- Daily Clothes-Horse 06.02.10
Hello, lovelies! It’s my last weekend in Melbourne & I should be packing for my move – but I couldn’t resist stopping by the park to document today’s outfit.
I consider a hat to be the exclamation point to an outfit – the last flourish, the finishing touch. Especially when it’s a jaunty little boater. Especially when it cost a only a handful of dollars.
Hat by Alannah Hill, lace dress by Rachel Gilbert, vintage pocket watch necklace, vintage bag, black knee socks, vintage Bally shoes.
Oh, and is there anything saucier than one sock falling down? I think not.
- Why so quiet?
The Animal Orchestra is up & moving: leaving behind Melbourne’s clandestine alleys & gothic architecture for the sunny glitz of Sydney.
(photos by AdamSelwood & Leithcote)
Consequently, the last few weeks have been a blur of airport dreaming, open suitcases, sweet excitement & slow goodbyes. No time to blog, with my head so full of a heady mix of anticipation & fear.
I leave on Wednesday with a suitcase full of clothes & an admission into a course that promises to open doors (in fact, it already has – two placements with glossy magazines, & a three month internship with an online favourite. I’ll tell you more when I can).
What else? A terrace house with two (TWO!) spiral staircases & a whole shelf full of tea. Three new housemates – four, if you count Frieda, the dog (is she named after Kahlo? Something I will remember to ask). Uncertain job prospects. The only people I know – three cousins (all blonde, tanned, very Sydney) & sweet Caitlin, who has promised to take me to her favourite cafes.
I’m trying not to think about what I’m leaving behind. After all, Melbourne’s not so far away. One hour & five minutes gets you back amongst the narrow laneways, with the smell of coffee floating upwards to mix with the morning mist. One hour and five minutes gets you back to your lover’s embrace. It’s not so far.
- sass & bide bridle
sass & bide’s latest collection is full of things I love – swathes of draped fabric, elaborate embellishment, and all manner of harness-inspired accoutrements.
My latest purchase – a bridle for the hand.
The Everything Counts hand bridle is comprised of a long leather strap ending in a golden metal ring, it can be worn a multitude of ways. My favourite is looped around my palm, with the strap wound several times around my wrist.
- Embracing Change
So here’s physical evidence of my new year’s style resolution – to embrace change & try new things.
I’ve been fighting the curl in my hair for the past eight years or so. Most people don’t even know that I have curly hair! But now, I feel like it’s time to work with the curls, rather than against them. They’re a little bit crazy but they have a certain romance. And I think they work quite well with my favourite Lover dress.
The trick is to get the curls to form ringlets rather than frizz. I used a curl amplifier from Muk (it smells like fruit salad!), which I scrunched into my hair as it was drying. Et voilà, manageable curls.
I still feel rather self-conscious without my sleek hair, so please be kind!
(Oh, & the soft focus in this portrait? I’ve been playing with my newly Frankensteined camera – a Diana lens on my DSLR. It makes everything look wonderfully dreamy, although I suspect I would get an even nicer result on a sunny day. Turn your DSLR into a Frankenstein monster here.)
- Style Resolutions
Welcome to 2010! Didn’t Melbourne put on the most spectacular show at midnight last night? If you weren’t fortunate enough to witness it, here’s what you missed out on – forked lightening, bright & dangerous & far more exciting than any fireworks show; sudden, torrential rain cutting through the night’s humidity & great peals of thunder. An auspicious beginning, I think.
(photos by milk & kisses // KateRampling)A new year, a new decade. Now is a time of fresh beginnings, new habits, baby steps to greatness. It’s time to take a deep breath & try something new.
These are my style resolutions for the good year twenty-ten. What are yours?
- Be adventurous. The Orchestra’s mission statement is to have adventures in aesthetics – to be playful, outgoing & unafraid to take sartorial risks. This year I am an adventurer! I solemnly swear that I will get dressed up, turned out, & put on the Ritz at every possible occasion.
- Embrace change. You may not know from looking at me, but I have naturally curly hair. I’ve spent the past eight years taming it with a hair-straightener – but this year, I intend to work with my curls, not against them. Viva la ringlets!
- Shop consciously. I take a stand against fast fashion. I support local designers. I buy Australian. I buy vintage. I reject the mundane, the mass-produced, the “quick fix.” I embrace quality. I buy what I love, not what is on trend.
- The critical eye. This year I plan to turn a critical eye to my wardrobe. I will edit my wardrobe with extreme prejudice. I will slough off the old, the unsuitable & the unwearable, & whittle my wardrobe to something both streamlined & utterly fabulous.
- Invest. In the things I love. Quality over quantity, true love over passing flings.
Do you have any style resolutions for the new year? I would love to hear them!
- Happy Holidays
Hello, my loves!
(photos by awnoom & Evil Erin)Happy Holidays!
The Animal Orchestra is taking a little break to recover from the whirlwind of the holiday season. Regular posting will resume before you know it.
- Things I Love Thursday .23
With butterfly kisses to Gala!
(photos by lepiaf.geo & clifology)
It has to be said: some weeks are harder than others. This was one of the hard ones. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t things to be thankful for! No, sir! So without further glumness, here is a compendium of things I love this week: sleeping, & lots of it – specifically, daytime naps, afternoon naps, curling up in bed before the sun has even set (in the sleeping Olympics, this week I am a gold medalist); counting down the days until Christmas; anticipating the almost eerie peace of early January; inventing new Christmas traditions (viz: each year I will buy myself a Lover dress to wear on Christmas day – I’m convinced it’s the only way I will make it through the silly season); balmy evenings wandering the CBD; inventing bizarre salads (today: baby spinach leaves tossed with cubes of tofu, walnuts & green grapes); when my boyfriend calls me cherry blossom (oh, I melt); bunches of pink, white & purple daisies; arena spectaculars complete with searing pyrotechnics (Green Day, you did good); dreams about clean snow on hot nights; Carnivale; treating myself to a Sex & the City marathon while my boyfriends cooks me pancakes (yes, you should be jealous!); listening to Wu-Tang & trying to get my head around the weird genius that is O.D.B; & sitting in Borders with a pile of fashion magazines & losing myself in the glossy perfection.
And now for some important announcements:
1. I am pleased to announce that retail mecca Melbourne Central have hired me as their fashion & style blogger! You can read my debut article here, & follow their official Twitter for up-to-the-minute Melbourne happenings. More to come!
2. There’s only a couple of days left to vote for me in the 2Threads fashion awards! Remember, if you’ve voted already, you can still vote again! And if you haven’t yet voted, now would be the perfect time to get clicking.
3. Yet more voting: help me win a stint as a beauty blogger with Beauty Haven! All you need to do is sign up, & leave a rating on my article here. It’s hard to get a break in this industry, & almost impossible without the help & support of your friends. Your support is truly appreciated.
- The Animal Orchestra Loves Ombré Hair
A half-head of foils, an angled bob, these are too easy. The new dare? Ask your hairdresser to leave your roots au naturale & paint your tips as light as your hair can take. Brazenly dark roots gradate to bleached tips – the effect is messy, daring, & devil-may-care. Good girls swear their colour is bona fida and hide their re-growth like a dirty secret, but where’s the fun in looking perfect? The cool kids are having too much fun to worry about six-weekly touch-ups.
In the world of textiles, ombré refers to a fabric dyeing process that produces a pale-to-dark gradation of colour, also known as dip-dye. In this case, the order is (usually) reversed, but the effect is the same – one colour melts to another, with striking results. The beauty of the trend is that you can make it as subtle or as avant-garde as you like – test the waters with some balayage through the ends of your hair, or go all out with a bold bleach bath to your tips.
The best part? No more obsessively checking the mirror for dark roots. No more hiding under headscarves & floppy hats until you can beg your way to yet another appointment at the salon. No more stress. Keep your chemically treated tips healthy with a product like Aveda’s Damage Remedy, or Bumble & Bumble’s Deeep Treatment, & you’re done.
The new sexy is a little bit dishevelled, a little bit rebellious, & absolutely carefree. With everyone from British it-girl Alexa Chung to wild-child model du jour Erin Wasson on the ombré bandwagon, your locks will be in very fashionable company. And me? I’m thinking of taking the plunge. After several months of s-l-o-w-l-y lightening my hair, I’m craving something with a more immediate pay-off. Next time I visit Oscar Oscar, it will be with a picture of Alice Dellal in my hand.
(Friends of the Orchestra, I’m asking for your support again – please vote for this article at BeautyHaven, & help me win a stint as a beauty blogger! You’ll need to sign up, & leave a rating out of 5 in the comment section. Voting closes 27.12.09 at the stroke of midnight. Merci beaucoup!)
- Things I Love Thursday .23
Hello, lover!
This week’s TILT is short & sweet, & totally dedicated to Acne Atacoma wedges, shoes which I can now call mine.
Granted, a closed-toe, ankle-breakingly tall wedge bootie is not the most practical summer shoe, but I intend to wear them relentlessly. I’m dying to try them with inappropriately feminine lace frocks, or pair them with a black silk jumpsuit & an armful of heavy silver cuffs.
It seems like I have been waiting an eternity for them. I am so happy, so ecstatic, so absolutely thrilled that I can finally call them mine!
- Hopeless Hotel: The Voyage
Have you discovered Hopeless Lingerie yet?
The prodigiously talented Gabrielle Adamidis is back with a new range of delectable lingerie, lovingly handmade in Melbourne. Her inspiration? Steven Speilberg’s Jaws. Scalloped edges & triangular motifs recall sharks’ teeth, while the colour scheme of blue, white & red evokes foam & blood in the ocean.
It’s almost impossible to pick out a favourite piece – they’re all so gorgeous! – but a pair of high-waisted, silk-ruffled, organic soy & cotton Meadow knickers would satisfy my lingerie cravings nicely. And since I’m fantasy shopping, I’ll happily take the Alex silk camisole as well (check out the back detailing, it’s divine!).
Cheeky. Nautical. Utterly delicious. Can I have one of everything, please?
PS. Gaby also keeps a very pretty blog, which you can peek at here.
