Out With The Old, In With The Oroton

Did you know a woman spends 27 years of her life on average carrying a handbag?

This information makes handbag choice seem much more important (as if it wasn't already).

Thanks to the recent Oroton 50% off sale (love a bargain), I am now the proud owner of the above items.

I'm loving the current Oroton AW12 campaign featuring Aussie models Samantha Harris and Elyse Taylor.

The look is clean, simple, classic elegance and I feel like that's what Oroton should be all about. 

Creative Director Ana Maria Escobar wanted to capture the modern Australian woman's style.

She brought together an all Australian crew for this campaign including renowned photographer David Mandleberg.

As Oroton's last four season were shot abroad, Ana Maria wanted to come home to truly capture the essence of Australian style.

I collect vintage glomesh bags and below is one of my Oroton ones.

While I love vintage, it's great to have something new in my collection. After all, my new bag will be vintage one day!

Rundle Mall Autumn/Winter Fashion Parades

The Rundle Mall VIP Autumn/Winter Fashion Parade was held last Friday in Gawler Place.

Despite the sky threatening to unleash a downpour on the crowd of socialites, media and fashionistas, we got lucky and the parade went off without a hitch. 

 I loved the use of colour by Rundle Mall and it was great to be able to start wrapping my head around some looks for the colder months (I'm still in Summer mode).

The parade was hosted by Lisa McAskill who has the most beautiful hair I have ever seen and was wearing a gorgeous CUE skirt that I have had my eye on for the Oakbank Easter Races.

Quite unexpectedly the crowd was treated to some opening entertainment from the most energetic dancers I have ever seen! The lead male stole the show and I have no doubt will be a backup dancer for Kylie Minogue in no time. 

The parade featured looks from stores including David Jones, Esprit, Kookai, Country Road, Portmans and Veronika Maine. 

If the Rundle Mall AW12 Fashion Parades are anything to go by, the trends this season are bright colours, mod, 60s looks and prints. 

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with some of the styling of the parade. 

Sometimes less is more. A lot of the outfits were very 'matchy matchy' and I felt a lot of the looks just needed a few pieces removed.

However, I understand that as Adelaide's most popular shopping precinct (an Adelaide city counciller told me it is the second busiest mall in the country) Rundle Mall has to appeal to a wide range of people ie. not just 22 year olds like myself.

However 18 year old models strutting the catwalk in drapey clothes from Sportscraft just didn't do the models or the clothes any justice in my opinion. 

There were some positives. I loved the choreography of the parade. Every store was different and instead of just walking out one by one there was some thought behind how they presented the clothes and it was interesting to watch. 

The classic and elegant jewellery by Gerard McCabe Jewellers was a definite highlight.

The best part of the parades was of course the after party which was held at the the Hotel Richmond. 

The party made me feel like a proper celebrity. The most exciting part was the introduction of Skinnygirl cocktails! These pre-mixed cocktails are new to Australia after being famously created by Bethany Frankel (Real Housevwives, Bethany Ever After). 

I think girls forget how many calories are in alcohol, especially anything sugary like a cocktail. Skinnygirl coktails are less than 100 calories per serve and actually taste amazing

We were also given quite possibly the best gift bag I have ever received at an event!

Dress For Success - Sheike

We're pretty casual regarding what we wear in my office. We'll go from Camilla kaftans, to Liza Emanuele dresses, to Cue blazers and jeans.

However, because we don't have a traditional work 'uniform' one of my biggest challenges has become finding work clothes that are:

a) Fashionable

b) Reasonably conservative but still modern 

c) Not black
d) Different from my 'weekend wardrobe'

Cue and SABA always have some gorgeous stuff but it is a bit out of my price range unless I really fall in love with something.

I love colour and I don't look good in black. Everytime I buy something black I regret it.

I was sent some images from Westfield a while ago and that's how I discovered the brand Sheike.

I've put a few of my favourite looks below.

What an amazing explosion of colour! Can you imagine if the whole office dressed like this? It would be like Summer all year round.

I love these looks because they can take you from day to night and when you have to attend a lot of after work events like I do, this is a huge benefit.

Best of all everything is under $200!

Unfortunately the only Sheike stores are in NSW so for now I'll have to shop online. Hopefully I can guess my size well enough to end up with something amazing!

Glass Half Full

I love a good Saturday morning Op-Shop.

However, it has become increasingly difficult since everyone caught onto the trend and started heading out to the local St. Vinnes, snapping up a bargain and selling it for triple the price at the local markets.

Hence why I've given up on clothes and am getting into more homewares and antiques like a really cool nanna.

On Saturday I actually overheard a lady trying to bargain with the elderly woman working in the Red Cross over a $6 piece of crap! 

I think people forget that the money from op-shops goes to charity so trying to bargain at an op-shop is like taking money from the collection trays at church. Or stealing someone's wheelchair. 

At the moment I'm a bit obsessed with throwing an awesome High Tea so that's probably why I'm into kitchenware and glasses etc.

I've started to collect teacups and I've got a High Tea Pinterest board which is where I'm keeping all my inspiration!

I'm trying to only collect Royal Albert or Doulton teacups but they're hard to find.

At the moment I live with a housemate in his flat and it's furnished with all his stuff, so I'm trying to collect stuff for when I move out on my own. Eventually.

Tips for Op-Shop Success

1. Do Your Research
If I'm looking at some china and I don't know if it's a good brand or what I should be paying I usually just Google it on my phone to see if it's worth the money. Ebay is also great for this which leads into...

2. Is It Worth It?
Try and buy good quality vinatge stuff not just cheap and nasty crap. Leave that stuff to the people who actually shop in op shops for real.

3. Think Before You Buy 
Don't buy something just beacuse it's cheap. Even $2 is $2 too much if you're never going to use/wear it. I am the worst impulse buyer ever. If you're no sure about it, leave it and come back.

3. Make Sure It Can Be Salvaged
While there's a lot of thing a little soap and water can fix, you don't want to catch hepatitis from eating out of dirty silverware or lice from some homeless person's coat. Not cool. 

Willow Opens at Burnside Village

Willow opened at Burnside Village recently and we were invited to come and take a look at the new store and meet the designer Kit Willow.

There are only four Willow Boutiques in Australia so for Adelaide to get one, it's pretty exciting.

I've never been the biggest fan of Willow. I remember it all being very drapey and a bit hippy and just not really my style.

However after going into the store I am absolutely in love.

I loved the colours, the shapes and pretty much everything about Willow (besides the price point).

I found the clothes look much more young, exciting and wearable in real life rather than in photos.

Kit Willow said she designs for herself and only wears her own clothes. He favourite piece was a leather jacket that hung beautifully.

Two of my favourite items are below.

I hope that people of Adelaide support Willow so that we can start to get even more amazing designer stores here and the shopping can continue to improve.

While I probably won't be able to own anything from Willow anytime soon, a girl can always dream.

A Day At The Races

There's nothing that makes you feel quite like a proper lady than getting dressed up and going to the races. 

Unfortunately after a couple of sparklings and a few cocktails at this year's Adelaide Casino Adelaide Cup, my ladylike behaviour went right out the window.

I woke up the next morning with permanent texta writing on me, so you know it was a 'good night'.

However, I did not commit the ultimate sin by taking my shoes off. They stayed right on my painfully sore feet all day. I'm very proud of myself about that.

But back to where it all began. Last Monday I put on my gorgeous Liza Emanuele dress and headed off to the Adelaide Cup at Morphettville Racecourse.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Adelaide Casino Chandelier Bar, which had the best view of the track (and of the most smoking hot bartenders) in the whole vicinity.

I felt very 'Pretty Woman' in my giant hat, polkadots and red lipstick. Without the whole prostitute thing...

I got a lot of compliments on my outfit and being the bargain hunter that I am, every single item of clothing I wore was on sale. If I had bought everything full price I would have an $800 credit card bill on my hands. Luckily though my wicked shopping skills meant all together I only spent about $190 on this outfit! 

I don't believe you have to spend a lot of money in order to look expensive and I feel like this outfit is proof of this.

  

Photos by Alice Healy

Tips To Dressing For A Fancy Event On A Budget

1) Plan In Advance

I knew Adelaide Cup was coming up so when Liza Emanuele had a sale I bought my dress and saved it for the big day.

2) Outlet Shop Your Heart Out

Harbour Town in Adelaide is honestly the best place to find shoes and accessories. I know that outlet shopping is seriously uncool, but I never would have been able to afford a designer hat and shoes otherwise. I also love sales and op-shops. Seriously.

3) Borrow, Borrow, Borrow

I live next door to two girls and so I practically have three wardrobes. As long as you're happy to lend your stuff out in return and you know your mates will take care of it, why buy something when you can borrow it? 

4) Make Friends With Benefits

My friend who is a makeup artist did my makeup on the day for mates rates. 

Girl About Gown

It seems like everyone these days has a blog and I felt left out. So here I am jumping on the bandwagon.

I think blogs are a bit self indulgent so I'll try not to sound too wanky. However, I do enjoy talking about myself and all the awesome things I get to do because of my job.

My name is Gen Whaites, I'm 22 and I'm a journalist working for the website Glam Adelaide in Adelaide, South Australia.

I've just finished University and moved out of home. All these amazing, exciting and scary things are happening and I don't want to take it for granted that my life will probably never be this way again.

Hopefully this you can take something away from this blog, even if it's tips on what not to do in your first real job.  

Otherwise I hope you just enjoy joining me on the journey of trying to figure my life out. And probably failing.

If you like fashion, shopping, pretending to be a domestic goddess, books, movies, drinking, partying, travelling, homewares, DIY or anything vintage, we'll probably get along just fine!