Just in Time for Autumn

Aren’t these little umbrellas from Melbourne store Sine Qua Non* just the cutest? Their handles are carved wood, and you can choose from a bear, an owl, a rabbit, a duck or a platypus. Not to mention their frilly skirts. I can’t decide.

* An essential condition, a thing that is absolutely necessary. From the Latin, literally ‘without which not’

Fashion Fail!

Vintage 1980s polkadot tiered dress, by Hammels. John S. // DreamCanvasToday my friend Rapunzel and I were going to go to a couple of fashion exhibitions that were on in Melbourne. We strolled up to the second floor of the NGV International and stared in open-mouthed surprise as we realised that the Lace in Fashion exhibition had ended already. I was gutted. How could I have mixed up the dates so badly? I – when I love lace so much! Even the exhibition catalogues were sold out.

Never mind, we consoled ourselves; we could go to the other fashion exhibition on at the Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square: Australian Made: 100 Years in Fashion.

No such luck. We stared in dismay at the temporary walls barricading the entrance to the fashion gallery. We’d missed this one too!

We saw some photography exhibitions instead; I had chai latte and a raspberry macaroon (Rapunzel, coffee and date cake), and amused ourselves by taking Hipstamatics everywhere. The afternoon was not a total loss. 

However, below is a sample of what we should have been seeing this afternoon.

Evening gown of silk, Vilene, acetate, nylon, polyester, metal, cotton, by Hall Ludlow, 1954.White muslin dress, bodice part lined in black chiffon, guipure and filet lace, by Beer of Paris, 1912.

Zara’s Coming!

Bettie XL // Claunch 72 MonochromeZara is coming to Australia at last! Can't wait. This is old news of course, but after my lunch date in the city today and a quick stop at the supermarket, I found I still had 20 minutes left on my tram ticket. I thought I’d breeze by Bourke St and see how things were coming along.

Hmm… still a while longer. In the meantime, I’ll get my Spanish fashion fix at Mango round the corner.

Such A Sucker For Red

Still a sucker for red accessories: red shoes, red bags and now red gloves. I recently bought these on eBay despite the fact that winter was well and truly over, but how often do you see vintage 50s elbow length cherry-red leather gloves for sale? Never mind the fact that I already own wrist-length gloves in fire-engine red.

These are butter-soft, and so well made, the stitching on the exterior serving as decoration. I’m looking forward to autumn already!

(The Australian Vogue is from June, 1960.)

Honesty in the City

Yesterday evening whilst doing some shopping in the city I passed a window of a boutique and did a double-take. Plus-size mannequins! I had to stop to snap a photo. I don’t know about the city where you live, but this is a first for one of Melbourne’s busiest shopping strips – although recently I also saw some other mannequins that were extremely well-endowed.

As the average size of the Australian woman is now 14–16, it certainly makes a refreshing change from the usual impossibly slender mannequins whose figures, were they live humans, would imply an enviably high metabolism (or miserably strict diet)!

Apparently this boutique used to be called Big City Chic, I’m told by a friend. Sensibly they dropped the prefix. However, I most assuredly did not see any of these mannequins in Myer yesterday.