January in pictures.
1/29/2012

January in pictures.

This wasn't going to be a monthly post but because I tend to take crazy amounts of photos since I upgraded my phone, it'd be a shame not to showcase them!


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Mid-Week Music!
1/25/2012

Mid-Week Music!


For some irritating reason YouTube is not letting me link the video which was meant to accompany this post.

In the meantime here are some lyrics:

I've got halo's made of summer, rhythms made of spring.
What she wears, what she wears, what she wears.
I've got crowns of words a woven, each one a song to sing.
Oh I sing, oh I sing, oh I sing.

Give me long days in the sun, preludes to the nights to come.
Previews of the mornings laying in all lazy.
Give me something fun to do, like a life of loving you.
Kiss me quick now baby I'm still crazy over you.


Those lyrics come from Brooke Fraser's song 'Something in the Water', a song which was undoubtedly New Zealand's summer anthem of 2011. It's heartwarming, the lyrics are catchy and who can resist the clapping?

Be sure to watch the music video too, not just the live performances. It's so cute, and there's some great outfits in there too!


I've got halo's made of summer, rhythms made of spring
What she wears, what she wears, what she wears
I got crowns of words a woven each one a song to sing
Oh I sing, oh I sing, oh I sing

Give me long days in the sun, preludes to the nights to come previews of the mornings laying in all lazy give me something fun to do like a life of loving you
Kiss me quick now baby I'm still crazy over you
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Quotacious Quotations.
1/24/2012

Quotacious Quotations.


It is only when this gets through to people that they are truly living. So go out there and live your best life, the one you want to experience.
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Monday Muse-The girl's got style.
1/23/2012

Monday Muse-The girl's got style.

Today's Monday Muse requires no introduction, but for the sake of formality, I present to you Tavi Gevinson. Brainchild of Style Rookie, her personal blog as well as Rookie an online magazine of which she is the editor, Tavi is no stranger to the Fashion Industry and blogosphere.





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The Reading Pile
1/20/2012

The Reading Pile

It's not really advisable to have regrets, or so we're told. I have one though, as a child I was an avid reader and would get through so many books rather quickly, all whilst loving losing myself in the worlds of the writers who's work I chose to explore. Fast forward a decade or so and I never seem to have the time to pick up a book and read it for as long as I'd like to. Anyway, at the start of the year I went through my 'inventory', if you will and made a list of the books I've got waiting for me to read. There are 26 excluding library books and magazines, so my goal is to have them all read by the end of this year.

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Mid-Week Music!
1/18/2012

Mid-Week Music!



Life goes on it gets so heavy. The wheel breaks the butterfly. Every tear a waterfall, in the night the stormy night she'll close her eyes. In the night the stormy night away she flies. 


This song is great if you want to lift your mood somewhat instantly. Also if you haven't done so you should check out the video above. It's so adorable!

May your Wednesday dreams be total paradise.

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Brilliant Blogs, Edition 1.
1/17/2012

Brilliant Blogs, Edition 1.

Blogs are so much better to peruse than whiling away the hours on Facebook, are they not? Here are two of my personal favourites which are both unique, charmingly written and guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.






Cecylia.com is a Melbourne style blog created by Cecylia Kee who wanted an outlet outside of her day job where she could post on all things fashion. She regularly posts images of outfits which she wears out and about on Melbourne adventures as well as inside looks at the places she visits with the people she sees.





I really love the almost whimsical quality to her posts. This one in particular at Disneyland and this always make me smile.

Be sure to like her page over on Facebook as well.






Lemonwood and Honey is the brainchild of my lovely friend Britney. Her blog encompasses he magical and the mysterious, neatly tying them all together in one brown paper package. She regularly posts on topics like music, the stars (and space),c raft, literature and cooking. There are some seriously good 'Cauldron Cake' a la Harry Potter recipes on there if you hunt hard enough.


Britney secretly goes to Hogwarts School. Just quietly...


I particularly love her 'Wordy Wednesday' posts as well as her photo journalling.

Also be sure to look at her Tumblr here.



Image Credits

-Screen Caps-Taken from the blogs themselves by me.
-Photos of Cecylia from her blog.
-Photo of Britney from her blog.














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Monday Muse
1/16/2012

Monday Muse

It wasn't until last week when I was answering a question in my previous post that I realised this inspiring person hadn't yet been a 'Monday Muse', and really should have been much earlier!



Verity Hunt-Ballard really rose to fame when she received the role of 'Mary Poppins' in Australia, but she'd achieved so much more before then. She has appeared in numerous musicals, cabarets and on two cast recordings. Of particular note were her spotlight stealing performances in 'Jersey Boys'.




I was lucky enough to meet Verity and she is one of the most lovely, charismatic people, with a great deal of good energy and stellar fashion sense off stage! She truly is living proof that anything can happen if you let it!


         
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1/12/2012

A bit of a tagger's adventure

So my lovely friend Britney, creator of Lemonwood and Honey has tagged me, along with 11 other bloggers in this post here. The challenge, or adventure is to post 11 random facts about yourself and then answer 11 questions the challenger has set out for you! Fun stuff. You're also meant to tag 11 people in this post with new questions, but because I'm still relatively new to Blogger I thought I'd post 11 questions and you can choose to do them if you wish! If you do decide to please post the link underneath this post so I can see. xx

Britney's Questions that I answered

  1. What song are you currently loving? At the moment it's a song called 'What's It All For' by Laura Michelle Kelly, which someone lovely sent me to listen to.
  2. If you could go back in time and you get to go as many times as you wish, where would you go? Oh goodness, there's SO many Broadway shows I would love to go back in time to watch, as well as eras. In terms of shows I'd go see the Original Australian Tour of 'Phantom of the Opera', Audrey Hepburn when she was in 'Gigi', 'Beauty and the Beast' in Australia, 'Metro Street'. In terms of eras I'd go back to the 50's and 60's. Although perhaps in England or somewhere, because I don't think anything eventful was happening at the time where I'm from. 
  3. If you got the chance to run away with a fictional character who would it be? (can be from books, tv, musical theatre, plain theatre, film, anywhere). Edina Monsoon from 'Absolutely Fabulous'.
  4. What would you do and where would you go with that fictional character? We'd talk over a bottle of champagne, bitch about celebrities, go shopping. Most likely we'd visit her PR Office and Patsy!, go shopping on Oxford Street and for a nice lunch in some A-List restaurant. Need to be seen darlings.
  5. Who is your current muse? Verity Hunt-Ballard, next week's Monday Muse actually. 
  6. A word. Any word. Fabulous.
  7. Did you have any imaginary friends? If so who? I sure did, when I was growing up I always wanted a sister so my imaginary friend was called Harriet. That's embarrassing to admit, gosh Britney!
  8. If you were hosting a dinner party (or a party of your choice) at home what would your house look like ten minutes before people arrive? Organised chaos! No doubt final touches would be added to the table setting, some candles or something nicely scented would be in the room and perhaps music would be playing. 
  9. Do you get distracted by shiny or glittery things? Very much so. If I see sparkly accessories or clothes for instance I will gravitate towards them. Sparkles equal happiness. 
  10. What animal would best describe your personality? Or a combo of animal maybe, like a  rhottow (a rhino, otter and a cow!) or a sharogaffe (a shark, a dog and a giraffe!). Probably something quiet and relaxed, like a Cat. 
  11. What is the most important dream you want to turn into a reality this year? (or start bringing it into reality?) This is where my list of "12 Dreams for 2012" comes in handy. One dream I would really love to turn into reality is attendance at Fashion Events in New Zealand like the NZFF or NZFW. I'd like to hopefully take photos and do reviews of them. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time but never felt confident enough to undertake but this year I would really love to get involved. 


Now, 11 completely random things about me.


  1. I love reading magazines, in particular Fashion.
  2. Musical Theatre is my lifelong love, ever since I was introduced to Julie Andrews in 'Mary Poppins' and 'The Sound of Music' as a child.
  3. Melbourne is my favourite city in the world.
  4. Originally I was able to write with both my left and right hands but in Primary School I was trained to write with just one. So now, I am right handed!
  5. Despite being an incredibly clutzy person I only have one scar on my body, from a drip that was put into my hand after an operation.
  6. Sometimes overseas, or even within New Zealand I'll be asked if I'm Australian, so I tell people that I am.
  7. Earlier this week I purchased this daily journal. Every day I've been writing about what I've been grateful for from that day. 
  8. Another of my '12 Dreams for 2012' is to learn how to do Fashion Illustration (properly!).
  9. Harry Potter was my hero once upon a time and I'm not ashamed to admit that I queued in line with fans each day a new book came out and was lucky enough to attend several of the Premiere screenings.
  10. Words of Wisdom are always inspiring me. At the moment one of my favourite sentiments is "The creative adult is the child who survived."
  11. I collect magazine clippings, cute postcards and a random assortment of things which I collect on my travels and anywhere I can find them.

And lastly, 11 questions for you dear reader!


  1. If there was one Fashion trend you could revive what would it be?
  2. Do you have a favourite recipe?
  3. Which book or author would you recommend to anybody (Friend, Stranger, Family etc)?
  4. What is your most vivid childhood memory?
  5. If you could do anything you wanted for a day, with no time restrictions, financial woes etc, what would you do, where would you go and who would you see?
  6. Pet peeve?
  7. One thing you've learnt this week?
  8. Who is someone you admire and why?
  9. What is your dream?
  10. Have you ever purchased anything online? If yes, what is the best thing you've ever bought online?
  11. What was the last movie you watched and would you recommend it to others?
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Mid-Week Music!
1/11/2012

Mid-Week Music!

Vampire Weekend's music sits nicely alongside any summer soundtrack. The indie rock band's uplifting melodies and nonsensical lyrics, which seem Beatles inspired, create a well rounded whimsical,magical discography.



'The Kids Don't Stand A Chance' didn't perform the greatest commercially, despite reviews stating they "sign off in style" with this track. Theories of its meaning allude to ideas of the global drug trade or globalisation in general. What are your thoughts?



Hopefully we'll see a third album soon to follow up 2010's Contra, as the band have been back in the studios recently.
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Wondrous Walls.
1/11/2012

Wondrous Walls.

Blank walls are very much blank canvases in my eyes. To those who love visuals, walls can be a way of creating life-sized collages, vision boards or even mock-magazine layouts all in one easy access space!

The best thing about this form of creating your own personal gallery if you will is that it needn't be a costly exercise.



  • These are all collages which were made for my high school note folders using an assortment of computer images, magazine segments and perfume sample cards. It took me a while to decide how to reuse these but I think they look fantastic on my wardrobe doors.



  • My black and white photo collage is possibly my favourite wall feature which I've made so far.  To achieve this I firstly sourced images from sites like Fashion Gone Rogue and friend's Tumblrs, then it was simply a matter of getting them all printed out. From memory I had about forty or fifty photos done for roughly 7-8 dollars, at a local HP photo centre. Then armed with blutack I made the selection you see before you. *


  • Pin boards are the easiest way to display images, personal mementoes, anything a drawing pin can deal with really! Mine gets updated bimonthly with a variety of my own photos, magazine clippings, cards and more. Pin-boards are great for displaying a lot of things at once, are relatively cost effective if you use items you have already and are a great way to showcase your favourite things, rather than having them in storage.


  • Brochures are often great to bring home from shows in particular, especially if you don't wish to ruin your souvenir programs! These are all brochures I've collected from shows I've seen overseas. The Audrey Hepburn photos are from a calendar I was given and saved at the end of one year, and the print you see is by artist 'Dear Colleen' and can be found here. Collecting and grouping similar photos together of what interests you is another effective way of displaying what you love.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the visuals that are around my room. For more decorating ideas read this post here over on Style Rookie or browse my 'For the Home' and 'Living Spaces' boards on Pinterest.



*NOTE-For more effective results, get your images printed 'Matte' instead of 'Glossy'. It shouldn't cost you any extra and if pictures are pixellated this type of print masks it better, so they look outstanding up close and from afar. 








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Monday Muse
1/09/2012

Monday Muse

Is it wrong that today's individual can be classified as a 'muse' yet be so youthful? Possibly, but I like to think inspiration like magic, can be found anywhere. You just have to believe in its existence first!

Over the last year or so the world has been under Elle's spell, particularly the fashion circles.






It's not just Elle's impeccable fashion sense which has myself and countless others captivated though. She isn't just your typical thirteen year old, as emphasised here in an interview with Tavi Gevinson of 'Style Rookie'. 

Here's an excerpt:


One of my favorite things about that movie [Virgin Suicides] is their teenage bedroom and all the little details. Do you have any little keepsakes or favorite parts of your room like that?
Every year I get a new Barbie calendar and there are all these old Barbie dolls on the calendar, and I’m very obsessed with schedules and everything, so I love writing in different things that I have each day on it. So that’s one of my favorite things in my room. I also am obsessed with Marilyn Monroe, and I went to an auction and got her face cream and powder. Her actual one! (She has Marilyn Monroe's face cream and  powder! How awesome is that??)






    


Did I mention she's also one of Rodarte's muses and stars in this video above? As if we needed any more reason to love her!



Image Credits:


1) From a friend's tumblr, I cannot remember who's though sorry!

2) From a photo shoot for W Magazine, which can be seen in its entirety here.

3) From Marc Jacob's fall 2011, campaign shot by Juergen Teller via Fashion Gone Rogue.

4) By Terry Richardson, from his Tumblr.

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A little Sunday Evening Finery.
1/08/2012

A little Sunday Evening Finery.






You know those times when you're meant to be doing something else far more important, ahem getting ready for bed, and then stumble upon something amazing? Now is one of those times. All these images are from a Tumblr I just found called 'Hipster Theatre Pictures'. The creator makes pictures using the lyrics users request to be made into images. This really excites my inner Musical Theatre Geek as I find lyrics just beautiful. I hope you too enjoy browsing them.
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Procrastination Nation
1/06/2012

Procrastination Nation

Or as Ron Weasley (on screen) puts it "She really needs to sort out her priorities".

Here's a collection of images that I've come across over the course of the week, and fallen in love with for various reasons.

Enjoy!



















Sources:

1) After Hours, a shoot by Eleanor Hardwick for Rookie Mag's "Up All Night" Issue, 2012.


2) In the Pink, a post by Lady Melbourne, January 2012.


3) Sister Act, Elle and Dakota Fanning by Mario Sorrenti for W Magazine, 2011.


4) Ollie Henderson by Simon Upton for Fashion Quarterly, Spring 2011.




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Mid-Week Music!
1/04/2012

Mid-Week Music!

Somewhere back in my very first post I mentioned how I love Musical Theatre. Love's probably a bit of an understatement. Anyway....

With that in mind this week's song is one of my childhood favourites. Especially the Broadway reincarnation. It's upbeat, it's uplifting, it's nonsensical, it's wonderful, it's SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!



Images of the Australian Cast performing, 'Supercal'.


"When trying to express oneself it's frankly quite absurd, to leaf through lengthy lexicons to find the perfect word. A little spontaneity keeps conversation keen. You need to find a way to say precisely what you mean. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious. If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."


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Monday Muse
1/02/2012

Monday Muse


Today's Monday Muse is the one and only Anna Wintour herself! A lot of people who fear fashion, or don't understand it live in fear of Anna who is often nicknamed the Ice Queen. Anna is someone I really respect and admire firstly for her success within the Fashion Industry and the enormous influence she holds. Also her achievements at Vogue such as being the first magazine to feature celebrities on the cover and her launch of the CFDA fund which helps young designers get a kick-start are both admirable.


Here's some of my favourite quotes from Anna: "It's always about timing. If it's too soon, nobody understands. If it's too late, everyone's forgotten."


And-


-For more Anna influence I recommend you watch 'The September Issue' a documentary behind the scene of Vogue's grandest issue of the year, read 'Front Row: Anna Wintour' Jerry Oppenheimer's unauthorised autobiography or watch 'The Devil Wears Prada' who's title character is believed to be based on Anna Wintour.
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Fashion-A Year in Review. Part 2.
1/02/2012

Fashion-A Year in Review. Part 2.

Here's the second part of last week's, well even last year's post. I've focused more on trends of 2011, as opposed to events. Although there were so many memorable moments of both that it was difficult to choose just ten. I hope you enjoy them!


6) The year of the Covers.

-Vogue Australia is probably one of the smaller titles under the Conde Nast umbrella. Yet this year it has been gaining international recognition, with its editorials being repeatedly showcased on 'Fashion Gone Rogue's' site. Their covers this year have been breathtaking. My personal favourite was the March cover with its vibrant colours and minimal text, which can often be a visual distraction rather than an aid.








7) Razzle dazzle 'em.


-Everyone loves a little glitz and sparkle. Its almost nostalgic and definitely fairylike. Glittered pieces were appearing in the work of designers everywhere this year, particularly in the accessories department. Glittered brogues anyone? Sequins, glitter and sparkles bought smiles to many a fashionista's face, and proved a welcome distraction from the universal troubles of the world. Let's hope they stay around in 2012!







8) Sass and Bide.


-I don't know what cave I'd been in up until quite recently, but obviously it's been very sheltered if Sass and Bide only recently caught my eye. Many of their pieces paid homage to two of my favourite elements; tribal and sparkle. The fringed skirt and embellished maxi particularly struck me as stunning, but there were so many more I could have chosen to showcase.






9) Frida Kahlo Finery.

-Frida Kahlo's often been the source of inspiration for the fashion world, with her bold colours and floral garlands, not to mention braids which I'll explore more later. This Frida Kahlo shoot by Wendy Bevan for Marie Claire Italia in particular stands out, along with the DIY garlands featured on Rookie.





10) I'm as free as my hair.


-Finally, messy hair is being embraced and us ladies can breathe a collective sigh of relief! There's almost an art to creating these dishevelled, yet oh so glamourous looks. Although they are definitely more accessible than some styles we've seen in previous seasons.


Image Credits:

1) Vogue Australia, October 2011 from fashiongonerogue.

2) Miu Miu Shoes, from style.com.

3) Sass and Bide's Lifechangers dress, from the Sass and Bide 'Winning Day' look-book.

4) Image by Wendy Bevan for Marie Claire Italia, 2011.

5) Image from Pinterest.com.
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