Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Royal Wedding

With only two days to go until the Royal Wedding of Wills and Kate, it's getting exciting!
Most of all, I am looking forward to seeing her dress. It has been a closely guarded secret and possibly the most highly anticipated part of the event. Of course, I'd love to see her in something vintage inspired, maybe something reminiscent of Princess Grace  (Grace Kelly).
We will be having a bit of fun in the boutique, with some bubbles to celebrate and of course a tiara or two! Here are some illustrations of how I'd imagine Kate might look, also a few photo's of our store display in preparation of the big event........



Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Behind the Scenes at Fanantique


As you may have noticed, my posts on the blog have became more and more sporadic, I'm sorry about this- I haven't even kept up with my 'Champagne Friday" entries! There has been quite a lot of things going on behind the scenes here at Fanantique, all of which deserve their own post and in time will get one!
Here is a run down of some recent goings on, events and also some work in progress:

DesignEx- Interior Design show
At the moment DesignEx is on in Melbourne. DesignEx is a trade only exhibition open to anyone in a field such as interior design, architecture, furniture, furnishing fabrics and textiles etc. It is always good to go along to these events to keep an eye on what's new, current and emerging trends in interior decorating. (Not to mention there is usually a glass or two of Champagne involved!) I will be going along to this tomorrow and hope to report back to let you know what beautiful things I see....
In the meantime to find out more about 'DesignEx' click here



The Royal Wedding
Unless you have been living under a rock, you will know that it is not long now until the Royal Wedding of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton. I thought it was as good an excuse as any, for a celebration. The day of the big event, April 29, does happen to be a Friday so we will be celebrating with an extra special Champagne Friday. We will be featuring an extra special window display in store, co-curated  by renowned Melbourne milliner, Peter Jago (aka the self proclaimed 'Queen of Everything') we have started putting together some special pieces including some limited edition Peter Jago hatpins.



Melbourne Fine Art- French Fashion Illustration 
There is currently a very special exhibition on in town at the Melbourne Fine Art Gallery:
Vintage French Fashion Illustration. The images I've seen from the show all look divine and I can't wait to check out the show on Monday. I look forward to reporting back on the visual delights that await me! For more details about the show click here

Bay St One Off Event - Vintage Fashion Sale
As you may or may not know, we have some rather interesting neighbors here on Bay St. One of which is a fabulous Antique shop - 'A Joy Forever'. The owner, Francesca is currently having a clean out of her warehouse and amongst her treasures she has a great collection of vintage clothing and accessories. We are teaming up and are in the midst of planning a one off vintage fashion sale along with some other purveyors of fine vintage fashion. Stay tuned for more about this soon......

The Deck Bar
Speaking of neighbors,  another one of our neighbors is the lovely Brad, who has 'The Deck Bar' further down the street. He is currently in the midst of a renovation on the function room of the bar. I was lucky enough to be asked in to have a look and offer my opinion. His interior decorator, has come up with the inspired theme of 'Midnight at the Oasis' , a luxurious Middle Eastern flavor. I am currently loving being part of the creative process and have come across some gorgeous points of inspiration for the project. To give you an idea of the feel, here are a few images. (Again pictures and more details coming soon)


New Products- Besame Cosmetics
Of course I am always on the look out for beautiful things for the store. After chatting recently with the lovely Candice DeVille (aka Super Kawaii Mama- to see her amazing vintage style blog click here) I decided that Besame cosmetics would be a fabulous addition to our range. I am still in discussion with the company, but things are looking good and I am hoping to introduce their gorgeous range of vintage inspired lipsticks soon. To get a sneak peek at the beautiful collection click here

Vintage Fashion
Of course there are some more beautiful vintage pieces arriving soon, amongst other things,we have some beautiful coats and handbags for winter coming soon. My mum is currently in Seattle and she will be bringing back lots of goodies for the store at the end of the month!


Illustration
Outside of Fanantique, things have been busy also. I have been working on illustrations for a book for an educational company, Take Note Music. I hope to share pictures soon, after the book is published. It has been a fun project with some gorgeous characters. The concept of the book is all about teaching children how to read music. It has been fun to step away from fashion illustration and explore other styles, and I must say illustrating for kids is a lot of fun.

The Wedding
Of course another thing that is occupying my thoughts is of course my wedding! I have been slowly putting together a collection of ideas (creating a mood board) but have yet to really do any tangible planning. The current plan is still to go to Hungary for the event, but Gabor is not a big fan of being the center of attention so is getting a little nervous about this idea. He is gently trying to talk me into opting for a small wedding on a remote Western Australian beach or a shot gun style wedding in Las Vegas! I must admit Las Vegas is very tempting.....but I am sticking to my guns and still planning a European Wedding. Once I finish the book I am working on, I will get to work on designing my dress.

There are also more things in the works for further down the track, including a Spring Racing Event, a special excursion to the Grace Kelly exhibition next year and more, stay tuned!



Monday, April 4, 2011

Easter

Some of my Easter decorating in the store........ I love these white rabbits! 

Sunday, April 3, 2011

DIY Easter Decorating

With Easter only a few short weeks away, I have been thinking about how I will be decorating this year. We have in the store some gorgeous wooden rabbits and toadstools which are perfect for Easter but I thought it would be fun to get creative and try and create some more decorative pieces to compliment them.
Firstly, I love these ideas of using cardboard egg cartons for Easter decorations . It is so easy to create. Simply a painted  egg carton with shot glasses for little vases, and gorgeous flowers. Shown below, this idea is a little bit more time consuming, but still relatively easy. The egg carton has been chopped up and painted to create fun flower shapes and then fashioned into a wreath.

Below is another cute flower arrangement. The foam eggs are simply skewered onto a bamboo skewer, which has been wrapped with ribbon. These make a great festive addition to the flowers.
Shown below is the best idea yet (it is certainly the cheapest to construct!) An egg garland made out of paint chips!
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