Sretsis: AW12 Oh, My Dear, Deer!

The Melbourne heat wave must be frying my brain- it's not even the middle of Summer yet and I just want to cosy up with some comfy jumpers and be able to go outside without sweet profusely. It's not all doom and gloom- today my 2012 diary arrived today and it's a recycled Little Golden Book, specifically Walt Disney's Bambi! So after roughly flicking through the contents of my new diary, I'm in a deer-loving mood- this tension is only heightened by looking at the Autumn/ Winter collection Sretsis has in store for us this year! After sussing out Wikifashion as well as Maimillia's Sretsis website I found the gorgeous range of clothing- I'm very excited about it all. I first heard about Sretsis after reading about jewellery label Matina Amanita, turns out the two designers are sisters and sometimes collaborate their two brands. I've been a fan of both labels for a while but this deer inspired collection has me particularly excited.

I love thepainterly impression given by this fawn on a jumper with a black background. This year I should have  my mind focused on study, bit I can't help feeling that I should catch up on part-time work to make up for lost years and intense focus towards my VCE. Someone very wise and a little cynical once told that the ATAR score doesn't count for anything, it just gets you into your course. Since I should be safe in getting what I want, I can have more time to earn money and buy lovely clothing! Right now, the Sretsis AW12 collection is available to pre-order and will arrive on your doorsteps in March. At $263 AUD, I wouldn't mind getting this artistic piece for myself.

The collection has a lot of deer themed clothing, from the spotted and speckled jeans to the fawn inspired patterned jackets, dresses and jumpsuits. From their professional photo shoot these two lucky and lovely ladies is my favourite snap- it's overloaded and oozing with deer inspired clothing. I love the casual mai length dress in a light and soft brown colour which features another of the painted fawns- it features a loose fit with sleeves and the hem allows you to float around gently. I'm not sure as to whether I'd be brave enough to tackle a full deer fur inspired dress, but the use of the blazer with thin brown pinstripes on white is a nice touch to tone it down.

The Sretsis Autumn Winter collection combines the best of imaginative prints, luxurious materials and chic, comfy clothing. The deer printed pants and blouse combination would be perfect to hang on to for costume parties when teamed up with a pair of antlers and a little tail- even teaming up the pants with a classic rock band sleeveless shirt, a good leather hang bag and a lot of attitude. As well as clothing Sretsis also dabbles in making gorgeous sunglasses with floral motifs and thick chunky boots. The black ones remind me a little of Jeffrey Campbell boots but the cork effect around the soles allow them to be worn with brown clothes.

Sretsis creator and lead designer Pim Sukhahuta graduated from the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York in 2003 already with a store, two fashion shows, and a covetable internship with Marc Jacobs to her name. Sretsis is a collaboration between Pim and her two sisters, Kly and Matina. In fact, the name Sretsis translates to sisters spelled backwards.

As well as deer inspired clothes, there's a few chich blouses and skirts which feature flowers made of tulle and the collars of their blouses are siply gorgeous. Despite having left high school and seeing the backside of lockers, pencilases and grumpy teachers I can't resist channeling school girl charm with sharp clean blouses such as the new range to be released in March as well as leather satchels. There's a lot of variety to choose from as always and I am definitely going to have some tough decisions ahead of me choosing between denim shorts with deer spots in white, gorgeous floaty dresses as well as artistic prints of  deer in singlets and skirts. Then there's the wooden heeled boots with deer fur patterned, I love them too their so gorgeous. Definitely some of the shoes I'll be pining for in the next season.

Romance Was Born: AW 12

 

While aimlessly searching for archives of the Alice Euphemia blog in the hopes of finding something good, I struck gold. There was some of the more recent Romance was Born collection posted in November so within the last month. I may be lucky in still finding some of the treasures in their stor! I was captivated by the embroidered detail on the jeans shown above- when I had been taking Textiles as a class I had tried to do something similar to a pair of jeans I bought cheap but it didn't end that spectacularly and I only wore them once. Where I failed Romance was Born has succeeded, I love the pairing of the casual pieces of the jeans with the black knitted jumper but there's a touch of glamor with the metallic gold heels on the model. The clouds are stitched in a sort of oriental style with rounded edges mimicking scales and I like the rays of the sun across the legs and the stars near the waist of the jeans. I should save up for a pair of these, I only have two pairs of jeans that I use these days and I could be in the market for a third pair if I was swayed...

 

Romance was Born is known for using lots of bold and bright colour as well as strange geometric patterns and I was glad to see the trademark pieces that this Australian label is known for included in some of the pieces shown on the Alice Euphemia website. I like the coupling of the tights with the firmly structured bright fuschia blouse as well as the skirt thrown in the mix for variation in colour and breaking apart the ensemble.

 

My second favourite piece of what's shown here and what first caught my eyes was this brightly coloured smock dress featuring an owl motif over a bright purple background. I'm very comfortable in dresses of this structure, they're a good height and I own a few so seeing Romance was Born make one in such a cool and kooky print made my heart leap. I love the styling here as well, it's very plain I suppose in one way with black tights, gold heels and a milkmaid braid over the front but you could easily dress up an outfit like this using a black evening jacket. If I won a small lottery certainly I'd be after this piece but I may choose the jeans first shown in this post over this owl dress if it all came down to it. Also there's a few pre-loved Romance was Born goodies on eBay, I've seen a circular sort of tent shaped ying yang dress go for a bit so I guess I'll just play it by ear for now.

Floral Lover

I might be in the market for some sweet and floral jeans; whether they are patched or entirely engrossed in the pattern is something I'm not really that fussy about. It's occurred to me that I only have two pairs of truly reliable pairs of jeans that I trust and wear... perhaps it's time to increase my range of unique denim with some feminine creations. My favourite pairs of denim jeans that I've laid my beady little eyes on are vintage Versace with a butterfly pattern down the legs of the jeans, but I think in this day and age, floral may be more becoming and a little less difficult to find. The second pair pictured above are Cheap Monday jeans, a brand I have been intrigued in but have never worn yet. The floral patch pair is massed produced but when a pair crop up on eBay they are always too small for me. Nothing is more disconcerting for a teenage girl than to see a lovely pair of clothes in size too small for her and being left with the agonising syndrome of 'I'm too fat'.

Judging by the sort of structure of the jeans, that is the waist band, the cut and depth of the front pockets as well as the shape, I'm guessing the pants are vintage. That's not surprising really considering the bright flowers over the black background of the denim, and the fact that some of the best fashion pieces belong to the past, especially if you are into avant garde style and maybe dabble in eclecticism like me. The vintage floral jeans are well suited to the soft focus photograph used to capture the moment of the wearer cheekily sticking their finger through the button fly of their pants. 

These pants look a little like a pair I spotted early last year by the brand Sretsis; although that might just be the similar colour scheme used for the denim. The best and brightest brand for jeans I know is Ksubi, but I bet there is a whole hoard of great denim jeans hiding behind the windows of boutiques in Melbourne. I can't wait to uncover some of them during this Summer break between my final year of high school and my first year of university (hopefully).

Versace: 90s Butterfly Jeans

I'm not too sure what it is, whether I am reverting back to what some may argue to be somewhat primitive grunge and 90s style but when I first saw this jeans for sale on Claire Inc, an Australian site I first came across after searching a few different links on eBay. Claire Inc are a company that sell the best quality vintage finds that are available for famous brands, eg. Chanel, Cacharel, Sonia Rykiel, Karl Lagerfeld, etc. They do favour some brands more than others but I think my heart just may have stopped when I spotted these gorgeous white Gianni Versace jeans with the butterfly print. The bright colours that maintain a lot of their integrity after a decade of being washed and the strong design is just so good. I wish I had been born in the 80s and had lived my teenage years throughout the 90s. I look over my simplistic child guides to photography in which the styling and clothing everyone wears from that era is just so humorous to someone who has only ever known the time period I love in.

My love for the butterfly jeans was rebuked upon spotting a similar pair, size 6 (hence why I couldn't buy them apart from not having the funds available) in green with striking orange and yellow. For some reason I really like the way the butterflies down the middle of the crotch seem split down the middle to either leg. It's really eye catching and sweet without drawing too much attention to that area. I love symmetrical things so that may be why they speak to me on such a level. The top worn with statement jeans such as this has to be minimal but I don't really like the black sheer top the green/orange/yellow jeans are worn with. I think it would be better to find a black t shirt with a worn loose look to it to really emphasise the grunge 90s style. Or wear a shirt in the same shade as the jeans, predominantly green. The smaller size six pair in green sold for $170 whereas the larger size of the white butterfly jeans from Claire Inc sold for $340 I believe. While it is better to buy a pair of jeans that actually fit you, that is a marginal mark up.

The good thing about vintage is that it does make brands such as Chanel and Versace more affordable and the items are usually in good quality but there are poachers out there that will snatch up all the good vintage pieces before the rest of us can even find them. That, and we are also stuck with all the dud vintage pieces that don't seem to classify as cool. Although vintage reselling is a cool concept in terms of recycling and reusing etc. I don't want to pay horrible mark ups for rad pieces when all I need to do is search hard and quickly before anyone else can!