Day 1: Melbourne Shopping Report

Cool lightbox on Hosier Ln (outside Movida)

Purchases: Nil (does a French manicure & pedicure count?). Was not feeling my best (thought I was coming down with a cold, turned out to be hayfever), and the weather was so hot...I also had limited time today as I was playing chauffeur to hubby, who sat an all-day exam, with a break in between.

Today's Outfit: Akira blue silk/wool dress (oh so comfortable) with Chloe silk blouse worn open and upside down, Havaianas slim thongs in Champagne and Chloe lambskin bracelet bag. I had more a chic outfit planned, but decided to dress for comfort due to the hot weather, and saved it for the evening. When it cooled a little in the evening, I changed into my Rachel Roy draped dress & Christian Dior Extreme Python sandals, I plan to repeat this outfit this weekend for a Moroccan dinner, so will try to take a pic this time...

Breathtaking moments: At the Belinda store on Malvern Road - spotted the Dries Van Noten silver sequinned skirt, a few sizes too big, so did not even try it, but it was a beauty to behold. The stock was very limited, so that was pretty much it. Also quite loved a drapey bronze/gold necklace at Kirrily Johnston. At $280 (and having exceeded my budget for this month, and probably the next), I sadly had to leave it in the store...am still thinking about it though.

Shops covered:

High Street, Armadale: Falke (new store - first one in Australia! Baulked at the merino wool tights at AUS$89, must buy them online for almost half that price), Kirrily Johnston, Scanlan & Theodore. Very sad to find that one of my favourite stores, The Frock Exchange, was no longer in existence.

Malvern Road, Hawksburn: Belinda, Empire Rose, Little Joe by Gail Elliot, Trelise Cooper, Willow.

Food: Found a trendy cafe around the corner from where we were staying (on Yarra St, off Toorak Rd), and had a quick lunch before hubby had to return to his afternoon exam session. My lunch: grilled asparagus with truffle oil, poached egg, mascarpone & smoked salmon. Dinner was at our favourite restaurant: Movida

Left: San Jacobo de Cordoniz- Hunter Valley Quail, partially boned, crumbed and filled with Jamon and Mahon cheese

Right: Viera - Roasted Scallop with Jamon and Potato Foam (this and the Wagyu steak tartare, which we did not order this time, are our favourite dishes here, absolutey delicious!)

Cecina: Air cured Wagyu beef thinly sliced with a truffle foam and poached egg (so amazing! luuuurve truffle anything...)

Carillera de Buey: Slowly braised beef cheek in Pedro Ximenez on cauliflower puree

Costilla con sobrasada: roast lamb cutlet encased in a catalan pork and paprika pate (I was tossing between having this or churros with hot chocolate for 'dessert', but was so curious to try this, so lamb it was...)

REWIND: Dries Van Noten & Rick Owens outfit with a touch of Barcelona

This is the outfit I wore to the Noir Fashion Event I posted about here, as previously mentioned, I was in quite a hurry when I got dressed, and realised I was using 3 pieces from the same Dries Van Noten collection. I just shrugged my shoulders and went: "ah, well! At least I'm dressed"...and ran out the door:




Dress: Rick Owens draped silk dress with pockets (I have one hand in my pocket...)
Jacket: Dries Van Noten sequined cropped silk jacket
Sandals: Dries Van Noten
Clutch: Dries Van Noten silk & leather jewelled sequined & beaded clutch
Necklace: purchased from Gaudi museum in Barcelona (love it!)
Ring: Swarovski Nirvana
(please excuse my super excited face)

In less than 2 days I leave for a short weekend trip to Melbourne, not quite a 'leisure' trip (poor hubby has the exam of his life, and is quite stressed about it), but I will try to squeeze some shopping in (or at least some window shopping)...hm...what should I pack?

The Return of the Prodigal Outfit Post: Batik, Beading and Tapas

click to enlarge

Yes, it has been quite some time since I last posted an outfit post, apologies to you all who have written to say you have missed them...

Last night I went out for dinner with hubby and my cousin, who was visiting from interstate, and we went to one of my favourite restaurant for 'tapas' (not entirely traditional). The weather has warmed up all of a sudden (although it will drop by 15 Celsius from Monday to Tuesday), and in warmer weather I love wearing this Batik print vintage sarong (acquired from my mother's wardrobe, it is actually older than me!). Inspired by Dries Van Noten's latest collection, I decided to dress my batik sarong up a little:


Dress: Batik vintage sarong skirt
Vest: Dries Van Noten top worn back to front and open (it is actually meant to be worn under another printed top)
Shoes: Marni patent sandals
Bag: Chloe lambskin bracelet bag
Jewellery: Necklace from Bauhaus, Swarovski Nirvana ring

The actual 'front' of the top, I absolutely adore the beautiful beading...

I had planned to wear this outfit with my Topshop sequinned jacket, but it was just too warm when I left the house...I forgot to put my Bauhaus bracelet back on when after taking the jacket on.

TAPAS


We started dinner with a Pink Sangria: Brachetto, Aperol, Rosso Antico & Fresh Pink Grapefruit juice; and on the right: Ocean trout, mandarin jelly, mache & carrot (unfortunately this looked better than it tasted, and it did look too pretty to eat, we found it too sweet...)

Hervey Bay scallop, sweet corn polenta, popcorn & basil (absolutely delicious!)

Kingfish sashimi, sago, cucumber & mint

School prawns & saffron rouille

Hubby's favourite (he ordered another two just for himself as 'dessert' after we ate these): Mini wagyu burger with pancetta & beetroot chips

Duck, beetroot, cinnamon tea cake & chocolate (yes, you read right, chocolate! Another dish that sounded/looked more interesting than it tasted...)

Beef carpaccio, pickled mushrooms, wild rice & crispy egg (the crispy 'noodle' things around the runny egg was absolutely incredible...I quite enjoyed this dish).

Dessert: Chocolate fondant & pistachio ice cream

It was my dad's 60th yesterday (he is currently in Japan) and my little sister's b'day on Thursday (she and my other sister are in Marrakesh 'for the weekend', how unfair is that?). FELIZ ANIVERSARIO!!!

Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend...I am off to the beach.

Sweets for my feet - Part 1: Pumps

Plate of brigadeiros I made for a family get together:



Sweets for my feet
Sugar for my heart...
What can I eat?
You can eat my shoes.
Is it high in calories?
Only if it's got chocolate.
So I won't eat...
my shoes.

Bahahaha...these are the lyrics my sisters & I (it was probably just me, but I will spread the blame) made up to a silly song that was playing on the radio at the time, 'Sweets for my sweets'...We still laugh about it.

Apologies to all who have said they have missed my outfit posts. I am starting to feel better, and promise I will try to work on some as soon as possible (am hoping this weekend). Some lovely readers requested some shots of my shoes (a long time ago, apologies again for the delay). It is a somewhat daunting task, and so I thought I would start with my 'pumps'. For a few years I had a thing for them, so managed to gather a little multicoloured collection. I have also been enjoying some delicious desserts in the last week or so, thought I'd share some with you...


Ebony & Ivory...side by side on my piano keyboard...
My favourite pumps by Tom Ford for Gucci, love the gold mini studs!


Gelati!


I've got the blues...Christian Louboutin pumps in Electric Blue & Patent Baby Blue, Prada silk floral pumps in the centre (I wear my Louboutin's so much! )


Yum...chocolate fondue (did not actually have this, but it looked so pretty!)


Giuseppe Zanotti pumps & Burberry Prorsum Ashley patent Mary Jane pumps in the centre (birthday present from my gorgeous sisters)


Ricotta canoli...seriously delicious!


From top to bottom: Chanel ballerina pumps (it comes with a metallic lace which I removed as soon as I got them), Marc Jacobs pumps (the gold started unravelling soon after I got them), Patrick Cox peep-toe stiletto's with zip on the back, Stella McCartney Terracotta cork pumps (thank you present from my sister for helping her organize her wedding) and my first Stella McCartney shoes (which started my Stella McCartney shoe love affair), patent pump stiletto's with the finest heel, yet so comfortable, I could not believe it! It must be some feat of engineering, as I do not usually find high heels comfortable.


Chocolate and Frangelico mini-panacotta


In reverse order (above)


Almond, Coconut & Pistachio chocolate truffles...divine!


Not quite sure how I ended up with four pairs of the same Stella McCartney shoe...I remember seriously wanting the first two, but funnily I purchased the back two first, I wear them all so much (except for the fuschia)


Torta di Capri - beautifully light chocolate & roasted hazelnut torte with a rich Frangelico sauce, amazing...

Had to edit my post, because I had forgotten to include my Lanvin bi-color rasberry patent pumps with wicked metal heel!

Recent Buys: Dries Van Noten & Rachel Roy

Summer is around the corner, and with my ever-expanding waistline, I am trying to add more flowy & roomy dresses to my wardrobe...plus they are my favourite types of dresses anyway...

Stella McCartney
(I have this dress in my wardrobe which was getting quite snug, and so found one in a size bigger, probably need two sizes bigger soon....)

Rachel Roy
(I absolutely love her draped dresses)
Dries Van Noten
(but mine is pale blue instead of yellow)
style.com

Guest post at Dream Sequins - Fannie Schiavoni

The lovely Deanne at Dream Sequins is away on holidays (lucky girl!), and generously offered me (and other bloggers) the opportunity to write a guest blog post, you can read mine here on the amazing Fannie Schiavoni...I want every single piece of hers, such gorgeous works of wearable art...

Thanks to Dianne of The Swelle Life for generously bestowing the 'Divine' award to me!

In adherence with this award, I must list my five guilty pleasures...drumroll please...

5. Taking pictures of food at restaurants. I get funny looks, and today at dinner the waitress asked me what my pictures were for (I also took a picture of the 'specials' on the board, and she thought I was an industrial restaurant spy, even though I'm on the VIP list and get emailed the specials anyway). I do not care (although I will blush furiously when asked, because I love taking the pictures and reliving my meal afterwards)

4. Singing along to music in my car (especially Carpenters, and 'Diva' music)

3. I also listen to an 'old people's' radio station most of the time (I do like the oldies), my friend is horrified and calls it a 'grandma' station...

2. Re-watching snippets of Twilight on my computer

1. And like Dianne's, my number guilty pleasure is shopping! And I get as excited in a good menswear/homewear/furniture/fine food store as I do at fashion stores for myself..

And now, I would like to pass on the award to these Divine bloggers:

1. Nathalie at Dress Your Day with Dreams (who's birthday is coming up soon!)

2. The Photodiarist

3. Romeika at A Room of One's Own

4. The Glamourai

5. Kira at Kirafashion

Noir Fashion Event & Recent Buys: Dries Van Noten silk sequined jacket & Lanvin flats

Two weeks ago I attended a fashion event featuring Australian designers' tribute to the colour 'black'...my favourite piece was the sparkly long dress with the draped back...Although not perfect, I was pleasantly surprised that the photos I took without flash (I am not a flash fan) still turned out ok, despite the darkness and moving models...I am afraid I was so focused on trying to take the pictures, I did not take note of which designer each dress was from (some included: Romance was Born, Nicola Finetti, Alannah Hill, and Therese Rawthorne)









pics: taken by yours truly

I wore my Dries Van Noten sequined silk jacket (recent buy), and in the 2 minutes I had to change (bad 'fat' day concurrently with an 'I have nothing to wear' day), I teamed it with the beaded & sequined sandals & clutch from the same collection (I know, shame on me), Rick Owens black dress, and a matte gold irregularly-sized oval rings long necklace I purchased from the Gaudi museum in Barcelona...







click to enlarge (runway pics from style.com)

LOVE the trench version of this jacket shown on the runway:

style.com

Another recent buy (on their way to me), Lanvin ballet patent flats with bow (was hoping to find a plain pair, i.e. no bow, but cannot seem to find one in my size, figure I can always return them...but I do really need to start to stock up on more comfortable flats):