Lily Pulitzer 1931-2013

Lily Pulitzer died yesterday. She was 81. Lily was a wealthy American who lived on the East Coast and became famous in the 1950s for her outrageously colourful frocks. After her old school friend Jackie Kennedy was photographed in one they went beserko.
You can read more about Lily here.
She eventually sold her company and Lily Pulitzer merchandise is still available. Vintage Lily Pulitzer frocks sell for a bomb. I think the Happiness Place in Paddington stocks new Lily Pulitzer bits and pieces?

This is Lily in her store in 1959. As the story goes, she ran a juice stand in her husband's orange grove. She designed the fabric so the juice didn't stain her dresses. I think this story sounds rather flawed. Why would a person who described having a budget as 'embarassing' have a juice stand? Anyway, whatever your motivation or inspiration, thanks Lily.

I love this photo of Lily with her two daughers.
Below is an original Lily Pulitzer advertisement.

Below are some of the newer Lily Pulitzer products with her trademark eye popping colour.

Excuse me. The shoes!

A Lily Pulitzer interior. You've got to love the palm trees. Very Florida.

This below is, I think, Lily Pulitzer inspired Prada, but correct me if I'm wrong. Please.

Old men, giant flamingos and retrenched Christmas fairies

Happy new year (albeit belated)! I absolutely did not mean for so much time to slip by between posts, not that I imagine many people were on the edge of their seats waiting for me to utter my next word. The universe was against me in everyway; unexpected disasters, Blogger issues, photo uploading problems, a misplaced camera cord, unreliable internet connections, and so on.
We had a busy end of year, as everyone does, and then my (soon to be) 82 year old father became incapacitated, then hospitalised. Hands up anyone who has experienced the joy of transitioning an elderly parent from their own home to a nursing home (although we're constantly battling to use other names for it).
For the past week he has been trialling a lovely 'ah hm' at Clayfield. It's beautiful, heritage listed, all meals are made from scratch on the premises, it has beautiful gardens, air conditioning, it's close to everything, it has lots of common areas and easy accessability of course.

But guess what! He hates it, it's full of old people! This ageing parent business isn't easy on anyone, least of all the baby of the family. Poor me. So now he's back off to his own house to battle along a bit longer, then I imagine we'll start the whole process again.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I finally managed to get my hands on some giant flamingos. My Era buddy has a pair which I've coveted and I now I have my very own. With the stuffed peacock and now the flamingos the living area has taken on a rather 'camp' tone, which I don't mind a bit.

I also got these two brass goblet-ty things at the Salvos, tarted them up with some white paint and popped in some succulents. Yes I know a monkey could have done it, but I was still chuffed with the result.

Here is some more of my handy work. I acquired these two cane chairs, also from the Salvos. Then I whipped out the Janome and made some new covers for them. It made for a highly productive Friday night, and as it turns out, they are the most comfortable chairs ever put on the face of the earth.

This is a bonsai Fig I found in my father's garden. He said it's about 30 or 40 years old. We love it. It also had a mate, but after Peaches jazzed it up with a swing and a slippery dip it strangely passed on to the big garden in the sky. Considering it had sat happily unattended in Dad's garden for a few years it was a rather insulting gesture to turn its toes up only weeks after coming to living with us. Good riddance I say.

The girls have taken to calling regular trees 'big bonsais', which I suppose technically they are.

While we're on the subject of show and tell, this was one of my Christmas presents. I squeezed myself into it and wore it on Christmas Day. It gave the effect of a giant Christmas fairy, who had somewhat let herself go.

The stonework out in the garden is now pretty much complete and is just waiting for its plants.

She's coming along the old girl, slowly but surely.

70s ghetto-boho-fabo chic

I've said it before, I'm not an early adopter. I despise technology and find it as much a hindrance as a help, however, the internet is an exception.

Take now for example, I just had the urge to workshop 70s fashion and within a few clicks of the keyboard I was presented with 1,200,000 images to inspire and delight.

Anita Pallenberg had a huge influence on the quintessential 70s look, particularly in the movie Performance.

If you have the sense you've seen her before, that may be because you either have, or you've seen people who have obviously been inspired by her. Example 1.

A quick note to young ladies who still find smoking sophisticated and sexy. Be warned! It's going to take it's toll, no matter how cute you are now.

You can't talk about 70s fashion without mentioning the big W - Woodstock!

Then there was Jane Fonda and her co-starring haircut in Klute.

Jane and her Klute do still have an influence now.

Last Tango in Paris and Bette Midler in The Rose are also worth a look for the boho-fabulousness.

I'm particularly taken with this free form 70s look because to be honest, with my hair, it's made for me.
And in the spirit of everything old being new again, here's a couple of modern interpretations of the 70s.

Peace.
x

Strange but true

I'll tell you what I love. I love fashion editorials that are photographed in a supermarket. That's very specific isn't it?
I think it's because I spend 40% of my time and 30% of our money in a supermarket. I appreciate when some distant connection between Woolies and glamour is made - whether it's intended as ironic or not, it's a link.
This is how I prefer to view my visits to the supermarket.

The Baby Shower

Saturday's baby shower went off without a hitch. The mother to be looked radiant, the father to be was calm and collected. Guests had their fill of champagne (no doubt, those people at Mumm HQ will be scratching their heads this morning wondering about the sudden spike in sales over the weekend).

Thanks to the talented Katie who did the cooking (after flying up from Sydney a few hours beforehand), the table looked fabo.

Lots of pink gifts were opened. The baby should never need wear the same thing twice!

I forgot to take a photo of my frock while I was wearing it, but this is she. It's brown and doesn't photograph very well. Notice the nanna-style hanger? You cannot have enough of these, they are the best for keeping clothes on the hanger and in their proper shape.

Now it's time to get back to my reading. The bedside table is getting ridiculous. I've even broken one of my reading rules - among the stack are several books I've already read. I try not to repeat, but The Bell Jar and The Great Gatsby are too good not to do over. I find them both meditative.