Not Made For Wallflowers

Birdie is 19 here in 1980, nonchalantly holding up a brick wall in her shiny stretch lycra leggings. This is how leggings were worn the first time around! None of these demure hotpants or miniskirts on top like girls wear today; they were for fearless fashionistas. Not for wallflowers.

A long shirt or sweater was permissible though. Birdie tells me this purple and black, striped see-through shirt was from Blonde Venus (still open for business today on Crossley St, down the lane from Melbourne’s iconic Pellegrini’s).

Ankle boots were huge in the Eighties. I particularly remember white leather ones with little cutouts; and short suede pixie boots with the tops folded down. They came in bright jewel colours and I had a pair in jade green. These metallic gold winklepickers were Birdie’s favourite. She says everyone stared at those – as well they might!

How Many Years Bad Shopping Luck?

A few weeks ago I was shooting a whole bunch of accessories photos (which you haven’t seen yet) that required me to rummage around in my closet for suitable items to match my theme. Let me add that the flooring in my apartment consists of ceramic tiles that not a few dishes and glasses have fallen victim to in the past ten years.

I can now add a handbag to that lamentably lengthy list.

Admittedly this bag was a cheapie, new old stock found at a Salvos’ for $10. What do you think it went for retail? Forty bucks? But I liked its brash studs, chain handle and the super-size bling in the form of copper-coloured, mirrored glass. So Eighties. It was a bargain … except for the fact it only had one real outing!

As I poked around in a large cloth bag where I keep some of my small evening bags, it fell out. This should not have been enough to cause damage, but the cheap glue attaching the bling to the faux lizard skin gave way, and one of the little mirrors went smash on the floor.

…one of the little mirrors went smash on the floor.

I gazed at it mournfully for a few moments before I tenderly picked up the fragments and placed them on a bench. I knew I would never find a replacement piece. Ever the true professional, I decided instantly that the bag would have a lovely send-off in the form of a SNAP tribute … and then I carried on with the business of the day. The bag still featured in the accessories shot, its disfigurement obscured by a gold metal mesh bag.

But surely for such a little fashion crime I would only be penalised a few days’ bad shopping luck? Certainly no more than a month …

A Breath of Norwegian Air

This is my cousin Naughty Amelia-Jane. Here she is cheekily modelling an adorable pom-pommed hoody scarf that she scored on eBay for $11. It is like a breath of fresh Norwegian air that is keeping her cosy this icy Melbourne winter.

I didn’t know what to exclaim over first. The Scandinavian pattern*? The gorgeous colours; the hoody? The POM-POMS! (I do like a pom-pom.)

Amelia-Jane states she is very satisfied with her purchase.

I would be too.

*Ooooo – don’t forget to look at the link. Lots of pictures to drool over!

Into the Blue

So pretty, yet poisonous!Did you know that cobalt is made from salt? Specifically, the compound is made by sintering the stoichiometric mixture of finely ground CoO and Al₂O₃ at 1200°C. … Yep, I knew that you wanted to know that. And I also knew that you would know exactly what it means, so I’m not going to bother explaining it.

Actually, of more interest is that the first recorded use of the word cobalt to describe a shade of blue was in 1777.  Despite its distastefully scientific origins, I think it is a pretty word.

Long before that, around 800AD, the Chinese began using cobalt pigment in the manufacture of their famous and widely imitated blue and white porcelain (which in fact owes its origins to the Middle East). Much of the decoration in today’s production is not applied by hand however, but by transfer-printing. Potters still use cobalt to this day, and as the pigment is toxic, precautions must be used to prevent cobalt poisoning. (A form of delirious intoxication, so I gather from my source, Wikipedia.)

Nothing poisonous about the cobalt hued items above although the colour is so delicious it’s intoxicating. I have collected them over the years: bejewelled silk heels from Hussy (a gift from a boyfriend); an embossed patent leather belt (on sale at David Jones); a striped, silk scarf found on one of my op-shopping forays; and a necklace of blue onyx, handmade by myself from faceted beads bought in Sharjah (UAE). The pendant was bought from a different seller, an Afghan merchant, for the princely sum of $4.

I have always loved the blue and white porcelain, and was a few years ago inspired to create a collection of jewellery made from it: 

Click image to read about these little trifles.

Nice and Nautical

A perennial summer favourite, the nautical look is back for summer 2010. Navy and white with a few dashes of red, stripes, and plenty of gold hardware and sailing motifs – sailor’s bows and ships’ anchors – encapsulate the look.

But what is really the fascination? Is it really just a cute, playful look that nostalgically reminds us of lovely summers gone past, and hours spent idling away on the boardwalk?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a total sucker for it (I’m wearing red and white stripes right now), but it is rather easy to forget that the origins of this fashionable trend lie in the military, a very serious subject indeed. This appropriation by women of men’s military uniforms has been going on for centuries.

Is it really just a cute, playful look that nostalgically reminds us of lovely summers gone past…?

It was war in fact, that made trousers – and uniforms – became acceptable wear and even fashionable for civilian women. In particular, rationing during the Second World War saw a minimalist, militaristic style influence women’s dress. Women donned trousers and proved that they were capable of doing a man’s work. Yet more than a century earlier during the Napoleonic Wars, French women were adopting the braid and lace of marshals’ costumes in the form of embroideries and epaulettes. The English soon followed in their footsteps. Few – if any – of these women would ever actually see a battlefield, or do a day’s hard work in a munition factory.

Were they honouring the men who went into battle, or did women’s fashion misappropriate the look and belittle the seriousness of war?

It is interesting that while fashion seems to trivialise serious world events or social and cultural issues, it does provide a mirror to these same social and cultural mores. Perhaps by turning a playful eye on these deep matters, fashion does its part to lighten the burden of difficult days. And all that is anything but trivial. 

Thanks to Kriss Szkurlatowski for the background image.