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I guess I got inspired by shops. I do love shops. I'm not a shopaholic, at least I don't think so, but there really is nothing like the thrill of a new shopping bag. You can't get it online or by mail. It's about handing over the money and getting back a crisp shopping bag with tissue paper inside hiding your beautiful new things. It's how good shops smell - like rose and sandalwood candles from ginger and smart. It's about how something new can make you feel like a superstar. It's about taking your time to wander from shop to shop and get excited by fashion or food or whatever floats your book.
Blood Orange is a store that excites. Owner Loren Abood is a woman famed for her excellent, infallible taste. Her store is a testament to modern dressing and she has an edit that is renowned for its intelligence, wit and above all - brevity - her shop has only 2 racks, and none of them crammed. She buys things that she loves, like little Arnsdorf bandage skirts, Gary Bigeni draped dresses and the best collection of A.P.C this side of the equator. Her store has recently undergone a refurbishment and has returned victorious with exposed concrete, floor to ceiling mirrors and a design that is as city sleek as their oil slick clothes. The accesories are just as good - the perfect cross section of Alexander Wang shoes and bags along with the mania mania jewellery and K.Jacques sandals which fly out the door as soon as they arrive in November and December. Blood Orange also stocks popular Australian labels Therese Rawsthorne and Karla Spetic as well as the street-wear staple Bassike - as seen on Sarah Jessica Parker. This season Loren adds the recently revamped Carven to the mix with enough buzz surrounding it to warrant a trip just to check out what new blood Guillame Henry can inject into the old couture house.
L-R: Arnsdorf, Gary Bigeni, Bassike, Alexander Wang (vogue.com.au, style.com)
The Elizabeth Bay address makes it a real destination shop. This is a shop that you are catching a bus/train and walking 5 minutes to get to. And unless you live in the lap of luxury down there in Potts Point then you're not walking past it on your way home. But if you do go a little out of your way you are rewarded with this gem of a boutique that really captures the atmosphere of downtown Parisienne cool for a laid back Australian girl. The funny thing is, is that the majority of her labels are Australian. I think one of the best things about Blood Orange is the way Loren Abood promotes, celebrates and shows off Australian designers. Blood Orange always makes me re-evaluate the position of Australian designers. Our fashion industry has never looked, well, cooler, than in her hands.
This isn't a store you could spend a day in, but it is a store that reminds you that shopping needn't be a day-long extravaganza as it so often turns into. Blood Orange is the definition of a "one-stop-shop". You can buy the glitz of Wang, the casual of Bassike, the charm of Arnsdorf and the sleekness of Carven. Topped off with a necklace or two from Loren's travels through Europe and some shoes you can be ready to go - wherever. Jet-setting, clubbing or to work. You can even buy a diptyque candle at Blood Orange. If I had the money, the body and the inclination, I might never shop anywhere else.
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