Pretty Pretty Pretty » events

Let’s go shwoping!

johubris — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:31:57 +0000

So many clothes, so little time!

It’s been a while since our last Pretty Pretty Party, and given my current homelessness, it’ll probably be ages until the next one, but never fear! If you need to freshen up your wardrobe, you can still get your swap on, next Sunday:

The Big Shwop
Sunday July 25
Venue: The St James Theatre, Courtenay Place, Wellington
Time: 10 am – 2.30 pm
Tickets: $20 from our website: www.thebigshwop.co.nz, or just turn up on the day
R 18 event as alcohol is being served
Bring up to 20 items of clothing

Tickets are $20, but because there are strict rules for what people can bring in, you know that the clothes will be good. Also, there’s all kinds of added goodies on the day. The way it works is that you drop off your clothes between 10am-12pm, you get to drink some Momo wine until 1pm while the clothes are sorted, and then you go shwoping with your vouchers (you get one for every item you bring in). Also, you’ll get a full size Trilogy product – Everything Balm for the ladies and aftershave for the gents, as well as goodies from Eco Store. Oh, and you can bring in your old cleanser to get a new one from Trilogy too. So I’ll see you there, yes? Awesomesauce.

Holy fricking WOW!

johubris — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:43:02 +0000

As I already wrote about in advance, thanks to the lovely Barbara at the Wellington City Council, Kowhai, Robyn and I got to go to the Montana World of WearableArts Awards. It really did make me go wow, like, a lot. Obviously, it was more about the art than the wearable, but if I go through my experiences of the night in a loose semi-chronological order, I will pull out my notes about making some of it translate to real life, okay? Yes. It’s going to be a long post, so I’ll put it after a jump.

The show itself

To be honest, I’ve seen previous years on TV before, and I was kind of a bit “well, I don’t really think it’s for me”. Seeing it live, however, was a whole new experience. I was totally blown away by the showmanship of it all – the amazing sets with trees coming down from the ceiling, floating birds’ nests, opera divas on huge big billowing pyramids, dancers everywhere, glitter falling from the sky, a mini covered in mirrors that was pushed out onto the stage and then hoisted up to act as a disco ball… Seriously, WOW is the right word for it all. Or WOWA, if you’re Hadyn and can’t deal with CamelCap words like WearableArt.

And because PPP is all about making thing accessible in the real world, in order to recreate the disco feeling of the car, might I suggest buying these golden chuck taylors, and preferably buy me a pair too?
And if you want to play Super Hero, like the adorable group of women who were all dressed up as (male) super heroes, you really must get yourself a Wonder Woman cami & panty set from the BUST Boobtique.

What the audience wore

First up, and naturally most importantly, I ended up wearing a purple satin dress from the Carpenter’s Daughter with fuchsia tights from we love colors and a fuchsia clutch borrowed from Megan. I’d like to show you photos but while I was out wowing it up, my house got burgled and my camera got taken. Kowhai was representing in a low-backed emerald green dress, but pretty much every single other person in the media room was wearing black. There were some people who’d clearly gone to a lot of effort to dress up, but the majority of the audience also appeared to be wearing black, except for a surprising number of people in red trenchcoats. I think we now know where in the world Carmen Sandeigo is…

Ezibuy have a surprisingly large selection of red coats if you want to get in on the Carmen Sandeigo action, or if you also hate those damn colonial militias…
Many of the award-winners disappointingly wore black as well, but Paula Rowan who won the kids’ section had a fabulous dress that reminded me very much of the first one from the City Chic runway show in Australia perhaps crossed with this one from Torrid which would not normally be the sort of dress that I’d be into but I’ve seen some fatshionistas rocking it. Yes, I read a lot of curvy fashion blogs right now, apparently.

Marie Antoinette is so hott right now

Lady Of The Wood, David Walker, Alaska, USA

Queen Adelaide, Emma Whiteside, Wellington. Not just a cheap wine then.

Sir Lazyboy, Cassandra Bowe, Nelson

Wanderer, Sue Cederman, Motueka

I thought there were other dresses on the same theme, but I can’t find images of them. We all know I totally started this trend though.

I’m too lazy to come up with my own Marie Antoinette type fashion suggestions, but luckily Polyvore is overflowing with them!

Some other observations about the night

I think that the illuminated section is totally for the older section of the audience who never took acid and went to a rave in the mid ’90s. Or maybe it’s for those who did and want to get all awww nostalgia about it.

Hot trends from the night to take away: feathers are coming back, as are white tights (oh god why?) and based on Jennifer Ward Leland’s fantastic dress, expect to see a lot of midnight blue clothing coming out as well. Hurray!

Bad Tom was totally represented!

Colour Blind, Dinah & Mark Walker, Auckland

Tom minus the blinds

Separated at birth?

Okay, so I’ve been working on this post for an hour now, and I still don’t think I’ve managed to convey how fricking awesome the show is. I really do think you should consider going along next year. I’ll even assemble you an outfit to wear to it, if you ask nicely…

Outfits that make you go to WOW

johubris — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:10:47 +0000

The World of Wearable Art Awards are turning 21. It’s no longer an event held in a field in Nelson, so the decision about what to wear to the event is something that should be taken VERY SERIOUSLY. Kowhai, Robyn and I are lucky enough to be going along to the awards, and I must admit that I have been thinking less about what’s going to be on stage than what’s going to be on my back. Because of that, and because I had so much fun theoretically dressing Megan, I decided I would (totally unasked) do the same for them.

I have to say, the range of dresses online from physical shops in Wellington was pretty disappointing. I’ve gone with Principals dresses here because they suited my requirements, and also because the images are best for polyvoring with their white backgrounds. I decided not to bother keeping accessories local, and made my only requirement for them be that they were under $50US. After the jump, I get my polyvore on.

Robyn has twittered recently about how she’s been uninspired by dresses and thinks she needs something with structure. I think these two ought to do the job. I’ve also gone for practical flat shoes, and bags big enough for cameras and phones and notebooks because she is a Serious Blogger, and also the bags can be carried on the shoulder easily to leave hands free for the free wine and amazing cheese. I suspect the jewelery is far too over the top for Robyn’s tastes, and although I’d love to see her in those cowboy boots I doubt it would happen, but really the dresses were the main point of this exercise.

Robyn at WOW by johubris featuring Amanda Wakeley

Kowhai looks amazing in bright colours, so I’ve pushed that theme here. if I was to wear a print like the floral dress, I’d probably look like a couch, but her shape is very different to mine so I think she could pull it off. Again, I’ve gone for flat shoes for comfort’s sake, and I’ve given her tote bags because she’s always carrying books or clothes or random items and it makes me uncomfortable when her bag is too small (yes, I am weird).

Kowhai at the World of Wearable Arts by johubris featuring Old Navy

If you were going to dress me for the event, what would I wear?