cult of clothes

Every spring and fall, I faithfully watch the collections debut on www.style.com and feel sorry for myself because I live in a country where it’s summer at Christmas time, the Havaiana flip flop is a major fashion accessory and dingoes roam the streets searching for unattended babies. It’s cruel and unusual punishment that New York fashion week, showing all the gorgeous collections for Spring 2010, should come right when the weather in Sydney is just warming up, and yet I won’t be able to buy (ok let’s face it, drool over and lament not being able to afford) any of the pieces until next March when it’s already getting too cold to wear them. If life got any harder, I might have to throw my hands up in despair, fill my pockets with stones and walk mournfully into the surf at Bondi, shocked backpackers looking on.

As if sensing my loss of hope, Aussie Vogue for October 2009 had a clever idea and has done a four page spread on the Resort collections. In a country where it’s mostly hot, and where wearing a jacket in winter is less a necessity and more of an optional wink at a season no one really understands, why not look to the Resort collections? The Resort and Pre-fall collections are for the insatiable appetites of the fashion-savvy. These days, designers are not only showing Spring and Fall, but also Resort and Pre-fall for the lulls in between the major collections. The Resort collections are shown in June and a lot of them are available in the flesh in shops around the country (or at least online) right this second. The Pre-fall collections are shown in January and are available just in time for our mild, snowless winter.

Resort collections tend to be a bit more pared down and wearable. They appeal to the masses – the masses who can afford them, anyway. They’re also a bit cheaper than the major collections, although when your dress is ringing in at $5,000, I don’t think “cheaper” is a consideration that generally crosses your mind. Regardless of the season, shopping for designer clothing in Sydney is like highway robbery. You offer them a credit card, and they snatch your wallet and drain your superannuation account.

Here are a few of my favourites:

Doo.Ri

Photo: www.style.com

Marc Jacobs

Photo: www.style.com

Photo: www.style.com

Photo: www.style.com

Marchesa

Photo: www.style.com

Miu Miu

Photo: www.style.com

Balenciaga

Photo: www.style.com

Photo: www.style.com

Photo: www.style.com

3.1 Phillip Lim

Photo: www.style.com

Photo: www.style.com

Photo: www.style.com

Tags: Resort, Shopping by Grace
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I just ordered these kick ass brogues from Topshop online:

Photo: www.topshop.com

Shipping to Australia (read: the ends of the earth) was completely reasonable at only about $15.

I can't wait to go prancing around town in these sweet little shoes. Now I'll be as cool as those cool cats at the Governor's Island Jazz Lawn Party that The Sartorialist seems to frequent.

Tags: Shopping, Style by Grace
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There is absolutely no doubt that I do!

Brightly coloured coats are a great way to enliven a drab winter wardrobe and lift your spirits during colder months. Unless you’re lucky enough to live in a perma-sunny climate, then winter is grey and ick and ack and yuck. It rains, daylight is fleeting and people pout a lot. Everyone wears black, charcoal or some other shade of boring. In your yellow coat, you can be the little ray of sunshine, meandering down the street in that elegant way that you meander.

On that note, this northern hemisphere fall, American company JCrew, ever the trickster after my wallet, has come out with yet another must-have yellow jacket . Last year, they had a long, wasp-yellow coat with giant snap closures and a big gorgeous bow at the neck. Australia is a little bit too hot for such a long, woolly coat, but I made it work. It got trotted out on a few chilly Sydney nights, and sometimes, when no one is home, I put it on and swan around the house in various yellow coat-featuring outfits. I’m not joking.

This fall, they’ve got a three button wool pea coat in “bright butternut” that marries band geek chic with a little dash of entitled private school brat. Look at the model. She’s thinking, Yeah, my hair is messy. My shirt is untucked. So send me to the principal’s office. I dare you.

Photo: www.jcrew.com

Too. Much. Awesomeness. Can’t. Breathe.

And how serendipitous that I happen to have three hours to kill in Seattle amid the downtown shops when I fly there from Sydney on my way home to Canada this week. Is it serendipity, or have I been planning it all along? The shopping and I, we’re a wily pair.

I’ve been making good use of the time leading up to my trip, Googling American companies that don’t have stores in Canada so that I can make the most of my precious few hours in Seattle. In the same mall as the JCrew store, there’s also a Victoria’s Secret where I plan to run wild.

I will have just walked off an 18 hour flight, tired and confused. I will have gone back in time two days, simply by crossing the International Dateline. I will be in the most wonderful, affordable lingerie store on earth. There will be no one to rein me in. Good spending judgement will not be a strong point. Looking into my crystal ball, I forsee some credit card-crippling expenditure in my future.

Tags: Cult covets, Fall / Winter, Shopping, Style by Grace
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I hit the PeepToe sale in Paddington with my friend Leanne last weekend. We thought getting there at 8:30am was early, but apparently not, because we were beat out by at least 300 girls with nothing better to do on a Saturday morning than stand on an empty stretch of sidewalk for hours.  The girls at the front of the line had been there since 6:30am and were pretty well acquainted with two bouncers who guarded the door.

We waited in line for almost two hours. Exciting highlights of the wait included: a girl busting out of the line to puke on the grass behind a stone wall (I guess the anticipation was too much for her); a girl in a navy blue Honda rear-ending an old white Mitsubishi (the guy didn’t even notice and drove off, his car completely intact, but the nose of the poor girl’s car was squashed); a group of seven girls and their leopard-print lycra clad mom who sidled up next to us in line and tried to get in front of us. (Leanne shut them down with one of her patented ninja death stares and they fell back pretty quickly. Don’t mess with Leanne, because she’ll totally fuck you up).

Anyway, when we got to the front of the line, after standing FOR AGES in the sun (and people, I cannot stress to you enough how crappy it is to stand in the hot, Australian, albeit winter, sun when you have dark hair. I’d be rich if they could think of ways to harness the heat that gets absorbed into my head and use it for good. Or evil. Usually you make more money out of evil, right?), the bouncer cut the next group to enter right behind us, which meant Budgey Mcbudger and the Budgertons had to wait at least another half hour to get in. HA.

The hall inside was massive, and crammed with rows and rows of black and white striped boxes. Besides the sound of Britney Spears’ Circus pumping through the speakers, and the occasional scream of “MINE!”, everyone was remarkably quiet and focused, digging through boxes as the poor staff ran around behind us trying to stop complete anarchy from taking hold. I was so happy to be inside that I really had to struggle with the urge to frolic around the room, but I managed to pull myself together, headed over to the row marked “size 38” and started grabbing boxes.

Some of what they had on offer screamed “drag queen” and “stripper” what with the crazy-ho platforms, glitzy rhinestones and 10 inch heels (I suppose there’s a good reason why certain things go on sale), but I managed to dig up some amazing little gold heels which I’ll be wearing to my friend’s wedding in September. They’re called “Miss Garnet” and we had a little cuddle when I got home.

Tags: Sales, Shopping by Grace
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My friends, it's time once again to sharpen your elbows, put on your determined face and don your most comfortable slip on shoes to run to the Peeptoe Shoes warehouse sale. This time they've cleverly opted to move the sale from the tiny location in Alexandria and put it in the Paddington Town Hall. More room for queuing for hours, marching around testing the samples and pushing people out of the way to grab your size. I recommend arriving early to beat out all those other well shod bitches.

Here are the deets:

The date: Saturday 15^th August, 2009 until Sunday 16^th August, 2009

The place: Paddington Town Hall, Corner Oxford St & Oatley Rd

The time: Sat 9am – 5:30pm, Sun 10am – 5:30pm

The funds: Cash, Eftpos, Major Credit Cards – No Amex or Diners

You can do some research on sale items here:

http://www.peeptoeshoes.com.au/category/sale?main_collection_page=all

Have fun doing your part to prop up the economy!

Tags: Sales, Shopping by Grace
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