Where Gelato collides with Fashion

My friend once recounted to me how she was overcome with gelato Messina cravings one day. Now anyone who's had Messina would know that such cravings are a natural part of life, like the sun rising or wanting to throw your naked body onto Ryan Gosling .But what was particularly funny about this story is that she had just woken up, and because she was no longer a child and by extension, wasn't restricted by the rules of her parents, decided

 "Yes. Yes I can have mother fucking gelato Messina for breakfast"

And off she went at 10:30am in the morning to the Messina store with a smile on her face to only be confronted with a closed sign. It turned out Messina doesn't cater for breakfast. Now you would presume that any respectable person would just go back home in defeat but no, not this girl. She was determined to stake it out and wait for Messina to open. That's real love.

Why am I retelling this story? Well I feel like I can draw lots of parallels between her story and my own predicament. And no its not my constant craving for Messina. It is however my insatiable hunger for everything and anything Serpent and the Swan. Having recently gone to their press showings, I literally hashtag totes died at their hashtag totes ah-mazzzing collection. And this wasn't the first time.

Serpent and the Swan are one of those labels that no amount of high resolution photos could really reflect the quality of the garments. All the amazing things, the small, subtle details are easily missed when you can't feel the material and inspect the garments up close in person.

Serpent and the Swan North Sea Shirt

Take this amazing North Seas shirt. You might simply say "oh it's a cool print shirt" however you are wrong. Very very wrong. Like how those people in the olden days thought the world was flat. That's how wrong you are. It is more than just a very very incredibly cool print shirt.

It's a very very incredible cool print shirt that's on a raw silk that doesn't look or feel like silk but more like boiled wool or some other very rare ultra luxe material that you will never see in Supre.  

And if you are like "OMG IT'S SO NICE BUT IT'S A GUYS SHIRT I CAN NEVER WEAR IT" well its labelled as "unisex" so shut up and just wear it. Like I do! And there's a bag to match!

I actually still can't get over how amazing it is. I think I'm going to need a Messina to calm me down. Or two. 

Día de los Muertos

Therese Rawsthorne shirt
Edwin jeans
Thrifted shoes

One of the things that cemented my undying love for Lola is the fact that she happens to work in the food industry (can't you tell? She's so fat), and consequently, takes me to all her amazing food-related events. So when the opportunity arose to accompany her to one of her Secret Foodies pop-up dining events, I squealed a little too loud over the phone. This resulted in her giving me a solid ten minute lecture about not eating everything in sight. Like I eat anything anyways, it's three months to fashion week!

So fast-forward a week later and suddenly here I am wearing this slightly creepy, overly revealing sheer top and low cut singlet, surrounded by people with faces either done up like a Gothic banshee or without makeup. As seen below, Lola chose the later. She suits the clean, natural look, no?

MinkPink kimono
Cotton On Body corset
Love skirt
Kani rose crown
Diva earrings
Necklace from eBay

This particular event was Día de los Muertos, a Day of the Dead themed warehouse party for Halloween. Following a secret text message with directions leading me to a random parking lot in St Peters, I found Al Carbon (Sydney's latest Mexican food truck!) camped there, dishing out all you can eat tacos all night outside the party. The food was so fresh and mouth watering, I'm ashamed to say, I ate until I could physically eat no more. Aside from the food (most important), there was margaritas, Mexican decorations everywhere, Coronas, face painting, sangria, a Mariachi band and it gets blurry after the tequila...

Almost everyone was in costume, but I guess that someone also failed to mention to the girls that in Girl World, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it. There was not one pair of mouse ears or skanky lingerie to be seen the whole night. I'm not sure whether to feel disappointed or relieved.

Photographs by Lola Li.

Real life Art in the Art Gallery

Anna is wearing
Ae'lkemi full feathered dress POA

Ae'lkemi Chartreuse mini, $1400
Tom Gunn Billie Black & Acid shoes, $369

What's one of the fastest ways to get yourself kicked out from the Art Gallery of New South Wales? Attempt to subtly sneak some drop dead, stunna of a model in a floor length, feathery, bridal couture dress and force her to walk up and down the aisles of the gallery. Nothing out of the ordinary, just your average day taking your model out for her daily dose of exercise*.

While we were leisurely walking around the Art Gallery, the beautiful, floor length Ae'lkemi dress would shed its white feathers, leaving a trail wherever we went. It was reminisce of the closing look of Alexander McQueen S/S07, the dress with fresh flowers on it that would scatter all around her. Combined with the architecture and renaissance paintings surrounding us, Anna became this ethereal  other worldly being who seemed to have descended from heaven and was walking on feathers. Or some other beautiful, poetic bullshit. She was just really pretty.

When it came down to working, we played it cool. Security didn't notice us whilst we staged our impromptu fashion photo shoot. It was all going smoothly, better than expected really** Too bad for us the subtle factor evaporated when hordes and hordes of tourists decided to join in on the "photoshoot", even posing with the model awkwardly. And then the wrath of multiple security guards questioning our every motive descended on us like seagulls finding a potato chip in Circular Quay. It wasn't nice and we ran out of the building like a bride second guessing her marriage to her sugar daddy.

"But we haven't even gotten into third looks yet?!!?"

*Anna is actually a long distance track athlete and has won multiple medals. Her daily dose of exercise is probably the equivalent of three years of exercise for me.

**We called the Museum ahead of the shoot and apparently its illegal to shoot there, "heavy fines are imposed"

Thankyou to Anna @ The Agency and Lola Li for photographing

The closing dress of Alexander McQueen's S/S07 show
by Steven Meisel, Vogue US May

The struggles of beach attire

Jack London Coat
Jack London pussy blouse
Sass and Bide Jeans
Aldo brogues

I have a problem. A major sartorial, life threatening problem, and no it isn't my credit card bouncing. It's the fact that I am incapable of dressing for fun* times at the beach. This inability to pick out my 3/4 boardies from Lowes, Havaiana flip-flops and Australian flag towel from among a mainly beach redundant wardrobe has led many beach goers and friends giving me confused looks. This might also be related to the fact that I am incapable of deciphering how hot it is even when I load the weather app. You would think that with all these problems in my life I would have qualified for the government doll or something.

But here I am, doll-less wearing jeans, leather shoes and a coat to the beach all the while having people in various states of undress walking past me and staring. Though a part of me likes to believe that they kept staring because they had not seen such perfection before.

* There's nothing fun in burning your feet on hot sand and coming out of the water looking like a drowned rat