| In the lead up to this year's highly anticipated FASHFEST - Canberra's biggest annual fashion event - I've teamed up with a number of FASHFEST designers to show off a little of what you can expect from our local talent (More accurately, I turned up at the FASHFEST designers' hang out at Three Little Birds & Little Boy Blue in New Acton last week and grovelled until they let me wear their beautiful clothes!). Suzan Dlouhy is a bit of a Canberra institution. Apart from being an established local fashion designer, she was a prolific Canberra blogger many years before I even knew what blogging was, she's an artist and a musician, and she's a reoccurring face in the local social pages. She's also one of the first local designers I ever had the pleasure of befriending when I first came to Canberra. Her label, SZN is a mix of minimalism and experimentation. Her pieces could be described a enigmatic, always leaving you wondering: what are they made of, and how did she come up with this? Suzan, being a sustainable designer, names the fabric itself as one of her main inspirations. Her materials are largely salvaged scraps from other design processes. Most of the times they come in inconvenient shapes or small scraps, and the challenge of working with these gives rise to innovation. Suzan’s finished products are always conceptual and often take on a sculptural quality. While SZN is on the Avant-garde side of designers showing at FASHFEST, there's always a dress or a separate that just beckons street styling. Everyone wanted the 'Sarah' dress after Suzan showed at last year's FASHFEST - a mod inspired tunic dress made in Suzan's signature monochrome palette. It was renamed the 'Sarah' after Sarah Kelly, the first woman in Canberra to get her hands on one. I’m wearing Suzan's hand tied net dress, made by meticulously tying elastane off-cuts. The construction brings to mind chain mail, fish netting and, inevitably, mermaids - not so much of a jump, surely. It's that incredible texture that I loved so much when it walked down the catwalk at last year's FASHFEST, worn by Mimi Fairall. Needless to say I was tickled pink to be able to photograph it myself. I thought, given Suzan’s 2013 collection was what inspired me to buy myself a wide brimmed black fedora, it would only be right that I wore it with her amazing dress. The gorgeous photography also deserve a mention - taken by my talented blogger bestie Heather (Heatstorm Blog). SZN will be showing at this year's FASHFEST, Canberra's biggest annual fashion event held over four nights from 30 April to 3 May 2014 with different designers every night! Get your tickets here before they sell out! Also, read my blog post detailing all the types of tickets up for grabs. Also get all the news on FASHFEST's twitter and facebook!
Hand knotted net tunic - SZN (website/facebook/twitter) |
Thursday, March 27, 2014
CONCRETE MERMAID \\ SZN x Closet Voyage for FashFest 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
TODAY'S LEVITATION \\ Closet Voyage x Mussen
| This month, Canberra's radest fashion boutique Mussen turns one. Birthday snaps are all important, so that's my excuse for playing dress up in my favourite items in store now. I was head to toe in Staple the Label for this shoot - isn't it obvious from the copious mesh insertions and the feminine-masculine lines? This sheer chambray shirt is double trouble, long enough to wear as a stolen boyfriend shirt-dress, and also perfect for layering with fitted styles to create off-beat silhouettes. Let me also assure you that there is a very good reason I'm floating around Jamison Plaza. If you haven't heard of Natsumi Hayashi, then where have you been! I remember back in 2010 I first came across her photography website Yowa Yowa Camera Diary, and I was hooked immediately. Every post was entitled 'Today's Levitation', with stunning photos of Japanese girls ostensibly levitating while doing everyday things: vacuuming the floor, talking on the phone, getting on a train, crossing the street. I would strongly argue that Natsumi's photos sparked the whole levitation photography craze. Recently, Natsumi announced her first solo exhibition in Tokyo. Being unable to see it in person, I guess this is my homage to her inspirational work. I hope you agree with me that levitation x Staple the Label x Mussen go beautifully together. Find Mussen online, or at it's physical location at 17 Mort Street, Canberra. For good measure, go ahead and follow them on their gorgeous facebook page.
Sheer Chambray Oversized Shirt - Staple the Label - Mussen (online or in store) |
Monday, March 24, 2014
BOY SHORTS \\ PERPETUALLY FIVE x CLOSET VOYAGE FOR FASHFEST 2014
| Being a tomboy could may well be what I'm best at doing in life, so dressing appropriately for tree climbing and mud pie making is paramount. Who says you can't be an adult that climbs trees and makes mud pies? Just be Perpetually Five. Yes, that was my (clever) attempt at segueing into talking about these fabulous shorts by Canberra Fashion Designer, Mitch Thompson. His label is Perpetually Five. Why? Because you should just be if that's what you want. I remember, with all the vividness of a favourite childhood candy, Mitch's graduating collection shown at CIT Kinetic Parade in 2012 - a slew of printed men's pieces made from children's imaginative drawings of paper ducks, purple seahorses and florescent cows. Two years later, he's continued on with those same brilliant ideas and expanded his pieces to jumpers, t-shirts and headbands (printed with miniatures of his own face). So of course, I was thinking, why should be boys have all the cool thing? Just like when I was a kid, running after my male cousins for their clothes, I jealously horde menswear where I can. These shorts by Perpetually Five had my eyes lit up like an RC robot on full batteries. They're roomy (for the tree climbing), structured just right and remind me of kindergarten handkerchiefs with the name tags ironed on. Perpetually Five will be showing at this year's FASHFEST, Canberra's biggest annual fashion event held over four nights from 30 April to 3 May 2014 with different designers every night! Get your tickets here before they sell out! Also, read my blog post detailing all the types of tickets up for grabs. Also get all the news on FASHFEST's twitter and facebook! |
Photographs by Heather Lansdown - Heat Storm Blog
| Plaid Mens Shorts - Perpetually Five Silk Button Up Shirt – Sportscraft "Pashli" Satchel - 3.1 Phillip Lim Cutout Chelsea Boots - Shoe Cult by Nasty Gal |
Friday, March 21, 2014
Happy Thrift Day \\ Mickey Mouse Couture
| People often think that I must have a lot of clothes, and wonder how I can afford it all. Let me answer this with this question - how many style bloggers have you met who aren't in dept? (#jokingnotjoking) Apart from supplementing our wardrobes with 'sponsorship' from brands, most of us bloggers get by, by heavily mixing high-end, low-end, and thrift buys. Every style blogger's got their sights set on a Givenchy Antigona, a collection of Josh Goot dresses and as many pairs of red soled Christian Louboutin's as monetarily possible. Why? As much as you say it's because you like to invest in quality, when it comes down to it it's probably because the other bloggers have them. Even though these things cost your entire paycheck in a pop? Talk about living outside of our means. So that's why today's Thrift Day - a day I wear as many thrifted pieces as I can. Today it's my $3.50 Mickey Mouse T-shirt and a $5 pair of polka dotted jeans. I've always been a Sailor Moon girl myself, but I can't deny the ubiquitous charm of those big round ears and humorous pants. But am I the only one who thinks that Mickey Mouse doesn't look anything like a mouse? |
| Mickey Mouse T Shirt - Thrifted - Salvation Army Warehouse, Fyshwick, Canberra (similar here, here, and here) Polka Dotted Jeans - Thrifted - Salvation Army Warehouse, Fyshwick, Canberra (similar) |
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
MUSSEN x CLOSET VOYAGE \\ NOW DRESS LIKE A WOMAN
| This month, chic Canberra fashion boutique Mussen turns one. Starting out as an eBay shop, it officially opened a physical location this time last year on the corner of Mort Street in Civic, Canberra. To celebrate, Mussen invited me to raid their racks and play dress up for some birthday snaps. Ironically, this time last week I posted about how it's so very me to dress like a man, and now here I am in a pencil skirt - nothing could be more feminine. But if it's going to be a pencil skirt, it's got to be this one. Stylestalker blows me away with their healthy mix of of femininity and edge. One can't go without the other. If you're gonna get all dressed up in florals, that flower had better the the size of a baby elephant. That's edge you can't fake. A statement skirt is, in my book, one of the most easiest pieces to style. Once you have that large scale floral on your hips, you almost can't go wrong. Wear print on print with a similarly loud pattern on top, or let the skirt have the spotlight with a simple white button down shirt. So how does a girl who likes to dress like a man style a skin tight pencil skirt? With a slouchy sweater, of course. Mesh and chiffon fabrics are my favourite materials, especially when used in sportswear inspired styles, like this grid insert mesh sweater by Staple the Lable. It's femininity and decadence juxtaposed against structure and functionality. Top and skirt are from Mussen. Find Mussen online, or at its physical location at 17 Mort Street, Canberra. For good measure, go ahead and follow them on their gorgeous facebook page.
Staple the label - mesh ribbed shirt (Mussen, online and instore) |
