I fell in love today

His name is Ash Grunwald. In the spirit of stress relief I allowed myself to watch Good News Week tonight, and he was the musical clue for the Hooper team (or rather, the performer of the musical clue). He's an Aussie blues and roots musician, and seems to have a fairly big profile in the festival and live music scene.

When he first appeared on the stage he seemed a bit shy, a bit dorky, but heaps cheeky; but man oh man, as soon as he started strumming his lapsteel guitar (yes, I looked that one up), you could see his incredible talent and passion, and he had an amazing way of bringing you into the music and feel what he was feeling as his fingers flew across the strings.

Gushing? I could go on. His singing and ad-libbing of lyrics: "I totally forgot the lyrics", was so personal and yet so open. One of the things that I'm most enjoying in this blog project is discovering new music, and with Ash Grunwald, it was just so amazing to see someone's passion transformed into something so beautiful and enjoyable. It was really inspiring, and reminded me how much I hope to one day be able to reach someone, and evoke this level of emotion with something I've created.

Happy Musical Monday!



Ok so that's not the best quality video. As soon as I can find the Good News Week video I'll post that one too.

More Tattoos

My friend finally got married! We did the dance and got rave reviews, and got henna done! Officially it's called mehendi, and boy did we get into it.

This is the bridal mehendi, which is just amazingly detailed and intricate. Can you believe it's all freehand?!?

Photos courtesy of my friend Lingsi Lu.

Just a little pic to show the application of the henna. The ladies paint so fast!

My hand, photo from my friend Caren Zhang

This is the final colour, 2 days after application and after a couple of showers (so the dried henna paste has been washed off).

My friend's hands (Helena and Pam, from top) and my hand, my photo

So, um, what's the point you ask? This form of temporary tattoo was just so beautiful that it got me thinking about ways to incorporate it, or adapt it to my own collection in a textile print, or maybe even embroidery. I'd mentioned to my textiles tutor that it was a shame that I couldn't use the henna paste directly on the fabric because it only comes in one colour, so she suggested that I create the artwork, and then scan it in and manipulate the colours on Photoshop. M also then suggested that I create a print in the mehendi style, incorporating images/motifs that are suitable to my range and aesthetic.

The *semi-rusty* cogs in my head are turning. Stay tuned for sample results!

And so it begins.

We are now firmly entrenched in that time in semester where all of us final years are starting to be sleep deprived, and are definitely all slightly hysterical... and along with this, comes the sharing of silly youtube videos and ridiculous songs whenever someone has their laptop with uni. It's a great bonding process, after which we feel much more comfortable with each other, and are able to give each other critical and constructive feedback, so I would argue it's an integral part of the design process as a student.

This gem was shared with us last Friday, and has been stuck in my head since. Its upbeat and quirky, and whenever I hear it I just think of the amazing work of the girls who were watching it with me and it actually makes me want to work harder so my work can be amazing too! Funny how friendly competition works, especially in conjunction with audio cues...

So without any further rambling, I present to you Darwin Deez with Radar Detector!

The accessories make the man

Or the woman! In thinking about my collection, my mind has been all over the place: I've been trying to hone and refine and pin down my 12 looks, whilst simultaneously thinking about textile prints, worrying about my colour palette, and trying to envision the garments with accessories since my models apparently can't go down the catwalk barefoot.

But why stop at thinking about shoes and jewellery? Current street trends, especially going into winter when it can all get a bit drab, include patterned and textured and brightly coloured stockings, and the headband revival is still going strong....yet as a designer, it's my job to want more.


Socks are always so neglected, but they needn't be! They are like the ugly sister to stockings, often seen as functional and utilitarian, but can't they be fun too? Granted this isn't the best example of 'designed' socks, but the idea is there waiting to be expanded.

And this headband- it's just screaming at me to start thinking about whether headwear can be translated into streetwear; toeing the line of avant garde, without veering into the kitsch...maybe a vintage referenced style would help?

Hmm. Thoughts are brewing, much like the coffee that's keeping me alive.

Choooooocolate!

It's that time of semester when panic levels start to rise, as the realisation dawns that there is only a month left and there is still so much work to do. Our solution? Heads down, bums up, pattern rulers and half finished toiles all over the place, and a truckload of chocolate.

In the spirit of relaxing with a bit of silliness then, today's Musical Monday has to be dedicated to the Japanese band Perfume, with their very aptly named Chocolate Disco.

If I had more time to sit here and chat I would go into the crazy costumes and attempt to learn the dance, but I must go drape and sketch and colour and try not to fall asleep. Instead, you must enjoy, and have a giggle and dance for me!

Textile love

So I mentioned that my Indian friend was getting married, and that our group of friends was performing a dance, right? Well, when we performed the dance, she lent us some saris and Oh. My. God. In love with Indian textiles.

Traditional costume vs fashion: it doesn't really seem to fit well together, but I think sometimes there's a lot we as designers can learn from traditional dress, especially from other cultures. It's not just the novelty of the exotic, but there is so much that is beautiful and just begging to be noticed and adopted.


It was like textile porn: the amazing array of colours in a room full of saris was breathtaking (with heaps of gorgeous colours and in combinations that a lot of Western fashion seems to shy away from), and that was before I even looked at the fantastic embroidery and beading. Guh. The intricate embroidery in such gorgeous threads, the beads used...I think I better just let photos speak for themselves, or I'll be here gushing all night.


I wish I had more photos to share. If I was more shameless I would've stalked every woman in the room and taken photos of her sari: there wasn't a single one that wasn't beautiful and unique. *sigh*

Warehouse Sales

To some, and probably a previous incarnation of myself: great bargains for the discerning shopper; one who is willing to spend the hours needed to trawl through the racks, and has the energy to try on armfuls of clothing and fight with other women over the last remaining garment of a certain style.

Now, 'warehouse sale' means: What. A. Waste.


It hurts to think that potentially, all the hours and hard work put into creating a range comes down to this. What of the clothing that doesn't get sold? Look at the styles in which the unsold volume numbers in double digits. The incredible fabric wastage alone is mind-boggling, let alone the wasted time and money.

Fast fashion. I don't think I want to be there. I hope that I can position myself in a sector that is modern/contemporary yet classic, with my garments being innovative yet with a hint of timelessness- that they are so unique that they can survive the ritual wardrobe clean-out most women have each season/year.


I do NOT want to be so easily disposable, or to have my garments/accessories treated so callously.

Take me away,

to Bollywood! For today's Musical Monday, I thought I'd introduce you to some Bollywood music. It's not something I normally listen to, but an Indian friend of mine is getting married in a couple of weeks and we've been roped into performing a dance. Asian girls doing a Bollywood dance? Yeap, looks as strange as it sounds.

However, we've all gotten really into the music: it's uplifting and fun and so full of life. Another plus: we've all discovered that dancing really does make you feel better. We laugh like crazy and after every practice I get home feeling ready to tackle more uni work, as it has helped me clear my mind and order my thoughts.

This song is called Dhoom Taana from the movie Om Shanti Om. One thing I would pay attention to is the brilliant colours in the costumes. Recently I've been thinking about colours (as I'm working on and hoping to finalise my colour palette), and fabrics; whilst traditional Indian dress isn't relevant to my collection, it is still interesting to take note of the way colour and embellishment is used, to help me figure out good balance and proportion.

Have fun!

Finding my style

So remember the books that I'd ordered online, and then received and was gleefully poring over? Well now they are really coming in handy: we have officially finished dissertation and are diving head first into the collection...eek!

My head has been all wrapped up with all the preliminary research into silhouettes, fabrication, etc, that I haven't really had time to think about what style and aesthetic I want my textile prints to be...at least I've decided on my colours right? Anyway, this is where Art by Tattooists: Beyond Flash comes in!

It's an awesome book by Jo Waterhouse, that is similar to the Juxtapoz books in that each tattooist/artist has a short profile and then a small selection of their work. It's been really interesting for me to see tattooists work in different media and how some traditional tattoo styles translate, and it will definitely help me figure out my own style.

These are some of the tattooists that stood out to me:


The textures and incredible life-like volume in Pink Skull (oil on canvas) by Matt Hunt are just amazing; it looks so 3D, like it's about to jump off the page and land in your lap!


I absolutely adore the aesthetic of these girls by Lina Stigsson: they have very Spanish, romantic, and conventionally pretty faces, but are covered with tattoos- although the tattoos are very delicate and beautifully detailed. These are oil on canvas.


I'm not sure anything I say about Rocketqueen (watercolour on paper) will do Cody Meyer justice. Just, wow. The emotion, the passion, and the amazing likeness to a photograph. Wow.

And finally these ink and watercolour roosters (on watercolour paper) by Erik Von Bartholomaus. I think my favourite thing about these is the way the colours are so bold and strong yet blend smoothly so that it isn't just big chunks of colour in clearly defined panels.

Sigh. I have a lot of work to do.

The formal stuff: Art by Tattooists: Beyond Flash was published by Laurence King Publishing in London in 2009. (hooray for getting my hands on recent books!)

The Future of Fashion?

So today M and I did a little presentation and held a 'fun fashion activity' for some high school kids who visited UTS. These were year 10 students from priority schools in NSW (there were even some who'd been flown in from Dubbo) who had been chosen by their schools as bright young talent who would benefit from a little nudge towards a university education.

It was really interesting to see the students' reactions to our powerpoint presentation- we'd kept it a bit informal and silly, but talked about what studying fashion was like at UTS, especially compared to studying it at other institutions. What was really amazing was the enthusiasm shown by the students when they got to the activity- we came up with a short list of characters, for whom the students had to create costumes for with just newspaper and sticky tape. We'd asked them to think about how to best portray the characteristics and personalities through their clothing.

We were so happy to see the students really consider silhouette, volume, line, and a few groups even created heads for their dressmaker's mannequins, showing that they were really thinking about who their character was, not just what they wear. Here are a few photos:




I really think that we might see some of these students at UTS doing some design course or another, and it feels great to know that we were able to share our passion and hopefully inspire someone to follow their dreams too.

Some mood music, perhaps?

Sigh, where does my time go? My poor neglected Jukebox...

I know I said that I wasn't going to revisit my new oldies music playlist this week, but I had it on my Ipod this morning on the train, and I've literally been Daisy (the) Jukebox ever since. I was mouthing the lyrics and bopping my head, clicking my fingers and wiggling in my seat, whilst studiously avoiding eye contact with everyone else. It never ceases to amaze me how much music can affect your mood- after a couple of weeks of stress over my dissertation (which is done and dusted, woohoo!) and stress about having found a new design direction (which left me feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed, and lacking in work to show to my supervisor, oops), it was just a great moment of relief to have a bright cheery song to lift me up.I think it got me happier, smilier and more awake than coffee did...

However, when I went to youtube the video, the 80s came back and hit me in the face full force. I cannot get over how much her makeup freaks me out- but, I will refrain from being mean, and just focus on how upbeat this song is, and how much it perks me up and makes doing work fun!!

Ti presento Katrina and the Waves, with Walking on Sunshine! The original video can't be embedded on here (boo...) so its under the youtube link above, but here is a live version which is just as good aurally.....but possibly even more amusing visually. Oh 80s.