Adventure, baby!

fashion

petiteParade and Stride Rite at NY Fashion Week

The kind folks at Stride Rite invited me to attend their show at the petiteParade, the junior branch of NY Fashion Week. From my first row seat (wooo!!) I watched two parades – the showcase featuring collections by Andy & Evan, Floatimimi, Oil & Water, Stella Cove, SUOAK and Sweet Lola, and then the Stride Rite Children’s Group runway showcase.

The hosts of the showcases were twins Tristin and Tyler – two very sassy kids with their own website about their adventures in the big city.

It was impressive seeing little kids confident strutting their way up and down the runway, showing (for the most part) no hesitation at the wall of cameras at the end.

The Stride Rite Children’s Group runway showcase was a sneak peek at their Spring 2014 collection – full of floral accents and pops of bright color.

Flowers in the hair, spring sandals on the feet.

Denim, flowers and pretty sandals.

Superheros! Love this nod to Kill Bill.

I really enjoyed the show, seeing these gorgeous children modelling trends for next spring. I’m a big fan of Stride Rite shoes (Cheese has basically worn them since she started walking), so it was really fun seeing the spring line before it hits stores (and also before winter hits – I’m totally in denial).

Oscar de la Renta for Kids Trunk Show

I was excited to receive an invite to a trunk show for Oscar de la Renta for kids, hosted by Rosie Pope.

The clothes were just gorgeous – super pretty dresses and outfits, with delicate lace and beautiful floral prints.

Snacks! Love some sweets to eat while perusing lolly-coloured clothing.

Lots of floaty, fluffy dresses in pretty pastel and vibrant hues.

This dress was a favourite – the hand stitched lace was just exquisite.

I splurged and ordered this dress for Cheese. I thought it would suit her personality – easy to wear, super soft fabric, bright print that will compliment her bright blue eyes. Um, spoiled much??

I really loved Rosie’s diaper bag range, particularly this bag – I’d totally use it as a regular bag!

Sydney Fashion Weekend

A few weeks back I went to Sydney Fashion Weekend for the first time. It was chaos! So many stalls tightly packed with discounted stock. There was simply too much stuff and not enough time to get around to everything.

There were a lot of brands there and bargains, but too hard sorting through everything. It was super hot and crowded, so not a great shopping experience. As part of our tickets we had included a catwalk show. It was not bad! Nothing extraordinary that I wanted to run out and copy or buy, but entertaining to watch the skinny giraffes walk up and down the catwalk.

So very tall and expressionless …

They all had great hair 😉
After the catwalk we had another prowl around the stalls and had a makeover at Napoleon. I got completely punk’d by my make-up girl, but thankfully Fadz had a fabulous job done and looked stunning.

Fadz gets a touch-up at Napoleon.
All-in-all, I think it was a bit of a waste of money. I don’t think I would go again. It was too stressful tearing through the clothes to find something I liked, too hot and too many people. I don’t need a bargain that badly!

Pugs in Fashion

I have a pug obsession. And a clothes obsession. Combine them and you get this photo shoot from Vogue Italia, by Steven Meisel and featuring Linda Evangelista.









Lust-Have: Winter Shoes

The last few winters I have slowly built up my dream shoe collection, which includes lots of boots basically. I realised last winter however that I also have a need for closed-in winter shoes to wear with stockings for work, hence my search for the perfect Mary-Janes.

Hallelujah, thanks to Karina for recommending these beauties from Mollini.

Alannah Hill Shopping Mayhem

Beverly found out about an Alannah Hill factory outlet sale being held in Paddington, so Bev, Lise and I trouped off tonight to check out the sales.

The one thing I don’t like about sales is that it removes the pleasant buying experience. Instead, you get girls competitive about grabbing things in their size. It’s really shopping at its worst, but I can’t resist a great bargain.

Here we are, emerged victorious from our excursion.

My buys below – I got the lot for $380. About 60 – 70% below retail cost on all items.





The De-evolution Of Fashion

I like comfy clothes. Ones I can take a deep breath in and let my ribcage expand to take in the fresh Sydney air on Cityrail every morning. Will I be sitting alone in my unfashionable loose clothing in the not-too-distant future? Could be! The Sydney Morning Herald recently published an article heralding the return of the corset.

According to the The SMH, corsets have gone mainstream. Corsets are made of up to 10 separate, stiffened sections. “Each section or panel is also ‘boned’, meaning it is separated from the next by spiral steel rods sewn into the structure.” Corset-wearing enthusiasts such as Janet Coath, 22, sing their praise, with comments such as “They’re for people who like to look like people, more than people who look like grasshoppers”.

According to Wikepedia, there are numerous health disadvantages to wearing a corset that modern-day corset revivalists might want to consider, such as Glénard’s disease, “a common illness caused by prolonged corset use. It is characterized by lack of abdominal muscle tone and visceral displacement. Wearing tight-laced corsets over a long period of time may cause the lower ribs (floating ribs) to become deformed and pushed inwards. This can lead to organ failure, dehydration, or broken ribs”.

No wonder men think women are stupid for conforming to fashion. What person in their right mind would do this to their body? And what does it say about women that they want to return to the days of being tied into binding clothing that results in the above problems? I’m not even going to go into the psychological implications of corsets – I think I’ve said enough. Needless to say, there will be no corsets for this grasshopper.