BAKE OFF OF THE WEEK

go pies!Ok so it is now officially winter here in Melbourne. And boy does it feel like it. I'm typing this at 7am in the dark in my very unflattering dressing gown drinking a bucket of coffee and worrying that the intern is going to be warm enough as she braves the two trams to school. At least in her brown bag today she's taking one of my home made meat pies for lunch! Yumbo in my tumbo!

Summer accessories: bracelets

Here are my favourite picks from style.com. Four different styles for every taste and occasion. Marni bracelet, with flowers and leather straps is by far my favourite one. It's probably one of the dream items I'd love to own. Shame it costs a little fortune. I also really like some high-street alternatives, particularly, the flower bracelet from Urban Outfitters, gold baubles from French connection and several bracelets from promod (great for jewellery, by the way).

Versailles

Bottega Veneta. Roberto Cavalli. Vera Wang. Lanvin.

Arts & crafts

Phillip Lim. Burberry Prorsum. Louis Vuitton. Marni.

Colours

Alberta Ferretti. Pucci. Pucci. Anna Sui.

Midas party

Roberto Cavalli. Dries Van Noten. Lanvin. Versace.

High street finds

New Look, £8.00. Urban Outfitters, £24.00. Promod, £8.50. French Connection, £18.00

Accessorize, £12.00. Red Herring at Debenhams, £10.00. Dorothy Perkins, £12.00. Mikey at koodos.com, £15.00

Fashion embryos

Last night I suddenly thought that I've been admiring fashion collections and designers for as long as I could remember and yet, I've never wondered about how they've created those clothes, what was in the very beginning, on a piece of paper. Yes, I am talking about drawings, the embryos of every collection, the very beginning, when dreams, thoughts, ideas and imaginary tales become real. I realised that since every designer is a unique talent, then this should also be applied to their drawings. It didn't take me long to find a few (they say, you don't have to have or know everything, you just need to know places where you can get it) and they were amazing. Each could easily be a masterpiece itself, framed and kept for eternity. So here is my art gallery of magical fashion embryos.

Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel

Balenciaga. Yves Saint Laurent. Gianni Versace

Gianfranco Ferré. Monique Lhuillier. Rodarte. Nicolas Ghesquière.

Tracy Reese. Peter Som. Marc Jacobs. Max Azria. Carolina Herrera.

Rebecca Taylor. Giambattista Valli. Elie Saab.

Oscar de la Renta. Christian Lacroix. Kimora Lee Simmons. Donatella Versace.

Donatella Versace

Sources: www.thefashionspot.com, www.wwd.com

Bottega Veneta Resort 2010

I absolutely adore Bottega Veneta resort collection. So chic, so beautiful and elegant. I really enjoyed browsing all the 46 photos of stunning perfectly crafted and styled looks. I won't be posting all of them, of course as you could see them here - only my favourite picks. Some looks are typical for BV, very Italian, elegant, relaxed, in warm chocolates, classic black and grey, and surprisingly others come in colours of precious stones, just like jewels, unexpected, but gorgeous. I also love scarves and wide trousers and those particular looks remind me of Chloe for some reason. Hair and make up are also very beautiful and so feminine and sensual.

My favourite fashion ads

I must admit, I can be strangely addicted to fashion advertisements and have always had favourite ones. Some are associated with certain moments of my life, some bring nostalgic emotions, some feature some of my favourite models and others are simply beautiful. Take Paloma Picasso or Lancome ad featuring Isabella, for example. These are one of the very first ads I remember. They'd always be in Burda moden magazine - the only proper fashion magazine we could buy in Russia in the late 80's early 90's before we were introduced to ELLE, Cosmo, Vogue and a few other glossies. The world of beautiful fashion pictures looked like a window to another diminution, another life that was brighter, different and classy. Nowadays it's just another form of art to me. I don't really know what it takes to create a fashion ad or what it is supposed to do to us - make us crave the object or want to look like a model on a photograph. And frankly, I don't really care as long as the resulting image makes me feel...

SPORT OF THE WEEK

game on!
As part of the truck driving historians recent birthday haul, The Intern introduced us to the super cool Finnish stylings of Klop! Simple really - 12 pegs, chuck a klop at them - score what you hit, first to 50 wins but if you go over 50 you go back to 25.

We aren't the most athletic family as you can see. There was much discussion as to technique and strategy. Let me tell you peeps it is much harder than it looks. We very quickly scrapped the rule that if you miss the pegs three times then you're out.

The Intern played a hard and fast game, taking risks and ending up back at 25 to claw her way back for victory. A super fun hour in the park. Highly recommended. And hey they are made here in Melbourne so when you order it comes in a nice box in a day or so! Thom was an excellent referee - declaring we were all winners simply because we could walk and talk - humans are so impressive.

http://www.klop.com.au/

SHOWS OF THE WEEK

bingo bongo

Hey all you hep cats out there, this ones for you. Artist, bossa nova chick and jazz crooner Stacey Broughton's new exhibition of mosaic seed art hits all the right retro notes, not only utilising 1950's beat inspired graphics but constructing them out of a medium we haven't seen used since, like the 50's. In a special 'one night only' performance you can catch up with Stacey and her seed stuff at the fabulous Tiki Robot residence. After that viewings will be by appointment only. Just remember to wear your turtleneck.

Stacey Broughton BEANS GO BEAT
Friday, May 29th at 6:00pm
@ Tiki Robot
357 Swan Street Richmond

appointments via phone on: 0438 782239.

SHE MADE IT HERSELF

birthday scarf
I got it made just in time. Just as well the truck driving historian had a night shift! It's not so easy sewing in ends at midnight but with my glamorous assistant at hand I completed this variegated stripe scarf in Jo Sharp Silk Road Ultra (the most delicious 12 ply - natural fibres people!) and still had time to ice the chocolate cake. Bill Granger called it the no fail birthday cake - how wrong he was.

Get 20% off at Kurt Geiger on-line

If you like KG shoes, then you can use this on-line discount. Simply choose your favourite shoes and enter KGGREY09 at the checkout. The offer expired on 06 June 2009 and available on full price items only. You won't find this code in magazines or by visiting the website as it was sent to existing on-line customers only, but I thought it's nice to share and some of you may get a lovely treat for less.

Visit http://www.kurtgeiger.com/

DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY

paper tiger...

Max turns 9 months today, which of course means he's been as long on the outside as he was on the inside... quite an achievement. Now if only we love you so had posted this DIY cardboard version before we made our own real live boy i'm sure we all would have got soooo much more sleep. Only joking peeps, we wouldn't have him any other way... happy birthday little man.

CRAFT FIND OF THE WEEK

that's all folk...
Many of you will be familiar with the inspired faux food of Melbourne jeweller Lucy Folk. Some of you might have even attended her last solo show at Pieces of Eight Gallery Nibbles, in which she transformed diet killers from hot-dogs to burger rings into guilt-free edible mementos for those wanting the ultimate in lean cuisine. More recently she has turned her attention to a meal time favourite and subject of Ramona's favourite New York Times cartoon)...Pasta! Following in the footsteps of her father Folk has usied traditional shaping techniques in wax rather than dough to fashion the pasta, then cast them in silver and 18ct gold, the results... delicious. We think the Fafalle rings are tops, but given his heritage, it's impossible to go past the rigatoni cufflinks as the ultimate accessory for the in-house architect. Pasta is on show at Pieces of Eight until the 23rd of May. Get it while it's hot.

HOW BAZAAR

come in spinner
Feel like kickin' it old school this weekend? Then head on out to the handspinners and weavers guild Textile Bazaar this Saturday. The bazaar is being held at the Guild rooms, which is at 12-20 Shakespeare Street North Carlton for those who've never been there before. The sale runs from 10am to 3pm and will include loads of Guild Members handwork, as well as pre-loved books & equipment, yarns, and more. The Gallery & Craft Outlet will also open for business on the day and they've assured us that "plenty of bargains and gift ideas" will be on sale. Entry is free.

Bottega Veneta - disappearance act

So, yes, we went and saw the Angels & Demons today. Good movie and really is worth watching, especially if you like Dan Browns book, Italy, Tom Hanks or.... BOTTEGA VENETA. Yes, your eyes got it right. This movie is not just about Illuminati, religion and beautiful streets of Rome. It's also about the wardrobe. And I am not talking Tom Hanks - nooooo, too boring for me. I am talking Vittoria Vetra's ones. Particularly, her "pet". I almost jumped when I saw her beautiful black BV (I am guessing here, but I think it was BV Roma bag). And only God knows (and now I told everyone here, so I guess, you know, too) how much I love BV bags. It's my secret obsession and a dream to have one of them. So as the movie continued, she was running around with her bag (and I was getting green with envy) and then the bag disappeared!!! How a woman could lose, forget or leave her bag and carry on without??? Even the queen has a bag almost 24/7 and she does not even leave her house! (and her bags aren't as exciting and yummy as Bottega anyway). This is the only part of the movie I couldn't agree with and would love to know what happened to that bag...

Happy Birthday to me :)

Well, I am 32 now (but don't feel any different, to be honest). Had a lovely lazy morning and am now getting ready to go and watch Angels and Demons. I've also got a nice cardigan and a beautiful belt as my birthday presents and will be posting a few looks tomorrow. xxx

SHOW

burning up
The ladies of hml are always telling you to get out there amongst the objects. 9 times out of 10 we don't get our act together to see the shows we tell you about! But yesterday The Worlds Smallest Philosopher, The Historian and I (Ramona) thought we'd meet pals in St Kilda for coffee via Moonee Ponds incinerator arts complex...
We'd never heard of it but picked up an intriguing flyer at the market the day before. The incinerator itself was designed by Walter and Marion Burley Griffin. Now I'm a big fan of Marion and consider her an unsung architecture heroine - anyone who has seen the amazing roof at the Capitol Theatre here in Melbourne can attest to that. They were having a sculpture show there and you know how when you trot off to these places the work can often be a bit, well you know, mediocre? Well we were really impressed with some of the stuff. This drawing machine by Nick Ilton had Thom captivated

The highlight for me was this curved monumental structure by Annamaria Plescia made of thousands of egg cartons. It was architectural and organic at the same time. The show runs til this Sunday. It's an interesting space. It doesn't have the glamour of Linden or the cool factor of Abbotsford Convent but it has good bones and I'm glad it's there. Oh, and it nowhere near St Kilda...

Incinerator Arts Complex 180 Holmes Rd Moonee Ponds