Derby Day 2011

I had a quick squiz of the Derby Day photos from today and just had to post about it. Derby Day is always one of my favourites to watch because I love the black and white tradition associated with it. People say it's boring and you know how everyone doesn't like to be confined, but I think the best judge of style is when someone can still look unique in a sea of monochrome black and white.

Anyway. I'll get off my soap box (yes, inappropriate Race wear is one of my pet peeves). I can't wait to see more pics but so far I'm so disappointed in Dita Von Teese. She looked stunningly manicured, but she wasn't in black and white! Blasphemy, I say! I started to think perhaps it's a Lavazza sponsorship thing...but I don't think so.

I mean her outfit would have been perfect for Cup day or really any other day of the Spring Carnival...but not Derby!

Jen Hawkins

And a few other celeb pics, because I love a bit of celeb spotting. Jen Hawkins looked a bit boring, but still I like the outfit. White based outfits are my favourite, but I think she could have made it look a little more unique given she had everything on offer at Myer! When I was in Melbourne Myer I saw some lovely millinery appropriate for Derby Day...

J Alexander

Alexandra Richards

And for some Internationals - really loved Alexandra Richard's headpiece - it looks like a Philip Treacy creation to me but I can't be sure. I like how demure her outfit is too! I think many a race goer can learn a little something from her style!

And J Alexander - kudos for an awesomely flamboyant piece of millinery. Love!

And for some Fashions on the Field judgement....without having seen the full line up of contestants I can't pass too much comment but once again I'm disappointed with the judge's choice for winner. Every few years they get it really wrong (in my opinion) on Derby Day, awarding the prize to someone who steps a little too far from the tradition of Derby Day. I think the winner's outfit this year is a little...blah? Like it's just missing a little something - you know some perfectly matched gloves perhaps? Anyway that's just my opinion, she still looks great but not to my taste.

FOTF Winner - Jess Coad

3rd Place Winner

As for the third place winner - I'm liking the red accent (a little typical, but pulled off well) but I'm not really sure what's going on with her shoes? But I like the effort she went to!

Images thanks to Gettyimages and smh.com.au

Shoe Celebrations

So it appears it is the year of the shoe - what with it being Christian Louboutin's 20th Anniversary and Jimmy Choo's 15th. After all they are two of the world's most famous shoe makers (most would include Mr Blahnik in that accolade but I much prefer Louboutin and Choo).

I loved the pics I've been seeing of the dedicated windows in Barneys Madison Avenue because they were simple yet evocative of his twisted sense of beauty.

Christian Louboutin Barneys windows - the King of spikes.

Patent Pigalles!

And then there's Mr Choo with his XV collection commemorating his 15 most iconic shoes. I love the iconic shoe idea because once I love a style I'll stick to it so I'm sure many fashionista's around the world are excited by the prospect of being able to get their hands on styles that previously sold out.

My favourite of the icons - Tippi

But most of all, I can't wait to get my hot little hands on both the shoe master's books...I don't really want to wager who is copying who here! Both books, in collaboration with Rizzoli, at least seem to take a different spin. Louboutin's is part biography, part retrospective and of course a beautiful picture book at the same time whereas Choo's is a celebration of his XV collection with many of the photographs by Mario Testino.

A page from Louboutin's book

I think I need to make more room for these two coffee table books...

Images thanks to Racked NY and Rizzoli

#7: Mulberry Gloves

The week that I was in Melbourne, two of my NAP orders arrived, including my 7th Shoe Subscription purchase - deep burgundy gloves from Mulberry.

Gloves are always a great accessory and I'd been waiting for there to be some bright colour block options on the site, so when I saw these in what looked to be a buttery soft leather I couldn't resist.

I love the push lock detailing too which is too cute for words in the mini size when compared to the Polly Push Lock bag that is one of their new 'it' designs.

I have quite long fingers so I probably could have gone another size up but I love these for their glamour, warmth factor (cashmere lining is fabulous!) and colour <3

I have another pair of gloves on the way (keep an eye out for a post about that!) but I'm going to keep my eye out for more styles as the Northern Hemisphere heads into their true Winter. I'm still a bit bummed I missed out on a truly fabulous pair of Burberry studded biker style 'fashion' gloves during their last sale, but these are far more practical!

Vera Wang: And the bride wore black...

I came across a few articles about Vera Wang's Fall 2012 Bridal collection including some inky creations in her normally traditional wedding line-up.

I personally think it's fabulous, I mean we're in the 21st Century, who says a wedding dress has to be white? I'm fairly traditionalist but that doesn't mean I don't love the sentiment. The dresses added drama to the collection and I quite like the route she took with them. After decades of designing white dresses, it's no wonder she felt the need to break out of her shell a bit!

 This was the first hint of black in her collection so it was like she started with this to gradually take people onto the black dress journey. I imagine this would have moved quite spectacularly on the runway but I just love the layered textures. I'm not a huge fan of the ruffling but there's a twisted sense of being traditional which I really like.

 I love the overlay detailing on this - it actually reminds me a bit of a mid 2000's Jean Paul Gaultier collection (I used to be obsessed with the enfant terrible) and the fact that it's a 'light' take on a black wedding dress.

 I'm not sure that I like this as wedding dress, but the concept is great - the grunginess of the bustier contrasted with the lightness of the tulle.

And I personally don't really like this one, but I love a good fishtail. Something about it is so dramatic! Again I would never wear one myself, but on the right person it can look stunning.

Would you wear black on your big day?

Images thanks to brides.com

Christian Louboutin: Filter 140s

Oh my these are just...beautiful, are they not?

Filter 140s with Crystal Embellishment

I'm a sucker for classic but these are, as Rachel Zoe would say, bananas! 


Oh Mr Louboutin, you never cease to amaze me <3

Kirribilli Markets

My sister and I are having a market stall at Kirribilli Markets on Saturday to try and clear space in our wardrobe and we've been busily preparing for it! With Summer around the corner, a wardrobe spring clean seemed in order especially if you remember my posts a few months back of my overflowing shoe situation.

I've tried my hand at selling on other Ebay like sites but being so busy means I don't have the time to keep listings up to date, send out parcels and deal with customer enquiries. I know if I sold on Ebay I might get a little more for some items, but we're willing to cut our losses and go for the mass clear out.

The thing is, it's really hard to get rid of things without getting a little sentimental. Items from years gone past that I used to love wearing that now don't seem so age appropriate, or the casual clothes I would wear in abundance in my uni days. So I thought I'd blog and ask, what are your wardrobe clearing tips?

Sydney's famous icon serves as a backdrop for the Markets

If you're a Sydney sider, come check out the markets on Saturday 22nd October - they run from 7am (!) to the early afternoon. We're praying the forecasted rain will stay away until the night time so we have beautiful weather for it, but I'm hoping for a good selling day! We have hoardes of near new or unworn Australian Designer clothes, shoes, bags, jewellery and make-up. 

Crave - October 2011

This week has been a shocker for me in terms of blogging...but I have an excuse! I was in Melbourne for the whole week for work and was unfortunately too busy to contemplate checking emails let alone blogging! Plus I was without my Macbook as well boo :(

Anyway October is already halfway through and it is so remiss of me to not have even posted about Crave Sydney Food Festival! It's the best foodie month of the year in Sydney (well, supposedly) though I've found it increasingly commercialised year after year so have found myself attending less things - it was much better when it was still called Good Food Month. Plus with October nearing Christmas and the silly season, things just get all too hectic.

Being someone with a sweet tooth though, the things I always try and do, if anything, is Sugar Hit  and High Tea. So far I've managed to do one of each - though for High Tea we ended up just doing the normal menu.

For Sugar Hit we tried out Glass at Hilton, a perennial favourite. You can't beat the convenient city location and the glass surroundings. We didn't have a booking, but by knowing a bit of a trick and getting in early we found ourselves easily being served at 9pm on the first Friday night of the festival (traditionally one of the harder days to get a table too!).

I had the Sugar Hit special, though some of my dining companions had some normal menu items which actually looked amazing too.

Sugar Hit Special - Chocolate Bavarois with a tasty caramel sorbet

Toffee souffle with pecan butter ice cream

Fruity bombe alaska

I tried a scoop of the bombe alaska and it was really quite good - the meringue layer was paper thin and besides the slightly fake tasting lychee juice that seemed to be floating around, it was a well balanced dessert.

I quite liked my bavarois but it was a bit too...rich and nutty for my liking. I'm one for rich desserts but I think it was a bit too strong for my palate that night as I was expecting a lighter bavarois (perhaps I've been too used to fruity bavarois).

And onto High Tea - we went to Sheraton on the Park for their buffet High Tea. Sheraton, though quite old,  has for some reason always been amongst my favourite hotels in Sydney. Something about the stateliness of it, I think. Anyway they have a very good deal on buffet High Tea - for $40 you can select from a just expansive enough selection of cakes, savoury items and sweet treats without the time limit that comes with a lot of the other High Tea buffets. I recall visits to Swissotel's 2 hour High Tea buffet with friends which has a bountiful selection of amazing cakes, but with the time limit in place you don't really feel very lady like scoffing your afternoon tea and waiting in line with other hungry diners to hoard your plate with goodies so that you don't 'miss out' on the best items.

Apologies for the dodgy photo!

Anyway, I digress. Sheraton's high tea is served in their front lobby tea room and it was quite fabulous being able to sit there and spend our time luxuriously going back and forth between the buffet selecting the items we liked the best. Though they may not have a wide selection, their bagels (see photo above!) were filling and good quality, so we weren't complaining.

These were some of the other sweet treats. They also had the obligatory scones, a small selection of fruit, and something a little bit different - a whole selection of lollies! Oreos, jaffas, gummy bears were placed in bowls and jars along side the hand made chocolates which I unfortunately was too full to try.

Has anyone been to any other good Crave events?

#6 Burberry for Winter

Apologies for my hiatus of late and for my lack of shopping updates! But rest assured there will be many in the next few weeks seeing as I've made the most of NAP's free shipping and ordered 4 things. My last order is yet to even be dispatched (it's been more than 24 hours so I'm starting to worry) but my other orders have literally arrived within a few days which is amazing given the distance.

Anyway enough ramble, as I already hinted to the other day, I ordered some Burberry goodies as my next Shoe Subscription order.

I've been wanting a classic Burberry beige trench and always intended to order one with my prize money, but the one I want is £800, and that's the short one. For less moolah I could get a beautiful Burberry wool and cashmere trench which is probably more practical as a winter coat so I went down that route. I couldn't for the life of me decide so I ended up ordering two woo!

Apologies for the photo intensive post...

Both boxes arrived on the same day which was a little embarrassing when I had to collect it from my lovely neighbour who signs for all my packages. Oh and I thought I would take a quick close up pic of the shoes I wore to that wedding last week while I was at it <3 (The satin is getting dirty and scuffed but they still look glam)

Oooh what's this? A beautiful NAP garment bag!

So the first one I ordered was a beautifully soft cashmere and wool trench in black. I love that the fabric is so light yet heavy enough to keep you warm. I have a few winter coats which, while warm, weigh a tonne and really aren't fun to carry around when you enter a heated room. 

Because of the boxy trench style, it was a little bit big, but I thought that was probably a good thing so I could fit more layers underneath. I love that it's literally like a trench, with all the belt detailing, beautiful buttons and sleeve cuffs.

Back of the trench coat

I ended up returning this one because it wasn't quite as unique as I had hoped, but...

I also ordered another Burberry wool coat from the Burberry Brit diffusion line (see photo above!). This one was a little bit more expensive, but totally worth it because it's got extra detailing such as the large collared lapel which can be worn up around the neck for warmth. This one isn't as soft or light as the one before because it's a wool and polyamide mix but it feels so lush and the fit is perfect.

Even the view from the back shows how fitted it is with all the panelling. The belt is quite casual, but it adds a nice touch to it too.

And underneath the collar is a funky zip pocket! Don't you just love the buttons too?

So do you think I made the right choice? I'm still eyeing off another coat (a red one this time!) but I'm waiting out to see whether more new stock comes in! 

Wedding Bells

Who doesn't love a good wedding right? Well the last few weeks I have been celebrating my friend's wedding with all sorts of festivities - the Hens Night, Kitchen Tea and of course the big event which was this weekend! I wasn't able to make the Kitchen Tea but being part of the other two was heaps of fun and I love seeing a friend so happy. You know when you just know a couple is perfect for each other...well that's how everyone at the wedding felt. And now for some pics....

Mood lighting

We went to the burlesque show at Crystal Boudoir at GPO. I wouldn't quite call it a 'burlesque' show as it was more of a performance...if only it was exciting as the burlesque scenes in Gossip Girl or more Dita Von Teese inspired! We kept on thinking some Christina Aguilera singing (a la Burlesque the movie) would help bring some excitement to the show too. But nonetheless, a beautiful place to hang out!

Inspiration in the form of Burlesque the movie, Gossip Girl and Dita Von Teese

Anyway, enough of a picture sidetrack, here's a pic of one of the actual performers. There were 3 girls and a guy and let's just say these girls were uber flexible and very intense.

Catsuit wearing performer

And now some from the wedding! I was playing around with settings on my camera as well to make for some moody images...

Bridal bouquet

Beautiful vintage wedding cars taken with 'nostalgic' camera setting

Anndd for good measure, a kinda crappy pic of my beautiful shoes. They are blush satin slingbacks by Alessandro Dell'Acqua. I love that they've got a bit of elegant 'funk' with the mirrored/beaded embellishments. I'll take a better picture of them sometime and blog about them.

They were actually the same shoes I wore to my 21st so they will always have a place in my heart :)