The Red Owl

Ok. So I did say in my last blog I would do another post within that same week. It appears, you have all caught me out. My first pathetic excuse as to why I did not post another blog is I do not have access to a digital camera at the moment. I mean, I do have a pretty pathetic Kodak digital camera that requires batteries to be bought for it all the time. But I’m clearly against pointless waste like that. Second, I had a 40% assignment to write, my mama’s birthday to plan, and my dear brother’s 17th farewell back to Tokyo. Believe it or not, that number is not overly exaggerated.

Never fear though, I am planning to kidnap a Digital SLR Camera from my better half that I actually recommended he buy, so hopefully I will be able to take some delightful snaps of things I am eager to show you.

In the meantime, I am pleased to announce the demise of fluoro. V Festival on Saturday provided to be a rather demure affair in that respect, but it still featured some of my more favourite bogans - shirtless boys, scantily clad girls, and poor babies with no earphones to protect their little ears.

It also made me realise the following:

• High-waisted denim shorts are a scary, scary trend. Scott did a post on this many moons ago and I am afraid to report that it is still going strong. I feel that they do not flatter anyone and bum cheek cleavage is not appealing – in any sense at all.
• Leggings are like underwear – they are to be worn UNDER clothes only. My poor, myopic eyes were exposed to many dimples and imperfections as a result of leggings being worn with nothing over them. Don’t worry, I have them too, but I sincerely believe leggings are only to be worn under dresses, skirts and shorts – not shirts (for more about this, see below). The worst offender was a young girl wearing silver, spandex leggings that really did her no favours. I congratulate her for her bravery, but I am begging for ‘taste’ to come back into everyone’s vocabularly. Please ?!
• Man-shirts. I have tossed away my indecisiveness and now firmly stand below the “NO” banner. Too many were worn with only leggings at the festival and this has tainted my view of them altogether. I do not believe this to be style. To me, it just seems dowdy and unimpressionable.

I think I have finally managed to release all my inner-frustrations from the festival. And I didn’t even bring up the sound (which was less than desirable). If anyone else has post-V Festival reviews of any kind, please share !

Yes, it is true that it has been two weeks since my last post. Yes, this is atrocious in the blogging world when comparing it to people who blog daily. If I was a daily blogger that is a whole 14 blogs I completely missed out on. I wish I had the mental capacity as well as the time framework to commit to something that extensive. Unfortunately, I am a poor struggling university student who has to juggle studying full-time, working part-time and partying at half-time. Although of late I have had none of the latter due to some pressing issues on the home front, which is also partly to blame for my unexpected hiatus.

Needless to say, I still have some things worth mentioning in the fashion department. My dear friend Scott pointed out to me this slightly bizarre trend that I had not noticed. I am not sure how prominent it is in the streets of Sydney since I have been a bit of a recluse, but I did manage to spot it during a recent shopping trip.

Apparently, we are in the brink of an “ombre” trend. According to my trusty sources over there at Google, ombre is a french term which means ’shadow, shade; darkness, obscurity’. It is similar to tye-dye in the sense that colours are bled on the fabric or material in shades from light to dark.

Alberta Ferretti featured the ombre look in her Autumn 2007 show last year. Here’s a taste of her take on the look:

However, what I have seen in shops is this same look, except on shoes. I believe Prada released a range of these ombre shoes (as well as patent leather bags) which of course prompted for some cheaper knock-offs. The Prada shoes look something like this:

The knock-offs I saw were a Miss Shop imitation in the Bondi Junction Myer Store and they looked relatively similar. However, I haven’t had much of a chance to look around at other shops to see whether they are also giving these shoes some shelf life.

To be honest, I am not entirely sure where I stand with these. A part of me is saying yes but a part of me is saying no. I think it will become one of those “that was so last year!” after it has run its due course. Speaking of running… this blog has come to an end for tonight, but I would like to mention that I have a new addition to my wardrobe which I want to share with you later this week so do come back to find out what it is !

I fear for the youth of today.

By youth I mean those 3 years younger than me who only last month started university. It may be due to my old age or my hawkish eyes (even though I am the proud owner of two pairs of glasses and a pair of contact lenses), but boy do girls dress to impress on campus.

I am not completely disconnected from my wide-eyed first-years as I may put across. I did try very hard to look the part when I first started studying. Even if I found myself at uni four days a week I would make sure I wore a different outfit each day. I am quite confident nobody paid attention to my insistence that this was the annual Milan Fashion Show. Just as my young companions will eventually learn in 10 weeks’ time.

I am happy to say by the time the second semester had rolled around I had tossed away my vanity bag(gage) and shortened the time I spent at uni. With plenty of time to waste at home I made sure this was spent doing valuable things such as study (some of the time anyway), instead of worrying about what people would think of me in this tute or in that lecture. I am sincerely hoping the same will happen with my fellow peers because it really is a fright to see them struggling with short skirts, low-cut tops, and billowy dresses that reveal too much than the sensitive eye can handle.

I hate to say it, and I am by no means a crusader for the practical dresser, but sometimes comfort is the best fashion tip you can abide by when lugging around four heavy textbooks, lunch, bottle of water and a folder from one class to the next !

I am having an uninspirational fashion week. It is bad timing considering the festivities that are on at the moment in Melbourne and Paris and everywhere else in the globe, yet nowhere to be found in my little corner of the world. Apathy is a downright killer sometimes. It especially kills all hope and imagination I might have had for my one special outfit this week.

That was me at yesterday’s Laneway Festival. Not exactly the brightest spark in the crowd but I managed. Believe it or not Laneway is a very trendy festival. All the kids you do not see at Big Day Out and Good Vibrations and Future Music are willing to make an appearance and flaunt their own quirky style. This style was an eclectic mix of vintage, modern and original pieces that half-heartedly inspired me to go into a little more detail about the wonders of the vest.

There were quite a few vests worn at the Laneway Festival. I am happy to say I even own a vest. I am also happy to say that I quite enjoy the vest. It just so happen that I am on the lookout to add another couple to my slight collection. The next vest I buy however, will be ever-so-different to the sweater vest I currently own. One might even go as far to say that I am interested in branching out and purchasing a full-blown real vest such as these ones:

I have decided that what makes a person really stand out is not necessarily the originality of their pieces of clothing but how they are actually wearing them. Presentation is one of the most important things when it comes to fashion. That is why dressing up is so much fun because you can present different parts of your personality each time. I think a vest has the capability of doing just that. For example, using the vests pictured above, I can be ‘bohemian vest-wearing Mia’, ‘grunge vest-wearing Mia’, ‘vintage vest-wearing Mia’ and ‘tailored vest-wearing Mia’.

It makes sense does it not ?! If I can be all these people with just the addition of a vest, I would be crazy and far too cynical for my own good to dismiss this as another passing trend I reluctantly may partake in because of a silly fear that I will fade into the background if I do. After all, if fashion teaches you one thing it is that everything is reusable and sooner or later it all becomes vintage anyway !