The week is waning and Voxfrock is as keen as you, Dear Reader, to address the seminal questions crowding the Frockosphere.
Like. Who is Gok Wan? Why is he here? How did Foxtel’s appalling “Real Housewives of..” series creators scrape together a coven of tinselly wives in Melbourne, of all cities? And why, after a decade of gratuitous puppy-popping brassiere stories on Today Tonight and A Current Affair, do 85 per cent of women reportedly STILL not know their size?
Hmmm. Voxfrock can’t help with most of that lot, Dear Reader, (though, scroll down for a list of those wives) but here is a whip round our frocky traps you may find engaging.
Longform post: allow 7 minutes read time.
Mixed Vintage
Lovers of heritage quality frocks are thrilled to the gills for two reasons this week. First, the genuinely amazing boxfresh collection of 1970s and 1980s Missoni, Pucci, Courreges, Versace, Callaghan and other collectable designer garments owned by Melbourne fashion doyenne, Mary Lipshut, has been sold to savvy young fashion entrepreneur Danielle Goodwin of Hawkeye Vintage, Prahran. Mrs. Lipshut recently revealed at a Voxfrock collaborative shoot (with stylist Philip Boon and photographer Monty Coles), that she had tested negotiations with several prospective buyers around the world, including Russia. None resolved satisfactorily. Now in her eighties, she was ready to retire, she said.
Miss Goodwin appeared heaven sent. She has a short but unblemished track record as an impassioned collector, world traveller, and fair seller of her own cherry-picked vintage collection and is an ideal custodian and distributor for Mrs. Lipshut’s heritage. She will serve it well.
Girly glam from Danielle Goodwin’s current Hawkeye Vintage collection.
The rare ML Vintage collection, for the few frockoholics still unfamiliar with the story, originated as a large order of designer fashions from France. It was held well past its seasonal sell date, by a boycott of French products on Melbourne wharfs approximately three decades ago. Mrs. Lipshut, a canny fashion buyer and importer, mothballed that shipment, and another, risking their future against her hunch about a slowly burgeoning trend for vintage fashion. Her hunch was a bulls-eye and the rest, as we say in Voxspeak, is Frockstory.
Miss Goodwin’s current collection is sold from her boutique at 126 Greville Street, Prahran and on www.hawkeyevintage.com .
The other reason vintage lovers are in a tizz this week is Lisa Ho. The brand and business of one of Australian fashion’s favorite daughters, as most Voxfrockians are sadly aware, is in liquidation. Miss Ho is a gentle woman of worldly awareness and exemplary taste in art and fashion and among her effects, a remarkable collection of vintage fashion, fabrics and haberdashery dating back to Edwardian and forward to contemporary eras is up for sale.
The catalogue, by Sydney’s Lawsons auctioneers, is a revelation of mostly grouped frocks including, pictured from left, Lot 608: a group of printed 1950s era skirts and dresses, from circa 1950s, Lot 610: a 1920s brocade coat with fur collar and three dresses, Lot 623: a beaded 1920s silk chiffon dress, Lot 625: a 1940s Norman Hartnell evening dress and three similar frocks, Lot 643: a 1930s crepe evening dress, four others similar, plus a cut velvet 1920s coat and black cut velvet jacket, and finally, Lot 677: several 1960s and 70s frocks including one in the latter decade’s most fetching lime green. :
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Registration for online bids is open now at www.lawsons.com.au and personal bidders should arrive bushy-tailed by 8 am. tomorrow, Friday, August 2 for a viewing before auction time at 9.30 am., 8-16 Moore Street, Leichhardt, (02) 9566 2377, info@lawsons.com.au.
Mixed Vintage footnote:
After four years based in Moorabbin, Melbourne’s version of the Round She Goes pre-loved fashion markets will extend across town to Coburg Town Hall, 90 Bell Street, Coburg, from 10 am. to 3 pm. this Sunday, August 4. Entry is $2, 0433 131 864, http://www.roundshegoes.com.au
Mary’s Moncler Pod
The wondrously talented Greek/British designer Mary Katrantzou whose original way with digital prints in combination with flattering cuts and surface embellishments was first nabbed for Australian consumers by Georgina Weir and Amelia Coote of Melbourne’s Le Louvre boutique and who, more recently, was a special guest of her current local stockist David Jones, has collaborated on a pod collection for uber-cool French/Italian sports and ready-to-wear brand Moncler. Pictured are samples from the 16-odd-piece pod, reflecting a more controlled and sombre aesthetic than Miss Katrantzou is renowned. (Main picture top, the collection’s unofficial gobsmacker frock.)
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Voxfrock team members met in furious agreement that it is a crying shame Moncler M by Mary Katrantzou will not be easy for us to snap up on account of the scarcity of eponymous bricks-n’-mortar stores within coo-ee of Australia. (Not to mention an Australian-brand-only policy practiced by half the team). However. A plane ticket and small personal loan (prices kick off from EUR650 or $AU950) should solve the issue for most. Vogue France has the lowdown on the pod collection, dropping into Moncler stores from Seoul to Paris within days. (Note: Le Louvre stocks the Moncler general collections: www.lelouvre.com.au, 2 Daly St., South Yarra (03) 9650 1300
Bombshell Togs
RMIT fashion business lecturer Emily Doig does a nice line in togs, mostly fancy, 50s-esque glamourgirl styles in lush patterns and colours with pretty high-waisted briefs and proper, structured brassiere tops. They’ve been described; “Sexy, not skimpy” and that certainly fits. Voxfrock mentions Miss Doig because her day job is unusual and she does her other rather well. This week she also launched a pre-orderable range-let called Pacifica Botanica under her two year old Bombshell Bay brand of swimwear.
Style “Two Tickets to paradise” by Bombshell Bay
Pacifica Botanica’s exotic Hawaiian back-theme is as clangingly obvious as a Five-O shirt but a little richer and darker this time. “I wanted to create a new twist on the Hawaiian tropical theme,” Miss Doig explains. “Darker, more mysterious patterns and colours that reflect lush jungles, birds and exotic flowers.”
Voxfrock likes Bombshell Bay style names almost as much as Bombshell Bay togs. Make Mine A Mimosa, for example is a high-waisted two-tone two-piece with bow top and removable halter (apparently terrific for avoiding tan lines though, Voxfrock wouldn’t know as we don’t partake of such dangerous activities). There is also Some Like it Hula, La Isla Botanica and Two Tickets to Paradise among style names reminiscent of Alannah Hill’s charming habit of naming her frocklets after various life adventures, particularly loves conquered and lost.
La Isla Botanica by Bombshell Bay
Pre-orders for Pacifica Botanica, priced in the $139-159 range, made in Indonesian and Cambodian ethically checked factories, and due for delivery in September, are being taken now on
www.bombshellbay.com.au and at Bombshell Bay’s Australian stockists.
Now, The Wives
Yes indeedy the makers of America’s The Real Housewives of …(Insert location here).. mustered a fresh crew of pampered spouses. The television series best characterised by the bickering, bitching and occasional drunken catfights of breathtakingly spoilt women is reportedly being filmed as we speak, and will be broadcast some time next year. Half the Voxfrock team is aghast that Melbourne was the wife-fodder hunting ground for this ghastly show, the other half struggles to give a flying purple fig. We will all, however, sure as car crashes are magnetic and babies make you go awwwwww, watch the show.
In the meantime, we offer this confirmed list of The Real Housewives of Melbourne, lifted fresh and without moderation or comment from Foxtel, and this group shot from the breaking news report by www.heraldsun.com.au earlier this week:
From left, Lydia Schiavello, Andrea Moss, Jackie Gillies, Janet Roach, Gina Liano and Chyka Keebaugh.
Photo: Heraldsun.com.au
Andrea Moss – Former New York television journalist who now lives in Toorak, shops in Toorak and runs a multi-million dollar plastic surgery and cosmetic medicine business in Toorak. She is co-founder of the Liberty Belle Skin Centre and her husband, Dr. Chris Moss, is regarded as one of the world’s finest facial plastic surgeons. When she’s not busy managing both businesses and various property developments she’s loving being a mum to her three children under 11.
Gina Liano – Her looks, flamboyance and sense of style cannot hide her love of fashion which is a creative relief from her day job as one of Melbourne’s top barristers. Gina is a strong, assertive single mother of two and her sisters are fashionistas Bettina Liano and Teresa (TL Wood).
Lydia Schiavello – Recently married to well known Australian architect and CEO of Metier 3, Andrew Norbury, Lydia is currently studying interior design and decoration at RMIT University. Lydia is a very passionate and capable woman; she has a diverse lifestyle and enjoys skiing, fashion, food and flying. Lydia has six children and step-children all under 25 and loves spending time with her family.
Janet Roach – Fabulous and fun is the only way to describe blonde bombshell Janet Roach. After leaving husband number two overnight, this millionaire property developer is now living life to the max re-discovering herself, her freedom and what makes her happy. Janet is the proud mother of two sons aged 29 and 25.
Jackie Gillies – A new addition to the Melbourne scene the amazingly gifted celebrity psychic Jackie is wife of rock royalty, Silverchair drummer and Bento front man, Ben Gillies and is the youngest of our housewives.
Chyka Keebaugh – One of Melbourne’s most liked and well connected housewives, bubbly, creative go-getter and mother of two teenagers, Chyka spends most of her days running from one meeting to the next as the co-owner of one of Australia’s largest and most successful and extravagant event companies, The Big Group and The Design Depot.
Compiled by Terry Carruthers, Candice Burke and Jessica Smythe, info@voxfrock.com.au, with Janice Breen Burns, jbb@voxfrock.com.au
