In keeping with this month’s theme; meet The Modern Pin Up.

It isn’t often that one has semi naked pictures of their friends in their homes; that is unless you’re running some kind of 70′s party game.. but let’s not go there. The recent launch of the new coffee table book, “The Modern Pin Up” means just that; that I can sit back and admire some of the fantastic handiwork of my friends both behind and in front of the lens.  A stunning collection of modern pin up photographs that run the gamut from classic, to cyber; gothic to glam and everything in between. What these works have in common is celebration; celebration of fun, form and fantasy as each of these women collaborate with their photographers to let us share a piece of their world.

Staring back at me from the candy coloured cover, is the delightful and diminutive darling Bernie Dexter (we have a mutual girl crush going on), with her rosy cheeks and warm smile. As you turn each page the eyes that catch yours may be familiar or may be new acquaintances, but each has their own charm. With images by Shannon Brooke,Via Marie Studios, and even one of my Australian photographers Peter Coulsen amongst many others, the quality of the work is exceptional. Many of the ladies I have a soft spot for are featured numerous times throughout;  Danya Deluxe, Sabina Kelley, Dita Von Teese, Frankie Sin and fellow Australian model Samantha Doll.

I know how much we love to search out our favourite image online these days, but there is something wonderful, thrilling and personal about having these images to hold in your hand. The Modern Pin Up has earn it’s place on my bookshelf next to Gil Elvgren for a reason. This is the pinnacle of pin up art today.

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Today’s daily outfit (okay it wasn’t actually today as I’m a bit behind), is something a bit different. Because it has been so cold here, and in fact the day I wore this it was hailing like crazy; we weren’t able to go and take any pics outside. So for something different, Helen and I shot this in the studio after we finished with our clients for the day.

We love to play around with different set ups and lighting, so this was a bit of fun for us and I was totally in love with the result!  This is one of my favourite new pieces, brought home from Trashy Diva in New Orleans and available in Australia through Miskonduct Klothing. The “Courtney coat dress” in this killer leopard print. It has a full skirt and a double button up waist band that give it a beautiful cinched finish. I did wear this over another dress but didn’t want to take it off it was so cold! In a nutshell, what I love about this piece is that it makes a statement; and with statement pieces you have to be careful just how you pull them off. Of course for me, it is always going to be high drama, with a strong red lip and a bit of attitude. So that is how we shot the one – full of drama and so very ‘me’ that this is akin to a very personal introduction in just one simple image.

Pleased to meet you!

Outfit Details

Trashy Diva “Courtney Coat Dress

Lips- MAC Russian Red with RIMMEL clear gloss on top

Nails – OPI ‘Big Apple Red’

If you invite me to dinner this winter, expect that I will turn up looking something like this.

As a dutiful style blogger, I try and hit the real world chain stores and boutiques as the new seasons looks drop trying to make sense of it all.  One of the great thing about being a vintage lover with a passion for certain eras, is that I’m not as susceptible to trends as many others, but it gives me a unique perspective on the new colours, textures and feelings that are thrown at us each season.

One of the current dangers in this “trend for vintage” times we’re living in, is that it is easy to be lured away from the real deal when you find that 1920′s inspired shrug in your size. Lifting up the seam and inspecting the label is a great way to bring yourself back from the edge and avoid spending $120.00 on a poorly made, polyester impostor.  After (yet again) being disappointed by most of the offerings in store this week, there is little to recommend and instead I want to give you some inspirational looks to kick off the search of some great vintage mix and match adventures!

Firstly, let’s look at the the colour palette that is about to overwhelm us.

You’ll find your usual Autumn Winter staples of jewel tones, as well as the current Northern Hemisphere pastel influences here. The wonderful thing about colour is that there is just so much experimenting to be done, only it seems stores are on the same old track of mustard with hunter green type combinations. Yes, it is tried and true but where is the sense of adventure? If you’re not naturally talented in the mixing and matching department, I suggest printing out this colour swatch image, cutting them into separate pieces and playing around until you hit on something that really sings. It’s a technique we use when choosing paint for a walls, so why not try it for your wardrobe planning?  My favourite unexpected colour combination for the season is this sky blue and berry combination. The sculptural piecing between the black and berry give this ensemble a very cool bolero effect too and reminds me of similar techniques used in 1940′s dressing. It is a gorgeous update of classic style that doesn’t resort to chopping a good few inches off the hem to give it a “modern twist”. Two thumbs up!

Which brings me to my next point; length. While the glossies are telling us that longer hems are back in this season I’m still yet to find them in store. So many potentially cute dresses thoroughly ruined by a mid thigh hem… I should know not to bother. Finding a well cut dress or skirt that falls just below the knee cap is still the proverbial hens tooth out there. This only goes to solidify my long standing choice of the wide legged, 1930′s style pant I love so much. I’m already hunting through my fabric stash to plan out a new palette for these.

I particularly love these looks from Carolina Herrera, which could be styled very 1920′s or 1970′s depending on your choice of accessories. But you know that I’m not about to rush out and go breaking the bank buying up new looks. What I will do though, as I do at the start of each new season, armed with my inspirations I visit my favourite vintage shops and head to the back of my closet for forgotten boxes. I remember the styles I know suit me best, the lengths, the eras and the accessories.  Then armed with my new seasonal colour and texture muse, I start to build my wardrobe’s personality.

This Autumn Winter, I think ‘she’ may be a Parisian Countess left penniless but for a fabulous wardrobe and inappropriate sense of occasion.

Who might your wardrobe be?

Image of Nanette Lepore’s dressing room in her Manhattan apartment. From Elle Decor

Yesterday I spent the day at Take 2 Markets, the premiere women’s recycled fashion event here in Melbourne. Most cities now have these types of fabulous markets where your underused wardrobe items can find new life, and what a great invention these are. It inspires you to look at your wardrobe with an editors eye, and makes it far easier to let go of those hangers on knowing you can turn them into cash. With Autumn just around the corner, now is the perfect time to stop and take stock of just how prepared your closet is for the advancing season. However, if you’re anything like me with borderline hoarder tendencies, making the decision about what can go and what can stay is such a painful process I liken it to extracting teeth.

Rather than telling you to follow the old, “if you haven’t worn it in a year” advice, I’m going to give you the secrets I use to help me decide which pieces are truly my treasures.

Have a goal.

Your goal may be as simple as reclaiming some wardrobe space, it may be saving up for a special treat or overseas trip, or it may just be to make dressing each morning easier. Any one of these goals by themselves is enough of an impetus to get you started, but if you’ve only thought about achieving one of these, you’ll realise that the other two come along as secret bonus goals. What started out for me as reclaiming space, quickly turned into a necessary process to find the spare cash I need for my upcoming trip to Las Vegas.

Break it down.

Before you even start to touch the clothes hanging there, I always apply a little productive procrastination *cough*. Create a tangible vision of your goal, just as you would when window shopping on Polyvore. Whether it is a full blown collage with theme music, or as simple as some key motivational statements written hastily on copier paper; all these things help to solidify the goal in your mind.

Paris Polyvore set created by BKLANA

Give yourself a time line.

Like all good goal setting, having a time line to keep yourself on track and accountable is essential. Your deadline could be set to aim for the next recycled markets (book in & PAY), it could by buying those flights you want a year ahead to lock yourself in, or it could be inviting friends around for a party so your space doesn’t remain a bomb site for the next three months. (I’ll admit, mine is still looking pretty rough with all this redecorating!)

Get your supplies ready.

Having all the hangers, labels, boxes and other paraphernalia you’ll need at your finger tips will stop all those further procrastinating trips to the shops, where you are likely to be tempted by even more “bargains” the moment you step through the door. Think of this as a war on your wardrobe, where dresses that look pretty on the hanger but make you feel like a sad amish school girl, are the proverbial wolves in sheeps clothing. Don’t let those suckers fool you into stealing ground.

Get in the trenches.

The first time you open the drawers or slide back the doors, the size of the task may overwhelm you. But take heart, and look to your plan of attack aka Vision Board, for resolution. Remove each piece one at a time and give it this check list:

Is it dirty, damaged, missing buttons, frayed or pilled?

Is it worth the time and or money investment to repair it? (Keep in mind this isn’t just worth in dollars but in how much happiness it brings you.)

Is it obviously dated and calling it vintage is grasping at straws?

Is it a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”? That is, does it make you feel old, sad, fat, depressed, self conscious when you wear it but you always think you’ll get it right next time?

Was it a mistake? Sometimes our most expensive mistakes are the ones we can least bear to part with. Forking out $400 for a sweater that is a beautiful designer piece but makes you look like a lump, has no place in your wardrobe.  Leaving it there for yet another year because you can’t bear to admit you made such a costly mistake is a bad call. Suck it up and sell it while it is still in style and you can at least recover some of that lost cash.

Does it fit your style personality or just the one you wish you had? This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; in fact I encourage everyone to have a few pieces in their wardrobe that really belong to their alter ego. (Latex gloves anyone?) However, if your alter ego never wears them, not even at home, it may be time to open up that space and allow the opportunity for a new one to develop.

Do you have another one like it? Seriously how many pairs of black pants can you have before you are officially declared “Most boring person at the water cooler”? You only need two pairs in your most flattering cut – one summer weight, one winter weight. Everything else will be below par when it comes to making your legs look as long / butt look as perky, as that Holy Grail of trouser cuts. And here’s an idea; once you have found *the* perfect cut, wear them well and invest in having a local tailor or dress maker replace these for you when the time comes. Fashion for pants may come and go, but the underlying structure of our figures is pretty much a constant.

Will you regret it? This is the BIG question on everyone’s lips. I met a lady at the market yesterday who told me of her biggest wardrobe liberation regret when she moved interstate and gave away her red, 1940′s nurses cape.

You won’t regret it if: It can be easily replaced, if it doesn’t have great emotional significance (weddings etc..), it doesn’t make you feel like a Queen, if it doesn’t play a key role in your secret fantasies.

You will regret it if: You didn’t have those perfect, but thread bare pants copied. If it is the one dress that truly makes you feel like Audrey Hepburn even if it doesn’t make you look like it (confidence and fantasy are a seriously important part of successful style), if you haven’t at least had your photo taken in that cute dress from your school formal – it’s about the memories and what that garment triggers, so get snapping before you toss.

Last Man Standing.

Once you’ve followed this strategy you should only be left with stragglers; those pieces you just can’t make a decision on. This is the point to bring out the big guns to help you cut the ties. Give each piece a realistic dollar value that you think it may be able to bring at the market or on an auction site (factor in what it will cost you in time and effort to list it as well). Add up the total of each piece and decide if that amount would be enough to cover it’s ‘rent’ in your space or even better; just how much you’d rather have that cash in your pocket and a wallet full of possibilities for new clothing love affairs.

You’ll be amazed at how well this works! I’ll be the first to admit that this advice come from a hard won place. Of years and years (…and years) of wardrobe culls that still see me hanging on to my Year 10 formal dress (it still comes out for costume parties). From constantly having to struggle against emotional hoarding tendencies, a constantly changing body shape and bank balance.

Kick off the new season with a new style statement… and the room to find it!

I’ve finally reached the half way mark in my studio redecorating project, and while I’m yet to pick out (and save up for) the perfect desk, I do have my “frog vomit green” carpet installed. Slowly but surely I am making my way through the boxes and boxes of extraneous bits and pieces that I need to get rid of, occasionally unearthing little treasures. Old news clippings of my great grandparents wedding anniversary, drawings from my children, the odd spider and even some proof sheets from my very first proper modelling job! (*aside* I find it amusing that at the time, 1997, I was considered a “mature” model as I was no longer in my teens).

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If you follow me on Intsagram or Twitter, you’ll have seen one of these pop up the other day. I was trying to remember all the things I loved at the time, the music I was listening to and what my aspirations were. Way back in those days before blogging and when the internet was just BBS’s (if you know what that is you’ve been here as long as me!), we had to rely on diaries and photos to keep track of such things. Because I was always faulty at keeping much of a record of my activities (ironic isn’t it?), I have to rely on the boxes of things that appear during these clean ups to remind me.

There was an old mix tape, my first ever cassingle (Poison’s Unskinny Bop?! Clearly I was trying to impress someone at that point), actual scrap books of clippings from fashion mags applied with paste, tightly held swap cards and even a few pictures of my favourite old hollywood stars.

Back before I could Google images and find exactly what I wanted to see, coming across vintage images of stars, their styling and wardrobes, wasn’t an easy thing. If you were very dedicated, you’d take blurry photos on a film camera of the screen shoot you’d paused on the crummy VHS recoding of that old film. I had, (and still have) every printed book of stage and screen stars my pocket money would buy me, some still indexed with colour coded book marks for era.

Before trawling op shops / thrift stores was trendy, it was essential for girls like me who wanted to learn from the past. And before the internet we were alone. Just a girl wearing dead people’s clothes, living in a fantasy world and making it come to life through lipstick.

And now that we have all that in our digital age; the connections, the community, the resources and knowledge, I have to ask…

What’s stopping you from becoming the version of yourself you truly want to be?