Image via Flickr by Agent J loves Agent A.

The next few months on the SKM calendar look to be… just as manic as the last few!  The good news, as I alluded to in an earlier post, is that I’m taking this show on the road and bringing back treats from even more Australian cities to share with you all.

First up is a whistle stop moment in Sydney next weekend Sunday 19th September, for the second Rock n Roll & Alternative market. I’ll be doing a guest appearance for Bexterity Photography where you can come and be fancied up by me before having some super sexy shots taken by Bex!

Next up is the big one, the Love Vintage Fair, also held in Sydney over three days 15th – 17th October. This is one of my favourite events of the year, with so many sellers all in one place, and with some of the best vintage buys you’ll find in this country. Fashion, jewellery, textiles; it is a treasure trove.  But not only is it a vintage shoppers paradise but there are feature talks, competitons and workshops galore!  What’s on the program this year?

The Lindy Charm School Mistresses will be there doing makeovers and workshops, Nicole from Circa Vintage Clothing will also be there to shine some light on how to care for your precious vintage garments as well as running a “Date your Vintage” roadshow.  The delightful Charlotte Smith (author of Dreaming of Dior)will be showing you some of her favourite glamourous gowns from the marvellous “Darnell Collection”. And me? Well I’ll be there to speak all about The Vintage Glamour Look, as well as giving personal style advice! If you’ve ever wanted me all to yourself to help you work on your vintage look, this is your chance to BOOK IN NOW!

In the meantime, I’d better get a wriggle on and get back to photographing these Daily Outfits for you as Spring kicks in and new outfit inspiration is coming thick and fast.

This indulgent, chocolate filled moment is sponsored by Nuffnang and Cadbury.

Every girl should have several love affairs over the course of her lifetime. Mad, passionate, can’t-live-without-you kind of love affairs. The kind that make you smile at the thought of them, that give you a high at the slightest taste of their sweetness, and I’m presently being wooed by Cadburys new temptation.

It seemed innocent at first, just a non-descript package in my mailbox, but the purple hued boxes and images of dripping honey were enough to make me want to start peeling off the layers.

Cadburys has come up with a brand new chocolate fantasy around their signature smooth and creamy dairy milk chocolate. The Cadburys Bar of Plenty. Roasted Hazelnuts and honeyed cashews clustered in golden pieces in a chocolate sea. Berry fruit and crunchy vanilla shortcake entice you with a tantalizing biscuity texture and bursts of zesty berry sweetness.

They’ve also changed the standard piece size, making them larger, flatter and easier to break into individual sections. Each piece is generously filled with these heavenly flavour combinations, so even just one square is enough for an indulgent tea break. But beware, you may end up taking the whole bar into the supply closet to ravage all by yourself!

The new Cadbury’s Bar of Plenty range is now available at your local Coles, Woolworths, IGA and other selected supermarkets.

Would you like to WIN $50 worth of Cadbury products all to yourself?  All you have to do is tell me Why you are in love with chocolate, and it could be yours!

Contest is open to Australian residents only. All T’s & C’s can be found here.

How do you challenge yourself as you develop your personal style? When we have a very clear cut style or even find ourselves flowing with the tide of trends, it can be hard to look outside our narrow vision and find wardrobe inspiration that is truly our own.

Last night I kicked back and watched The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, which got me thinking. What if we took some of those strange dreamscapes of our minds and turned those into the basis for a daily outfit inspiration? It is the sort of approach that artists and designers turn to each day, but is it something we even consider when getting dressed in the morning?

So here is my idea. Just for a bit of fun I want to give myself, and you a challenge and the chance to participate in the community of this blog. All you have to do is take four images that come from the dreamscapes of your mind and use these as an inspiration point to create a new Daily Outfit.

Here are the rules:

• You may use FOUR images to represent your dreamscape – None of these images can include any actual clothing pictures or direct clothing references.
• Put the image references together with a picture of yourself in the outfit you’ve created from this inspiration.
• The outfit must be put together from items already in your wardrobe – no extra shopping allowed! ( No I can’t police this, but shopping for these would just be cheating yourself)
• To submit your work, simply either publish it on your blog and link back to it in the comments section of this post so everyone can visit you and see it, OR if you don’t have a blog, you can email me your submission to  info at superkawaiimama dot com dot au.
• The five best submissions will be published on Super Kawaii Mama and the best submission will win a SURPRISE gift pack!
• Entries are open to everyone, no matter your age, location or gender.

I haven’t created my outfit yet (seeing as this only occurred to me very late last night), but here is my dreamscape reference.

So what do you think my friends, are you up for a little challenge?

EDIT- Due date for this assignment is MONDAY 20th September, with results to be published that week.

Image by Miss Kitty

It was a great turn out this week to my first Melbourne Spring Fashion Week sessions on Vintage Glamour. The weather held back its dark clouds and although it was the coldest first day of Spring in twenty three years, we still managed to feel sunny on the inside.

I was fortunate to have three lovely friends on hand to photograph the days for me, so today’s post is photo heavy as I give you an inside look at my MSFW Vintage Glamour Extravaganza!

The beautiful Marianne making up. Images by Miss Kitty

My lovely assistant for the day, Hannah. Image by Miss Kitty

Images by Brooke Orchards

Images by Brooke Orchard

Images by Mr SKM

Many guests wanted to know about the various garments I displayed as a part of the presentation, so I’ve put together a brief source list to help you out.

• Waist Cinchers – Custom made to order right here in Australia at Vintage Charm by Kim
• Vintage styled lingerie with serious suspender clips – Kiss Me Deadly. Locally stocked by Circa Vintage Clothing
• Beautiful sleepwear and gowns – Samantha Sultana
• Floral headpieces (as worn on Tuesday)- Samantha Sultana
• First class vintage pieces as worn by the models and displayed in the cases – Circa Vintage Clothing in Melbourne

The good news is that more workshops are currently being tabled for the near future in Sydney so stay tuned for details!  In the meantime, if you’d like to book me for any workshops, events, one-on-one  advice or even classic pin up work; check out the Official Candice DeVille Website!

Esz, Kesenya, Me & Marianne – Photo by Nada

Making things look easy is hard work! Yesterday I gave the first of two lunch time session workshops for Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, and I have to tell you, pulling something like this together is no easy task.

Given that this blog and pretty much everything I do is a one woman show, I have to be super organised and multi talented to make it work. The last few weeks have really put me to the test to see just how much I can do and has also taught me that without a good team, there are some things that just can’t be achieved.

I’m sure that over the course of this week, you’ll be reading all about the highlights of MSFW, the shows, the clothes, the models; so I want to give you a different view into what goes on behind the scenes.  Here’s what it takes for me to put on a one hour session, and keep in mind this isn’t a whole production with multitudes of garments and models – that would take an army!

Firstly, you have to come up with your concepts.  This is the bit that most people enjoy the most, things like mood boards, topics, the imagination part.  Then you have to work out how you’re going to turn that into something that entertains and informs for a whole hour.

There is a set to stage, making sure that things look pretty and that it all works. That your guests are warm and dry and that everyone can see and hear what is happening. There is a mood and ambience to set, all of which require props, lighting and people to make it happen.

Given that what I’m presenting isn’t really a catwalk show I needed to come up with ways to illustrate what I’m talking about and make the hour more than just me on stage like a bump on a branch. So I’ve been pulling together several outfits, beautiful models, doing fittings, repairing garments, writing booklets and doing all the graphic design, DVD presentations… all sorts of things!

The long and short of it all is that I’ve been working about 14 plus hours a day for the last three weeks just to pull together a one hour session. It sounds like an insurmountable task, which on some days it does feel like, but one of the most fabulous things to come out of all this has been the great team of people who have pulled together to make it happen.

Esz, Nada, Me & Marianne – Photo by Kesenya

We’re a small crew, but the marvellous Nada has been helping me prepare models backstage, Kesenya of Alice Jean’s has become my “Adrianna” (only you Australians of a certain age will know what that means), and the wonderful Marianne from Esme & The Laneway and Esz from Kitty’s Drawings, put up their hands to show how beautifully vintage can be worn.

So with all that prep time in mind make sure you get down to see Thursdays session at 3.30pm in City Square! Now that we are officially in Spring the weather is bound put on a good turn out for us… (positive thinking works).

It was such a super busy day yesterday that I didn’t even get a chance to take any proper outfit shots of what I was wearing! But you can get a fair idea from these pics at least. It was…

1940′s Silk Taffeta Blouse – via Etsy

French Navy Wide Leg Pants – Made by Me

Shoes – Black faux snake skin lace ups by Kumfs

White floral headpiece- by Samantha Sultana

I’m thinking after the last few weeks that it might be time to bite the bullet and hire an intern…. any takers?