Five for Friday

Women in Clothes. You can participate.

UK high street chain River Island have opened an online store for Australian customers. To celebrate, they have free shipping on all orders over 20GBP until this Sunday 9 June. 

Bluer Denim: A kickstarter project that aims to recycle your old denim jeans. Not sure if they post to Australia but if they do, I'm keen, this is a great social and retail project. 

 

Women's fits and styles. Image courtesy of The Bluer Denim Project.

Gorman have collaborated with a bundle of Australian artists to make incredible 'adventure' sneakers. 

Rachel Castle's adventure sneakers. Image courtesy of Gorman. 

Run Pee - the ap that tells you when in a movie to run for the toilets so you won't miss too much. 

This is one for all my pregnant friends out there - and there are A LOT of you! This website will tell you how popular your chosen name has been since the1880s. Also a bundle of other info.

This will surprise no-one but my name doesn't even have a ranking. It has not ranked on any countries' top 1000 names since The Dawn of Time. 

So it would be a great name if any of your were having girls. Just sayin'.

Five for Friday

The Australian Writers Centre runs an annual competition to find Australia's best blogs. See the 25 finalists on the AWC website, and vote for a winner!

Are we all enjoying watching the world gear-up for The Great Gatsby? Again? The fashion world is of course swinging in 20's revival. Brooks Brothers, along with Prada have released a Gatsby-inspired collection. Brooks were responsible for the mens' costuming and I for one and not ashamed to admit that I would melt for a man in this tailoring.

 

I kind of want to do this 5 minute DIY, thanks to Frankie Magazine.

Nine friends have been playing a game of tag for 23 years

Alison Brie (of Community and Mad Men) recreates internet memes with startling accuracy.

Five for Friday

Great Challenges in Global Health is calling for submission to develop the next generation of condom. Because let's face it, there hasn't been a whole lot of technological improvement there for some 400 years. The project is receiving financial support from the Bill Gates Foundation. I just thought this was interesting. Your awareness has been raised this Friday! 

Brisbane Craft Beer has a website.  

Kevin McCloud has a Pinterest page. For any other Grand Design freaks out there. Seriously is a great show to have on while cooking dinner, though. 

Brisbane City Council City Centre MasterPlan Ideas Fiesta. A three-week long program of free public events.  

A website has done a list of their favourite DIY fashion bloggers and posts. The post itself isn't great but you can look through the websites and projects and find some great new blogs and ideas. Personally, I loved this one on ...love Maegan. I wish I'd seen this months ago, I might have tried this to have one 'neon' item in my wardrobe.

 Image courtesy of ...love Maegan.

Five for Friday

I'm sure you've all heard of this instagram feed, but you must take a look. A Russian guy who loves to travel has met his perfect travel companion / girlfriend and snapped photos of her around the globe, pulling him by the hand to new and wonderful places. You do not need an instagram account to look at this. Murad Osmann's instagram feed.

 Images courtesy of Murad Osmann. 

Everyday People Cartoons; Cartoons about women, and the people who love and annoy them.  

One high-flying woman's perspective on work/life balance.  

50 best photos from fashion month.

One of my good friends (who blogs here) is putting together a team for the Gold Coast Colour Run 'The Happiest Run in the World'. It's a fun day out in support of being fit, healthy and happy and also supporting The Ponting Foundation. 

Five for Friday

Should I eat this shit? A website that tells you if you should eat something. 

To celebrate getting 1 million followers on Twitter, Lonely Planet have released their Best Travel 2013 guide free for download. 

Brisbane's latest mobile food enterprise, following in the very successful footsteps of the Bun Mobile: Wandering Elephant. 

Gucci releases new leather handbag line with a passport detailing the life of the cow it came from. The accessories version of 'meet the meat'?

The Australian Writers' Centre have opened their annual Australia's Best Blog competition, so if there are blogs out there that you really enjoy and value, nominate them for an award. This is a great opportunity to give recognition to people who put a lot of time and love into a project that brings enjoyment, help or entertainment to others as well as themselves.

 

Happy Friday

Five for Friday

First big announcement, one of my favourite people has made a return to blogging! Another Brisbane local girl, she and her own blog partner talk about 20-something life, bars, beauty, fashion and fun on Adventures In Colour.

Do we need a new punctuation mark?

It's not often that I genuinely lust after an H&M collection, though I do desperately wish we had the chain here in Australia, but this collection, I WANT!

I adore discovering new, accessible food blogs and here is Tales of a Truffle Pig. Sure, the writer is based out of Sydney but she posts about food and eating all over the country and even from Brisbane, I can enjoy her opinions on beer and recipes for zucchini and bacon slice!

Jennifer Lawrence is tied with Emma Stone and Meryl Streep as the person I want most to play me in a movie about my life. So this week I was thrilled to not only discover a new sarcastic gifs tumblr, but one that went nuts with Jennifer Lawrence gifs post-oscars. She's known for being rad in interviews, so there is an internet-library of potential material.

Paris Couture Week S/S 2013

Paris Couture Week spring/summer 2013. Over and done with and below are some of my eye-dazzling favourites from the few designers who can afford to produce these luscious but ruinously expensive collections. As I've said before, couture is the epitome of fashion. It is among the last remaining reminders that once every piece of clothing we wore, from our nightdresses to our bustles, was hand-made.

This fashion week in particular was enchanting for me as it seemed many of the designers moved away from edgy statements and unattractive extravagance to pieces that could at least in theory, be worn. There was an abundance of ultra-femininity; lace, fine embroidery, sequins, monochrome, pale colours, demure and classic. A bit of a hark-back to the golden age of couture in the 1950s. As if every house was going back to the archives and doing what they did best - from high-voltage sexy of Versace to structure and nipped waists at Dior.

For more professional coverage, check out Vogue Australia and Style.com and Harpers Bazaar has backstage as well.

Ultra feminine at Alexis Mabille. Images courtesy of Style.com.

 Atelier Versace. High-voltage slinky and sexy, as always. Photos courtesy of Style.com.

 Chanel. Suited, booted, classic. Photos courtesy of Vogue Australia.

 Christian Dior, one of my two favourite shows of the season. I loved every look. 

Photos courtesy of Harpers Bazaar.

Elie Saab. Always one of my favourites for the beauty and style of his designs. Moreover, year after year, they are the sort of dresses and gowns I would buy if I ever had the opportunity. They are dresses I would thrill to wear.

I may have over-indulged on the photo-board.

Five for Friday no. 46

Authors choose their favourite books for 2012.

A beautiful way to store books.

'Man Repellent' fashion blog. Wearing whatever she likes, whether chaps like it or not.

Do you have 300 words to say on the topic of Love? 

A British adventurer become the first person to travel to all the world's 'countries'.

Five for Friday no. 45

First world problems of the 1990s. Unnervingly, I can related to most of them.

 

Hipster baby names: find your own. Mine is Argyle. Which I think might be easier to deal with than my real name. 

The 50 ugliest shoes in history. 

 

A slightly odd sartorial website. 

Dream houses built for books and the people who love them.

Exciting news for the Brisbane fashion-lover

A new store is about to open in the shiny new Wintergarden complex: Designer Archives.

Designer Archives is a depository of designer clothing and accessories for those of us who might lust after a Chanel 2.55 and are happy to accept a version from a season or two ago.

The brain child of three sisters who have sourced selected wares from all over the world; auctions, stylists and film wardrobes. Designer Archives will stock pieces that are from previous seasons and items that were immediate classic sell-outs at the time.

Prices will reflect that these are no longer fresh items, but that they are still designer. If you want Chanel pumps you pay for them, even if it is at a quarter of the price. It’s a kind of high-end vintage op-shop in the manner of vintage stores or flea markets you find in European capitals, where you never know what genuine treasures you might stumble upon. They will also be opening an online store in the next few weeks.  

I cannot afford the latest designer wear. However, I have learned from the purchase of the one current designer piece in my wardrobe – a pair of vintage Bally heels – that provided you choose well, the investment is well worth it. They are amongst the most comfortable shoes in my entire collection, despite being 3inch strappy stilettos. Though I may not technically be able to afford even the cut-price wares at Designer Archive, I suspect I will become a regular visitor because when I spot those Blahniks that I fall instantly in love with, I will be happy to lay down my credit card to make both my feet and my wardrobe happy.

Designer Archives in Wintergarden. If a city-based friend checks it out, I’d love to know what you think!