Girl with a Gun

No sooner had I started work after almost two years of being a self-employed writer/student that my social life exploded in my face.

I was invited to a 60s themed birthday party a couple of weeks ago.
Everyone looked swish in their psychedelic mini shift dresses and coloured knee high boots. I didn't follow the 60s theme, preferring to wear a black mini skirt and a cream and black polka dot corset that I had succumbed to while shopping in Bardot.
I tried saying I was Minnie Mouse but my delicious hostess corrected me and said I had come as Betty Page. I knew better than to contradict the birthday girl!

One of the guests who was wearing khaki ranger pants and shirt carried a revolver attached to his waist. So I asked if I could "borrow his gun" and decided to pose with it. Shane took a couple of photos of me.


This was taken about an hour before I developed introversion-itis and left the party early. I still had some energy left when it was taken and the noise/smoke/alcohol had not yet affected me.

Eyeliner

It's strange being a woman and realising you haven't been to the hairdresser for 10 months and knowing that this 2008 hairdresser visit was also one year since the previous one...

I also took note that the one and only professional facial I've had in my entire life was a couple of years ago. It was a gift too...I wouldn't have thought of it.
That's not all, I don't do pedicures and manicures.

After applying SPF 15 moisturiser, I take less than 15 minutes to apply the little cosmetics I know of: primer, make-up, blush, lipgloss and very rarely, mascara. Truth is, I've only just learnt about primer this year.

And now I have reached a middle age crisis.
You see, this month, after years of shunning it, I've discovered eyeliner.
Yes, you read right. Eyeliner.
Being a regular contact lens wearer is one of the reason I avoided putting anything on my eyes.
So this eyeliner is quite a revolution for me!

Besides I think it's time I stop relying on my genes and actually start to groom myself.


I want to be made up to look like the gorgeous (and talented) Violet Vex. She recently completed a photo shoot with Mark Greenmantle to advertise for clothing store Voodoo Lulu in Fortitude Valley. Love the make up. Oh, and the clothes!

Pretty Frocks for Summer and Fall 2008

Forgive me, I'm not equipped with a fashion vocabulary. Yet, I sense things.

Right now, what has me most inspired are those initial scenes from the film, Atonement.



I want to linger in the evanescent, smokey essence of a summer afternoon. I want to dull about in the gardens of an English mansion. To play with light, sheer fabrics that beg to be ripped. I love the dashing yet soft spoken quality of men's clothing. Creams, various shades of browns, pale mustard, greens.


Yes, that near transparent blouse clinging to wet skin, that little diamond hairclip, those well filled dark eyebrows...

The insolence of that emerald silk gown....



I want wavy locks in chocolate or reddish brown. Pale skin breathing through sheer pastels in creams and roses. Effortless sylphlike waists, free of belts. Nude backs. Plenty of nude back. And halter necks.

Brown boots. Jodhpurs. That last scene from the Illusionist awakened a desire for jodhpurs. To wear with dramatic, crisp white shirts with puffed sleeves and fancy cuff details.

Office wear in cream and white layering.

White everything.

Understatements.

Mrs Dorian Gray

What are you wearing in this photo?
It's an upside down Scottish tulip with a black cropped jacket.
I bought the dress from Dotti during a moment of vanity. Worn here for my Valentine about a week ago.
What do you think is in fashion for Australia now?
I have no idea. Ask the Japanese. The are so far ahead of us. Anything I saw for sale in Tokyo, last October is what we'll be wearing shortly. At the moment I like the shape of bat wings and the sensual look of black leather. For colors, I can't think past black, dark purple and grey but there are also metallic notes. I'm through with the mustard.
What would you like to see more of in the stores?
Whatever happened to cashmere? I love the contrast of soft cashmeres and angora wool against black leather. And I want more grey, there's not enough of it.


What part of the body is in focus this season?
I am going to say what I feel: the neck. So anything that valorises the neck and is itself, valorised through the neck. Oscar Wilde used to say that clothes should hang from the neck down in order to be beautiful, rather than emphasise the waist. It's a bit like that for me this season. Besides, you have to think in terms of semiotics: bat wings = vampire = neck bite. Everything in fashion is related and speaks to us through subliminal messages.
Explain your last statement.
Sometimes when we believe that through our innate fashion sense, we independently choose to endorse this or that color, embody this or that latest style, we are in fact merely responding to all the messages that our subconscious has accummulated over time, either through music, media or film or fashion. They are all related. To be always one step ahead of fashion is to be a little more psychic in every sense of the word. It requires one to be extremely receptive to the undercurrents of our times and to reveal these messages through one's choice of clothes. On the other hand, actively following fashion is bad. Not because it speaks of lack of originality or social comformity or vain stupidity - as some people would want to put it, whatever - but because it implies a lack of receptivity. To be totally reliant on the influence of marketing for making one's fashion decisions may be an indication that one is shut off from their subconscious.

What's the last thing you bought?
A wrap around purple belt.
Your favourite item of clothing at the moment?
My brown puff sleeve tee from Zara. I found it while shopping at Venus Fort in Tokyo. I've been a big fan of Zara since 1999. In big gold print on the tshirt, it says: "Always on My Mind". It inspires me and keeps me grounded.
Aren't you embarrassed of this vain post?
I try as much as possible to avoid being ashamed of who I am. Sometimes it works. I anticipate reading this when I'm 60 and thinking "I can't believe i did that!" But it's much better than realising: "Oh, gee. I haven't changed much after all those tame years." The joy of acquiring wisdom comes from living follies. Enigma's first album promoted a known idea that "The path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom." I'm still on that path.