Late night shopping - bricks and mortar Brisbane locals

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know I'm a big fan of shopping small and shopping locally. As with many things in the digital age, the convenience of doing things online is choking a lot of small businesses, so it's important, where you can, to visit and support bricks and mortar stores. 

In Brisbane, there are a few places where I head to visit the staff and touch, see and most importantly, try on clothes and know exactly what the fit and cut and colour is like. I love shopping online as much as the next girl, but there's always a moment of nervousness when I rip open a package: is it going to fit? Will it look good? Will the colours look the same in person as they did online? 

So here are my go-to Brisbane places to visit:

That Shop

28a Logan Road
Woolloongabba 

Picture pinched from That Shop's Facebook

While there are more That Shop stores down the Gold Coast, in Brisbane we have a gorgeous store in Woolloongabba which is staffed by the loveliest ladies ever. You're always greeted with a friendly smile, asked if there's anything you're looking for and helped if you need it or left to browse if that's what you'd prefer. I love going in, telling the girls I'm shopping for an occasion and just standing in the change room playing dress ups. They love picking out outfits for you and many times I've walked away with a dress I may not have considered, but end up loving.

They're stockists of Pinup Girl Clothing, Collectif, Hell Bunny, Banned Apparel and many other loved pinup and rockabilly brands. There's makeup, hair product, accessories and handbags and they've just started stocking those awesome Sun Jellies tote bags! The stores are always immaculate and I find that there's a real pride in the items selected to go in the stores; the best cuts and patterns always make their way to That Shop. 

Tattooed Zombie

Shop 4, 1 Dayboro Road (right on the big roundabout)

Petrie 

Photo pinched from Tattooed Zombie's Facebook

A little off the beaten path for those of you in the city or South, but close for those of us on the Northside, Tattooed Zombie is one of my favourite places to stop. It's a small store, but if there's something in particular you're looking for, Dom is always happy to order it in for you. It's never taken more than a week for an item to come in, and Dom always messages straight away to let you know it's in stock. 

They stock Hell Bunny, Pinup Girl Clothing, Lindy Bop, Erst Wilder, and more, along with a range of shoes including TUK.

She also does some great flash sales, so I highly recommend adding Tattooed Zombie on Facebook so you know when something's coming up. Dom's always really accommodating with these sales too and if you can't make it out to Petrie at short notice, she'll take phone orders for you. 

Ursalady Creations

2/247 Logan Road

Stones Corner

Picture pinched from Ursalady Creations' Facebook

I love this shop. Everyone who works at Ursalady Creations is so friendly, they have a huge range of products from true vintage, to the latest Collectif pieces. They also stock steampunk, costumes, bustle dresses, corsets, Ursula's own line of gorgeous clothes, underwear, and lots of other bits and pieces. The prices are reasonable and everyone will go out of their way to help you; and by out of their way, I mean, I've had offers to keep the store open later until I could get there, dresses held for me and just some of the best service I've ever experienced. 

So those are a few of my favourite places to shop in Brisbane. Are you a local - where are your favourites? And I'd love to hear about stores in your local areas, Australia or otherwise! 

 

Saturday shopping outfit (featuring Hell Bunny Scottie skirt)

Saturdays are for shopping trips and days out with friends and family. I admit that most Saturdays where I do this, I go straight from pilates class to the shops wearing leggings and a t-shirt with my hair in a top knot and no makeup. Last weekend though, was for wedding dress shopping with my soon-to-be getting married sister, so leggings and top knots were not really acceptable attire. I was also going out on Saturday night with limited time between shopping and leaving to get changed, so I had to work around my hair which I'd wet set the night before. 

This outfit is probably pinup casual for me. It's a few steps above leggings, but is much lighter makeup, less floof in the skirt and less fuss all around than going all out. It's cute and comfortable and perfect for a day out. The scarf makes a nice neat way of hiding my pin curls but still helping me look put together. 

I have a weakness for Scottie Dogs (they're my favourite, after Jack the Westie of course - and yes, he has is own Instagram these days), so I adore this Scottie print from Hellbunny. I've got my eye on the Scottie sweaters too, but they'll have to wait to go on the shopping list until after I get back from the US next month! 

Outfit details

Skirt: Hell Bunny (from That Shop)

Shirt: H&M (similar)
Shoes: B.A.I.T Footwear (from Kitten D'Amour)
Scarf: That Shop

Miss Cooly Rocks On 2014: Part One

On the way to the parade, bright and early!

I know I promised updates in the lead-up to Miss Cooly Rocks On, but I ended up with two weekends to organise and pack all my outfits and writing time just got away from me. That, and the fact I wanted to try and keep my outfits a little bit secret squirrel for the weekend and then immediately after, I flew to Sydney for Supanova. So, two weeks later here’s the first part of my Miss Cooly Rocks On experience and my outfits with a few special thank yous thrown in for good measure.


For the pageant, we needed three outfits: daywear, swimwear/beachwear and evening wear. But there were also other official events: a meet and greet with the pageant organisers, sponsors and the other lovely finalists the night before; and an appearance on the Morning Show on Channel Nine and in the parade on the Saturday. So that’s a total of five outfits.

In the lead up to the finalist announcement, I hadn't really allowed myself too much planning time — I didn' want to get too disappointed if I wasn't announced as a finalist. But I had gone so far as deciding I wanted to do a nerdy pinup theme if I did. I’d sketched out some rough ideas, mostly inspired by the new DC Comics Bombshell variant covers, but it wasn't until I was announced that I finally came up with:

• Meet and Greet – the Joker
• Parade – Ariel

(And for the actual pageant? Well, you’ll have to wait and see in part two…)

Meet and Greet:

With my my number 1 support girl for the pageant.

I had heaps of fun with Kelly and Steffii at That Shop in Woolloongabba picking out outfits. Once I let my comic book/nerdy theme slip, the girls got all excited and the dresses and ideas just kept getting put in the change room and I kept falling in love. I never would have found this dress if it wasn’t for them; I usually stay away from wiggle dresses (my style is more cute pinup than vampy sexy pinup), but the second I put this dress on, I had to have it. The purple goes perfectly with my orangey-red hair and rather than clinging to my lumps and bumps, it clings exactly where you want it to and hides all the bits you want it to hide.

When Steffii presented me with this bright green Banned cardigan, she called me the Joker and I was sold. I searched for a pair of green heels to match, but being autumn here, there were no bright colours to be found. In the end, I went with a simple pair of black wedges (courtesy of Mum’s wardrobe). My handbag was made by me from materials purchased at the best fabric shop in the world, Make It Hobby ‘n’ Craft in Boondall.

I was so nervous going to the meet and greet (I've always been a bit shy around new people) and we were a bit late because of the traffic, which meant that by the time I got there, I was shaking and anxious. But a couple of minutes after we walked in the door at the Sands Hotel, Karen (owner of That Shop and pageant organiser extraordinaire) found me and put me immediately at ease. The other girls were all beautiful and nice and easy to talk to and it was lovely to meet some of the other pageant organisers, judges and sponsors.

One of the highlights of the night was finding out that the Pacific Pillow Company, one of the amazing sponsors, had generously made every single one of us a pillow with our photo on it! You can view all of the gorgeous girls with their pillows by clicking here and visiting our official photographer and another of the pageant’s wonderful sponsors; Megan Rizzo Photography.

Morning Show/Parade
It was up bright and early the next day as we were appearing on Channel Nine’s Weekend Today Show as a part of Abbey’s weather report. This was mermaid day for me…

My outfit basically revolved around a gorgeous pair of Iron Fist mermaid shoes that I bought from That Shop, the Erstwilder 'Sea Maiden Jane' brooch I picked up at the Woolloongabba Antique Centre and the Little Mermaid tote bag I’d sewn from material picked up at Make it Hobby N Craft. I was set on a lavender Jenny dress from Pinup Girl Clothing or a Lavender Karen dress from Hell Bunny, but of course both colours have been out for a while and finding them proved extremely difficult.


Finally, after a lot of online searching and a million emails, Kirstin from Ursalady Creations at Stones Corner came to my rescue. It was meant to be, I think, because they had one dress left in my size that had just been sitting on the racks for ages. Kirstin was lovely enough to hold the dress for me and even offered to stay back at the shop a bit later until I could get away from work — talk about going above and beyond for customer service!!

I also decided this was the perfect outfit to show off one of my nanna’s lovely 50s hats. I’ve worn this hat a few times before because the colour is so easy to match, but I’ve always had trouble getting it to stay on my head. Then, when I was packing I realised I’d lost my hat pin which was going to make it even harder to keep on. I took off in a hurry (my hair wasn’t even brushed) and drove straight to Atomic Martini Vintage in Clayfield where I rushed in, asked Lisa to “HEEEEEELP!” She sent me off for a coffee and when I came back, not only had she picked out a pin for me, but she’d steamed Nanna’s hat back into shape. She gave me a lesson in how to pin it and I went off feeling extremely grateful and a lot less panicked. Again, another wonderful person in this vintage community who is prepared to go above and beyond for her customers. Thanks so much Lisa.

The Morning Show appearance was over before we knew it, but it was lots of fun and really nice for family and friends who couldn’t make it to Cooly to get a glimpse of what the festival was like. If you want to see the video, pop over to my Facebook page where one of my lovely friends has posted it for everyone to catch up on!


Then, it was on to the parade. Boy oh boy was it fun! We got to ride in an awesome car, I met Denise Drysdale, Frankie J Holden and Wilbur Wilde; was waved and cheered to like I was a celebrity and smiled so much my mouth hurt. It was so much fun; everyone in the crowd was happy and excited and everyone in the parade was too.

After the parade, we walked around handing out some cards for our wonderful sponsors and then headed off to enjoy the festival. I had a nap in the car (not very pinup of me, but I did need my beauty sleep) and then headed off to get my makeup done.

With Miss Brydie and Nerida before the parade

With the gorgeous Miss Carly (photo by Matthew Balaam)

Want to read all about the pageant? Well, the update is too big to cram in here, so stay tuned for later in the week!