Here Comes Another Bride

I enjoyed another wedding this Saturday, this time for my friends Jessica and Pete. 'Tis the season to get married, or at very least the age group, and I thought this celebration felt similar in flavour to my own; they used the same celebrant and caterers that we did and their setting was equally as beautiful as ours, although the historical and architecturally magnificent grounds of an old mental hospital has a bit of a different flavour to a grungy old surf club. The result, however, was that it felt a little bit like experiencing my wedding from the other side, and I've got to say the ride was really fun. I relish any opportunity to dance and dance and dance, especially now that my nightclubbing days are behind me.

I've worn this 1960s shocking pink dress to a number of weddings before but up until Saturday I hadn't had it in rotation for a couple of years (I bought it around four years ago from Inta-Vintage in Narrabeen). I had a couple of other shortlisted dresses but for some reason, as I was getting my hair done earlier that day (thanks Desmond and Molly Jones) I thought about this frock, and when I mentioned it to the hubby he said YES YES YES.
So, it turns out he rather likes this dress.
The skirt is really stiff and I love the frill on the bottom, and I wore a corset with it to try and get the perfect fit. I don't know whether that was wholly successful, but it did prevent me from going overboard on the blue cheese (yes, they served blue cheese!). My shoes are new ones courtesy of Alex Alex and I found a cheap little belt to bring the whole look together.

It seems lots of hip brides are finding their dresses in far flung places now and Jess is no exception. Her wedding dress was from the 1970s via Ebay and she had it altered to modernise it a bit, and for fit. Hopefully, once she's back from her honeymoon, I'll be able to source some better pics. I was having so much fun most of the night, I kind of forgot to take them!

Pink Cotton + Embroidery + The 1960s = the perfect dress for a garden wedding

Last week on Valentines Day my parents and I were lucky enough to attend the wedding of a very old family friend, and one of the lovely Vintage All Sorts girls who helped organise my wedding. Annette and her husband Ross had just a little less time to turn their day around than me and my hubby did. They were engaged on Christmas Eve and won a wedding on 14 Feb followed by a honeymoon in Vegas, all thanks to a competition run by Las Vegas Tourism (hence the showgirls hovering in the background).
It was a champagne breakfast by Sydney Harbour and the dress code was garden party. What a perfect occasion to wear this baby pink cotton embroidered dress that I picked up in Brisbane last year. In the midst of a busy work day, I managed to sneak a spare half an hour to dash over to the Paddington Antique Centre which houses a number of lovingly tended vintage clothing stalls as well as lots of great antiques too. And they are all live in a 1920s era picture palace!

Here I am with my Dad and I had to include a pic of my Mum too, as she made this lovely floral dress from a Vintage Vogue Pattern. Doesn't she look gorgeous? And isn't she clever?

The groom looked dashing in a Givenchy suit and the bride wore a mod-tastic white lace 1960s shift dress. Her bouffant hair-do was divine and had me green with envy. The only way I could ever get that much volume in my hair is if I wore a wig.

The Best Frocks of 2010

When I think about the most jaw-dropping celeb fashion moments of 2010, the first images that come to mind not unsurprisingly feature the forever perfect Cate Blanchett. Now that she's keeping a relatively low profile in Sydney (I was in Hunter's Hill the other week but I didn't see her, although the hubby caught sight of her a couple of weeks ago), she doesn't walk the red-carpet as much, but when she does, golly she's gorgeous. LOVED her in Alexander McQueen at Cannes this year and she was equally as lovely in vintage Lacroix in Japan.

Another highlight: Kristin Davis' efforts for the SATC 2 promo trail. She wore designer vintage from Decades for every event and looked spectacular each and every time. It's hard to pick a favourite, but the Balmain and Jean Desses were flawless.

(By the way I relented and finally watched the film in a hotel room one night while I was working. It was entertaining in parts but I thought it was culturally insensitive and the overt displays of wealth left me feeling queasy. Is it just me, or is Sex and the City not really Sex and the City if it isn't set in New York? And Stanford and Anthony hated each other. No way should they have got married).

The Costume Institute ball always brings me vicarious frock joy, even more so than the Oscars or the Globes I'd say. Particularly memorable in 2010 were Bee Schaffer's Balenciaga Edition (a copy of an original from 1948) and Dutch supermodel Doutzen Kroes in Zac Posen. I'm a sucker for periwinkle blue.

Though Diane Kruger looked very, very pretty in Lacroix at the Golden Globes.

Shoe designer Charlotte Dellal wore the wedding dress of the year back in May, in this custom designed Giambattista Valli. AMAZING.

And outside of these lovely ladies, my picks for the consistently best dressed celebs of the year go to Sarah-Jessica Parker, Anne Hathaway, Keira Knightley and Michelle Williams.

What were your favourite frocks?

My New Party Dress & A Wedding

My dear friend Liana married her Irishman Mark last weekend in a beautiful garden ceremony in Berry. It was a beautiful, intimate wedding and thankfully the rain managed to hold out until they'd finished signing the register, after which the skies opened and didn't stop for a few days.
It was the perfect opportunity to wear my new vintage party dress care of Coco Repose. I love the little folds of fabric over the bust, and the skirt has a cute little bow on the front of the skirt. Plus its blue and floral and those are two elements I'm innately drawn too. I paired the dress with some pink satin shoes care of Gianna Meliani.

The bride wore a beautiful 30s inspired Collette Dinnigan dress. The pure white colour really suited her olive skin and the low scooped back was divine.

It was a truly joyous weekend.

The Wedding Photos Are In: The Details

The hubby and I collected our wedding photos from Sebastian T Photography yesterday. Such a happy occasion ... it almost makes up for the fact that I am battling a horrible cold.

I have the opportunity now to plug all the wonderful people/organisations that helped to create the bridal party outfits. It was so much fun pulling everything together that I can't help continuing the search for beautiful pieces. I hope I'm not driving my engaged friends mad!

Rebecca's bejewelled purse was discovered by my mother-in-law at the Rozelle markets.

And mine was discovered at the Sydney Antique Centre. It is 1970s, but in my eyes it is timeless.

The floral arrangements Naomi Jones created for the bridal part were divine. I provided her with a colour chart and asked her to stick to the "vintage Hawaiian" theme and then gave her free reign. The results were spectacular.

The hair clips, earrings and brooch that Rebecca and I wore were found at this fabulous site called Accessories of Old. Based out of Maryland in the US, they have a huge collection of new old costume jewellery, and all the items I bought were from the Czech Republic circa 1950s. They all arrived on their original cards, and my wedding was their first ever outing.

Rebecca's dress is a vintage reproduction we picked up at Sandie Bizy's in Annandale. She looks utterly gorgeous in peach and she wore a crinoline underneath the frock to give it that beautiful volume.

My dress was an Etsy purchase from Timeless Vixen Vintage's store. I've just noticed that they've uploaded another 1950s Ceil Chapman, and for fans of the designer, I can assure you I was completely happy with mine. I also think I got it for a pretty reasonable price. I've seen some Ceil's for sale at $1,500 ... my dress cost less than the hubby's suit! And I've yet to see another one like it.

A look at my hair clip, earrings and brooch. I tried my best to stick with a pastel theme for my whole outfit, and chose colours that complemented the silvery blue of my frock's sash.

I bought my delicate baby blue gloves the week before the wedding from Sandie Bizy's. I think they gave my outfit that final element of ladylike polish, plus made me feel special.

Rebecca and I wore the same fabric covered shoes from Wittner. The bows provided a nice synergy with the bow on my dress.

A big thanks again to Sebastian and Lee for the photos. What a tremendous wedding gift. I will never forget the generosity of our friends.

And speaking of lifestyles of the rich and famous ...

Who among us doesn't fancy the idea of being holed up in a French castle (provided you don't have to clean it, that is) and waltzing down the sweeping staircase in Givenchy haute couture. Well, if you are a hop, skip and jump from the Chateau Haroue outside of Paris - perhaps stranded in Europe by volcanic ash - you can now get a taste of what that life might be like.

Hubert de Givenchy has curated an exhibition of forty classic haute couture evening gowns from Cristobal Balenciaga, Phillipe Venet and his own famous label and they'll be available for the public to swoon over from 7th May at the Chateau.

You will be able to examine up close the iconic black evening dress that Holly Golightly wore as she breakfasted at Tiffany's.

And apparently Queen Fabiola of Belgium's Balenciaga designed wedding dress (1960) will also be on display, including the luxe, long and bejewelled veil.

Check out Chateau Haroue's website for more details on its architectural and historical significance. It sounds like the perfect meeting of French architecture and French fashion to me. Now all I need is an air ticket.

Thank goodness for friends

My friends are so, so important to me and I am very lucky that I'm surrounded by such a fantastic group of interesting and loyal people. One of the nicest outcomes of having a wedding is getting to party with all your friends. Having them all front up looking so darn snazzy was an added bonus. The dress code was "glamorous" and many also embraced the vintage theme.

My friends Sonia, Jessica, Louisa and Catherine all looked gorgeous (and the always immaculate Louisa was having a laugh with her Russian dancer routine) and rocked vintage and/or vintage styled looks. Thanks ladies!

My Mum's friend Lynne is a vintage lover who is always on the lookout for lovely pieces, and she hit on a winner with this Hawaiian maxi which fitted the wedding theme to a tee.

My fellow newlywed Erin is another vintage fan who went for a spring like maxi dress with cute pleated sleeves. Very Virgin Suicides.

Our sexy bar girls from Vintage All Sorts were tremendous theme mascots in their Hawaiian print dresses and red lippy. They also put up with a very brisk trade and kept all our hot guests well lubricated (it reached 34 degrees Celsius/ 93 degrees Fahrenheit on the day).

Liana read a romantic John Donne poem during our ceremony and while she isn't wearing vintage, she does look gorgeous in Collette Dinnigan, + I had to include her because she's so cute. She may have been doing the robot here.

And Sonia wisely ditched the heels for some jazz hands and then a romantic dance with her fiance. She also looked suitably tropical in a warm shade of blue ... so pretty.

My friend Catherine picked up this classy sheath from Coco Repose, and many have told me this was their guest dress of the night.

And Jess bought her vintage floral party frock from Mint Condition in Rozelle. She's at a wedding sideshow beach party that I certainly wasn't invited too. Here is more proof of my mates shenanigans.


And here are a few more pics from the ceremony, which I've included mainly to show off our absolutely stunning celebrant Renee. She made the effort to coordinate with the bridal party in a dusty pink vintage dress from Coco Repose. I love the generous pleats on the skirt and the deep plunge bodice.

As soon as I get the professional pics I'll post some more, but this time I'll finish with hubbie and I leaving the surf club. It was truly a fashionable night.