Outfit details: Plaid dress – Review, Black top – Esprit, Opaques – Voodoo, Shoes- Luca & Marc, Earrings – Groove, Rose ring – Accessories.

As a Goth from way back, I’m always looking for opportunities to indulge this side of my personality. So heading out for dinner with my family was a great excuse. I have an addiction to dark colours, heavily textured fabrics (hmmm… velvet) macabre motifs and lots of shiny black. Generally I use all these elements in moderation, but occasionally a little excess is just right. I like to call this my “Sophisticated Gothic”. I don’t go in for oversized velvet skirts and peasant tops, I find them a tragically unflattering combination. As with any look, I like to take key elements and mix them up to create something uniquely me. Dressing in a formulaic manner, or subscribing to one specific subculture, would simply become too boring.

But probably one of the biggest shocks of this look will be the absence of the red lips! Yes, I do occasionally leave them behind. Truth be told, I was planning such a large and delicious dinner that I didn’t want to worry about getting lipstick everywhere, and so I went with a very dark eye and super pale lip instead.

And while we are on the Something a Little Different Train….

For those of you in Melbourne, you’ll be aware that Spring Fashion week is almost upon us. Amongst the slick, chic and high profile fashion shows on offer, is one gem that the true fashion innovators amongst you cannot miss. Worn Wild – an alternative designers showcase and market, will be making its debut at this 2008 Spring Fashion Week. Hosted at La di da at 577 Little Bourke Street on Sunday September the 7th from 1pm, this will be a fashion event like no other you have ever experienced. The event features the work of cutting edge local and interstate designers of rockabilly, raver, clubwear, cyber, corsetry, street style, emo, gothic, lolita, queer, vintage, burlesque, flower powered and fringe inspired fashion. You will even have the opportunity to try on items that are usually reserved for custom orders. So yes, I am very excited! And the icing on the cake? I am being dressed by one of the designers for the day to rocks their wares as only Super Kawaii Mama can! So see Daddy in the morning for Father’s Day, then head on down to Worn Wild with me.

As I get ready for the big Easter weekend away, I start to wax lyrical to the girls about my perfect Easter Bonnet. So, as all of the most stylish and hip people do, I headed on down to Etsy for some shopping goodness. And Oh MY! I stumbled upon the most perfect and fabulous hats I think I have ever seen.

The Costumier and Milliner extraordinare, Kim Brown-Dye of Topsy Turvy Design on Etsy brings us this sumptuous visual feast to whet your appetite for an Easter chapeau. Based in Oakland, California; Kim handcrafts costume accessories and stunning millinery for stage, film, play or just for your personal pleasure. And there is none of that ‘of the rack’ stuff here. Kim creates everything made to measure just like they did in the olden-days. So if you have a hat-hankering or you fancy yourself a little extra bedroom action, skip on over to her official site www.topsyturvydesign.com and be prepared for your heart to race.

P.S (I may be a little too late here in Australia to organise anything for myself this Easter, but come Spring Racing Carnival here in Melbourne, I’ll be a head above the sea of wobbly, DIY fascinators! Thanks Kim, I’ll be in touch!)

As promised, here is the graphic of the T-Shirt that my bro S made for me. I just love this. He took the image from a photo of us at a Burlesque show (at which I was 8 months pregnant) and worked some Gocco Rocco magic with it. It’s one of my favorite things to wear and I love the double-take you get from some people when wearing it. And no, those aren’t our real names… they just seemed to fit.

I finally started to tackle the wardrobe issue too. The weather is perfect and both girls are asleep, so I really have no excuse. But of course I can’t see the floor now. I have managed to get as far as emptying all the cartons and deciding what is going on Ebay, then photographing it all. Now begins the tedious process of listing it all. I’ll give you all a heads up here when I list this collection of weird and wonderful on Ebay if you’d like to check it out.

I think that I will definitely follow Gala’s advice and wear at least one piece of all the ‘ify’ items over the next few days to see how they make me feel. It’s not that they are all terrible, but that perhaps they would look a lot better worn in different ways. I do think that I am really just plain bored of much of it and it would do much better to be adopted into a more appreciative home.

So now that I have procrastinated just a little more here, it’s back to the coal face.