//PART TWO, BLUE DRAGON

Some more photos from the Grandma dress series. Looking back on the photos, I can't beleieve these were done in a low light setting in Eva's garage, with her dad's motorbike on the side and Costco pasta and other assortments of things in the back ground.  

She was such an amazing model, and is such a great friend for letting us borrow her beautiful dresses and beautiful self.

Melbourne weather is warming up, slightly (emphasis on the slightly!), and I can't wait to have an opportunity to go out more and take some more shots of the city, museums, gardens, spring flowers. I am greatly aniticipating picnics, outings and outdoor photoshoots in the coming warmer weather. 

But until then, I'm going to try convince Vess to upload some photos from her trip in PRATO, ITALY! She has so many amazing photos ( I think in Europe, if you take a photo of aannytthhiingg, it will turn out beautiful, regardless) of the cities, the people, the design spaces. And even if she doesn't manage to upload, I'll rumage through her files to share some with you guys! 

 This one below would have to be my favourit photo from the series. 

Hope you enjoyed them!

Leave a comment or follow us with your Google account <3

-keep stylish-

v&v

//BIT of BROWN and RED

I'm not sure if this is terrible or encouraging, but it seems that when I have assignments due, I tend to procrastinate quite a bit, and tend to blog alot more. (Good or Bad?)

It's been really great weather recently, and seeing the sun and the potential neon colours popping up everywhere. I went to Chadstone today, and neon was EVERYWHERE! I better get me some neon-ness soon, or I may miss out. 

The key piece I want to highlight in this post would probably have to be, the jacket, which Vess bought at a Salvo store in Camberwell. Usually we tend to stray away from Salvo stores, cause they can be a bit over priced at times as compared to other, smaller op shops. But this time, when we went to the one in Camberwell, we were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of clothes, especially winter jackets and coats. 

Surprisingly we were able to find, sooo many nice coats, like the one featured in this post ($10!), a portmans coat and a MARC jacobs coat as well. Which we all bought for reasonably cheap prices if you compare it to buying any jacket new ($100+!)

Our wonderful cousin has been helping me fix up our blog slightly, so you hopefully will be seeing some improvements, concerning layout, colour and basic organization. (Cause, I think she's quite a PRO at blogger!)

Again thankyou to our new followers! Seriously, each new follower, I get extra motivated to keep our blog moving along. Thanks for the encouragement guys! 

Makes everything worth it. 

-keep stylish-

v&v

//Mali at VIC

Some very wonderful and exciting news! 

Mali, our 'Pink elephant' has been placed into it's (I like to conisder it) rightful home, the Queen Victoria market where it will reside till the end of September, after which all the elephants will be brought back to the zoo, to be auctioned off to raise funds for zoo conservation. 

Mali in the city, is a melbourne zoo and melbourne city initiative, supported by sponsors and friend's of the Melbourne zoo, which involved the painting of 50 elephants by 50 differnet artists. Each fibre glass elephant is the same size as Baby Mali, the first elephant to be born in captivity in the Melbourne zoo, amd will be placed around the city in key locations in order to celebrate the zoo's 150th birthday!

Vess and I were lucky enough and so blessed to have been chosen by Queen Vic Market as the design for their elephant! It was a real joy and pleasure painting it, and even greater joy seeing so many visitors admire and appreciate it! 

As you can see below! 

It was so great to see so many Melbournians/people, admire and interact with the elephant, to see something unusual, or unique in the typical landscape, seemed to brighten up people's day. 

Thinking back on it now, it's such a strange concept that there are probably hundredsd of people out there with pictures of our pink elephant on their phones, cameras, holiday albums, etc. ( And I wouldn't even know it!)

Check out below, even Vess' "the artist" took some family shots for people. 

Wow. 

There's so much I want to share, but I think you guys appreciate photos more, 

so more photos coming soon!

-keep inspired-

v&v

//GRANDMA DRESSES

Vess had a uni project last semester which required the need to do a fashion photo shoot for a self designed magazine. Our amazing friend Eva allowed us to shoot some photos of her in these beautiful dresses of hers, which we like to call her 'grandma dresses'. 

Due simply to the fact that they are all passed down to her wonderful Grandma who resides in Kuching Malaysia. 

Each dress and each piece were so beautiful, handmade by tailors and self designed by her grandma. There was something so unique and special about each dress, and each peice was so timeless. I personally just love how enduring these dresses were. how the quality of the dress could reach across generations, allowing it to be reworn and appreciated despite the years that passed.

We shot three to four dresses which will feature in the next three to four posts, all done in her garage with the use of the fleeting natural lighting seeping through the garage door.  

I contemplated editing some of these photos, but Vess said they were better without them.

So here are the unedited, pure, raw photos, in their simplicity. 

Enjoy!

Also wanted to do a quick shout out to our amazing new followers. You guys are amazing. Thankyou for following and looking, its so encouraging and makes me feel like the hours used up on photoshop are all worth it.

-keep inspired-

v&v

//USE THE FORCE

Little things that make my day is when the geeky, nerdy aspects of the sci-fi world intergrates with my own. We were travelling along in Melbourne cenral one afternoon and I my eye picked up this interesting creature. 

At first I thought it may have been a monkey backpack, but it was the infamous Yoda, seemingly strapped to the back of this young man.

Sadly, the best pictures I could get were these ones as I franticlly tried to take some shots as Yoda travelled down the escalator. 

Some people think the Bag pack is a bit weird.. (I haven't even stopped to ponder where and how the bag would unzip. would the opening be his mouth or head?) But I personally find it quite amusing and quirky.

I want one. 

Also, thanks so much for all the encouragement, especially with Mali guys! Who is delightfully enjoying her new home in the queen vic market.

As always, more photos coming soon of Mal in the City! 

Yeah, my dear friend Stefan showed me this image, I can't ge enough of it. 

It's just too funny! 

Enjoy 

and may the force be with you!

-keep smiling-

v&v

//MALI in the CITY

 Hello lovely friends. I've had so many people come up and ask me about Mali and the whole process and what it's about. Which is GREAT and really really exciting. Basically, the zoo is turning 150 years old and to celebrate, the zoo in colaboration with 50 artists have installed 50 life sized (baby sized) elephants around the city in specific places as an act of public art and to ad some colour and awareness in the city. 

These elephants will be on display until the end of the month, where they will then be auctioned off, in order to raise funds for the zoo and it's conservation work. 

As our elephant is sponsored by the Queen Victoria Market, our 'Pink Elephant' is residing at the front of the food court in the Market. We're hoping as a family to visit Mali on Sunday, to take some pictures and to see her interacting with fellow Melbournians. 

Within all the hype of painted elephants appearing around the city, thought it would be nice to provide you guys with some more 'behind the scenes' shots. Of our dear friends, Emily, Thu, Emerald and Meiling helping out to make Vess' design into a reality. 

I sort of feel a bit like Andy Warhol's factory workers. 

Making a genuis' dream into reality.

More pictures (depending on my internet) will be up soon of other elephants and the Mali in the City launch night which was held at the zoo. 

Hope you guys enjoyed the pics!

-keep inspired-

v&v

//LADY IN RED

Hello dear friends!

Well, my lovely sister in Red, has come back from her amazing trip in Italy, slightly more tan, very much inspired and with a ton of vintage dresses! 

The first night she came back she spent nearly 2 hours talking through each piece, detailing the story behind each one. She went through; which market she bought it at, which lovely Italian individual sold it to her and how much she bought it for ("these dresses were 5 Euro!"). What I loved most about each of the vintage pieces she brought back, was their quality, their textures and their durability. 

This beautiful red dress was bought from a vintage shop which she happened to stumble across with a friend. The colour is so rich with warmth and the cutting, especially around the sleeves and bodice, is simply beautiful. 

Can't wait to show you more of the lovely vintage finds from; Paris, Italy, etc. and some of her beautiful photos. (Seriously, I think if you take a picture ANYWHERE in Italy, you'll have an instant stockphoto). Still thinking of the best way of presenting th dresses (possible photo shoot?) but will keep you guys updated!

Thanks again for following and supporting big picture stuff! 

Your encouragement is amazing!

P.S, I didn't manage to think or come up with a response to the Streets advertising. :( Maybe I still have time...we'll see! 

Melbourne weather, is a bit drab and rainy at the moment, so, stay warm, dry and waterproof your shoes (speaking from experience, wet socks, not the best)!

-keep stylish-

v&v