Petals in Disarray's 2010 Summer Collection

Should I say 'exclusive'? What I have in my mortal hands are the latest collection photos from Petals in Disarray. Petals are heading over to Melbourne during the fashion festival to meet customers in the East and to expand its market. Photos were made by none other than Heather from Red Images. Petals in Disarray has a mix of elegance and quirky fun. Garments are pretty but it's not 'Barbie or Girly' pretty - not just petals. Each design has elements of fun and intrigue - in disarray. That feeling comes not only from edgy pattern work by Terri-Anne but also from all details - buttons, and their placement, darts, opening, closures and all other interesting little things.

You can dress down and dress up with them. It's elegance with personality. It all makes sense now. So here are my faves from the newest Petals in Disarray.

Photos by: Heather Reading @ Red Images Fine Photography

Check out Heather's blog post on this shoot which has bigger images.

Alistair Trung Dress

I never used to wear anything this strange yet spectacular. Looking back what I used to wear, this is way more interesting.

This is what I bought at Periscope in King Street when they were having a summer clearance sale a couple of weeks ago. When I picked it up, it was just a giant rectangle. I took if off from the sales rack and tried it on. The sales lady at the shop was saying 'Not many people can pull it off. you can't have big boobs or long hair. That's why it's going at such a bargain price. Blah Blah'. She failed to tell me that it suited me. I had to help her out by adding at the tail end of her comment 'Do you think I'm pulling it off okay?'. 'Oh Yeah!'. Sorry but I thought 'you could do better than that, lady'. Oh well, either way, it's a cool dress and I think I look okay in it. I would have bought it regardless of what she thought or said anyhow.

Alistair Trung is a cool designer. The rectangle's top ends fold up to cover my shoulders and create lovely ruffles. This shirt dress (if you could call it that) is warm enough for cooler months. I just need a pair of those cropped tights or leggings with boots. I just need to wrap myself around with some cool scarf. Now all set for Autumn. Perth's Autumn that is - 25C and nice and sunny.

Daniella Caputi for STYLEAID 2010 Tribe

I've been hanging out to find out about this year's STYLEAID. I've been just getting bits and pieces of information from various sources. I finally got something official to tell you if you didn't know already.

This year's theme is 'TRIBE' as shown in Karen magazine.

STYLEAID 2009's theme was White on White so there was a special student collection dedicated WOW. This year is going to be all 'colours' it seems. The teaser image above is certainly very colourful and I'm so excited to find out more running up to the big show in July. Aly May, the creative genius behind STYLEAID, is pretty proud. It's amazing that she imagined this concept months ago and it's here with us and making us all itchy to see more.

Aly and her team is still in the process of finalising the list of designers who will be showcasing their collection. There's a tentative list which includes Costarella, Flannel, Anitipodium and Timothy Godbold but I'll just have to wait for the official announcement before I start jumping around. One thing we know officially is Daniella Caputi has been chosen as the winner of Absolut (vodka) Creative Award (last year's winner was Garth Cook). We all loved Daniella's Homeground Curtin Graduation show as well as Skattwalk 2010. She is now going to reveal her new collection at STYLEAID 2010 Tribe. Lots of things are happening for Daniella. She is also showcasing her current collection at Metamorphosis Student Showcase (L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival). If she wins that she will be designing a collection for Sportsgirl. Imagine Daniella for Sportsgirl. Ellie Meyer is also a contender for that actually. It could well be Prufrock for Sportsgirl or Ellie Meyer for Sportsgirl. I like both of them and I think their work is a lot stronger than any other entrants. Then again, I'm not partial here.

If you're lucky enough to fly over to Melbourne for LMFF, check out Metamorphosis.

When: Wednesday March 17, 9PM
Where: Peninsula, central Pier, Docklands

For all our lucky Perthlings hanging out for STYLEAID 2010: When: Friday, 30 July 2010
Where: Burswood Grand Ballroom.

Daniella Caputi's Skattwalk 2010

SYTLEIAD 2010 Tribe photo Credits: Photographer – Penny Lane
Creative Director – Aly May

Purple tribe
Stylist: Eddie Dos Santos @ Viviens Creative
Model: Greta @ Chadwicks
Makeup: Bruce Lim @ MAC
Hair: Jody Fiannaca
Bather bottoms; Black Box
Shoes: Hunter Store, Leederville
Gloves: Diamond Aps, Fremantle

Green tribe
Stylist: Aly May
Model: Sarah @ Viviens
Makeup: Bruce Lim @ MAC
Hair: Sue Morgan @ Be Ba Beau assisted by Blake
Bather Bottoms: Black Box
Knitting: Thanks to Anne Farren
Shoes: Stylist own coloured with Dancing Torso

Brown tribe
Stylist: Kiara Thomson (Winner of Awesomeness award at the Curtin Graduation Show 2009)
Model: Melissa @ Scene models
Makeup: Erin Butcher @ MAC
Hair: Sarah Williamson – Lime Fusion
Bather Bottoms: Black Box
Boots: Zomp

Orange tribe
Stylist: Teagan Sewell
Model: Steffanie @ Viviens
Makeup: Carol Mackie @ MAC
Hair: Marie @ Head Studio
Bather Bottoms: Black Boxv
Shoes: Stylist own coloured by Dancing Torso

Pink tribe
Stylist: Chelsey Wayte
Model: Jessi @ Scene models
Makeup: Hendra Widjaja
Hair: Jean @ House of Ernest
Body Illustration: Tane Andrews
Corset & Cuffs: Alister Yiap
Shoes: Zomp

Chris Huzzard for studio space
Daria for her assistance.

unwrapped at South Perth foreshore

As I suspected, weather was perfect. Nice breeze was fantastic although stall holders had to come up with ingenious ideas to secure all their stuff before they got blown away. I got there early to just see how stall holders set up the stands and also to beat the crowd. It's not easy freely talking to designers when they are also trying to do business with customers.

It was a good thing getting out of the house. Not only it was a lovely day but also I found a few new designers I would like to find out more, such as:

Lily in love

Little Gracie

Mel K Designs

There are some more interesting news (stuff you may already know) to share with you. That's for tomorrow.

Aurelio Costarella dress finally

I've been raving about this dress in more than one posts so I thought it's only fair to show it to you. This is what I scored in eBay for AUD$100 the other week after a disappointing trial of AUD$800 dress in Post Emporium - Costarella's Flagship store in North Perth. Of course, I couldn't afford a dress that expensive. What you see in this photo is made with a cheaper cotton (more coarse and less floaty) but it has the pretty much the same cut and design.

The actual volume of the dress isn't that obvious with my broad shoulders and less than tiny waist. That's why I lifted up the ends to see how far it spreads out. You can see that there's a fair bit of fabric in the dress.

That's what makes this dress so special. Just imagine this dress with a light and more floaty fabric. Heaven. My friend, Helen, has one in greyish brown colour and that's what I would really love to have.

Actually, Costarella is having a summer clearance next Monday in East Perth. I might have to try my luck...

unwrapped March 2010 in South Perth

My favourite market place unwrapped is happening again this Saturday as part of South Perth Fiesta festival. Should I be super arrogant to say that my coverage has provided some solid PR for unwrapped? Who knows but unwrapped is going strong each year (well each time really). As a quarterly event it's quite successful and it's really my favourite of all market events. It gets even more interesting because I now know a lot of designers who participate in the market - Cocoa Pod, Christobel, Prufrock by Ellie Meyer who recently dressed me just to name a few.

The line up for this year's Fall unwrapped is very impressive. There are whopping 70 designers showcasing their talent in South Perth foreshore. It's going to be a lovely day if today's weather is anything to go by. Perfectly blue sky (which we tend to get week after week as Gilles Peterson 'lamented') and a nice temperature of 25C? Perfect!

Unwrapped has also taken its marketplace online by opening an eboutique. This isn't going to get my big tick for now as it feels rather too confined (design wise) and the category listing is not at all logical. It's obvious that it's (once again) built by someone who doesn't understand online retail. It's not that difficult but very few get it right. Anyhoo, the whole point of Unwrapped market place is about meeting the designers face to face and buy directly while having some chit chat with them. I wish all the best for the unwrapped team for their effort (I know a lot of work goes into creating an online store) but I'm still liking the idea of going out to an open air market more. I'd save online shopping for eBay, Etsy or Amazon where the choice is absolutely endless and the buying experience is seamless (until other online retail sites catch up and American sites decide to ship to Australia)

Simple food and boots

It's March already but we, Perthlings, are still experiencing some scorching heat. Honestly, it's been too hot to do anything. Last night, the very last gig was on for Beck's music box and Gilles Peterson was mending the deck for the After Party. If I wasn't feeling too queasy after sweating for days I would have stayed on and enjoyed some of his world music but I had to come home after 10 minutes. What a shame!

Of course, it's too hot to cook either. A visit to our local Deli Scutti was always a worthwhile trip even on a day like this. They had five or six different types of plums which were bursting with flavours and fruity juice. They had a tasting plate for each. I went into a full blown plum tasting and ended up getting some big juicy plums which turned out to be perfect as a pre-dinner nibble. Dinner was just bocconcini, rocket leaves, gorgeously ripe avocado, basil, blood red tomatoes and some seriously mature parmesan cheese all tossed together with olive oil. All that was going to be mopped up with a day old lightly toasted cibatta loaf. On a day like this cooking something with a gas stove is just not thinkable.

For me, March isn't cool enough to be the start of Fall. It doesn't matter how I feel though. A quick trip to King St. revealed that summer fashion has gone away already. Periscope cleared most summer items and I was only able to catch the tail end of the summer clearance bargain. Zomp is now fully stocked with boots.

Talk about boots, as I briefly mentioned a few days ago that I've been watching Frye boots on eBay. Not that I ever stop doing that. I finally managed to get a pair of Frye Fulton boots for my guy.

As for me, I've been watching so many vintage Frye boots getting sold. They are really selling like hotcakes - understandably it's still freezing cold in most parts of the planet. That said, vintage Frye boots are super popular at the moment. I placed bids once or twice gingerly and I never won any. When I saw this pair of burgundy boots with stacked heels I had to bite the bullet and really went for it. Luckily the price didn't go all the way up to the maximum amount I set. They just have to fit me now. It's always a bit of a gamble buying shoes online. Anyhoo, by the time they turn up maybe it will be cool enough to wear them.

So it's still hot but I'm shopping for boots already and avoiding any kind of 'cooking' if at all possible opting for mere assembly of stuff. Simple food is good I find. I Just like a piece of Lebanese flatbread with pickled cucumber and some garlic sauce - nothing fancy to feel my belly on a hot day like today.

P.S. The Prophet in Vic Park serves just that when you order food as a starter.

Ballet at the Quarry

My friend's misfortune gave us an opportunity to go out to the Quarry Amphitheatre to see WA Ballet performing modern ballet (there were no tutus) with corporate hospitality thrown in - properly stocked hamper with wine and a couple of beach chairs. I was supposed to be tagging along to this as a guest but I've received a last minute call from my buddy saying that she couldn't come due to her mother's sudden collapse. She suggested the my guy and I should use the tickets. Couldn't say it was a fortunate thing as we were both worried. No reason to waste two tickets to the ballet - that was the message in the end.

Have you been to the Quarry? It's an amazing venue specially for ballet. I wonder how many cities there are in the world where people can watch ballet at an outdoor venue. I'm not new to WA ballet as I once visited their studio during rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet which was simply amazing. Current season of Ballet at the Quarry is showcasing modern ballet choreographed by a couple of really well known (if you know your ballet that is) choreographers and a couple of young guns. I say young guns only because they look relatively younger than the other two. I'm not at all a ballet expert mind you.

What I really liked were two middle sections of the show. Ivan Cavallari, Artistic Director of WA Ballet, gave us Dolly. The program says "Dolly, an intimate reflection on life and death, and the constant human quest for eternity." There's nothing more for me to add as it was exactly that. One thing I might add is how wacky it was at the end. I don't want to spoil as you may want to go and see it yourself but the end of the section was pretty weird in a good way. Then the 'Game we play' by Timothy O'Donnell was something anyone would have understood. It was very approachable and funny. All this was presented with some heavy duty classical pieces by Sergei Prokofiev and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

It's funny. While I was taking note of these names I remembered one really offensive comment I got in one of my posts. The commenter was basically telling me off accusing me of not proof reading and not checking spelling in my posts for designer names etc. Obviously someone is taking what I do really seriously. In case you're wondering.. I don't.

The photo was taken using my iPhone just before the show. The image is straight out of Best Camera iPhone app. No other tinkering was done. The reason why I say is because it was simply an amazing moment and the perfect timing. I wish I could take you there.

Ballet at the Quarry is something I recommend every summer. It's good fun. Watching ballet outdoors after a picnic dinner at the Quarry with some amazing sunset and the rock wall as a backdrop. The current season runs until Saturday 6 March 2010.

William Rast

Most of us only focus on big time fashion houses during Fashion Weeks. I found out during one of the Fashion Talks - must have been Antipodium talk - that fringe events where emerging designers and retailers meet and transact are just as big and interesting. That's where Antipodium became big after all.

William Rast is hardly fringe since it is partially created and funded by none other than Justine Timberlake and it came out with a bang at the New York Fashion Week this year. Is it ever so fashionable for celebrity to get into the fashion business? Either way we now have another place to look for quintessentially American attire - jeans.

It's not prohibitively expensive but not cheap either. Prices are ranging from less than USD$200 for a pair of jean leggings to approx. USD$400 for tailored jackets.

I think those jeans with rectangular patches are rather cool. We will have to wait and see if it will create a following as big as, say, True Religion.

ae'lkemi to the Prophet and back to the Middle East

A cryptic title, isn't it? You just have to read on.

We've watched the movie, A Prophet, sometime last week. I was mourning about how I couldn't understand a word of damn French only because I never got to hang out with any French thugs when I was living in Paris. After having resorted to reading the subtitles I decided that it was too grim to watch. As David from At the Movies mentioned it was a bit like eating Brussels sprouts. It was a great movie but I couldn't stomach it.

After having spent a rather noisy (vacuuming) and dusty (dusting) weekend we both felt that we must do something different before we face another week of mundane routine. Coincidentally, my guy took me out to a Lebanese restaurant called The Prophet on Sunday night. You can't just casually walk into the Prophet. You must book a table. That's what we had to do even for Sunday and we couldn't even get a table inside although sitting outside was rather pleasant. For an occasion such as this, I decided that my new ae'lkemi top which I scored in eBay fit the bill.

I knew that The Prophet was a decent joint when I spotted a group of Arab dudes wandering into the place. Instead of feeling intimidated from these bald headed guys I felt rather assured that I came to an authentic spot. We ordered Baba Ghanoush, Shish taouk and Hot fish. Once we were settled along came a bowl of garlic sauce, pickled cucumber and warm flat bread. The garlic sauce (it has the consistency of well beaten peaked egg white with the pungency of garlic) nostalgically reminded us both of our time in Abu Dhabi.

So it happens that our beloved friend Caspar has been commissioned to create an installation art piece for Al Bustan Complex in Abu Dhabi. This means that he will be traveling over there at some point this year. With that we entertained the idea that we will pay a wee visit to the Middle East and show our Friends around in Abu Dhabi. We could visit all our hangout spots. Lebanese Flower for a family feast, all young gay waiters (there was a rumour), cheerfully serve up a mountain of grilled meat (Caspar is vegetarian so we will have to have his share of meat too I suppose) and an equally large amount of salad and super garlic sauce will be offered. Then there's a formal Persian restaurant in our old stomping ground called Pars Palace. The atmosphere is somewhat more subdued but elegant. They serve up a large selection of mezze type small nibbles including the most amazing bread freshly baked in their wood fired oven. We also have to take our friends to the 7-star hotel Emirates Palace for a high tea. After that over the top experience - all handles made with Swarovski Crystals - we could get a day pass to the British Club (aka The Club) to enjoy a private beach and a dip in the bath warm waters of the Gulf sea while ordering cocktails and beer from our lounge beds. If we infidels feel the urge we could pay a special visit to the Grand Mosque for some spiritual experience. Can't really skip Trader Vic's jalapeno chili cheese balls and Rum cocktails after that - so the list just goes on.

To do all that and more we'll need at least a week. Caspar will only be there for a day or two probably. Besides that who wants to spend a week in Abu Dhabi of all places? Our conversation, of course, continued while chowing down the most garlicky garlic sauce with warm bread, scrumptious grilled chicken and fish with tahini and chilli sauce. Briefly during our time at The Prophet we went all the way to the Middle East and came back. We could well make it to Abu Dhabi if all stars align properly. Who knows. If I really get to do that trip you will find out before anyone.

Splash of colours from Estreya

I don't like doing self portraits and I don't like having my photos taken. There, I said it. And a lot of times I think to myself who gives a crap about what I'm wearing. One day when I was shooting backstage at some fashion show I was talking to some fashion models (as you do). That time I was told she did care about stuff I wear. Could well have been a small talk.

This isn't really to show off what I'm wearing as such since it's nothing special but I did make a special effort to add some colour thanks to Estreya's colourful wooden earrings.

Arana from Estreya sent me three earrings to try out and I'm glad I picked those. There are other colourful and affordable accessories in Estreya's website.

Red Images and Petals in Disarray

I found out today that some interesting collaboration was about to happen without me knowing about it. Not anymore I suppose. A good friend of mine, great photographer, Header Reading is due to do a next campaign shoot for Petals in Disarray. I didn't even know that these two - Heather and Megan - knew each other. Why didn't I think of that? I knew both of them. Now I think about it things will work out pretty well for both.

Petals have particular aesthetic to their label but it has been quite difficult to present that in photos. Fortunately, their graphic designer has been doing a spectacular job of capturing the essence of what is Petals in Disarray. From the branding down to the garment label, I love what she did and what you see here is exactly that. Now with Heather shooting the new collection we could expect some professional quality photos for each garment.

Photographers all have their favourite things to shoot and taking wedding photos isn't for everybody. I don't know what Heather from Red Images Fine Photography would prefer to shoot but what I know is fashion would be one of the top things in her list of things to shoot. I can kinda guess that as our first encounter took place at the Perth Fashion Festival in 2008 in one of the photographers' pits.

We've all come a long way since then. I might be able to have a sneak peek at the new collection from Petals in Disarray before anyone else (be it at the photoshoot or by poking Heather). Either way, I'm happy for them.. anyhoo I'm really looking forward to a lazy weekend. Another wishful thinking but I can never give up hope.

Update on Perth Fashion Festival 2010: After a grim and sad piece of news from the West last week regarding the State government's funding (or possible lack there of) I've received along with other PFF's Facebook members a message from Lauren Elliot who is leading the PFF marketing team. It seems like it's definitely back on. Message title reads 'PFF 2010 is full steam ahead!'. That is quite different from the sentiment I felt all of this week. Its Facebook group page is rather 'blank' and sad but I do hope the show goes on. For goodness sake. 200K isn't a lot of money for the city which is set to become 'Dubai' of Australia. Too much of an exaggeration do you think?

Style by the West Australian

I picked up some news from The West today. Timothy Godbold who came back from a long stint in the USA is showcasing his work at Melbourne Fashion Festival next month. I was introduced to him once last year at one of the Fashion Talks organised by the Fremantle Arts Festival. Aly May suggested that I should interview him for Style Discovery. I should have done it way back then. Now he is going to be too busy to meet up with some small time blogger. Ah well one of those things. I won't despair. I will get to meet him one of those days. There was an interesting interview piece with him in the Style insert in today's paper. Did you see?

Cover - model wearing a Costarella dress and a corset. Tony & Guy hair design (on the right), Timothy Godbold dress and an interview article.

I never used to read paper but it's always there in our lunch area everyday so I know that Wednesday is the day when I'd flick through a large number of pages to get to the Style insert which I came to love. Not all of it though but I always find something I love as you've seen in my previous post 'Get the look for less' by Teagan Swell.

Today's eye catching stuff was with Tony & Guy's interesting fall look with high fashion (picture above, girl with red hair). Then there was good news on six WA designers going to Melbourne to participate in the Fashion Festival 2010. There are none other than Aurelio Costarella, Of Cabbage and Kings, Timothy Godbold, Joveeva, Antipodium and Carly Hunter.

Once again it was fun for me to see familiar names in the paper - Teagan as the stylist, Penny L for the photo and Penny A for the makeup. I love all those ensembles - that goes without saying

What I don't get though is why these photos or articles are not available online. I get that Newspapers are making less and less money because readers are now getting free news online but there's huge inconsistency in what's available online and what's not. For example, I would put the key looks Teagan created online with list of items she used linking to the designers or retailers' websites. In terms of web marketing there's nothing better than that. Obviously, if some of the key articles were in the website (http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest) I wouldn't be taking photos of the newspaper just to show you what I find interesting. Kinda backwards not to mention bad quality images. It's not like having the style section properly archived online is going to lower the paper sales. Or is it more the case of not having enough staff to handle that? Come to think of it that will be a perfect little job for a blogger. Anyhoo, I'm looking forward to next week's Style insert and I'll also search online to see if they happen to have photos online so that I can skip the 'taking photo of newspaper part'. Wishful thinking I know.

P.S. Are you a fan of Joveeva? Joveeva's creator, Alison Cotton, apparently was offered a pretty good deal by Lane Crawford department store chain. I've been to one of those in Hong Kong which was rater posh. A lot poshier than David Jones here in Australia. Big congrats! WA fashion is doing rather well. In the meantime, we don't know if PFF 2010 is going to happen. How tragic. I'd better make some phone calls to find out what's what.

Rick Owen Lilies jacket, Cohen et Sabine belt and Lydia Bremer necklace

That's the list of my new acquisitions from Ricarda and Zekka sale. To be specific all those are from Ricarda. It just happened that way. You know how it is. I had exactly twenty minutes to shop and what got my attention got into my shopping bag at the end.

I wasn't after any particular brand mind you. I didn't know that I was buying a piece of Rick Owens Lilies. I've heard of Cohen et Sabine but never tried to buy anything from that label. It's not like any of these are imported in mass or readily available in major retailers. Lydia Bremer is a Dutch Jewellery designer. Judging by her website I don't think she is hugely famous either. Nonetheless, all together if I was buying them at regular prices I would have been looking at spending about AUD$1,500 but I didn't. I had a budget of less than $300 and I spent $250. There you have it. Visit to the clearance sale from Zekka and Ricarda should really be part of your yearly fashion roadmap. I didn't end up buying any zekka pieces but most pieces were heavily discounted. I've asked my guy to go down there so I'll have to see if he actually does pick up any.

Interesting thing about Rick Owens Lilies is that I didn't know that Rick Owens had a sub label. Obviously, retailers such as Maxshop and Ezibuy were 'inspired' by his basic drapey styles. Now I can see that a lot of stuff that I purchased online were basically indirect copies of Rick Owens' designs. It's good then that I now own a genuine article.

Apart from this, I've been filling my fashion/style event void with shopping on eBay and iTunes after having discovered Jamie Liddell, Goran Bregovic, and Sebastien Tellier.

What am I buying on eBay? Getting ready for Fall so looking at more boots (yep, my boots obsession continues and this time with Frye from the USA). I also found a cotton version of the Ray Costarella dress for $100 (instead of $800 although I'm still thinking about that dress so if Post Emporium is having a sale you know where I'll be)

Just a little piece of news before I hit the sack. I got a message from a twitter buddy and some people from work that Perth Fashion Festival 2010 may not happen. Apparently, the usual funding from the State government has not been confirmed or something along that line. This was on the local newspaper over the weekend but I failed to notice. If this is true I'll be a little sad. A little? Well. That will be a gross understatement. I suppose this could well be some political push and pull at the top. As far as I'm concerned, the show will probably go on and it will be more about who has the power to make changes and the kind of changes they want to see in terms of personnel and perception of the festival. Honestly, who knows? Fashion Festival is the really the thing that made Style Discovery and made it sort of 'famous'. You wouldn't believe how many people visit this blog now thanks to my diligent coverage of PFF two years running.