I Heart Sydney

Vintage Lanvin felt hat - $5 op-shop

Jade green silk Basque* top - $4 op-shop

Flared jeans - $50 Sass & Bide warehouse sale

Leather/wood wedges - $50 Santini sale (I have been wearing these almost every day as I also heart them, apparently)

Cropped leather jacket - $10 garage sale

Ok, dorky poses aplenty as I am in a different environment armed with my not-so-trusty tripod. Also weird grainy photos, as my camera had some kind of freak out and thought there was no light, when there was tons of light. I think it's just having trouble adjusting to being out of Melvin. I can assure you I am having so such issues!

I just have to get off the plane in Sydney and I just relax into my skin in a way that just does not happen anywhere else. Scratch that, I just have to sight Bondi Beach from the windows of a plane and it feels like home. We fly over the park where I was married, and the hospital where the little dude was born, and various places we used to live, and a million places for adventures and misadventures over the years, and then I just can't fight the feeling. Sydney, I love you!

Right, so now I have that out of my system - as you can see I have discovered that I have iPhoto and internet access, so that should mean regular blog posting despite the fact that I am technically on holiday from Melvin and Melvinian responsibilities. I do have dogs to wrangle, lots of people to see, and a screenplay idea to nut out, but I think there should be room for a bit of blogging in there too. We shall see!

This top is really more emerald than teal, but my camera has colour issues, as is well established by now. I really must try to sort that out!

I have just walked the dogs, but the little dude is hassling me for dinner now, so must go and forage for food for him before he becomes uncontrollably ravenous.

*That's the Myer brand, not the people/separatists.

xx

Skye

PS. Little dude waiting for the airport bus this morning, and displaying nous of seasoned traveller:

Repeat Offender

Camel shift - $8 op-shop (shortened by me)

Grey tights - $10 Temt sale table

Leather/wood wedges - $50 Santini sale

You know those blogs where there are about fourteen thousand photos that look more or less the same? I figured since I can't beat them, I might as well join them! Can you now all leave me about 136 comments telling me how amazing I am, and including your own blog addresses in the comment in the desperate hope that people might come over and make 136 comments on your blog too?

No? Well thank goodness for that!

I don't usually end up with a whole run of indentical-ish photos like these, but I was amused to see how my wonky little camera has managed to get a different colour for that back wall in every single shot. It's like a Dulux paints colour chart:

Weatherproof Vinyl in "Black Dog"

Wash & Wear in "Slurry"

Velvet Finish in "Melvin Mornings"

Gloss Enamel in "Existential Despair"

I got my fringe trimmed today and my hairdresser (the superb Jamie at Sweet Caroline, in case anyone needs a Melvinian cutter extraordinaire) was quite taken with this little camel workhorse of a dress. He declared it "outfit of the week", which perhaps he says to all the girls - but it gave the dress a bit of a glamorous glow it didn't otherwise have. I threw it on this morning because I had wardrobe block, it's one of those things I always throw on when I have wardrobe block, and boring things to do in my day, and don't wish to give my clothes a whole lot of thought. I sometimes think I'd like to have a whole wardrobe of no-think stuff like that, but the truth of the matter is that most of the time I really enjoy thinking about my clothes, and would be a bit depressed if I didn't!

xx

Skye

PS. Am off to Sydney for two weeks tomorrow. Have no idea what sort of internet access I'll have, so cannot make any promises re: blog posts (have nowhere near time/organisational skillz to have posts timed in advance). Will absolutely attempt to get something up every day though, but no idea as yet what that might consist of. Am also taking minimalist-type capsule wardrobe, husband said "Just take two outfits for socialising" (Pah! says I) "and the rest tracksuits and stuff." I don't own a single tracksuit, as I pointed out to him, and he said "If I was going I'd just take black t-shirts and jeans, so why don't you do the same?" Such is the difference between these two great nations!

Pod Party!

Leather/wood wedges - $50 Santini sale

Cotton On ribbed top - $2 op-shop

Silk dotted swiss frock - $50 camilla & marc warehouse sale (ages ago)

Sort of a lack of imagination day happening here, for a couple of reasons:

1. lingering effects of the bad beef sausage;

2. fear of looking like Helena Bonham-Carter.

Don't get me wrong - I love HBC's sense of style to bits. On her. Particularly since I saw her in LA (wearing some bonkers-ish but amazing Westwood-y sort of dress thing) and she was utterly exquisite, like a perfect porcelain doll. I'm not so much perfect porcelain doll as happily frolicking Podling, though, and know my limitations in regard to frilly dresses and gothic layers and such.

I thought I'd better keep it simple, steering clear of any overtones of Sweeney Todd, and wore my little cropped leather jacket over the top too, and a scarf, just to try and keep a lid on things. I do think I might have to work out how to wear this dress in a wholly Skye sort of way, without playing it quite so safe, because it is a lovely frock and did get compliments wherever it went today.

I may have self-identified as a Podling, but my little brother used to call me Aughra, in typical horrible little brother fashion. I have cause to remember his taunts if I ever catch sight of myself in the mirror when hungover...

Too much red wine?

xx

Skye

PS. The little dude and I watched the The Dark Crystal yesterday, and I liked it just as much as I did back when it first came out almost thirty years ago. Although I'm afraid to say I still think the gelflings are a bit poxy!

Bleurgh - the sequel

Not as bad as yesterday, but definitely far below normal operating parameters, so no proper post today either. Sorry.

xx

Skye

Bleurgh

No real post today because I ate some bad beef sausage last night (I know how that sounds, believe me I wish it was that kind of sausage), and have been throwing up ever since. Nice.

Tomorrow is another day!

xx

Skye

On Deck

I'm ratatatting.*

My feet are doing some special pirate dances - a hornpipe.

Look where you're going.

I'm a smile guy.

Special squirrel.

It's called the monkey dance.

The boat shoes for fishermen.

That's the end. Bye bye!

*"Ratatting" is little dude-speak for "hip-hop dancing".

xx

little dude

PS. Handknit wool cardigan - op-shop / italian boat shoes - op-shop / jeans - Sudo via ebay.

Challenge - Man Wear

I would just like to point out that men's pants have penis room in the crotch. Penis room is not flattering if you do not have a penis. I'm assuming you knew that already, but it's top-of-mind for me because of my challenge du jour - dressing from the Husbandly Wardrobe. Think of it as a public service to any woman out there caught in some kind of dire walk of shame scenario, faced with either trudging home in the bright light of day in last night's scanty clubwear, or finding some kind of acceptable alternative in an otherwise unpromising mandrobe. Hopefully I can offer some inspiration, and it might save someone somewhere from having to scuttle home in hotpants, hoping desperately not to see anyone they know along the way.

I thought it was about time for another challenge around here, as I've been sidetracked on my quest for a suitably Steven Segal-esque cheongsam therefore have utterly failed to deliver on that particular promise thus far, and I need to keep myself amused somehow. Keeping myself amused is essential to the continued successful operation of our household. Paramount in fact!

The raw materials. Unpromising.

I was watching some ancient episodes of Sex & the City last night on TV (it was slim pickings, football, motor racing, tennis and assorted murder shows), and I was struck by how they'd costumed Carrie in what was supposed to be her boyfriend's undies and clothes. Now since the boyfriend was appalling lumbering oaf Aiden (sp? can't be arsed googling such a thing), there is no way on earth that any of his clothes would have actually fit her, sinewy little twig that she was/is. It was obviously all specially crafted by the wardrobe team just for her, thereby further perpetuating the idea that women can wear men's clothes and look all sexy and adorable, even if they are teeny weeny little twig people. Some women obviously look great in mens clothing (especially if they are tall and rangy and not very boobular), and menswear-inspired womenswear can look fabulous (not on me, but other less hobbitsome types), and there might be an oversized jumper or something that can be borrowed safely - but on the whole I feel like it is best left as an each-to-their-own situation.

Jenny Shimizu: exception, not rule.

I am sure there are husbands out there with lovely wardrobes full of delicious cashmere jumpers, and fabulously tailored shirts in wonderful colours, but my husband is not one of them. He has a uniform of black v neck t-shirt, pea coat, skinny-ish jeans, and black leather or white canvas chucks, and he wears it every single day. If he has a meeting then he puts on a shirt with buttons. If we're going out at night he puts a jacket on over the t-shirt and changes the chucks for a pair of pointy chelsea boot things. All of which means my options were pretty limited, even without taking into consideration the size and shape difference between us. I am short legged, short bodied, short armed, narrow shouldered, and I have no penis. Husband is more or less the opposite proposition. Thank god.

Can you spot which item doesn't belong to my husband?

Dressing in an exact replica of his daily uniform (aka The Shimizu Option) wasn't working due to insurmountable crotchular issues, and there really wasn't anything else in his wardrobe that actually fit me, so I had to get a little bit MacGyver and fashion a skirt from a shirt.

I think I actually might have done that back in high school too, as part of my ritual "I have a boyfriend" display. I also wore his tattered and gigantic school jumper everywhere, and spent all of my lunchtimes pashing him in the playground (just in case anyone had missed the subtle and arcane symbolism of the jumper-wearing).

I actually think the double shirt outfit is kind of ok, and from the back it's really quite convincing. If my luggage ever goes missing, or we have some kind of mega laundry crisis, then I know where to turn in my hour of need!

xx

Skye

PS. I also think I might borrow this shirt again. I'd completely forgotten it existed until I dug it out of the husband clothes rack of doom.

Under a Bushel

Cape coat (seen below) - $50 (I think, might have been $40) Max Shop sale ages ago

Tory Burch leather bag (seen below) - $5 op-shop

Leather/wood wedges - $50 Santini sale

Tie dye t-shirt dress - $89 Shag

I just really, really, really like this dress/t-shirt/whatever. I like it so much that I had to lay-by it on the spot, with no deliberation, even though it was a wholly ridiculous eighty nine dollars. For a t-shirt. Probably not the smartest move I've ever made, but I'm having trouble feeling much remorse for my recklessness. For me, it feels like almost the perfect Melvinian compromise position - suitably black and pseudo intellectual enough for the cobblestone laneway crowd, but with that exploding pharaonic collar of wonderful, stupid colour.

I did resent my coat a little bit today, just because I wanted to be all colour explosion-y, and not so bat flappy. I was terribly tempted to start flashing people, pervert-style, to give them a glimpse of my secret colour clash stash. I settled for just having an extra spring in my step (and taking my coat off every time the sun came came out for half second). On a day when I was running hopelessly late for everything, and operating on about three hours sleep due to an unscheduled little dude midnight vomiting outbreak, (did you notice the tell-tale topknot of unwashed hair?), I needed a little bit of foolishness to help get me through. I don't drink coffee, so the colour collar was a caffeine hit equivalent, unlikely as that might sound!

Hiding my light under a bat cape.

I don't think I'm alone in that, though - the world is full of people wearing their magic jumpers, lucky undies, sexy dresses, mad hats and all the rest. How about you, do you have a garment imbued with supernatural powers? Or just something you wear when the day is a little bit grey, your soul a little bit weary, and you need everything you can get to help you crawl out from under the doona?

xx

Skye
PS. You can't really tell from the photos, but that t-shirt is pretty short. I was standing at a tram stop this morning, and some guys in a ute across the road honked at me. I looked at them, then looked away, then they honked at me again. I was near our old street, so I looked over again to check they weren't my ex-neighbours or something, but I didn't recognise them so looked away again. Then they honked again, and I looked over again in case I did know them after all, and they were holding up scorecards (like below, except square not round) with "10" printed on them. So I sort of gave them a half-hearted wave of...gratitude? And then hid behind the tram stop in embarrassment. I'm thinking the 10s were for the short skirt and high wedges, but what I can't get over is that these guys are driving around with actual scorecards. Is that a thing now? Are those cards a gag gift that people buy for bucks nights and stuff? Or were they just two extremely enterprising and committed drive-by sexual harrassers? Or were they the fashion police, and they just really approved of my outfit? I must have answers!

Valley of the Ultra Hobbits

Sass & Bide Vie silk taffeta "The Art of Noise" jacket - $7 op-shop

I op-shopped this jacket today, but I didn't wear it. I just chucked it on for a last minute photo in the dying seconds of twilight - the sun actually sank below the horizon while we were taking these, hence the dodgy flash photography. I was out trekking around the outer reaches of Melvin all day sourcing (aka scavenging, then buying with money) vintage (aka things from the nineties) for my friend's shop, so I was dressed for maximum trudging comfort (see below), and absolute minimum glamour.

All of this has been on the blog more than once. In the case of that stripey top, I think it's well into double figures.

I was also wearing my beanie all day, because when I leave the house and it's freezing I have to wear my beanie, but if I wear my beanie in the morning, then I have to commit to wearing my beanie all day, because if I wear my beanie for even a little while, my hair will look like this:

Super lank and mondo fringe split-o.

To the very nice girl who so politely and generously outed herself as a reader of my blog today, thank you so much for being lovely! It really, really makes my day to hear that someone reads this stuff.

Look at the weirdness my husband achieved here - it looks like I have one of those freaky Victorian era mini-waists achieved via the removal of several bottom ribs. And the shoulder breadth of an Olympic swimmer. A male Olympic swimmer!

You know how there's a sort of Murphy's Law thing that says that whenever you run into an ex you'll be looking your worst? Ugg boots, unwashed hair, cold sores, the general demeanour of an escaped mental patient/ice addict, svelte shape of baby beluga whale, and inevitably some kind of sordid looking spillage down the front of your shirt? For instance, I can tell you a hair raising story about running into an ex of mine while in a shopping centre with newborn-ish little dude and conducting an entire awkward conversation with him (sample dialogue "So, the father - anyone I know?), and then walking away breathing a sigh of relief that the ordeal was over, only to discover that the entire front of my pinafore dress (remember them?) was still unbuttoned from a recent little dude feed, revealing a glorious expanse of alarming mega-cleavage, greyish giant maternity bra, leaking milk, and bulging post-baby gut. Joy.

Anyway, that same law applies to meeting blog readers in real life, it always seems to be the days when I am at my most bedraggled and hobbity. I don't mind though, if anyone wants to say hello to me, then I am very pleased, regardless of how high my degree of dishevellment might happen to be!

xx

Skye

PS. This was an early little dude favourite.

...and this is his current favourite (although I have to mute out the motherfucker-y bits):

Two for the Road

Grey mohair handknit cardigan - $8 op-shop

Black pvc rats - $10 Sass & Bide warehouse sale

Burgundy cable knit socks - fifty cents op-shop

Black leather/wood wedges - $50 Santini sale

Lover t-shirt - $27 warehouse sale

Two things:

1. The little dude took these photos, and art directed the whole shoot. I paid him in bread and honey.

2. This outfit is in essence exactly the same as yesterday's. Grey hairy cardy. Print tee from Australian cult label. Black leggings from a bigger Australian label. Not especially sensible shoes which were fifty bucks on sale.

It's pretty rare for me to repeat a theme from one day to the next. I wonder what it means when I do (beyond the fact that I was cold, and brain too frozen/half asleep to muster up creativity at early hour of morning)?

xx

Skye

PS. This is the first photo I ever posted on Skylark and Son, can you believe this little possum is now capable of taking the blog photos himself?!

PPS. Look at these lovely assemblages on my friend's window sill this afternoon. I like to take credit for the one with the big brown/golden glass ball as I scavenged the ball (actually an old light fitting) from the side of the road, and serendipitous scavenging is pretty much the only talent I have!

Banana Montana

P.A.M. t-shirt - $5 Camberwell Markets

Ksubi Skelerope leggings - $60 Vogue Forums (years ago)

Yellow suede fringe boots - $50 Peeptoe warehouse sale

Fringed cardigan - $22 Seed outlet, DFO

Grey bead fringe bag - $20 Sass & Bide warehouse sale

My fringe needs a trim. My trim needs a fringe. On cold day a girl needs a cardigan with a simian tinge. Better stop the rhyming there, I'm kind of on a binge. Cringe!

Original retail price - $490 (!)

This cardy obviously has some Yeti in the family tree somewhere - it has a certain hairy lower-primate bonkers-ness about it which I like, and which is a tad surprising given its point of origin. Seed (or more properly Seed Femme, a name unfortunately reminiscent of the Spiner Femmes from Trekkies) is hardcore Yummy Mummy headquarters. The other thing I have from Seed is a pair of tan leather ballet flats - which is exactly what I'd expect to find there. Crazy abominable snowman jumpers? Not so much!

Seed started off as a children's wear label, and then they extended the brand into womenswear, and although perfectly pleasant (it's sort of Witchery without the corporate stuff) it does give me a touch of the heeby jeebies because it's like the uniform shop for correct and committee-approved mum attire. You can go there and buy a capsule wardrobe which will ensure that no one ever looks askance at you at a school gate, the drawback being they might not remember exactly who you are either, as you will look more or less identical to everyone else milling around trying to pick their offspring from the school uniform-clad crowd. But is that such a bad thing? Is it better to blend in and present an easily comprehensible and unthreatening outer shell to the other mums as a means of slipping past their preconceptions, or just be uncompromisingly yourself from inside out and damn the consequences?

It's a question I have been grappling with for years now, and whenever I feel like the one final answer is within my grasp, I get another perspective on it all and shift my position again.

Icy winds a-go-go.

I looked at my photos from today and realised that the whole outfit reminded me of something (or more accurately, someone), a little bit of memory bank searching, a little bit more googling, and the answer became all too clear...

Yo!

xx

Skye

PS. My other sartorial role model du jour:

PPS. Weird Al has a new album, here's his take on Miley's Party in the USA: