TWIST + WRAP TRIBAL PRINT DRESS

Today I've been preparing to go and look at a few fashion colleges in Sydney. That's right, obviously three years at university weren't enough and I want more study. Honestly, I think I'm crazy. Before I headed out though I wanted to try a really cute look that I found over at A Pair and a Spare. You can find her proper tutorial here, I have just done the end wrap part a bit differently. Basically, you cut off the bottom of a long skirt, hem the mini skirt, and with the bottom part you've cut off, cut it open so it's a long piece of fabric and then wrap and twist it around your bust starting at the back. I did mine a bit differently to what Geneva did and instead of tucking the ends into the waistband at the back, I crossed them at the back and then pulled them over my shoulders and pinned them under the bust to look like a bustier style. Simple! The fabric of my skirt was a weird stretchy one, which is why in the back picture it looks like it's sagging a little (it was hard to keep it pulled tight). I think I'll be doing this to a few of my long skirts that never get worn anymore. I think I even like the top just on its own. Thoughts?

See how the back sags a bit? Still, the cross back looks cool, what do you think?

ONLY THE LONELY

I stumbled across Only the Lonely on Facebook and had a quick chat to designer Angela Sterchele. I was not only taken back by the gorgeous, feminine designs but the 

photography was also beautiful, and recently a few pieces from the latest collection were featured in Oyster Magazine.

From Oyster Magazine

Can you give us all a little bit of your background?

My background is based strongly on following my dad around to art galleries and antique shops as a child. He is a freelance artist and that has been my biggest inspiration to follow my passion. I have studied at melbourne school of fashion in design and also business and knew from childhood I wanted to be in fashion and designing was always my passion and now I share my passion between design and styling.

Tell all of us a little about Only the Lonely.

Only the Lonely is named after an amazing and meaningful song by Roy Orbison that I listened to as a child. I wanted to create accessories by hand as I love making things from scratch. I began with my floral pieces before moving onto feathers, crystals, studs etc, which are going to be out in my new High Summer look book soon. I just simply wanted to create beautiful pieces that I would love to wear.

What kind of woman wears Only the Lonely?

The only the lonely girl is feminine, daring and loves a bit of attention and taking fashion risks. She can be a chamelion and wear what ever she feels.

What inspires you when you’re designing?

When I'm designing I try to use beautiful materials in a slightly edgy way to create something fresh. I like to create something dreamy and almost wearable costume pieces.

How would you define your personal style?

My personal style is totally eclectic. I love the crazy pieces that not many people would actually wear but i style them in my own wearable way. I dress for my mood and have to feel right or I will be late due to wardrobe changes. My car is a wardrobe on wheels which is handy.

What is the next step for Only the Lonely?

Only the Lonely is about to shoot it's first campaign which will showcase the Festival Collection '12' and is the first time that all the various styles will be shot together as a collection. I hope to pick up some more stockists this year and continue to stock at one of my favorite stores Hutch. The label is available through it's facebook page and often appears at Melbourne markets also.

You can find more of Only the Lonely here.

 

 

 

KILLEN FALLS

Wearing Zimmermann bikini

Sometimes it's nice to forget about the things that get us down in life and experience the true beauty of nature. This small series was shot by my boyfriend when we went for a swim at a place called Killen Falls while we were visiting Byron Bay. I researched a few waterfalls and this was one of the only ones that you could swim in. It was a bit of a treacherous walk off the beaten track but was so worth it once there, as you can tell from my frolicking pictures.

BYRON BAY

For the past few days I've been soaking up the hot sun at Byron Bay. The boy and I were staying at this beautiful 300 acre farm stay property about 5 minutes out of Byron (with very bad reception as well) and I often forgot that's where we were. It was an amazing and peaceful place with rolling green hills, private lake, views, cows, goats and tranquility.

I couldn't pass up the chance to get a sneaky outfit post in while I was carefully strolling barefoot along the property.

Wearing: Shakuhachi lace jumpsuit, thrifted gold watch, friendship bracelets (tutorial coming in a few days)

DIY BALAYAGE OMBRE HAIR HIGHLIGHTS

Have you a few hours to spare? Like 2-3 hours, I mean? Low maintenance hair is what I'm all about, which may sound strange coming from someone who has bright red hair. This look has been around for ages but it's still really on trend. I have been trying to distinguish the difference between the terms balayage and ombre and I think I have it figured: balayage is a free form hand-painted highlighting technique for hair done with a brush (I suppose this is compared to using foils) and is used to achieve an ombre look, which is French for shaded/shading and is basically a gradual lightening of the hair from the roots. The Ombre is usually done from the chin downwards and can be done with dramatic or very natural effects.

There are a few blogs that have shown how to do it, so I thought I'd give it a go considering my hair is dyed bright red. Would it work? Would it fail? I wasn't sure, but I thought the ombre effect could be really cool and different with red.

If you're trying this and your hair has no dye on it then bleach should take quite well and developing times may differ to the ones I used, in which case there are other blog posts on this topic which you can find on google. I use red hair dye and if you do have any other colour on your hair then I would suggest doing some research before trying it to see how to get bleach to take to your hair and if any stripping is needed. It might be more hassle and may be best left to your hair dresser.

You'll need:
- A bleaching/highlighting kit. Using a blonde hair colour simply won't work, you need to buy bleach kits. I bought L'oreal Perfect Blonde highlighting kit for about $20
- Towel (optional)

How to:
1. Mix together the contents of the packet according to the instructions. Grab a small section of your hair (underneath section) and do a strand test. This is optional but recommended especially if you're dying over another hair colour. I did my first strand test for 15 minutes and when washed away there was no change at all. With the second strand test I grabbed a different section from underneath and left the dye on for 40-45 mins and this result was much better (pictured).

Results from second strand test

2. Split hair in two down the back and tie. Decide where you want the ombre colour to start fading in. I chose to have mine just below the chin. I then spread the the blonde dye over my hair from the chin down, as I needed to lighten/strip the hair before doing the ombre technique. I left it for 30-35 minutes, washed it off then blow dried it.

Lightening process for 30 mins - applied from chin to ends all at once

After the lightening process - the blonde streak is from the strand test. I was careful not to put too much bleach on it during the next steps for an even result

3. Now for the ombre effect. I applied colour in 3 sections starting from the bottom and working up. I applied dye to the bottom 7-10cm of my hair and left it for 20-25 minutes. Leaving that, I then applied another part of blonde to the next 5-10cm of the hair and left it for 15 minutes. I then added the final amounts of dye to the last 5ish cm of the hair closest to my chin and left it for 10 minutes. I also spread the dye a little unevenly around the top 'root' part to avoid a definitive line from appearing and to help the blonde blend subtly. So the bottom part of the hair had dye on for a total of around 40 minutes, the middle part for about 20-25 minutes and the top, lightest, part for 10-15 (max) minutes.

4. Wash your hair out completely and use any additional shampoo or conditioners that come with the hair dyes and blow dry.

Ombre. Say it with me now - ohm-bray. Pretty cool. I'm really happy with the result and it wasn't difficult at all, just took a fair amount of time. Not sure how long I'll keep it but it has definitely given my red look a breath of fresh air. Hope you all like it.

Note: If you can, maybe get someone to help you. If you're doing it by yourself it's hard to get the back properly when its parted to the sides. I missed a bit at the back so might get someone to help me when I do it again in a week or two.On the other hand, I guess it does look more naturally faded. I like it, either way.

If you have questions about how to do ombre please contact me and I can try to give as much information about it as I know.

CHRISTMAS DAY

What a day. I barely had time to enjoy lunch from running between my family to my boyfriends family and trying to get some sort of outfit together. I think I managed in the end and I did enjoy the day. I hope Santa was good to all of you. It was a very laid back Christmas for The Bearded Lady. Santa was kind enough to bring me these really cute hippie-style brown circular sunglasses by Mink Pink. I also got loads of comments on my DIY Christmas hair wreath. I think the best compliment I received was 'Christmas Fairy'. If you missed the tutorial you can find it here. I was also wearing my DIY fishtail hem skirt and if you haven't yet read that tutorial you can read it here.

Wearing: Christmas Hair Wreath, Mink Pink top & Sunnies, Fishtail Skirt, YSL ring, Xmas present silver bracelet, Orange/brown cork wedge heels

DIY CHRISTMAS HAIR WREATH

This year, I have admittedly been a little disheartened by Christmas. I normally love buying presents for my family, friends and the boy but I'm on a budget and haven't been able to go all out. Having said this, it doesn't mean I still can't bring a bit of style and Christmas cheer this coming Sunday.

If you love hair wreaths like daisy headbands and such then you'll love this DIY tutorial. It ain't no Christmas without a tissue paper crown from a Christmas cracker, but I'm going to don a cute DIY Christmas hair wreath.

You'll need:
- Floral wire
- Green floral tape
- Wire cutters (or some SERIOUSLY heavy duty scissors)
- Fake leaves and berries

How to:
1. Grab 2 pieces of the wire and cut them to the same length and make a circle. The wire I bought was shorter than the size of my head so no cutting was needed. Try it on and make sure it is semi-loose because all the things you attach and the tape take up room.

2. Starting at the part where the wire joins wrap one layer of floral tape around the entire circumference of the wreath.

Wrap floral tape around wire

3. Grab two leaves and cut them each about 1 inch from the stem. Cut a fairly long piece of floral tape and attach each leaf onto the wire in different directions. Then cut a small section of berries and do the same again.

To avoid looking like a Christmas decoration keep the leaves and berries very minimal. If you use too many it will look crowded and silly. I left about 3 - 5 cm space in between each leaf and berry stem attachment.
4. Once you have attached all of the pieces cut more floral tape and wrap any sections that may be loose.

And there you have it. Who said Christmas spirit couldn't be cute and trendy?