In praise of the sass & bide Sydney warehouse sale

My haul: 1. The Sting dress, 2. Mirror Image shorts, 3. A Thing or Two trousers, 4. The Story of Us jacket

One of the great joys of big city living is the sales.  

I mean the kind tucked away in the designer’s headquarters, the kind where you can either nab samples that might have made it into editorials or onto runways (or, maybe, never made it into production at all), or the kind where it’s crazy bargains time because there’s a need to clear excess stock.

I was sent an invite to the sass & bide warehouse sale, and – how sweet of them – got onto the VIP family and friends list that won me shopping time a full hour before the sale was open to the public.

 

Inside it was so orderly. This was lovely and in marked contrast to my last sample: the space was tiny, the clothes beautiful and the women frenzied and so it was shopping at the end of the world. It was shopping in a zombie apocalypse – mindless hands grabbing at things.

Sadly, there weren’t many accessories or any handbags to speak of, however, I was delighted to scoop up a few things: silk trousers and a matching blazer in a floral print reminiscent of a classic oil painting and two rebellious tartan pieces that appeal to the part of me that never stopped being a wannabe punk.

What I paid as compared with the RRPs of the items was a tiny fraction. I saved about 75 per cent. The pants, in particular, are a delight. As comfortable as pajamas with none of the naffness of so-called pajama dressing and amazingly soft and beautiful.

Tips for warehouse and sample sales:

Get on the VIP list.

Arrive amazingly early.

Lurk around the table near the changerooms where stuff goes before it’s returned to the racks.

Do not wear jewellery. While being a quick change artist, you’ll lose an earring.

Slip-on shoes are a must-have.

Consider wearing your better bras and undies – communal changerooms are what they are.

The sass & bide warehouse sale concludes tomorrow (Sunday 21 April) at 3pm at Byron Kennedy Hall, The Entertainment Quarter, Fox Studios, 122 Lang Road, Moore Park.

Flatlay imagery by sass & bide; dodgy image editing my own.

My Australian Fashion Week lunch break

Backstage at Toni Maticevski. Image via Coty

Australian Fashion Week and I did not get to see much of each other this year.

Having covered it for four years running, I gave it rest this time around as I’m now in a workplace that doesn’t require that of me.

Oh, but how I missed it! Yes, it’s but five days in the year but those days are equal parts stress and glamour. I stumbled upon the MBFWA crowd at an off-site show that happened to be near my workplace and was struck down with longing.

But all was not lost. On Australian Fashion Week’s final day, in the afternoon, I visited during my lunch hour. It was an illicit quickie; I couldn’t stay away.

I do think the new Carriageworks location lacks the glory of the waterfront views down at The Rocks. A friend explained the beauty of it was its more workman-like approach – there was, at last, a media room big enough for everyone instead of a skinny bit corralled off at the front.

The shiny bits were ever present – the miniature canapés, the bar with its free coffees (in limited edition cups printed with designer prints, but of course) and the women with magical pastel dream hair and the men in leather tank tops. As always, the best runway is the street outside Fashion Week – even this time right at the end there were enough sweaty volunteers, peacocking bloggers and bambi-limbed models in full make-up and bizarre hair to make for fine people watching.

Models pose at Talulah. Love a smiling model. Image via Coty

These backstage shots come courtesy of my friends at Coty. In my paltry hour at MBFWA, all I had time for was a couple of Instagram shots. Oh, Australian Fashion Week! 

Claire Low loves Claire Inc.

Model wears vintage Chanel. Image courtesy of Claire Inc

I’ve long loved Claire Inc, and not just because of its name.

I stumbled upon it and was struck by its gorgeous styling. 1980s and 1990s pieces that could so easily be frumpy or retro-tragic in the wrong light were suddenly so glamorous they belonged on the cast of Dynasty. The difference was the use of pale, gamine models with blunt-cut hair, the quirky, witty way things were thrown together and the curatorship – the eagle-eye with which pieces were chosen and presented. It’s evident Belinda Humphris, the mastermind behind the operation, at once knows and loves vintage gear.

At the recent launch of the Pills, Thrills collection, I was chuffed to get close to Belinda’s treasures. She had tapped into trends and so there were the lacy black things that could have sprung from Riccardo Tisci’s brain and loud-print pants by the likes of Versace. I was briefly enamoured of a Karl Lagerfeld duffle bag and then flirted with a Moschino bag with its peace and love clasps and hardware and its green versus red colour scheme. That sounds Christmasy, but actually called to mind the colours of a good classic Gucci bag.

Belinda, who once sold me my beloved Karl Largerfeld necklace (two pearls have gone missing; I have never stopped sulking), took my questions.

CL: How do you go about selecting a great piece of vintage? Label, colour, quality, designer cachet, historical value, current trends, X factor?

BH: We look for quality of fabrics, tailoring, and innovation of vintage design. Authenticity verification is a major part of what we do. We are meticulous about fabrics, tags and authenticity marks such as stamps, signed lining, signature features and serial numbers.

CL. Which designers currently designing today will have their pieces increase in value when they die, that is, who is making vintage collectables of the future?

BH: Oh there are so many. [Alexander] McQueen was an obvious one. Hedi Slimane, Tom Ford and  Marc Jacobs already have fervent fans. I also love the outrageousness of John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier. True innovators

CL: What are you favourite designer vintage hunting grounds - op shops, Internet, deceased estates, somewhere else?

BH: I’ve always loved op shopping but don’t get to do it much these days. The internet is a treasure trove of goodness and appeals to my need for late night bargain hunting

CL: Describe the rarest piece you ever found and sold.
BH: A silk Chanel blouse from Karl Lagerfeld's first collection for Chanel in 1983. The incredible opal print fabric was designed by Australia's own Jenny Kee! I was so besotted I couldn’t even sell it. It really belongs in a museum

CL: Complete this sentence: I would collapse from excitement if I found a … on sale for $5.

BH: Ha. Currently anything Phillip Lim. I’m Phillip Lim obsessed!

Caviar nails equals caviaarrgh nails

Get a pack of trendy caviar nail gear. You know, a tiny kit with brush, pot of beads and base coat. The beads are beautiful. They are Christmas in miniature: dozens of tiny baubles. They are a city when viewed at night – nothing but lights. They are a complex underwater metropolis, a growth as seen under a microscope, they are hundreds and thousands spread on garishly coloured icing.

Put the nail caviar on. Admire the effect. The regret is going to set in pretty soon. Oh yes, here it is.

You are now in a world of snagging and catching. To go to bed is to sleep with dozens of beads which fall off your dominant hand and go rolling around on the mattress with you. Try a shower. Attempt to clean your body manually and feel that rough texture in all the wrong places. Floss your teeth - every time you push waxed white thread between your teeth there's a pinging sound as two, three, four beads drop into your mouth (don't swallow).

The beads will go everywhere. They will bounce around like excited particles. They will remain stuck to your fingertips for, oh, an hour maybe. It's common to glance down and find they have vanished en masse, leaving behind a silver pockmark where a bead used to be.

The fresh caviar manicure makes you think of genteel times or of a future in which you are similarly incapacitated. In either case, you will need a handmaid, someone to wait on you in every sense of the word, someone with unmanicured fingers with which to personally floss my teeth for me, clean bodily crevices and so on.

Don’t use this product if: you are a nurse, surgeon, dental hygienist, pastry chef, or anyone in the service industry. Or in zero gravity in space – the beads would clog your instruments.

Do use it if: you are going to a dazzling cocktail party, you are a hand model, you enjoy abrasive surfaces.

In one sentence: Argh, when can I get this off me?!