Deadline for applications is next Monday 24 June. Imagine the *fun* we are going to have! xo

Below, from left: Darren, me, Meredith, Sarah, Antonia, Chloe, Stu and David.

Here’s also some dressing detail…

Tell: Anna Davern earrings, The Social Studio silk scarf, Uniqlo skivvy from Japan, velvet top from op shop, handmade necklace, family brooch, The Social Studio silk scarf, Lacoste boots. Oroton bag from op shop.

On Friday last week I caught up with my mentor and ally, Paul Bide. He always has a *good* bit of advice and encouragement for our start-up plans. I also met with friend and designer, Wanyika. She’s just come back from Kenya with some fantastic fashions and ideas.

This was Friday’s outfit:

Tell: Handmade earrings, Uniqlo skivvy from Japan, The Social Studio kimono dress, scarf gifted by Susan, Black Milk leggings, Trippen shoes from Berlin outlet.

Hoping you’ve had a lovely weekend too xo

Yesterday morning I headed out to south-west Sydney to meet again with some of the fantastic leadership team at Fairfield High School, including the Principal Bob Mulas and the head teacher of the Intensive English Centre, Sonia Durney. (We learnt all about Fairfield High School‘s fabulous work from our long term supporter, Meredith Turnbull, and Board Member Sarah Chisholm and intern Kit Shutt have all helped in our developing relationship). Turns out we’re all super keen to work together, and here’s just a couple of *great* things to know about Fairfield High School:

• There are over 20 nationalities represented at the school.
• As well as a being a high school with over 1000 students, this school also has a community hub on site, particularly for parents from newly arrived and refugee communities.
• The community hub includes a cafe and garden which grows produce from many of the student and family’s countries of origin.
• The Fairfield High School Parents’ Café provides opportunities for newly arrived refugee parents to engage with the Australian education system and gain more information about available services, community organisations and pathways to training and employment.
• This school has one of the highest representation of students from refugee communities anywhere in Australia, and they are dedicated to providing opportunities for students attending their school, including those students who undertake the ‘Work Skills’ equivalent to the HSC.

The Social Outfit’s project with Fairfield High School is our chance to keep working directly with young people from refugee backgrounds in fashion-related work. We can work on site at the school, and hopefully celebrate the skills of the young people and their cultural traditions, as well as developing their skills in clothing production and design.

Very soon I’ll be putting a call-out for a fashion-trained educator to help me with this project, so if you know anyone who is qualified, and wants to get paid for *doing good in a fashion*, please help me spread the word!

And here’s today’s outfit as I travelled around from Fairfield, to Sydney city, and beyond…

Tell: Tatty Devine earrings, handmande necklace, vintage apple brooch from op shop, Uniqlo skivvy from Japan, Laura Ashley dress from Bondi op shop, vintage leather belt, retail tights and socks, Fluevog boots. Detail below also shows The Social Studio felt jacket and brooch from Japan.

So much colour. Colour! This was our Friday evening, hanging out down at The Rocks…

And then back to the Inner West later, where apparently Newtown has its own wee version of the lights and brightness… Not quite as *flash*, but a little bit of sparkle to muck around in front of nonethless… xo

Tell: (Let’s just do some highlights, shall we?!) … Necklace and brooch from op shop, Black Milk jellyfish leggings, and Linda Jackson vintage bag.

This is me on Tuesday, busy with both in-person and interstate telephone meetings.

I wanted to especially share with you some recent support The Hornery Institute (THI) have been offering to us at The Social Outfit. Andrew who works there has been super supportive by gathering data which helps us to explain why Newtown is a promising location for setting up our fashion social enterprise. As their own website explains, The Hornery Institute ‘is an independent not for profit organisation dedicated to enhancing the wellbeing of communities.  Our purpose is to help make communities better places to live, learn, work and play…” And like they say, they certainly know their way around ‘place-based solutions’. I’ve got to say, I just *love* it when savvy people can access data and numbers from places like the ABS, and then use their expertise in business to help add to our ‘case for support’. So a big thanks to THI, Andrew, and Kate for getting on board. Also, and especially, thanks to our friend Sandy for introducing us all!

Tell: Earrings from op shop,The Social Studio shirt, Tatty Devine necklace and TD ‘Gilbert & George’ brooch, Portmans dress from op shop, Katies skirt from op shop, American Apparel tights, Fluevog boots.

And below also are some photos from Sunday night when I went out dancing. Yes, dancing on a Sunday night! Oooh la la…

Tell: Hat from ‘somewhere a million years ago’, Tatty Devine necklace, ‘Francesca of Damon’ silk shirt from op shop, singlet from op shop, Saba leather belt, Review skirt on sale, Black Milk leggings, Fluevog boots.

Tell: Earrings from op shop, Tatty Devine necklace, Esprit skivvy from op shop, secondhand cardigan, vintage skirt from the 1950s markets, Spin Dance petticoat, retail tights, Happy Socks, Fluevog boots, ‘Glamourpuss’ bag from Faster Pussycat.

I particularly wanted to catch up with Emma-Kate and her *fantastic* fashion social enterprise, WEFTshop:

As explained on their website, “WEFTshop is a not-for-profit organisation committed to supporting refugee women from Burma living on the border with Thailand by developing their skills as textile artisans. The fabrics they make are the key to our work and to the freedom and financial well-being of many of these women and their families.” It was lovely to see their wares in person, especially the colour-combinations and the talent and skill involved…

Then on Friday I got to catch up with Kirsten, who is volunteering for The Social Outfit on some work. Kirsten and I used to work together at the School for Social Entrepreneurs, and I’m so *chuffed* to have her helping us out! Volunteers really make all the difference to this start-up work. Thanks KR xo

This is me on Friday, remembering just how *ace* yellow and pink work together…

Tell: Ken Done glasses, handmade necklace, Uniqlo skivvy from Japan, vintage ‘Jonathan Summers of Sydney’ house-dress from op shop, retail tights, Fluevog loafers from Sole Devotion in Melbourne. Detail: Tatty Devine hand ring.

The Social Outfit had the absolute *pleasure* of Grace’s company in town for the day, yesterday. We had some important meetings to attend, and I can’t tell you how lovely it is to talk face to face with Grace, and hear all about the ongoing great work at The Social Studio. Honestly what is happening in Collingwood, Melbourne is as creative and inspiring as it was when I first met up with them three years ago! And the ongoing support The Social Studio shows to our team up here in Sydney is so significant.

Grace and I also met with one of our other Board members, designer Nina Maya, and the two of them talked a lot about the fabric digital printing The Social Studio now has up and running. Amazing possibilities! And check out Grace’s digital print scarf; designed by one of the students (top photo shows it better).

Having someone like Nina with her design expertise is very exciting for us as we keep developing our own work here in Sydney.

And below is me, dressed up with a distinctly ’1980s-business-feel’, and wearing The Social Studio of course!

 Tell: Australian designer, ‘Studibaker Hawk’ vintage jacket from op shop, brooch from op shop, The Social Studio singlet, shirt from op shop, Fletcher Jones wool skirt from op shop, retail tights and socks, Fluevog boots.

To the more urban spaces…

This is us making our way to hear our dear friend, and author, Courtney Collins talk as a part of the Sydney Writers’ Festival. She was brilliant, naturally! Her first novel, The Burial, is doing very well and it was a pleasure to hear someone talk so passionately about the creative process; especially for longer-term projects.

Plus she was in conversation with Claudia Karvan, so I also got to momentarily relive my *crush* on her and Ben Mendelsohn in the 1990s Aussie classic, The Big Steal (and beyond, of course). Might just need to re-watch it for some fashion pointers…

Tell: Handmade earrings and necklace, handmade leather brooch by Jessica, Saba cardigan, Uniqlo skivvy from Japan, vintage “BHS Made in Britain’ cotton skirt from Red Cross op shop Newtown, retail tights, socks from Barcelona, Fluevog shoes.

As you can see, one woman made this *artisan* purse. It has both handmade elements (like the flowers and the ribbon strap), as well as being fully lined and assembled from her skills on the sewing machine. The fabric used is both eco-dyed cloth from our workshops down at The Rocks, as well as fabric remnants.

And here is a fabric necklace made by another workshop participant. You can see the same use of the hand-sewn flower-making technique. Artist Nicole taught us the skill of taking fabric and twisting it into these chains. The result is a super strong, and quite unique chain, I think. Plus, it’s low cost as you can use fabric scraps. I love it!

Thanks again to everyone involved at the Asylum Seekers Centre, especially Anna and Sandy, for welcoming us and giving us the opportunity to work together.

Speaking of working together, here’s me heading out to meetings on Wednesday this week. Thanks to The Social Outfit Pilot and the way it connected us to both ongoing supporters and new people, we have some new leads to follow-up on, and more professional people to talk with about our development here in Sydney.

Tell: Vintage Versace shirt from op shop, The Social Studio felt jacket, Saba belt, vintage skirt from op shop, retail tights, sample Lacoste boots from outlet.

And finally, our May The Social Outfit newsletter that showcases some of our recent *good* news… (If you click on the image itself, it will make it larger, and easier to read)…

To have some fun, and celebrate my birthday…

Yesterday we spent part of the day checking out some fabulous art at the Art Gallery of NSW. Not surprisingly, I responded *well* to the more colourful works…

It’s like looking into a mirror…

These artworks photographed are by Ugo Rondinone.

Artwork by Sol LeWitt.

And *naturally* I was celebrating the day of my birth by wearing some new, vintage Ken Done. This 1980s shirt had found it’s way to Italy, when I then bought it back recently via eBay to its Sydney home, probably some 10 or 20 years later. I just love it! And, of course, I was also wearing some handmade work from Abuk at The Social Studio.

Tell: Handmade earrings, Uniqlo skivvy, Ken Done vintage 1980s shirt, brooch gifted, necklace gifted for my birthday, vintage belt from UK, Tatty Devine bracelet, handmade bracelet made by Abuk from The Social Studio, ‘Diamonds Ain’t a Girls Best Friend’ ring from UK, Sportsgirl skirt from op shop, Jonathan Aston stockings, Happy Socks, Fluevog boots, and Tatty Devine balloon leather necklace.

Artwork by Ugo Rondinone, adjusted here by the *spectacular* Hawaiian First Officer and me.

And then, because I’ve been a little ‘light on’ with outfit posts recently, here’s some from the last few days…

Saturday: An ongoing love with secondhand 1980s Escada…

Tell: Handmade earrings, Kmart skivvy, vintage Escada shirt, Anthea Crawford skirt from op shop, Jonathan Aston tights, tights underneath from Japan and Fluevog boots.

Friday:

Tell: Earrings from op shop, Saba skivvy, Leona Edmiston dress from op shop, Tatty Devine cat bangle as necklace, Estilio belt, Sportsgirl tights as gift, borrowed socks from the HFO, Fluevog shoes, Tatty Devine balloon bag, gifted ‘Frida Kahlo’ bag.

Just me enjoying my mis-matched, but still matching earrings!