5 Ways to Wear: The colour pop platform wedge

27th January 2012. Posted by Betts. | Permalink | No Comments » |
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Meet Michelle. Michelle is the brains behind Michelle’s Style File and the latest blogger to take part in our 5 Ways to Wear Project.

Living in Melbourne with her hubby and two cats, Michelle launched her blog in January last year as merely a way of recording her outfits. From there, she realised what an inspirational community the blogosphere can be and her blog became a wonderful creative outlet that now has a huge fan base.

In talking to Michelle, it’s clear to see she loves having fun with fashion and doesn’t take it too seriously.

“My goal is to inspire others to have fun with fashion. You will always see me on the blog with a smile on my face and I believe that fashion is such a great escape from the craziness of everyday life.”

Michelle loves experimenting with her styling to find looks and shapes that work for her. Whilst being influenced by what’s in fashion, she predominantly goes for “classic shapes and styles that stand the test the time” to create soft polished and feminine looks.

And she loves shoes! She lives by the motto that a fabulous heel can add an instant boot to any girl’s confidence. She even has a page on her blog dedicated solely to shoes – a love and addiction we know all too well.

We couldn’t let Michelle go without asking her what trends she most excited about for the coming Autumn Winter season. She told us leather pants and skirts are still featuring with lots of cosy knits along with ankle boots galore. Sequins are another big trend Michelle has noticed for the coming season. “Sequins are popping up everywhere and not just for night time either.” We’re super excited for sequins to reign this season. Bring on the sparkle! Michelle also noted how happy she was that colour is still making a statement this winter and that we can finally farewell the days of black winters.

Clearly a lover of colour, Michelle chose the bright fuchsia platform wedge ‘Superstar’ for our project. We love the way Michelle has styled this shoe. Each look shows how easy it is to dial up the volume on an outfit by adding a pop of vibrant colour.

At $119.99, Superstar is a statement must-have. Michelle shows that this sky-high ankle strapped wedge can be glammed up by teaming them with a skinny jean, or kept casual with a flowing summer dress.

Superstar also comes in classic black, for those after something a little more subtle. Check them out in store or online here.

Thanks for being a part of our 5 Ways to Wear project Michelle, we’ve loved having you on board and seeing your unique and chic styling.

5 Ways to Wear: The woven colour block wedge

23rd December 2011. Posted by Betts. | Permalink | No Comments » |
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Meet Bonnie. Bonnie’s the latest blogger to take part in our 5 Ways to Wear project and the brains and style behind the fashion blog Bonnie Friday.

Whilst juggling her law studies and freelance journalism, Bonnie started the Bonnie Friday blog in early 2010 as a creative outlet for her two loves, fashion and writing. The blog showcases independent designers, labels and boutiques, personalities as well as her personal style and fashion favourites.
Bonnie Friday has grown from what started as just a hobby, to a permanent fixture in Bonnie’s life that now features Australian and international fashion, runway reports and product reviews.

It seems we’re not the only ones who’ve noticed Bonnie’s talents. She was recently flown to New York by Nokia for Fashion Week where she reported for ELLE.com! Bonnie had a great time checking out the New York catwalks and told us “It was an amazing experience and something I would love to do again in the future.”

Bonnie also took on Perth’s fashion scene by reporting for perthnow.com.au during the most recent Perth Fashion Festival in September.

When we spoke to Bonnie, she told us her ultimate goal is to work in fashion across Australia, “if I could travel from fashion week to fashion week, photographing and reporting on Australian models, runways, behind the scenes action and everything else that goes on, I would be the luckiest girl in the world!”

We’re delighted to have Bonnie on board in our latest 5 Ways to Wear project and we can’t get enough of the shoe she selected. Bonnie chose one of our favourite summer styles – the liquorice allsort inspired colour pop wedge, Candy. Combining one of summer’s biggest trends, colour blocking with a fun raffia woven wedge, this style is a statement-making essential.

At just $89.99, it won’t break the bank and will have you saying “I want Candy!” This delicious style has already sold out online so hurry in-store to make sure you don’t miss out.

Bonnie shows us how to easily work the colour blocking trend and how to dial up a simple LBD by adding a statement shoe.

It’s been so great to see our home grown Perth girl making her mark on the international stage, and NYC at that, talk about hitting the jackpot! Thanks for coming on board Bonnie, it’s been great working with you. Keep up the great work, we’re excited to see what you do next.

MAKE: DIY – Divine Decorations For Your Very Crafty Christmas

16th December 2011. Posted by Betts. | Permalink | No Comments » |
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Though we’re taught plenty of crafting techniques during our school years, as adults, a lot of us fall into the habit of buying Christmas decorations, which is a shame when you consider how easy and fun it is to make your own festive creations to spread the Christmas cheer. Cheap and chic, these paper baubles are super simple to construct, only requiring cardboard, scissors, a stapler and a hole punch to complete.

To start, cut your cardboard into 2cm-3cm wide strips (depending on which thickness you prefer); then trim those strips into three different lengths – short, medium and long. It doesn’t really matter how long each piece is but as a guide, good lengths to start off with are 7cm, 13cm and 18cm.

Wedge a 7cm strip in between two 13cm strips and staple one end so the three strips are flush, leaving about a 1cm gap between the edge of the strips and the staple. To create the bauble shape slide the unstapled ends of the 13cm strips down to meet the end of the 7cm strip in the middle, then staple (leaving a 1cm gap between the end of the strips and the staple).

Next, wedge the bauble you just made in between two 18cm strips, stapling on both ends, being careful to keep 2cm gap at the top of the bauble to punch through. Now that the basis of your bauble is complete, use a hole punch to make a hole at the top of the bauble which you can use to affix fishing line through. If you think circles are au fait, head to an office supplies store and invest in a start or heart shape hole punch.

Now you can deck the halls and feel good about it!

MAKE: DIY – Doily Delight

15th December 2011. Posted by Betts. | Permalink | No Comments » |
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There’s a reason Maria from the Sound Of Music loved “brown paper packages tied up with string”. Simple, elegant, crafty and nostalgic, they are undeniably charming. The only thing more delightful than presents wrapped in brown paper are presents covered in white doilies. A great and inexpensive wrapping idea, doilies add an extra bit of personality to already pretty presents.

You can find doilies at craft stores, party stores and even at Red Dot and there’s plenty of ribbon and string on offer at places such as Spotlight and Lincraft for you to choose from.

Doilies look great on plain and coloured paper – if brown paper doesn’t tickle your fancy opt for red wrapping paper for a splash of colour or patterned paper for an eye catching finished product that will have your relatives oohing and aahing when you hand them your beautifully wrapped gift.

Once you’ve made the all important decision about which wrapping paper to use, it’s easy to affix doilies to your already wrapped presents – simply use strips of double sided tape to hold it all together, then finish off with some pretty ribbon.

MAKE: DIY – A Very Crafty Christmas Tree

14th December 2011. Posted by Betts. | Permalink | No Comments » |
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These days most folk don’t have the space for a traditional Christmas tree, nor the time to go and fetch one from a field, which is when papercraft comes in very handy! Small, cute, affordable and easy to construct, cardboard Christmas trees are a great alternative to the real deal, and make superb table decorations for those on hosting duties.

All you’ll need to make a cardboard Christmas tree is an A2 piece of red cardboard (or any other colour that tickles your fancy), some sticky tape, a pair of scissors and for those who like the look of a polka dot tree – some white circular stickers; all of which can be found at office supply stores.

To create the tree itself roll the cardboard into a cone, and affix with a few pieces of sticky tape. Trim the excess cardboard at the base of the cone so that your tree stands straight, then cover in circular stickers to create a polka dot effect.

If you like the look of a cluster of cardboard Christmas trees, use an additional A2 sheet of cardboard and cut it into quarters, then turn those into cones into trees using the instructions above.

Et voila – you’ve got your Christmas tree covered!

5 Ways to Wear: The colour pop platform pump.

1st November 2011. Posted by Betts. | Permalink | No Comments » |
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Meet Morgan. Morgan Joanel to be exact. Singer. Songwriter. Fashion Designer. Artist. Blogger. She’s the girl with a million and one talents and she’s making waves. So much so that New York’s MTV Style recently referred to the Perth native as a “Genius,” when profiling the now Sydney based Morgan as one of their prestigious ‘Style Bloggers of the Week’ (August 2011).

Morgan has also just released both her debut single and fashion range. The range is inspired by music festivals and the earlier years of rock’n’roll, and is all designed by Morgan herself.

‘Devil’s in the Detail’ is the first musical tasting from the musician, who recently inked a worldwide record deal with Sony Music. Cool huh? Morgan’s not new to music though, she’s long been self-employed as a full time musician in Perth and has already racked up an impressive 900 shows to date – and still counting! She’s released a couple of independent EP’s and recorded the debut single with long-time fellow Perth collaborator and producer, Dale Shearsmith, plus award-winning engineer, Dave Parkin.

Through her fashion blog (MoJoMade), Morgan was invited to be the ‘face of’ for the established Australian fashion label, Azuki and even designed a summer capsule collection for the label. Morgan’s first capsule has just hit boutiques across Australia with MYER also jumping onto Morgan’s designs, stocking her capsule nationally.

In her own words Morgan says, “I write songs, make music, design fashion and accessories, I blog about my inspirations and I do all my own graphic and visual artwork. I’m what some would call a creative control freak, but I just love to create and I don’t know any other way. I guess I’m just a chaos addict!”

We’ve been watching Morgan’s profile rocket online, including her popularity on Lookbook.nu where she revels in showcasing her unique and recognisable style so we were thrilled to have her join the 5 Ways family.

When we asked Morgan what shoe she’d like to showcase, she wanted something colourful. A statement-making heel with plenty of height that would work with her style. So she promptly chose Silhouette in orange – the hottest platform pump of the season.

At $99.99, Silhouette is a go-anywhere heel that ticks all the boxes – versatile, sky-high and sassy. And it doesn’t stop there. Morgan opted for this gorgeous platform pump in orange, but it also comes in fire engine red, delicious watermelon, eye-popping blue plus the must have staple colours grey and black. We’ll take one in each colour thanks!

Morgan’s done an incredible job with her 5 Ways to Wear challenge. She looks amazing in each of her looks and shows us how to work colour, texture, animal print, rock chic and denim. We love her looks – and that hair is to die for.

Big thanks to Morgan for getting involved in our project, and most of all, fitting us in to her very busy schedule! We’re big fans of your style and wish you well with all your creative endeavours.

5 Ways to Wear: The sky-high, Aztec-inspired cork platform.

20th October 2011. Posted by Betts. | Permalink | No Comments » |
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Meet Katie. Katie runs the Be Inspired online fashion blog and is the latest addition to our 5 Ways to Wear project. Living by the motto that ‘accessories make the outfit’, Katie’s blog sets out to prove that shoes, bling, scarves and bags have the ability to make (or break) your overall look.

Katie, from Queensland, started her Be Inspired blog just over a year ago, for reasons as obvious as the name suggests. For Katie, Be Inspired is a way to share her thoughts on fashion, trends, her bargain buys and her loves. She loves being able to give her followers ideas and inspiration when it comes to clothes, styling and makeup.

We love the fact that Katie looks at fashion from a different angle. She has a genuine interest in making the most out of what is affordable – taking seasonal trends and working them into outfits that don’t cost the earth. Katie told us, “I truly believe that a $50 outfit can look just as fabulous as (or even better than) a $500 outfit; I often set challenges for myself to prove this. In fact, even for my 5 Ways to Wear challenge (excluding the fab shoes), every outfit you see cost less than $50.”

Katie describes her style as affordable and moody, with a sprinkling of Bohemian, a twist of Street, and a slice of Vintage. She loves her neutrals and loves to play with tones of tans, cream, grey and black – but fesses up in admitting she could NOT live without animal print.

For Katie’s 5 Ways to Wear project, she chose the 70’s influenced, cork platform summer sandal, Ceylon. This shoe’s a show-stopper, complete with some gorgeous Aztec-inspired detail on the upper. Patterns and textures (and clashing them) are big this season and it seems that fashionistas across Australia agree. Whether it’s Aztec, tribal, floral or zig-zag prints, girls are loving the opportunity to experiment with these interest materials.

And Katie’s shown us how to do it right. From animal print sheers and feminine nude pleats, to cheeky denim cut-offs and nautical inspired layering, Katie’s worked the Ceylon shoe beautifully throughout her five looks.

You can find Ceylon, also available in a natural canvas mix, in-store and online now for $89.99.

Vintage and Op-Shopping are one of Katie’s favourite past-times. She loves the thrill of finding a gem in the rubble, and the curiosity of who the previous owner may have been. It gives her plenty of inspiration for her blog and she loves showcasing the potential in something that someone else didn’t. She also loves the feeling of owning something unique that can’t be found down at the local shopping mall.

Lucky enough to have a supportive partner, who doubles as the extremely talented and creative photographer behind Be Inspired, Katie looks forward to continuing to share her photos, outfits and inspiration with her loyal Be Inspired followers. She’s got some great little plans for the future and is looking forward to seeing where the universe takes her – at this stage, she’s just enjoying the fabYOUlous ride.

Thanks Katie – it’s been great working with you on the 5 Ways project… keep inspiring. xx

LISTEN: We ♥ The Jungle Giants.

19th October 2011. Posted by Betts. | Permalink | No Comments » |
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From the  moment we heard the ‘Mr. Polite’ track on Triple J a few months ago, we were hooked! So much so, that we pestered The Jungle Giants to let us  share their track with you on our Spring Summer 11/12 Behind-The-Scenes video. With heartfelt pleas and a few pairs of shoes to sweeten the deal, they caved, and we fell in love with the result. (Check out the Betts video here).

Since then, The Jungle Giants have gone from strength to strength and their gorgeous little summer tune, ‘Mr. Polite’ continues to gain momentum on radio, whilst snagging Feature Artists status on the recently launched Triple J Unearthed digital radio station. Awesome stuff.

Check out the band’s debut film clip for ‘Mr. Polite’, featuring some very cool stop motion animation. It features over 2,900 frames, each of them individually drawn on a white board!

The cool kids are currently on the road, touring with another one of our faves, Ball Park Music.

5 Ways to Wear: The fun and flirty wrap-around espadrille wedge.

19th September 2011. Posted by Betts. | Permalink | No Comments » |
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Meet Sushi. Sushi is our latest blogger to feature in the 5 Ways to Wear project and has a gorgeous little blog, aptly titled Le Blog De Sushi. Beautifully designed, it’s where Sushi shares her inspirations, outfits and obsessions with pretty things.

Sushi grew up in the Adelaide Hills and studied Graphic Design at the University of South Australia. Lucky for her, that’s where she met her fiancé and at the end of their studies in 2009, made the move to Melbourne. Since then, Sushi has spent her time honing her design skills working as a freelance Graphic Designer, as well as blogging and working at Forever New.

After maintaining an outfit diary on Chictopia.com, Sushi stared her blog in March 2009 after deciding that she wanted her own space to share her outfits, inspirations and wishlists. From there Le Blog De Sushi was born.

In March 2010 the Editor of Dujour Magazine came across Sushi’s blog, offering her the opportunity to be the Fashion Marketing Editor of the magazine. Sushi worked for Dujour for over a year, creating mood boards, sourcing products and designers as well as contributing to the graphic design department for one issue.

Since starting her blog in 2009, it’s been featured in magazines such as Grazia, Ink, Flavor, Pop Art and Dujour as well as in the very recently published book Style Yourself.

Speaking to Sushi, it’s evident that she loves girly, quirky things and her blog definitely reflects that. Her favourite designers include Sretsis, Alannah Hill and TBA and her favourite online store is Maximillia.com.

Lucky for us, Sushi has a slight shoe addiction, so we thought she’d be perfect to get involved in the 5 Ways to Wear project.

So what was Sushi’s selection? The fun, flirty, ankle wrap-around espadrille wedge - Dixie. Cute, fresh and perfect for Sushi’s stying, this summer shoe is available in Beige, Black or Black Polka Dot. At $79.99 it also represents great value and is a nice way to start introducing some Spring Summer style into your wardrobe, with canvas and rope options flying off the shelves as we speak.

Check out Dixie online or in-store now.

Thanks Sushi for being part of our 5 Ways to Wear project - it was a pleasure working with you. We just adore your blog and your oh-so-pretty style.

 

LISTEN: The Animals You See In Us…

19th September 2011. Posted by Gino. | Permalink | No Comments » |
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Brilliant new track from Perth’s very own Voltaire Twins. Equally brilliant clip to go with it.

Check out the Voltaire Twins on Facebook or access their new track, ‘Animalia’ (and killer remixes) at www.voltairetwins.com.

Pure synth-pop bliss.

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