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.