After a cheap and cheerful activity for kids? Keep small hands and minds occupied with Seedling’s Fly High Bird Glider kit, AU$7.95 from Lark. First, colour in the bird, put it together, then head to the park and watch it soar.
New Zealand-based Seedling makes the best DIY kits for kids, with gorgeous designs, eco-awareness and retro-style packaging. The bird glider make a great kid’s present to send overseas. The flat-pack and light-weight design make it perfect for postage.
Tell me: what are you doing with your kids during the school holidays? De-lurk and leave me a comment below!
This easy project is for all of my northern-hemisphere readers (hello!) who are enjoying sunshine and warm days right now. (Written from the depths of my duvet on this frosty Sunday morning in Sydney.)
Crafter and blogger Brittni Melhoff of Paper & Stitch created this fun project for Tuts+, using plain wooden blocks, tape, paint and wooden skewers to create an eye-catching cubist drink stirrer. Head over to Tuts+ for the full step-by-step tutorial and make it this weekend.
If you’ve watched the most recent series of Call the Midwife, you’ll recognise this rather memorable outfit that Trixie, played by the sassy Helen George, wore on her “date” with the Rev. Isn’t it glorious?
Her Jean-Seberg-esque pixe crop would have been quite progressive for 1959 Poplar in London’s East End. Indeed, it wasn’t until 1960 that Jean-Luc Godard’s cult film Breathless (À bout de souffle) was released, sending a whole generation of young ladies to the hairdressers for the big chop.
Call the Midwife’s brilliant costume designer, Ralph Wheeler-Holes, looks like he’s had loads of fun evolving Trixie’s wardrobe over the years, as she’s the most fashion-forward of all the characters. On the topic of fashion in series three, Ralph says,
“We lose the fullness of the mid ’50s full net petticoats, and lean towards a simpler, cleaner line. This has helped us edge towards the ’60s – as well as having a surprisingly current flavour of dress. It enables our viewers to easily recreate the look of times past – yet maintain a contemporary feel.
“In series 4 we should start to see hemlines beginning to lift and a move towards a more liberated feel.”
Ralph recommends some specific pieces from the UK high street to get Trixie’s look. The following pieces are still available online – and some are on sale!
Wonderful neat cropped cardigans can be found at Brora, also online.
Circular bags can be found on Etsy or even eBay (if you can’t find white, find a shape you like and spray white or a matching color using Maribou acrylic spray paints available at any good art shop).
Here, I show you how to get Trixie’s look, with a frock and jacket from one of the Duchess of Cambridge’s favourite high street shops, LK Bennett. This is a great summer look to wear to a wedding or other special event. Good timing, too, because they’re on sale right now!
1. Amol event coat, reduced to £175 (from £345) from LK Bennett.
Australians all, let us rejoice, for we can now buy Charley Harper prints!
Of course, we could always buy genuine prints from overseas, but that meant paying ridiculous amounts in shipping costs. Trust me. I tried to purchase Harper prints from the States two years ago and the cost of the postage alone was more than the actual (affordable) work. Now you can buy them from lovely local online stockist, Ten Things, who is the exclusive retailer of genuine Charley Harper prints in Australia.
A mid-twentieth century modernist artist with a passion for wildlife, birds were a central obsession throughout Charley Harper’s work. Most of the prints available from Ten Things portray avian subjects against his signature vividly stylised and patterned landscapes.
If you’re after affordable modern art for your home, look no further than these open edition lithograph prints. Priced from AU$95 for an unframed print, each work comes with a signed certificate of authenticity from the Harper Estate.
As far as long-burning trends go, faceted gems and geometry are white hot. We’ve seen all manner of faceted shapes appear in fashion, design and decor in recent collections, and brutalist concrete is quite often the material of choice.
I found this outfit from Call the Midwife particularly memorable, as I think it’s one of the few times we see Nurse Jenny in pants! Although this marks a departure from her usual full-skirt day dresses, it remains in character as it’s a relatively prim look with zero accessories. So you can imagine that I was just a little excited when I found an original fifties sweater on Etsy that’s almost identical (see no. 3 below).
This is the outfit that Jenny wore when she went out with the girls to a Beatnik club, and it’s a look that is bang on trend now. Shop the high street for cropped narrow trousers, boxy-cut tops and soft knits. In winter, try wearing slimline tweed trousers with a soft knit funnel-neck jumper, and go for print cotton pants in summer with a boxy-cut top.
Here, my favourite picks for getting Jenny’s style.
It’s sales time, so if you’re looking for a classic LBD to add to your wardrobe, you could do worse than this versatile Anglomania by Vivienne Westwood Prophecy two-way crepe dress. It’s reduced by 40 per cent on Net-a-porter to AU$235.03 (from $391.72).
This is a classic Westwood cut that has a timeless appeal, and it’s almost two frocks in one. Wear it with a softly draped neckline, or turn it around and you’ve got a more graphic V-neck, with a touch of dramatic draping at the back.
It’s a good, fairly safe little black frock that you’ll never regret buying. It will take you from work to drinks and beyond – just dress up or down with accessories.
This post is inspired by a text message from my sister after the final episode of Call the Midwife aired in Australia. She said she loved the outfit the nurse was wearing when she taught the Reverend how to dance, and it reminded her of something her Sindy doll wore.
I knew exactly what she meant, as she may or may not know that the Sindy doll in question was actually handed down to me. And I also found her online in the V&A Museum of Childhood’s archives. This particular Sindy (no. 1) below, was released in 1964, and the striped-top-and-jeans outfit was known as her “Weekender” outfit. And she originally wore red shoes with it!
Nurse Patsy’s sassy rockabilly look is easy to reproduce with tops and bottoms on the high street. There are loads of vintage-style gingham shirts around – check out brands like Splendid, ASOS and Banana Republic. And there are quite a few original ’50s shirts on Etsy, too.
Look out for jeans with a high waist and straight legs which can be worn with the cuffs folded up. Some of the best brands doing this look include MiH, Rag & Bone and Madewell. These retro-style cuts are great for girls with curves, as the high waist doesn’t create that muffin-top effect you get with low-slung jeans. Choose a vintage-style plain black leather belt to pull it all together and create a ’50s-style defined waistline.
Patsy wears a very cute pair of red leather Oxford pumps. If you’re not comfortable in heels, you could wear flat-heeled Oxfords or vintage-style loafers. Etsy has a great selection of vintage Oxford pumps and I’ve added a few good options to my ‘Call the Midwife: Get the Look’ page on Etsy.
Bring the look home with a dash of ruby lipstick. I love Besame’s vintage style lipsticks, which come in glamorous gold cases and have a semi-matte finish: perfect for capturing that iconic ’50s pout. And if you want to learn how to give your hair vintage-style waves, follow this great tutorial over on The Beauty Department.
1. Vintage Sindy doll, circa 1964, from the V&A Museum of Childhood archives.
If there’s one brand that’s synonymous with iconic Australian design, look no further than Dinosaur Designs.
It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a Dinosaur Designs fangirl. I’ve coveted their signature sculptural jewellery and homewares ever since I read about these cool art school graduates selling unique resin jewellery at Sydney’s Paddington Markets in the mid-’80s.
I remember standing outside the Oxford Street store on Saturdays in the early ’90s, myself a university student at the time, admiring the myriad vases and vessels gleaming in the morning sun.
By the mid-late ‘90s, I was editing magazines and if you look closely at one of my editor’s portraits circa 1999, you can spot three white-translucent Dinosaur Designs wishbone bangles on my arm. They were part of my daily uniform, and I’ve never looked back.
Neither have they. I’ve watched with delight as Dinosaur Designs has continued to grow over the years and expand its fanbase to a global level. This is no small feat, especially when you consider that so many of their original neighbours in Sydney’s Strand Arcade have fallen by the wayside.
I don’t think this is down to luck or chance. Dinosaur Designs, as it stands today with husband/wife duo Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy, is the best combination of talent and enterprise. They understand colour and know how to use it – with vividly stunning and often surprising results.
I think the element of surprise is a significant component to their success, as they’ve continued to push themselves and their brand to explore new techniques, materials and products. And there’s been a judicious line-up of collaborators, including global giants Louis Vuitton and Paul Smith as well as Australian brands such as Designer Rugs, Jac + Jack, and most recently, Toni Maticevski.
Like many other of the world’s best design brands, they’ve evolved and worked hard to continually produce collections that look fresh, modern and classic at once. And dare I say, they’re always bang on trend.
Take their latest collection, Seed Pod, which was designed by Louise Olsen. Here their signature organic resin forms make an appearance in a 46-piece collection of stunning homewares and jewellery pieces, but the resin is studded with sparkling cubic zirconias or dipped in 24ct gold. There are mercurial earrings in silver and pendants and bowls in brass.
One of the best buys in the collection is the round brass incense holder, which at $AU30 will give Tom Dixon’s copper candles a run for their money!
I love the soft and whimsical shoot for Seed Pod, featuring Stephen and Louise’s daughter Camille and her friend as models. It’s accompanied by a video filled with dandelion fields, sun-flairs and hyper-femininity, providing a nice little contrast to some of the collection’s ‘tougher’ pieces.
Dinosaur Designs Seed Pod collection. Photography by Tim Georgeson.
UK readers are in for a treat with Dinosaur Designs opening their first London store in Soho next month. With a well-established store in New York, the launch into the European market signifies Dinosaur Designs’ strength as a global (Australian) brand. Now there’s no excuse for Londoners not to own a pair of resin salad servers. I’ll be watching!
Chookas for your opening on Great Windmill Street, Louise and Stephen! (Not that you need it.)
Shop the Seed Pod collection in-store and online here.
Are you a Dinosaur Designs fan, too? Tell me about your favourite piece.
You might already be familiar with kids’ Hama beads (also known as Perler beads), but have you ever seen them look so stylish? You can buy Hama beads by the jar at IKEA, as well as at craft and toy stores.
Australian designer/maker extraordinaire Lisa Tilse of The Red Thread used colour judiciously to repurpose children’s Hama beads as a stunning on-trend fashion accessory for grown-ups. You can follow her easy step-by-step tutorial over on Tuts+ and make a gorgeous beaded cuff for yourself this weekend.
Following on from last week’s retro TV-inspired Frock on Friday, I couldn’t resist paying tribute to another brilliant TV show, Call the Midwife. The final episode of the third season just aired here in Australia, and I was reduced to a sobbing big girl’s blouse.
Like Mad Men, it showcases authentic mid-century fashion, although London’s harsh working class East End provides a marked contrast to moneyed-up Madison Avenue in the late 1950s.
I loved watching Jessica Raine’s marvellous performance as Jenny Lee, and I adore her simple and sweet ’50s cotton day dresses. Nurse Lee knows how to work a bateau neckline with a sensible button-up cardigan. Here, I show you how to get her look with original vintage frocks as well as modern versions from the high street.
1. Vintage ’50s dress, AU$150.61 from When Decades Collide’s Etsy shop. This frock is bally good, too. Call the Midwife’s costume designer Ralph Wheeler-Holes (spiffing job, Ralph!) recommends heading to London vintage stores Beyond Retro and Rokit for Jenny-style ’50s frocks. Beyond Retro and Rokit both have stores in London’s East End (for bonus authenticity).
Tell me, are you a fan of Call the Midwife? Is Chummy your favourite character, too? And were you also reaching for the tissues by the end of the final episode of the third season?
Finally – would you like to see some more get-the-looks inspired by Call the Midwife? Trixie and Patsy provide some wonderful mid-century fashion moments, don’t you think?
This week’s birdy pick comes from European design collective Atelier Areti. Their enchanting ‘Alouette’ lighting collection includes bird-themed ceiling lamps, standing lamps and desk lamps.
The powder-coated metal lights feature on-trend brass joints and are available in white or black. I love the graphic lines and clever cone-shaped illuminating tails.
‘Bravo,’ indeed. I’ll borrow from Bert Cooper’s (profound) brevity to tip my hat to Mad Men‘s creator and producer, Matthew Weiner, for a rather wonderful finale to series 7.0.
Mad Men is a superb example of today’s gilded era of television brilliance, with shows such as Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and Orange is the New Black taking us where no major Hollywood studio would dare. The film industry’s loss is our collective binge-TV-watching win, but I can’t believe we have to wait eleven whole months until we find out what the second half of 1969 has in store for Don, Peggy, Joan et al.
How are you dealing with it? Are you OK? (Or are you still recovering from Game of Thrones‘ most recent revolting episode? Me too.)
One of the joys of watching shows like Mad Men is the mad scramble to read the online reviews that follow. I love a good post-show debrief, and in my opinion, nobody does Mad Men as beautifully as bloggers Tom & Lorenzo.
If you haven’t read their TV reviews, you have to take a look. They do a post-show review on Mondays, followed by an illuminating and detailed wardrobe analysis post called ‘Mad Style’ on Wednesdays.
I love their clever and delightful insights into how costume designer Janie Bryant uses colour, cut, style and pattern to add depth and significance to the characters and narrative. Tom & Lorenzo’s posts are a joy to read, and I heartily recommend delving into their archive if you need a good Mad Men fix.
In the meantime, if you love the style of Mad Men‘s 1969, I’ve dug up some of the best original ’60s and vintage-inspired fashion you can buy online. From Betty’s suburban floral shifts to Megan’s floaty Californian chiffon, I’ve plucked the very best pieces inspired by Mad Men‘s seventh season.
p.s. Still in mourning for Mad Men? Not to worry: another golden example of TV brilliance is back, with the second series of Orange is the New Black. The entire series will drop later today on Netflix. I shall attempt to curb my binge-watching to three episode instalments, but I don’t like my chances with 13 hours of Jenji Kohan’s genius on tap. Oh, and Tom & Lorenzo will be blogging about it, too. I can hardly wait to read what they have to say.
Have you watched the first series of Orange is the New Black? No? Go! (Oh and back to Mad Men – what did you think of the final episode? Whose style do you love the most?)
