- 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.
- Daily Clothes-Horse 03.12.09
We’ll eat you up, we love you so.
Today I went to see Where the Wild Things Are - a momentous event, considering the book was one of my favourites as a child. To celebrate, I put on my own crown & became king of the wild things. Just for today.
Lace dress by Zimmermann, vintage Nine West shoes from eBay, self-made belt, self-made paper crown.
(My copy is a long-cancelled library book. The front specifies that it’s a third impression, printed in 1970. It’s coming apart at the seams a little, & yellowed with age.)
And the movie? Beautiful. Melancholy. Inspiring. It made me want to run through the forest & turn cartwheels & invent imaginary friends to have adventures with.
Have you seen it yet? What did you think?
- Things I Love Thursday .22
Welcome to the first TILT of December! (Thanks to G.D!)
(photos by Lina Scheynius and hannahbabble)
This week I adore Where the Wild Things Are, which finally opened today in Melbourne; my friend Joseph & his hilariously inappropriate candour; Lover (my favourite Australian label, bar none); tracking down sold-out items of clothing on eBay & getting them for an absolute bargain; new season cherries (nothing represents summer more for me, & they are an essential part of my Christmas ritual); the gorgeous girls who I work with; John Safran’s Race Relations; dressing my Blythe dolls in vintage Skipper; inspiring photography blogs; Lindt milk chocolate; wearing a bowler hat with Rayban Wayfarers & channeling Duckie from Pretty in Pink; getting positive feedback from my employer; Christmas gift guides in glossy magazines; the fact that for the first time in years, I’m not working on Christmas Eve (I am so excited); tea-light candles; the 52 Suburbs Corner Shop (will you choose Potts Point or Cabramatta? I think I want one of everything!); drinking iced water flavoured with sprigs of mint; & my darling DSLR camera, without whom I would be lost.
PS. Please remember to keep voting for me in the 2Threads fashion awards! Kisses to all of you!
- Wishlist
Can you believe that it’s December already?
One of my favourite things about this time of the year is losing myself in the amazing gift-guides that appear in just about every magazine – beautifully curated, thoughtfully chosen & utterly desirable. With those qualities in mind, here is The Animal Orchestra’s picks of the season!
(harlequin mobile // tea party bow)
For a whimsical girl prone to wearing two-tone stockings & flirting shamelessly with boys she meets in art-supply shops. She hangs the harlequin mobile above her colour-coded bookshelf, & wears the bow to her valedictory dinner.
(diana dreamer // the most beautiful prince)
For a soft-spoken artist, whose dreams are lushly painted technicolour. She uses the camera to take blurry portraits of people she meets wandering the streets of London, & secretly wishes she could find her own beautiful prince to sweep her off her feet.
(scale necklace // message in a bottle)
For the girl who appreciates small, beautiful things. She writes letters to her favourite dead authors (Truman Capote, Mikhail Bulgakov & Lewis Carrol) on tiny slips of paper & places them in the bottle, while the scale necklace shifts musically atop her cream silk tunic.
(ban.do heart // miss charming)
She wears bright red lipstick & eats cherries for breakfast, counting off on the stones who she will one day marry (she rigs it to get “tailor” every time – who wouldn’t want an atelier for a husband?). Some people wear their heart on their sleeve, but she chooses to wear hers in her lightly scented hair.
(colour-blocked loafers // the yellow dress)
Her favourite weather is when the sun comes out after the rain – it’s the perfect time to go skipping through puddles. She wears gelato-coloured shoes with black stockings & wishes she had a pet bunny as sweet as her print from Fifi Lapin.
What’s on your Christmas wishlist this year?
- Daily Clothes-Horse 28.11.09
This is what I wore to make chocolate dipped strawberries. And also to hang out under a bridge!
Striped Breton shirt from eBay, leather skirt by Lover, vintage Nine West shoes from eBay, bowler hat from Dangerfield, MAC Russian Red lipstick.
I’ve been obsessing about this particular kind of striped shirt ever since I saw photos of Dree Hemingway leaving the Giles Deacon show in Paris. Actually, that’s not quite true. I think I’ve always loved striped shirts – they’re a little bit French, a little bit nautical, & with a name that recalls one of my heroes, André Breton, what’s not to love? I found this one on eBay – it’s actually a men’s medium, but I quite like it slouchy & oversized.
- Things I Love Thursday .21
With special thanks to Mademoiselle Darling!
(photos by John-Morgan & broma)
This week I love everyone who’s voted for me in 2Threads Fashion awards (you are all exemplary human beings, & I thank you from the bottom of my heart); the bizarre & thrilling weather Melbourne has been experiencing; this incredible neckpiece from Bona Drag; mournful accordion music, especially when played by a boy dressed as a pierrot; The Considered Ensemble (who were sweet enough to feature me on their very innovative site); winged eyeliner; Does Not Equal, & the great launch party they put on tonight; chilling with Fashion Hayley & Miss Alicia Ghost at Grill’d; my new Esther Williams polka dot bathing suit; thunderstorms at night; blush pink teacups; people who love my Rick Owens wedges as much as I do; writing, writing, writing; & meeting lovely people who make me smile.
Please also remember that if you have already voted for me in the 2Threads Fashion Awards, that you can do so again! And again! Once a day, every day, until the voting period closes. Your support is much appreciated.
- Popping Up
Summer brings a lot of good things: among my favourites are white peaches, blue skies, summer festivals, & pop-up shops!
For those who haven’t experienced the pleasures of the pop-up, allow me to explain – a pop-up shop is a temporary store that opens in an unexpected or makeshift venue, sells its wares for a limited time, & then disappears again. It’s really quite magical idea, & is generally considered a great chance to throw a party.
Melbourne has played host to a number of great pop-ups recently – the lovely Arnsdorf (pictured above!) popped up on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, Arabella Ramsay came to Collins Street, & Limedrop invaded the GPO! For those looking for some eco-friendly wares, there’s the Eco Innovators Showcase Shop, which might be the smallest pop-up yet! It’s trading from an old news stand pillar on the corner of Little Collins & Swanston Street, & stocks lots of cute, earth-friendly gifts & products.
I think I love pop-ups because of their inherently whimsical nature – here today, gone tomorrow, but while they last, they’re a haven for beautiful things. I’ve managed to miss the opening parties for all these events, but the stores themselves are still around until January (see below for exact dates!).
For those of you in Sydney, you have the chance to check out a great little pop-up from File on Style, located at Paddington’s At Perry Lane. With the transience of a pop-up & the prices of a clearance sale, it’s making me wish I could jump on a plane to Sydney to check it out!
While I can’t make it to the File on Style event, I can at least partially satisfy my sartorial cravings by fantasy shopping their online store. My picks? For day wear, I’d chose Rodeo Show’s Lovers Lane dress (I love that it’s silk, & the swan print is adorable), & match it with a pair of Tilly Rose Taista shoes, & the appropriately named Wow Factor necklace from Samantha Wills. Then for the evening, I’d keep the same shoes, but slip into Palma’s Silk Reverse Wrap dress (deliciously fluid & draping) & hang the Coco necklace around my neck. I do love a bit of Samantha Wills – she does a great statement piece.
Your pop-up calendar:
Arnsdorf: 69 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, until 20th of January.
Arabella Ramsay: Shop 5, 234 Collins Street, Melbourne, until 31st of January.
Limedrop: Level 1 (between Akira & Belinda), GPO, until January.
Eco Innovators Showcase: Corner of Little Collins & Swanston Street, until April.
File on Style: 264 Oxford Street, Paddington, 4th – 6th of December.
