Love Vintage Show – Melbourne

Do you all remember me telling you about going to the antiques fair here in Ballarat and hearing about the upcoming Love Vintage Show in Melbourne?

It was at the Ballarat show that I met the lovely Bruna from Vintage Linens and Collectables. As it turns out, Bruna is even more awesome than I thought! She remembered how much I loved her stuff and sent me a ticket to attend the Love Vintage Show in Melbourne this past weekend!

And…yes…I did…Love it that is! And…yes…I did buy a few things!

It was being held at the Royal Exhibition Building at the Carlton Gardens in Melbourne which is an amazing building but far better was the amazing vintage stuff going on inside. Some of those attending were decked out in their vintage and looked fab. I was pretty tame in a vintage maxi skirt and a little vintage jewelry. But then I had a few other things to do after the show. Plus, as much as I love vintage and vintage inspiration, I don’t like to look like I walked off a movie set. I would much rather incorporate vintage into my modern life.

In fact, there was so much amazing stuff I was nearly overwhelmed. I did a full lap of the building three times. First time around was to see everything and take a few pictures…plus stop in to say hi to Bruna. Second lap was actually going in to each both and looking to see what they had, what I might like and to touch all the amazing stuff! Third trip around was about trying on and buying. And honestly, I completely loved each trip around the building.

Tomorrow I will share photos of what I bought and see if the Fashion Mister can take a couple of pics of me wearing some of it.

In the mean time, check out Bruna and her Facebook page. She has some beautiful vintage textiles. Minus the few that came home with me!

Vintage Linens & Collectables by Bruna Capodanno phone: 0406 255 758
bruna.c@laposte.netVintage Linens & Collectables on Facebook

 

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Shoe Down at Cafe Cornucopia!

It has begun…Shoe Down at Cafe Cornucopia!

Across from the hospital here in Ballarat is an adorable cafe called Cafe Cornucopia. The staff is all lovely, Chris makes a fantastic coffee, Glenda always knows what I’ll have and Kevin has gotten quite fascinated by my shoes! Which is exactly what lead to the Shoe Down.

As most of you may have figured out by now, I LOVE SHOES! And as I go over to the Cafe Cornucopia most days to get a take-away soup the fabulous team over there have begun keeping an eye on my shoes. On Monday, I wore my gorgeous Pollini’s purchased when we were in Barcelona and got both Kevin and Chris buzzing, which lead to Kevin challenging me to a Shoe-Off.

It was set for high-noon on Friday.

As I had already worn my most amazing shoes on Monday, it became a challenge to sort out which shoes I would wear. I opted for a pair I normally would never wear to work…because they are CRAZY high. A black pair of Jeffery Campbell’s. Spectacularly fierce but not that great for marching up and down the stairs of a hospital. Although if you are going to fall off your shoes and break an ankle…I guess a hospital is the place to do it!

So high-noon on Friday, I tottered myself across the street for the Shoe Down.

They were waiting for me.

Kevin came around to stand next to me as I admired his shoes and Sally snapped a picture.

Shoe Down at Cafe Cornucopia

Shoe Down at Cafe Cornucopia

Kevin hadn’t told me he was a ballroom dancer so he had a few tricks up his sleeve, or pant legs, when it came to shoes!

The Shoe Down was so much fun that Cafe Cornucopia is going to start a Shoe Down / Shoe – Off on Fridays! They are thinking they might offer customers a free coffee for wearing fabulous shoes. I suggested they take pictures of all the shoes that people wear and do a collage then have the other customers vote on their favourites. Kevin’s thinking of getting a shoe and spray painting it gold to make a trophy.

I think I am going to have to buy some new shoes!

Bring on the Shoe Down!

Who do you think the first winner should be? Me or Kevin?


International Museum Day

In honour of International Museum Day, I am remembering our trip to Egypt and the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities.

The reason I am sharing these photos is that the Roaring 20s and Art Deco were so greatly inspired by the discoveries coming from Egypt at the time. The day we spent at the museum was amazing and this only scratches the surface.

Enjoy!

Yeah for all International Museums and their preservation of treasure.

The Fashion Mister and I were so lucky to have had the opportunity to visit Egypt and see the amazing sights.


Trends to Love – Roaring 20s Floral

Yep, more Gatsby inspired dressing by me!

After all, it is a trend to love! This is how I would have done floral in the Roaring 20s. In fact, it works pretty well for 2013. I had envisioned this outfit and planned to wear it for a Fashion Mister shoot, however, I didn’t have a single good idea on where to do the shoot. As you know, last weekend was Heritage Weekend here in Ballarat so the Fashion Mister and I just parked in town and thought we would go into one of the heritage listed buildings that was open for the weekend.

Funny thing was, as we were walking up the Bath Lane, behind Craig’s Royal Hotel this doorway and awning seemed the perfect spot to stop. Which believe it or not, makes it special. Why would a lane-way be special? Well, it happens to pretty much be the spot where the Fashion Mister and I were standing when he proposed.

NO! We weren’t hanging out in the gutter and there was nothing scandalous going on in the lane-way!

We were walking from a restaurant back to our parked car and as we passed the door to the office of a local jewelry designer the Fashion Mister said, “See that door there? We have an appointment with them next week. If you’ll be my wife”. Obviously I said yes. Then we went into the bar at Craig’s Royal to see a friend who worked there as a mixologist to celebrate!

So to me, this isn’t just any old lane-way.

The Look: Definitely inspired by the 20s, just maybe not quite the roaring looks portrayed in the movies. Probably more like what I would imagine the “normal” people of the time would have been wearing. I have had the shirt for a couple of years. Purchased from Glasson’s, I typically wear it with the Ralph Lauren tweed pants from my Heritage Ralph Lauren post earlier in the week. I just found the skirt a few months ago and bought it because it’s the same print as the shirt although in different fabrics, so it looks slightly different. It was marked down to $12 and I knew I wanted to give it a chance to work with the shirt.

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The Accessories: Naturally the Roaring 20s requires stacks of beads. Long, short, coloured – wear them all! My well-loved copper vintage bracelets and pair of shoes I have had for about 5 years. Purchased about 5 years ago from a local shoe shop because I fell in love with the vintage look of them. I get so many compliments when I wear them. I opted for the graphic clutch as a touch of modern to hopefully keep the look from being too much like a costume and as we headed out the door I grabbed my red cloche hat.

I think it all came together pretty well. I’m not convinced that I like the shirt and skirt together as much as I would have liked. To be honest the skirt is actually a long skirt (maxi) and I hiked it up to just under the bra to get the right length (midi) for the time. I’m probably more likely to continue wearing the shirt as I have with the pants and wear the skirt with a big over-sized sweater and boots. However, I do like the hat with this print and am thinking I need to find myself another cloche hat or two for the coming winter months.

What do you think? A trend to love? Does it work for a roaring 20s floral inspiration?


Things I’m Loving – Great Gatsby Inspiration!

Just in case you haven’t noticed over the past couple of weeks…

I’m LOVING Great Gatsby inspirations!

Considering I came into the month lean on ideas, it’s amazing how much inspiration I have found in picking the Great Gatsby as my muse. Of course, I have taken creative liberties in interpreting Great Gatsby and decided, Roaring 20s, Jazz Age and all things Art Deco also qualify. For today, I really just wanted to share a few lovely black and white images  from that time period that truly inspire me.

Even though I LOVE every one of these images and I’m sure you can see how they have inspired me in the looks I have already shared this month…my absolute favourite is the one of the 1920s hair with the head scarf! How gorgeous is that pick and look?!

I keep thinking of being away somewhere fabulous on holiday. Dressing casual, yet being stunning and chic. I’m going to have to do my best to translate that look into my next holiday. I wonder if it will work for monsoon season in Hong Kong??? At least if I am wearing lovely pieces in silk they will dry quickly!

Do any of these photos inspire you? Which ones and Why?

Or am I the only loving Great Gatsby inspiration?


A Ralph Lauren Heritage Weekend

Really? Would you expect anything else from me? It was Heritage Weekend in Ballarat and surprise…I was wearing Ralph Lauren!

Of course if you know me you are probably thinking about how I go on and on about the 20s inspired looks of a couple of season’s ago and my obsession with the silk wide-legged pants. However, I didn’t want to be THAT predictable but I did want to celebrate my love of Ralph Lauren, my current obsession with Great Gatsby inspiration, and a simple desire to dress classic occasionally.

I’ll let you be the judge of how well, or poorly, I did in interpreting any of that!

The Look: I knew the look would start with a pair of Ralph Lauren pants. Why? Because I own a fair few pair of them…love the wid-legged classic cut…think my tweed pair would be a perfect reference to both Heritage Weekend and Great Gatsby inspiration! Add in my vintage op-shop shirt with a bit of a hunting theme and pull on a pale butter yellow Ralph Lauren pull-over and there is the basis for this look. Simple yet classic weekend dressing. Appropriate in the 20th and 21st centuries.

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The Accessories: With the foundation laid in the classics, why stray? Simple vintage copper bracelets, rose-gold Marc Jacobs watch and earrings, and the ever classic hit – a double strand of cream coloured vintage pearls. Grab the Coach handbag and it is screaming classic, town and country woman.

This is the type of look I can spend all of autumn wearing.

I know it’s not that exciting and sometimes classic can be a little too…well…classic! So I add a bit of crazy me in the shoe selection. A pair of Nine-West ankle boots. I bought them because they looked a little like hiking boots but with the high and spiked heel, I won’t be doing much mountain-climbing.

I think they add just that hint of individuality to the look that keeps it from being boring.

What do you think? Classic? Chic? Or shouldn’t have done that?


Heritage Weekend in Ballarat

As I mentioned yesterday, Mother’s Day weekend has become Heritage Weekend in Ballarat. There were lot’s of cool and interesting things going on and the Fashion Mister and I used it as an opportunity to get out to some of the fantastic buildings we rarely have a chance to see.

Tomorrow, I’ll share some of the photo’s of what I was wearing but for today, I just want to share a little of Ballarat with you.

For those of you who don’t know about Ballarat, we are a Regional Centre of about 100,000 people in the city but our region is nearly half of Victoria! Or at least feels like it is most days at the hospital. It is also one of those cities originally founded on gold. A fair few extremely large nuggets of gold were found in the region back in the 1950s…and one recent that I may have mentioned not long ago. Another interesting tidbit about Ballarat is that the only “civil war” occurred in Ballarat at the Eureka Stockade. The Fashion Mister always says it lasted for 1/2 hour…until the pubs opened…but if you check it out on Wikipedia you’ll find out a bunch of interesting details.

Needless to say, Ballarat was a very wealthy place back in the mid 1800s and there are still lot’s of buildings heralding back to that time. As a fan of architecture, it’s a pretty cool place to live.

Around the corner of Lydiard and Sturt Streets are some of the best examples of Victorian era buildings, however Ballarat (the “Rat” as locals call it), is filled with historical spots and buildings.

I’ve always thought it was kind of cool that I grew up in a historical gold mining part of California and have ended up in a historical gold mining spot in Australia. In fact there were miner’s who had been part of the California Gold rush of 1849 who came here to Ballarat to have a go at the Gold Rush of 1854.

Small world.

 

 


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