running wild in sydney town - see and shop

flickr - edited by me

Something that really irks me is how difficult it is to find a travel guide that caters to needs other than the touristy. If you want touristy, sight-seeing things to do then the first book you lift off the shelf will amply serve your purposes, as I discovered this recent trip to New York. Even though I had been to the city a few times I was desperate to find new things to see, do, buy and, naturally, eat. I racked my brains, applied to you readers on my blog and twitter and then asked my mum. She told me to buy a guide book (and stop bugging her). The Lonely Planet guide I picked up helped me to discover the art galleries, museums and sights I should see – like the museum of Natural History (I am such a child when it comes to dioramas and dinosaurs) – and was helpfully set out in neighbourhoods with a handy map. The guide helped me learn the location of the Barneys warehouse sale, but other than that, it served no purpose outside of the sight-seeing. I didn’t eat at any of the restaurants or cafes listed in its pages.

Everyone, naturally, has different taste and therefore a guide will not be able to hold universal appeal. But there is certainly a market for something akin to ‘the trendy girls guide to X’ as suggested by Jessica on twitter. She is visiting Sydney in June for the first time and was eager for tips. Loath as I am to call myself a ‘trendy girl’ I am always happy to provide suggestions for my home town.This installment: See and Shop. Next installment: Eat and Drink. Final installment: Walk. (Sydney is a great place to walk).

See

Elizabeth Bay, Ithaca Road

Elizabeth Bay is one of the original ports of entry into Sydney from way back when Captain Cook colonised our fair nation. It is gorgeous - old houses, private beaches and a view of crystal, azure water through the sails of yachts. Less crowded than Rushcutters and Rose Bay (and more accessible to yummy restaurants and shops in Potts Point), sit down, bring a book, and soak up the old-school opulence of it all. Be sure to peek into the Real Estate agents on the Ithaca Road hill, there are always Art-Deco studio apartments for sale to make you very jealous.

Touristy thing to do while there: wander through Elizabeth Bay House, one of Australia's few 'stately homes' and certainly worth a poke if you're into history.

Centennial Park, Paddington

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The site where I learnt to ride a bike, had many a post-school picnic and played my first hockey game, I am biased to my childhood haunt. But objectively Centennial Park is beautiful, boasting water reservoirs, horse riding tracks, bike enclosures, playgrounds, conical fir forests (i used to think these were fairy gardens) and many a place to throw down a checked rug and have a picnic.

Touristy thing to do while there: Bring a loaf of bread and feed the ducks.

Bondi Beach

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There's nothing more Sydney than a beach, and there's nothing more beach than Bondi. It's here that you'll find the bulk of sydney's visitors, crowding the beach, trawling through souvenir shops and drinking in the sight of water, water everywhere. It's touristy, yes, but it is oh so beautiful in that overwhelming, can't take it all in kind of way. Where are you supposed to look? the bronzed limbs of surfer boys (and girls) as they fly over waves? the hulk of the imposing cliffs, strong and silent? the crowds, swarming through the markets on sunday or through shop after shop during the week? Who cares, take your time. Sit in a cafe ( wander aimlessly through the range of vintage shops (grandma takes a trip has a branch here, see below) or boutiques like tuchuzy or jatali on gould st, and just enjoy the feeling of being in sydney - stereotyped as brash, bold, body-conscious and beautiful as hell (and when you're in bondi beach it's hard to think otherwise).

Touristy thing to do while there: Eat a Deep Fried Mars Bar, surprisingly delicious, or go for a dip along with every other tourist in town!


Museum of Contemporary Art, Cirqular Quay


If you visit no other art gallery in Sydney, then so be it. But at least you will have made it to this one. The entry is free, so you really don't have an excuse. Their standing collection is well-curated and boasts the finest Australian contemporary artists like Peter Henessy and Rebecca Dagnall. It's got a great cafe if you need any more convincing, but i'm sure you'll go just to see the wide range of multimedia, sculptor, drawing, painting and interactive pieces they exhibit.

Touristy thing to do while there: walk down to the water's edge and take a gasp-inducing glance at the Opera House.

Shop

Lands End
205 Glenmore Road, Paddington, 2021.
Open 7 days.

uhh

I'll admit it. I wasn't convinced by Lands End when it first opened. But now, a year later, I am well and truly besotted. Why is this? Because Lands End is more than just your usual designer brand stocking boutique. It is a carefully edited, thought-provoking mix of clothes that are inspirational in more ways than just desire. Along with clothes from Proenza Schouler, Richard Nicoll, Christopher Kane, Thakoon and of course, Balmain, Lands End stocks colourful African label Suno, hipster favourite Opening Ceremony and Australian wunderkind Dion Lee. Throw in some gorgeous penhaligons perfumes and jordy askill jewelry, you've got a shop that is light, open and filled with beautiful things that scream 'buy now, love forever'.

site/blog

Blood Orange
35 Elizabeth Bay Road, Elizabeth Bay.
Open Tuesday-Sunday

uhh

This store is a little bit out of the way, but if you're making a trip over to people watch at Elizabeth Bay (see above) then this store nestles right at the top of Elizabeth Bay Road, the street you need to follow to get down to the Bay itself. At the back of Kings Cross the area is quiet and filled with cafes, food pedlars, ice-creameries and sweet shops. A real foodie's desination. And then there's Blood Orange, chic, pared-back elegance that is totally parisienne, and totally covetable. Here you'll find Alexander Wang, A.P.C and K.Jacques sandals hanging on the same rack as Garance Dore's favourite Australian label Arnsdorf, Therese Rawsthorne and a beautiful range of Diptyque candles and perfumes. There are also some truly lovely jewelry pieces sourced from around the world. Good for a poke around after a satisfying brunch in Potts Point, or while you rest before dinner time.

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Grandma Takes A Trip
Crown St, Surry Hills.

Many a young girl has had her first foray into vintage with this story, myself included. Here you'll find the best maintained selection of vintage in the city, specialising in mad men-esque shift dresses and swing coats as well as the bell-bottomed glory of the 70s. Party dresses galore, as well as mountains of jewelry and some more specific accessories like gloves, powder compacts and pillbox hats. This isn't a thrift store, although the clothes are not usually designer they are uniformly beautiful and not a loose seam in sight. You pay for the maintenance. They hold a good sale though - June/July and December/January. And right across the road is Wheels and Doll Baby, Australia's own Burlesque label peddling 1950s sillhouette dresses and wear favoured by Dita Von Teese and Debbie Harry.

Oscar and Friends
19-27 Cross St, Double Bay
Open 7 days

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This bookstore carries all the books you wished you owned. It is the only store in Sydney I have found to stock the Sophie Dahl cookbook, a delight unto itself and it has an equal focus on the artsy coffee table tomes as well as the literature - a balance that sometimes concept bookstores lose sight of. Independent book stores are becoming a thing of the past (you've all seen you've got mail) and it would be a great sorrow to lose the friendliness and knowledge that these stores have. They even offer complimentary gift wrap. Once you're done zip next door to Italian eatery 'Dish' for a liqueur or gelato pick me up, whatever takes your fancy.


David Jones
Elizabeth St (and Market St for the boys), Sydney City
open 7 days (don't i know it!) 9.30 - 6 Mon-Weds, 9.30 - 9 Thurs-Fri. 9.30 - 7 Sat, 10-6 Sun

Lest you think this is a marketing plug (i work for this department store) i have to say that i've shopped here long before I worked here and I still enjoy the browse. It stocks the biggest range of Australian designers as well as the major International ones. It has history - David Jones is the world's oldest department store operating under it's original name. It is an Australian institution and worthy of a reccy in the way that you wouldn't go to New York and skip Saks, or London and bypass Selfridges. If anything you'll be sure to enjoy the food hall and the extensive candy bar, but hopefully you stop by handbags and say hello to me on the way!


T2 tea
Sydney Central Plaza, 450 George St, Sydney
Open 7 days, late night on Thurs

source

you've got to love tea, but if you do, this is the shop to complete all your wildest dreams. They have all your average brews - including their own black 'sydney breakfast', great for a small gift for family back home - as well as more outlandish flavours like creme brulee, raspberry tart and turkish apple ice tea. The packagings are cute too - bright orange (my favourite colour!) and so happy-making. You'll walk away with a whole tea suite - from pot to spoon - but you'll be so enraptured by it that you'll be wrapping it up in your clothes in your suitcase so it doesn't break on the way home. enjoy!

The Corner Shop
43 William St, Paddington or level 2, The Strand Arcade, CBD
Open 7 days

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Belinda Seper is THE Australian woman in fashion - she pioneered the boutique landscape in Australia when she opened Belinda some decades ago. But Belinda, with its lanvin, givenchy and stella stella mccartney (if that's your thing, just up the road at 43 William St or in the MLC Centre on Castlereagh St in the City), isn't for everyone. That's why she opened The Corner shop, who, if she were a girl, would be the cool one that you all wanted to be because she wears her skinny jeans low and her lips red, baby, red. Besides, Paddington is the place to be hip anyway, so buy big on the acne, the isabel marant and the gary bigeni and swing your shopping bags high.


more shopping picks in the 'walk' section, including the famed Oxford St and William St shopping trips!

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playing with the grown ups

'I don't think i wear melancholy very well. I can manage self-pity for a bit, but i'm too happy, fundamentally.'

Sophie Dahl



Playing with the Grown Ups by Sophie Dahl is one of my favourite books. It's a coming of age story to end all coming of age stories featuring those eccentric British characters you love in Wodehouse or Gibbons, but modernised (and, thus, more brutal). And, like all good fiction, it has a whiff of fact about it. For was not Sophie herself, like Kitty (her heroine), carted around from school to ashram, city to city, by a famously erratic and flighty mother? Sophie was always quick to deny any autobiography within the novel, but one of the few things i do know about writing is that it is very difficult to separate the self from the object. a bit of you always always always ends tangled up in the story, for better or for worse.

what i love most about the book is the unending happiness that emerges from it. You get the sense that Kitty, like Sophie herself, is unable to be really well and truly sad, despite all the terrible things that happen to her. She is a creature of ecstasy, resilient to a fault, for whom bumps in the road are merely that - hurdles on the path to a smile.

I think I'm rather like that. I would say my best feature is my smile, it is terminally plastered on my face, happy or sad, although to tell you the truth i am happy far more than i am sad. I get sad so easily - it is the marianne dashwood in me, i suppose - in movies (everything from atonement to con air), books, speeches, farewell dinners, a good episode of law and order SVU. But it is a sadness that merely passes through, for mere minutes later I am able to grin from ear to ear. I'll smile at everything and anything, babies, helpful people who give me directions, bunches of flowers, a particularly yummy dinner, the sight of old friends, the promise of new ones... Just like Sophie I have been known to wallow in the self pity, but at the end of the day I am too delighted at life to stay sad for very long. Perfectly whipped cream can bring me out in raptures.

clothes to be happy in

diane von furstenburg coat, proenza schouler ps1 clutch, christopher kane cardigan, lanvin belt, cutler and wilson bangle, savant skirt, miu miu clogs, miss selfridge sunglasses.

Life can get you down, undoubtedly. Sophie knows this, Kitty knows this, I know this (and how i know it). Despite everything thrown at me I still find so much joy and happiness in life. That's the thing, really. When there will always be the promise of sales at lands end, surprise chai lattes, picnics in the park at dusk and spontaneous karaoke parties sodden with alcohol and wild with happy oblivion then i will always be able to smile. That ability is very childlike - naive, but not in the bad sense of the world. It reminds me of that movie, Happy go lucky, or that fantastic Lily Allen song, LDN. When the sun is shining and your feelings are high nothing, nothing can rain on your parade.

I think i got it from my mother. The word most often used to describe her is 'jolly' - and what a lovely word that is. She has a great smile too.

X

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a girl with kaleidoscope eyes

coolhunt.net

abbey lee's not your regular model, and her style sure as hell ain't 'model off duty'. In fact, with her denim jackets lined with shearling, long knitted skirts, rocking fur coats, indian style bags and mustard yellow dresses, i would go so far as saying that abbey lee looks like she's stepped right off a time machine from the 1970s. Her boyfriend even looks a bit like Bob Dylan, in that brooding, curly-haired way - although i suppose the same could be said for any musician nowadays wearing skinny jeans and a hat and smoking black russians.

But abbey! I love her as a model and a fellow australian, but now I love her for her style as well. She reminds me so much of a friend of mine (who actually bears a resemblance to freja) whose little cheesecloth dresses, high waisted denim shorts and leopard print coats looks straight out of Love Story. As a reformed 1930s dresser I still get a kick out of seeing girls got up head to toe in their vintage finest. I hope when future generations look back on our time and see the mish-mash of style available they are inspired, not confused.

Here's to originality, wouldn't life be boring if all the models ran around in leather leggings, white vests and boyfriend blazers?

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imagine my surprise!

Prada Fall/Winter 2010 had all the usual favourites - Lara Stone, Sigrid Agren, Iselin Steiro and Jac, as well as veteran Abbey Lee Kershaw walking for the first time, but she paled in comparison to these bombshells:

catwalking

why, hello there Catherine Mcneil. It's been a while since I've seen you on a runway, but I see cheekbones are something that you just can't lose. Loving the knee socks on you, very 'son of a preacher man'. I hope this spells big things for the rest of the season (though, of course, just walking prada would be a huge thing in an of itself).

belga pictures

And miranda, you too! prada isn't normally your scene you little (victoria's secret) angel but i knew you had it in you after that turn at balenciaga last season. you look like a little doll with your headband and that dress is so sexy and cute all at the same time - the same could be said for you, really!

As always, Prada pulls off the best surprises. (and the collection was quite charming, too, even though everyone is griping about the 'grandma' dresses. hasn't anyone in fashion seen mad men? or a single man?). The only thing I'm upset about is that Miuccia didn't call back her girl Gemma Ward. The show was apparently about casting slightly healthier, bigger models (though, then again, Cat McNeil does look thinner than she has been earlier here), and wouldn't 'Bella' Gemma have been a perfect fit? I wait with bated breath for her return.

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making do

my greatest fear, besides taking a face dive on an escalator, is losing my suitcase in transit. i can't really think of anything more horrible than turning up somewhere new (or returning home with a bag filled with new purchases) and having to face losing all your careful planning and thought. Vogue_London recently tweeted about their panic when the carousel at the airport stopped and they thought their bag might not arrive - Milan Fashion Week and only 1 outfit! (luckily said bag did materialise). However the bulk of us end up stranded at an airport with nothing but the clothes on your back, quite literally. Superficial and materialistic? Yes. Undoubtedly. But hey, that's who i am! And that's why whenever I travel I always stuff the clothes i really, truly can't live without (as well as a spare pair of knickers) into my carry on luggage, so in the event of a lost luggage situation at least I will be able to survive until the insurance cheque comes through.

So, in the name of preparation, this is how you could make do for a couple of days in a foreign country with only the clothes you put in your carry on. For me these items are the ones that i just CANNOT STAND to lose if, hypothetically, my bag does. Think - anything i bought at Lands End and other sentimental or much loved things (like my josh goot tye dye skirt and mad cortes sherbert orange overshirt). I also wear something comfortable, yet much loved by me, that would be my checked skirt for which i have endless, lionel richie style love, and something comfy up top - a tunic top or something like that. Hopefully after a couple of days either your bags have materialised or they've been lost to the ether and you're out looking for replacements. oh god, i'm getting nervous just thinking of it...


Day 1: The Flight

joseph jacket, marc jacobs top, forever 21 necklace, twiggy bangle (items within bangle are carry on baggage) - richard nicoll dress, lanvin skirt, christopher kane t-shirt, american eagle belt, yves saint laurent ring, rick owens shoes, vivienne westwood skirt, proenza schouler ps1


You board the flight feeling pretty confident. You're off to the shows and you couldn't be more excited - think front row seats, champagne reception and tons of goodie bags (not to mention shmoozing with the fashion glitterati). Your suitcase is filled with the beautiful clothes you've amassed throughout your life and you can't wait to show them off - starting now, a relaxed but not sloppy plane outfit of parka (the utilitarian is tres chic right now), checked skirt and silky tunic. But when you land in Paris you wait for your bag... and wait... and wait... 'Desolee, Mademoiselle, mais votre valise n'est pas ici' a kind french guard tells you. You sniff. Your eyes water. Your pulse quickens. What are you going to do? You have tickets for everything from Dior toDion Lee in less than 2 hours? and more importantly... what are you going to wear?


Day 2: Acceptance

items as before

oh woe is you!!! you stride off to the shows confident that you will never have a good time, not knowing that gone forever are your chanel ballet flats, artfully squished and moulded to your feet, gone forever is your yves saint laurent trench coat, sourced from an op shop for a tenner, gone forever is your favourite pair of pleated plants that fit you so well they might have been tailored to your body,.. you are happy to have somehow preserved your christopher kane tee shirt, however, you do love this print (so clever!) and this lanvin skirt is something fabulous, darling, look at those drapes! in fact, here's an upside to dressing from your carry on (the it-bag, the proenza schouler ps1), you would never have put the two together, too too too contrasting. but they are quite simply striking together. you even get stopped for a streetstyle photograph for which you manage a smile. lovely!

Day 3: Salvation

You have managed to scrounge an outfit together even though despair is setlling in. You have belted your richard nicoll tee-shirt dress with the marc jacobs silk top over it and are going to just bare the legs, goddamit. the colour combination is so remarkable, and when toned down with the parka you certainly cut a lovely figure. But oh, your suitcase! how can you have fun, even front row at chanel, when you know your suitcase and its beloved, chic contents are lost to you forever. Your cell phone rings. Everyone at the show glares at you. So what, the show hasn't even started yet! You answer swiftly. 'Hello?' You whisper. 'Mademoiselle, it is Mr X From Charles De Gaulle. Your suitcase has been found, we are sending it to your hotel toute suite.' You grin from ear to ear and rush back to your room as soon as the show is over. You get to the case and find a note tucked into the front zipper content 'Forgive me, i picked your case up by mistsake. Mine is filled with suits and dress shoes, and not alaia dresses, to my great regret. To make amends I propose dinner, tonight, at the Plaza Athenee. Shall i meet you at 8 oclock? Looking forward to meeting the owner of all those gorgeous clothes. Max.'

You smile. Things are looking up. You'll wear the alaia tonight.



here's to never having to lose your case (and if you do, having a handsome stranger return it to you!)

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i still call australia home

wouldn't it be marvelous if this was my house? flickr


24 hours of air travel, 5 (very thick) march magazines, 2 hours of delays, 1 outfit change (sans shower), 9 films - 5 good, 4 not so good - , 2 jane austen novels, 1 packet of oreos, 3 rotations of the little boots album, 1 'heavy, lift from your knees' tag on my suitcase later... i'm home.

at current - unpacking, lying in garden stealing internet from neighbour and trying to kick jetlag where the sun don't shine. i have millions of photos to share when i can get internet working properly, until then... boy it's good to be back!

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return to the fold

maybe i've been drinking the US of A kool aid, maybe my run in with anna wintour (more on that later) has changed my mind, or maybe this publication is genuinely getting better and better... but if i have one message to send you back from new york through the ether, it is this:

PURCHASE VOGUE US MARCH 2010 WITH TINA FEY ON THE COVER, AND YOU SHALL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

there are so many editorials that as you keep turning pages you just can't take it all in, there's enough diversity of models to make you cry BY ZEUS! IS THAT LARA STONE, FREJA BEHA, ABBEY LEE KERSHAW AND/OR RIANNE TEN HANKEN side by side with RACQUEL ZIMMERMAN, CARO TRENTINI AND KARLIE KLOSS? there is avatar themed fash modelled to absolute ferocious potential by daria werbowy, there is grace coddington's typical light, romantic touch and her theatrical touch, all at the same time. there is elgort doing what ELGORT DOES BEST - beautiful girls in exotic situations with an air of mysterys surrounding them. there is a front of book that i actually looked forward to reading... twice - including a section entitled PARIS that really was written with me in mind, i think. there is a touching tribute to IRVING PENN. that i also read... twice. there are features with heart on everything from the 9 designers to look out for - think KANE, the MULLEAVY SISTERS, TISCI and SIMONs. there is even the 'edit' back of book section focussing on... my heart swells.. BLOGGERS (garance dore looking every inch the superstar she is). there is a feature on street-style dressing, the model as muse and how personal style is influencing the runways that i absolutely LOVED. i didn't even care when there was yet ANOTHER article on BLAKE LIVELY (of all people) because it was actually fun to read and made me chuckle a bit when they referenced the UES.

i really can only express myself through these awkward sentences and capital letters. but i mean it, this issue is incredible. american vogue has returned to the fold and boy... with a vengeance. they are taking up their mantle, again. some say that anna has lost her touch, but this year we've had 3 cover stars never seen before who, if not actually talented (and, you know what, since when has that been a pre-requisite for a vogue cover?) are great to look at and if nothing else are FRESH. we've had editorials that showcase the very best of american photographers (weber, elgort, mcdean) and american actresses and american stylists and american designers in that patriotic way that americans do better than anyone else. vogue us is going from strength to strength, and with no sign of slowing down.

welcome back.

X


in regards to my 'run in with anna wintour' -- first i got an INCREDIBLE shot of her on my film camera that i hope to god turns out because it is truly epic. then i went into the dennis basso show. after it finished I exited quickly as I was close to the door and was outside within minutes. i then hesitated about what to do next and thought, i think i will go back inside the tents and grab one of the free magazines. i went to open the door and there was a HUUUUGEEE burly body guard blocking me from anna wintour who was exiting as i was entering. he pushed me out of the way so that anna could come through and then apologised quickly to me and escorted her to the car. IT WAS AWESOME. hahahhaa it just reminded me so much of the september issue ' anna is like madonna'. LOVE IT!

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the hero piece

eniko mihalik in harpers bazaar us march 2010 shot by peter lindbergh

you know when you write about a collection and you name the 'hero piece'? the one that stood out, that everyone ooohed and aaahed about, the one that boutiques are scrambling to buy and it-girls are clawing their OPI you-don't-know-jacques lacquered nails to get to? Think Christopher Kane's one shouldered scalloped silk organza dress from ss09, or the absolute perfection of a Proenza Schouler PS1 bag in glorious suede. Well, for me, this New York trip, that hero piece has been a khaki Parka.

from the Gap.

Men's Gap.

Crazy right? This $80 jacket picked up off the rack at Men's Gap has become indispensable to me, i literally have not taken it off since i bought it just over a week ago. it went with me every day to fashion week (everyday, that's right, being a student traveller and all multiple coats were a no go) and yet managed to elicit many a harried inquiry as to its label (and saying 'the gap' was very triumphant indeed) as well as not 1, but 2 streetstyle photographs. It's been belted over my tye dye skirt, it's been loose and very 'out of africa' over my calf-length checked skirt, it's contrasted well with my sheer floral shirt and provided the perfect foil for my drapey cos top in a milky cream. When paired yesterday with my new Zara top which is the most alluring shade of palest plum, plumped up shoulder pad shoulders, draping across the v-neck and bodice and very, very celine SS10, it was incredbile. So incredible that when i went out that night at a swanky restaurant in the meatpacking district i managed to side-step the drinking age and have 3 delicious cocktails. what a glorious end to fashion week indeed!

The thing about me is that i tend to splurge on the little things (as the little things end up being within my price range). It's not really for lack of wanting to buy the big things - coats, skirts, swishy little assymetrical dresses - but even reduced they end up out of my price range. Usually what I can afford are shoes (flats, not heels), jewelry, small leather goods and the like. Often they create the contrast that I so love in fashion, the cheap and cheerful with chic and cher all at one. And, let's be honest here, if you spend more than $100 on a parka that kind of defeats the purpose of utility in the first place, right?

What I love about this parka, really though, is that it isn't some kind of half-arsed women's version. This isn't a parka in a silky fabric, this isn't cut to fit a woman's body or highlight curves. This is a no-nonsense, tough khaki, multiple pockets MAN's jacket. I can just see someone super manly, like Shia Laboeuf or something, striding down new york streets (hand in hand with carey mulligan, hmph) and oozing testosterone. When i wear this jacket I can be a little rougher, the togetherness of the rest of my outfit can be off-set. This is a jacket to roll around in the snow in and to push the sleeves up to eat a plate of ribs. This is a jacket with enough pockets to shove everything in (and i mean everything, the other day i had phone, 2 cameras, notebook, pen, wallet, 2 lipsticks, mascara, keys, press pass/tickets, chocolate bar, map and then some!) so you don't need a bag. This is a jacket with a hood that folds up into its own little zip compartment. This is jacket where when you pop the collar you look natural, not idiotic.

I'm sick of my dainty peter pan collared jackets with their stiff fabrics and the whole host of well-cut coats I have in a subdued rainbow of pale colours.

It's time for a REAL jacket.

X

PS - pictures of said jacket, zara top, my new ring (!!) and various other goodies to be posted on my return. it's my second last day in new york, but im celebrating well, with dinner parties, wandering, and all with my best friend. see you soon!

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fall from grace

style.com

The magic of a runway show is the transportation that it affords, the life it breathes into the clothes, and the ideas that it inspires. Clothes are meant to be worn, they look better that way - whether on rail thin models or fleshed out women - and being worn is to be active, to move around, to watch skirts flick, arms flay and to hear shoe clack. Perhaps not all real life can be as spectacular as runway shows (although Lady Gaga must have a thing or two to say about that), but think, your dress swishes on you the same way it does on the runway, when you roll your sleeves up the model, with all her hours of make up, hair and prep, did that too.

I was lucky enough to attend the Toni Maticevski show on Thursday, invited by FactoryPR. It was a beautiful show by a most talented Australian designer, and it was incredibly heart-warming for me to sit in my wonderful seat (second row, behind Australian Vogue!) and hear australian accents swarm all around me as i sipped on a bottle of fiji water. The runway was exposed concrete, the only adornments huge lighting fixtures that were rusted over and casting ugly yet engaging shadows on the white walls. Even with the chatter filling up the space it felt eerie.

This was only compunded on when the show started - I titled this fall from grace because this is how I felt the show was, a beautiful, graceful girl tumbling down into the rough and rumble. The soundtrack was single string instruments with street noise. The girls hair were in tight buns, fixed with shiny embellishment pieces but the severity of the hair styles contrasted against the clothes. Rough luxury is what i wrote in my notebook - chiffon gowns were slashed and hems exposed, trains ran behind gowns like an afterthought.

This was mixed up with the embellishment, exciting pops of sequins and sparkle behind sheer panels or harder bodices of them on a dress or a little bra-let. there was some tapestry as well and beautifully sourced fabrics. I heard the whole thing described as moody and romantic by an editor exiting in front of me and I agree. The luxury and the romance was there, but it was dark and rough, moody, unpredictable - it was beautiful all right, but the beauty was a fierce and serene one (concurrently, i know). It was that kind of Victorian romance that was tempered by the grim environment and morbid popular culture. I imagine the clothes are going to sell well to that 30 something woman with an eye for the beautiful yet too world-weary to still wear the saccharine slips of their 20s.

There were 2 moments for me - the first was a gorgeous, liquid gold skirt in the most arrestign shade of amber or saffron yellow that rippled around the model as she walked, and even as she grasped it in one hand (so effortlessly graceful and alluring, i love it when wearing a long skirt i hike it up on one side as i walk). The skirt was such a gorgeous colour and cut i could not take my eyes off it. The second moment was a look - the floatiest of chiffon dresses, ethereal and chic, topped with a belt and a cashmere cardigan, sleeves rolled up. I felt this idea summed up the collection - rough luxury - and this idea of the graceful girl covering up with the simplest, most banal of thigns to keep warm. This is the look I will be tryign to convey in my dressing from now on, that alluring and beguilign mix of the luxe and the raw, the dressed up and dressed down. A gorgeous party dress under a plain cardigan.

UTILITY and EXTRAVAGANCE.

Contrast in fashion is my everyday goal. I always try to make my outfits contain some little bit of contrast in them juts to make them interesting. Sticking to the same thing all the time is boring. Maticevski knows this -that's why amidst all the sparkles, the silks and the slips he threw in cardigans, tweed jackets and tee shirts (and vice versa). I loved the show, and am assured that he is one of Australia's great international design talents.

To make the day even more exciting for me I was shot by a street style photographer back at the tents. I had been given a whole heap of magazines and materials at the Ports show I had just attended and I was clutching them excitedly in my hands. I asked the photographer if he wanted me to put them down but he said that he liked it, he said I held my magazines as if they were university text books. I must have looked like such an eager, bright-eyed little thing. I hope the photo turns out ok! The past few days have just been incredible, i'm a lucky girl to be able to have this experience. I will never forget it, and can't wait for the rest of the week to come!

much love and anything else i can send you in a new york minute.

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ohfrances!

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

Gwendolyn Brooks.

flibbertigibet

This poem reminds me of one of my real best friends (as opposed to my imaginary best friends, alexa and carey, natch). i keep trawling through her tumblr archives in a vain attempt to pretend that she's with me gallivanting around new york and not miles and miles away back in australia. at least i'll get to trawl through thrift stores, cut class and eat mountains of ill-advised wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce with her soon. (and, hey frances, i know you read this, i miss you!)

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heat of the moment

tumblr helloluxlisbon

Unlike the Boy Scouts, fashion is not about being prepared. On the contrary, i think the heart of fashion is about discovery, and making do. The best outfits are often spawned out of necessity - when you are desperate for something, anything, to wear and you are running out of time and throw on the first thing that comes to mind. Or you are faced with a fashion problem, ooh, say it's SNOWING in New York and the coat you bought doesn't even have full length sleeves. Just throw on a couple of jumpers and some gloves. Layer up, darling.

That's why I'm more impressed by girls who make something out of nothing, rather than girls who make something out of everything. If you have bucketloads of money, a job in fashion and the Barneys personal shopper on speed-dial then it's a lot easier. But real style is never about money, or indeed being prepared. It's spontaneous and unpredictable and genuinely breathtaking. Street-style is all well and good, but i think it should be bought back to the streets. Editors are, undeniably, well-dressed, but isn't that part of their job description? Let's focus on the girl who wears an old mechanics jumpsuit to her monday morning business class. Or the little slip of a thing gadding about town in a camel coat worthy of love story and big work boots.

It's about contrast and surprise, making do and mending... new york seems to have the most fascinating mix of the both - one the one hand the immaculately groomed, perfectly attired society girls, and on the other the rough and rumbled. I wonder where i would fall...

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new york, i love you

I'm off to New York, and what was supposed to be a lovely packing post with all that i'm taking (think a big swing coat, lots of tunics and my doc martens - let your imagination decide the rest), has turned into this measly little thing because i have no internet at home (again) and i am currently at my friendly neighbourhood library, soaking up the wireless until i get on my plane. I'm not really packed for cold weather, oh well, and i'm practically jumping with excitement to be out of muggy sydney and into the thick of it all.

i'll keep you as updated as i possibly can, catch you on the flipside!

more frequent updates can be found at http://www.twitter.com/hrose_

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