Franny Gets Frocked: Spaced Out

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

With these immortal words, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon & into the history books. The year was 1969, fifty years ago this year & yet it still remains one of mankind's most seminal achievements & celebrated moments. The question is, however, what inspired this ardent desire to explore outer space & who undertook the feats of engineering that made it ACTUALLY physically possible? I suppose a further question is... what now? So many years later, fifty since that celebrated "moon walk" was undertaken, is there anything else to find & could man ACTUALLY live on other planets?

All these questions (& more) were answered at the Queensland Museum's latest visiting exhibit, NASA: A Human Adventure, which traces the origins of space exploration from the fantastical works of science-fiction authors such as Jules Verne to the genius of Soviet & American astrophysicists & the heroic pursuits of astronauts such as John Glenn, who was the first American to orbit the earth, circling it three times in 1962. The comprehensive exhibit features an extraordinary collection of more than 250 historically-significant artefacts from both the United States & Soviet space programs & includes ORIGINAL space flown objects.

It would be remiss of me not to mention here that I did feel some pangs of disappointment at the almost complete lack of female representation throughout the exhibit, with the notable exceptions of a plethora of brave female astronauts & one visionary science-fiction author. While obviously somewhat embellished for Hollywood, the film "Hidden Figures" clearly showed the important contribution made by Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan & Mary Jackson to NASA's space program in the arenas of engineering, computer programming & mathematics & it was a shame to not have some kind of tribute paid to them & other trailblazing women like them for the young girls & even grown women (!) visiting the exhibit to look up to or strive to emulate. Now, I don't consider myself to be any kind of militant feminist & this particular criticism would not stop me from viewing the exhibit a second time (at only $12 a ticket, it's an absolute bargain) but I did find it somewhat strange.

But I digress.

All criticisms aside, I was incredibly excited to explore the myriad of important artefacts with some dear friends & their two sons, one of whom is technology-obsessed... something that he owes to many of the scientists whose work helped lift rockets off the ground & into the outer reaches of the galaxy...

Dress: Sheike polyester

Camisole: Ambra via Myer elastane

Sandals: Betts for Her leather, wooden stacked heels, laces

Bag: Homestore Ashgrove cane, leather

Wrap Bangle: Commercial Road Antiques vintage buffalo horn

Seeing as this is a fashion blog, it's here that I'll include a quick paragraph about the clothes... more specifically, my outfit...

For the occasion, I took a veritable trip back to the 1960s & wore a funky, bohemian-inspired, paisley print, faux wrap polyester maxi dress in shades of tan & cream from Aussie label Sheike that wouldn't have looked out of place at Woodstock (of all places) with a flesh-tone, stretchy elastane camisole from Ambra underneath the deep v-neckline for modesty purposes; beige laser cut leather sandals with laces & stacked wooden heels from Betts for Her to elongate my frame while providing comfort & stability; a circular, white woven cane crossbody bag with leather strap that I picked up at a little roadside boutique called Homestore Ashgrove to carry all the essentials while keeping my hands free & finally, a chunky vintage buffalo horn wrap bracelet in similar shades of tan & cream as the print of the dress from Commercial Road Antiques in Teneriffe.

Without further ado, scroll down to see how it all unfolded...