Girls' Night Out

Last night my daughter and I left her three young children in the care of their father and grandfather while we headed out for a Girls' Night Out at St Ives Shopping Centre.  There was champagne and nibblies on arrival before we settled into our excellent second row seats to watch the fashion show.

I was muttering low curses that I had left my camera at home, as one of the tiny models in the children's section was an eighteen months old little boy who was carried on by one of the models.  It was obvious that the catwalk was not his choice of location.  The look he gave to the audience when the model put him down to strut his stuff was worth the price of the ticket alone.  I wonder if they have counsellors for baby models?  They have them for most situations, so one can only hope.

We had such fun at interval, doing a little shopping, sampling more champagne and delicious friands before strolling back to our seats for the rest of the parade.  The whole show was choreographed by one of the male models who starred in Dancing With The Stars.

Were we thinking of our men back home gallantly holding the fort?  Not for a nanosecond.



I received a new shipment of fabric during the week and immediately fell in love with this wild design.  It screams Seventies (I have a vague feeling that I actually wore something like this way back then) and I couldn't resist turning it into a jumpsuit.

Pity I didn't think to make it in my size instead of Size 6.  Imagine what fun it would be to have been to have worn it last night and startled the grand-kiddies.

Fashion

At last I have unpacked my fabrics, machines, etc, and my new sewing room is ready for action.  The built-in wardrobe is bulging with fabrics, of the sewing and quilting variety.
































The spools of thread and pretty blue floral cotton fabric were crying out to be used.

With Spring in the air and the promise of Summer to come, this simple little dress was the perfect solution.  It's a size 2 and can be purchased in my MadeIt shop.  Now that the first dress is behind me and with new fabrics arriving any day now, the pace in my sewing room should quicken considerably.  Watch this space.

Spring/Summer fashion is in full flight here in Sydney and with that in mind, I came across this ingenious video of 100 years of fashion created by a clothing store in England.

The frightening part is that I can remember a goodly number of these fashion fads.  Oo-er!

Colours

I've always been fascinated by colour, so while we were away I took photos of the stunning way Europeans have of putting together such intoxicating colour combinations.

Toilet rolls on display at the Louvre ... classy.

Ties in Venice - Mr Fudge grabbed the one in the middle before I had time to stop him!

Food always captured our attention.

Macaroons ... mmmmmm ...

Even this ancient building in the Roman Forum appeared to be decorated with M & Ms.  I know, I know, but it was late in the day and I was becoming really hungry.

Then there's fashion ...

Our son, now in his thirties, has been terrified of clowns ever since he was a little boy.  No, we didn't dress up in clown suits and scare him in the middle of the night (not that we'd admit to it), so we don't know where the phobia came from. 

This should make his weekend.

Finally, the cars of Paris ...

Venice on a wet afternoon ...

... and the Georgian doors of Dublin - superb.

New York 1969

AS MENTIONED in an earlier post, I discovered some long-lost slides taken of New York in September 1969. I was on my way home to Australia to be married after spending a wonderful year in Toronto. I was due to fly out in a week, so my brother and I took a whirlwind tour of New York, Pennsylvania and Washington DC.


I had long mourned the loss of these slides which I thought had been swept up in some over-zealous house cleaning exercise. So you can imagine my delight when last year I discovered them in a dusty old box. (Memo to myself: dust more regularly.) Thank goodness for modern technology. I was able to scan them through my colour printer and I admit to spending endless hours pouring over them, marvelling at the fashion and at the vehicles.




These two display windows were in the Rockefeller Centre. You can tell I was a dressmaker's daughter - I had to take a photo of the latest Singer Sewing Machine for my mother to drool over. Such modern technology!





Time for a quick Breakfast at Tiffany's pose. Ah, good to recall that I was a Magazine Queen even back then. My arm to this day automatically goes into magazine carrying mode.






I don't know if Jack Dempsey's Restaurant still exists. Oh, what a shame. I just Googled it and discovered it closed in 1974. Anyway, my brother Anthony and I had a great meal there one evening. I swear they served up a whole side of beef on the plate, with an Idaho Potato balanced precariously on top. I hate to admit this, but if my memory isn't playing tricks, I seem to recall that we squeezed in some dessert.






It was then a quick sprint to see the Broadway production of the Tony Award winning play of the year, The Great White Hope starring a very young James Earl Jones. I daren't tell my grandson (Darth Junior) that many years later he provided the voice of Darth Vader.

I had forgotten that in the Sixties one dressed to the nines to hit the town.






Mayor John Lindsay was up for re-election ...




... and life was so innocent pre-September 11.





I have returned to New York on more than one occasion with my husband and children and have loved the experience, but there's nothing quite like that first time in New York.