Post-work Rant - Why sometimes I wish shops had no people in them.

Today I was asked to run across to our concession store which lies in a very large department store called Myer. What I gathered in a 45minute period whilst working at Myer is, people are crazy. I have never seen such feral-ness in my life. What is usually a quiet, small concession store became this clothing atrocity in which expensive silk dresses were lying in piles on tables and the ground. 
Here I thought my fashion addiction had led to a problem, (which admittedly it really has), but come on! I never treat quality pieces of clothing like they come from Supre or SES, this is time and money people!


But hey, what you gonna do? It's a sale, this how the world is or so I'm told by my manager.


Here is what I felt like:

Buys of last week...

So I went a bit crazy in Country Road this week because they were on sale and well, I work there so get stuff for cheap :) Starting with my awesome cow pillow!!! It's the top one and looks awesome on my bed. Tactile brilliance.

Next is a classic Audrey Hepburn style ballet flat, that even though it is the ballet flat Country Road are known for, I've never owned a pair until these popped up on sale left in my size only, Woo! They go with well everything since all I wear is black, kahki, red and tan.

Then, because my colleagues thought it would be a nice thing for me to wear around the shop and Uni, I was recommended these leggings which I actually think I love now. Team with long tops, blazers, ballet flats, heels and a scarf. Good to go day and night.

I have also been trying to better my drawing skills and therefore, with the help of a friend who happens to be studying animation and; in general has art skills that could I am incredibly envious of, I purchased one of these on www.bookdepository.com. Free shipping, quick delivery and half the price of the exceedingly expensive versions here. Happiness in a Moleskin.

Lastly, everyone needs music in their lives' to listen to and since I am a very recent user of the Ipod and Iphone I prefer to buy good ol' CD's for my huge and ever growing collection. I love album art and downloading an album from Itunes renders the effort the artist gave it superfluous. Here is my latest car CD. I have tickets to their show in September. So much excitement!

Zara... the good, the bad and the fugly.

The Zara Phenomenon hit Australian shores on April 21 this year causing quite a stir amongst fashion retailers (local and non-local), and representing the true epitome of fashion globalisation.

Is Zara a good thing for Australia? I am going to have to say, after much deliberation, that is isn't. It is one of the most frustrating labels in the world.

Zara do not advertise, their founder and CEO deem it unnecessary and a waste of time, yet, even in my lunch break (I work about 5 doors down from it), people are still lining up outside its doors and rummaging through its knitwear, basics and piles of crap like a boxing day sale frenzy.

Ok it is not all crap, just most of it. It's not only because Australia got gipped with its last year's winter left overs (trust me this is indeed the case, I was in Japan in January and half the stock from there that was on sale, was shipped, packaged and price jacked back up as 'new exciting pieces'), it's because it is cheap fabrics, badly made, badly cut and fashion trash.

The Zara claim to fame is that they can have a catwalk item in their stores within 2 weeks of it being seen. Big. Deal. As a fashion student I believe they slaughter good Australian brands that work hard to produce innovative, contraversial and quality items that make not only a great impact on our own economy, but provide Australia with a repuation worldwide of executing fashion-forward design. 

Oh right, I just remembered that people these days are stingy, boring and sheep. Zara does nothing but add to this rising ability of chain stores to clone other designer's works, change a button, a dart, the colour and make it their own. As an aspiring designer myself, how am I to even attempt to create something original, interesting, unique when I will basically be fashionably raped by the like of Zara, ValleyGirl, H&M etc... who can afford to charge half the amount, produce it all in China, India, Malaysia and people will buy it!!

Design, of course is about adapting other peoples' works and working with certain trends, but nothing makes me happier than seeing a great adaptation of say a classic Dior shaped jacket and reworking it in a great fabric and adding fantastic detail. These are the key elements that make fashion fantastic. Yes it can be superficial, cyclical and boring, but it can also be exciting and more importantly, an avenue of self-expression.

Clothing makes us who we are, it allows us to indicate sometimes: music we may be interested in, colours we love, fabrics we adore and of course styles that flatter our differing body shapes. Zara's ability to make everyone looking like lemmings is just plain boring.

Buy Australian!

Why Study Fashion?

The question I'm sure many young people ask themselves when aspiring to be a 'fashion designer'. I came upon fashion design from a really strange path. The words: Bespoke, A-line, Peterpan collar, Stylish were just not part of my vocabulary until I turned about 20 years old. I go to fashion design school now with 20 year olds who have wanted to be in fashion and designing fashion since the age of 5. This something I could never relate to.

I was the kid who used to cut their Barbie's hair off, never ever wear dresses unless forced to after a 2 hour argument with my mother (yes even at the age of 7) who once said 'one day you are going to look back and ask me why I let you go out like this'. I hate it when parents are right. 

High shool was another disaster. I hated the school dress and finally adopted it in year 10 after my school shorts finally fell apart and my mother refused to buy me another pair. I was angry and angsty. I loved heavy metal, wore black, was most likely an 'Emo' before Emo's existed. I played bass in an all girl rock band and basically I thought I was the shit.

After shool finished, however, I realised that the way I had been acting and dressing was just. plain. shit. I started reading fashion magazines in second year uni where I was studying Arts with majors in Anthropology and Koori Studies. It interested me greatly but was never going to amount to a proper, nor satisfying career. I had to start thinking bigger. Medicine was always there. It was what I had wanted to do since the age of 5. Countless pretend operations on stuffed animals, burning ants with magnifying glasses to get the formic acid smell, wishing I could be the person that saved everyone. I worked in a hospital.... and as much as I loved every minute of it, I realised I didn't want to be a miserable surgeon like all the ones I was constantly surrounded by. They were: to divorce, divorcing, divorced. 

Plan B. Fine Art, Design and finally, Fashion. I had become ensnared by the fashion world through my experience as sales consultants for various retail brands, working for a fashion company and realising that maybe, just maybe, it was something I was capable of. 

Fashion is hard. Don't romanticise it as this industry where you get free stuff, work 9am-5pm and everyone looks like a supermodel. It is not like that at all. It's hard work, including weekends and staying back sometimes until 10pm, it is trying to juggle stupid amounts of tasks at once and making not one mistake, it is getting sore hands from cutting out samples, it is stressed people in stressed environments. I'm making it sound horrible now, but after all of that, sometimes I have to ask? Why did I choose this?

I suppose because after all that, after all the hysterical nights of sewing and making stupid powerpoints about brands you've made up, after designing fake things that will never exist, after making the same jacket 3 times just to get a jetted pocket absolutely perfect, it's satisfying. I can look at my collection in 5 weeks time and say, yes I made that.

That was me who worked for 16 weeks to come up with 7 garments and hopefully watch it go to runway at the end of year. It is that, that makes the whole thing worth it well.... ideally.

Stay tuned...