Right now we are in the throes of Paddington Alive a week-long event that is part of Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival that basically celebrates the wonderful suburb I call home. I can't really explain why I love paddington so much. I've lived here all my life, in the same pokey old house, and there really is no place like it in Sydney. It is part residential, part community, party restaurants, part shops, part night life. There is something for everyone. It really is the coolest place in Australia, no question. It is filled with beautiful old terraces and the glamour of Victorian Sydney but you can also find pockets of modernity, shops that sell Balmain, and delis that stock exotic french cheeses like St.Augur. It's cosmopolitan, a real world-suburb, that can remarkably have the trashiness of late-night haunts as well as the most primary schools concentrated in one suburb in the entire of the state. It's family, but it's also fun.
This year the Paddington Alive event has many guises. You can drop into the "In Converation" series tonight with designers like Leona Edminston and Mrs Press to discuss fashion, frocks and all things fabulous. You can see photo exhibtions at the ACP. You can be part of a huge street-style experiment. But the best thing about Paddington Alive is the William St gala. On Saturday the little shopping strip, famed for its mix of international edit (the Corner Shop, Poepke and Belinda) and home-grown magic (Colette Dinnigan, Ginger and Smart, Lucette). It is one of the most exclusive shopping strips in Sydney and right on my door step, and I love it. This year turns the street into a Fashion Laneway, blocked off at both ends and filled with street performers, DJs and food stalls, this mecca of Paddington style becomes a place that you can explore and experience. Each store is taking part - ride a bike to Pelle and say "I love to recycle my style" and you will be treated to something special!, there will be a Rittenhouse installation at chic boutique Poepke, a "spring carnival" at style junky where special sale offers and spring designs will be on offer to get ready for the new season. Even the houses will be taking part with images on each terrace celebrating "style icons". The paddington Inn, the pub that corners William St and the main st Oxford St, will be playing live music all day long with chic cocktails and pizza for those who have shopped too hard.
My favourite of the whole event, though, is at the Corner Shop. It is one of my favourite stores, stocking hip labels like Isabel Marant etoile, Josh Goot and Therese Rawsthorne. This year they are celebrating the launch of their blog during the Laneway Festival with a Flower market. That's right, fresh flowers throughout the store. It is a wonderful idea, and I can already imagine beautiful daisies, peonies, roses, sunflowers and sweetpeas sitting in big metal buckets around the pavement and throughout their paint-splattered floor boards. So chic, so fun.
That's paddington for you! Hope to see you there!
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