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.

 

 

 

EMMA MULHOLLAND

Sometimes when The Bearded Lady takes time out for lifes simpler pleasures like drinking tea or, more importantly, clothes shopping I'll come across something that I fall in love with and want so badly that I almost just ditch my savings and buy it. Then the angel on my shoulder kicks in and says 'where will you actually wear that?' I find that I often act on lust over love with clothing, especially with things that are 'now' and not 'forever'.


This happened recently when I was at my friends store +Estate of Mind. I've been modelling the stores clothes for the online website for some months now and a few shoots ago I was modelling clothes by Emma Mulholland. As soon as I saw the name of the designer I remembered it instantly, as I was sure I'd seen her name mentioned at Fashion Week in Sydney a few months back.

At first glance, Mulholland's pieces are loud and in-your-face and scream that question 'where on earth would you wear this?'. They seem like an array of colours, rags and ideas shoved into one piece without any real thought. It was not until I was actually wearing the pieces that I could closely inspect them and I realised that they were not only wearable but that they were also pretty flattering. Upon researching the designer a little further I discovered that she is not much older than myself and also attended the Sydney Institute of Technology, which I attended a few years back and has also produced amazing Aussie talents like Akira and, more recently, Dion Lee. 

The loud, wild and attractive designs of Mulholland could be compared to the likes of Romance was Born and I find the pieces incredibly inspiring and unique. The more I look at them the more I grow to love them. What is seen at first glance as loud, eccentric and reminiscent of bad 1980s fashion is actually wearable and flattering fashion with attitude inspired by beach and tribal culture and reveals a much more feminine quality beneath the surface. Watch out for this young talented Aussie designer.