LMFF: L'oreal Melbourne Fashion Week

It's that time of the year again with Fashion Weeks across the major cities and Melbourne is no different. Festivities started on the 14th and already some interesting trends are showing up especially whimsical kooky designs the likes of Alice in Wonderland would be proud of.

Yesterday I caught one of the runways at Federation Square- Review presents 'fun, flirty, feminine and fashionable in bold rose florals, chic laces, and sharp shoulder silhouettes in blush pinks, vibrant purples, jewelled teals and royal blues'. 

Excuse the off-focus. I arrived slightly late, and clambered up a raised platform while bumping (painfully) my knee at the same time, but it's quite a good view! 

The deep vibrant teal has been quite popular last year, here it is paired with lace in two -just-brushing-the-knees dresses.

A quick peek at the crowd, all taking photos and rather subdued due to the heat but there were excited murmurs throughout the show and after. 

I really love the structured jacket (left second image). The black dress on the left of first image was the final piece, it's too bad I couldn't get near enough to catch the lace details.

Beautiful little open back dress on the right and large necklace piece. Too cute.

Final walk! While the show only lasted for half an hour it was still quite lovely to be there =)

For more information and to purchase tickets to LMFF, go to http://www.lmff.com.au/

Chinese New Year

Welcoming the year of the tiger. Every year I'd be home and grandma would be bustling about, cooking and stringing red packets up. There would be new budding willow branches in the big vase, a platter-ful of sweets and biscuits on the table and new clothes to wriggle into. We'll have a big dinner on the first day and wait for the extended family to come the next, everyone wishing each other gong xi fa cai and the young folks eagerly receiving ang paus (red packets filled with money). 

This year however I'm in Melbourne, far from home and family. The festivities here started early with firecrackers going pop pop pop! On the 14th the road to Chinatown was blocked off and stalls rose up so I went with a friend to see how Australia celebrates CNY. Unfortunately there were mostly adverts everywhere, and real estate agents, an extremely overpriced gelati truck and an awesome exhibition of bamboo skin and syrup artists. 

 

Very pretty decorations!

mmm...gelati. Rather unsatisfying =( 

A dragon dance workshop. The little kids were so cute and enthusiastic! So were the adults actually ;)

A syrup painting master, creating a butterfly. 

Completed syrup art. Looks very yummy. 

Around the city there were several lion dances visiting local businesses, bestowing good luck and good fortune to the happy drum beat and clashing cymbals. A man in a mask is often seen jumping around with a round fan, he leads the 'tiger' and conjoles it. There is always a cabbage and a paper scroll hung high, so the tiger leaps up and devours both, then reveals the scroll with good luck writing before the firecrackers go off in loud bangs!

 

A golden lion preparing to eat the cabbage. It succeeds!

This red lion retreats from the explosive crackers. See its closed eyes?

Off it goes finding a new place to bestow good luck!

A bold black and gold lion.

The tricky man leads the lion. 

The players of the lion are often very strong, it takes alot of energy and martial art skills to leap and show off the great lion! At other places the lion would often jump from pole to pole, wowing the crowds!

 

Taking a gentle bow. 

Chinese New Year is a time of families and friends. It is accompanied with delicious food and bright colours and lots of noises calling for happiness. Gong xi fa cai, may your year be filled with good cheer and good health and good fortune.

Summer

Melbourne has turned into a scorcher when it's not raining straight through for 6 hours. Attempting to sit through 3.5 hours of law exams twice was rather an achievement in itself and at last I'm free. Sweet sweet freedom from being cooped up for two weeks staring at tiny notes and bright computer screens!

Sarah (a very dear and darling makeup artist who recently moved to Melbourne and we've been working together for awhile) and I excitedly planned for a what promised to be phenomenal beach fashion and beauty shoot. Unfortunately, as always when I prepared for a location shoot, the skies thundered and grayed and positively threatened sleet. Slightly dramatic but I'm hugely disappointed in Melbourne 'Four Seasons' weather!

Just the other day popped in again at Insert Name Here to see Airdrie and met the newest designers who joined the store. Eva Q is a must watch young couturist, her current collection an exemplar of hand sewn delicacy, while Hamish of T Shirt Garage produces comfortable male and female tees grafted with muscle car designs. It was Hamish's welcome evening and somehow I got roped in to shooting runway and event! What an interesting experience negotiating through available light, trying to shoot quickly, quietly and with decent composition. Don't think I did so well, but it was great fun =D

I'll soon be busy with a new shoot and will be updating with images from the big editorials from months ago =D Stay tuned!

First publication

With all my latest shoots and prepping for submissions, I didn't realize I actually received my first publication and tearsheets. What a completely (forgotten) surprise! It's a little article (text and photos) on the 13th Nec Go Cup for the Australian Go Journal, of which I'm now the Melbourne correspondent for. So while it's isn't fashion and beauty, it's still quite exciting and involves the other occupation of my life- go.

Go is an ancient Chinese board game played with white and black stones. It's quite simple to learn but challenging to master, and quite beautiful once you start understanding the intricate complexity of the moves. I started playing about 6 years ago and have been involved in one of the local and more active clubs the past four years. This year (this weekend actually) we're hosting the Australian National Go Tournament, so yes I'm covering the photography aspect again.

One of the Journal editors brought in copies and I get one. Happy.