Bit obsessed with... Golden Ponies

I first came across Golden Ponies in Frankie magazine, where I was excited to read that designer Erandi hand makes leather shoes and bags for reasonable prices. I had a look at the website and loved the extensive colour range and designs inspired by dancing shoes, but couldn't decide which ones I wanted to order.

When I was deciding which shoes to wear to my brother's wedding in April, I thought it was the perfect chance to get something from Golden Ponies. My gold Mary Janes arrived a few days too late to wear to the wedding (make sure you order EARLY!), but they were well worth the wait. I LOVE them.

I immediately placed another order and grabbed the Marianne T-Bar flats in brown, the Pony Oxfords in Black and the Floppy Doctor Bag in black. The Floppy Doctor Bag is my everyday handbag - it's not too big but it holds a lot - I can carry my wallet, keys, phone, ipad, umbrella, water bottle, sunscreen, sunglasses... I can even stuff a light cardigan in there if I need to! I want one in tan now.

Crappy Instagram pics of my purchases. I also got my wedding shoes from Golden Ponies but you can't see them yet!

Some of the amazing shoe range from Golden Ponies

Pony Oxford Basic

Marianne T-Bar Flats

Goldie Ballet Flats

Biba Mary Jane Heels

Deery Ankle Boots

And a few of the bags... I love them all!

Leather Bowling Bag

Floppy Doctor Bag

Bag #3 Small Leather Satchel

Sarah Envelope Bag with Strap

Bit obsessed... Tentative Decisions

When I was supposed to be writing an essay the other day, I came across this Etsy store and immediately went on a bit of a pinning spree. Normally when I hear the words 'raw crystal jewellery', I picture some spicy smelling old lady trying to heal my aura with rocks. Luckily for for Tentative Decisions, I saw the pictures before I read the description.

 

I think the gold-dipped quartz at the top of the post is my favourite but it also looks great in silver... Which one is your favourite?

all photos property of Tentative Decisions

Outpost for Sportsgirl

I'm really excited to write this post because I've been looking forward to this range coming out for almost a whole year! My awesome friend Jess from was selected to show her 4th year collection at the Sportsgirl Graduate Showcase at Loreal Melbourne Fashion Festival last year. That was exciting enough in itself, but what we didn't know then was that the sponsors were looking for two designers  to produce a capsule range for Sportsgirl's inaugural 'Graduate Collection'. This meant that Jess had to re-work the ideas from her range (there's a photo of the original range in my post about our fashion show) into five garments that would appeal to the Sportsgirl customer, working with Sportsgirl and attending fittings all year. The range is out now and I was so excited and proud that I ran out as soon as I heard and bought a jumper, skirt and shirt.

Me and my grumpy face showing off the chunky knit jumper, the "Jess" voile shirt and the knit skirt.

The range is in select Sportsgirl stores now and online at Sportsgirl.com.au

A fashion week rainbow

All images from style.com
Sass & Bide
Roland Mouret
 Mulberry
Paul SmithCacharel
Martin Grant
Viktor & Rolf
Norma Kamali
Nicole Farhi
Nanette LeporeMoschino Cheap and Chic
 Rebecca Minkoff
Monique Lhuillier
Milly

Latest Links

Articles, photos, blogs, art and other generally awesome things I've found on the internet lately.

Trawlin' the archives: Group photos from Krisatomic

Not ugly shoes from Twins for Peace (via Frankie magazine). I love the idea of Toms: for every pair you buy, they give a pair of shoes to a child in need. Let's face it though - they're ugly. No matter how many cool people wear them and make them cool by association, they are not good looking shoes. Twins for Peace have a similar concept, and look cool.

"Each TWINS collection is associated with a Shoe Project that we establish in partnership with an NGO in a developing country. Each time you wear you TWINS, you act as a TWINS Ambassador. The TWINS you bought have financed the donation of a second pair of shoes to a needy child. The second pair of shoes are produced in the Shoe Project's country, as a way to stimulate its economy. Each pair of shoes donated is tailored to the needs of the children."

Draw! Pilgrim sells beautiful prints and also has a great blog

Should Be On The Nanny photoshops Fran Drescher's head onto current fashion photos that look like the sort of outfits Miss Fine used to wear on The Nanny. I don't think I need to explain why that's awesome.

I love these photos of Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas (from theredtelephone)

How To Steal Like An Artist (And 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me) by Austin Kleon

Top Tips for the Vintage Virgin from Hepwrights

Alice + Olivia Resort 2012 via Girl Loves Color

A very comprehensive Alexander McQueen retrospective from The Haute Hoosier

Kate and William looked gorgeous on Armed Forces Day last week (via What Kate Wore)

For next time - what's the best thing you've found on the internet lately?

Holly Fulton

Holly Fulton is one of my favourite current designers. Her work is distinctive and instantly recognisable with her focus on jewellery and art deco embellishment.
I love her colour palettes, 60s silhouettes and geometric prints. When gathering inspiration for my grad collection last year, I had a lot of Holly Fulton images on my mood boards!

Autumn/Winter 2011

Spring/Summer 2011

Autumn/Winter 2010

Spring/Summer 2010

Autumn/Winter 2009

Royal College of Art Grad Collection

all images from style.com and hollyfulton.com

Which designers are you loving at the moment?

and...

Have you liked Bell Street's Facebook page yet?

Zero-Waste Patternmaking

Zero-waste patternmaking is the art of creating a pattern for the garment which uses every part of a piece of fabric - so there are no scraps left over. It's a lot harder than it sounds and requires you to design 'backwards', in that the shape of the pattern pieces takes first priority over the final appearance of the garment. You might have seen it on Project Runway once, when it was set as a challenge. I think one of the contestants ended up making a handbag and stuffing the scraps inside!

I first learned about zero-waste patternmaking while I was at uni. We had a tutor called Timo Rissanen who was working on his PhD on Fashion Creation Without Fabric Waste Creation. He is now teaching at Parsons in New York and has become known as a bit of an expert on zero waste fashion and sustainable design.

Timo had an exhibition at uni while I was there and we were fascinated by his pattern diagrams and the interesting details on the resulting garments. Timo's blog has drawn my attention to other zero-waste designers (This post is a great place to start).

Sam Formo

Jennifer Whitty

Mark Liu

Holly McQuillan - Spot the words 'war' and 'peace' in these patterns!

Tara St James - Study N.Y. I think this is who my friend Laura is interning with at the moment. Speaking of Laura, her uni collection was also zero-waste.

Laura Poole

When I was working on my Convertible Pretzel and Window Shopper bags, I had zero-waste patternmaking in mind and designed the marker (layout of the pattern pieces) so that I could fit both styles in one piece of fabric with zero waste. This was partly for sustainable reasons, but mostly to make the bags more affordable and to eliminate mess in the studio! I can't stand having little bits of fabric all over the place, I'm constantly wondering whether a piece is a rubbish or a lost pattern piece, is it too small to keep or too big to throw out, will it come in handy at one point? So much easier to eliminate the waste altogether.

The marker for the Convertible Pretzel and Window Shopper Bags

I do, however, have two confessions to make.
One, zero-waste patternmaking is pretty easy when your patterns consist entirely of different sized rectangles. I'm not even going to try and compete with people who design whole collections this way!
Two, I wasn't entirely successful. I was left with a small rectangle left over that I have been trying to figure out how to use. Luckily, an idea for a cute clutch bag popped into my head the other day and I can't wait to make a sample and show you! It won't be a zero-waste pattern, but it's small enough that it will fit in that leftover space.
The eagle-eyed among you will also notice that the Convertible Pretzel bag's flap has rounded corners - so there are some teeny tiny scraps there!