Sunday in Melbourne was the perfect day for High Tea. It was cold, wet and windy outside, so it made perfect sense to be inside eating cakes, sipping tea and talking vintage with friends. It was also the perfect place to wear this fabulous vintage cashmere embellished sweater I recently picked up. (It didn’t have magical properties that made me shrink Alice style – the flowers were just that big!)It has cord and bead detail with three dimensional white plastic flowers too! The skirt is also an original 1950′s atomic star burst skirt that I’m wearing with a yellow silk blouse and that great vintage style framed handbag from yesterday’s post.

An afternoon at the Langham Hotel is all about the ambience. I’d like to pretend this is my home for just a little while… That sweeping staircase, the amber light, the glitter from the chandelier… le sigh..  It forces you to slow down and enjoy the finer things, like these delightful little cakes.

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The arrangement of the chocolate table was beyond belief. There was a swell of gasps and giggles when we reached the table, but it was all so stunning and delicious that to tease you with images on a screen just wouldn’t be fair. You know that expression “good enough to eat”? Well these were all really far too pretty to eat; and yet somehow we managed it.

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Of course, everyone had frocked up for the occasion, not that this is any big surprise with a group like this; but it makes all the difference when you have an appreciative audience and can break out the ‘fine china’.

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No matter how polite we all are, there are definitely thoughts of mugging each other crossing our minds at this stage.

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With my lovely friends Anne Marie from Melbourne store The Button Tree, Dolores Daiquiri Australia’s tease queen and Abbie Cardwell songstress extordinare.

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We were very tempted to start singing show tunes right about now…

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It doesn’t matter how ‘vintage’ you are, there is no escaping the latest apps to capture the day!

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The only thing I think that is still sorely missing from the High Tea menu of everywhere I’ve been is a bit of sneaky ‘Irish’ in the tea!

Well now, June certainly got away from me this time! Unlike so many other industries, Winter seems to be my busiest time of the year, running pillar to post trying to fit everything into fifteen plus hour days, seven days a week. So as penance for my appalling absence this month, I’ve set aside the most of July to catch up on all the things I’ve yet to show you, all the articles half written, and all the video tutorials that are awaiting the editing room.

It’s become clear that my usual planning skills, although pretty darn good, just haven’t been up to the task of the last month; so I’ve decided to bring in the big guns and get myself a copy of the new book by fellow blogger Nicole Avery, “Planning with Kids” from the blog – Planning with Kids of course!  I’ve spent so many hours in airport lounges of late, that reading and browsing bookshops has been like a spotters sport. It’s always smile worthy to see a friends name on the shelves.

I love the addition of the little plastic T-Rex on the cover – that’s often how it feels when you have two (or more) small people after your attention all the time.

In order to make sense of the whirlwind of a month I’ve had, I thought I’d do a little mini photo diary for you over the next few days. Partly to remind you what I look like, I’ve been so absent this month; also in part because it all gets so mad at times that I forget what I’ve done from day to day and it’s nice to look back and take a moment for it all the sink in.

So back at the end of May, I headed up to Queensland for the Garterbelts & Gasoline festival. You’ll remember we had a bit of a vintage shopping tour and all kinds of tiara’d shenanigans. That’s where the next six weeks of craziness began…

Because we like to travel in the style we’re accustomed too (nothing to do with how much luggage we have..) we arrived in the stretch limo, champagne in hand. Yes, I know; it already looks like trouble!

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Oh so demure at breakfast as we fortify ourselves for the day ahead… but you wouldn’t believe what some of these ladies could put away!

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This really had to be seen to be believed, but on Miss Nada’s plate is the biggest single scone known to mankind -and she actually did it!

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Miss Nada, Me, Miss Chrissy and Bonnie Rose – hanging out and shopping up a storm in Mt Tambourine.

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Do we have fun? Ummmm… well I can tell you that onlookers certainly do when we hit the streets!

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The festival had a fantastic little art show, the only disappointment for me is that all the pieces I loved weren’t for sale!

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But of course it wouldn’t be a nostalgia event without the Show n Shine part of the weekend. We ladies are all partial to a bit of vintage transport, and spending the afternoon wandering around through all this shiny, shiny eye candy is sometimes more than you can bare. So of course we make sure to take a few snaps of our favourite to add to the wallet as a reminder of why we need to keep on saving out pennies for a few of these beauties of our own!

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Bonnie Rose shows her wild side.

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Harry Deluxe, the indomitable Rockabilly chanteuse, goes with something red hot to match her red hot voice.

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and me, well I was rather partial to this sleek and dangerous number.

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But what about when the lights go down? Silly question – we have a good old knees up!

Candice DeVille, Bonnie Rose & Helen McLean.

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Yes, indeed I do dance; in fact dancing and shopping are currently vying for first place in my list of thing I love to do.

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Bonnie Rose and I propping each other up after a very long weekend.

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And that’s only one weekend in May! As I said, I’ve lots of catching up to do as I get a chance to go through all my images from the last month, so if there’s something you’d particularly like to see, let me know and I’ll see if I can dig something up for you. And thanks for sticking around while I disappeared!

Xxxx!

Last Wednesday evening, the Mission 65 Fashion event for Prahran Mission went off with a bang! The show was a total sell out with people still turning up at the door vying for a space to see the show. Created as a fundraising event to assist people living with mental illness, it brought together top designers, stylists and fashion students in a time honoured tradition of philanthropy meets fashion. It was an honour to show with Jenny Bannister, the incredible team at Madam Virtue, Anthony Capon, Kim Kniepp, and Philip Boon amongst others.

This year the Mission turns 65, as does the House of Dior; and so it was that a parallel was drawn and inspiration for the evening began. In 1947 as the world was emerging from a time of darkness and austerity, fashion was rediscovering the spirit of celebration and was once again used as a tool to lift the spirits. As a contributing designer my brief was this – to take garments found in the Prahran Mission Op shop and in the spirit of the  Make do and Mend, re-create them into a 1940′s styled master piece with a slightly modern twist.

I wanted to create something that not only looked good, but as much as possible mirrored the quality techniques used in garment construction. Choosing fabrics of the best quality and producing an outfit that would last 65 years. After finding my muse, I went on a hunt to uncover the materials I’d need. And here is a look at the process of creation.

After two days sourcing, one day of cutting and machine sewing, then another 14 hours of hand sewing to perfect the trim; it was ready for it’s close up!

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A BIG thank you to two wonderful bloggers Fashionising and Business Chic who had my back on the photo front for the evening. Please do visit their blogs to see and read more about the evening.

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As you’ve probably figured by now, the inspiration for this piece is the late 1940′s woman’s Western Suit look – particularly inspired by to good friends of mine who are masters of this craft and converted me heart and soul. The Western look was very much in vogue right throughout the late 1930′s to the late 50′s and still has a strong following today.

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I wanted to create a chic ensemble that could be worn as separates or a as a whole for this intensely beautiful look.  The blouse hidden underneath is  sheer red georgette with self rose print. It is collarless and has puffed mutton sleeves that taper to the elbow. I finished it off with vintage red flower glass buttons and a removable blue neckerchief.

The hat is an original Velveteen black structured beret (another op shop find), which I custom trimmed with vintage pieces from my own stash, including the veil with it’s beautiful soft texture.

The jacket and skirt are both fully lined and in wool, and the skirt has a red velvet ribbon trim woven through the scalloped hemline. ( I should note that on me the hem comes nicely below the knee but on my gorgeously statuesque model was rather shorter). From my own stash I added the vintage trim – silk cord and woollen pom poms. The doilies came from the Mission op shop and were just the right thing to add more colour and shape. The snoods did indeed come from my personal stash, but finished off the look perfectly.

Not only was I honoured to create this piece for the event, but I was also Director of Hair & Makeup, ensuring a cohesive vintage look all around.  I wanted to keep it a simple 40′ flavour, without any of the high fashion interpretations so often seen on the catwalk. To me, I felt that each model should shine in the outfits; a radiant version of themselves to echo the tones of celebration for the evening. So yes, as you flip through the images of the evening, you will no doubt recognise my finger prints on these looks.

On one hand it was totally exhausting doing all this, but on the other a totally revitalising and reinvigorating experience. Breathing new life into old garments like this opens up a whole world of possibilities for your wardrobe.  Yes, it is time consuming, but it expands your imagination onto new horizons and goes to show that style doesn’t take a whole lot of cash. The Make do and Mend philosophy of the show was something that I was indeed academically familiar with, and while I’m always restoring my vintage garments, I’d never taken the principle to these lengths. The world of possibilities is endless…

Winter in Australia can be really miserable what with the rain, sleet and all round bad weather; especially in Melbourne. But in June, there is one absolute lifesaver of an event that will fix every kind of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Wintersun!!  This fabulous nostalgia festival has been running for the last 24 years and is going from strength to strength.  This year for the first time, it is being held in sunny coastal town of Port Macquarie, where all of my favourite vintage festivities will come together.

Originally begun as a bit of a Show n Shine type of event, Wintersun has grown and morhphed into the biggest and most lauded nostalgia festival in the country.  Running over ten days (yes that’s 10 big ones), there is everything from cars to pin up girls, markets, vintage fashion fairs, vintage parades, the best swing and rockabilly bands from around the country, dance work shops, fashion and style workshops (that’s me amongst others), and more retro contests and activities than you can handle!

I’m telling you about this now so you can start planning your winter get away and shining your dancing shoes. In fact, let me give you an idea of a common day at Wintersun for me…

9am – breakfast on the balcony, swathed in silk and watching the shiny, souped up classic cars drive by.

10.30am – a bit of a promenade down the street with my vintageous lasses, arm in arm as we head down to the market.

10.45am – pose for photos with cars enroute and eye off the talent.

11.00am – find beautiful vintage frocks at market; squeal with excitement and make deals as to who gets what without loosing an eye.

12.30pm – lunch on the terrace at main street, checking out dapper chaps from behind our sunnies and making plans for the evening.

2pm – Vintage fashion parade – strut some stuff.

4pm – Hanging out en’masse in our apartment, doing each others hair and talking beauty tips (yep, super girly)

5pm – Cocktails and comparison of purchases. More excitement, donning of sequins and a little dancing around the living room.

7pm – Dinner with as many suitably attired people as you can muster, all descending upon a local establishment where Mojitos are on the menu.

8.30pm – Arriving at the first band venue

Until at least midnight – (or 3am for some of us)- Continue to dance until you can’t stand up, laugh, joke, chat and give those vintage frocks the time of their lives.

….. then do it all agin the next day!

So just what is in store this year? Well read on and click through to Wintersun’s VINTAGE ALLEY for information and ticket details for each event.  Be there or be Square!

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Tickets for all Wintersun events can be found here!

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And you know what… you can even apply to be the next Face of Wintersun!

So book your tickets, pack your suitcase and come hang out with me vintage style!

Yes, it did go a little quiet around here. I took off last week for a fabulous weekender in Queensland, but it was a zone of no phones and no internet, but many, many photos! To kick off the ultimate girls weekend away, what better party was to be had than a Royal Wedding occasion.

Friday morning, my girlfriends Bonnie Rose, Nada and I, all pilled into the limo and headed up to Tambourine Mountain in Queensland for the Garterbelts & Gasoline festival. Complete with tiaras we packed out bags for a weekend of music, dancing, frocks and frivolity.

The lovely Bonnie Rose riding side saddle on the way up the mountain.

Even though we knew we had a big night ahead of us with a ball to attend, the Royal Wedding came first on the list of priorities, and so it was out with the pimms and tiaras.

Nada and Helen get set for an evening of regal fun.

And even if you didn’t have your own, a little tin foil tiara and a bit of expert pin curling will do the trick!

Now it may look like the girls went gaga for WIlls, but the dress had us all shrieking in delight! In fact, earlier in the evening we’d been taking wagers on dress and hair styles that were bang on the money. And let me just say that while I thought Catherine did a fabulous job of putting herself together each day, her wedding choices were nothing short of spectacular! But more on that later.

So after half a dozen Pimm’s, and much applause or derision of the wedding guests outfits, we frocked ourselves up to head off to the dance.

This may all look rather fancy, but I have to tell you that we were the amongst the very few people quite this spectacularly attired in a room that even contained denim and polar fleece! I’m beginning to believe that any event labeled a “Ball”, should also come with a proviso that you should be at least this well dressed to enter!

This ‘little’ weekender was such a big one that I have a whole pile of lovely things to show you and I’m flat out editing photos to share. So stay tuned tomorrow for a look at Miss Chrissy’s big Vintage Shopping Tour!