Laughter may be the best medicine but it has also proven to be the perfect accessory!

Just got home from a sneak preview of Wellington's beloved World of Wearable Art Show.

I can now add guinea pig to my resume. ‘Human guinea pig’ or perhaps ‘official beauty product tester’. Over the last three days I have been sampling a real life, brand new, never been seen before beauty product.

Every rose does have its thorn. I have about 22 rose bushes in my garden. Each year they supply me with hundreds of glorious blooms. But when I do the math I realise that this must rapidly multiply into thousands thorns for me to dodge in my garden. A scary thought.

When I am booked by a magazine to style people appearing in an article, I often don’t know who it is until a few days before. It can be anyone from everyday kiwis, to famous musicians, comedians, TV personalities, authors, celebrities, actors, or politicians, sometimes local or nationally famous and occasionally the odd lnternational megastar just to mix it up a bit. You just never know who might be the subject of the article.

Today was the first day of the second ever New Zealand Chocolate Festival in Wellington. The Chocolate Festival is such a winner of an idea that I can't quite believe that nobody thought of it before! We have fashion, wine, art, jewellery, music, farming, beer, and harvest festivals, so this was long overdue. Plus it is quite possible that out of that list, the Chocolate Festival could become my firm favourite.

Today my favourite musician, singer, songwriter and all round freaking musical genius Prince Rogers Nelson turns 54.

In a few short hours I jump on a plane along with a few good friends to make the Purple Pilgrimage. We are jetting off to Brisbane to see His Royal Purpleness: Prince

It was every commitment phobics worst nightmare: 19 brides in one room.  Hairspray, bobby pins, lip-gloss, bronzer and rescue remedy were their weapons of choice.

From a composer who has worked with Dior to a choreographer who is currently the face of an Yves Saint Laurent men’s cologne it is impossible to attend Royal New Zealand Ballets triple bill NYC and ignore the fashion.

I took my chances queuing for ‘Tix for twenty’ in the last week of the NZ Festival.  After an hour of queuing and freezing my a$$ off lady-luck proved not to be on my side that day. Bitch. However by the time I threw in the towel and admitted defeat I had caught a bad case of Festival Fever.

For some unknown 'to my conscious mind' reason  I often find myself baking at night. Tonight is one of those nights.
I am baking (if you can call it that) CHOCOLATE CRACK.

The pulse quickens, you begin to sweat, you lose the power of coherent speech and the softest touch sends shivers up your spine. It sounds like an illness, but don’t call the Doctor just yet, you might just be in love.

Everywhere I look around my friends are getting married. I don’t know whether to blame it on ‘the whispers of the trees or the thunder of the seas’ but I have been the happy recipient of many wedding invitations for summer.

Fairy-tales are normally set in a kingdom far far away yet touring around New Zealand right now we have a beast of a fairy-tale resplendent with a castle, a Princess, a Prince, fairies and a magic spell that needs to be broken. The Sleeping Beauty is quite unlike any fairy story stage adaptation that I have ever seen. Judging by the ‘ohhhs” and “ahhhhs’ coming from the audience on opening night, the public agree.

Happy first day of Spring dear readers. Time to stop and smell the daphne, jasmine, jonquils and freesias because all eyes might be focused on sports fields while the Rugby World Cup is in play, however this season fashion is derived from another kind of field, a field where all black doesn’t stand a chance.

Directly inspired by Mother Nature herself, fun flirty florals are filling the stores for spring/summer 2011/12 and what better way to herald the changing of the seasons than with a profusion of colourful blossoms cascading from your wardrobe?

I feel the need to get something off my chest. (sigh) Here goes…. I have been known sometimes in the past, very occasionally, to feel and to exhibit extreme signs of road rage. From time to time I have felt the need to curse, to gesticulate, to honk my horn and to generally to act in a way that I am not very proud of when my mind becomes once again sane and rational (when I am off the road).

Have you ever had one of those days where everything just goes right? Everything falls into place, doors open, inspired ideas and thoughts flow, timing is spot on, you feel like you are firing on all cylinders and you just know that everything’s right with the world, after a while you get the feeling that there really is goodness and goodwill for everything and everyone. I just had one of those days, and here is the recipe:

Last night I was one of the lucky who got to see the WOW before the masses descend on the show. We were treated to the full dress rehearsal and it was a delicious indulgence from the appetiser, through the main course, right through to the dessert. (In fact I’d have liked a double helping of that pav!) YUM!





(I’m not planning on putting any major spoilers in this post so read on with confidence.)

Tonight’s pre-loved meets high fashion show Foxy at the Roxy, put the spotlight on timeless gems that had been sourced from the treasure troves of our regions 5 Mary Potter Stores. The vintage goodies were shown alongside Mandatory & Starfish and the iconic Wellington label Ashley Fogel. The Roxy had a capacity crowd who were so enthusiastic that they literally bought the dress off my back.

Sorry folks for the absence and delay in posts – I have been rather over run with deserving charity gigs lately and have been using my ‘me’ time for ‘cause’ time.

Each season for the past three or so years I have teamed up with Westfield Queensgate (or as I fondly refer to them ‘my local’) to present the latest looks of the season. We have covered everything from boho to sport luxe.

It was dreamy eyed excitement that got me out of bed early this morning (Mothers Day) to meet my Mum at my local Farmers, for the two of us to see the replica of the Royal wedding dress.

Someone once told me that being a mother is akin to having your heart run around outside of your body.

Driving home tonight this awesome rock anthem from the glam rock band Europe was on the radio. I don’t know that 'The Final Countdown' would be on Catherine and Williams’s playlist tonight but I thought it was the perfect tune to listen to in the lead up to tomorrow’s big event.

It was such a gorgeous afternoon today that my boss gave me the afternoon off. That my boss is me doesn’t make a free afternoon any less special.

Last night I was a contender in my first ‘style-off’. Much like a’ walk off’ a style off is a fashion term for when two people try to out style each other.

I have moved through feeling helpless and hopeless about the Christchurch earthquake, today I feel excited and motivated because I have had an idea of how I can help, it has come to fruition thanks to the generous support of many many people and I hope to see you there.

Move over Baby....I have just had the time of my life. I have been working deep in the bowels of the Opera House as a dresser of Drag Queens.  Hold up - What do you call a group of Drag Queens? A gaggle? A herd? A flock? A gleam would be appropriate (with all the sequins..). well, I was backstage with my flock of Drag Queens, preening, ohhing ahhing and not only was I witness to their mystical metamorphosis but I ended up being a mine of information, tips and tricks for them.

I got the brief for a big commercial shoot. The keywords were elegant, glamorous and timeless. “No problem” I thought. The items to shoot were stunning, the setting was a beautiful house high up on a hill. “Gorgeous” I thought. The female model was someone I knew “Beautiful” I exclaimed. I knew the photographer “So talented” and the make-up artist “Award winning”. I began to think “This is going to be absolutely brilliant”. Then I heard something that unnerved me.

Fa la la la la – la la la la. In the eighteenth century when these lyrics were written 'gay' meant bright and showy. I like to keep this in mind when deciding what to wear on Christmas day. Of course because I live in Wellington, home of the southerly, the northerly and any wind that blows, the weather is always a major factor when deciding. But more than that, I want to have fun, and make myself and others smile.

It is the first of December and all through the house, on the radio and in shopping centres North and South, we hear the sound of Christmas Carols belting out. For the last month “The Best Christmas Album in the World EVER!” has been advertised to death on television. I think this double CD compilation is a fantastic idea. This Christmas, right at your fingertips, you could have all of your favourite Christmas carols and songs to play as much and as loud you wish. If only real life was as easy.

After reading the quote at the beginning of the Project Born programme from Neonatal Trust NZ CEO Michael Meads “The older you get the more life accelerates”, I am that little bit more grateful to be alive and to have my life accelerate especially last night because I was present at the inaugural Project Born event. An event not to be missed. I think that everyone who attend last night will enjoy being able to say “I was there at the very first one.”

 

Travel and style are more often than not sworn enemies so the thought of five weeks living out of a suitcase was enough to strike fear into this fashionista's heart. Multiply it by one hundred million-gazillion-fold when a country I am visiting on this whirlwind globe-trot is one of the most fashionable destinations on the planet: Italy.

I get asked often at this time of year if I am cold. Not because I am shivering or turning blue. Mostly because I am wearing sheer or light fabrics and short sleeves on days where others are head to toe covered, and rightly so, because it is freezing. No I am not cold and it is time to share with you why I am not. It is all thanks to my BFF: Merino.

Let’s escape winter and the recession for a moment shall we? All this talk of doom and gloom combined with feeling the sting of the winter cold snap gives us the perfect reason for distracting ourselves for just a moment with a little bit of glamour.

 

Enter the shoe. Behold its beauty and its grace, for the humble shoe has mystical powers.