Treasure troves.

The one thing that is killing me about working full time (designing very... 'festive' shall we say... retail work) is that I don't have an awesome studio in which to luxuriate amongst pretty things and really feel inspired every day. My main focus for the coming years is to develop a library of books, magazines and trinkets that will create my dream studio. I thought for this post I'd share with you some of the real gems I have come across, for artwork, homewares, stationery - anything really.

Follow Store is based in Surry Hills, Sydney. While I'm not fortunate enough to have visited it in the flesh I spent countless hours perusing the wares available on the online store.


among some of my favourite picks are these little beauties

Lesli beaded necklace - $45.00

Frost Bite T-shirt by Das Monk - $60.00

Raindrops cushion - $80.00

shelf / life showcases a carefully selected range of stationery and homewares from around the world. They stock unique products and have an online store for those not able to get to their bricks and mortar store in Surry Hills. 

My very favourite item online is this daschund (I have a 6 month old daschund puppy and my life now seems to revolve around irregularly long dogs with short legs).

Daschund - $95.00

I first discovered Rachel Castle through her collaboration with Gorman recently and subsequently found myself perusing her web store, with prints, manchester and cushions with her unique designs.

Rachel Castle for Gorman rainbow tank $69.00

Rachel Castle for Gorman beach towel - $79.00
(I want this so badly!)

Random Spot #5 Original print - $320.00

Let me always be with you - Felt & linen piece - SOLD - $590.00

Dawn Tan is a Melbourne based artist who my cousin put me on to. She creates these wonderfully childlike watercolour pieces that have so much charm, innocence and nostalgia for me in their execution.

This work was commissioned by my cousin Lauren for her husband Andy (he's british, can you tell?)

Meaty pillowcase set - $75.00

This Marshamallow bag is part of a series of wearable packaging Dawn created. The marshmallows look so soft you just want to fall asleep on it!

One Small Room is a gem residing in the ever more hipster by the day area of Croydon in Adelaide. Queen street boasts a number of delicious eateries, fashion boutiques and homewares stores but OSR is my personal favourite. You can't buy online unfortunately but they do stock Bespoke Letterpress gift wrap which will be featuring later on. If you're in Adelaide I urge you to go down and have a look at OSR, there are amazing prints for children's rooms, interesting and unique toys, books and homewares.

Well I think those should keep us all occupied for a while - I will post another batch of stores I love very soon!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Day outfit

Christmas in Adelaide is shaping up to be a warm one! Today it is 36 degrees but the bureau is predicting only 30 for Christmas Day. Probably a good thing - I don't want the 3 doz oysters and 2 kilos of prawns to spoil!


It has been a loooooong time since I last posted and I apologise for that - this year has honestly just become more chaotic as it has matured. I work full time and freelance in my spare time, which pretty much means I have to work around the clock. Its all for a good cause though - I have a one way ticket to Europe in June and I need all the cash I can get my hands on!


Anyway I've been thinking about my Christmas Day outfit and have finally come to a conclusion - as posted above - neutrals are my current hot weather obsession and I also have a slight bias to anything yellow at the moment. I'm wearing my Shakuhachi contrast top with the bright lime/yellow panel, teamed with Staple The Label cream high waisted tie up shorts, rose gold jewellery from Mimco and Asos, my new House Of Harlow Antler ring and Tony Bianco (I seem to only buy TB shoes these days) Celebrity heels in nude. I'm also rocking some yellow Nail It! nail polish from Sportsgirl on my mits. Very summery and effortless - I think this makes a great day to night outfit which is a relief as I have commitments right from breakfast on Christmas morning to lunch AND dinner that night - with no chance to change!


I've been trawling the internet for inspiration at the moment and have found some great things - so keep an eye out for upcoming posts - mostly graphic design related but this comes with the territory! 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas day. 

xxx

Colour me crazy

Springtime = reintroduction of colour to my wardrobe. Yippeee!

Bring on the sun! x

Stencil.

I have such talented friends! I'm sure I've said it before but it is so nice to feel inspired constantly by the people around you. Stencil is a jewellery label by my friend and Adelaide girl Emma Thomson.

Here I have stolen some images from her latest lookbook to share with you. The line is full of great contrasts in texture and structure with bold pieces that make a statement and are confident in their beautiful simplicity. The stunning model is our friend Erica, photos were taken by Elisa J, make up by Kath O'Connell.

If you're interested in getting your hands on some of Emma's pieces, head to Stencil's Facebook page. The line will be available for purchase online from The Fashion Tunnel when the site is up and running so keep your peepers open for that!

Closer to heaven...

In keeping with my current ballet obsession I thought I'd show you these little beauties. The Style Net posted about these Louboutin 8" heels, which were created exclusively for an auction to raise funds for the English National Ballet. Created in gold silk and embellished with Swarovski crystals, they also bear the signature red sole.

'The heel which makes dancers closer than any other women to the sky, closer to heaven.' Christian Louboutin.

Having recently tried on my pointe shoes - then promptly taking them off again after feeling how weak my ankles are - I can almost imagine these would be like pointe shoes with training wheels! I doubt that sky high stiletto would add any actual support... I'd be interested to see if anyone could actually wear them but I love the concept.

A shift in a new direction

I've just recently accepted a job offer for full time work - finally! The office is very casual, it is at the head office of a games (as in x-box, playstation etc) retailer and I'm replacing their graphic designer. I'll be doing catalogues, web banners, point of sale, posters etc. I'm so excited that I congratulated myself with these two beautiful shift dresses from ASOS. My first ASOS purchase so I'm hoping the sizing will be correct, but they seem to have a perfectly reasonable exchange/refund policy.

As its coming into winter here in Australia (and a little too quickly after a very lacklustre summer!) I've started searching for more neutral toned items and the beauty of these dresses is they'll work well with tights and I can dress them up or down and layer them for work, dinners etc. Next stop, American Apparel for some high waist pleated pants... but I think I'll wait til pay day!

Sequoia Tree

A couple of friends of mine, Kristjana and Simone have a fashion label called Sequoia Tree - not sure why I haven't mentioned them before but I was just killing time on Facey (as you do) and remembered that they had some amazing photos taken last year and decided I should share them. The model is my very gorgeous sort-of step sister Mimi and they are taken around Adelaide Festival Centre by Jacki Browne Photography.

They really are clever girls - these photos have such a cool metallic/retro feel. They have been featured in SALife Magazine as up and coming Adelaide designers. Not sure where their stuff is stocked at the moment, if at all, but if you want more info check out their Facebook page.

The Cassette Society

I recently bought 3 new additions to my wardrobe, made by The Cassette Society. While I love their designs, I've found their sizing to be really inconsistent. I had previously purchased a size 8 skirt that I had intended to wear reasonably high waisted but it is too large, so I wear it on my hips - not a big deal - pretty sure it was designed to not be high waisted anyway... but I ordered a pair of black denim shorts in my recent purchase, chose a size 10 which should be fine (I'm a 10-12 in denim usually) and 2 tops that were size 8.

Utero Rose Triangle Tee

Neon Indian Crochet Tee

Oversized Black Cat Shred Short

Anyway the size 10 shorts which are admittedly described as oversized, were so big that I would have to take them in at least 4 inches just to get them to stay low on my hips without falling off! I don't even think their 8 would have fit me. That really pisses me off - there's no point in making oversize, slouchy fit shorts with a size 10 tag on them if you'd need to be more of a 14 to fit them! The 10 should be made to fit a 10 with the cut they intended. Anyway despite this, both the t-shirts fit perfectly at size 8 and I love them, but it does leave me with little confidence about their sizing.


I've had to put the shorts up on eBay seeing as there's just no way I can get them to stay on me - so if you're interested, you can find them here. They're really nice shorts, I'm devo they don't fit!

Well, first day of summer in Australia and pretty much the whole country has been washed out by rain and storms. Hopefully the weather starts to get its act together soon!

Happy wednesday all. xxx

Kisschacey

Kisschacey is a Melbourne based mens clothing label that consistently brings out really beautiful lookbooks with great photography and a really different approach to showcasing their pieces (as well as being helped by having an exceptionally attractive model...). Above is their Winter Collection 2010: This is War. The label really nails denim, with a different cut to slim jeans to allow for (or so I'm told) larger thighs, so they fit footballers etc better and allow for a tighter fit on their beefed up quads and calves.

All Hope Is Gone is their current Spring range 2010 which follows through on the photographically stunning imagery and is in Bali (I think). Below is an older collection, Autumn 2010: We Are World Changers. Shot in amongst big beautiful trees.

I keep grabbing their lookbook's when I go into Globalize and have been meaning to post about them for ages and just never got around to it, but there you go. Really well executed lookbooks from this relatively young label.