Winner and shopping

Thank you so much for those who entered - comments and email - for the shoes giveaway. Now the big announcement.......The satin heels go to Rachel from Kittie Chaos. I hope Rachel is from Australia. If not, I have to pick anther winner. You may ask why her.. her response: teaming them up with a burlesque outfit. I have a huge soft spot for burlesque as you've seen in my series of burlesque posts.

Just a quick note on fall shopping. If you haven't seen the latest fashion catalogue from David Jones these are my favourite picks.

Miranda Kerr is sporting a Mimco bag ($349), boots ($599) and accessories. I also like the laser cut Willow dress ($599). The next photo is her wearing Sass & Bide's Next In Line maxi dress. Not as exciting as Almost Moon from last year but it's pretty nonetheless. You know that you can still buy Almost Moon dress on eBay occasionally I saw one going for $200 or so the other day.

I like this next lot more as a mood board rather than for individual pieces. I do however dig Witchery's long boots and bracelets. I might also look good in Country Road's black and white ensemble. You'll find more interesting things in their online catalogue if you so desire to check it out.

Natasha Mapleson's New Collection

I would not have found Natasha Mapleson if it wasn't for Skattwalk 2010's Wonderland. I don't know how Lisa found her as the label does not have a website although its facebook page has quite a few members. Rock a Frock, online fashion boutique carries it and that's as much as I know. I just wanted to know what we could expect for retail fashion as Skattwalk was very much theatrical. That was the reason I gave up going to the Arts Festival opening instead I went to Skatt Mt. Hawthorn to see her new collection launch.

You'll find a similar selection of photos and a little blurb in Xpress this Thursday. I'm not in the best mood to review this collection as the designer used my photos without any permission or credit. I do have to say Natasha is a talented stylist and the label's branding is meticulous. Well designed branding and styling always get my attention so I have to give big tick for that. The new collection is sexy and the harness designs are interesting and versatile. You'll see that there's a bit of Balmain's look there with pointy shoulders with her own twist.

One thing I noticed was lack of production quality for those garments at the show. I assume they were just sample pieces for the show and her sale pieces will be well made - neat seams, zippers with proper closure and ending, clean cutting around the harnesses and neat button closures to name a few.

One thing I nearly forgot to mention is that Natasha Mapleson is a 'spunk' wear I think. There were so many 'spunks' at the show. While I was there I coined the term 'spunk off' although one of my twitter buddies didn't agree with me. Never mind. I just hope that Natasha does the right thing by crediting my photos (as requested).

Dressing Songy by Ellie Meyer Prufrock

I've been lazy about bringing back Dressing Songy. It really just started out as me rummaging around my wardrobe to see how I could re-vitalise my 'style life' with your help. Presenting a pair of shoes and challenging you to come up with outfits to match was great fun when I had tons of time for this website. That original concept soon became not so viable. One big issue was funding new pairs of shoes. That was nearly solved by Betts. They were happy to help but shoes are not the only problem. Time and my wardrobe. Of course, the original format of Dressing Songy still remains and I'll sooner or later present with 'new challenges'. For the new year, however, I had a better and more fun idea. How about getting emerging designers to dress me! Getting someone else to dress me is such a hoot. Don't you think? I don't claim to be the most stylish person I know. Far from it really. The idea came to me when I started noticing some amazing local talent. Let me be honest, it came from my greed. The greed to try all that is fabulous, amazing and handmade by fellow Aussies. Sure, I don't get to own any of it (except one thing out of this post) but I can assure you I don't want everything I see and try anyway. That's good and bad. This gives me chance to try the things I'd never try on my own.

It wasn't terribly difficult to choose first few designers I wanted to work with. Luckily, I was able to catch Ellie Meyer before she runs away to Melbourne for the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival (she is one of two WA students to participate along with Daniella Caputi). As you know she is also one of three students selected at PFF09 to work in a special studio in the city to present a special collection this year too. Quite a special lady then to open a new season of dressing Songy.

I turned up at Ellies place in Fremantle one evening last week carrying a huge bag of shoes and basic stuff. She chose my long witchery boots and sportsgirl slip then the adventure began.

Ellie is a quiet but funny girl. She is into making garments which are wearable multiple ways. Have a look at this special vest I bought from her at Unwrapped 09 in Leederville. I can wear this in four different ways - up and down both inside and outside. Even after Ellie 'dressed' me with it I haven't quite worked out how but I did wear them in all different ways as you can see in the photos. The multiple way thing wasn't really my attraction at first. I really liked how cleverly patterns were cut and put together. I asked her what her usual approach is with garment design. Her simple answer was 'draping first and pattern making next'. You know the usual way of garment making right? Pattern making, cutting and putting them on a dress making dummy. Not that it is ground breaking as I know of quite a few designers using that very method but they don't always come out with fantastically clever designs. Do you see the necklace I'm wearing there? That's Ellies' new creation and you can buy them at the Form Gallery shop in Murray Street in Perth.

There's another example of 'multiple ways' dress. I nearly bought that dress but I secretly want both of them (puffy and up and down dress). Apart from the purest greed of mine - wanting to try out designer fashion - it is interesting to see how what we saw on runway can be worn by a regular girl like me. you know what I mean? These pieces were shown both at the Perth Fashion Festival 2009 and Homeground Curtin graduate show 2009. Of course they were worn by tall, skinny and stunning models. I'm a size 10 regular girl with not so long legs etc...etc the bottom line is I haven't got any quality that models got so if garments work on me any regular people should be able to pull them off. When Ellie was dressing me it felt quite effortless yet special.

Ellie is still not sure about the name Prufrock for her label. Whatever she decides to call it in the future I do hope that she continues her design with her signature inquisitiveness and frankness. That's an amazing quality to have in the so called fashion world.

I dare say this has been a very successful launch of Dressing Songy 2.0. I'll be back with more of interesting and sometimes predictable Songy's favourite designs by local designers soon.

By the way, the satin heels giveaway is still happening. I'm really giving a winner a pair of brand-new heels from Betts. It's not that difficult to enter either so go on and 'get engaged'! If commenting isn't your thing, email your answer to songyknox [at] gmail.com.

Shoes giveaway Satin heels by Betts - Tie Me Up

I went and tried out Tie Me Up from BettsThey are gorgeous but I think fashionists who love wearing heels would enjoy them more than I'd ever do so I decided to giveaway a pair of Tie Me Up from Betts. I'm in a giving mode...

As a blogger I don't usually get any free stuff so this is a rare moment. I could just keep them for myself but I think giving away will be more fun.

Here's the rule.

• leave a comment in this post
• The comment has to be about how you'd wear these delicious heels
• winner will have to send me a photo with that exact outfit once heels are delivered

I'll be the judge. I'll choose my favourite outfit idea from the comments list. For now, I'll open this only to Australian readers. So let's hear it. How would you wear these heels?

Skattwalk 2010 - Act 7 Wild Dreams

It was wild alright. Pretty darn wild. Lisa and Co. did save the best for the last or should I say the most wild for the last. Alister's designs are always very dramatic. It doesn't always get presented well enough on the runway though. A lot of black means getting too dark without a properly lit runway. With just plain lighting his designs tend to lose drama. Skattwalk catwalk was really well lit and on top of that there were blue spot lights going off and that,my friends, made it really wild. It could have been a little too much for people with heart conditions maybe?

What do you think made the show so special? You can't really miss geometric hair-dos can't you? Cubes and donuts.. all those shapes! When would you ever get to see that on people's head if it wasn't for a hair and make up show such as Skattwalk. Clearly, Natasha Vinci and Jillian Speck went to town with their hair design and I really loved them.

The show is over so this would be a good time to look at other aspects of Skattwalk 2010. The production was fantastic and it was enormously entertaining. However, there were things I noticed running up to the show. First of all, skattwalk's website. You knew that was coming didn't you? Have I ever mention someone's website just to praise? It's sad that the site doesn't give more. It could be so much better. I'm pretty sure after six years of Skattwalk there would be so much stuff to share and promote on the Internet. I won't even go into the aesthetics of the website. That brings me to ask the next question...The branding? Skatt salons are really cool and professional. Certainly, the services I experienced have been of high standard. But the promotional materials did not represent Skatt or skattwalk that well. They could be once again so much better. It's like driving around in a crappy old car wearing a Tarvydas dress. I wish I could be the advisor for the whole re-branding. Ok.. ranting time over. No doubt I would have made quite a few people upset including the guys at Skatt who worked really hard to get everything organised. In my defence, I was compelled to say what I said because I think skattwalk needs more care for the branding as people (who don't know skatt or never attended Skattwalk) would judge Skatt with what they see on paper and in magazines.

This has been the final instalment of Skattwalk 2010 coverage. There's no more until next year. Ah well, I just have to hunt for other interesting fashion events around the place don't I? In the meantime, you could still savour what was Skattwalk 2010 in Base East - where I store all of the catwalk photos.

Skattwalk 2010 - Act 6 Wonderland

I said The Undiscovered was pretty good. That was only if I was just speaking for fashion, hair and makeup. I should say Wonderland was bloody wonder - wait for it - ful (watching too much of How I met my mother...) in term of the theatrical production. Jess Truscott was fantastic as Alice and all other models were so good with the storytelling. Of course, there were darn good eye catching things - hair and costume for all the characters were carefully considered and executed. It wasn't about just telling the story - Alice in Wonderland. It was also about showing some edge fashion offering by Natasha Mapleson.

Also interesting was seeing some models (rabbit eared man and he girls with tartan faces) from Catherine Ruze modelling agency. As a boutique agency which started out last year, I see quite a few talent. I hear that actual launch of the agency is still to come.

As I said it was an amazingly entertaining show with plenty of drama and fun. More of a reason why Skattwalk is one of the premier events in WA. It was certainly a good start of the fashion 2010. I guess this is what I always say but they did save the best for the last as the whole show ended with a dramatic pieces by Alister Yiap. You know then what that means....

• Eloise Cole (hair)
• Ellli Schoen (hair)
• Leoni Grant (assistant)
• Natasha Mapleson (fashion)
• Brittany Oates (make-up)

Skattwalk 2010 - Act5 The Undiscovered

After the high energy dancers and spunky girls at the Hair of the ages by Patrick Connor, Artistic Director, at Skatt the show was heading for even more excitement with Daniella Caputi's fashion, Carlie Christie's makeup and Brendan Watsons hair designs. The reason why I mention these names is because I liked the entire production but I liked this section more than others if I had to speak for fashion, make-up and hair. Daniella's fashion is a lot of fun and I liked them when I first saw them at Curtin's Homeground but now I like them even more with the volume and texture Brendan created with hair. The make-up was absolutely perfect. Actually, I'm really tempted to try the dark blue dot on my lip and I'm just waiting for a right occasion.

Then there were boys. Two male models came out with their ripped body. I said it...I had to laugh, mind you. The girls in the audience (actually the audience was practically all girls) was going absolutely crazy when they came out. My guy was laughing. I then hear him saying "Girls are loving this guy." Then I heard another voice saying "hairdressers.. what do you reckon?" then my guy responded "They must really like his hair". Hahaha. Very funny. They were cute alright. Do you remember the dress rehearsal I attended about a week before the show? Daniella was measuring one of the guys for the vest you see in the photos. Now, sorry to say this but they didn't need them, vests. Just as well, they took them off at the finale. Maybe that was the whole point - something to take off at the end. In all honesty though, the vests did have a nice design touch and I would like one for my guy.

There you have it. The show was getting better as each act rolled on. I don't take my guy to all the fashion gigs I attend. Because It gets quite crazy at times but he certainly likes coming along to Skattwalk. Maybe that's a little niche Skatt can tab into for future show promotions.... That's a thought. Anyway, a couple more Skattwalk posts to come. After that I'm going into the full Arts Festival mode. Before that, I might be able to squeeze a shoes give-away for you all and Dressing Songy. As they say, watch this space.

P.S. I don't know the name of the model but I think the girl wearing the short jacket is super cute. I would like to see more of her on catwalk shows. Maybe she isn't tall enough. I hear 175cm is minimum. If you're reading this..I hope you're that tall. Are you? Anyway, she was really good on the runway.