I Smell a Hat: October 2013

Monday, October 7, 2013

MAAvellous Millinery & Hats for Spring Racing

Last Thursday the Millinery Association of Australia held their MAAvellous Millinery event showcasing the sumptuous Spring Racing millinery creations available for purchase from it's talented members. But importantly the event also raised funds for Rotary Health, a most excellent cause - if you haven't heard about the work Rotary Health have supported through the Mental Health First Aid Kit initiative, you really should look into it. It's a superb initiative endorsed by President Obama no less!

The Leopard Lounge at Melbourne Zoo was lavishly decked out in lush greenery, decadent lighting and a few exotic looking animals were spotted roaming around giving off that jungle vibe befitting the location.... (the animals were attached to heads before you get too concerned)!

The evening was MC'd by compere extraordinaire Richard Nylon, with a jungle inspired dance performance from DANCENTRE (complete with spectacular jungle headwear, and matching make-up by Birdie Hair & Beauty), followed by a choreographed fashion show of the millinery spring collections, and lastly a really inspiring talk from the spokespeople at Rotary Health.

Millinery displays with pieces available for sale from local and interstate milliners surrounded the room adding to the colour and energy of the event. I hadn't previously attended a MAA event and was really impressed, so glad I made the effort - sign me up for next year! Congratulations to Sandy Forrester and the MAA members for their efforts in pulling together such a vibrant and fun event

If you haven't got your hat yet for the races, don't despair it isn't too late! Head (pun intended) on down to the Millinery Association pop-up shop in Melbourne Central from 7th October to 4th November and grab yourself a unique piece of millinery art.

And remember, October 11th is Hat Day so wear a hat and raise funds for mental health. There's no excuse not to!

AAx

P.S if I haven't credited anyone for their work please get in touch with me through the "I Smell a Hat" Facebook page and I'll add your name to the photo - despite best efforts I didn't quite catch everyone (too much talking on my part!) or all the displays, so my apologies there.

Credits for the animal hats in the next few pictures are as follows; Peacock-Michele Cameron /Tortoise-Gillian Andrews /Butterfly-Di Kilduff /Elephant & Zebra -Sandy Forrester/ Fish & Echidna-Catherine Ellen / Leopard -Margaret Jackson / Lion Cub-Angela Menz / Barrramundi (dreamtime-Waltraud Reiner / Collection of Snakes-Sharon Dale /Spider in Web-Karin Goodman

Margaret Jackson

Georgina Conheady

Felicity Northeast

Millinery by Christine - I love this cute vintage inspired piece

Hello. I'm actually a cute little hat!

Love Lotus Millinery by Lynette Lim - my standout display, I fell in love with every piece!

Love Lotus Millinery

Annie Clifforth

No-ella Dee

Margaret Watson

All the way from Queensland, the beautiful and colourful Sandy A

Rock Chick by Sandy Aslett

Maya Kalan

A beautiful collection of colours

The beautiful craftmanship of Louise MacDonald

The one and only Richard Nylon

Friday, October 4, 2013

Walter van Beirendonck - Dream the World Awake - RMIT Melbourne 2013

There is potentially nothing more annoying then finding out about something ridiculous and amazing that you would have given an internal organ to go to, and that you actually could have gone to had you known, after it is finished and you now have absolutely zero possibility of attending however hard you hope, plead, bribe, beg, offer inappropriate sexual favours or attempt to build time-travelling apparatus.

So bearing this pet hate of mine, I will do just that. Except I'll give you the faint possibility of hope by letting you know you still have about 3hrs to get there, which is actually worse because you and I both know you have no chance of making it there in time, but I did make it just in time and I'm gonna rub it in! My bad. That said, you probably already went because your finger positively creates the pulse, not just limps behind it like mine.... this exhibition has been on since July!

The ridiculous and amazing I'm talking about? The Walter van Beirendonck retrospective - Dream the World Awake at RMIT which finishes at 5pm on Sat 5th Oct 2013.

About the other Walter you need to know in your life, Walter van Beirendonck (The first of course being White. Not Disney. Unless that is we're talking Tron), WvB as I'll refer to him needs little introduction to those in the fashion know, but as I'm not proclaiming to be a signed-up member of this group, I'll tell you what I have learned today...

WvB was one of the influential trailblazing Antwerp 6 (NB very different to the Birmingham 6 or the Guildford 4 - this place/number association thing must have been all the rage in the 80's!), a group of graduates from Antwerp's Royal Acadamy of Fine Arts, which included Dries van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester, who exploded onto the London fashion scene in the early 80's with their avant garde and progressive ideas, and a fashion show apparently pulled out of a rented truck.

The exhibition brings together pieces from WvBs collections, images and videos ranging from his graduate collection back in 1980 through to his A/W 2011/12 collection "Hand on Heart".

I am a big fan of the surreal, absurd, avant garde, mad colour and of course head gear, so this grabbed me by the proverbials, swung me round a bit and gave me a huge dose of inspiration.

Colour, sex, humour, surrealism, tribal motifs, fantasy, sado-machism, innocence, playfulness, exaggeration, psychedelia, cartoon superheroes, war, disorientation are all words and themes that came to mind when viewing the exhibition, and not typically ideas you expect to find existing in apparent easy harmony. Colour and humour definitely being the glue holding firm these normally juxtaposing ideas - humour eh? Such a leveller! But deliberate juxtaposition now seems such an lazy concept in comparison to making opposites work in such unity. WvB also has an evocative and completely spot-on way with words; Dream the World Awake is exactly what you do in this exhibition.

So WvB, someone I highly recommend you look into especially if you are into the surreal and headwear like me... except you probably won't be able to look into him in Melbourne anytime soon :o(

AAx