WEST END WINTER

Winter is almost offensive in Queensland. Living in the sunshine state, you forget that the weather is not a one trick pony with only suffocating heat to offer, and every year around late May we are somehow shocked when the chill creeps in.

This shock bleeds into fashion, with the Australian winter uniform being just a regular outfit, with a jacket haphazardly thrown on over the singlet and shorts. Every year I resist the cold, this year with breezy flared pants chilling my ankles, and open-toed mules freezing my toes. I do, however, fully embrace the opportunity to go full 70s with my colour schemes and silhouettes. I guess you can’t have it all.

Wearing: leather jacket by Neon Hart, vintage yellow knit jumper, rust flared pants by Side Show, bag by Topshop, tortoiseshell mules by Kmart.

Photography by Hannah Rowell 

NO-CHELLA

As every woman, man, child, dog, cat and fish knows, this past weekend was home to the annual meeting of every flower-crown-fur-jacket-bindi-lingerie-as-clothes hipsters – Coachella. Those of us who aren’t lucky enough to go, usually disparage to the nth degree – “Ugh. Another Coachella post. I’m so sick of this.”, or “it’s not even that great of a lineup! Like, it’s only Beyonce.” – but deep down inside, I know we all share the same burning desire to be out in the Californian desert, soaking up all the insane music (its only Beyonce???!!!), socialising with celebrities, drinking way too many vodka-redbulls and taking 50, 000, 000 photos of our outfits.

Instead of wearing thigh high boots and 10 kilos worth of jewellery, I injected some festival flavour into my day-to-day ensembles, experimenting with my eyeshadow instead of dousing myself in glitter, and drinking tea instead of vodka-redbulls. It was ok. (It wasn’t.)

Wearing: velvet flares by Arnhem, tee by RCVA, ankle booties by Senso, hat by Don’t Ask Amanda, bag by Topshop.

Photography by Hannah Rowell

ON REPEAT // CHILL’D MIX

CURRENTLY SPINNING —

WALK THIS WAY

This way, being the direction of any patisserie. In today’s case, in the direction of Le Bon Choix, Paddington. Its unmistakable French aesthetic provides the perfect background for some Fashion-Week-esque shots, and when you throw in the delicacies – it’s the perfect location.

What else to wear while enjoying the fading warmth of summer/disgustingly sweet caramel doughnut, than the tried and tested skirt-and-band-tee ensemble? An unequivocal staple in my wardrobe, I’ve been favouring the combination decidedly more often as summer draws to a close. In saying this, the change of season only highlights its versatility. Extremely customisable for any temperature – throw on a shearling lined corduroy jacket, some nylons and glitter boots and Bob’s your uncle.

Wearing: vintage Kiss tee sourced by Aquarium Vintage & Costume, lace up leather mini-skirt by Neon Hart @ General Pants & Co, boots by Therapy, sunglasses by Minkpink

Photography by Hannah Rowell

A YEAR IN REVIEW

I know it may seem a little late (or early) for a retrospective, but stick with me. One year ago today, I picked up my entire life and set it back down in Brisbane – relatively friendless, completely jobless, but not hopeless. What followed was the most amazing time – incredible friends, some strange jobs, too much alcohol, too much food, bad decisions, good decisions – and because I’m a millennial, I’ve taken photos of it all.

In addition to the plethora of probably pointless photos I took over the past year, I came away with just as many life lessons:

• Say yes. You never know what adventure, story or friendship could come out of the most unlikely of activities.
• Find the beauty in everything. I know, this sounds very much like something you’d find on the front of a glitter diary at Typo, but when we’re buried in our phones constantly we tend to miss things. You don’t need to pull a total Ferris Bueller and make the whole city your playground, but look up once in a while and just notice how great everything really is.
• Love really is all around. Download Tinder, say hello to the cute person on the bus, give a stranger a compliment. If you really go out and look, human connection and love are so readily available anywhere you go.
• Just do it. Nike were really onto something. Stop overthinking every situation and apply for that job, book that flight, enrol into that course. Start the journey, figure out the logistics later.
• Practice gratitude. As I detailed in another post, making an effort to practice gratitude will change your life completely, no matter what situation you’re in.