adventures in fashion, travel & nightlife
Remember my post about the gorgeous corset store and tea salon Abilletage? Well, I also attended the Abilletage Halloween Party – and what an event it was!
The event was held in Shibuya’s very decadent Trump Room – ooh la la! The ceilings there are decked out in multiple chandeliers – adorning the place like fine jewellery.
It is no secret that just about my fave aussie alternative club is the Cobweb Club, which plays goth, deathrock, punk, post-punk and wave. OK so I may be a little biased, having DJ’d at a few, but it is one of those events I just can’t miss. And neither should you!!
This is a reminder that this Friday, January 25, is the next instalment of the Cobweb Club extravaganza. Theme? Undead. Whether vampires or zombies, mummies or ghosts, demons, skeletons, wraiths, ghouls, or any other party animal without a pulse, you’ll be sure to find some likeminded spirits in the Cobweb Club Catacombs!
So there is your license to go to town costume wise – and there are prizes, from Gallery Serpentine, Death Rattles and more. So hop to it!
I’m already very excited, and have spent many hours researching my costume/look. I’ve been reading up on theatrical make-up – not just cosmetics, but 3d effects like wounds, wrinkles and creating skin abnormalities with prosthetics. If it works out, I’ll do a tutorial. If not…well, I’ll post pics of my miserable attempt. For now, I’m envisioning something like a female version of the Gentlemen from Buffy the Vampire Slayer…but we’ll see 😉
But back to the club night itself. For a peek at what I and others have worn, here are some photos from previous Cobweb Clubs.
Like many others, I’m entranced by Tom Binn’s jewellery which fuses a punk aesthetic with high couture for a unique finish.
Fab, right? But it costs over 600 pounds!!
Some of the best DIY’s I’ve seen on this are from Monoxious and the letter CH, but hell, just get googling and you can find more. Here is mine:
Cobweb top – Alice Auaa
Corset – Gallery Serpentine
Sequin Skirt – Sportsgirl
What You’ll Need
1. A necklace – I chose one with multi strands of chains so I could get a chaotic, layered effect
2. Skulls, beads, charms, chains, maybe little bones…and safety pins! Raid your jewellery drawer and craft cupboard – you never know what you’ll find.
What To Do
1. Have a good look at your chain and work out where to put your various elements. I decided to only use the chunkier chains in my necklace for the bulky skull beads etc.
2. Start placing the beads and charms, attaching by means of safety pins or existing link chains, and take off again if they don’t work.
3. At a certain point you’ll need to affix your chain necklace to something that will keep it steady while you add more beads, chains etc…Otherwise the little beads may end up on the wrong side when being worn. I discovered this was happening with my little bones especially. I used a foam mannequin head and stuck pins through a couple of the chain loops at the back to hold it firm.
4. Keep going, adding and subtracting elements as you see fit. In my case, I took off the skull earrings as I felt they looked a bit tacky, and added more skull beads in various sizes instead…and more safety pins! (I had to rush up to the dollar shop for more, heh).
5. Try the necklace on, to see if the effect when worn is what you’re after. And make a bracelet to match, while you’re there! (Toyah Wilcox/Siouxsie make-up entirely optional)
(And, erm, take out the trash before you take a photo, OK? You’d THINK hubby would’ve noticed that before he took the pic – sigh…..)
There are lots of other exciting things you can do with safety pins and chains – why not pick your fave designer and attempt a DIY? This blog Brook & Lyn took a Moschino jacket and copied it using lots of tiny gold safety pins around the collar.
For myself, I’m eyeing off Balmain’s latest military jackets that have chains adorning each buttonhole and frogging, and the dress completely covered in fine gold chain. Hmm, gonna need a whole lotta chain…..
Have you DIY’d anything with safety pins? What would you like to make, if you did?
I’m excited about tomorrow and its VERY full dance-card when it comes to alternative fashion and music.
Yes, it’s the Under the Blue Moon Festival of things dark, alternative, freakish and weird. Sydney people – start off your halloween celebrations with a trip to Enmore tomorrow, and you will not only be entertained, but get some retail therapy as well.
Based in the very epicentre of Sydney gothicness – Newtown/Enmore – the Under The Blue Moon Markets kick off at 10am so you can grab all sorts of cool threads and goodies with your little black claws! Newtown plaza will be packed full with stalls of creative people showing us the best of their produce.
Some of the talented people and labels include:
50ft Queenie – undergarments for the Underworld, with a burlesque vibe
Beserk Clothing – super cool range of clothing for rock, goth, glam& rollerderby type girls & guys
Debstar Designs – gothic, rockabilly, gothabilly and roller derby jewellery
Duskmoth Designs – clothing for industrial or elegant darklings
Furr Hair – Manic Panic hair colour, makeup, and accessories, as well as Synthetic hair falls, Dread falls, wigs and clip in fringes
Gallery Serpentine – amaaazing corsets and very high quality gothic clothing
Holy Kitch & Curios – Day of the Dead, Frida Kahlo and other mexican and spooky accessories
Le Lash – Street, Alternative, Punk, Fetish, Cyber and costume wear
Le Cabinet des Curiosities – Gothic, Pagan & Occult jewellery, homewares, entomology, natural curiosities, gloves, accessories & weird stuff!
Primordial Design – original, unique jewellery in silver and gemstones
Tentacle Threads – clothing for circus freaks (I’ve written about Tentacle Threads recently here)
The Wild One – fab PVC designs for guys & gals, accessories and amazing military caps
Crypt Trash & Vanity Vamp – way out burleque and spooky accessories & pasties
Zentity designs – Alternative styled clothing for boiz & girlz specialising in street fun, club wear, romantic and corporate goth looks
The famous UTBM show bags will be available once again, full of surprises, prizes & the best discount vouchers to all the stores & stalls in the Alternative Arts, Retail Fashion District of Enmore Rd & Newtown! Yes, it’s very likely you’ll score a Fiend magazine (I really have to catch up with the last few issues myself so here’s hoping 🙂 Each bag also contains a ticket to the Coffin Raffle, drawn later that night at the UTBM festival night at the Factory Theatre.
For those interested in the darker side of life, the paranormal, the seedy stories from Sydney’s past, you’ll want to head over to Simplicity Funerals to hear Lectures in the Funeral Parlour. Want to learn of medical moulages in the 19th century, the Secret History of the Pentagram, stories from the real underbelly of Sydney, delve into the paranormal of Enmore road and meet the ghost in the basement of The Duke Hotel? Or learn more about vampires and what happens behind the magicians curtain? You know where to go.
Then there’s just time to head somewhere for a bite to eat and a few bevvies, before changing into your dark glamour gear and heading out for a night of bands, DJ’s and general running amok! Here is the action-packed line-up of the Under the Blue Moon musical festival:
PLAYING TIMES
8:15 – 8:50pm Lunar Module
8:35 – 9:10pm Juke Box Zombies
9:00 – 10:00pm DJ DAISEN
8:50 – 9:00pm Desert Moon Dancers
9:05 – 9:15pm Rocky Horror
9:30 – 10:10pm Murder Of Crow
9:15 – 9:55pm The Horrorwood Mannequins
10:00 – 10:05pm Strong Man
10:00 – 11:00pm DJ VOODOO
10:40 – 11:15pm Shiv-r
10:05 – 10:40pm Hell Fire Documentary
10.30 – 11:10pm Psych Carni
11:20 – 11:25pm Fancy Piece & Coffin Raffle Drawn
11:00 – 12:00am DJ REQIEM
11:35 – 12:25am Mz Ann Thopik
11.30 – 12:10am Pom Pom
12:00 – 1:00am DJ METAVIRUS
12:30 – 1:30am The Holy Soul
12:45 – 1:45am DJ [VLRK] from GRENDEL
1:00 – 2:00am DJ VAEIN
There are some amaaazing artists and DJ’s in the line-up – get your tickets here. I’ve already got mine!
So if you’re in Sydney, please join me for a full day’s festivities and night-time activities for a Halloween 2010 to remember!!
So I promised I’d post more about the fabulous All Hallows Eve Ball that was part of the Under the Blue Moon festivities for Halloween.
There is a great little photo montage here at News.com.au. I was photographed by them, but somehow didn’t get in! Perhaps I’m the missing slide number 30. Oh well…
What’s caused a bit of consternation in the alternative community is this show from Unseen TV, in which the host makes a few sweeping statements that aren’t true (ballerinas lap-dancing everyone? er, I don’t think so). Also, there were quite number of groups at the event, some goths, some from the fetish/BDSM crowd, some just there for the music, some just there for the fashion, others just wanting to celebrate Halloween, and a comment from any one segment (like the “tit-fucking” comment) does NOT represent the opinions of others there.
I should also point out that there was one room, the UBER room, that was over 18’s only, and you had to get a wristband to enter (having shown ID). Hence any adult activities like the light flogging or bondage that went on, were not going to be seen by minors.
Frankly the most shocking thing I found was the lack of bar staff, and the length of time you had to wait for a beer – gosh!
Having said that, it does give a nice pictorial overview, and there are friends of mine everywhere – the first burlesque dancer in the clip, Luke the twitchy guy in the straitjacket (I first used him as a model in my Steampunk shoot for Fiend), the designer Emily in the green with the leopard print hair stencilling, DJ Aaron with the lime green dreads. I shouldn’t feel too bad that I didn’t get interviewed; my husband as Satan did, and somehow managed to end up on the cutting room floor (just like that time I was a doctor on All Saints, but I musn’t digress…)
Anyways, here’s the Unseen TV clip so you can have a squizz yourself.
What did actually go on was a lot of bands, a lot of fashion, DJ’s and burlesque dancers:
MAIN STAGE – bands
The Mansons 8:00pm; Chaingang 9:00pm; Horrorwood Mannequins 10:00pm; Juke Baritone 11:00pm; The Art 12:00am; and…DRUMROLL…GPKISM 1:00am!!!
LUNARMORPH FASHION PARADE
Baroque & Roll & Gallery Serpentine 8:30pm; Furr Hair & Beserk Clothing 9:30pm; Dusk Moth Designs & The Wild One 10:30pm
UBER ROOM 18+ PHOTO ID REQUIRED
DJ ASH 8:30pm; Celia Curtis 9:30pm; Lola the Vamp 9:40pm; Unit 13 9:45; pmFancy Piece 10:10pm; Dj – Requiem 10:20pm; Lotti Kixx 11:20pm; Dj – Dasein 11:30pm; Lola The Vamp 12:30am; Dj – MetaVirus 12:40am.
On a side note, the funniest bit of the night was the good cop/bad cop routine that Ken and Kiwamu of GPK unwittingly perpetrated. I’ve met Glorious Prince Ken quite a few times now and we get along really well. I got him a beer and we were chatting about Japan, Melbourne etc, and Ken being such a sweety said if I ever needed a place in Melbourne to let him know! I was really touched.
Kiwamu, on the other hand (and I know he doesn’t speak much English or me Japanese), barely acknowledged me though I’ve met him the same amount of times. He’s all about the business, and I guess you have to be a bit hardnosed and forthright perhaps.
But after not smiling (not that he ever does, that’s why we call him “Chuckles”), or saying hi, he sees me cruising by and giving a wave, comes over, grabs my arm, drags me towards the merch, and stabs his finger at a CD, saying “You! Chihiro!”, wanting me to buy the CD.
He then waved his hands around the others to indicate I might buy those as well (but Chihiro’s CD is $30). Though I’ve spent most of my money and know we have a pub to kick onto after the club, I feel obliged. I scrounge in my wallet, see I have 2 x $20 notes and decide to buy the other GPKism album that I don’t already own, which is $20. (Promptly I remember that it was a night in Japan when I was drunk that I bought Ken and others a beer and then bought the CD; must watch that).
I actually really like them live. They obviously look great, Kiwamu plays a bitching guitar, and Ken’s voice is powerful and has lovely vibrato. I’m just not a huge fan of Visual kei overall, and don’t intend on expanding my CD collection of the genre. After watching some of their gig, I went back to the UBER room to catch the last DJ, my mate Shane from Canberra.
All too soon it was over, and we pondered which pub to attend. The rock pub of Newtown, “The Townie” as we call it, was a clear winner, and so we sallied forth to try to get cabs. Luckily for us, our driver was a cool Pakistani guy, who not only picked us up, but insisted on taking pics of all of us, while I conversed with him in Urdu (courtesy of my year in India).
Things got a bit messy – sometimes, literally!
Next I must turn my attention to my next holiday destination, Malaysia. I travel there on Sunday, first to KL, then Penang. I’m deciding from there whether to go to Ko Lipe and soak up a few rays on the Thai island, or head to Penang, for the best food you can eat in Malaysia! Quandaries…
I love to explore alternative subcultures and scenes, in Australia and around the world.
I love bright coloured hair, big circle lenses, fake lashes and Japanese gothic and rock gyaru fashion. Stay a while if you love these things too! [More …]
Recent Comments