Highballs & High Heels

It is not often these days, that one is invited to a cocktail party where you are ensured of both stylish company and an appropriate ambiance. This Saturday proved to be the exception, as I headed into Madame Brussels to meet with some blogging beauties for a delicious afternoon.

It was the perfect excuse to break out this frock which, although not yet seen here, has quickly become a favorite of mine. It is a late 1950's number in a light wool blend, with the most delightful shawl collar. The print is somewhat of a water coloured effect paisley in my favorite jewel tones. I discovered this gem in a huge vintage shop in Houston, which was primarily filled with 70's - 80's gear and lots of dirty looking second hand clothing. But the shopping gods chose to reward my patience and after getting rather filthy sorting through the dross, this little lady danced her way into my wardrobe. And yes, I did already happen to have the perfect purple pumps.

And so, with the promise of some scintillating company, and the rain clouds beginning their ascent, I headed in for an afternoon of Highballs and High Heels.

If you've never been to Madame Brussels, I'd recommend that you get together with your most stylish and witty pals, and spend the afternoon there pronto. If you go in for the dramatic and theatrical, this is the perfect place to play stage to your grand ambitions or perhaps to just take you away from it all.

Meet the Ladies: Porcelain Blonde, Lady Melbourne, Aus Style, Heart of Pearl, Peep Toes & Pedicures, Fashion Hayley, Esme & The Laneway, Circa Vintage and Vintage Verve.

The Bold and the Beautiful

Outfit Details: Blue silk cocktail dress - Vintage Tina Varigos, Shoes - Valerie Stevens, Necklace - Vintage pearlized glass beads, Earrings - Diamond Studs, Fur - Vintage Mink, Diamonte hair comb, Lipstick - MAC Russian Red.

Now what am I all tizzied up for this time? Well, whilst I look for any excuse to break out the sequins and silk, it isn't something I do every Friday night as a rule. However last night saw the launch of Melbourne's newest modelling agency, The Alternative Modelling Agency. Founded by local gothic glamour queen, Samantha Shields, the agency is set to invigorate the local fashion scene with a new and vibrant style of personality. If you are sick to death (like me) of seeing your models underfed, homogenized and surly looking; you are sure to see more personality on the pages with Samantha's stable of beauties.

Last nights festivities began with Champagne and belly dancing before we moved onto the main event, an eclectic parade showcasing local alternative designers and the agency's new talent. I snuck in a few photos, but as I'm no keen fashion photographer they aren't the best, but I did want to share a little of the evening with you. You can read more about Samantha and the agency here in the Age.

After all that eye candy, those delicious cocktails and divine personalities, it was pumpkin time for me. Yes I was tempted to stay and party the night away, but with another round of cocktails scheduled with some delightful ladies for today, I chose to get my beauty sleep and do it all again. And that my friends, will be a story for tomorrow.

Perfect Pin Curls

Finally, I have another hair tutorial for you all. Today I'll show you how to create quick and easy pin curls using only bobby pins, a brush and a scarf. So no hot rollers, curling wands or other equipment necessary. How did I figure this one out? Well, during my recent travels, I found myself looking for a way to get structured curls and killer hair in the way I usually get with hot rollers. But of course, traveling light, I had no equipment what so ever. Thus the experiment began, and lo and behold, amazing hair the next day! I call this one my Veronica Lake hair, and it packs a serious glamour punch.

Here's some examples of this hair at work.

So slip into your slinkiest silky number, pop on your fluffy slippers and try this one on for size.

A Matter Of Opinion

I am still on a mission to find my perfect summer shoes. Before I let you in on the details of these pairs, I'd like to garner your opinion. I'm going for comfortable, casual and somewhat vintage styling. So what do you think?

Blue Bordello

*Picture heavy post - but worth it*

It has finally happened. The great bedroom decorating project has come to a close as I put the finishing touches to it this week. Given that my penchant for decorating is never ending, I'm trying to finish each room before tackling the next. So my plans for the kitchen spurred me on to complete the bedroom.

The limitations with this project were that I was attempting to work with floral blinds that are not at all to my taste, and a fairly innocuous mushroom carpet. The expense of replacing the blinds I just couldn't justify, so I had to find a creative way to work them into my style. They were originally part of a Shabby Chic meets Laura Ashley style of decoration that the previous occupant favoured. But it was just too insipid for me. After hours of wallpaper stripping, and a month or so of living with colour chips on the wall to aid in the decision process, I tossed the whole lot out and went on instinct with this fabulous blue. "Cossack Dancer" by Dulux. Not for the faint hearted, this colour caused many an odd look at the hardware store when I was asked what on earth I would be painting this colour!

To counter balance the floral in the blinds and give more punch to the glossy black furniture (which I also restored and painted), I chose this amazing Chinioserie print from Chesapeake papers. I have never ever wallpapered before, (that trend was happening when I was a child) so I called on the help of my grandfather who could hang this stuff in his sleep. So after much painting, changing all the light fixtures, re-upholstering, wallpapering and pimping all my furniture, this is the result!

Fancy Fillies

Super Kawaii Mama and Porcelain Blonde

What a delightful and civilized way to spend a Monday morning. Today I met up with Porcelain Blonde for morning tea at the stunning Langham Hotel. With Miss One as our third, we enjoyed lots of delightful pastries, a wonderful view and very accommodating staff. After Miss One's efforts with the chocolate eclairs, we had to put the cleaning staff on notice!

Given that Melbourne's weather has recently taken a turn for the frosty, I had the opportunity to wear this gorgeous emerald green vintage jacket. A beautiful piece of 80's couture that after a little TLC, is now one of my favorite pieces. Yes, I probably should have taken some more detail shots, but I was having too much fun today to stop for all that messing around. So next time I promise.

Outfit Details: Vintage Couture Jacket - Maxi Librati, Skirt - SES, Shoes- Luca & Marc, Diamond studs and Monkey Brooch.

Porcelain Blonde taking Tea with Miss One.

And what a fun time we had! Strolling along the boulevard, we spied the gilded poles of the carousel and I couldn't help but make a beeline for it in all its kitschy glory. With a quick word to the operator, we hopped aboard, being careful not to lose our stilettos between the boards, and chose our ponies. And what a laugh! Riding around to that delightfully cliche carnival music in all our finery, we drew quite the crowd. Whether we seemed mad or amusing, it was smiles all over; and that is the best anti-age remedy I know.

The Way We Wear

I woke up this morning to torrential rain, a warm bed and a strong desire to stay there. But there was an even stronger motivation to venture out into that diabolical weather. Today the Vintage Fair came to town. So I got up, got fancy and headed on over Williamstown for a visual vintage orgy.

Unlike many vintage, collectable or antique-y type events, this fair focuses specifically on the sartorial and all its many accompaniments. It is rather like a combination of being in a older relatives closet and a museum exhibition. The joy is in the hunting and the subsequent discovery of a hidden treasure just perfect for you. Your eyes do a quick scan and you find yourself drawn to certain colours and patterns, that your fingers are itching to feel. More often than not, this is an exercise in appreciation only, as the likelyhood of finding that darling organza poppy print dress to be just your size is not high. But in these instances, the inspiration is ample while the outlaying of precious cash is not.

Pair of 1890's children's boots. So tempting, but for $190 as a mantle decoration, I sadly had to pass.

I was eyeing off some stunning canes, in particular an amber handled, dog's head style number. Props are a wonderful thing to have, but the temptation to poke people, or whack stray children with it, would have proved to much for me.

This is just another reason that I so enjoy these vintage fairs. I may not find just what I am after, but it helps me to hone my eye. Is that really silk that you spy from fifty paces, or simply a nifty rayon? As in most cases, practice makes perfect, and shopping for good vintage is no exception. There also seems to be a shopping rule of thumb that, should you head out with something specific in mind, you will never find it. So it pays to have a back up lust list, but beware, mine seems to be taking on Biblical proportions. And today, my back up list came to the rescue in the absence of fashionable purchases. Enjoy.

Vintage table cloth in just the colours I'm planning to paint the kitchen.

One of a couple of Ladies Home Journal's I picked up, (circa 1952) I love all the advertisements in these and they even bring me more pleasure than the latest Vogue. (Shhh...)

Girl's Story Book. I read these by the dozen growing up and I love the perfect little world they illustrate. Everyone dressed so nicely, had lovely manners and even the naughty kids were relative angels. I am trying to build my own collection to read to the girls to compliment all the other morally suspect entertainment that is bound to come their way.


Illustration from the Girls Story Book. I think they may be a nattily dressed ladies rowing team. Either that or the timber industry was looking for a more stylish way to market their product.

Read All About It

After a long day of shooting photos for my portfolio, I don't have all that much to show and tell today. I do however, have a new interview to share with you that appears over at Time Warp Wives. (click to link to read) Here's a little to wet your whistle.

Candice decided to start her blog after a confrontation with a woman at the gym, who verbally attacked her for looking the way she does. “Instead of washed out and haggard, I decided to spread my message of feeling good through daily glamour in a more public forum. I believe that to a great extent you create your own reality and can chose to live in a more beautiful world, even if you do spend most of your time chasing after two small children. ” she added.

Stay tuned tomorrow for all the fun and fashion of The Way We Wear Fair!

Doin It Old School

Last week I was in a bit of a slump, feeling overwhelmed with tasks and making devious plans to organise live in help. Leaning towers of paper were making their descent to the floor, spiders had started to creep into corners and were even spinning webs worthy of photographing. I felt like I had been cleaning continuously since my homecoming from the big trip, but nothing seemed to be changing. I was getting grumpier by the minute until I took a step back and looked at the problem logically. What was the simplest and most effective thing I could change in this equation? My attitude. Often easier said than done, and without the aid of pharmaceuticals, I turned to my other cure all source. The wonderful world of bloggers.

I've been reading some great new blogs recently that have really re focused my attentions towards all the things I've been wanting to achieve at home. For some reason all this talk of economic down turn has me thinking, not of the Great Depression, but more of WW2 home front sentiments. (Perhaps due to anecdotes from that time being relayed to me from various relatives in my formative years.) And so I have sought out inspirations from this era that I can apply to help me solve my domestic predicament.

Meet Marzipan of My 50's Year. A freelance writer and mother who has challenged herself to live as a 1950's housewife for 365 days. Unlike in those T.V specials, this is only Marzipan and not her family taking part in this challenge, and there is no special house or era appropriate props to go with it. As a self professed feminist, Marzipan has an interesting perspective on her challenges and I am hooked on her daily journal.

After reading about her daily cleaning regime, my bi-weekly dust seemed to pale into insignificance, and somehow that spurred me on. I felt the need to not only clean, tidy and purge, but to pretty things up and finish my multitude of projects. So, achieved to the strains of Doris Day, here's what I have been up to this week:

• Finishing my bedroom decorating project - Wallpapering, hanging curtains, hanging pictures, re-upholstering chairs and cleaning out the cupboards for charity.
• Mending: This pile is so large that my children outgrow things before they are fixed, but in the spirit of "Make do and Mend", I have even been altering some of these garments to do a second round.
• Sewing: I have been coveting a great pair of ultra high waisted 1940's style pants for a while. So I dug into the pile of fabric in storage, nutted out a pattern and knocked up a great pair this afternoon. (Pictures will be forthcoming)
• Cooking: Rather than deciding on the dinner menu about 15 minutes before I am due to serve it, I've actually been trying to plan a menu this week. I imagine my 1940's counterpart would be horrified at the lack of forethought that goes into most of my meals, and the subsequent cost and wastage that come from these lackadaisical methods. I've also been introducing three meat free nights a week to add to the challenge.

All this is only the tip of the iceberg, but instead of feeling discouraged, I'm feeling rather self satisfied. Perhaps if I can get on top of just one new thing a week, I may yet reach my organised, highly decorative and serene utopia. I'm even considering tossing the PDA in favour of that old fashioned invention - The Paper Diary - so I can see weeks of planning at a time and joyfully mark things off with a bright pink tick! Now with all that done, where's my G&T?

Daily Outfit - Off to the Ballet

Outfit Details: Dress- Second hand store (1980's), Belt - Kmart, Shoes - Luca & Marc.

This was Sunday's outfit to attend Miss Four's ballet concert. The dress I found at this great store in Houston called Buffalo Exchange. A large recycled clothing store full of all sorts of gems. This little lady set me back all of about $12. It is a rayon 1980's number complete with shoulder pads, and is super comfortable. It was a little chilly so I added a slip underneath. It was then I experienced a problem I haven't had since Sunday School days. The static cling of stockings, slip and dress. Crackly and nasty. I tried my old anti-static trick of putting moisturizer on the stockings, which worked fairly well, but I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to overcome this?

Dress detail - Fine pleated shoulders with killer shoulder pads.

Shoes by Luca & Marc

On the hair front, my hair is now too long to work well in the hot rollers. I can get them in but it takes forever to get them out as they get all tangled and I nearly had to cut them out recently. So I had to come up with a new technique. What you see here is the result of my own version of a pin curl set. It takes almost no time, no special equipment and I love the result. I will be working on a tutorial for this during the week so hopefully I'll have a new video to show you by next week.

Hair detail

Fabulously Busy

I am tired of hearing that people are busy. It's always, "How have you been?", "Busy." Does saying that you are busy make you feel any better, or does it just validate your feeling that you must be an important person as you are busy? Just like answering "fine, or "good." I am so sick of these off pat, thoughtless responses. True, the sales assistant who asks, "How are you today?" is not likely to want to hear all about your bunions or the state of that odd rash, but perhaps we could all do with a change of perspective and a change of attitude.

With all the things we fit into our schedule, even if that is just watching Project Runway, how often do we stop to take stock of our feelings on any given day? It is so easy to be annoyed, hassled and tired. What if we stopped each morning to just reflect on how we feel, and how we would like to feel for the day? I know this all sounds a bit like a dose of positive affirmations, and yes there is a degree of that, but I'm talking about taking a simple approach.

Next time, when someone asks how you are, give them an answer that will make you both feel better. The choice of adjectives is yours. Personally I like to go with Marvelous, Fabulous, Splendid, Top Notch, Stellar, or my personal favorite; Superlative!

With Christmas just around the corner and your schedule likely to be heaving at the seams, I challenge you to not simply just to dress fabulously, but to BE fabulous; and make sure everyone knows it!