Friday Blog Crush - Lady Melbourne

I thought I'd share with you some of the wonderful blogs that initiated my own interest in blogging and continue to inspire me.

Lady Melbourne is a fabulous mix of style and fun. Not only is she in tune with what's happening in my gorgeous home town (and her namesake) but with her fashion writing and connections she's also across the movers and shakers here in Australia and Internationally.

From the Lady Melbourne blog:

Phoebe is a freelance journalist with a background in fashion design. She hails from her namesake city but has travelled the world and lived in Sydney and London. After running her own label for 7 years, she now focuses her time on the pages you are about to read, and freelance writing assignments.

LM does all her own styling and photography, is generous with her time for other bloggers and her readers too. Plus she really knows how to find a bargain and style it all so perfectly.

If she isn't already on your must read list, I highly recommend you follow her today.

Have a gorgeous weekend, Kittens!

J' Adore: Suzy Perette

One can never have too many LBDs - Rather like shoes (but I digress).

I'd like to share my favorite with you.

I have spent an inordinate amount of time looking at vintage clothing online, both here and overseas and every so often you discover a name that you realise is synonymous with quality and style.

One of these is Suzy Perette. Here's a little bit from the Vintage Fashion Guild about this particular brand.

Imagine how excited I was to find one of my own.

I love this dress for so many reasons:

It's more Joan Holloway than Peggy Olson
It's in my favorite "Festive Melbourne Black"

It hugs my curves in all the right places

It has a deep V back

It has pockets, Kittens - POCKETS!!

Here is a slightly over exposed shot to show the bow detail at the front.

What's not to love?

The LBD can be dressed up or down. Killer heels for the inner vamp, diamonds or pearls for the sophisticate. Puurfect for cocktails, dinner or swanning around the office with a cute cardi and vixen eyes...

Be truthful - how many little black dresses are in your wardrobe, Kitten? What do you like to wear them with?

Covet

Covet (v) To desire strongly.

I have no real needs (material or otherwise) that are not met. I am however human and therefor I want things.

Sometimes they are treasures:

(First Edition of Rebecca)

Sometimes they are frivolous:

(Christian Louboutins in every colour please!)

Sometimes they are incredibly unlikely:

66cm waist (That's 26" for my non-metric readers)

...and sometimes they are very simple:

(a nice, hot cup of tea)

This week, I finally procured something I have been coveting for quite some time (stay tuned for more details), but I wanted to ask you Kittens:

What do you covet? Has it been a long love affair? Is it something you've seen recently? Is the object of you heart's desire not an object at all? Tell me all!

J'adore....

Bernie Dexter.

Bernie Dexter is one of my style icons. She is the epitome of the modern rockabilly and has modeled extensively for many reproduction vintage clothing lines including What Katie Did, Whirling Turban, Stop Staring and Babygirl Boutique.

A former make-up artist with MAC cosmetics, she one day found herself in front of the camera rather than behind the scenes. She entered into the Viva Las Vegas (VLV) Pin-Up competition and the rest, as they say, is history.

Known for her modern pin-up girl look, Bernie has been compared to 50's wild child Bettie Page whom passed away last weekend:

The similarity is spooky don't you think?

Bernie has taken her popular image and in partnership with other designers has developed her own signature lines of lingerie, shoes and furs across the US and Europe.

Meow Kittens!

I love her bad-girl glamour - those pouty red lips, smokey eyes and the glossiest hair I have ever seen! Now if only I could get even close to her 32-24-35 measurements! Hmmm. That would mean no more chocolate or Champagne. NOT going to happen!

J'adore....

Mirka Mora

Mirka was born in Paris in 1928 and immigrated with her husband Georges to Melbourne, Australia in 1951.

Her early training was in mime and drama at the Ecole Jean-Louis Barrault, but she had already begun to focus on painting by the time she reached Australia. She and Georges were instrumental in the re-establishment of the Contemporary Art Society in Melbourne from 1953, with their apartment on Collins Street being the meeting place and gallery for the CAS in the early years.


In my opinion, she has been one of the key drivers of what has come to define Melbourne as an Australian City. Her influence on Australian Art and Melbourne culture has cannot be understated.

She was a colleague, mentor, muse and friend of artists including Arthur Boyd, John Perceval, Joy Hester, Charles Blackman, Laurence Hope and Dawn and Ian Sime and John and Sunday Reed. The Reeds founded the Heide Museum of Modern Art located in the then outskirts of Melbourne in Bulleen.



Georges and Mirka were largely responsible in bringing sophisticated European dining to 1950s Melbourne, opening the Mirka Café in Exhibition Street in 1954, then the Balzac in East Melbourne in 1958 (the first Melbourne restaurant to receive a 10pm liquor licence) and finally Tolarno in St Kilda in 1965. In the photo of Mirka Cafe above, you can see Mirka in the centre of the shot, her hand on her face with Georges crouching down.

They were the originators of the true bohemian and artistic flavour of St Kilda, with the heart based at Hotel Tolarno.

Guy Grossi, one of Melbourne's premier Chefs opened his homage to her at the newly refurbished Tolano Hotel in 2007 naming his restaurant after her: Mirka

Mirka Restaurant is a living, breathing canvas-in-progress of Mirka's work, with her whimsical and instantly recognisable friezes and murals decorating the walls of the Fitzroy St eatery:




The food is wonderful, the service sublime. I highly recommend a intimate dinner here with those you love.

In a wonderful interview with Andrew Denton in 2007, she discussed her life, her loves and her philosophy. In a moving moment she told the tale of how she managed to escape the Holocaust and endeared the audience with her explanation of some of her more outrageous public behaviour:

"I don’t like to follow order. And the director of the tapestry workshop, with all due respect to her, had told me what to do when my turn would be to pull the curtain... And when my turn came I said, "I can’t just pull the curtain like all the other people. I have to do something funny." So I organised myself to drop my pants..."

To know about her is to be delighted by her.


Sunburned but happy, here I am at Mirka Restaurant after the races earlier this month.