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.

Were you able to catch the Boxing Day sale? I sort of did on the 27th. As you know, it’s been so hot that I couldn’t venture outside for a few days after that. I don’t even have much energy (more on this a little later). It then makes sense to do it at home online. I did spend quite a bit in Ezibuy recently. What you get from Ezibuy isn’t what we’d like to call ‘investment’ pieces (oxymoronic if you ask me but fashionistas love using that term). They are cheap and good enough quality. After a few purchases I realised I was getting lots from a particular brand called Maxshop then I realised that Maxshop has its own site Maxshop. My skilled browsing returned a few purchase worthy items.

There are a few cool things about this site apart from having pieces that are aligned with the kind of aesthetics I love. a) you get to see who’s behind the site – showing the crew members makes the site more human and I have really warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that there are some creative people working on the seemingly corporate (as in professional and sleek) looking website. Let’s say that it doesn’t feel like you’re dealing with a huge company like Target. b) ‘Things I love’ (heart) – you can ‘heart’ each item and the site dynamically places these heart’d items in a strip where you can easily see before placing them in a shopping basket. This isn’t anything new but it’s designed and used well so that it works for users. I love having all I love in one location. That was my inspiration today. Well designed online shopping site.

Just picking up on my lack of energy…I’m a healthy ‘young’ woman who had a bit of difficult year with all kinds of little problems. Broke a rib in June. Bronchitis for three months followed by an infection then I had gastro during our holiday in the Stirling Ranges. I should be fine now. I stopped coughing and I’m not throwing up anymore but I know deep down that something has been out of whack for a long time. That lead us to see a Chinese Herbalist yesterday. You know how it is. When you see a Naturopath she’d tell you all the things that are wrong with you from eating gluten, dairy and all things ‘simple’ while telling you to stick to all things ‘complex’. When you see a Chiropractor she’d tell you that your crooked spine is causing all kinds of problems. And, when you see a Chinese doctor for a seeming innocuous problem , he’d tell you how it’s actually not your stomach causing indigestion and it’s, in fact, your liver that’s not functioning well. In the meantime, you GP would tell you that you’re perfectly healthy. So that’s what happened. I got bags of Chinese herbal concoction which is supposed to bring back my healthy self. I’m having to ‘brew or cook’ the herbs the old way. Kid you not, I had to bring back my childhood memory of how my ancestors used to brew herbs which I remember seeing on TV. I’m telling you, Korean people no longer brew the herbs at home. Even back in the late 80′s Chinese medicine clinics started offering pre-cook’d vacuum sealed sachets that you just have to warm up before drinking. Anyway, this has been an uninteresting digression. Although it’s been rather boring and quiet few weeks I can tell you that some interesting things are happening in the New Year. Skattwalk is happening early next year (as far as I know) and I’ll be collaborating with some young designers for ‘Dressing Songy‘. That’s all I can tell you.

In the meantime, if I don’t get you see you or hear from you Happy New Year and see you next year! Ciao.

No2 chosen. No1 didn’t fit me well. I needed 7 1/2 but it didn’t come in half sizes.

On a different note, you must check out some wicked hair dos from the Sixteen Acts parade by Central TAFE. Here are some photos from backstage and the rehearsal.

Evidence of Betts shoes everywhere.. Lin Pin, Zara Bryson and Leanne Lim parades

Here I am browsing for a new pair of shoes. I’ve been offered a free pair from Betts – just because I took literally hundreds of photos of models wearing Betts for many weeks? Is that a good enough to reason to receive a free gift? Whatever, I can never say no to free shoes. Have you seen a necklace with a charm saying ‘will f*^*k for shoes‘? Enough said.

You know I do complain about crappy websites. Betts has done a really good job with their online store. Much better than what Wittner shoes did with their website. Their flash based website bugs me no end and I gave up going there. Betts’ website is easy to use. It’s conventional. It shows you what you want to buy and it doesn’t get in the way of all the more important buying experience. I’m all for easy to use online stores. Enf of my website review now.

Here’s my selection of shoes. I got attracted to strapy sandals. I haven’t quite decided what to get though. I just need to pick a pair and Gino, the national marketing manager from Betts Group will ship them over for me. Why don’t you tell me what I should get? This could well be the start of another ‘Dressing Songy‘ season. How about that as an incentive?

1. Bondage $109.99

2. Galaxy $119.99

3. Law $89.99

4. Enslave $119.99

Heck, I could just get myself one of these instead – completely suitable for carrying a 15kg camera gear in my white tee and a pair of jeans.

I love organisation in general but nothing is all well organised from the beginning. All my spaces, kitchen, study, my desk at work, all the way down to drawers and my bag, they are currently all messy.

I only recently realised something very important. It’s not the organisation of all things that I crave. It’s not all things pretty that I desire. It’s the chaos in which I see a solution; it’s the problems that I can solve that I crave.

Am I speaking gibber jabber? Let’s have a look at the situation with my necklace mess. There are some issues to consider before I go out and buy something to get organised.

Constraints:

1. Amount – I didn’t count but a regular necklace holder ain’t gonna cut it.
2. Weight –some of them are quite heavy. Even weight distribution is important here.
3. Length – like anything in life they are all very different. Yet, I can kind of sort them into groups.

Future consideration:

4. Sustainability – Am I going to stop buying? Oh no.. I need a room to grow my collection.

Exclusion

5. Precious stuff should be stored separately (including anything from WendyB if I were to have a piece that is)

Armed with all that information I pictured what I needed and where I would have that thing. That thing wasn’t something that I could buy I noted. I knew that my handy man (aka my guy) could just make it for me. I talked him into making it as a Christmas gift. He didn’t even need much persuasion. You see, if requirements are clear you can get what you want quite easily.

What I needed was an industrial grade rack(s) that can be mounted on a wall with lots of hooks.

What does all this mean apart from having my necklaces sorted? I get a huge kick out of bringing clarity into things. I love troubleshooting for people in chaos and solving complicated problems. Only if I could find work that could fulfil all the criteria….

What’s next? My shoes probably? My Dressing Songy posts didn’t help taming my shoe collection. Some of them went walk about so I don’t even know where half of them are.

Let’s hear it. What say you?

As most of you may know, Marian is a fabulous stylist with lovely personality to match, ending all her helpful and insightful comments with her signature kiss ‘Muah’. She did something incredible for me. Today, I received a package from her. That turned out to be a gorgeous black halter neck dress from Dorothy Perkins. Thank you, Marian. You spoilt me rotten for that little thing I did for you. I had to madly find things to match with this dress. Luckily I found an apporpriate necklace and heels. I hope I did okay. I sure don’t want to disappoint the stylist!

I must confess. This is my very first LBD. Yes, really. I never had a dress like this one before. This will stay with me for a long time as long as I don’ gain any kilos since my butt barely managed to get through… after that it was a perfect fit!

Also, a little bosom adjustment created a nice cleaveage (which I don’t usually have) without a bra. Magic!

I’m sure there are so many styles I could try with this dress. I think a rock&roll look was what Marian was hoping for me to achieve with this. I don’t have much in that department so I’ll have to make some purchases. Any other suggesions? By the way, ‘Dressing Songy No 4′ is coming your way. Excited? I sure am.

Sara, for example, is on a self imposed shopping ban. She is exploring possibilities with her existing wardrobe and carefully selecting things for future purchases. As for me, I cannot bring myself to that kind of commitment. What ‘Dressing Songy’ gives me is a fool-proof clothes shopping strategy with your suggestions, practice runs and confirmation. I said as part of the rules that I wouldn’t go out and buy all new things. What I do get to do is buying things that are going to work 100% after each Dressing Songy series. It’s like having several stylists! Ain’t I lucky?

Yardage fashion is nothing new (as you’ve seen in the recent Vivienne Westwood’s collection) so when Matt from Imelda suggested a caftan I really wanted to try this. 2.5 m of brown fabric I picked up from a craft shop was used for this look. If you think this works I might consider taking up sewing which means dragging out my 20 yr old sewing machine from some dark corner of our house.

Thursday’s collection for women’s wear was a bit of disappointment as I already mentioned here. While I was taking a SFW break by showing you some bags, a wedding photo, and a muse there were some fabulous shows finishing off the week’s fashion extravaganza.

First up, I give you Eun-Ju Hong. She used to work for Christian Dior as a designer between 1987 and 1992. This is just a couple of years after Bernard Arnault acquired Boussac group and subsequently gained the control of CD. Unfortunately that is also before John Galliano was named as a leader designer at CD (1996). She must have experienced some turbulence while missing out on all the action of working with/for John. Pity. Her spring summer collection takes you to the world of Pippi the long stocking or casual bohemians if such a group existed. Slightly faded colours with comical hats do me very little in terms of daily wear inspiration but I still enjoyed the feel of fresh air. (Christian Dior related facts are from funding universe)Website: http://www.enzuvan.com/

Young-Hee Lee’s designs are somewhat conservative to my eyes. I’d say it’s an old school fashion designer still getting inspiration from traditional Korean garments. Now that’s a totally different tune from what I said earlier about Korean a traditional garment inspired dress by Hun-Jong. To be honest, I think her dresses are fine but Hun-Jong’s shrug was somewhat special.  The difference here is the fabric – neutral sheer yet dramatic. Check out the fall and winter collection in her website below.

Website: http://www.leeyounghee.co.kr/seoulcollection083.htm

Moon-Hee Lee’s designs are meant to evoke girly dreams and a merry-go-round.  That’s what the designer used as concepts. Regardless of her inspirations her designs are very much like an unpolished version of Ann Demeulemeester’s designs. Do I sound a little critical? Just by looking at what’s available in the official website It’s hard to judge exactly what the whole collection would have been like. I’m very partial here since I dropped quite a number of designers on the basis that their designs seemed too boring to talk about.  I included Moon-Hee because I really liked her fall and winter collection (which you will find out soon) and her website. http://www.bitternsweet.co.kr/

As I said there other fabulous designs worthy of mention but I didn’t want to bore you to death with SFW. This is the finale until next March, folks. I’ll be back with “Dressing Songy No.3” tomorrow.