Over the last few outfit posts you will have seen a few extremely cute new additions to my wardrobe like this stunning purple cardigan and these bow bangles. Each of these pieces are by local Melbourne label Friends of Couture. I absolutely love Friends of Couture and you will have seen me wearing their pieces for some time now, remember this little lamb cardigan? Occasionally you come across a collection that you think to yourself, ” Oh that is all so me, I just have to have it!”, well that is the way I feel about everything FOC does. They have a brilliant knack of combining vintage inspirations with super cute detail and modern chic, which is why when they invited me to review their latest collection, Paris After Dark, I jumped at the opportunity.
Jo Matheson, (chief designer) and Candice DeVille aka Super Kawaii Mama
Nicole looks stunning in the “Little Red Ridinghood” dress is azure blue with the red striped Matelot top underneath.
Paris After Dark is the new Autumn Winter 2010 range by Friends of Coutures head designer Jo Matheson. Inspired by the romance of vintage lines and a strong traditionally French colour palette, Jo has created something that is both wearable, collectable and very very head turning. The collection takes a journey from the flirty and feminine lines of sweet floral chiffon with a distinctly 1930′s flavour and meanders through to stunning, slightly puffed sleeved cardigan with beaded art deco detailing. I particularly love the Hotel DeVille cardigan in a soft, buttery cream wool with deep blue beading. There are the iconic pieces that take wardrobe staples and give them just that much more punch by creating a strongly waisted silhouette and drenching you in azure blue; as well as classic boat necked tee’s with stripes that Gigi would have been proud to wear.
Jo Matheson is responsible for the beautiful Paris After Dark collection.
Hotel DeVille Cardigan (left) clearly must have been named after me! Little Drummer Girl cardigan (right).
The feminine detailing doesn’t stop at the figure flattering cuts, but continues through to corsages, bows (that can even be worn in the hair!), tulle skirts and the softest of soft cropped angora cardigans. (I don’t know about you, but the snuggle factor of angora wins me over every time.) I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to find a local, accessible label that knows how to combine current trends with timeless classics in such a seamless way. For example, they’ve taken the military feel (so popular in that Balmain jacket) and managed to capture the essence of the style in soft, wearable cardigans that make the most of our assets without having to cash in any to buy them!
When I start to think about “Paris After Dark”, my mind drifts to Parisian bordellos (clearly I watch too many films), smoky eyed women in sumptuous fabrics, with kissable lips and strokable hips. Jo has woven this intensity and edginess into some of the darker pieces in the range using velvet and sequins (bows!), strong shoulder lines and strategically placed zippers. While our Parisian girl by day may be all feminine pinks or jaunty stripes, at night her walk takes on just a little more wiggle in body con electric blue, violet and black.
Oh, and for those of you who have been drooling over my high waisted jeans… let me tell you, this collection has the most amazing pair of wide legged, high waisted black pants, Sartori. With flat fronts, button detailing, even button on suspenders; when I tried these on, they fit like a glove and I even gave a little Squee in the dressing room. You are going to LOVE them. ( Watch out for an outfit post with them next week.)
See them on the left? Awesome Sartori pants!
Friends of Couture pieces get my seal of approval for not only being infinitely stylish and cute, but also for their quality. I’ve worn some of their pieces over and over and over again in the last three years, washing the knit wear and popping it back on the next day, and they have kept their shape, their colour and their edge. I can’t say that for a lot of modern pieces in my wardrobe, especially not those others of a comparative price.
Yes, I could go on and on about how fab this range is, but you really must see it for yourself. If you are in Melbourne you can head straight to the stores at:
225 Chapel street, Prahan
186 Sydney Road, Brunswick
Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Melbourne CBD 311 Swanston Street, Melbourne
And, because one can’t possibly not share something this good with the rest of the world, you can get your hands on some of these fantastic pieces for a ONE DAY ONLY 20% off Valentines Day Sale in the online store!! Just enter “bemyvalentine” at the coupon section at the checkout for 20% off on ALL stock!
***EDIT: Just to clarify they do sell online and will ship to ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! So get in there while the Aussie dollar is still a bargain!***
So yay for awesome new designs and a great big yay for special sales too!!
Gorgeous, love their stuff. Will be getting a few winter cardigans from there v soon. And those black pants look amazing.
ps I am having better luck with the new captcha code so far.
Oooooh I blogged about this collection a little while ago – I badly want the stripe cropped cardi with bows at the waist….so thanks for the heads up on the discount
Thank you, we love your blog too!
Happy Valentine’s day, I’ll be sure to follow your make up tips for my date on Sunday!
xoxo
I LOVE Friends of Couture! I found it late last year while I was on holidays in Melbourne and haven’t seen it anywhere in Perth, which makes me sad because it’s so lovely!
Their pieces look amazing, especially the Little Red Riding Hood dress. Unfortunately it looks like their site is down
(friendsofcouture.com.au has some back-end installation message, friendsofcouture.au doesn’t exist, friendsofcouture.com is a holding page.)
Morfydd: Gee I hope we didn’t bring the site down! It looks like it is back now.
I love the wallpaper and logo of their store
Also the black glittery tunic that Jo’s wearing in picture 6 (but is it vintage?)
That girl with the pink hair leapt out at me – who is she?
Hello – I’ve been following your blog for the last 3 months and I love it. Well done you!
Just adore the Friends of Couture stuff – do they sell online and would they deliver to the UK?
Ana x
Ana: They certainly do sell online and will ship to anywhere in the world.
I’ve been loving this label ever since I saw it on Style Melbourne, but sadly the cat motif cardigan is nowhere to be seen in the online shop! Boo hoo! It’s so cute I want it a LOT! But now with 20% discount I’m going to get myself a cardi for my birthday, hmmmm now which one to choose???
RetroJetGirl: If you like, I’ll see if I can track you down one here and send it across.
Let me know.
[...] Super Kawaii Mama » Blog Archive » Paris After Dark [...]
Why, oh, why do I live in West Virginia!!!! I love this too much!
Tiffani: They will totally ship to you, no problems. There measuring chart is very helpful and well set up too.
the website wouldn’t open for me =( i’m gonna fiddle with it come more becuase their stuff looks SO FABULOUS!
Jenni: It looks like it is working again now.
So many lovely clothes!
Does the coupon start working on Sunday? It’s telling me it’s invalid atm.
Arwen: Yes, it is only valid on Sunday 14th. A Special Valentine.
Woohoo, new pretties for me!
Yay! Thank you SKM. I figured maybe they are adding things a little bitt at a time instead of all at once, so I will see how it goes over a few days and let you know, thanks for your kind offer!
Oh I love this store – I’m not far away from the Brunswick st store
I am filled with Melbourne envy ennui and vintage inspired covetness.
Dearest Super Mama, I have a project inspired by you and our shared musings on the Stay at Home but Glamourous Mum philosophy.
Some Special Mums and I are going to do a calendar this year, Fully Clothed I must add. But the theme is one of Special Mums doing ordinary things while looking fabulous. We have a photographer on board, thanks to Facebook! and she is intouch with a stylist, Hairdresser and has suggested we be clothed by a store called “Dirty Fabulous” – which sells *excited squeal* VINTAGE!
Some of our ladies are generously sized with gorgeous bustlines and soft curves, and I am looking forward to seeing them sculpted into the tailoring and support of past decades of fashion.
Might be picking your brains for themed shots later but just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration xx
Don’t forget that FOC have a longstanding student discount on tuesdays – 10% off full priced items when you present your student card!
I really must get one of their cardis someday – the hardest part is deciding which one! Those pants look fab too; they might be just what I’m looking for to wear to work!
I got the ‘Under the Bridges of Paris’ cardi- Squeeek! As much as I love the kitty cardi I probably won’t wear it as much as a plainer one so maybe I’ll get myself the cat one when tax bonus time rolls aorund!!
Thanks for the discount love!
Hey, Im a big fan of Friends of Couture and own quite of few of their cardis and skirts etc.
I have one criticism though and its the sizing. If you are buying online I would be a little careful of this. Their clothes are really reasonably priced and thats great, but I have noticed that some of their clothes seem quite cheaply made and therefore the sizes are a bit dodgy. I have seen identically labelled pieces of Friend of Couture being completely different sizes when tried on. Many of their stuff is labelled “one size”.
Also watch out for the arm holes which I notice on some of their more fitted dresses to be really small.
Sorry to all who experienced difficulties with our website over the weekend, we were inundated with super keen shoppers and are doing all we can to rectify the situation!
In regards to Jo’s comment about Friends of Coutures sizing, all the styles available in our online store are fully sized from 8 – 14 or S, M, L. This is done in accordance to standard Australian sizing. Any of the “one size” garments we do are just for fun little injections and available only in our retail stores, as we appreciate they need to be tried on for size! We swear by our size chart on the website!
I LOVE Friends of Couture – My little petticoat is from there and its just the right amount of flounce without being massive.
Their prices are so reasonable too. Just love that shop.
Hey again, just a quick reply to Leanne regarding the gorgeous pink haired lady-she is our lovely store manager, always a vision in pink and very inspirational!
Oh, and the black sequin tank dress was a FOC style from last year
Thank you so much for posting about FOC. I just found your blog at the end of last week. I had trouble with the FOC website a few days ago like all the other eager shoppers, but was able to just now easily complete my purchase (for shipping to the US) for the lovely “Daughters of Pleasure” cardigan in black. I’ve been wanting a cardi like that for awhile. I love their other stuff, too, but unless they decide to start offering plus size items, I’ll just have to stick to knit cardis with stretch (that can be left unbuttoned)
Susan: That is great, you’ll love the cardigan. When you say “plus size”, can I ask what size you mean? I find their sizing to be on the quite generous side compared to many other labels here in Australia. E.G I wear a US size 6 and an 8 in FOC. Some other Australian labels I have to go up to a size 14!!
Sizing can be hard for sure between different lines. I have everything from US 18/XL to 1X (18/20) and 2X (22/24), depending on how the tops are cut. Then, when a line has “misses” and “plus”, it can get even more confusing…For the US store Talbots, I need a 18W (cut a little bigger than just misses 18) in tops, but discovered that I need 14W in jackets from them!
My measurements are still a few cm above the size FOC 14. Based on the way their sizing goes, I’d be more likely to need a 16 or 18 in a regular top, if they made them.
Since I rarely button cardigans when I wear them, I’m not worried about the FOC size 14 cardi I ordered.
Susan: Thanks so much for the feedback. It is so frustrating to have to be a super size slueth to buy clothes, but it sounds like you have a good handle on it. I take a tape measure with me everywhere to avoid changing room disapointments. I’ll be sure to pass on your comments to FOC to see if they have any plans for expanding the size range and I’d love to hear what you think of your new cardi.
If you’re interested, I just put up some new polyvore outfits, including one featuring the new cardi.
http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/profile?id=1254730
Susan: That’s great! I take it it is a good fit? I just love Daughters of Pleasure and am will be popping over again today to see if anything pink takes my fancy this time.
Can I tweet your link?
I love the details of the cardigan – the lace and sequins. Please feel free to tweet the link if you like. I put up a few other outfits at the same time, sort of vintage-y inspired after looking at your lovely outfits!
wowww !! i stumbled on your blog and oh myyyyy… looove the fashion, the style… the funkyness of this blog !! ohhh and the nails !! well don’t think they’ll last long with me (do too many things) but oh boyy… don’t they look gorgeous !!! looove it !!