Heavy Weather

Ol' Sydney town has been incredibly unpredictable on the whole weather front recently. First, we had that bizarre apocalyptic red sand storm, then it was absolutely swelteringly hot and now it just won't stop raining. And I've heard rumours that it isn't going to clear up for another month. Which would kind of be okay, you know, cozy and relaxing; inside, by the non-existent fire (I can be a home-body when required), did we not have to go via the exposed, roof-free balcony to get to our bedroom. It's a strange house and, what's normally a cool feature - stepping out of my room onto the amazing astroturfed balcony every morning is something I very much treasure - becomes the most annoying thing in the world, ever.

"Err, Bobby, why is your hair all wet?"

"I had to go wee."

"So... You pissed in your hair? Wow. This is awkward. You know what, I'm pretty down with most things but that's totally not cool. Like, that's not even kinky-cool."

"What? No. It's raining. And to go to the bathroom one has to go via the balcony. Remember?"

Despite all this doom and gloom, we fought the elements on Saturday in order to do one big Anglicare buy up. We spent four hours in that hell hole and purchased a whole TWELVE kilos of awesome. One party of said awesomeness is this amazing acid wash parka (see below photos). I also picked up the floral top and leopard print leggings which will be washed and hung up by the weekend. So exciting. You wouldn't believe how good our rack of new shit for our market is looking. Like, I think I might actually wet my pants. Oh, wait, I totally already have. Or is it rain? Darn, I have got to stop getting so easily confused.

Anyway, here are some photos of me goofing around in various series of undress. Despite the connotations of that, none of them are sexy, I'm afraid. The up-side of the whole weather debacle however, is the amount of layering I can get away with. Yesterday I wore a jumper ontop of a cardigan. I know, right? That's some fucked up shit.

Parka, floral top and leopard print leggings are all from that second hand pay-by-the-kilo warehouse in Summer Hill that I always bang on about. The little white cardigan and belt were purchased for a couple of dollars courtesy of Vinnies' half price sale last week (it's a charity store, for all you non-Australians). The black leather bumbag, chunky watch and glasses are all from Paddy's Markets. The shoes were from a vintage store in Sydney and the skirt from a vintage store in Paris.

P.S. I'm never taking off this bumbag/watch/glasses/parka. Ever.


P.P.S If you're in Sydney, Vinnies is having yet another half price sale today. Get down there!

Magazine

The talented and discerning people at ElleGirl Korea have done a feature page on yours truly. You can find it in the March issue of the magazine. Yes, I do realise that it's April now. However, you see, apparently it takes weeks upon weeks to ship things from Korea. By the time it finally arrived in Sydney, I had already left for England. Hence I had to coach my Mother in the art of scanning and saving a picture file as a picture file, not as a Word document. This kind of implies that we were successful. We weren't. In fact, I just wasted an hour and a bit of both our time. Thank God for Skype, otherwise I would be even more broke than I am now (if such a thing were possible). Lucky for me however, over the weekend she had a computer-savvy friend visit her who, on hearing about the saga, wham bam emailed it right over. Et voila!


I feel that it's important to mention at this point that I don't speak Korean. So for all I know they could be talking about my weirdly long and wonky fingers in the photo where I hold Miranda July's No One Belongs Here More Than You. Or my typically (roll of the eyes) indie taste in music/film. So rather than give you a long list of what they might be saying, here is a copy of the article I sent them, in English and in the full. I'm the non-bold bits, in case, like me, you're easily confused.

INTRODUCE YOURSELF. "My name's Emma Harrison. I'm twenty and I live and work on the top floor of an amazing heritage-listed, graffiti-ridden, green maze of a warehouse building in Sydney, Australia. The building is also home to a monthly Vintage and Retro Market that I run."


DESCRIBE YOUR DAILY LIFE. "My days usually consist of buying (and getting very excited about) lots of beautiful old clothes, browsing the Internet for inspiration like the below picture, blogging, arranging my next market, sketching and listening to very good music. Sometimes, if it's not 40 degrees as it is today, I might lounge on my roof with a book. If there's a glint in my eye and I have my thinking face on, it's almost certainly clothes on my mind."


WHAT'S YOUR DREAM? "I would love to one day be making enough profit from my Vintage and Retro Markets to be able to turn my entire floor into a space where people could drop in and buy incredible clothes and pretty things, drink coffee made by our (currently non-existent) in-house barista and hang out on our (also non-existent) Astroturfed roof. I would also have a cinema room with super comfy little seats and a gigantic projector that screened cult hits and shit we like but no-one else does. And if people were hungry we'd serve them brownies."

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
"Books
No One Belongs Here More Than You is a collection of beautiful, quirky and often sad stories by Miranda July. Writers like her inspire and influence me more than anything else. The images that a wonderful writer can conjure in one's mind is difficult to beat. It might be a phrase or a chapter, it might be the way it's told or the way it unravels. I consider styling and thrifting to also be processes of telling a story and when I shop for vintage clothes I like to consider the direction the piece's story has gone and will go in, often with the aim to take it in a direction it hasn't seen before."


"Lipstick
Lipstick can bring a giant white singlet and shorts from a sunny sandy day into a wonderful summer night. It brings together an outfit not unlike a great pair of shoes does. Lipstick reminds me of autumn. Lipstick makes me feel okay for not wearing any other make-up to a party. And when it ends up smudged across your face in the morning, it's okay because clowns are cool."

"Home
The wonderful thing about my building is that it's full of surprises. New artworks (some of them mind-blowing, others horribly amateur) crop up constantly. It's where the cool congregate and the amazing and creative live (me being more the latter than the former)."

"Millie
While it's difficult not to admit that she is by far at her friendliest when she's looking to be fed, my cat is still a beautiful creature. Millie's a lovely companion. I named her such because she was born in the Millennium year. Clearly, my creativity came later in life."


"Bobby
Since my boyfriend Bobby and I have been together, I think both our senses of style have developed. While, individually, we have always had a keen eye for the old and the newly put together, I think that, as a couple, we serve to inspire and open each other's minds. He borrows my blouses and I borrow his skinny ties. It's a pretty sweet deal."


"Cafes
With all the little cafes so close by it's easy to take a little time out of my schedule to sit down and relax with a mug and a sketchbook and let the ideas flow. The moment you sit down and make that decision to do very little, you find yourself noticing things that many people are looking too hard to see. The twist in the girl's hair who's sitting next to you, the amazing shoes that just stomped past, the way the old leather is cracking on the seat beneath you. People-watching is a rewarding sport if you pick the right spot."

"DVD
Ghost World is so wonderfully put together. The colours and perfectly framed shots of those big Docs with those dowdy clothes and wonderful glasses just couldn't get any better. And how could one not relate to such a film? I doubt that there is anyone who has never felt like an outcast. But despite the characters being total losers, they are also some of the coolest ones to grace our screens."


"CDs
I'd like to quote that CSS lyric and say, "Music is my boyfriend". The truth though is that my boyfriend is my boyfriend. However, you can't put my boyfriend on the stereo (very loudly) and dance badly around the room to him. No matter how hard you might wish."


"Pay by the kilo thrifting
Some things you have to be in the right state of mind to endure. Getting up early on a Saturday morning and trawling through mountains of (mainly rubbish) clothes at the pay-by-the-kilo warehouse we frequent is hard work. But it's worth the effort when you chance upon a gem. I always manage to find the most ridiculously wonderful '80s garments."


"Vintage and Retro Market
The Vintage and Retro Market I run is my baby. Once a month I gather together a bunch of little indie sellers and we set up our pop-up store. Personally, I collect and sell things that I want to wear but just don't have room for. Quirky vintage dresses and sweet little skirts. It's lovely to see Sydney's cool kids visit my place and discover their own new treasures."

"Art/photography
Comic books, superheroes and vintage photos are fantastic eye candy. Also, magazines are a great quick source for photographs and art that are put together with the sole purpose of intriguing and inspiring. Even junk mail can be visually inspiring."


"Blogging
Since starting up my blog, I find myself constantly searching for new and inspirational things to blog about. It keeps me on my toes. It makes me strive to put together better outfits. I have a file on my computer and a few little art books lying around that I use to collate ideas. It very much helps when you can't remember what you were getting so excited about just an hour before. Writing it down or writing it up on my blog also helps to cement the ideas in my head and is, for me, a way of keeping track of things."


Update: Thanks to the very kind and multilingual Grace, what follows is a translation of the introduction to the article. "Emma (Age 20) lives in Sydney, and is a fashionholic. She never wears normal t-shirts and jeans, but each day creates a new style by following her mood and mixing and matching vintage items. On a typical day this red haired dreamer usually spends time shopping and blogging, but hopes to run an atelier of her own some day."

Angel Fingers

No spirit fingers here, we're all about the angels. Angel stuff. Angelic places. Anglicare is one such place. It might look like a hell hole, but dig a little deeper and you'll find some heavenly pay-by-the-kilo treasures.


Anglicare is the Summer Hill sorting warehouse from which the donation-run organisation distribute clothes and knick knacks to their 16 Sydney stores. Simply, it is massive (as well as incredibly exhausting). Clothes are inordinately piled and packed into trolleys and after spending two and a half hours there, the surface had barely been skimmed.

On Saturdays they open up about half of the warehouse, while during the week you can only access a quarter or so, but either way you'll find some goodies.

Four and a half kilos and an incredible Summer heat later (outfit regrettably being more Spring than Summer), we were absolutely knackered. Fantastic.

Camel vest: Surry Hills markets
Egg broach: birthday gift from the boy's super lovely house mates
Scarves as top: also birthday gifts from an awesome neighbour
Black top under scarves: Agent 99
Button up top as skirt: Nu & Nan
Green leather belt: mollini (i think)
Navy tights: avocado
Socks: old and (damn) mismatched
Aviators: John Sundry's.