Second Chance Summer

I couldn’t face the end of summer this year. I wasn’t ready to let go yet. AND LUCKY I DON’T HAVE TO! Because dear old Melbourne has served us up an Indian summer – you bewdy!

Just as well, because it seems it’s only been a month or two since I switched my wardrobes over and brought my summer clothes out of storage. I’ve barely had time to wear everything! 

Fashion Notes

Blue and white stripes are quintessentially summery (because of their nautical connotations), so when I saw this periwinkle blue and white silk tank by Aussie brand Ojay in the Salvos, I snapped it up even though it was two sizes too big for me. Loose is good in summer anyway. It is cut with a racer back, and features an unnecessary exposed zip in contrasting black at the neck.

Trimmed in broderie anglaise, the white cotton bloomers are vintage 1920s and likewise they are loose and cool to wear in sultry weather. I bought them from vintage store Suitcase in Berlin on Etsy, fully intending to wear them as shorts, or under summer short dresses. The first time I wore them on the street I felt a little scandalous. I wonder what their original owner would have thought of such an escapade? (More about bloomers soon.)

The navy umbrella piped with white along its ruffled edge is also vintage – possibly 1970s, or earlier. It does have a fancy carved plastic handle; I’m no expert on gauging what type, but I doubt it’s celluloid. The frame is steel, and is finished with a pointy end, so it doubles as a weapon too. I always feel more comfy walking home at night when I’m carrying a solidly constructed vintage umbrella. They just don’t make them like they used to. 

Picture Notes: the backdrops were photographed at Bridgewater Bay last December.

White Night Lights

Celebrating the Roaring Twenties in a Special Series

A couple weekends ago, Melbourne celebrated its second White Night. The city streets, laneways, landmarks and cultural institutions were transformed into a cultural playground from dusk-till-dawn. I ventured out to play around 8pm, and literally tripped the light fantastic until 3am, when my steps turned towards home at last.

One of the loveliest experiences was when my friend and I came out of Hosier Lane into a winter wonderland on Flinders Lane. Lights fixed on a group of mirror balls of different sizes suspended high above the laneway created a shifting display of circular lights that bathed us in blue and white light, and turned the streetscape into a snowstorm. It was absolutely enchanting. There were surely a couple hundred people milling about at any one time, necks craned upwards – and cameras held aloft – to catch the flurries of light.

I was delighted when I looked at my pictures later, and immediately noticed the streetscape looked just like the 1927 illustration on the March page of my Vogue calendar. How amazing! I instantly decided to create a homage to Georges Lepape’s drawing – and here it is, with and without a masthead. Scroll down to see the original photograph.

Fashion Notes

I am wearing a vintage cloche hat with a black feather pompom on the side, and a vintage sheepskin collar, a relic from my friend Rapunzel’s Aunty Belle. (The hat is actually more of a Prussian blue, but I tweaked the shade to match the illustration a little better.) The pearl jewellery was purchased in the now defunct Melbourne jewellery boutique Portobello Lane. 

Lighting designer Philip Lethlean’s electrified installation ‘Rags to Riches’ in Flinders Lane, White Night 2014

What I Actually Wore #0099

Serial #: 0099
Date: 03/11/2012
Weather: 22°C / 71.6°F 
Time Allowed: 8 minutes

This is one of my favourite warm weather skirts – easy and breezy. It’s vintage 80s. I reach for it when I am in a hurry or when I don’t have time to overthink my outfit. The waistband is elasticised, the short pleated length is swishy and flirtatious, and the haphazard spot pattern is fun. (Polka dots are more fun when they are irregularly placed.)

To play up the geometric theme, I pair with it a black and white knit tank that has a pattern of squares. The skirt and tank are both second hand, the former from Etsy store Maefair Vintage (since closed down), and the latter from a charity store. The cardigan was chosen for warmth, and a bright pop of contrasting colour. Despite the towering height of the rope wedges, the striped espadrilles are amazingly comfortable to walk in – fortunately, since I’m running a number of errands this sunny Saturday morning.

Items:

Top: Marco Polo
Skirt: Clio, vintage 80s
Cardigan: Anthropologie
Earrings: hand made
Bag: vintage 60s
Shoes: Mia for Free People

A Bevy of Burlesque Beauties

Rose Hamilton in a fetching striped corsetThe other day, while doing some research online, I came across this bevy of burlesque beauties from 1890. These risqué Victorian pictures of ‘loose women in tights’ come from the Charles H. McCaghey Collection.

The pictures were mass-produced on tobacco and cabinet cards for the delectation of Victorian men everywhere starved for images that showed the female form. It was not the quantity of naked flesh that was titillating – there barely was any on show – but rather that shapely and curvaceous limbs were revealed encased only in tights, tightly-laced corsets and outlandish costumes.

Miss Murdock plays Cupid – undeniably the slimmest of this lot, and arguably the prettiestBurlesque took off in the US after Lydia Thompson brought her troupe, the British Blondes to New York City in 1868. Proper ladies dismissed them as common as street prostitutes, but men adored them. But by the 1920s, burlesque was out of fashion when moving pictures, vaudevillian theatre and Broadway revues took off.

Perceptions of beauty have certainly changed over the centuries – Dita von Teese and her ilk are as different from these voluptuous ladies as chalk from cheese. The costumes are still enormous fun however – I can’t decide which is my favourite however – a knight in shining armour, a horse, or a striped sailor outfit?

Scroll through this little selection below, or click through and visit the Ohio State University Library for more. 

I love how cross and defiant Viola Clifton looks!Eliza Blasina in horse costumeMademoiselle Conalba sports a fetching take on a policeman’s uniformElla Chapman is a knight in shining armourRoman gladiator Emma Burgess means businessJennie Lee is draped in tissue lamé and pearlsAn unidentified woman (possibly Camille) is wearing an adorable striped sailor-inspired outfit

Dita Comes to the Rescue

Recently I realised I was in need of a new skin-toned strapless bra. I had too many summer tops and dresses that I was unable to wear because they required a strapless bra – either spaghetti-strapped tops and dresses, or racer-back tanks. Nothing more quickly ruins the elegance and simplicity of these styles than superfluous bra straps.

However, to my disgust, I very quickly realised that there was a dearth of pretty strapless bras available in Melbourne. I searched high and low in three department stores and two boutiques, and discovered that nearly all of the strapless bras available were in that horrible dark beige seamless polyamide, and of those, it was virtually impossible to find any without any excess padding.

Dita von Teese designs for Wonderbra – the world’s most famous push-up braI consider it false advertising to wear a push-up bra – what you see is what you get in my world. And all these padded brown bras were extremely plain – neither a trim of lace nor satin bow was to be seen on a one. The only pretty strapless bra I found was in the Elle McPherson range – it was all white lace – too ornamental and textured for everyday wear, as well as the wrong colour.

And just a note on these so-called ‘nude’ toned bras: I didn’t find any the colour of my skin. If you are a woman of colour – hooray! But if you are very fair skinned, you are doomed to wear a brown bra for all eternity. You can get different shades of beige and brown in stockings, and foundation – why not bras for heaven’s sake?

I jumped up and down to test it – it passed with flying colours.

Dita does black lace strapless corsets tooThen I discovered the Dita Von Teese lingerie range in Myer. In amongst the red and black racy lacy numbers, I found a 50s-style peach satin bra that reminded me just a little of that bra Jean Paul Gaultier made for Madonna way back when (except for the pointy cone bits). It was pretty, just decorative enough without being frou-frou, and it was sturdily constructed: the strap around the back was wide, with three hook-and-eye closures, which makes for more security. (I jumped up and down to test it – it passed with flying colours.) The only odd thing was that it seemed to be a smaller fit than usual, and I had to go up a size in the band. It comes with removable straps, so it can be worn as a regular bra too.

I must ask though, WHY do lingerie manufacturers seem to think that strapless bras must necessarily be ugly bras? It just doesn’t make any sense. Thank goodness Dita came to the rescue!