Ode to Kate

On the eve before a certain Kate marries her prince, it was in fact another Kate that was spoken about in excited tones between friends over last weekend’s Easter lunch. In between caramelised poached apples and cheese souffle; conversation had digressed to the treasure trove of online shopping and all of its rewards and bargains to be had. Different websites were tossed about as we spoke about the availability of international brands and shipping costs to us down under and I informed the others about my weekly activities of hopping onto the likes of shopbop, asos or net-a-porter for a fashionista fix that is unlike anything I can tap into locally. Never one for falling in line with high street fashion, I love trawling through these websites to view the alternative.


Recently for a close girlfriend’s birthday; I volunteered to source the perfect present. After much trawling; both online and in-store, I came back to the Kate which was discussed at Easter. This Kate is fashion-forward without being too on-trend. She can be described in many ways but to me; she is bold and colourful, yet always remains classic and elegant and consistently sits on top of my wishlist as an ongoing love. This Kate is Kate Spade. Still not readily available in Australia and with only a small selection popping up in Pink Zebra, David Jones and Papier D’Amour; Kate Spade is quintessentially New York.

The present I eventually found on Nordstrom’s website suited my girlfriend’s tastes down to a tee. It is a clutch that has a “Read all about it” feel to it as it largely resembles Saturday’s rolled up newspaper; yet has full functionality to store all of one’s needs for a night out painting the town red. I fell in love with it the moment I came across it and almost didn’t wrap it up and hand it over! So as one Kate will soon have all eyes on her as she says “I do”, I dedicate this post to the other Kate; Kate Spade ~ who just happens to be yet another love of mine that I simply wanted to share with you.

Addiction to stripes

I was shopping with my sister the other day and she said that everytime she sees something stripy, she thinks of me. We were in Trenery and I had picked up a black and white striped tote bag to look at. I laughed at her but then realised she was pretty spot on.

It’s a fact that most days I am wearing something with stripes. Whether they’re blue and white, black and white, red and white, rainbow striped or multi-coloured; I love the look! Not only do I adore wearing stripes but everything around me also falls in line. My quilt cover is a black and white ticking stripe, my coffee cups are red and white striped, I eat off blue and white T.G. Green Cornishware plates and bowls and whilst in Noosa recently, I bought a collection of shirts for Mr ELG; all stripes of course! Sharing this addiction with Mr ELG, we even had nautical chic as our wedding dress code. Knowing what we’re like, many of our guests interpreted this well, paid homage to our addiction in various ways and subsequently a lot of our photos and memories are filled with all things striped.

So why write about stripes now? Well I have recently come across this divine Karina Grimaldi dress on shopbop and felt the need to share and share alike. I have a similar one only it is 3/4 sleeved and not a maxi and I love the flexibility of jersey, its comfort and feel on the skin and ability to dress it up or down. Still pondering whether I should press purchase and go to checkout…?