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A little look at Aula Aila & Ryza SS 2011

February 8, 2011 by

Apologies for the lack of posting in the past week. It has been hideously hot in Sydney, hitting 41 on Saturday, and without air-con in our computer room, it’s just not a nice place to spend time in during a heatwave! I’ve also been quite suck with the flu, and either been laying on the couch (near the aircon), or dragging myself to work and dying afterwards.

But on with the show!!

Aula Aila is a brand I”ve been interested in for a while now, and it’s been picked up by Tokyo Eye to represent edgy modern Japanese fashion overseas (Paris, Shanghai, Hong Kong and India.)  Aula Aila and its diffusion brand Ryza have featured previously in Glamorous magazine, ViVi and Jelly.

Their Spring Summer 2011 collections have been unveiled, very much echoing trending in other japanese labels right now..notably the 70’s and retro generally.  Aula Aila’s latest collection is themed “She Meets Hipster” – where a 70’s gypsy girl roams the world.

Ryza’s is Happy Retro Girl or Bittersweet Generation – and a more 70’s graphic for the catalogue cover you couldn’t come across!

Photographed by Mika Ninagawa, known for her hyper colour

While I don’t have access to the catalogue, the overall direction can be sourced from the lookbooks and clothing released thus far.

Here are some behind the scenes pics on the catalogue shoot:

 

There’s a very exotic boudoir feel to the shoot..is she in her own bedroom, or relaxing in a Moroccan riad after an afternoon haggling in the souk? Hippy boho florals abound, as do high waisted shorts/flared jeans, fringed vests, multi-layered bangles, crochet ponchos and skirts…it’s all very “Almost Famous”.

Lace and peter pan collars have popped up on tops and dresses…a la Alexa Chung (and in the black, Wednesday Addams!)

 

Broderie anglaise was another fabric used to vintage effect, especially with frills (boy, do I remember this from my own girlhood!)

 

From Aula Aila, fringing ahoy!

This off-white lace maxi was seen in February ViVi. Lace was also seen in voluminous sleeves on jersey dresses.

  

The fringed vest is set to be popular (I just hope girls will leave the cowboy boots of last year well alone, and go with clogs to keep it modern)

It has to be said, the clothing looks better on models than on mannequins…

  

And finally, the 70’s trends from AA/Ryza/DraSTic can be seen in the April issue of Glamorous

I find myself attracted to the 70’s vibe, the ethnic feel, the jewellery, the flares, the lace and maybe even the fringing. I have never been a fan of denim, and WON’T be wearing jeans, but already own a pair of high waisted black pants that make my legs look really long, despite me being only 156cm tall.  What do you like or not like about the 70’s and retro looks coming out now?

Filed Under: Fashion, Japanese Fashion Tagged With: , , , , ,

Rock n Roll Alt Markets November part 2

November 26, 2010 by

To pick up where I left off…

At the November Rock N Roll Markets at Tempe, I’d already seen a few groovy stalls, but the hot pink sign on the back of this marquee really grabbed my attention.

Atomic Jo’s sells fashion items such as lounge and bowling shirts, diner shirts, pencil skirts, belt buckles, mens & ladies t-shirts, and handbags. But also to be found are tiki mugs, dice jewellery, custom culture books, and other miscellanous products associated with the 1950’s/1960’s, trash culture, hot rods & rockabilly scenes. Even, erm, swizzle sticks?

There was a great assortment of tin boxes, ashtrays etc from the beloved but now defunct Nook Art.

But it’s the mugs that really take the cake!! Can you see  Magnum PI? And just LOADS of tiki ware.

I had a chat with the owners and they’re really cool people too. If you can’t pop into the markets you can always check out the Atomic Jo’s ebay shop.

The stalls began packing up so it was time to head inside for some beer and Rumjack action. And boy, did I get it!

I first saw the Rumjacks in action in Jan of this year at the Annandale – you may remember the Blood Sweat & Beers post, where I wrote about them: “An irish pogues/punk kind of band with killer gritty, gravelly vocals and a real driving force. I’d not seen them before, but the music was raw and infectious, and I danced my ass off”.  They played some awesome tunes, including a few Pogues covers complete with belty-voiced chick on vocals, and finished off with a Specials cover that won me over totally. I loves my ska! A lot of people had left the markets by the end, but there were still a bunch of us getting down:

You never know who you’re going to hear next (Backy Skank entertained me last time) – so it’s definitely worth coming for the music, as well as the market stalls and bargains to be had!

Address
Jets Sports Club, Holbeach Ave
Tempe, 2044

Opening Times
Third Sun of the month 11am–7pm (sometimes starting and ending a bit earlier)

The next market is on December 19th – and here’s the blurb:

Sydney Rock ‘n Roll & Alternative Market features a fabulous array of stalls: Vintage, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Burlesque, Ska and Alternative Clothing, Jewellery and Accessories, Record’s, CD’s, Collectables, Art, Comics, Candle makers, a Jumping Castle and a whole lot more. Food is available all day. Santa will also be arriving. Absolutely the best place to do your last minute Christmas shopping.

The December market also features live music from:

Pat Capocci Combo – One of the most energetic and entertaining live acts in the Rockabilly genre the Pat Capocci Combo is renowned across the country. Australian Rockabilly, wielded by the hands of Satan himself!

Mother Truckers – take you cruising down Route 66 directly towards the swamp and then head to Vegas with their stylish blend of raw rockabilly, stomping swamp and more.

Chickenstones – Stepping straight out of a sinister B grade western Chickenstones present their brand of horror country, swamp & rock ‘n roll. If you’ve lost at cards, cheated on your partner, drank like a mother, or been chased out of town they will offer you no redemption. Dance while they shoot at your feet.

Jarran Zen & the Blind Childrens Orchestra – will get your bones a rattlin’ and a jumpin’ with their own brand of hard hitting psychobilly.

Plus DJ Brian & M.C.s Wolfman Dan & the Rockabilly Rhino (Liquored Up & Lacquered Down)

Market Stalls are open from 11:00am – 4.30pm,
Music from 12.30pm – 6.00pm.

This is a FREE event!

Catch the market shuttle bus departing outside the Town Hall Hotel, Newtown every hour on the hour from 11am, or catch the 422 bus from Newtown Station, or take a 10 minute stroll from Wolli Creek or Tempe Train Stations.

See you there!
Filed Under: Fashion, Music Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Rock n Roll Alternative Markets November

November 22, 2010 by

Boy, was it a busy day yesterday!! Firstly we had to stop into Kelly’s on King St for a roast dinner, then bus it to Tempe for the markets and the Rumjacks…and we ended up at the Botany View watching a punk band.

I enjoyed a refreshing alcohol and sugar free beverage whilst waiting for lunch in Kelly’s upstairs beer garden (and yes! the fringe is new):

The roast, was quite scrummy, although I could’ve done with less meat and would’ve preferred it thinly sliced. However, there is no doubt you get enough gravy and roast tates, pumpkin and carrot (and peas, but I don’t like them).

Thus fortified, we jumped on a bus to Tempe and hit the Rock n Roll markets.

The first stall I came to was personned by the lovely Safari Lee – also the name of her jewellery line! There was so much much to drool over here…skull rings and necklaces, gold and silver work, jewellery with rockabilly, punk and even steampunk motifs. She’s a local designer too, being based in the same building as Polymorph, on Enmore Road. I’ll do a separate post in the near future, but for now check out her website and see for yourself 🙂

      

Before tearing myself away, I saw that she was sharing her marquee with a friend selling secondhand gear. Well…I bought a gorgeous pair of Guess leopard slingbacks, complete with bling. Oh, they matched my outfit perfectly! And only $20 – you never know what you’ll find at the markets.

    

Moving on, I visited the stall of  Kitty Van Horne – and promptly bought the leopard military cap that the mannequin is wearing in this photo. Cool! Kitty is a burlesque and cabaret artist, with the accessories being a sideline at present – check out the Kitty Van Horne website for a sample of her performing work 🙂

There were also rack and racks galore of vintage dresses here and there; I didn’t get the name of this stall, but was most impressed with its categorising:

Next up is a great stall called Atomic Jo’s Trash Culture, and the Rumjacks gig…but that can wait for another post. Stay tuned…

Filed Under: Alternative Fashion, Blog entry, Designers, Fashion, Outfit posts Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The hunt for a Super Kawaii Mama

September 21, 2010 by

Well, I had a mission on Sunday afternoon: to search for and meet up with Candice De Ville, aka Super Kawaii Mama.

We were both going to be at the Rock ‘n Roll & Alternative Markets at Tempe – how hard could it be, right? Surely we’d both have our blogger-seeking missiles and radar set to ping? Hmm…

I’d somehow managed to miss the Rock ‘n Roll Markets, run by Barfly Promotions, last month, and this time I was determined not to. After all, so many of my friends had been to the last one and said it was amazing, with vintage and burlesque fashion stalls, Doppelganger Vintage hairstyling, cupcake stands, Deadbeat magazine stands and more.

This Saturday night I’d been up way late at a club, so was a little late in my preparations. I knew the music started around 2.30pm, and I wanted to catch at least some of it, especially Backy Skank, one of my fave aussie Ska bands. We arrived a little before 5pm, and unfortunately some of the stalls had begun closing…but many hadn’t!!  And so my hunt began…not only for Candice, but for cool threads and accessories.

Before long I saw the stall “Bexterity” and was immediately taken with these cute eyeball hairclips!

To the side of the stand my eye alighted upon 2 things…a groovy polkadot dress, and a hair/make-up artist doing make-overs. Of course, I had to snap some photos!

 

I also took some pics of the make-over…

 

Now, those amongst you who are Einsteins might be seeing something I totally missed…

But as I hadn’t yet seen Candice anywhere I continued my travels around the market precinct, buying a Deadbeat magazine here and saying hello to friends there.

A bit later we went inside and joined some more friends drinking in the TAB section. I kept my eye out, looking for that distinctive white streak in otherwise black hair…to no avail…

And then sometime after 8pm, I’d say, I went out to watch Backy Skank, who were awesome…and someone tapped me on the shoulder. CANDICE!! Super Kawaii Mama in the flesh!! Well, it was like we’d known each other for ages and we chatted excitedly, as I brought her to where my friends were and introduced everyone. Candice said she’d been at the Bexterity stand all day. “Oh no”, I said, “I must have been there when you were on your break”.

But I was wrong. Go back up the page and look at my photos again. Who is that you see, right behind my own face, in the Bexterity pics?

DOH!! Hand-forehead-staple.

Yes, Candice had been there all along and I’d taken some lovely photos of her at work, without even knowing it. How, you ask? I guess I just didn’t expect her there.  Anyway, we got a few snaps together; apologies for the poor quality (although she certainly still looks great!)

  

And so the hunt was over. Not too long after, the night was over, and I and my friends staggered out to Harrys Cafe De Wheels for a pie or chilli dog. The evening was not without further event, however.  Just after my chilli dog, I was most ignominiously humiliated when BOOM! I went down on my knees. No, I wasn’t that drunk. There was a bleeding great crack in the pavement. I should sue…

But like a brave little soldier, I picked myself up, dusted myself off, grabbed my husband’s arm and carefully caught the next taxi.

Filed Under: Blog entry, Fashion, Music Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Rubi Rocket Jewellery & Accessories

July 10, 2010 by

As mentioned in my Worn Wild post from last week, I introduce to you the very hip

Rubi Rocket is a fun jewellery line that specialises in laser cut designs – often in perspex, sometimes in felt. I fell in love with their bright colours and humour; see this Zombie necklace I bought: for the “i” it has a zombie man with his head lolling to the side ROFL!

It has something for most alternative subcultures too – there’s the Graveyard Treats and Monsterfied sections for horror buffs, goths and deathrockers,

Hotrod Style and Tattoo Culture for the vintage, rockabilly and tattoo scene,

Neon Retro Pop for electro and 80’s babes,

Nameplates for princesses (or ghouls) who like to wear their own name, and Roller Derby Baby for…well you figure it out.

There is even a Twilighter section for Twilight fans (hey, they’re people too – don’t hate on me for mentioning them 🙂

The Rubi Rocket brand has been around a few years, been worn by celebs like Jane Gazzo (seen below at the Arias in 08) and featured in too many Polyvore sets and magazines to mention!

Jane is in a Tokyo Joe dress

So you just KNOW it’s cool! I’m certainly going to be wearing my Zombie necklace and skull hairclips out tonight.

The prices are very reasonable, so if you’re looking for fun jewellery for yourself, or a groovy gift for a friend – head to the Rubi Rocket website – because you are going to find something really unusual and fab!

Filed Under: Blog entry Tagged With: , , , , ,
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