Hi there, remember me? Yes it’s been a hectic few weeks with all these events on, and I’m still right in the midst of the chaos. But to make matters worse I’ve also been coping with a total hard drive failure due to insidious spam! There has been so much rubbish going around the internet of late, that it is hard to sort out the important from the pure evil, so if anyone has been emailing and not heard back, or had your messages over looked, I do apologise as things have been in damage control mode.

Moving right along, whilst all this has been happening and I’ve been tech limping along, I’ve also finished two major projects; the first of which I soft launched on the weekend and the other that debuts on Wednesday night!  I’ve been sewing night and day to create my masterpiece for the Mission 65 Fashion event this week. Because I’m such a glutton for punishment and such a mad perfectionist, my creation includes not only all the time for sourcing, designing and machine construction; but also a grand total of 14 hours of intricate hand sewing! There was something rather Dickensian about sitting there from sun up to sun down developing a hump in my back all for the glory of the garment.

I know it isn’t all that fair to be such a tease telling you about this project and have nothing to show, but all will be revealed shortly. I can say this though; my outfit is something you’ll not likely expect and like nothing you’ve ever seen before…. cue dramatic music..

I can’t show you my finished outfit just yet, but I can show you the shopping expedition in the Prahran Mission OP shop where I sourced my materials.

Watched over by Elvis, who, for all intents and purposes could be the patron saint of vintage shopping.

I’m told the event is now a sell out, but there will be all manner of features to come later in the week.

And while we’re on the topic of shopping, here’s a look at the outfit I wore while tackling this shopping quest and a freezing cold Melbourne day.

Outfit Details

Black Woollen Sweater – Country road – Op shop find

Black swing bolero (with pom poms! Love it so much I bought two!) - Mimco

White Scotty Dog Brooch – Peta Pledger

Red and black boucle 1950′s vintage skirt – Circa Vintage Clothing

Shoes – Luca & Marc

Red Rose earrings – DIVA

Lipstick – MAC Russian Red

Oh, and the red hat box styled bag you’ll no doubt be asking about came from Circa Vintage store on Gertrude street, Fitzroy and is made by Glamour Puss. Yes, that’s right, it’s a fantastic repro!

Before I begin, let me say that I had no idea that yesterday post would be such an emotive issue. Indeed, I am aware that representations of Blackamoor’s in all sorts of mediums (including the famous Golly in the Noddy books), have caused much controversy. However, in the context of a vintage collecting blog my thinking is that the beauty of my piece would be appreciated in the same way as if he had appeared on Antiques Roadshow or The Collectors. It seems this is not the case, and hence I’m now having to defend both myself and my beautiful man.

I’ll say this first, as one reader pointed out, it would have been wise to put some sort of disclaimer at the beginning of the post explaining my intentions, I have now done this. However I assumed (that was my first mistake, never assume anything) that my readers know me and as such would have a very good idea of the context and intent of the post. When it comes right down to it, offence  is all about context and intent.

I’ll get right to the meat of it. Yes indeed, there are many representations from history that we find offensive, hurtful, racist and sexist. When we consider their original intent, to mock, belittle or devalue individuals; they are indeed hurtful. But it isn’t their meer existence that causes the problem, it is the intent they are imbued with. And this is why I have no problem having a piece like this in my home; because not only is he highly collectible but I think he is beautiful.

The question that remains under debate is whether having a piece like this (an indeed another reader said that the cartoons in last weeks Raffles post were equally insensitive), glorifies harmful stereotypes and by extension makes me a racist? This is a question one can only answer for themselves, as I believe the answer to this lies as I’ve said, in both intent and context.

To give an example of something else I believe is beautiful but has also unintentionally caused offence and hurt stemming from a similar historical context is this. Once, when all dressed up in my 1940′s outfit, hair done and ready to hit the dance floor; I was told in no uncertain terms just how insensitive this was.  The venue for the dance was my local RSL Club (this is Returned Service Man’s League Club for those of you overseas), and the problem was that by dressing in war era style at a venue where many elderly soldiers went socially, it caused great distress by bringing back memories of the war.

Now where I had only seen beauty and romance (even though fully aware of the historical implications of the period as I am with the Blackamoor), my intent was not to cause distress. My context however, was poorly chosen and so I no longer break out those outfits at venues like that unless specifically requested to.

So I come back to my original point, that of intent and context. This blog is my life, my home and my space. It is one that I choose to invite you all into to share a piece of and over time I feel I’ve gotten to know many of you. And this is why I would share a find like this. Because in the context of both the vintage and collectable subject matter of the blog and my intent in appreciating his beauty, I feel he can still be appreciated (albeit with understanding of his origins) and loved.

The irony in all this talk of giving offence and being offensive, is that through some readers conviction of their viewpoint, they have taken the path of calling my own moral character into question, name calling and frankly causing me more hurt and offence than it is likely the image of the barman caused them.

I realise that you can’t please all of the people all of the time, but neither is my intent to stir up trouble. I know that just about everything I post on a daily basis could cause hurt or offence to someone of another culture, but I rely on the honesty of my intent and the vintage context of this space to give it relevance.

Just as posting images of Gil Elvgren’s pinup work are not intended to glorify the objectification of women, neither is posting the pictures (or simply having in my home) the beautiful Blackamoor barman intended to condone racist attitudes.

So no, I don’t “Think this shit is funny” as one reader accused me of (I have no idea how they came to that conclusion); and I will continue to collect and appreciate works like this. And yes, I will keep him on display on my bar no matter who was to come over for cocktails, as by very virtue of his existence he has now become a symbol of a time passed and a conversation piece in which we can celebrate that passing.

I was so thrilled to have the chance to catch up with friends whilst I was in Singapore, and on of the very first people I had the opportunity to was spend the day with was Valerie of Dweam. We had a whole lot of shopping on the agenda, which given our very different fashion styles was cause for a whole lot of fun!

Knowing that the day was going to involve a whole lot of walking, I planned an outfit that was as cute as it was comfortable.  My fabulous new wedges seen in this outfit post are from Novo.  The skirt I bought specifically for the trip from Forever New just before I left, knowing that it would go with about 10 different tops I own. This little red and white top with the petal bust, is one of my new favourites from Miss Hussy here in Melbourne.  A little red angora cropped sweater from Friends of Couture over the top, kept the chill of the air conditioning at bay. And yes, my camera bag ( from photo jojo) does match the rest of my outfit!

We started out shopping odyssey at ION Orchard as it was just opposite where I was staying in Singapore. Valerie took me to New Look, which over the two floors it occupies, had such a range of outfits and accessories that we both found a whole lot of pieces we loved. In fact, I actually found the cutest 1940′s styled shoes that were so incredible I was doing a little happy dance and went and bought three pairs! (Yes, you’ll see them in another post of shopping haul highlights). Both Valerie and I are mad for accessories, confessing to each other just the extent of our collections as we continued to add to them that morning.

I loved these sparkly bracelets. They came in the most beautiful colours, but sadly I couldn’t get any of them on even though my hands are pretty small, so I left it to Valerie to indulge here.

Given that we are both beauty addicts we’d planned to spend quite a bit of time in Sephora looking at all the cool things you simply can’t get here in Australia. I know it isn’t very sophisticated but I had to know what the Hello Kitty perfumes were all like. This range just won “Best Baby Perfume”… babies wear perfume? I didn’t know that!

Although I’m not a big fan of the fragrance, the new flocked bottles in Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B perfumes were too cute!

I’m always torn between spending my money on things that are just cute for cutes sake, even if I know I won’t use them.

I love the way here in Singapore, blogging is just so common that no-one raises an eyebrow at camera antics in store. I do always check with staff if I’m allowed to take photographs though as there is a lot of concern over V.M concepts (and other ideas) being stolen which is far enough. But no matter where we went, if we weren’t the ones taking the photographs, there would be plenty of staff ready with their camera phones and a smile wanting to pose it up.

I was like a kid in a candy store in Sephora, filling my little basket with sparkly treasures. It is total…

Yup – that’s that one!

After I’d given my credit card the speed wobbles in Sephora, Valeria took me over to Bobbi Brown to play with a bunch of new products.  The staff there were simply delightful and we all had a ball playing around in store with different looks, swapping tips and beauty secrets.

All of this shopping and laughing did make us a bit late however, for the next event. We headed out to the Nuffnang Singapore Glitterati Plus event that was being held to mark the new year and a fun way for lots of local bloggers to get together.

Dr Leslie Tay of I Eat I Shoot I Post, was there to speak and share many of his blogging tips as well as his new book. So although we weren’t there in time for the games and guests speakers, we did get a chance to catch up with other local bloggers and a number of fans for yet another photo opportunity. We bloggers are curious creatures and we love an opportunity to get together and discuss our “craft”, as unlike so many other professions, you don’t have colleagues to chat to every day. Many popular bloggers also have full time day jobs, (Dr. Leslie is a family GP) but for me whose other work also tends to be locations based ( as you know I’m a model and hair and makeup artist as well as all the writing) I treasure the chance to catch up with others who do what I do.

After all these adventures I’d promised Valerie we’d get together and I’d show her the ticks of the trade to create my hair and makeup look.  So we set up in my hotel bathroom for a bit of a session, and with Mr SKM holding the camera, set to the business of filming our shenanigans. It is lucky I’ve got a steady hand because we were laughing so much it could have been a disaster!

Here is how the lovely Valerie turned out after a quick 30minute hair and makeup session together.

After finishing off her lovely 50′s styled face, Valerie challenged me to see what I could do with her hair in two minutes. So even with super straight hair, a couple of bobby pins and a few deft moves later, she was ready to head out for dinner.

If you’d like to see and hear all the craziness we got up to, you can see Valerie’s post and video tutorial of the event here.

What a HUGE day! I can’t thank my Singapore friends enough for being so wonderful and hospitable. I always love finding new stores and making new discoveries, but new friends are the best thing of all!

You’ll all be aware of the devastating weather events happening in my home country at the moment. The most far reaching and cataclysmic of these are the floods in Queensland. We all have friends and family directly affected by these floods, with many loosing their homes, their businesses and some; their lives.

These are the times that we all do our bit to pull together and find ways to support each other in the best and most effective ways we can. A whole bunch of us local bloggers have gotten together with the help of Nuffnang, to put together a charity auction to raise much needed funds for the recovery effort.

The auctions, run with the official endorsement of the QLD Government, are taking place through eBay and you can bid on them RIGHT NOW!

What am I offering for this effort? Well, you can bid on a one on one session with me where you’ll not only be made over and transformed with vintage styled hair and makeup, but also learn a whole bunch of trips to perfect your look!

So don’t wait a minute more. Head on over to eBay and get bidding on the offering of your choice! My Vintage Hair and Makeup auction can be found here.

Happy New Year’s Eve everyone!! I’m super excited about 2011 for some reason. It has been feeling for the last half of 2010 that things are going to be on the up next year with far less fails and far less dramas. Don’t know why I think this, it’s not like I’ve taken to hanging out with Gypsies on my vacation, it’s just a feeling.

Anyway, I did have big plans for tonight until 24 hours ago. Big plans for someone with two children on a babysitter impossible night, involves hanging at a friends house and watching fireworks and being poked into consciousness at around 6am by said children. Anyway, when that riveting plan went belly up I was a little sulky, knowing all the great things I could have been doing and all the parties my friends are playing at. But really, it is just another night and it is all about what you make of it. So I decided to give myself a good kick in the pants and make my New Years start the right way; with friends, food and shopping!

We all slept in then got fancy before heading off to breakfast as a family. Instead of our usual go-to of Eggs Benedict, I decided to shake it up a bit and find somewhere we could all indulge our culinary cravings, even the kids. So it was off to Box Hill for traditional Chinese breakfast of congee and steamed pork buns! For two small girls you’d think they’d died and gone to heaven such is the reaction to a meal like that. As for me, I am very (very) partial to a tasty congee, so I was grinning from ear to ear.

Then it was off for a spot of indulgent post-Christmas sale shopping and a few treats each, before heading to lunch with fabulous friends. Here is where I’ll let my pictures tell the story…

It is really hot today… 40 degrees celsius, thats 105 for you Northern hemisphere people. That explains the ‘white out’ in this pic. The sun is so strong and bleaching it is hard to look anywhere, especially when it keeps hitting back at you from the pavement.

We went and met up with my long lost buddy Violet ( I say this because we’ve both been working so hard we’ve only seen each other on Twitter these last few months!!)

How amazing is her hair?! She not only styled it herself but did the incredible colour too!

Lunching with other bloggers will always mean one thing…. photos!

Yes, we are both photographing our lunch.

A spot of shopping lead to the following for my afternoons entertainment.

I picked up the ‘new’ (read October issue now imported) of Vivi to read in the shade on this hot afternoon.

Laying around in the near dark with fans going and reading all about cute Korean spring looks.

And I did buy one other little treat to add to my ever growing vanity collection. Not only cute and practical, but exactly what you need in this weather.

Anna Sui blotting paper in the trademark gloss black case! I’ve been collecting this whole series piece by piece and nearly have a full set now. So pretty!

And that’s it… so far.  I’m heading off to get started on part two of my day. This is the bit that involves Margaritas, foot massages and movies. Now THAT is how you spend an evening celebrating the year!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!