Aussie Curves challenge - bridal

I may no longer be a married lady, but that isn't going to stop me sharing a post about bridal.  No relationship breakdown is ever nice, and for me it certainly wasn't what i was expecting when we made the commitment.  Sadly though a series of unplanned, un-navigatable events occurred that ultimately changed our relationship. I'd describe it like the continuation of the tides - they ebb and flow and you know the shoreline and then something happens and the sand moves and the shore is no longer the same.  I know it's called, erosion, but i'd prefer to think of it as a shift in the sands.

I did love my wedding and the dress was one that i had in my head and then had it made into reality by my mum. after searching and searching for just the right materials. I am non traditional that's for sure, so there was no white frock, veil or any of the other things that are associated with weddings - yes there was a rings, cake, a bar tab and a honeymoon, but that's about it.  Oh and i was given some pansy's out of my cousins garden.  they were given to her by my beautiful nana before she died and had flowered around the same time as the wedding.

Well here's the dress - it doesn't look as good hanging on a coat hanger, as it does hanging on a body, but it is full of detail - such as bells, crystals, sequins, braids and all hand sewn on by me in the time leading up to the day.

The dress is a black stretch top that my mum attached to the skirt she made.  It was tricky to do, but she is amazing and used her skills to make it work. It was hard to find the right top, but after a fair bit of looking around, i found one that felt just right. Once the pieces were joined, i set about embellishing.  As i said everything here is hand sewn on and each individual bell, crystal and the motifs below had to be put on one by one.

 

 

 

 

     

On a trip to india my sister and i came across a place that sold amazing beads, trims and motifs and i decided to use some on my dress and on my shoes.  The individual glass crystals and bells came from Bead Trimming and Craft, which is now at Stones Corner.

So that's my bridal post - and i am sorry, i can't share pictures of me in the dress cause it's just to weird.  What i will do though is wear the dress again, cause it is beautiful and holds great memories of a great day and I certainly shouldn't feel sad for having had such a great relationship with so many wonderful experiences along the way, including this one.

aussie curves challenge - style inspiration

how do you know when you find the style that is right for you?  what inspires it and how do you bring it to life?

i had a period of my life, where i kind of fell into a style slump.  it's not that i wasn't bothered, but i was a single working mum, living a lifestyle that didn't really allow me to spend a great deal on fashion and it became a bit of a why bother kind of thing.  i always wanted to look nice but fashion wasn't the most important thing in my life.

once things settled into a better lifestyle routine, i started to make some changes.  my son and i moved to highgate hill and lived in the iconic torbreck building.  Living in west end/highgate hill made me come alive. i felt like i belonged somewhere and was able to let my style shine through.  i slowly started to incorporate different elements into my looks cause in west end, anything went.

not long after this my sister moved to india on posting and then began to send me parcels of stuff and one of the parcels contained these incredible shawls and beautiful garnet jewellery. the jewellery went on and never came off for many years and the shawls were so incredible that i'd never seen many around, and when i wore them to certain events, i would feel amazing and they were a great talking point and they had a story.

she would continue to send parcels containing trinkets and clothes she got at markets and many of them were adorned with beading, sequins or just generally fantastic and unusual and i started to build a look that became my own. then started, the where did you get your outfit question. a question that i still get nearly 20 years on. these items, teamed with my own re ignition of sewing saw my wardrobe slowly build.

my style inspiration has definitely been from india.

i ended up going to india for a holiday in 2000 and quit my job and stayed for 6 months.  india is a country of extremes - poverty vs wealth, dirty vs clean and the one constant in all this is colour. colour is everywhere - from the buildings, to the food, to the clothes and didn't that make my heart sing.

 

 

while i was in india, i got to see some incredible fabrics, beadwork, traditional clothing and after months of living in a world that made me feel so humbled and inspired i returned home with many treasures, including this 60cm statue, my bobble head people (grandma and grandpa) hand beaten cutlery that was all bundled into my suitcase amongst all my other goodies.

if you went to a traditional indian party or a wedding, it was pretty normal to wear something colourful and adorned (hence the sari above) and if you have been to an indian clothing store in australia, it is wall to wall beauty and it's hard not to be mesmerised by the amazing colour and beading.

of course my bags also contained many pieces of beautiful clothing mostly from the market along with a few other beauties that i keep tucked away.

for this challenge, i was excited to get out on the footpath and do some twirling.

 

 

 

 

 

the indian style influence is definitely something that is with me most days with my silver bangles only ever getting taken off if i am going through airport security, getting a massage or have to enter a library (they jingle a lot).

 

my look above was my work outfit for Friday and quite timely given that i decided to share my style inspiration.

I certainly wouldn't want to be someone who is pidgeonholed as only having one style, but india was definitely the kicker for me and i find most outfits are inspired by it in one way or another - whether it be colour, jewellery, texture or something pink and when you combine them all together - KABOOM - it's like a party that is waiting to happen.

Does finding a style that suits come from experimentation, magazines, from family and friends, people on the street or like me through travel - there are so many opportunities to build on the inspiration that is all around us. Go forth and style it up.

what i wore

pink skirt and tie up top from new delhi, india

shawl from janpath new delhi, india

singlet from target

necklace and anklets from fiji

workwear was

jeans from target

shoes from mollini

top and earrings from india

a little fashion interlude

I thought today, i'd do a little post about my outfit i wore.  i don't do them often, but maybe i should.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a fair bit of change at my house - physical, mental and probably spiritual and it seemed to culminate this weekend with the finalisation of room change arounds and the uncovering of some great and not so great fashion finds.  I took the opportunity to cull, cull cull.

I was ruthless in my endeavours and started the journey of letting go of some items that i had been storing for so long.  It's a really hard thing to do when you have emotional attachment to some things, but the reality is, that some of these items no longer represented who i was in terms of shape, size, or just general age of some things.

I let stuff go and it felt good. It's amazing what a good clean up does for your mind.

A couple of things were taken out of storage today and put in my cupboard and with the unearthing of some fabulous shoes i decided to build an outfit around them.

These shoes came from a trip to India, where i found them in a random shoe store in New Delhi and decided that i needed a pair and so did my sister.  They are gold and have bells on them, so they are awesome without even putting them on your feet.

My next unearthing was these fabulous tops that came from Sri Lanka. I was surprised when i remembered that i had got them back in the start of 2007 when we went on a family holiday.  I even remember buying them, cause i had to limit myself to 4 even though i wanted to buy them all.  In currency conversion, they were about $40 each, so i thought they were a bargain. And the detail on them is just incredible.

 

They are so beautiful.  They need to be worn over something unless letting it all hangout is your thing,  I knew that one of these had to be worn with THOSE shoes today.  the underneath outfit wasn't a problem, but deciding on which of the tops to wear was, How would you choose. 

well, i just held them all up in the mirror against me and let the top decide.

In the end, i went with the green. I did buy it a long time ago, but i feel the colour is still relevant and the top itself is something that i haven't seen many of.

I know it's on the neon side, but it just felt like the right one to wear today.  I didn't take a photo of my outfit with my bag though, but managed to take a photo of the bag when i was out having coffee this morning.  i was really chuffed with the overall look.

  

What's great about these tops is that they can be worn over anything, depending on the occasion -jeans, skirts and imagine it over a super swimsuit. given they have a flowy feel, are forgiving with the beautiful bumps that are hiding underneath, it's a winner.

What i wore:
shorts made by me
camisole from huudaverti
shoes from new delhi
top from Roma 4 in Colombo Sri Lanka (this is a must along with Odel, if you are ever travelling there)
bag from second hand store in brissy

huudaverti is off to new york city

okay where do you start when you have such a big announcement. well, i guess we start at the beginning.

A few months ago my sister was checking out sites that have to do with full figured clothing as our clothing line huudaverti is for plus size women.  you know the ones with boobs, hips, booty and she came across a site for Full Figured Fashion Week in New York City. At the time, designer registration wasn't open but my sister made contact and asked to be notified when we could register. So earlier this year she got the notification and we didn't apply quick enough and were put on a waiting list to be notified on 15 April (last Monday).

While on our trip to fiji, i took a quick trip to the smallest room in the house and during this time, an email arrived which sent my sister into a tizz and saw her running around the island trying to find me.  i didn't see any of this, as i was in the smallest room in the house but i imagine it was a spectacle.

Her excitement was well and truly warranted as the email read......a place has become available and we would love you to showcase your collection on 21 June 2013 in New York City.  OMFG.  This email came 2 weeks earlier then we were advised that it would, so you can guess how absolutely beside ourselves we were.

As i have shared this news with people, there has been a genuine excitement and enthusiasm and some people have expressed that they have gotten goosebumps when i had told them.  The enormity of this hasn't quite sunk in for me, but as we get closer to the show, and recognise the incredible amount of work that has to be done, it is quickly becoming too real.  Having one sister in new york and the other sister dedicating all her time to this, i do what i can around my real job, which is hard, but thanks to them we are full steam ahead.  As the day's count down, the excitement builds and we can't wait to show New York City what huudverti has to offer.

who is huudaverti

wow, can't believe that it's all over.  huudaverti took to the runway for the first time on 20th October 2012 at fiji fashion week and it was a great success if i do say so myself.
huudaverti is the clothing label that my sister and i put together for our show in fiji fashion week and hopefully beyond.  the name was inspired by childhood memories of when we visited family friends and those memories have stuck with us to this day.

this has been a truly amazing experience and one that was incredibly tiring given that we designed, drafted patterns and sewed all the clothing at home and on the saturday, not only did we show our ladies collection, but also sand by huudaverti, which is a children's line.  are we crazy or what??
i have captured so many behind the scences photos that i will be sharing soon, but here's a taste of what happened on the day.

getting ready to go and a quick backstage shot before it all happened.

 

thanks again to jenny for being a whiz on the sewing machines and to our amazing models

it's showtime....

shurti

tokasa

 kelera

 georgina

 farzana

 sala

 patimaca

 dinzelmarie

 amelia

 lite

 susan

 jean

 dilule

 kate

 clarissa

 the evans sisters

far out, i still can't believe it.