"You think you know fashion, well fashion's a stranger"

If you haven't already seen "Fashion is Danger" from Flight of the Conchords, you must watch it right now!

Playing around with some new op-shop finds. The poncho as overskirt thing was a complete accident. I was changing my top, (the lazy way without taking off the poncho) and it just fell down to my hips. I think it looks much cooler like this. 

I am also in need of an opinion about this dress I rediscovered the other day. I bought it a couple of years ago and started hacking into it...before getting distracted it would seem. Although it wasn't intentional at the time, I kinda like the idea of having just the one sleeve. I still need to finish the hacked one though. 

Should I make it into a little cap sleeve with the pleated shoulder stiffener showing?

Or make it completely sleeveless? One sleeve or zero sleeve? 

So many decisions!

I made the hallway my own little runway, hence the "I'm walking towards you and this is my serious face" shots.

Love Kaylene xo

Unanderra...a land of hidden treasures.

Here are a few more of our finds from our brief op shop escapade last weekend.

How come there's only one photo of you Centine? I'm sure I took more...maybe they were all bum bag photos.
I like this poncho thing...maybe cause it's primarily made of Ramie. It's always nice to wear some natural fibres. Too much polyester can make one feel constricted. The overnight bag is pretty handy too.

I get the feeling I'm going to be wearing this draped cardigan a lot this winter.

Cute polka dot double breasted vest. 

This T-shirt cracks me up! I don't think Centine approved of this one, but I had to have it. It's got little coin/medallion things sewn onto it, featuring the Eiffel Tower, Balboa coins and "patrona bavariae" coins, which apparently means "mother of Bavarians". Well there you go!

Sorry about the boobs close up...

Love Kaylene!

Fanny pack. Noun - A small pouch on a belt, for money and small articles, worn around the waist or hips.

Ever since seeing this amazing ruffled bum bag on Susie Bubble's blog last year, I've been desperately wishing to stumble on something equally as fun and practical myself. 

It must be almost six months now that I have been searching for the perfect bum bag. My criteria for this is basically something that:

 a) doesn't make me look like a drug dealer, and

 b) is most definitely inappropriate for wearing with tracksuit pants or bike riding.

So, you can imagine my jealousy whilst op-shopping on the weekend when Centine stumbled across her very own bum bag. Knowing Centine she'd probably prefer I refer to her new acquisition as a fanny pack. That's just how she rolls. 

Centine's fanny pack is more like a utility belt. It even has pen holders!

The op shop gods must have been steering us towards bum-bag nirvana, because upon entering the very next op shop, I found this leather studded beauty! I shrieked with excitement. The old ladies running St vinnies seemed very pleased to have such a content shopper in their store, and then tried to cash in on my vulnerable excitement by trying to sell me a Ken Done scarf. No luck ladies! The bum bag is all i'll ever need!

It was fate.

Bum bags all round = Happy Centine and Kaylene.

Love Kaylene xo

Appreciation from afar.

Centine and I are very similar on many levels. We often find ourselves unknowingly lusting after the same clothing. We have very similar humour, and both appreciate soy chai lattes and op shopping. When it comes to matters of beach appreciation, I'm afraid we could not be more opposite. The closest i've come to a beach all summer is sitting here in my sunroom (at night=no sun) reading Centine's wollongong beach appreciation post. I too am a (ex) Wollongong-ian girl, alas, my white/near transparent skin is highly allergic to all things beach/sun related. I fully intend to follow gloomy weather around the world once I have the funds...and don't be concerned, I'll take vitamin D to compensate for lack of natural sunlight.

In my eternal quest for zero sunshine (and when I acquire aforementioned funds), I will hide my skin under the amazing designs of Hiroko Koshino.

SS 2009

And the following are from her most recent AW 09-10 collection:

This makes me want to wear more crushed velvet!

The traditional Japanese influence seems like a bit of an obvious one...but hey...I'm all for embracing heritage when the results turn out this good. 

-Love Kaylene

Come on...VOGUE!!!

There are so many AMAZING vogue covers from the 20s and 30s. I could post hundreds of them, had i the time or inclination.

December 1916

December 1917

January 1925

January 1926

May 1929

July 1929

(all images from http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/vogue)

Love Kaylene

A Kenzo Winter!

I finally got a chance yesterday to have a proper look at the Kenzo A/W 2009 collection, and I have come to the conclusion, "this is how I must dress this winter...even if I have to make shoddy first year design student quality knock-offs". And yes, the quote marks are necessary as i did indeed proclaim such a statement out loud the first time I looked through the collection.

You've got no just how much I want these platform lace-up ankle boots.

And this is definately the way to go when venturing into the sleeveles fur-trimmed vest genre. I think this may be the perfect garment to try and recreate for myself. Just got to find a place to buy rabbit fur. And no Centine, I am most definitely not cutting up my new rabbit fur jacket!

Inspirational panelling!

Love the shape and the print.

Ridiculously large frogging detail gets two thumbs up from me.

I think this is a look I need to adapt for everyday wear....although I really need to get those shoes....

The contrasting textures are perfect!

Antonia Marras, you're a good man.

Love from Kaylene xo

The remaining 2/3rds.

As promised, here are the remaining 2 of the "3 items for $20" sale I found on my way to cocktails.


I was so excited to find an Akira skirt in the second hand store for approx $6 and 67cents. Absolute bargain!


I love the way the tiny knife pleats fan out!


I also found this silk skirt (which happens to be in an almost identical material to a top i own...however i think it would be very unwise to wear them together).

I also felt the need to include this picture to show how ridiculously long the sleeves in my jumper are. This is my lounging jumper. I live in it when in the confines of my apartment. It's kinda like a big mustard cable-knit security blanket. Everyone should have one.

Love Kaylene xo

A night of shiny structured 80s jackets.

I headed out a few hours ago for a few casual cocktails wearing this shining exemplar of an 80's silhouette:

(please note that these were not actually taken before leaving the house, but just 2 minutes ago...hence the slightly frazzled/tipsy expressions). I found this little number in a junk store in melbourne. The thing I love most about this top is the back side. What a great shape! 

I digress...

On the way from the Station to the Sly Fox (cheapest cocktails in Sydney) I stumbled across one of my favourite second shops...open at night...and with everything ON SALE!!! 3 garments for $20!!! And so I came home looking like this:

Tadaa!

This tuxedo jacket feels like it was tailor made for me, and it's also really good quality. All these factors however play second fiddle to my main motivation for purchasing this jacket -  it makes me feel just a little bit more like Bryan Ferry.

-Love Kaylene.

P.S. - Stay tuned for the remaining 2/3rds of my second hand bargains!!!

I like "borrowing" t-shirts.

I've learnt some very useful things about self-photo taking since starting this blog. The first is that you should move the camera to capture yourself, and not move yourself to fit in with the camera. Otherwise such silliness occurs:

Also...I think it'd help if I had just one plain wall in my unit, for a fresh Jane from seaofshoes.com look. (She's my blog hero). Alas, in my crowded apartment it is near impossible. 
I love this Madonna T-shirt. It's from her 1993 Australia "Girly Show" tour. I borrowed it from my fiance Lax, who has one of the most extensive T-shirt collections of anyone I know. Thanks love :)

Madonna shirt worn with vintage sequined vest, op-shop belt, cocoon skirt from ebay and Ann Demeulemeester boots.  

Love Kaylene xo

Music Revisited - The Raincoats

Lately I've been revisiting a lot of my favourite bands and albums from when I was in my teens. Today has been all about The Raincoats - one of the first all female post punk bands. 

Their sound was distinctly minimalist, punctuated by punchy and John Cale-esque violin playing.

It was not uncommon for their songs to spiral out of control and descend into chaos, only to be directly followed by the most serene and moving of instrumental sections that could parallel more recent bands like Sigur Rós.

Their first two albums are completely flawless. Check them out!

The Raincoats - 1980 (recorded 1979)

Odyshape - 1981

And don't you just love their album artwork?

-Love Kaylene