by Candice DeVille | Jan 27, 2015 | Style Inspirations, Travel
I discovered many things during my holiday in Dubai, but none more amazing and thrilling to me than what I learnt about their culture through the language of fashion.
Generally speaking, the West has a very uninformed view of Middle Eastern fashion, what it is and all the hidden secrets. My education began in a most unexpected way.
One afternoon while wandering The Dubai Mall alone, I took myself on a mission to capture the beautiful fabrics and finishes of the pieces I’d seen in the windows of the Souk. Incredible colours, fine embroidery and jewelled hems all called my name. I had very much wanted to purchase an Abaya on my trip, but after seeing these jewels, I was a little afraid to look at the price tags. So I stayed at arms length, appreciating from outside the glass.
As I wandered along, a well-dressed young man smiled at me from the doorway of one of the more opulent stores, “Please come in, have a look around.” I almost shook my head but tentatively stepped inside, a bright and gleaming countertop catching my eye. This was no ordinary store. Like being dropped into a museum gallery, I realised at once that what I could see was something extraordinary. True artisan works of the highest quality, showcased like a medieval tapestry.
Eager to demonstrate their wares, he began to remove the fabric piece by piece, placing it softly on the countertop. He could see I was hesitant to touch the pieces and immediately started to drape them over my shoulders with, “please, see the quality of this stitching. Each piece is unique and takes over two years to complete.”
Stunning, utterly stunning. The weight of the fine silk, the hand rolled hem, the carefully selected colour variations giving depth and life to the motifs. I began to exclaim at their beauty and compare fabric weights, asking questions as I went along. We looked at each other and realised that the other had a true appreciation for the skill in these pieces; he offered to dress me in the full ensemble.
by Candice DeVille | Jan 22, 2015 | 1950, daily outfit, Home & Garden
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MagnaPool is an alternative to traditional salt water and chlorine pools, using a blend of natural minerals. MagnaPool provides pool water that is healthy, nourishing, luxurious to swim in and environmentally friendly. Visit http://magnapool.com/ |
What a summer this is turning out to be! Such a mix weather wise, not the usual unrelenting heat we have had in past years. With loads of rain things are actually looking lush and green this time and with all the new landscaping we’ve been doing (dare I say it), tropical!
We’ve managed to get quite a number of my new plants in, Elephant ears, Monsteras and Jasmine all adding to the growing picture. So with any luck, if this amount of rain keeps up, I may yet have the lush green pool side vision I’ve dreamt of. The Magnapool has been simply stunning; both to sit by and to relax in on warm evenings. I find that hot weather plays havoc with my legs and fluid retention, so having such an incredible space to soak and revive is an amazing luxury.
Today’s dress I’ve been saving for a special occasion. It is an original vintage Hawaiian piece I bought from a friend who wore it when she won Miss VLV, so it has an illustrious past. It is one of those fabulous numbers that is both gorgeous and infinitely comfortable, meaning it will become a piece I reproduce for myself in the future. There are quite a number of pieces like that in my collection; pieces I’ve had every intention of making patterns from and then remaking them ten times over for love. The reality is though, that I just don’t have the time or the level of skill to do that quickly, so I’m gradually handing these over to friends who can take this on for me.
Outfit Details
Dress – Vintage Hawaiian
Bangles – Vintage op shop find
Shoes – Bordello ‘Genie’ style in brown snake skin finish (these have the same last as those sparkly ones I posted earlier)
My plan is to eventually have a small but perfect collection of the vintage pieces I love the most, complete with patterns so that I’m able to reproduce their beauty as they become more fragile or as I need things more suitable to different conditions. Have you taken or made any patterns from your favourites? How do you deal with the inherent sadness of wanting to both wear and preserve them?
This post is part of a Nuffnang native advertising series.
MagnaPool is an alternative to traditional salt water and chlorine pools, using a blend of natural minerals. MagnaPool provides pool water that is healthy, nourishing, luxurious to swim in and environmentally friendly. Visit http://magnapool.com/.
by Candice DeVille | Jan 21, 2015 | Books, Music & Art, Things to Do
Bewitched.
Samantha has wicked style, taking us from the flirty and feminine 1960’s looks right through to Hippie chick. She always had a wonderful way of changing up her hair and outfits to channel different vibes, yet always remained true to her character at heart. If you want some great ideas for how to dress your little ladies in groovy retro threads, check out the littlest witch Tabitha, when she comes along in later seasons.
Dynasty
I barely need to say anything about this one as a picture tells a thousand words. Joan Collins was my idol in the 1980’s and I wanted so desperately to have a wardrobe like hers in this incredible show. Drama, intrigue and furs flying. If you love a good shoulder pad, dramatic entrance and sizzling one liners, remind yourself just how good this is with a rewatch.
Petticoat Junction
Boy I loved this show; right up there with Gilligan’s Island and with far better fashion potential than The Beverly Hillbillies. These adorable sisters could work a pair of Daisy Dukes like nobody’s business and always had such amazing hair even though it seemed that they bathed in a water tower!
That Girl
This is one of those shows that if you missed the first time around, or in reruns, you absolutely must seek out! Of all the fashion inspiration on vintage T.V, Marlo Thomas in That Girl has it nailed. Accessories galore, the ability to rock an ensemble for any mood, and all as an independent woman in the big city. a style and lifestyle hero.
To find any of these T.V series on DVD check out Amazon, where they have an incredible range of awesome vintage T.V. Once you start looking, its addictive!
by Candice DeVille | Jan 19, 2015 | Self
While going through the multitude of pieces I am culling from my wardrobe today, I had an interesting thought about my clothes and their personalities.
Everything in our wardrobes has a personality, take that blue velvet dress for example. She is for romantic evenings, dinner dates and impressing with elegant ease. She doesn’t shout, but she likes to be noticed. She is simple, yet luxurious. In stark contrast are things like the very functional denim jeans, a loyal friend that is ready to go out at any time, whether that be to the grocery store, to a party or to bail you out of jail. The friend everyone needs.
So I began to think, what if we looked at the contents of our wardrobes as we do at our friends? Are there relationships that just aren’t working anymore? Perhaps there are creatures in there with those negative personalities that always bring you down. The ones who tell you you’re not quite special enough, or you’d be ok if you lost a few kilos. The sneaky ones that sit quietly until you need them, then they turn around and stab you in the back with their overly clingy fabrics and bad hemlines. No one needs mean girls in their wardrobe.
Decluttering with clarity can be the hardest thing when emotion is involved, especially when it comes to memories, but just like the girl friend from high school who once held your hair back, they are now just poking you on facebook. They aren’t actually serving any enriching purpose in your life right now.
A lot of the ‘personalities’ I’m clearing from my closet are actually lovely. They’ve been there for the tea parties and shopping outings, but there are now so many friends, the conversation has become so loud that it gives me a headache. Time to clear the deck.
I don’t want to see new and inspiring pieces “hang out” with the negative in my closet, or their purpose will be drowned out in the noise. Instead, I’m looking at this task with a more creative set of eyes, forming positive new friendships between old pieces, letting go of those who just aren’t cutting it at this party. I want friends living in there who always make me look my best, help me out when I’m in a hurry and make me feel like a million bucks.
If you look at your closet right now, I’ll be you could find at least five “negative” culprits in there. Start weeding them out and make room for more positivity in your wardrobe, and the rest will begin to follow.
Have you got Mean Girls in your closet?
by Candice DeVille | Jan 15, 2015 | Home & Garden, sponsors
This post is brought to you by Nuffnang and Zodiac Australia
The decision to build a pool at home was a big one, and one that has been a long time coming. When Zodiac contacted me a couple of weeks ago to see if we’d like to trial and review their MagnaPool mineral salts pool system, I laughed, as this is exactly what we’d already installed so I knew I’d be happy to write about it. I’m already sold.
When we first bought this property over seven years ago, one of the key reasons we chose it was for the space it had to put in a fantastic pool area to our own design. I love looking at water, I love its calming sounds and rippled surface, but I’m really not much of a swimmer.
My swimming experiences all make it somewhat of a hassle for me. Firstly I have coloured hair and I hate the damage lots of chlorine does to it. I also hate the damage it does to my swimsuits and my skin. I have very sensitive eyes and even sitting by indoor chlorinated pools causes my eyes to become so red it makes it hard to see. Choosing the right pool set up became a big research project for us.
Putting in a pool is a huge investment and one we really wanted to get right, so when we heard about MagnaPool from our builder, it was something I consulted both online reviews and my resident chemist (Dad), about.
In a nutshell, a MagnaPool uses magnesium (a natural mineral) to detoxify and balance the water. Magnesium is what you find in all those amazing mineral baths and spas around the world; know for their ability to sooth aches and pains, relieving stress and anxiety. I’ve had arthritis in my legs for years and years, sometimes to the point where I just can’t be on my legs, so this idea that as a non-swimmer, I can just rest, relax and float in a pool that is going to help relieve this is amazing!
Magnesium and potassium (the two minerals found in the MagnaPool system), are also credited with relieving skin ailments, helping with sensitivity issues and also being far safer for my coloured hair, (superficial I know).
As far as the filter system goes, MagnaPool uses a glass filter system instead of sand or other media. These Zodiac Glass beads are made from recycled glass and discourage bacteria from attaching to them, which is a known issue with sand filters. So the overall water quality is cleaner, more sanitary and also due to the minerals, much better to use on the garden when it is changed over!
Making the decision on this one was really important, but we also found out that pools that were currently using a chlorination system could be changed over to MagnaPool. We vacillated a bit in making the decision due to the initial extra set up cost and our tightly stretched budget, but when all the chips were down, there was no second guessing just how good a decision this would be. It is one of the best things we’ve done with this whole renovation.
Not only is the water absolutely stunning to look at, but it leaves my skin actually feeling better than when I got in; smooth and silky, not stinging or stinking of heavy chlorination.
Pools are such a big part of the Australian backyard lifestyle, and finding ways to make our experiences with them even better is something I see advertised all the time. Fancy sofas and lovely accessories, all wonderful of course, but if I can suggest one thing to start with; it would be converting to a MagnaPool.
I’d like you to experience of what it is like to bathe in this type of water, so Zodiac have provided me with 50 sachets (2 per winner) of their MagnaPool mineral bath salts to help you create your own mini experience.
Given, it isn’t the same as floating around under the sunset, but add these to a bath soak and see just how it feels. Let your entire body relax, aches and pains drift away, while your skin soaks up the detoxifying minerals.
All you need to do is be one of the first 25 to leave me a comment about why you think MagnaPool mineral salts would be right for you.
Terms and conditions apply
The competition is open until 5:00 pm AEDST on 6th February 2015
