Etsy Treasury Love - 29th December 2008

I wonder if I will ever get sick of looking at Polka Dots?

Thank you to cirenia for featuring me in her (?) Polka Passion treasury today.

It's a DRESS, not a top!

Your backstage pass and black sunglasses
Make you look just like a queen
Even the fans, they know your face
From all of the magazines, but
Do you love me?
Kiss - Do you Love Me

On the day of shooting this dress, I got a call from photographer, Paula Delley asking if I minded if model Ava wore black capri pants with the strapless leopard print top. "I did'nt give you a strapless leopard print top" I replied. After a little more chat, I realised that she meant this dress!

The 'Backstage Pass' dress will form part of a retrospective collection I am planning for 2009.

It is made from 95% Cotton and 5% Spandex, it has a whopping 50cm invisible zip in the centre back to allow easy, um, removal. Unlike most of my dresses, I have left this dress unlined as it's more of a metal gig dress than an afternoon tea dress. *wink*

2009 will mark 20 years since I started 'sewing school' (I left high school in 1988 to do the Clothing & Craft course that Melbourne College of Textiles was offering at the time). I was mad about hard rock and heavy metal and wished with all my heart to be as cool as the girls in all of the music videos.

Now, I know some people will scold me for the name of this dress and perhaps find my inspiration a little distastful, but I feel that I must add, that while my best friend and I sat in our seats waiting for the band to come on, women wearing tiny skirts and dresses, killer high heels and sky scraper hair queued up to meet these bands, I never saw a woman being dragged backstage.

So, in the upcoming months, I am going to make pieces inspired by the very thing that made me want to start sewing, rock n' roll.

*Noteworthy people who did this course with me are Jodii Ruggero (who runs successful Pattern and Dressmaking company Thursday's Child), Anthony Pitturino and Jacob Luppino (who collectively run couture house J'Aton).

"Those were the best days of my life"

I was 15-16 years old in the late 1980's, my friends and I wore our jeans tight, our t-shirts big and our dresses tiny.

We wore our boots all year round and listened to hard rock and heavy metal. We loved going to Bell Street Rock and a few years after that, The Cathouse at the old Palace in St Kilda.

Metal For Melbourne under Princess Bridge (now Fed Square) was the only place we bought records and I have fond memories of having super sized crushes on a few of the guys that worked there.

Posters of Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue, Poison and Bon Jovi graced our walls, we drank Jack Daniels and Coke and loved to sing while cruzin'.

Our bracelets and necklaces jangled as we walked down the street and we all envied Jodii for having 'Nikki Sixx hair'.

I dedicate this post to the five girls (now women) that shaped who I am today and to thank you for some of the best years of my life.

Desktop magazine is so cool!

When I was working at Snap full time, I would wait for the latest copy of Desktop: magazine to arrive in the mail with great anticipation.

I have no clue about Graphic Design, but I have a real obsession with it, just like guitar playing (more about that some other time). To be able to put together words and pictures using a computer is magic to me.

The December 2008 issue has featured my label in their coolstuff section and I am over the moon about it (thank you guys!).

To read the little article written by Jo Spurling, click here.

Teer in print wearing sassy Red dress

Last week my friend and model, Teer Wayde (AKA Miss T) wore my dress to a photoshoot for the Age newspaper (article printed 28/11/2008).

The article was about a wonderful new modelling agency called The Alternative Modelling Agency, run by Samantha Shields.

Teer's dress was a last minute job. My first instinct was to put her in Red and I am glad that I stuck with it.

The dress is made from 95% Cotton/5% Spandex and as a very slight sheen to it. It has set in puff sleeves gathered at both the sleevehead and armband.

I was originally going to do a sweetheart neckline, but changed it to a curved V as I was cutting out the dress.

The skirt is a super tight pencil and the back has an invisible zip.

I was so glad that Teer accessorised the dress with her own black patent belt as it finished off the look perfectly.

Thank you so much Teer, once again, it was a pleasure to work with you!

Screen shot: www.theage.com.au

Photo taken by: Simon Schluter