Dazed is the right word

So the latest cover of Dazed & Confused just got released featuring Beyoncé dressed head to well, thigh, in Givenchy, dripping ice-cream down that oh-so expensive sleeve of hers. Yeah, I'm drooling.

Lustin'

Unfortunately for my sanity, a morning ritual for me consists of the following: wake up, make tea, check emails, check blackberry, browse fashion online, lust over fashion online, curse my student salary for not being able to afford the clothes I have formed an unhealthy obsession over. 

After hours and hours of begging, pleading and writing for a plethora of idyllic internships, I am waiting with bated breath until someone decides to pluck me from the pack of hopefuls and offers me my dream job AND a salary that exceeds my dismal pizza-girl-pay at present.

Anyway, enough rambling, I think it's about time I pieced together some of my most coveted items of clothing, all of which are entirely out of my reach. Sigh.

TIBI Pleat-front silk shorts, $200 Net-a-porter

Tailored silk shorts in peppermint? These need to become a permanent fixture on my pins. Perhaps by Spring I can save up and get my paws on these, I can just imagine wearing them now donned with a sheer cream blouse and my suede wedges. 

ZIMMERMANN Conversation Leather Skirt, $525

Reduced from $750, I honestly don't think forking out for this beauty would be too extravagant. Black leather gives that timeless, statement-stamping edge to any outfit, yet this silhouette is so soft and feminine. This would definitely be a piece that would take pride of place in my wardrobe for years and years to come.

LOVER Classical Cape, $627

As I'm planning my overseas adventure to New York, Paris & London at the end of this year, delving deep into the heart of their winter, this would be the perfect investment to help me brave the wind, rain, sleet and snow, (whilst avoiding looking like a sack of potatoes under copious layers). I love that where there might be some sun you can show off this beautiful cashmere wonder simply draped over shoulders and under rainclouds can bury yourself in all of its toasty glory.

Having said that, local designer Alice Nightingale has a to-die-for camel wool cape that I might just snap up soon for my overseas trip. At only $120, I could literally kiss her feet for catering to my impoverished, student needs. 

So, the next couple of months are going to entail a great deal of restriction with regard to nights out on the town, impulsive online purchases and taxi fares, in order for me to claim one of my desired wardrobe fantasies. 

Which would you pick: the tailored silk peppermint shorts or the bold-as-hell leather Zimmerman skirt?

Julia deVille

Combining the currency of style in edgy, modern pieces with the eerie-yet-fascinating macabre of taxidermy, Julia deVille is perhaps one of my favourite Australian jewellery makers.


Born and bred in New Zealand, deVille harbours a lust for afterlife in her collections, taking the bones and feathers of animals; the hair from human heads, to create intricately crafted pieces of jewellery that are breathtaking. 


I revel in anything that draws inspiration from the 15th-19th century and deVille's use of taxidermy to revive pieces of Memento Mori is outstanding. Her work deviates from morbidity into symbols of nature, human existence, Elizabethan and Victorian culture and a fascination with the transition of life into death. 


Only one stockist in Brisbane holds some of Julia deVille's jewellery and I think I'll have to take myself there one day this week, as I think each piece will only be more incredible in the flesh, (no pun intended).

Images: Australian Edge and Au Courant

Note: All animals used by Julia deVille were deceased through natural causes not for the sacrifice of art.

Mockingbird Fair

Okay, so for a teeny-weeny project I was working on over the past couple of days for a very special name, I was asked to write a little something about Mockingbird Fair vintage. Let me tell you, it's not often that you're asked to write about something and dumbstruck with filled thumb-twiddling, word-tweaking and tediousness at mustering the passion to really believe in what you're saying. Let me tell you, I definitely did not feel such agony when writing about Mockingbird Fair. In fact, after spending an unhealthy amount of time drooling over the to-die-for vintage pieces on their online store, I think it's safe to say I am now a believer in love at first site. I have never seen such bangin' vintage clothes with such satisfying price tags. Heck, even a lowly pizza girl dreaming of a fashionable budget can afford these beauties. 


Mockingbird Fair have everything from floral, ladylike print dresses, to sassy tailored shorts that any other high-street chain store would exploit for an extortionate price. Not all of the pieces are vintage, but they are rather exclusive and appear to be made exquisitely. 

None of these pieces even come close to swooping over the $50 mark and for a fashion-hungry-yet-painfully-poor student, I think it's safe to say I've just found a new religion in Mockingbird Fair.


I am studying, studying, studying for Uni finals so I shall be posting less, so wish me luck and send a bit of love my way via a comment! 

Good things come to those who tweet

After a dismal weekend of a sluggish hangover from drinking a $5 bottle of rosé with my gorgeous friends and the drone of work, work work, I awoke Monday morning to something very exciting indeed. 

Everyone who knows me seem to roll their eyes in jest at the frequent manner with which I check my Blackberry. It's routine, it's religious and when I wake up, it's the first thing I do as part of my post-coffee-don't-even-dare-try-and-talk-to-me-yet ritual that is woven into my being. 

Well, you can imagine the squeal and the scarlet blush that flitted across my cheeks when I awoke Monday morning to find a tweet from a lovely lady at Peppermint Magazine in Brisbane...

@silkandmoney hi jessie, we found an old email from you at Peppy today. (Yeah we're working weekends). Like your style - email me! x tess

I gave the creative folk at Peppermint an email right away and I got a reply saying that the love my writing style and are potentially, possibily, hopefully, Oh-God-pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top looking to hire me as an intern!

Imagine that! I feel as though I am jinxing it by writing this post, but even the prospect is just amazing in itself. I am so sure that this is what I want to do with my future - and that's such a wonderful feeling! I hope they hire me, I will forever revel in euphoric bliss that my dreams are coming true so early in my career as a journalist.

If you haven't read Peppermint Magazine, you must. They're an eco-friendly fashion magazine based in Brisbane and if there's anything I love more than creative folk livening up this ghost town of a city, it's recycled fashion. 

After my encounter with the lovely lass at Peppermint, I had a knock at the door and a jolly old postman stood with my box of Topshop goodies in hand. After two weeks of nail-biting anticipation, the beautiful, black leather heels I had been coveting were finally in my hot little hands nestled under a bed of tissue paper. I tried them on and they are a perfect fit. Cinderella, you shall go to the ball!

Here they are, sittin' pretty:

I can't wait to head out on Thursday night to don them with my faux-fur vintage jacket, that I have come to love so dearly during these chilly winter months...

Fingers crossed that all goes well with Peppermint, in the mean time I shall keep my nose buried in textbooks as I study for finals in a few weeks. Wish me luck!

365 Days of Clutter

Moleskine 12 Months Daily Planner

Technology: our friend and our foe. As much as I love the fact that I am able to compact the details of my day-to-day life into my Blackberry, it's completely void of the tactility you experience when putting pen to paper. 

My journal and diary planner have become as much of a staple necessity inside my handbag as my purse, Blackberry, keys and red lipstick. I'm an incredibly disorganised girl by nature, and having a diary planner creates an element of structure to my life whilst still remaining personal. Choosing a diary to accompany me to Uni, work and coffee dates this year saw me agonising over a variety of styles and brands - who knew diaries could be the cause of personal anguish? 

Classic, compact and chic, Moleskine always provide for the simple and androgynous. This is the diary I have opted for to serve me throughout survival during my first year of Uni. I have a creative mind and so when it comes to finding an outlet for organising my chaotic thoughts and so on, I relish simplicity - and that is everything this diary encompasses. $32.95

Swedish stationary company kikki.K always know how to make me yearn after their cutesy designs and delicate materials. This TWOTHOUSANDANDELEVEN paperback diary  is perfect for those who are positively useless at remembering the important stuff. Though you may feel silly pasting in your next dentist appointment with the sheet of stickers provided at the back of the diary, there's a childlike element of creative freedom to this diary, something that makes jotting down points of significance less tedious for those expressional characters out there. $29.95

Ah, Frankie: you truly are a God amongst magazines. Though I haven't actually got my paws onto an actual copy of this beautifully crafted creation, Frankie's Daily Journal 2011 appears both feminine and a little bit eccentric, in true legacy of its sponsor. Frankie is a magazine that makes itself personable to women of all ages, interests and occupations, a quality that can be translated into this nifty daily journal. $24.95

Remember, a diary is something personal, so when you're selecting one to spend every day with you in your handbag or under your pillow for the rest of this year, choose the style that seems most personable.

Grace Louise Photography

Model: Irina Fuehrer

Model: Molly Smith

Model: Molly Smith

Model: Molly Smith

Model: (This is me, I am not a model; I am just a perpetually awkward girl!)

There is a disheartening sense of falsehood when it comes to our generation opting for career paths that yield the wonderment of creativity. There are too many young people who yearn for talent and success as photographers and graphic designers alike, yet lack the essential ingredient: passion. Grace Louise Photography is an individual initiative of my good friend and creative spirit, Grace Newnham, who has driven herself from humble beginnings to emerge as a young photographer with raw talent to succeed and an unfaltering sense of passion for her work. 

Drawing inspiration from a vast array of sources, Grace is able to capture the delicateness of lace and frills, whilst conjuring an element of edge through pillows of cigarette smoke and sharp contrasts of colour; her portfolio is an impressive display of eclecticism. 

As a young artist, Grace's prime motivation is to constantly learn, develop and grow as a photographer, an attribute that is really quite admirable. Indeed, it seems as though those that succeed in the creative industry are those that are able to meticulously strive for improvement, adapt to the inevitably of diversity within culture and essentially place their mind outside the realm of conventionality. If this is the case, Grace Louise Photography is definitely a forerunner for success within the Australian cultural sphere.

Click-through links to Grace Louise's Flickr are available via the images above and her work is also displayed for purchase on her website here.