Sunday 30 June 2019

Kettle





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Dress: Taking Shape jacquard
Puffer Vest: Rockmans polyblend
Sneakers: Wittner neoprene, rubber, sequins
Bag: French Connection vinyl, pompoms with silver hardware

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Playground but make it far-shion.

Some little snippets from a cloudless wintertime afternoon at the playground (affectionately known as the "Ma & Pa Kettle Park" owing to the hayseed-shack-style, hillbilly-looking cubby houses) with my cousin & her two rambunctious munchkins. I'm posing in the rope ladder cylinder wearing a gorgeous, vibrant floral jacquard fit-to-flare dress from Taking Shape with a matching neon yellow puffer vest from Rockmans (yup, I'm from Queensland & yet I own a selection of puffer items in a variety of hues but the bigger question here is probably why I'm wearing a voluminous "event" dress to a playground... you know, fashion blogger life...), navy neoprene & sequinned sneakers with thick rubber soles from Wittner which were, in all honestly, woefully inadequate for doing any ACTUAL exercise/climbing due to their weight & "chunkiness" but looked awesome regardless & finally, a navy vinyl crossbody bag with pompom strap & silver hardware from French Connection to carry all the essentials while keeping my hands free for child-wrangling & exploration & scooter-ing on the new path by the manmade lake (sadly not pictured).

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Saturday 29 June 2019

Monkeeing Around













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Dress: Anthea Crawford embroidered tulle
Jacket: Mano boucle
Ankle Boots: Midas calf hair, metallic leather
Bag: Pigeonhole leather
Belt: Hell Bunny via That Shop patent leather, elastic
Bangles: Gift, mixed metal, sparkles (from India)

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Sharing a few snaps of the retro-inspired outfit that I styled up to attend a recent concert featuring the surviving members of 1960s pop group The Monkees, whom I dearly loved when I was much younger & still do to this very day, particularly the songs "Listen to the Band" (1969) & their biggest & possibly best-known hit, "Daydream Believer" (1967). 

Despite the fact that many critics write them off as just a manufactured-for-television "fake" group who couldn't even play their instruments when the show debuted in 1966, I absolutely love the joy, frivolity & sheer lightness their music (particularly the earlier incarnations) brought/brings to the listener in/from an era where things could get pretty darn heavy with protest & folk music constantly intoning about societies ills, including the Vietnam War. Don't misunderstand me, I am utterly obsessed with Bob Dylan, Donovan Leitch & Creedence Clearwater Revival & play their records on heavy rotation but sometimes it's nice to just put on a song that makes you smile as you sing your little heart out... you know, the way the early stuff from The Beatles makes you feel... Yup, you read that correctly, I just equated the music of The Monkees with the music of The Beatles & I'm not sorry. I know, I know, Paul & John (& sometimes George & Ringo if I'm being absolutely pedantic) wrote absolutely EVERYTHING - with the exclusion of "Twist & Shout" - that The Beatles ever released but although The Monkees relied on the songwriting talents of others (including Neil Diamond in point of fact) the tunes still elicit that same bubbling up of joy when I hear the opening refrains to little ditty that I dearly know & love... & sometimes, that's exactly what music is all about...

But I digress. 

I could quite literally go on for hours & hours about 1960s/1970s music & bands & lyrics & songs & folk music & protests & Woodstock but that's not really the intended focus of this blog, so I'll describe the fashion. Early on, I decided on a palette of predominantly black & blush pink, wearing a gorgeous little embroidered tulle number from Anthea Crawford with a shiny black patent belt to cinch in the waist, a pattern-mixed boucle coat with fluted three-quarter-sleeves from a little boutique called Mano in Brisbane's Myer Centre, ankle boots made from blush calf hair with rose gold metallic leather accents from Midas & a black leather shoulder bag from Pigeonhole to carry all the essentials. When it came to jewellery, I mixed metals with a trio of gold & silver beaded bracelets on one arm & a single, pink beaded bracelet on the other; all purchased by a dear friend on a trip to India & brought back as a gift for my 30th birthday. 

Wednesday 26 June 2019

Secret Garden










"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden..."











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Dress: Ankoa cotton lace, buttons
Ankle Boots: Renee Loves Frances leather
Bag: Nautica nylon, vinyl with silver hardware
Bracelet: Tibetan silver (from Maleny boutique)
Bangle: Vintage, Retro Metro Paddington silver

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Feeling just like Mary Lennox from "The Secret Garden" in these absolutely beautiful photographs from a divine winter morning spent exploring both Nerima Gardens & Ipswich Nature Centre with my father in my hometown, wearing the stunning white lace Prairie dress from sustainable, slow-fashion, independent Aussie label Ankoa. When styling the look, I allowed all of those hours pouring over Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 masterpiece of rejuvenation, regeneration, spirituality, belief & the healing power of the natural world come to the fore, teaming the dress with a pair of vintage-inspired sturdy, black leather ankle boots from the Renee Loves Frances boutique in Bulimba that are, quite frankly, only getting better with age & wear, a black nylon & vinyl crossbody bag from Nautica to carry all the essentials while keeping my hands free to roam, a chunky Tibetan silver bracelet from a little nameless store in Maleny & a thin silver bangle from Retro Metro Paddington for that final bohemian touch.

Scroll down to share the journey...




"Her heart was a secret garden & the walls were very high..."


















"I am sure there is magic in everything, only we have not sense enough to get hold of it & make it do things for us..."









"She made herself stronger by fighting with the wind..."









"She should never forget this first morning when her garden began to grow..."







"Everything was strange & silent & she seemed to be hundreds of miles away from anyone but somehow she did not feel lonely at all..."











"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done - then it is done & all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago..."






"Much more surprising things can happen to anyone who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes to mind, just has the sense to remember it in time & push it out by putting in an agreeable, determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place..."


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"& the secret garden bloomed & bloomed & every morning revealed new miracles..."
















"Sometimes since I've been in the garden, I've looked up through the trees at the sky & I have had a strange feeling of being happy as if something was pushing & drawing in my chest & making me breathe fast. Magic is always pushing & drawing & making things out of nothing. Everything is made of magic, leaves & trees, flowers & birds... & people. So it must be all around us. In this garden - in all the places..."