Photo inspiration; The Andrew Sisters; Patty, Lavern & Maxene

The Andrew Sisters
Patty & Laverne & Maxene
1950s 

x Sianne

The racing season is upon us in Alice Springs!

Every year the Alice Springs Turf Club hosts the XXXX Cup Carnival at Pioneer Park at the foothills of the MacDonnell Ranges just a few minutes out of town. It's a big event for the Red Centre & I'm looking forward to making the most of it!


There are a few key dates in my diary over the next month; Girls Day Out, Ladies Day & Young Guns Day as well as the main XXXX Gold Cup Carnival at the very end of the month of festivities. Whether I am able to attend all of the above is a different story... but I'm certainly prepared in the dress department!

"The only decent people I ever saw at the racecourse were horses."

James Joyce.

There are a number of fashion parades & similar events to keep me occupied.. I'm in dire hopes of finding fellow dress lovers to make friends with but have been pre-warned that the standards in rural NT are not exactly as high as the Gold Coast... 


Regardless, there is a single milliner's shop in town & this week I am working on the accessories for my dresses. I have a few ideas in mind & am after a rather classic look with a few kooky touches to put my own personal stamp on the look. I'm still waiting on materials to arrive but am hoping to have pictures ready in a week or so! 

In the mean time, I have purchased some handmade accessories from a South Korean store on eBay.. they're rather cute...

Black Cameo Shoe Clips
$9.99

Victorian Cameo Brooch
$6.99

Black mini top hat w/ veil
$9.99

Clearly I wouldn't wear 2 sets of Cameo's in the one outfit.. But I wanted to have both options open.

x Sianne

Adore; The Audrey dress

There is a certain type of dress that every girl should have in her wardrobe.. the Audrey dress.

It's just the perfect cut & the perfect length.

It helps of course if you have an ultra cute hat & shoes to match too.

Love.

Photograph from Funny Face, 1957.

A failed trip to 'The Outback'

Well, last week I told you a bit about my plans to drive from the Gold Coast to Alice Springs on a 2 day whirlwind trip with my boyfriend... It turns out that my bad luck with travel continues! Here is a rough outline of how the trip panned out;

Day 1 - Departed the Gold Coast at 2AM to get an 'early' start and make the most of the day. By 4PM we had driven over 1,400KM's & arrived in a small town called Winton, only to be informed that the roads ahead had been closed due to recent rainfall & that we would be staying in town overnight.

Day 2 - Departed Winton to continue on our journey West, stopping occasionally for flooding closures. In the afternoon we had travelled a further 700KM & arrived in an even smaller town on the border of Queensland & the Northern Territory called Camooweal. Upon the sight of dozens of road trains & cars alike, we knew the road had been closed again & that we would be stuck for another night at the pub.

Day 3 - Spent the day exploring Camooweal's only shop, a petrol station & the grounds around the pub. All other guests were in the same situation as us, so we made friends quickly & enjoyed many drinks as well as a few good games of pool.

Day 4 - With continuing road closures we made the frustrating decision to back-track by over 2,000kms to the Gold Coast. The entire day was spent on the road through flood waters, rain & coming close to hitting wildlife during the night before attempting to have a sleep in the car around midnight... unsuccessfully!

Day 5 - Continued driving constantly through night with many close calls & limited visibility due to more rain. We nearly ran out of petrol at one stage & couldn't find any open petrol stations with food so were relieved to find a McDonald's at around 6AM in the morning. We covered the full 2,000kms within 23hrs & had a long, long sleep through the day to recover!

Now that I'm back in Alice Springs full-time I can most certainly write some more!

x Sianne

Photo inspiration; Model wearing Griffe coat

Model facing car in Paris wearing green yellow coat with dropped shoulders and a spread of burnoose-like sleeves by Griffe, 1951

This weekend I will be traveling from Alice Springs back to my hometown of the Gold Coast to visit friends and then embark on a 3000km driving journey across the country-side with my boyfriend and my Holden Barina. The trip will take us at least 2 days and I’m hoping not to have anything horrible happen to my cute little car – which has never even seen a dirt road!

Stock image of my car... Mine has a full 5 doors!

After packing many, many boxes of clothes & shoes & art before moving house & now having to bring even more household items out to Alice Springs along with my car, I’m beginning to wonder just how materialistic I am… When my house isn’t set-up ‘just so’ or organized in a way I see fit, I find that I can’t sleep properly or get settled. It seems slightly ridiculous that one girl could require so many possessions just to be content.

In my last few weeks of instability I've made a few impulse buys (mainly shoes) & also cut a short fringe or bangs back in... I think they look cute but I'd completely forgotten how high-maintenance they are!

Over the weekend at The Rock Bar, sipping a G&T.

With my boyfriend, wearing a vintage lace bolero.

I'll be sure to take lots of pictures during our journey from the Gold Coast to Alice Springs & post an update once we're safely back to civilization.

xx Sianne

Photo inspiration; Model wearing Mollie Parnis dress

Model posed with cigarette, wearing dress by Mollie Parnis and gold & diamond necklace & bracelet by Van Cleef & Arpels, 1953