Category Archives: Fashion Events

International Woolmark Prize and A/W 2016/17 Winter Wool Trends

July 11, 2016 Talyssa Leave a comment

This week I had the pleasure of attending the regional final of the international Woolmark prize for Australia and New Zealand. For those who don’t know, this prize celebrates outstanding fashion talents from around the globe in a competition that challenges participants to test the boundaries of merino wool.

Of the talent present on the night, Australian labels Exinfinitas and macgraw took out the competition with their unique, innovative and forward thinking designs. Macgraw stole the show with a two-piece look that showcased a soft pink overcoat with hand embroidered merino wool flowers. Inspired by the Flannel Flower native to Sydney, the piece embodied the soft woolly feel of the flower.

From luxury fashion to contemporary street wear, merino wool is soft on the skin and provides superior drape that follows the form of the wearer’s body – making it an ideal, trendy and not to mention warm must-have for winter. But if you’re not too sure where to start on the next wool piece for your closet, don’t worry! The Woolmark Company puts together a seasonal guide that curates the most inspirational emerging wool trends known as ‘The Wool Lab’. This year, The Wool Lab has identified 7 themes for 2016/17 Autumn/Winter that are inline with the latest fashion trends.

Here’s the scoop on two of my favourites below:

Normdecor

Redefining elegance, Normdecor is about wearing structured but comfortable clothes with deluxe touches. This look takes inspiration from different fashion eras and cultures.

Get the look:

Structures & Patterns:
Jacquard, embroideries, prints, taffetas, fake fur (Byzantine), panno, voile, trimming
Knitwear:
Jacquard, Milan stitch, compact knit

Androgyne

Androgyne is all about timeless elegance. This theme takes the idea of made-to-measure ‘man’ suits, designed for the classy woman.

Get the look:

Structures & Patterns
Glenn check, pinstripe, houndstooth
Colours
Grey, blue, black and white

*Please note that this article was also contributed to SydneyScoop.

Fashion Events

The Week in Photos – and our first Blogshop!

December 1, 2013 The Hidden Thimble Team 2 Comments

Siree here!

Wow I’m finally back from travels (but that’s for another post sorray!)

We had our first blog shop exactly a week ago and it was great success with some pleasant surprises. Here’s what you missed!

Tadah our store set-up. We got a bit high tech with the iPad for the Etude House and Skinfood cosmetics we had on display. It’s all in the details :)

Our variety of “ViVi” inspired vintage items got people curious which was wonderful! Personally, I feel our love for this style is still new and niche for a majority of people but we hope to spread the love around the Sydney scene more! Thanks to Little Treasures Market and Margaret from le petite mademoiselle for having us and to Blackflower Patisserie for all the macarons on the day! Not to mention everyone who came to visit (and to Shu for hanging out with us!) :)

My favourite piece from the stuff I got was this two-piece matchy set. So cute for that summer-by-the-pool kind of vibe. No doubt the person who bought it also thought it was adorbs!

The weather in Sydney has been pretty shiot lately I must say. Cold, rainy than a hint of sun just to tease us blah! But I capped off the busy week with some festive Thanksgiving dinner at Neutral Bay with the home sick office folk!

Couldn’t get past all the pumpkin hype! Got some pumpkin ale from Seattle to wash everything down.

The menu includes honey glazed ham, prime rib and oven-roasted turkey, cornbread, stuffing, *gasps for air* green beans, candied yams, sweet potato pie, succotash and mash potatoes. Absolutely yummo! Dessert was pecan, apple and pumpkin pie! Would’ve liked it more if there was the whole pie and not a tasting plate because family style all the way!

If you came to our blogshop let us know what you thought! We might have another one so stay tuned and make sure you follow us on facebook and instagram!

Until next time!

Siree

Fashion Events, Misc

Turning 1!

October 8, 2013 The Hidden Thimble Team Leave a comment

Aloha!

Siree here. Just five days ago this little blog turned 1 and we can certainly say with unabashed pride we are growing up!

From the beginning to now we’ve gone through many stages of writing, diligent diary syncing, eating, more eating (for science!), procrastinating and idea brainstorming to finally being able to share this space with you. Seriously, whenever we look back we wished we started this idea for a blog sooner. Seeing all these young blood blogging during their uni day makes us envious about what we could have fit into our uni day beside our usual dinner/club activities/uni social event gathering/karaoke after school sessions. Though it would be interesting to show what we did get up to after study was over ahaha (we’ll never tell!).

But we’ve achieved a lot since starting and thank you for staying around, reading and commenting it means a lot to us!

And so, remember here where I said that The Hidden Thimble was gonna have something special happening for the month of October? Well here it is:

Yes! We are going to have our first pop up store to celebrate our first birthday full of lovely trinkets as I travel to the trend cities of Tokyo and Seoul!

I’ll be sourcing not only clothes but also cosmetics and there’ll be some yummy macaroons and home made treats for the store as well!

The blog store will be happening sometime in November so keep up to date on our Facebook on location and details!

Thank you for putting up with our narcissistic selfies, Siree’s questionable spelling, random rants

and just lonnnnng procrastinating periods.

It’s something we can’t seem to shake from our self improvement list.

Until next time.

Siree

Fashion Events

Little Treasures Market Debut

July 22, 2013 The Hidden Thimble Team 4 Comments

If you guys have read Le Petite Mademoiselle’s interview featuring us you would not only have come across our fellow WhatIWear fashion bud Margaret’s blog but also the fact that …Siree loves markets.

Margaret’s been a busy lady preparing for the launch of her project Little Treasures Market, a new monthly market showcasing everything vintage, local creatives and emerging Sydney designers. It’s such a great concept to add to Sydney’s vibrant market culture and Talyssa’s been a bit M.I.A because of her new crib (moving into a new place is a lot of hard work!) so I was lucky to have a taste of what’s on offer at the VIP launch night at District 01.

Marked with a cute bunting outside the entrance I was welcomed with the cheery faces of some of the stallholders and the first thing to catch my eye was the cute fashion collars by Collars from Neverland. How fitting! Since our blog’s name is also derived from Peter Pan. Clarisee hand makes all these fashion collars herself and runs an esty store as well.

//SHOP: Collars From Neverland//
Clarisee and her handmade fashion collars!

The launch event was a precursor to Sunday’s market debut with some great stuff from re:new vintage,Laurel & Hector Vintage, Marikit by Kitty Choy, Dear Pluto Vintage, Suck Is Free and Age Of Intimacy having stalls ready for the next day.

I also had a friendly chat with the guys behind Pigeon and Weasel. Creative “chandlers” by passion and trade (yeah we had that moment of giddy amusement over that fun fact) I learnt more about their eco friendly triple scented soy wax candles made out of recycled beer bottles that are sanded down and smoothed before filled with wax. The scent (not flavour!) combos are pretty unique with names that pick exactly the sort of scent you were thinking of. Fresh Linen smells exactly like fresh clothes straight out of the dryer, Citrus Sunset if you could imagine Sex on the Beach would smell like if it was breathable, and Red Frogs that smells like… Red Frog lollies! Clay did a great job at designing the packaging and logo for the brand! Just proving that candles aren’t just a “chick thing.” Really. Guys, beer, guns and Red Frogs? Yeah, it sounds like a guy kind of gift he’ll appreciate on his man-tel piece.

Hooray for food! Refreshments were sponsored by Santa Vittoria and Mak Mak Macarons on the night with Margaret ‘s home made cupcakes and (vodka) punch. I’m now convinced she is a very multi-talented lady! She also runs a food blog Baking With Maggie and made the gorgeous flower arrangements for the night.

Congrats to Margaret and Chris for organizing a great night and all the hard work involved in making the markets happen!

Want to know when the Little Treasures Market is on next?

Check them out for more information and updates:

Little Treasures Market

Facebook

Twitter

Upcoming Market dates

25th August
29th September
27th October
24th November
22nd December

Until next time!

Fashion Events

Ixiah Media Launch

May 25, 2013 The Hidden Thimble Team Leave a comment

After professing our love for IXIAH’s collection at Sydney Fashion Weekend, when we heard news of IXIAH’s media launch we knew we just HAD to go!

Heading down to level 1 of Westfield Pitt Street, a small sealed off section was packed and we mean PACKED full of people all checking out the IXIAH collection. We were pretty stoked to be able to see the collection up close and personal. There’s nothing more satisfying than running your fingers on some expensive threads, ahh *sigh*.

Just a bit of background IXIAH (pronounced ex’ sy’ ah,’ yes we were fighting over the pronunciation too) is a Sydney-based fashion label by Krystal Davis. It’s always hard to articulate a brand’s signature style, but IXIAH’s “about us” page best describes their aesthetic as being “textural collections and strong silhouettes with handmade eclectic design aspects.”

We couldn’t agree more! There is something genuinely intriguing about the choice of delicate fabrics and feminine cuts that are both flattering and well put together. Amongst music, tasty treat munching and freebie goodies, their clothes were marked down with a generous discount. We even found pieces from $300 down to $150! It made us swoon with a giddy childish glee when going through each rack from their SS12 – Fall 13 collections.

I (Talyssa) absolutely LOVED that blue blouse!! I still want it, but ah..I’m so poor these days.

If we’re completely honest the crowd looked kinda pretentious – models, good looking people in general, fashion buffs, the brand designers and of course, hipsters. Although it took us a while to work up the courage to talk to people on the night when we finally did, everyone, especially the models, were super nice!!

One of the models we gathered up the courage to talk to (LOL). This lovely model’s outfit features IXIAH’s upcoming Spring collection due to be released in August.

We absolutely loved this outfit! This model also features clothing from IXIAH’s Spring Collection debuting in August. Loving this Aztec inspired style! Spring trends seem to be fluro, bright colours, aztec/geometrical patterns, and exploring clothing of different textures.

We were in awe of this outfit!! That vest was immaculate and works so well with the blouse underneath. For some reason we can’t shake the the lost Island “Atlantis” vibe we’re getting from IXIAH’s clothing! Don’t you think?

Freebie showbag!! This was such an awesome bonus. Each bag contained a free belt, a hair product (mine was a heat protectant spray), a $100 makeup lesson voucher (so awesome) and a complimentary treatment and blowdry at Intershape Hairstylists.

The IXIAH pop up store is on level 1 outside Zara in Westfield Pitt Street for one month only so check it out!

Fashion Events

Fashion Weekend Sydney 2013

May 20, 2013 The Hidden Thimble Team 5 Comments

The final day of Fashion Weekend Sydney wrapped up yesterday, with another successful year of ‘dazzling’ and ‘inspiring’ us Sydney-siders through SHOP’s exciting fashion filled event. Fashion Weekend Sydney featured over 100 designers showcasing their latest collections at special discount prices, in the Royal Hall of Industries from 16-19^th May. On top of this, the event showcased over 15 Beauty and Lifestyle stalls, as well as the highlight of the evening, the signature Fashion Weekend Sydney catwalk!

Unfortunately, we could only attend Thursday evening, which limited the amount of highlights we could participate in and severely limited our shopping experience!! One day for us to bargain shop is like saying sorry, no card payments here.

Shut up and take my money! HAHA

So what did a ticket to Fashion Weekend Sydney get you?

With free wine in hand, the first thing on our agenda was to check out the fashion catwalk. This years line up included Bec and Bridge, StyleStalker, Watson X Watson, Ixiah, Nicola Finetti, Talulah, Hussy, Natasha, By Johnny and Christensen Copenhagen, all showcasing their current collections for Autumn/Winter 2012-2013. So let’s check it out:

The stand out of the show for us was definitely the Ixiah collection. Unfortunately our images couldn’t capture all the pieces in their full glory! Ixiah’s style captures a vintage bygone era appeal which compliments the feminine soft elements of flowing fabrics and lace. For us, Ixiah’s collection had an appeal that was vastly different from its competition on the catwalk and extremely resonated to our particular fashion taste.

This coordi in particular really made us go “wow!” when it first appeared on the catwalk. It is refreshing and stunningly gorgeous!

The catwalk concluded after a short 30 minutes, but gave great insight into this seasons upcoming trends!

With the fashion show over, we were finally able to shop!!! In our opinion, the shopping experience was fantastic, there were a mixture of vintage and high fashion stores, all selling one-off pieces at reduced (some even up to 50% off) prices. It was really nice to see that some pop up stalls really put in effort into their décor.

Though we would have loved to do more shopping, we ended up talking to the lovely Melbourne ladies, Natalie from Harv & Milla and Janet from JC Lane. Their style was so cute and definitely aligned to our tastes! A pair of vintage style boots for only $59 caught my eye so of course, purchased!!

Other free highlights included various fashion talks on the latest style and trend advice – how to wear this seasons style and essentials for your wardrobe, – free polaroid booths, competitions, mini makeovers, and $20 manicures with free Sally Hensen goody bags valued at over $40!!!

Finally, an event bonus was the presence of food and drinks! We have been to fashion events – LONG fashion events – that provided no food or drinks, so this was definitely great to see!! Yes even us fashion lovers like to EAT!

Overall, we definitely recommend anyone who loves fashion, shopping, or just interested in having a girls night out, to check out Sydney Fashion Weekend next year! It is definitely worth in!

JUST IN – Ixiah is having a retail media launch night this Thursday! Fingers crossed we can get some media passes to show you all the beautiful clothes and fun on the night!

Until next time,

Run by two travel and lifestyle bloggers, The Hidden Thimble focus’ on creating truthful and in-depth travel guides, food & beauty reviews. Enjoy drool-worthy photography from around the world!