tea time

I fell in love last year, in a shop in Curtain House that isn't there anymore, with a blue and white zig zag printed bathing suit. I never got it, and to be honest it might not have been zig zagged, or even blue and white for that matter, but it's likely-altered memory has lived on... Now it's the middle of winter and bikini bodies, bikini lines, and bathing suits in general were the last things on my mind until a couple weeks ago when Rittenhouse announced their mid-year sample sales.

I feel a little bit of the same way for Rittenhouse as I do for APC, but in a more local way. The impression I've had until recently has been that their clothes are simple, clean, sophisticated, and a little bit preppy, though on closer inspection I've found that they're also detailed, clever, and beautifully made.

For their last collection, the couple behind Rittenhouse collaborated with Swiss artists Michael Husmann and Pasquale Tschaeni, another creative couple. The result was an explosion of playful colours and textures that surprised many of their followers, and enticed me. That bathing suit that I loved last year was Rittenhouse, though I'd forgotten they even make swimwear until I was browsing their website and came across this. Which I love even more.

They're bringing the sample sale to Melbourne next Friday and Saturday, at Misty Bar on Hosier lane from 10am-4pm.
For those of you who aren't in Melbourne (or weren't in Sydney last weekend), today they announced reductions at their online shop, yay. After discussion with Han I think I'm going to go bikini, despite how beautiful the one piece is, now I just have to figure out how to justify buying a swimsuit in Winter (as if being on sale isn't enough).

Pictures are all from Rittenhouse

another very long post

Oh, I went to another runway show on Thursday night. This time I went alone and took notes, kind of. I also tried to take photos on my phone but that was bust.

Highlights:

Alpha60 I generally like because they're not crazy expensive, use nice fabric, and I wear a lot of black. I thought I saw this beautiful wool cape thing in black and in light grey, but I can't find it in the photos so maybe I imagined it. Hope not 'cause I intend on purchasing it. I also wrote 'grey trench' in my notes, so here's a picture of that. Though it was later outshone by 'Zam trench want want!'...

The notes I took for Carly Hunter are cryptic and kind of annoying: 'screen peach ghost gum necklaces'. Gah. There was a lot of pink and peach, I liked. They wore these neclaces made of hair which caught my eye and which may have been by a label called Ghost Gum but I can't find anything about that on the internet. Update: yes I can, they are.

Nom*D brought it! I got all chuffed up with kiwi pride and could swear everyone clapped louder for them. They started with three models layered in white which was nice because NZ fashion is often thought of as very dark, which it is/used to be. They of course got darker. My favourite of the white looks is a different one but the picture's all full of nipple and I feel kind of bad, here's a link though, if you're a perv. I'm quite smitten with the super-fringey bags! Also, just look at this man, I giggled.

Limedrop I know I liked but can't find anything particularly special in the pictures, there's some pretty cloud print on their website, and knitted blue camo sweaters.

I loved this bustier over shirt thing that TV did. I can't explain why, perhaps because I have a couple of 'bralets' on their way from Top Shop as we speak? They have nothing on this brocade number, but still. Also, I have been loving orange lately. They had a lot of lime, jacquard and denim too.

Zambesi! The trench that stole my heart, and trench coats in general aren't even my type. This picture does it no justice, it was actually beautiful and perfectly fit and the little capey bit at the back hung just so... I also loved the shoes but forgot to look at the end when it says where they're from, black boots with light soles, nice.

This show had lots of boys. Almost all of the collections were mixed and Jack London was all male, this one in the little hat was my favourite. I liked the colourful suits and 50s styling, and tweed.

Other non-runway highlights inculded sitting behind Allanah Hill and her posse. I didn't know who she was and was kind of confused by all the people having their photo taken with a funny Australian version of the nanny, I actually had to text a friend for assistance. In the end I asked the nice mother daughter pair beside me and was a little disappointed that she was just a designer probably best described, in my mind, as Australia's answer to Trelise Cooper. I'm sorry if I have that entirely wrong and you love Allanah Hill and/or Trelise Coop, however I have trouble moving past big hair, lipstick and ruffley clothes as defining features.

PS (unrelated star-spotting news) Yesterday WAVERLEY WILSON came into my work. That was really exciting even though no one knew who I was talking about. I forgot that she may also be known as Aurora from Outrageous Fortune, which might have been a more Aus-friendly reference.

PPS Before I went to the runway show on Thursday, I saw the creators of Refinery29 speak, it was really interesting and inspirational, and funny spotting some internet 'celebrities' but also kind of weird in that way. Off-topic related highlights included Pierra using the word 'zeitgeist' in a sentence, without any irony or air quotes, and noticing that the fashion editor at The Australian needed new heel caps on her shoes, yes, these are the important things that I scribbled during. Also someone said tenaciousness at one point which had me wondering, isn't it 'tenacity'?

holy blazers batman!

I went last night to my first fashion show at L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. It was presented by Vogue and so we all had free Vogues on our seats along with a fan because it was hot. The front rows had real goody bags in which I imagined were things like cosmetics and maybe even candy, who knows really. It doesn't matter because I accidentally left my magazine in a bar later and probably would've done the same with the show bag so obviously didn't deserve one.

Runway shows at LMFF go quickly, so quickly! It was fun though and due to the 'sell out show' not actually being full my pal and I got to sit next to each other and discuss. My thoughts this morning (having not taken notes and enjoyed a couple of wines post-show) extended only so far as good music choices/blazers/apricot/Therese Rawsthorne, however I've looked through some photos to jog my memory so here's a wee rundown:


Romance Was Born opened the show with this outfit. I loved the brick phone, the model, and the money coming out of her briefcase. I tried to tweet live from the show like a real fashion blogger but I didn't want to miss anything so didn't press the right buttons. The un-posted tweet however, said something along the lines of 'Romance Was Born: sequins, bloody sequins, 80s power dressing, ca$h'. I obviously wasn't especially enamoured with all the sequins but was pleased when the model in the sunglasses above came out, she strutted, hard, which was way better than all the other walking. My friend whispered to me "I like that wind cheater, that's grouse" which blew my mind in all sorts of Australian slang ways and reminded me that I still haven't quite worked out the word 'grouse'.

Dion Lee was one of the designers I didn't really know about before. There were some cool metal details on the dresses, and this shirt was actually (hard to tell in this pic) a lovely sheer cotton with crisp seams and collar which made me swoon.

Ellery was another label I wasn't too familiar with, though decided I quite like due to the sheer mauve and this grey skirt, which looks a bit blah in the picture but I do remember thinking 'I'd wear that'.

I loved Arnsdorf's slouchy tan coats, they remind me of Molly Ringwald in a want want want kind of way. I thought the models looked awkward and weird holding bags but maybe that's just me. I love those peach pants, and the creamy blouse with little bow.

I was actually looking at Antipodium's website yesterday and all of this stuff is available now. I like the long back/short front grey dress and also what I have dubbed the 'mini mouse ears bodice with squiggly straps' on the dress above and also available in a cute top. I spent some time this morning wondering whether it's pronounced an-tih-po-DEE-um or an-tih-POH-dee-um and then feeling a bit stupid about the whole thing.

Gary Bigeni, yet another I didn't know much about before last night (Australian fashion amateur, obvs). Again I loved mauves, this time a bit bluer, and the pink dress had a whole load more fabric attached to the back, like a cape or a toga, which I liked. I didn't really see much of these last night as the runway was lit with black lights except for the end with the photographers. It was probably the most high-concept part of the show but made forming an opinion on the clothes rather difficult.

Freidrich Gray disappointed me a little. I loved his beautiful silk dresses and tunics printed with Rorschach-like cosmos from a few seasons ago, but wasn't so into what I saw last night. That jumper looks comfy though!

My friend pointed out at one point that they were using 'bigger' models this year which I didn't really understand as they all looked super skinny to me, however there was one girl who might have been all of a size 6, or maybe a really tall 8 so I suppose that must have been what she meant. My boobs ached for her as she bounced past in some of the sheerer gauzy tops (that's her in the black and white dress).

Therese Rawsthorne was definitely the stand out for me. I never thought I would like anything with one shoulder but that dress looked amazing. Also the sheer lavenders and mauves and slouchey coats of course...

These photos were all taken by Lucas Dawson. Some of the clothes looked different to me last night than they do here and almost all of them you can view in lookbook context on the designers' websites.

orange sherbet

Hi there pretty. Karla Spetic's new collection is so sweet I want to eat it. Some of the pieces remind me of Miu Miu's AW10 which I've also been obsessing over lately, both filled with pastels, prints and cut outs to make me swoon. There's also a bit of black velvet thrown in which I always love but haven't pictured because I like the springey ice cream and macarooney-ness of these photos and didn't want to cast any shadows.

Karla is a Sydney designer originally from Dubrovnik. You can buy her clothes at a bunch of boutiques across Australia, and online if you're not here... She has some verrrry nice bathing suits on sale at the moment too!

Originally saw this here

nonsense, and some nice clothes

Tina Kalivas is one of my most favouritest Australian designers. I have one skirt of hers and I LOVE it and like to think of it as just the beginning of what will probably remain a modest yet treasured collection. Did you know she worked for Alexander McQueen?! She's into sci-fi and fantasy! Is there such a thing as 'neo-tribal reptillian ready-to-wear'? It's like something you might wear to the office if you were in Avatar! And no, I still haven't seen that movie yet...

I'm quite bummed to be missing Tina in the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, but tickets are pretty steep for a nobody like me and I have to work that night anyway. I am however going to some of the other shows and I may even TWEET from them, like a fashion blogger, and won't that be fun for everyone!