Franny Gets Frocked: Summertime at Southbank

Monday 20 January 2020

Summertime at Southbank

Dress: Sacha Drake cotton

Sandals: Wittner metallic leather with gold buckles

Bag: Review textured vinyl with gold hardware

Bangles: Gift, mixed metal, sparkles

I'm so excited to finally share all of the gorgeous pictures from a summer day spent exploring the new "Water" exhibit at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) & the "Spiders" exhibition at the Queensland Museum before heading over to Ahmet's Turkish Restaurant in Southbank Parklands for a leisurely lunch of delicious meze (shared) plates. For the occasion, I wore a gorgeous, light weight, palm-tree-printed cotton dress with asymmetrical neckline (strap added by me), ruffled peplum & gold buckle from Aussie designer Sacha Drake, a pair of metallic gold leather gladiator sandals with gold buckles from Wittner for the ideal fusion of comfort & style for a morning spent traipsing around the Cultural Precinct, a vibrant yellow textured vinyl handbag with bow detailing & gold hardware from retro-inspired "girly" label Review & finally, a trio of sparkly mixed metal bangles that a dear friend brought back from a trip to India to complete the look.

Scroll down to see how it all unfolded...

A quick stop for coffee & a sweet treat at The Library Cafe (underneath the State Library) where they have THE BEST Chai Latte that I've ever tasted. The Lemon Meringue Tart with Strawberry Sauce was nice, too...

Heading into the "Water" exhibit at GOMA...

William Forsyth's The Fact of Matter 2009

Taking selfies in the Waterways Upcycled Art space...

Immersing ourselves the majesty in Olafur Eliassen's interactive Riverbed 2014...

next time, I'm wearing a pair of closed-in, flat-soled sneakers.

The simplified version (depicting only half of the original, commissioned herd of 99 animals) of Cai Guo-Qiang's Heritage 2013, a visceral work depicting life-size animal replicas drinking from a waterhole that shows - if only for a moment - the world in perfect, natural harmony...

Nothing beats a walk alongside the mighty Brisbane River in the shade of the trees...

Goofing around at the "Spiders" Exhibit...

If I'm honest, although I did enjoy the exhibit, I preferred last year's "Monkeys!" exhibition that was on loan from the Museum of Scotland. I think this is because as an adult who knows at least the basics about the anatomy of spiders & the species that exist in Australia, it was less engaging due to the fact that there were only a few actual live spiders on display. Most of the information & interactivity was geared towards children, who absolutely loved it judging from the oohs & ahhs & screams of joy emanating from those around us, but for me, the "Monkeys!" had more for all ages to enjoy & the 100-year-old taxidermy pieces were, literally, the experience of a lifetime in some cases.