what do I do to give me an excuse to watch crappy DVDs? Oh, that's right, muck around with iPhoto to make my pictures look vintage, just like this!

And there's always another project in store - the cherry-adorned headband I'm wearing in these shots belongs to Lisa at Couturing.com and we used it for a Mexican-inspired shoot the other day (more on that another time).

Pretty cute, don't you think? Hmm, I have a few plain hairbands just lying around...and stacks of beads and decorative stuff that would look cute on hairbands... and some crappy DVDs to watch...

Hey Dude!

2012-01-22T19:26:00.003+11:00

Hi guys, and I do mean GUYS specifically. You see, recently my sister's friend was out with a guy and who knows how they got to talking about me, but it turned out that this particular extremely intelligent, informed and no doubt exceedingly handsome and charming man reads this blog so recognised my name when the friend mentioned it!

This news was something of a surprise to me as I don't think I have ever had any comments from readers of the male persuasion and didn't think this blog would appeal as there is nary a mention of AFL, cricket, rugby, soccer, or any of the stuff that boys apparently like, despite lots of mentions of cats, op shopping, vintage clothes, earrings, making stuff out of crap and other more girly pursuits. So in honour of this momentous occasion I have composed a little poem.

Hey guys,

Don't be shy

If you like DIY

Drop by

And say hi!

Don't worry, now that that's out of my system I'll save my DIYing for clothes and accessories and leave poems alone. But please do say hi if you're one of my male readers, and you can send a pic of you doing DIY if you like, as there was no image for this post! (Female readers are welcome to do the same. Hey, I'm lucky to have any readers at all, I'm not picky about who comments!!)

Why don't YOU?

2012-01-18T09:27:00.001+11:00

Whenever I'm short on inspiration, I like to flick through my little library for ideas.

Particularly helpful is this book about Diana Vreeland, fashion editor extraordinaire for many years at Harper's Bazaar. She was not traditionally beautiful (particularly keeping in mind the blonde, vampy screen sirens of the 1940s-50s which is when her career really took off) but she had style in spades.

Her lasting legacy (one of them, anyway) was a column called Why Don't You...? which offered hints for all aspects of life where style is a factor, from interior decorating to accessorising to dressing children.

Although some of the suggestions are a bit irrelevant today (such as using a zip on an evening dress - something we take for granted now but was revolutionary in the 1930s) or somewhat impractical unless you're rolling in money (asking your personal jeweller to use the diamonds you just happen to have lying around to create wearable accessories, using flat Champagne to wash a blonde child's hair), there is still plenty to inspire.

When I started this blog I was thinking of actually following one of the Why Don't You? tips every few days, similar to the food blogger on which the Julie & Julia film is based, but then I thought it would be too limiting or too hard (contrary to popular belief, there are NO diamonds lying around my house waiting to be reset!). But if anyone out there wants a little blogging challenge, I think this would be a great one!

Take seven drops of creative essence, three times a day

2012-01-15T19:50:00.006+11:00

It sounds like hocus pocus, but I've been told to take seven drops of creative essence, at least three times a day. I'm also taking the same dose of some other botanic and mineral essences which are meant to help me focus a bit more on what I want from life and make me a bit more motivated.

This is not what I expected from a kinesiology session, but after about 20 years of suffering from chronic discomfort in the neck, shoulder and back on my right side, I'm open to pretty much anything. I've had moxibustion, rolfing, Bowen therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic, myotherapy, physiotherapy and deep tissue massage sessions (and no doubt other treatments which I have forgotten) but nothing has worked.
Someone told me a while ago that if treatments for the physical were not effective for me, I should consider that the problem might be more of an emotional block, but I don't think of myself as someone with serious issues, and counselling can be pricey, so until now I have put it off. But a friend recently told me that kinesiology might be a good idea, so I decided to give it a go.
Rather than kinesiology, though, the session was more like counselling as this particular practitioner practises "mind body detox". I won't go into millions of navel-gazing details, but I've been "prescribed" botanical and mineral essences (like the Bach's range of remedies), given a special healing oil and was also told to sleep with an amethyst under my pillow (lucky I had a string of them at home that I bought in Jakarta!).

Apparently amethysts have a clearing, focusing effect and used to be prescribed for alcoholics, which is kind of ironic in my case as I hardly ever drink. But they're also meant to have a pain relieving effect, and whether it was unburdening my thoughts at the session, taking the essences, rubbing the oil on my neck, or the amethyst under my pillow, my neck does feel slightly more relaxed.
I know I wouldn't usually write such a serious post but if this treatment works, it will be nothing short of a miracle. I'm sure you'd understand if you'd had chronic discomfort for more than half your life!
Also, I have to admit the concept of crystals having healing powers fascinates me. I'm still skeptical about it, but love gemstones nonetheless, so recently read Buried Treasure by Victoria Finlay. Finlay is an extremely engaging writer and it was fascinating to read all the myths and legends associated with amber, diamonds, pearls and so on - for example in Elizabethan times, aristocracy used to wear "scribbling rings", which were set with uncut diamonds so they could scratch messages into glass for their lovers... kind of like writing on their Facebook wall, old-school style! If you love little facts like that, you will love Buried Treasure too.
OK, book review and health report post over. Normal programming to resume soon. Hope you're all well out there and have no need for any of the treatments I mentioned (and don't think I'm a crazy hippy hypochondriac)!

Colour & crochet

2012-01-12T02:09:00.000+11:00

A little while ago (well, fine, if you want to be picky, it was more than a year ago) I bought yet another not-quite-right garment at an op shop.

Like a simple-minded bird, I'm drawn by bright colours, so ka-ching! went the sales till, to the tune of $5.
The top then sat in my "to do" pile while I tried to work out how to reconfigure it so I would actually wear it. Shawl collars are probably my least favourite neck arrangement, so I took that off, but I was stuck for what to do with the rest of the garment. Then I put it on back to front, and things became a bit clearer.

This was the front, although you can hardly tell now! Apart from removing the shawl collar and the buttons from the front section, I made a seam up the centre and reshaped the hemline so that instead of going straight across my hips, it curves up on each side (there must be a name for that kind of hemline but I don't know it. Do you?)

I also chopped off the sleeves and made casings for elastic to give them a slight puff.

Then I thought for a little while about what to do with the neckline...

Well, actually, it's obvious that I'd already finished the neckline, but it looks like I'm thinking, doesn't it. Yes, that's my thinking face. Anyway, what I ended up doing was cutting a little bit more off the neckline after removing the collar, then making a double-crochet strip from some nylon ribbon (also from an op shop and used previously to decorate my Spring Racing Carnival outfit) and attaching it with big colourful embroidery thread stitches across the front (ie, what used to be the back).

As the back is very open, the crochet strip also serves the purpose of keeping the top up! I put two press-studs on the strip at the back so that the top doesn't slip off my shoulders every five seconds.

As it's not that easy to find shawl-collared colourful tops in every op shop, I didn't bother doing this re-fashion post as a step-by-step tutorial, but I think there are some ideas in here which you could use easily in other projects - like the crochet trim (it's easy to make a braid if you can't crochet), the open back and hemline that rises at the sides (you could cut a T-shirt top to achieve a similar look), puff sleeves (doable with just about any top that has loose sleeves) and (with a bit of inspiration from Kris Kross) - wearing things back to front!

A hook-up for knitwits

2012-01-10T15:30:00.001+11:00

A fun idea, no? I am doing a fashion shoot on that weekend but I'll try to make it down to city square at some stage. Will I see you there?

Double dose of DIY

2012-01-08T10:29:00.001+11:00

It's a sad fact of life that all good things must come to an end, holidays in particular. I've had three whole weeks off but am back to the daily grind tomorrow - not that I'm really complaining as I know most of you were back last week! I wanted to do lots of things but somehow what with getting the flu for my Christmas present and then a knock-out heatwave, most plans just fell by the wayside, including most of my sewing/DIY projects. I did manage a few things though, and so before I go back to being all busy again, here's a double dose of DIY.

I made the singlet top years ago so can't show you a "before", but it's a black tank top with "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" printed on it (I got it as a novelty from some shop opening or other). That logo isn't really true of me ("crap from an op shop is this girl's best friend" would have been more appropriate), plus I can always use a bit of help in the bust department, so I disguised the print and added a bit of volume in the form of fabric detailing at the same time.

I made a very wide frill by gathering an old kimono sash, attached it to the singlet using zig-zag stitch (this is a must if you are stitching something to a garment that is made from stretch material, as was the singlet, because straight stitch will just break). Then, to cover the top part of the frill, I stitched fabric yo-yos to it.

The second DIY is the skirt, which originally looked like this when I bought it at Savers for about $7.

As usual when it comes to chopping up vintage garments (or any garments, for that matter), I ummed and aahed for ages before picking up the scissors. Someone lovingly made this back in the '60s or '70s, after all. But I knew I wouldn't get much wear out of it at its original length.

Being lazy, I kept the original hem, cutting horizontally across the skirt to give myself an above-knee-length section of material. The skirt only has side seams (no back seam) and I put a zip in the left side seam, then fitted it on myself to work out where I wanted the pleats. If you can, it's always easier to put a zip in something before fitting it, because then you can take it off and put it on to check things without having to rely on pins everywhere.

Then I just cut a long strip from some of the excess material on the inside of the hem and created a waist band... and voila! A '70s style skirt has now gone back to the '50s!

I have mentioned "gathering" to make a frill, yo-yos and other crafty terms before, but if you're not familiar with them and want to try them out for yourself, I'd suggest visiting your grandma, or failing that, using the lean green Ecosia machine to find a tutorial - there are so many people on the internet who can do a much better job with explaining AND with technology than I can!

Bachhara to work? Not quite...

2012-01-05T00:01:00.001+11:00

No, I never can resist a play on words. Although you probably wish I would go back to work so I didn't have time on my hands to muck around with language. But if I were back at work, I would not have time to swan around in the garden modelling this amazing brand for you.

I used Bachhara in the Fair@Square fashion show last year and in 2010 too, and interviewed its founder and designer Amanda Ryan for Peppermint not long ago. The interview is only in the hard copy version, but there's lots of other great stuff on the site so head over and have a look! And DEFINITELY read more about Amanda and her brand on the Bachhara site. I am not going to explain all about it here but basically Amanda has set up the brand to help disadvantaged women and communities in a slum area in Bangladesh. She is one very dedicated, inspirational young lady. (And beautiful too - that's her modelling on the website!)

Amanda let me hang on to the pieces from the fashion show for a bit so that I could have a proper look at them and do a bit of posing!

Amanda has obviously put a lot of thought into the dresses. Not only are the colours and prints gorgeous, the shapes are very loose and flattering for ladies of just about any size. Although I think that the maxi-dresses are made for people who are somewhat taller than myself as I kept stepping on the hems!

As someone who makes her own clothes, I was curious to see how the Bachhara garments are constructed. There is very little shaping - most of the dresses are simply lengths of material which make use of a few strategic stitches or, as is the case with this animal print one, a casing with shoulder ties running through it which the wearer adjusts to fit.

This mini-dress is particularly clever as it is essentially a rectangle which has been folded in half with a hole cut for the head and stitching up the side and centre to encase the torso, and then, to add interest, another hole cut along the "sleeve" section to expose the upper arm.

Such a simple design, but perfect for swishing around in, and it doesn't look so simple when set in motion.

The use of colour gives two dresses of the same design a completely different look.

There are dark pink, orange and cream panels in this version of a one-shouldered maxi-dress...

...which looks quite different in monotone lilac...

I really respect Amanda for coming up with such effective designs as she is not a trained fashion designer or patternmaker - although maybe it is for that exact reason that she's been able to create such basic patterns for the dresses.

The women in Bangladesh who sew for Bachhara all receive sewing training but obviously they are not going to be able to make intricately tailored pieces overnight. So creating these simple designs is really for their benefit - they match the women's sewing capabilities, but allow them to work on something beautiful and earn a wage for it. Well, at least that's my interpretation of how these designs have come about - on the surface the dresses look so simple, but a lot of consideration and effort have gone into making them that way.

Of course there are many other fabulous Fair Trade and ethical brands out there, so if you have any discoveries, let me know! And if anyone feels like sending me more delightful dresses to pose in, they're very welcome too!

Twinkletoes DIY style

2012-01-01T13:43:00.005+11:00

Are you a fan of A Pair & a Spare? I have been ever since some friends got me hooked on its DIY goodness and the super style of its creator (how many ladies do you know who can wear a bathmat as a dress and look amazing?). One of the projects that most caught my eye (admittedly because it was shiny, and shiny things distract me) were the boots with glitter heels. Not owning any boots that I could doctor in this way, I instead turned to some shoes that were not getting much wear because they looked like this:

I got them years ago at Gap when I lived in Tokyo, but have since learned enough about my personal style to know that I just don't do great big bows on anything, let alone wedge heels. So they were a prime target for some revamping. I unpicked the bows from them (and put them away, as they will no doubt come in handy for a future project), bought some glue and unearthed a bag of glitter from out of the garage.

I know what you're probably thinking - why did I just happen to have a huge bag of glitter in the garage? Well, my dad used to be an industrial chemist at a flooring company, and some of the flooring had glitter in it (maybe they were outfitting discos? It was the '70s, after all). And let's just say that this bag was, um, left over, so dad brought it home with him. I noticed it when I was cleaning out the garage years ago. I might have mentioned just a few times that I come from a family of hoarders. You never know when you're going to need a jumbo sized bag of gold glitter, which would be why no one had thrown it out!

Now this is where I stopped taking photos for you, mainly because there's a proper tutorial on A Pair and a Spare, but also because my hands were too busy holding shoes and covering them with glue and dipping them into the bag of glitter and trying to patch up the gaps which you can see in this photo.

Basically I spread craft glue over the outside-facing part of the wedges, extending it to just inside the instep as you can see here on my left foot.

This was mainly because I got lazy, but I decided I could say it was part of the design! I quite like it, although I do need to tidy it up a bit as I didn't spread the glue on very precisely.

I was also going to add something like bright pink tassels or pom poms to the front of the shoes and change the straps but haven't got around to that. What do you think, do you like my new sparkly shoes just as they are, or do they need more bling?

In the pink

2012-01-01T10:26:00.004+11:00

Happy 2012! How did you see the new year in? I celebrated with some Japanese friends eating way too much, including toshi-koshi (bridging the years) soba noodles which are traditionally eaten for a long life. If I were in Japan today I'd be eating other traditional food such as shiny boiled black beans, little fried fish and golden chestnuts, all of which symbolise things like success from endeavour and prosperity. I'd also be freezing as it's the middle of winter over there, whereas here in Melbourne we are in the middle of a heatwave.

My New Year's Eve outfit was therefore pretty casual, made up of the usual op shop and flea market finds (sandals, silver Afghan necklace), travel purchases (blingy Indian gold necklace) cheap buys (under-singlet from ¥100 shop), self-made creations (earrings and skirt) and - somewhat unusually - a designer piece (Balenciaga grey singlet which was a hand-me-down from a dear friend many years ago.

The skirt used to look like this:

I made it probably over 10 years ago from a length of material that my aunt gave me, she'd had it sitting in her cupboard for years (hmm, do you see a family tendency for hoarding there!?). I think it was from Thailand. It was a super simple skirt - I basically made a tube with a seam at the centre back, put a dart on either side to give it a bit of shape, and ran some elastic across the back waist to gather it.

Perhaps you can see the back a bit better here. I folded over the waistline to create a casing, and the elastic only goes between the two back darts.

As much as I like the exotic princessy kind of vibe of the full length skirt, it was a bit hard to walk in (even though I put in a slit in the back hem) and not very versatile, and had been resting in my wardrobe for years. So when I was trawling A Pair & a Spare blog and saw Geneva's pink skirt I decided to give it the chop. (Funny how her post was not about skirts AT ALL! I'm so easily distracted!)

All I did was chop it to mini length and stitch some folds down at the hemline to create a bit of a bustle at the back.

I made the earrings too, by combining op shop clip-ons made of these brown stones with quartz crystal pendant heads.

Crystals and fortune telling seem kind of appropriate at the start of the year - I wonder what the future holds for us all?

Jakarta Fashion Week

2011-12-22T22:45:00.003+11:00

Can it really be more than a month ago that I was at Jakarta Fashion Week with the lovely Thom Whilton of Couturing.com? (No, I'm not a midget, he is just incredibly tall!)

To be honest, I was wondering if I should even bother doing this post because it was a while ago, and Thom has already done a great post using the professional pictures from the event (and I've done a personal one and a work one about the rest of our Jakarta trip), but as it's nearly Christmas, I thought a dose of bling was in order. And if there's one thing we got at JFW, it was bling.
At the Cleo Fashion Awards the bling was mainly on the big screens... I loved what they did with the backdrops (the models came out onto the catwalk through these screens).

There was a bit of a Russian theme for accessory label Ghost...

And then a road trip backdrop for a more street-style label (sorry, not sure who this is!)...

Imelda Kartini really upped the awe factor with these gravity-defying gowns...

I'm sure there's a DIY idea hiding under all these loops of wool? chiffon? I'm not sure what it actually was, but you would probably go loopy trying to recreate this look...

Danny Satriadi's designs incorporated layers and intricate lace-like patterns to lift a subtle colour palette.

Fake hair was one of the most interesting materials used, incorporated to great effect in the skirt of this dress.

I'm not normally a girly girl, but these clouds of pale pink chiffon could just about make me turn...

As you probably know, I'm a sucker for anything ethnic inspired, so Sebastian Gunawan's overblown ikat print collection had me at hello.

Ikat is a traditional craft in Indonesia, but the designers had modernised it by cleverly supersizing the patterns and keeping to a limited palette. Authentic ikat patterns can look quite undefined due to the inherently imprecise process of dyeing threads prior to weaving (it blows my mind at how involved the process actually is!), but the prints here were very clear cut and bold. Nothing to fault here!

Sapto Djojokartiko showed a collection that I thought of as a mix of heavy metal and iron lace...

It was a breathtaking collection in every sense of the word, thanks to the structures that the models were wearing on their feet (I don't think they can really be called shoes as they looked like the kind of thing that architecture students might have to create as their final assignments and were probably just as comfortable, judging by the models' expressions).

The models were all walking excruciatingly slowly and the audience held its collective breath the entire show. There was applause every time a model made it safely back to the top of the catwalk. Kind of crazy, but then they are called fashion shows for a reason, I suppose.

Of course, the blingiest bling of all was saved until last.

Tex Saverio's collection shone - literally. Every single piece was completely gold.

There seemed to be a bit of a flight theme, with winged figures and gowns seemingly created from zillions of gilded feathers. Black Swan has had a lot to answer for this year!

The frame around this model's face features mythical birds like phoenixes, or maybe they're cranes...

Either way, it's a miracle that she made it down the runway, it looked so heavy...

As I was a naughty blogger who hadn't done her homework, I knew nothing about Tex Saverio, but I sat watching the show thinking "I bet Lady Gaga would LOVE this stuff". Turns out my celeb/designer matchmaking radar is spot on, albeit a little late, as Tex has already created a costume for her!!

Now, if you're feeling creative and Christmassy at the same time, I have a DIY project for you. Simply print out the picture below (in colour, of course), cut out the model neatly, stick her to the top of your Christmas tree, and voila! It's the Christmas Fashion Fairy! You can cover her in glitter too, if you like. I'm sure Tex wouldn't mind - he seems to be a bit of a fan of bling!

Melbourne summer must-dos

2011-12-19T20:20:00.007+11:00

Yay! Work is over, summer holidays are here and I've finally had a chance to get some blog posts going again!

So what's kept me so busy? All that end of year socialising! Actually getting outside and away from the computer and hanging out with friends! I even managed to find time to sit around on some lawn in the sun during a lunch break lately thanks to a campaign from OPSM ... if you're in Australia you've still got time to check it out and maybe become the face of OPSM! At the very least, you'll get free ice-cream and a photo of yourself in some cool new shades, so what is there to lose?

Speaking of losing things, loss of dignity comes to mind when I see this photo...

This was taken while socialising at my work break-up party, which had a masquerade theme. I was struggling for dress up ideas when my sister suggested going as Frida Kahlo (which, as you will know, is fairly much how I dress most of the time anyway) so that I could add a monobrow "mask" made out of two furry black pipecleaners wound together and hooked over my ears. Easy! Except that it kind of looks more like I'm trying to be a character from A Bug's Life...

Here's a shot of me looking a bit more normal.

The party was held in a marquee in the beautiful Carlton Gardens. I'm wearing a dress I've posted about before, probably from south-east Asia, but I obviously looked quite authentically Frida-ish because a guy from Central America came up to ask if the dress was from somewhere in South America! And on the way home, an old guy started smiling as I was walking in his direction and said "so colourful!" as I went past. Even if you're normally someone who only wears black, I recommend trying some colour out this summer. I can practically guarantee it will lift your mood, and those of everyone around you!

I can also recommend having a picnic in an unlikely place, such as a median strip. The ever enterprising Tullia Jack invited a big group of friends around to dinner at her house last week, but as it was such a lovely evening, we ate at tables made from planks and milk crates, garnished with orchids, all set up on the median strip. How much more Melbourne could you get?!
Despite the uniqueness of the evening, I stupidly didn't take photos, so this one (with Tullia, Berri and myself) is from one of Tullia's friends!

Continuing the "I didn't take photos" theme, I went to a lovely picnic at the Royal Botanical Gardens on the weekend and got NO photos of us all lazing around eating strawberries, cheese, olive bread and copious amounts of dip. But someone did take a picture of the bike (Papillionaire) which the lucky Fabia was given by her boyfriend!

Super stylish!
I did remember to get some shots as we were leaving the gardens, which are looking simply SPLENDID this year after all the rain we've had. I'm in my new Dolce & Gabbana catseye sunnies from OPSM, but everything else is stuff I've had for ages (top made from op shop batik material that cost about $1, shorts from Camberwell market for $5, headscarf $2 from Savers and jewellery from all over the place as usual).

Many, many picnics and much lazing around at the gardens this summer are something I would highly recommend. And of course there's Moonlight Cinema too, although I always find that a bit risky with Melbourne's changeable weather... it has been good lately though. After the picnic we headed straight to some community Christmas Carols where I got this shot which I think is bound for the "Melbourne Christmas hall of fame", if such a thing exists...

Glowstick? Check. Messy ice-cream? Check. Christmas T-shirt? Check. And T-shirt wound around head to keep out noise of carols? Yes, Eddie has that too. I enjoyed watching him attacking that ice-cream much more than I enjoyed the carols!!

And just to show you that anyone who's anyone hangs out in a park during the summer, here's something I found on Facebook (source unknown)...

How cool is that cat!?

If you want to be as chilled as he is, you might like to try the Smooth day spa at the Melbourne City Baths, which is what I did last week. Of course I'm not going to put up a photo of myself in a bath, so instead here's a shot of how the manicure that I had there turned out.

If you are at all interested in Melbourne's history, you will love visiting Smooth. The bathtubs are all in individual cubicles which have been there since the baths opened in the 1860s but until recently were being used as a storage area (!!sacrilege!!). Now they've been restored to their original condition, along with the mikveh which I think I was told is the only one in public baths in the world. The owner of Smooth knows a lot about the baths' history and even found the inventory of things that were ordered to keep the baths running - apparently they used to order fig leaves so that the more modest bathers could cover themselves!! Fascinating stuff. Where else could you lie back in a bath and hear trams clanging past on the street? (Perhaps not completely relaxing, but certainly different from the usual dolphin-themed soundtracks you get at a lot of spas!)

Speaking of doing things differently, how's this card from Lady Melbourne?

I've never associated can can girls with the festive season, but hey, why not?

There's still a few days until Christmas, and more to the point, I'm not the Christmassy type (as this article might indicate), but I'd still like to wish you a happy summer/winter/festive season, or whatever it is in your part of the world!

Fair@Square fashion show

2011-12-11T19:48:00.004+11:00

Did you make it to the http://moralfairground.com.au/fairfashion.html last Friday night? If you did (and even if you didn't), maybe you'd like to find out a bit more about the featured labels. As you know, I organised the whole thing, so yes, I could have arranged for our amazing MC Em Rusciano to talk about each brand, but there are so many great stories behind them that she'd still be talking now if we'd gone with that plan.

The show featured fair trade, ethical and sustainable labels, all with different approaches to making the fashion industry fairer and greener. I'm not saying any of them are perfect, but the point is that they are all making an effort to offer consumers an alternative to mass-produced fashion which all too often is produced in questionable conditions which are too numerous and diverse to go into here. If you want to find out more, this book by Lucy Siegle is a good starting point. Anyway, enough doom and gloom - on with the show!

These looks are by Georgia McCorkill of The Red Carpet Project.

Georgia hand sews unique designs from remnants of bridal fabric and some of her dresses are made so that they can be reworked at a later stage, changing with the wearer's tastes (some of whom are celebs, hence the "red carpet" element).

I paired jewellery from my own label, Fourth Daughter, with Georgia's looks, but you can't see it here because I chose pieces that are a lot more subtle than what I usually wear. I'll post about it properly when my store over at Recycled Market is up and running (not long now!)

Bhalo is a fair trade label handmade in Bangladesh.

It's all beautiful (but simple) stuff so I jazzed it up with hairbands, bangles, hairclips (used as brooches), shoes and clutches made from vintage kimono by Dames & Divas.

Yes, there was a bit of a Frida Kahlo look going on! I couldn't resist! And I chose the song Streamers by Brous to go with it because it was so happy (yes, the soundtrack to the show was all my doing too, although we did have the very handsome DJ Asanka working his magic to make sure it all ran smoothly).

3rd Time by Glen Rollason offers meticulously-handmade jackets recrafted from old jumpers, suits and other garments, beautifully lined and finished.

Unsurprisingly, the male models were all coveting these!

The scarves I paired with the jackets are by Mulberries and are hand woven by fair trade groups in Laos from organic silk. (I bought some silk soap by Mulberries at the Fair@Square festival - I'll let you know what it's like when I start using it!)

Cylk uses seamless knitting for its stretch pieces and eco-friendly fabrics such as modal and linen for its wovens.

The neckpieces teamed with the clothes are by HandHookYarn - the one above is leather and the one below is fringing, but most of the neckpieces are actually crocheted. You might see HandHookYarn's creator, Berri, selling her wonderful wares at a market if you're lucky (I met her at Finders Keepers in Melbourne!)

Hobo Boho is a fair trade label offering unisex pieces that are probably best described as "urban luxe".

It is created by Roopa Pemmaraju who has an eponymous label which you will see further on.
The edgy accessories worn here are hand created from recycled laminate and other materials by Brahman Perera of Elgar and Lyle.

New label PaulineLoui upcycles secondhand clothes to create pretty pieces like these.

The handbags are by Ethical Clothing Australia credited label Lydra, which is run by Linda Vydra. Something of an entrepreneur, Linda has found some skilled senior ladies to create her pieces from material offcuts.

Urbandon upcycles clothing and other items to create aesthetically interesting menswear - the outfit below is a great illustration of this as the coat was originally an army tent, the scarf was a jumper and the pants were a painter's dropcloth (must have been a neat painter as there is not too much paint on the pants!). The T-shirt is made from organic cotton.

The outfit below is a bit simpler - a suit jacket has been refashioned into a vest and pants have been retailored for a new fit around the calves, although unfortunately this pic doesn't show that.

Bento offers a small but flexible, good quality range of clothing for women that is all made within 20km of the brand's Melbourne studio. Oh, and designer Samantha Hardman also writes an extremely thoughtful (and at times exceedingly helpful) blog.

The clothes are just about all office-appropriate, but I think this dress is probably more suitable for more special occasions.

I put hand-macramed jewellery by Sollis with the Bento pieces - definitely worth clicking over to the website as you can't see things so well here (sorry!).

Sosume is another label that is safe for work (and the environment, thanks to their use of the latest eco-friendly fabrics).

The accessories are by Mainichi and are made from beads, scraps of leather and those little fish-shaped soy sauce bottles you get with takeaway sushi.

Bachhara is another label that is created under fair trade conditions in Bangladesh.

It is definitely worth heading over to the site to find out more about this brand as the story is as inspiring as the dresses are beautiful!

Here's the Roopa Pemmaraju label I mentioned earlier.

Floaty fair trade kaftans and beachwear for our hot summers, jazzed up with jewellery by Ghost and Lola made from all kinds of vintage bits and bobs.

Phew! I hope all that reading hasn't made you tired, but inspired!
Here's one more shot to wrap things up...

"Yay, we did it!"
That's me on the very far left, where I was sitting backstage to call the models out in the right order and jiggle away to the soundtrack. Thanks to photographer Chealse Vo who captured this moment and is responsible for all the photos here (except for the two 3rd Time shots which are by Lisa Law) - click on the links to see more photos from the night!
And of course thanks to Em Rusciano, Greens councillor Cathy Oke and RMIT's Karen Webster who spoke before the show, all the fantastic volunteers including the set maker Sian Pascale whose work you can see here, DJ Asanka, RMIT students who presented their designs after the fashion show and the staff who helped them, Adorn for their great work with the makeup, the students and staff at Elite Hair & Make Up Academy for their heavenly hair creations - and all our sponsors too! I hope I haven't forgotten anyone... if I have, sorry, and thank you!

Fair ideas for Christmas

2011-12-05T21:51:00.011+11:00

Yes, it's that time of year again. The Fair@Square fashion show is over, so I can finally get back to the blogging (more on that, with pics, in a future post!) and it's just a few weeks until Christmas, which for most people means running around buying presents (preferably through a pine forest like this one that has sprung up at Federation Square!).
Well, if you'd been at the Fair@Square festival over the weekend, you might have got some of your gift shopping done already. If not, here are some ideas for fair trade and eco fabulousness - they had stalls at the festival but you can find them online too.

Kylie Kwong's crockery range for Oxfam...

African amazingness from Kwetu Handmade. And yes, I did nearly buy this kaftan but I have so much ethnic clothing I restrained myself (and bought a sisal woven bag instead!!).

All sorts of cuteness from Little Sparrow...

Indigenous art as interior objects at Better World Arts...

I love this picture of the creators of the products, usually they would paint these designs on their bare skin but in the interests of modesty are wearing T-shirts with the designs instead. Great solution to getting around the "rules" our society has created. And such beautiful prints, I think this is definitely a DIY idea I'm going to try over the summer!

Stationery products and kites from White Circles...

And puppets from Secret Gully...

Love the imagery in this poster from Plan.

Don't forget there are heaps of NPOs like Plan, Oxfam, your local zoo and WWF which have great gift and sponsorship ideas that are perfect for any time of year. In my family when we bother giving presents at all (which is not often!) we usually give each other animal or conservation sponsorships and donations - less crap that we don't need, and we help to save the environment. Everybody wins!

Of course if you like giving pretty things and helping at the same time, there's always things like Beads for Wildlife...

And if you're still stuck for green gift ideas, a Peppermint subscription can never go astray! (Shameless plug for one of the magazines which I write for, hehe).

Sleepy stylist

2011-11-27T10:32:00.006+11:00

It's another rainy weekend in Melbourne but I don't mind because Suki and I have had to stay indoors to style the looks for the Fair@Square fashion show.

I really did intend to do a blog about Jakarta Fashion Week with some pictures of amazing stuff as worn by Lady Gaga (yes, pretty exciting, sorry to keep you in suspense!), but that might have to wait until things have calmed down a bit. In the mean time here are a few more things that will be in the show on Friday.

Detail of a dress by Georgia McCorkill for The Red Carpet Project...

I'm pairing each of the 11 garment designers with an accessories label, and using my Fourth Daughter label with Georgia's dresses, not that I feel that my creations are worthy of her beautiful gowns! I'd show you the things that are going to be on the catwalk, except that I haven't actually made them yet. Um. Yeah. So that's tonight's effort, I suppose...
Meanwhile, someone who's a little bit more organised than me and very inventive is Dearne from Mainichi. What do you think these beads are made from?

Let's just say Dearne must LOVE sushi... the beads are made from the little fish-shaped bottles that takeaway soy sauce comes in! It's a bit more obvious here:

Anyway, I better get back to work or the models won't have any earrings to wear with Georgia's dresses! It's not like I can afford to sleep on the job, unlike certain stylist's assistants I could name...

We have a winner!

2011-11-24T16:19:00.014+11:00

Woohoo! The lucky "One of Echo's Daughters" (very interesting name!) has won the double pass to Fair@Square fashion show next Friday. Thanks to everyone who entered - if you'd like to go, there are still tickets available, so grab them now to avoid disappointment.
Here are a few sneak peeks of some things that will be in the show!

Vintage kimono clutches from Dames & Divas:

Beautiful print on a dress from Bachhara:

Macrame and bead wooden bangles by Sollis:

Graphic wooden accessories from Elgar & Lyle:

Clutches from Lydra:

A necklace from Ghost & Lola:

Crocheted neck pieces from Hand Hook Yarn:

Want to see more amazing fair fashion? Of course you do! Get clicking for those tickets!

Indonesian adventure

2011-11-22T19:40:00.012+11:00

I'm back! Did you miss me? (Did you even notice I wasn't around?) Sorry I didn't tell you where I was going but things were crazy before I left and then I forgot my camera cable so couldn't put up any pics while I was away - in Indonesia! I was invited there to take in some Jakarta Fashion Week shows and see the sights, along with Thom from Couturing.com, Monica from Fame Agenda and designer Steven Boon. I will get around to putting up some proper fashion photos soon, hopefully (after a considerable amount of editing, as I took a LOT of photos), but for now, indulge me by letting me share these happy snaps with you instead.

Thom and I were lucky enough to be chauffeured around in airconditioned comfort (otherwise we would have melted within about 5 seconds). One of the first places we went was Cafe Batavia which I think was once a Dutch official's house but is now an amazing Deco-esque cafe filled with photos of all kinds.

Somehow I managed not to buy even ONE thing at the flea market, although I was tempted by this marble (?) statue which seems to be holding a banana aloft...

Loved this retro-kitsch portrait of an Asian lady too, but it would have been a bit hard to stuff into my luggage.

Likewise these chandeliers!

Not sure how much protection these hats would provide in an accident... stack hats, Jakarta style.

We visited the world-exclusive Magnum cafe in Grand Indonesia shopping centre. This is its philosophy, which I have to say I agree with.

The menu is based around Magnum icecreams in sundaes, parfaits, and lots of other desserts, and you can also customise your Magnum at the dipping station.

I was too full from a massive lunch to order anything, but I had a few bites of this Magnum parfait which was made from three Magnum bars, cream, fruit, wafers and chocolate sauce.
No wonder our guide, Agung, looks so delighted.

Agung also assured us that "Kenny Rogers chicken" was delicious, but oh, what a shame, we never got around to trying it...

Poor Agung had to put up with us shopping for hours on end at the gem market and Munga Dua, a big shopping centre full of parts for bags and accessories.

I bought some amethysts, green dyed coral (hoping it's mountain coral??), turquoise, more coral, this time in red, and green agate... not sure what I'm going to make yet but couldn't resist!

I also got all these rings for a tiny $36... little amethyst from Borneo, lapis lazuli from Africa probably, and some local gem called yakut (agate? crystal?) from Sumatra. I had to get the ring resized of course... the hassle of having skinny fingers!

After the bustle of Jakarta, Thom, Steve and I headed to Bali for an all-too-short two days of doing nothing much... we got less time than we bargained for thanks to the ASEAN summit being in Bali and our plane being rerouted to the island of Lombok, meaning we got in after midnight instead of at 6.30pm! The beach the next morning helped us to get over that though.
Look how happy this dog is, having a good old scratch on the beach at Legian.

I preferred the hotel pool to the beach, to tell the truth, and I think Thom did too.

Here I am, post-swim on the balcony of my room...

...and doing a spot of posing in the beautiful grounds of the hotel (Three Brothers Bungalow).

I didn't exactly love Legian, so was happy to leave for Ubud, although would have been even happier if I could have taken this little one with me...

She made a decent attempt to stow away in my bag and the staff said we should take her with us but we decided to leave her at the hotel.

Ubud was gorgeous, and the hotel (Sri Ratih Cottages) was fabulous value for $39! (And seeing as he hadn't booked, Thom ended up sharing with me, so it was even cheaper! Oh, and before you get any ideas, Thom has a boyfriend!)
This is the view from outside our room.

... the flowers on the statues in the grounds are replaced every day...

We had a good old gossip over a fabulous Balinese banquet at Cafe Wayan...

... to fortify us for browsing at the market on our last day.

We both bought beautiful batik...

This is the house behind the batik shop. Amazing.

Kids getting a roadside snack. Check out the school uniforms - tartan!

Well, I think I'll leave you with this shot from the hotel, with me working the Frida Kahlo look yet again (it's very handy for bad hair days, which, due to the humidity in Bali, are all too common). I'm quite tired after the flight and a day of catching up on emails and organising the Fair@Square fashion show so it's time to head off to bed.
By the way, don't forget to enter my giveaway!!

Melbournalia

2011-11-13T20:45:00.006+11:00

When you think about Australian souvenirs, what comes to mind? Mass produced, made-in-China crap? It doesn't have to be that way any more - at least, not if you know where to look.

For the next few weeks in the lead up to Christmas, there are four Melbournalia pop-up shops opening in the city, stocking (in order of appearance) homewares, gentlemanly goods, lady things and (inevitably) coffee-related paraphernalia. I went to the opening of the first shop, Home, the other night, and highly recommend a trip if you are looking for locally made gifts with a Melbourne theme.

Stationery with trams on it - how much more Melbourne could you get?

Oslo Davis' observations are hilarious sometimes...

Here's his cartoon of a guy on his mobile on Swanston Street saying "Can I call you back? I'm in a meeting"...

Some more items including jewellery from Emily Green...

This cushion is based on an old tram roll... although I have a feeling that the last stop is just a cheeky joke...

There are tea towel versions too!

Soap wrapped in Melways maps...

I only found out the other day that MacRob Girls' High School was named after (and built with the funds of) the MacRobertson confectionary company...

Organic cotton bags with cockies and koalas printed on them...

"I'd go to Zone 2 for you"... going to Frankston for someone really is a big sacrifice, haha...

"Nothing to declare, Officer, except my love"

Bike-themed scarves by Otto and Spike, a firm that makes knitwear the old fashioned way.

A bit of bling from Obus...

Whimsical art...

Sweet pink BYO coffee cups...

... and a display on a ladder...

... and two more artworks for good luck...

Have I inspired you to go and have a little look for yourselves?
Oh, and if you want a FREE gift, don't forget to enter my giveaway...

GIVEAWAY Fair@Square fashion show double pass!

2011-11-09T11:10:00.001+11:00

Who'd like two free tickets to a fashion show? I'm sure you all would, but this one is only for Melburnians (although if you're willing to fly to Fed Square on December 2, you can enter this wherever you are in the world!). I'm running the Fair@Square fashion show (details here) and would love to see you there. Did you go last year? It will be a bit fancier this time because it will be indoors at the BMW Edge and there will be goodie bags (yes, VERY fancy).
Anyway, all you need to do to enter is to leave a comment on this post by November 23 - make sure that I can contact you, of course ... hmm, does that limit who can enter? I'm still not sure if you can only comment if you're on Blogger. OK, let's make it that you can comment here, or you can send me an email at fairtradefashionshow@gmail.com with the subject line "PICK ME!"

Here are some pics from last year's show by the incredible Chealse Vo.

I'm not going to say you have to "like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter like a lot of giveaways require, but if you really want to, I'm not stopping you! By the way, you can also enter the competition here and here. And make sure you check out what's happening over the weekend of the Fair@Square festival too - you can do that here.

Zombies and exploding guts are in style

2011-11-06T09:03:00.000+11:00

Quite an intriguing title for a post, I think you'll agree... but this time there's no punning or tricky wordplay. This post really is about zombies and exploding guts, and it's all thanks to my sister Luna and her penchant for the gruesome and gory.

My sister (whose label is called Make it Wednesday) teamed up with two other creators to put together Esprit de Corpse, which is on until November 13 at Egg Gallery, 66a Johnston Street, Collingwood. The other ladies are Charlotte Tizzard (an illustrator) and Kitty Robertson (who makes fascinators). Luna makes crazy critters like the hamsters with exploding (poseable!) guts pictured above, which I have mentioned previously but of course I can't find that post now.
Anyway, here's some of their work! And you can read more here.

An illustration by Charlotte...

Yes, that's a spider crawling around in amongst the tulle...

Huge zombie octopus who has just eaten a child... (you can see the arm sticking out)

Flapper zombies. Excellent.

You can see a shark with a leg in its jaws attached to this fascinator...

There's an alligator lurking under the feathers on this fascinator...

Zombie hamsters with a braaaaaaiiiin next to them...

Zombie rabbit and a conjoined twin zombie elephant (unfortunately I took it from the wrong angle so you can't see that it has two heads)

Fascinator with a skeleton decoration...

And another one with flies...

And here are Kitty and Luna, looking suitably scary and threatening to set hordes of monsters onto you if you don't get down and see the show!!

Their work is available to purchase, and Luna has a blog, but do you think I can remember the URL now? No, of course not, because zombie hamsters ate my brains.... but if you want any more info let me know and I'll find out for you!

Hoarding with a twist

2011-11-02T08:07:00.000+11:00

Recently my workmate handed me a copy of this article about hoarding to make fun of my habit of keeping just about everything (I set myself up for it, really, with this recent post).
I don't really think of myself as a hoarder... at least, I didn't until I read this bit:
"The council defines hoarding as the "acquisition of and failure to discard a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value"."
Um. OK, but things that are "useless or of limited value" to one person might be someone else's prized possessions. You know, one girl's trash is another's treasure, and all that.

"Did someone say 'hard rubbish'?"

This skirt is a perfect example of both "hoarding" and the "limited value" points. I have had it for more than a year now (the "hoarding" bit) and I acquired it at a swapping event because someone else obviously had no need for it (the "limited value" part).

I haven't worn it yet because it's extremely unforgiving when worn as a dress, which is what it actually is (you can see what I mean here). It came with this instruction sheet to demonstrate how many ways it can be worn but it only recently occurred to me to try it as a skirt.

Strangely enough, my friend was thinking about making a very similar dress, so if you're in the mood for DIY you may want to check this out (you could easily make the skirt straight instead of full circle).

This is what it looks like before the bust/strap parts are arranged properly. Basically a straight (and ruched, but it doesn't have to be) skirt with long bits attached at the front waist, all made from stretchy material.

It can be worn lots of ways, but if you want to wear it as a simple skirt with a bit of hip detail, here's my crappy attempt at a tutorial.

Throw the right strap over your shoulder to get it out of the way while you bring the left strap around your back with your right hand, stretching it out to the side with your left hand as you do to create draping on the hip. Make sure to keep the right strap free.

Repeat for the other side, trying to keep hip drapes even (this requires a bit of coordination!).

Now bring the ends of both straps to the front...

Cross over or tie the straps at the front, making sure not to lose the draping at the hips.

Finally, tie the straps in a knot or bow at the back.

Ta da! Who says this only has limited value now!?

I admit I still haven't actually worn it out yet because it does need quite high heels to show it off to its best advantage, but I love how easy it was to take it from a full-on glam number to a much more casual piece. Definitely worth remembering for those weekends away when you need a fancy frock as well as something you can wear to breakfast. Just ditch the diamonds after the posh dinner, chuck on a T-shirt and some colourful accessories (you can see the earrings I made a bit better here) and you have yourself the perfect daywear look!

Chain gang

2011-10-31T08:05:00.000+11:00

OK, I promise that this is my last post about National Swap Day! It does seem to have been the event that just keeps on giving, but I'm sure you're all sick of me rabbiting on about what I managed to grab there in exchange for stuff that I no longer needed. Apart from the things I showed you the other day, I also managed to pick up a necklace.

It's the outermost one shown here, which is very similar to two that I already have as you can see, but I had plans for it as soon as I saw it.

These three necklaces were originally all the same length (did you know that there is a standard length for necklaces? Check any beading book and it will tell you the measurements) so that made it hard to wear them all at the same time as they would knock into one another and not sit nicely. Therefore, some fiddling was required.

Fairly minimal fiddling, admittedly... all I did was use some pliers to attach a length of chain to my National Swap Day necklace and to one of the other ones that I had. I used a longer chain for the NSD necklace because I wanted to wear it on the outer of all these three, and attached some chain to the middle necklace too. Now I can wear them all together and feel kind of like Iris Apfel!

Treasurette at Fame Agenda

2011-10-25T09:16:00.001+11:00

(Photo by BusinessChic)

One of the great pleasures of being a blogger is not, as the above photo would suggest, holding hands with creepy wooden mannequins wearing fabulous rings. It is, rather, getting to hang out with other people with a passion for fashion while admiring beautiful clothes. And that's exactly what I did last weekend at Fame Agenda in Melbourne Central.
This is Monica, the charming and very sparkly owner of Fame Agenda, holding my cupcake while I take her photo.

(the cupcake didn't last for long after that, and nor did these)

Fame Agenda and Couturing.com hosted an exclusive event with Treasurette, a relatively new boutique which I'm yet to visit, but after seeing much of their stock at this event, I think I better make a trip up there soon. Here are some examples...

Jewellery by House of Harlow (I think? there was a lot of great stuff so I'm not sure now. Oops!)

These serious heels are from Finsk... I couldn't walk in them, but they looked good!

More sparkle from Pedro Garcia...

Scarves for dog lovers...

Patent ballet shoes from Repetto (with my face reflected in the mirrored counter... more creepiness...)

The Treasurette treasure was showcased among Fame Agenda's other fabulous frocks such as these...

And we got to try them on, too! This dress by Sretsis was my favourite, it's sparkly, so how could I resist... (plus it was displayed on the mannequin in the window too, so I felt like a had a headless twin... always a good thing?)

Check out this ring by Dominic Jones... it could do some serious damage but looks amazing...

(both above pics by Businesschic.com.au)

I paired the dress with navy wedges by Elizabeth and James which are super tall but actually really comfy. Once Buy Nothing New month is over I think I might have to make a rare new item purchase!

Despite me wearing navy, there was actually a fair bit of whimsy happening in the store. Here's one of the Fame Agenda staff wearing Romance was Born (you might remember that I went to the exhibition which used this print).

These Sretsis prints reminded me of My Little Ponies (did you used to have them? My cousin and I used to do fashion shows with them!)

And look at the colour blocking going on here with Sarah and Cheryl... (Sarah was trying on this dress, she doesn't usually go around wearing belts with the tags still attached!)

All in all, a delightful afternoon. Thanks Fame Agenda, Treasurette, and Couturing.com!

National Swap Day scores!

2011-10-24T09:00:00.001+11:00

Look what the weather was like in Melbourne yesterday.* 30 degrees in the city!! Perfect for some backyard cavorting and capturing what I got at National Swap Day last week.

Here's a more objective look at my favourite find. I'm wearing it back to front because it doesn't have any bust shaping and the open neckline (it closes with a button at the back) looks better at the front.

I'm wondering if it needs any fiddling... I'm thinking of adding long cords with tassels to the front lapels and bunching the sleeves up a bit as these bracelet length sleeves don't really do much for me. The length is also a bit strange - should I cut it to knee length or add some different material to make it longer?

Kyra called it "the Kandinsky dress", and having all those thoughts about altering it, it does feel sort of like a work of art in progress. The pattern is gorgeous but the colours are a bit washed out, so I'm also thinking I could go over some of the squares with fabric marker to make them more intense.

I do love the flared effect around the hem though ... it looks so pretty swirling around the ankles... hmmm... what to do...

Meanwhile, here are two more scores which are also going to need some work... I would never wear them together normally but for the purposes of efficiency here they are in the one shot. Crazy red and gold frilled synthetic shirt (WAY too hot to wear on a 30-degree day) and long pale grey skirt.

I only have to adjust the shirt to make it more my size, as there's not much I could add to it (it's just SLIGHTLY over the top already). The skirt needs to be taken in a little bit around the hips and I think I'll add a huge brightly coloured ruffle to the hem from about the knees down. That's the plan at this stage, anyway. Or do you have another idea?

I also got a necklace, but I'm going to show you that in another post because (surprise, surprise) I fiddled with it, and it could actually be handy for you to see the results.

And finally, the only things I bought which I don't have to fiddle with...

Practically BRAND NEW sandals from Zomp (I know this as they came with the box and receipt!!). Pretty happy about that!

*It's Melbourne. So today it's 17 degrees and raining. Surprise, surprise.

That's a load of rubbish!

2011-10-19T22:55:00.006+11:00

No, this post is not actually about my bedroom, although given its current state, you'd be forgiven for thinking that.

Why is it such a mess? Well, it's partly because I've been too busy to clean up, what with work, my freelance writing, and doing the most boring course in the world (which, in answer to Katie's question, is Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, and I'm only doing it because three years ago I paid over $1000 for it. It's taken three years for me to do it because I hate it so much. There just always seems to be something more important to do. Like clipping Suki's claws, or picking hair out of my brush... am I making it clear how boring the course is?).
Also I keep accumulating stuff (all of which, of course, might be handy later, which is why I can't throw it out). The problem is, I actively go LOOKING for stuff to acquire. Last week I went on a hard rubbish adventure with a fellow scavenger and I found this chest of drawers...

(They didn't come with clothes in them, unfortunately. The clothes are my scores from National Swap Day on Monday, I'll post about them another time, suffice to say I was very happy with my finds!)

I also found this cute Japanese picture... well, it looked cute in the dark, but it's actually quite old and yellowed. The kids' hair is meant to be black but it's faded to brown!! Never mind, I like old crappy stuff, as you've probably guessed by now.

I've saved the best till last. This was from the same place as the other picture, and I'm guessing these people liked Japan at one stage, because this is also a bit of Japanese kitsch.

The frame's kind of old and falling apart and there are a few spots of mould on the picture itself, but, um, it adds to the charm??

I love how the artist has gone down the multi-media path and used old photos to stick on over the oil paint... and there are bits of mother of pearl on the roofs of the houses too.

My co-scavenger managed to find a dodgy poster which he described as "stoner art" (still in its plastic wrap!), an electronic typewriter (which he said he would sell to a hipster), a pie tin, two Persian rugs and a mirror. Not bad!

Of course after all those finds, I still didn't have enough stuff, so I had to buy this bag from the Salvos on the weekend. It's African-themed. It's got fringing. It's real leather. It was $6. There's no way I could resist.

How about you? Have you found anything good in the hard rubbish lately? I know someone who has... pattern envy going on here!!

National Swap Day - let's make it a date?

2011-10-16T22:45:00.004+11:00

Just a short one this evening, and no glamorous pictures of me cavorting in the backyard today as I'm just a little bit exhausted after a weekend which involved:
- a run around the block (taking care to avoid the magpie which swooped me the other day)
- writing articles for the next issue of Peppermint
- teaching kids to make stuff out of crap
- dressing as a native American for a wild west-themed murder mystery party for a hen's night
- nearly finishing the most boring course in the entire universe
- proofreading a program guide for the Fair@Square fashion show which I'm in charge of
- trying to clean up the obstacle course in my bedroom which has been created thanks to several finds in the hard rubbish last week (pictures to come)

and

- trying to come up with ideas for how to decorate the catwalk for above-mentioned fashion show on the cheap. I'm meeting with the amazing, talented Sian Pascale tomorrow to try to workshop some concepts... I'm kind of liking the idea of balloons all in one colour, kind of like this, but probably in white instead. And maybe with gold ribbons?

The fashion show will be held in the BMW Edge at Federation Square on December 2, just in case you wanted to come along.... just coincidentally, tomorrow evening I'll be there too, to take part in National Swap Day. Exciting, yes? I already mentioned it here, actually, so you can see what I'm going to swap if you like. Hope to see you there?

Sisters in crime

2011-10-13T12:04:00.004+11:00

Well, if craft were a crime, that is. This post is a blatant attempt at self-and-sister promotion, namely, my sister has a stall at the Made 'n' Thornbury market this Saturday. She will be selling things that she has made, like these critters (some of her creations are made from old socks! We don't throw anything out in our family)....

...these conjoined twin elephants...

...these owl quintuplets (I'm sure they'll be sold separately, although if you wanted to keep them together as a family they'd be very pleased)

...and even brooches...

My sister's brand is called Make it Wednesday, so look out for that, or just look out for the person who apparently looks exactly like me (which would mean she also looks like Lindy Klim?? Recently my relatives were showing a picture of me around and everyone thought I was her. Flattering, but weird. Just by the by, I have had a market stall next to her and her husband Michael before and they are lovely people - AND they even remembered me when we bumped into each other a while later!)

And what will I be doing this weekend? Well, the Stringybark festival is on again, so I will be at the Remake Remodel tent helping kids and teenagers learn how to refashion clothes, just like last year. Come and visit if you like! I'll be the one who looks nothing like Lindy Klim.

Haribo macht Kinder froh...

2011-10-12T11:33:00.002+11:00

... und Erwachsene ebenso! (or: Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo).

Haribo, in case you were not aware, is the company responsible for Gummibears, which I know would not normally feature on this blog as they have little to do with style and probably aren't the best material out of which to try to fashion earrings (although I could always give it a go, I suppose). No, the reason I am mentioning them today is that a friend from my university days in Bonn, Germany, recently told me that every autumn, great queues of people line up in front of the Haribo factory with bags of chestnuts and acorns. Some even stay there overnight. Why? Because the owner of Haribo needs chestnuts and acorns to feed his deer and boar, and exchanges them for Gummibears. Even though I can't see why you'd need that many Gummibears, and I'm not so keen on the reason he needs to feed the deer and boar (to fatten them up for hunting season) I have to love this bartering idea from such a massive company - perfect for Buy Nothing New month, yes?

And on that note, another message from my friend in Bonn made me very happy today. An avid gardener, she's been reading all my stuff about Buy Nothing New month and was inspired to go to a plant swap, where she was thrilled to swap her roses for some daisies and chat to people who are as crazy about gardening as she is. She's also finally started her gardening blog, so if any of you read German and like pottering around outside, please take a look.
It's such a great feeling to know that what I'm doing (and of course what the people at Buy Nothing New are doing) can make a difference, however small, in someone's life!! How about you - do you have any great Buy Nothing New stories to share? Erzaehl mal!

Chilled out weekend

2011-10-09T20:14:00.012+11:00

So, it's theoretically spring here in Melbourne, but in true crazy Melbourne style, today was more like mid-winter. Seeing as I had mountains of writing work to get through, the rain and cold didn't bother me. And of course because I had mountains of writing work to get through, I decided to fix up some leggings that I bought at Vinnies a few months ago. Here's what they looked like originally:

And here's what they look like now.

Yes, I should have taken a "before" photo of me wearing them but of course I didn't think of that. Basically all I did to them was take them in along the sides and let down the hems (which turned out to be rib-finished, yay!) and then I added pockets for a bit of detail at the front. I wanted to use leather but then I actually thought about it (rare, rare event) and realised that would mean I couldn't just chuck them in the washing machine. So the pockets are made from bits of an old jumper instead.

There is a green/navyish jacquard pattern running through the material, although I don't know how well you can see that here.

So there you go. Mid-winter ski-inspired style in the middle of spring.

I've teamed them with some kind of glam accessories, including this cool snake bangle which was from Madam Virtue...

I was kind of inspired by this amazing shoot from Australian Vogue's July issue. If I only I could look this glamorous when it's freezing outside.

Buy Nothing New - fancy swapping party

2011-10-05T08:54:00.001+11:00

Before you read this post, I feel I should warn you - there are a lot of bird pictures. Lovebird pictures, in fact. But I'm not talking about some sickening couple pawing each other in public. I am talking about this little lady.

Her name is Beaky and she belongs to Kyra, who was lovely enough to host a clothes swap for Buy Nothing New month on the weekend. Here's Kyra with Beaky and Lisa.

And here she is telling us all about the pieces that she was offering to swap. This is a See by Chloe dress. Sparkly!

And here's Cecylia giving us a show and tell about her pieces which she got from eBay.

The idea of a clothes swap is to bring something that you no longer wear, or won't miss for a little while, and swap it with other people. You can do this on a large scale, such as they do at The Clothing Exchange, or in a more intimate setting among friends, like we did. The swapping part of the afternoon actually took a back seat to hanging out and making new friends, although Kyra and her partner Nish's rabbit, Bijoux was a bit shy...

Beaky, on the other hand, was happy to mix with everyone and find out more about accessories.

She likes earrings...

...and necklaces too...

Here she is with Jane and Nish...

Not only did we get to swap some great stuff, we got to check out some cool brands thanks to Kyra's connections. Each of us has taken a piece home from Ghost and Lola, a jewellery brand that reworks vintage components into limited edition new pieces. They'll be appearing at the fashion show I'm working on for December too!

I loved how Kyra had displayed things on old birch tree trunks that she found. And isn't this sweet?

Speaking of sweet... no hideous air fresheners for this classy crowd... the air was fragranced with this lovely Cire Trudon candle from Peony Melbourne.

And we had lovely flowers to look at thanks to Domain Flowers. There was an eco back story to all these brands but I particularly liked this one - Domain reuse the husks, pods, seeds and branches of plants in their work and they are also purchasing a mulcher so that the unused organic material can be delivered to the Collingwood Children's Farm, an organic community garden, for reuse. Beautiful AND smart.

Rings made from compacted aluminium cans from the Miles Mason Trading Company...

...which is also where these Lightly wall mount butterflies and birds are from, made from old crockery.

What do you think? Are you inspired to hold your own fancy clothes swap? Guys can swap too... check out Cecylia's husband Chian, sporting my clip on earrings as lapel decorations (great styling, Cecylia!)

And even pets can swap. This red cardigan used to belong to Bijoux, but Theodore (Cecylia and Chian's chihuahua) looks great in it too. Especially with this beautiful bird accessory.

Buying nothing new @ Hunter Gatherer & BSL

2011-10-02T22:44:00.006+11:00

Has anyone else out there taken the Buy Nothing New pledge? Don't be shy, make yourselves known! As I mentioned a few days ago, I was one of the stylists for Fashion Friday last week, which meant I got to hang out at the Brotherhood of St Laurence's stores for a few hours and help people get used to the idea of op shopping. I started off at the city store (in Royal Arcade), which is called Hunter Gatherer and is more like a vintage store than an average op shop.

If you like the idea of retro gear but don't have the time or confidence to sift through the high volume of stuff at the regular BSL stores (or any other op shops, in fact), Hunter Gatherer is quite handy as it offers a curated selection of clothing, accessories and curios like this London-themed picture which is made from clock workings...

... or these handmade coral-esque bangles (Hunter Gatherer supports local artists as well as stocking second hand stuff)...

... or this gilty looking dog/cup stand...

... or a little handbag and some earrings...

After a little while at Hunter Gatherer, I headed to the Brunswick branch of BSL, which I cannot believe I had never been to as it was HUGE and a veritable treasure trove of op shop goodness. It used to be well known for its furniture, and still has lots of stuff for the house including white goods. I think we used to have a fridge with this logo on it when I was little!

There's a Hunter Gatherer section in the front of the store too, which is where this cute rack of "fresh kicks" was...

Comic book pages used as wallpaper in the kids' section...

I've been to Ephesus in Turkey, so was quite tempted to get this plate, but resisted...

For some reason there are quite a few rugs at this store too, all from $25...

I ended up buying this one, which I'm sure was a huge bargain at $25 as it's possibly from Morocco or Turkey. It's hand woven!!

Cute kitschy doll... (Korean, perhaps?)

In honour of the occasion, I wore an op shop dress and boots... then again, most of my outfits are from op shops, so it's not like that was anything out of the ordinary for me! You can see how big this store is in this photo...

... and in this one too. It is seriously massive! And seriously messy, which, personally, is how I like my op shops. It makes shopping more like a proper treasure hunt.

...Lots of books... I have this one already, or I would have snapped it up.

I got very excited when I found this dress, which unfortunately didn't fit. But maybe it's the right size for YOU?

After my stint at the op shop I headed back to work and showed off the rug that I bought. I had to laugh - my workmate asked what I was going to use it for and was surprised when I answered, "um, a rug!?". He's so used to my tales of dresses made from sheets, shawls, and just about everything I can lay my hands on that he obviously didn't think I could simply leave something alone!

Do it in a dress

2011-09-28T22:40:00.004+10:00

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.

Stylin' for Buy Nothing New!

2011-09-25T21:22:00.003+10:00

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!

Paris 99

2011-09-21T22:51:00.005+10:00

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...

L'Heure du The

2011-09-19T21:55:00.010+10:00

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?

RMIT student showcase

2011-09-15T20:56:00.009+10:00

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!

Mexing it up

2011-09-13T20:21:00.011+10:00

So, I'm back. The past week has been full of excitement, but I was brought crashing back to earth on the weekend with a seriously long and tricky translation, the deadline for which prevented me from doing any timely posts. This one is actually about last Thursday! Aggh!

Thursday (Day 3) was my favourite day of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, not least because I discovered the chocolate milkshake at the Lindt cafe... yes, I know that milkshakes are "sometimes foods", but I needed to keep my energy up!

Although I shouldn't have needed that milkshake, as the show from Wednesday night was so full of energy. Here are a few shots to give you a taste - it was all very bold and colourful and there was a distinct Mexican/Latin American vibe. I wrote about it (and other shows from MSFW) here!

Crazy prints and swirling skirts at Obus:

More bright ideas at Gorman:

White lace from Lover in the Fat show:

Another look from the Fat show (also by Lover? anyone know?). I adore this - it's so hard to make red lace look classy and cute instead of bordello-bound, but this works so well!

Kings of Carnaby - scroll down to see the yellow dress on an adorable young lady off the catwalk...

Fringed harem pants at Nevenka - definitely something I want to try this summer, and those platform heels are hot too!

With all that for inspiration, on Thursday I headed to a party at the Obus store in Flinders Lane, which is currently kitted out with a Mexican theme.
(sorry, this pic of paper bunting is on its side... having trouble with that lately, anyone know how to fix it?)

Guests were asked to dress to suit the Mexican theme, hence my attempt to channel Frida Kahlo (yes, again!!)
Here I am with Kylie Zerbst, Obus designer, who grabbed me for this photo opp as soon as I entered the store. Clearly a girl after my own heart.

It was great to hang out with Brahman from Elgar and Lyle and Lisa from Stylus Muse (see, doesn't she look sweet in her Kings of Carnaby dress? And she kindly sent me these photos too. Thanks, Lisa!)

Mila Faranov's wall mural was nothing short of amazing...

here I am with Lisa and her friend Suzanna...

Lady Melbourne got into the dressing up too...

She's been wearing her hair like this for ages, it suits her so well! I think her necklace is actually from a Turkish shop, but who's worried about authenticity when it looks this fabulous?

The funny thing is, the Mexican look that I'm wearing contains no authentic Mexican elements at all. The red poncho thing is from a hilltribe in Thailand, the pink skirt is from an op shop, the sequinned bolero is from Tokyo, my hairband was a gift from Ukraine and my accessories are from Tibet, India, Laos and possibly East Timor - some via op shops!

I love the fact that so many cultures' traditional crafts look similar - I'm sure if there are any Mexicans reading this they'd correct me, but personally I think the poncho and scarf around my waist, both of which are from Asian countries, can pass quite acceptably as South American.
Oh, and the bedimpled accessory on my right? That's Lisa and Suzanna's friend Tim, lawyer by day and shirt designer for Poplin and Panache in every other waking minute. Yes, nearly everyone in this post leads a double life!

MSFW first days

2011-09-09T22:29:00.002+10:00

No, I have no idea why this pic is on its side either. But can you tell what it is?
Tip: tilt your head to the left.

Yes, it's a hot air balloon floating over Treasury Gardens (at least I think that's what those gardens are called off Spring Street?). This was taken at 7:15am on Monday morning. What on EARTH was I doing in the city at that hour? Attending the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week business series breakfast at the Grand Hyatt, of course. In fact I attended the breakfasts for all three days that they were on - you may have read my amateur attempts at Tweeting about the final session this morning? Yes, I'm finally on Twitter, although only after a lot of kicking and screaming. Anyway, the sessions were interesting and if I get time later I might even post something more thought-provoking than my usual babble, but for the moment, here's some snaps of the first two days of Fashion Week!

I tried out my Frida Kahlo look and got stopped in the lift at work by a guy who collects Asian textiles (it's made from Thai silk) - should have found out who he was as I love a good chat about ethnic materials. And no, there is no innuendo in that as he was way older than me and a total gentleman!

Cecylia looking chic as usual... she even looks cool in her vet uniform which she wears with SILVER flats (she moonlights as a vet and actually treated Suki the other night!)

Alicia from Sea of Ghosts - how cute is this picture? She looks like a modern Audrey Hepburn mixed with a bit of Emily the Strange ... in a good way.

And here she is again with Cheryl from BusinessChic. Two Melbourne girls in black - but of course!

Cheryl's bike helmet is all ready for spring...

After work I dropped by the Saba party ...

Loved the mannequins' bobs! I would love to try this look but despite being half Asian (which you would think makes me an ideal candidate for this style) my hair takes after the Caucasian side of the family and would not work with this at all.

Next stop was the Dannii Minogue party at the Town Hall's Yarra Room...

I don't have any pics of Dannii (who was wearing a crystal-encrusted gown by J'Aton Couture) but the room looked gorgeous, and so did her display of dresses which have particular meaning for her.

Hmmm, I wonder which pieces of clothing I'd include if someone asked me to put on that sort of display? I suspect it would be tricky to narrow it down as I make so much of my own stuff.
This silver wall with what looks like origami on it was cool thanks to the fancy lighting...

On Tuesday I checked out the Emerging Designers Exhibition at 1000 Pound Bend which I've already blogged about here. But here are a few more pics.

Livia Arena: very sweet top with concealed Peter Pan collar...

Collar with bits cut out (so eloquent, aren't I!)

Fair Trade label Bhalo:

Upstairs is an art gallery and a very cool space!

That's my sister strolling around...

Back downstairs the amazingness continued with this photo exhibition of models in the students' work.

Dress by Neo Dia which I blogged about in the previous post...

Look at this amazing collar, the tips are all puffy and 3D... talk about mad tailoring skills!

After all the furore about fur I'm a bit unsure about posting this dress by Jack Loder, but I think it is cowskin, which makes it a meat by-product and not quite so controversial.*

And how about feathers?

Yes, this is quilled material decorating this dress! Another example of mad skills.

And being a sucker for macrame and tassels, I love this dress...

Cool display of Alexandra Blak's bright bangles, visors, earrings etc, sandwiched between sheets of clear plastic hanging from the ceiling.

And finally, the shows began on Tuesday night... there's a brief review up here, but here are some snaps...
The parade started with a ballet performance with costumes designed by Toni Maticevski (who I met when he was just starting out on his design career and spotted carrying his own dresses into his show!!) Great lighting here showing the silhouette of one of the dancers, although unfortunately reminded me of Jamiroquai.

It kind of looked like a crazy bird mating ritual with Sophie Van Den Akker in the centre as the female bird...

I was seated at the side of the runway and it was hard to get good shots because of the lighting, but I managed to take some of the big screen instead...
Loved this outfit by Yeojin Bae on super-cute, seriously leggy model Kate Peck. Not sure I could carry off this look though. Only because I can't wear too much red close to my face, of course, haha.

I think this dress was by Aurelio Costarella...

And this one on Alice Burdeu was by Rachel Gilbert.

Fairly stunning finale with Sophie Van Den Akker in Rachel Gilbert stationed at the end of the runway as the other models filed past.

Sorry I was so behind but this week has been go, go, go! I'll manage some more posts over the weekend, hopefully. Have a good one!

*My highlight of this week would have to be the reporting in the mX about the PETA protesters:

"EXPOSED ANGER
Naked PETA protesters caused an uproar at a Melbourne Spring Fashion Week runway show in the Town Hall last night. About 20 of the animal activists denounced designer Rachel Gilbert's use of fur. It's believed towards the end of the night, one protester crashed the runway for about five minutes. An onlooker told mX the nude protesters clutched ferrets."

The thing with the ferrets and the nudity totally did not happen, but you have to love the onlooker for having such a vivid imagination. I cannot WAIT for someone from a newspaper to interview me about something just so I can say, "well, there were some people and they were clasping rodents to their naked bodies". Onlooker, you rock!!

Linkity link

2011-09-07T15:43:00.004+10:00

So it's Fashion Week and as the official fashion blogger for City Weekly I've had no time to attend to my private blogging needs... although people who are not involved in the events find it hard to understand how much time Fashion Week takes up. Especially not people from bank call centres. I did say to a guy who rang me about one of the bank's services, "It's Fashion Week, I'm really busy" in order to excuse myself from speaking to him any time this week, but was met with silence from the other end. I can only imagine he was on the other end of the line rolling his eyes at my ditziness. Quite possibly in Mumbai.

Anyway, I do have some photos ready for a post but no time to write up captions, so in the meantime, here's a few random links all about me, me, me!!

Remember Future Fashion Now? Well you can actually see what went on if you click here and view the video.

If you can't make it to the Emerging Designer Exhibition at 1000 Pound Bend take a look at these shots (and I will blog properly about it later too).

I'm quoted for my love of op shopping here along with other op shop lovers!

And there's all my Fashion Week posts on the City Weekly blog too, although they're a little bit behind because the poor IT guy is trying to do his regular job as well as put up all my stuff.

And because I've mentioned IT, I can put up this pic. That's gratuitous cat pic #2 for the week taken care of.

MSFW #1

2011-09-05T14:12:00.005+10:00

For those of you wondering what I'm up to this week, the answer is short and sweet. And I've kicked off my blog for the City Weekly and Melbourne Weekly with a post about last Friday night (which you have already had a sneak peek at!). Not sure when I will get to do any outfit posts or other such stuff, so here's a picture of Suki instead, proving that older models are beautiful too.

Racing into spring fashion

2011-09-03T20:22:00.005+10:00

Whew, it's been a whirlwind two days, and fashion week hasn't even started yet! Here are some snaps from two of the events I went to...

Spring fashion lunch at Flemington on Thursday... a very fancy affair where we all got to dress as if we were trackside and enjoy lunch and a racewear fashion show courtesy of Myer.

There was a bit of a lace theme for the table settings... not sure if you can see but there is lace wrapped around the candle holders, an easy idea that home decorators could try for their next party!

Something else to try for your next party, especially if you're inviting me, although admittedly a bit trickier than wrapping bits of lace around a jar... mmm, salted walnuts in chocolate moussey thing...

I didn't have much warning about the event and didn't even realise I was meant to wear racewear until the day before, so had no time to fiddle around putting outfits together and just had to go with one I made two years ago (more info on it here). I also had no idea that my rellies were going to be there! Bumping into them was a nice surprise!

I also bumped into Lady Melbourne who has put much better pictures and more info about this event on her blog if you want to take a peek. She's wearing EYELASHES with horse shapes cut out of them. Talk about being up to your eyeballs in spring racing!
I got the feeling that most of the ladies at the lunch were enjoying themselves but had not gone all out with their frocks and hats, because after all, the racing season has not really kicked off and you don't want to show off your best outfit just yet. I'm not sure how this lady is going to do much better than this hat though.

She was definitely one of the most stylish ladies at Flemington! Her headwear is by Yaka Yeke Designs from Kenya.

After the lunch, it was back to work for a few hours before heading out again to the Camilla and Marc store opening in High Street, Armadale (got to chat with both the designers, and they were both lovely!) and the Stonnington Gala ... after three events in one day I was just a tad tired!
But pre-fashion week madness waits for no man (nor woman, as the case may be) and on Friday I went to the fashion week launch party in the Georges building.

Talk about putting models on pedestals... they were covered up in hooded capes during speeches by the mayor, Dannii Minogue and Sophie Van Den Akker...

...the latter two were dressed in very sparkly outfits indeed (Sophie's dress is by Rachel Gilbert and weighed several kilos apparently!)
After the speeches the models de-caped and were helped down from their perches for a fashion show and photo opportunities...

There was bling everywhere, including on Gavin Lowe's collar - he's one of the designers behind label Neo Dia but just to confuse people he's wearing a shirt by Pamela Usanto.

He was with this lady (who I assume is his partner in crime, Becky Chua, as she is wearing an insanely clever top by Neo Dia: more on them here if you're interested, and you should be!). Never underestimate the incredible impact you can make as you exit a room, folks!

And on that note, I think it's time I was out of here. Beauty sleep coming up!

Lady Grey

2011-08-31T11:18:00.002+10:00

How do you decide what to wear to big events? Usually (in Melbourne, at least) the weather has a big say in things and I leave everything to the last minute, but the frenetic pace of fashion week is not going to allow me that luxury. So I went through my wardrobe a bit over the weekend in an effort at being even vaguely organised to put some "new" outfits together. Yes, as much as I dislike the expression*, I "shopped my wardrobe".

Usually I'm all about colour, but I've been wearing this simple grey top to death lately (even though a while ago I never wore it and was going to give it to an op shop!). It works so well with everything, including this chocolatey fringed suede skirt and tan heels which you may remember from a few months ago.

Of course I brought a little bling to the equation too via Inca-ish earrings and woven gold bracelets... all this gold is from markets in Sydney and cost the sum total of $25 (actually, that's quite a lot for me, but hey, I go crazy when I'm on holiday).

I realised that I don't often carry bags in my outfit posts, and to be honest it's unlikely that I'd use this one during the day because it doesn't hold even a fraction of the crap that I normally need to lug around. But it works with the '70s lady look, don't you think?

*for no good reason. Maybe because it's just expressing what I've been doing (and I'm sure you have too) intuitively for years... going through stuff that gets shoved to the back of the cupboard and forgotten about, often on purpose, so that a few months later it's like finding something brand new. Yes, fooling yourself costs nothing, and it's fun too! And there's even a month dedicated to being all tricksy... and I've been invited to be one of the stylists for a special event during that month, but more on that later. No good giving you too much excitement in the one hit, is it?

Frida Kahlo had a monkey...

2011-08-28T21:47:00.008+10:00

... and I have a cat.

But our outfits are kind of similar. Well, at least I think so.

(photo from here)

I bought this skirt made from Thai silk about two years ago at an op shop (but of course!) and it's been hanging in my cupboard waiting for me to decide what to do with it.

It was a bit long, so I was considering turning it into a dress by adding straps and a bodice at the waistband... and thought about it for ages and ages... but with fashion week around the corner and many events for which it would be nice to have a vaguely new outfit, I decided to finally do something about it.

And of course went with the easiest option of taking up the hem. I'd thought of wearing it all sophisticated and chic, but somehow the Mexican muse got the better of me. Not that anything I'm wearing is Mexican. The top's my mum's from the '70s and it was made in Thailand, and everything else I'm wearing is from practically everywhere except Mexico. But I think Frida would have approved. Let's just see what the Melbourne fashion pack have to say.

A tribute to safari suits

2011-08-24T12:51:00.006+10:00

Working in a fairly informal office, my colleagues and I are fortunate in that we can wear pretty much anything we like, which explains why I can get away with outfits like this. However, I was still surprised when one of my workmates turned up in a safari suit the other day. I asked if he was attending a dress up party, a question which kind of backfired for me as he explained that he was wearing the 70s sartorial slip-up to honour a long-gone friend. The friend had had often worn safari suits, and now every year his mates gather for lunch, all dressed in safari suits as a kind of tribute. While the image of a group of men dressed in safari suits down at the local pub is somewhat humorous, it did get me wondering how people would dress if they were trying to honour me. I'd be extremely happy if it were something like this.

(Image of Fulani woman in all her amazingness from jamtan.com)

Yes, you'd be aware by now that I do like me a bit of earring goodness and general bling, the more ethnic-ky the better. But I know it's not to everyone's taste. How about these though? Would you be prepared to wear these at a little "dress like me" soiree?

By Ten Thousand Things

By Lulu Frost

By Lulu Frost

By Kara Ross

All of these and be more can be seen on style.com

Of course the real tribute would be if these were made from old wool and scraps of cardboard and other bits of stuff that you'd had sitting around for about 20 years, because as you know, that's fairly much how I roll.

Weekend in Sydney

2011-08-22T22:33:00.006+10:00

Oh my goodness!!

I can't believe I forgot to tell you I was going to Sydney this weekend!!

So... um, yes. I went to Sydney this weekend. But it was not for anything fashion related, unless you count catching up with some of the coolest people in Tokyo and their little one (you met them here), who happened to be visiting family in Sydney.

Due to fog in Melbourne on Saturday morning when I was meant to leave, a planned trip to Rozelle market in Sydney did not really eventuate, and in fact most of the weekend was spend wandering and eating. Nothing wrong with that, although it made me pretty lazy and I didn't take many shots of anything except above-mentioned adorable baby and an exhibition at the gallery of NSW. Oh, and this shot which was taken for me ... check out the massive boulder next to the stairs!

These stairs are next to housing commission flats which have a seriously amazing view over Sydney Harbour.

Anyway, the rest of this post is just of pics from the David Aspden exhibition at the gallery of NSW - it's free, so if you like these and are in the area, drop in!

They were quite popular with this little lady...

Arty pic with me reflected in the glass...

I can totally imagine Marni or some other print-loving label turning these into textiles for a future collection...

Although this one might be handiest in combat....don't look at it for too long or you'll get a horrible headache!

Oh, and just in an aside - I also checked out the shopping exhibition at the State Library of NSW which is also free and pretty interesting... and there is a CAT statue outside the library. Got to love a library with a cat statue.

It's not just any old cat... it's Trim, Matthew Flinders' feline. Maybe the most famous ship's cat in the world?!

What did you get up to on the weekend, and perhaps more importantly, what would you put as the caption for a statue of your cat?

Felt balls for Nepal

2011-08-18T09:20:00.000+10:00

Through my work for the Fair@Square festival fashion show I've met a lot of great people, one of whom is Stephanie Woollard. She has a fair trade business working with women in Nepal, which you can read more about here. An extremely inspirational young lady, I think you'll agree.
Not long ago I went to visit Stephanie to see her products and she asked if I had any idea what to do with the felt balls that the ladies in Nepal make.

Yes, they look cute here, but not exactly something anyone over the age of five would want to have much to do with, I think you'll agree. We wanted to turn them into something that could work for adults too, so I've had a go at making a few (crappy) prototypes which Steph will take back to show the women in a few days.

I sketched a few other ideas for jewellery and accessories and also made this necklace out of the felt flowers that are another product that the women make.

Let me stress that all of these are extremely badly executed and that they looked much better in my mind. For example, this little guy (who would be cute on a kid's keyring or as a brooch) had limbs and a tail...

Anyway, hopefully my efforts will at least give the women some new ideas... (hmm, perhaps of what not to do??)

Fame in Nomad's land

2011-08-16T09:04:00.001+10:00

Everyone knows that a picture's worth a thousand words, but I wonder what this picture of me and the DJ from the Nomad launch party is saying? Possibly "we never met until a few seconds ago and yet we're being made to smile and pose like we go way back"? That's what it should be saying anyway! And next time, I should stick with just the picture... what on earth was I thinking when I said that I think about icecream when my mind wanders...?? (admittedly it is true some of the time...)

I was at the party last Thursday for work, and if you like you can read my little party piece here.
Nomad is a new boutique at 194 Bridport Street, Albert Park which has a decidedly Mexican flavour. What this basically means is that it is fabulously colourful and I loved it.
Here's a little guided tour!

Silk scarves with extremely intricate patterns...

Embroidered cushions by indigenous Australian artists...

Furniture from I don't know where, but it's certainly very tricky on the eye!

A long cool corridor (I'd guess the shop was once a house, and a lot of the houses in that area are very long rather than having a wide frontage).

The kitchen full of Mexican knick knacks...

The courtyard with huge mosaic/multi media works by an artist whose name I did not find out, annoyingly. I love these works, as they are so unexpected and they create such atmosphere (great lighting! My camera usually can't cope at night!).

This one has broken plates as the backdrop...

The mosaic tiles in this one are bits of mirror...

This one was my favourite, I think the tiles in the backdrop are pieces of mirror. Don't you think the model looks like Maggie Rizer? (Now that's a blast from the past!) I love the satin sheen on her huge puffy baby-blue sleeves.

And one more for luck where you can see how the works fit in with the great outdoors - I love how they look exactly right on the white wall with the tree branches framing them.

Fabulous footwear Friday

2011-08-12T11:49:00.005+10:00

Just a little fantasy footwear for your Friday... courtesy of Kobi Levi and his amazing ideas...

OK, so those ones were all a bit wacky, but I'd actually wear any of the ones in the bird series...

Swans on your soles...

I wouldn't be offended if someone told me I had duck feet wearing these...

But best of all... TOUCANS FOR YOUR TOOTSIES!!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend! And by the way, if you're missing the usual dose of my babble, you can go here and read all about .. ME. You should hopefully finish it by Monday. By which time I'll be back with more of the same.

Blue and green should never be seen...

2011-08-10T07:26:00.001+10:00

But what about indigo and green?

I found this (probably handmade) jumper at an op shop last week for $3.50 (it was half price day at the Salvos, yay!). Unusually, for something probably made in Australia in the 80s, it is totally free of kitschy koala patterns and ghastly gumnut motifs. I notice a lot of Gen Y (or even the gen after that? have forgotten what the next gen is called... must be because my Gen X brain is failing) kids wearing really horrid 80s stuff but I can't bring myself to do it. Been there, done that (in real time!!)

Anyway, back to the styling... as you might have read in the fashion pages of any magazine recently, strong colour is a big trend, and one of the few that I endorse wholeheartedly.

I'm running a stall at Southside Handmade and Vintage market this weekend so was sorting out what to take from my wardrobe when I found this lace skirt (originally found at a flea market or op shop in Japan for $1, if I recall correctly). I was tossing up whether to sell it but I think the emerald green looks amazing with the indigo of the jumper, so looks like it's staying! And I'll even keep these bright pink socks (which happen to be from 1986... I always saved them for "best", but as I never went anywhere that special, they're still in fairly much new condition).

These things, however, will be at the stall on Sunday...

...along with dresses, accessories and baby gear that I've made myself. See you there!