What to wear to a fashion show?

I attended my first fashion show yesterday at the GPO in the city (Melbourne, that is, for my international readers). I was quite excited as it was my first visit to a runway show. I agonised over what to wear of course, as I usually wear 'full-on' vintage and didn't really want to stand out too much amongst the skinny panted young fashionistas. In the end I just thought 'to hell with it' I am going to be myself and chose a black and white 1950's vintage dress .  . .

It turned out to be a good choice as it was about 30 degrees on the day and the show was held under the portico at the GPO at lunchtime. This, together with all the bright lights, made for a fairly warm experience!

The fashion show was great fun. It was quite theatrical (they had two dancers at the start prancing around with plates of fruit - sounds weird but looked great!) and the clothes were, by and large, lovely. The show featured GPO store designers such as Lisa Ho, Leona Edminston, Wayne Cooper and Akira. My favourites were a long dusty pink dress from Leona Edminston and a hot pink and red outfit by Akira (odd colour combination, but it worked). Some trends I noticed: skirts are either very, very short, or extremely long; also: quite a lot of feathery vests. One thing I didn't like was the use of snakeskin like material on some of the dresses and jackets (see for instance in Wayne Cooper's collection) - sorry, not attractive at all in my book!

Unfortunately I was a naughty blogger and forgot to recharge my flagging camera battery, but you can see some photos taken by blogger 'Melbourne girl' at this link.

I would recommend going along to this fashion show next year. For a start, unlike some of the other LMFF fashion shows which in my opinion are too expensive ($48 to see a fashion show - I don't think so), this one is free! Just sign up to 'GPO lovers' on the GPO website and next LMFF they will send out an email about tickets and you just reply (which is what I did). Easy! (and you get to sip champagne out of a straw and eat chocolates from Cacao too - lovely!)

1950's dress Frocks and Slacks, St Kilda

Bolero Laura Ashley (2 yrs ago)

Bag St Vinnies, Oakleigh

vintage earrings etsy

flower brooch Portmans

Melbourne Fashion Week Bloggers Forum - 1940's jacket, Cue pants

On Saturday I went to the Melbourne Fashion Week Blogging Forum, held at Guildford Lane Gallery in the city.

The bloggers who spoke included the lovely Phoebe from Lady Melbourne and a very talented artist called Angie from Patsy Fox who does beautiful fashion drawings. The bloggers spoke about a whole range of issues, such as getting a blog up and running, intellectual property (copyright) issues and the role of blogs in the fashion world.

The forum also covered the thorny issue of sponsorship and advertising. I think the general consensus was that it was quite difficult to do this as many companies don't yet understand blogging and simply want to have their name mentioned in a blog for free (!). Some also want full editorial control, for instance, ask for the right to review all photos and content prior to blog publication. It was all very interesting, particularly as I am a baby blogger. I actually had no idea it was so complex.

L-R Angie Rehe from http://www.patsyfox.com/; Phoebe from www.ladymelbourne.com ;

Nathan from www.lovebento.com.au; Alistair from www.melbournestreetfashion.com.

The Guildford Gallery itself is worth a visit. It is a great space - very light and airy (it looks like an old wood-chopping factory downstairs - fantastic!). It is currently showing some great fashion-related pieces, including Patsy Fox fashion illustrations, and other installations . . .

I usually wear pure vintage but decided I'd mix it up a bit for fashion week. I am wearing a 40's jacket teamed with black cue pants. I had wanted to keep my outfit simple to show off the collar and pockets on the jacket which are quite unique. I am not sure it worked, I think its a bit too much black and please excuse the bad photo - the light was not good that day!

This is a much better photo which shows the beautiful scalloped art-deco style collar on the jacket.

1940's Jacket: Clara Fox, Fitzroy North

Pants: Cue from many years ago

Shoes: Myer