I had a pretty busy weekend - the Pixies one night and the Blues & Roots festival the next day! I was really looking forward to it this year because it had an amazing lineup - Buddy Guy, Crowded House, Lisa Mitchell, Jordie Lane, Angus & Julia Stone, the Swell Season... and then all the bands that I discovered that day, like Old Crow Medicine Show, the Wagons, and Dan Sultan.

I didn't get much in the way of outfit photos, but I did get one in front of the Kombi van-turned-greenery in the Little Creatures tent, and one sitting on the nifty cardboard chairs that were being handed out by Murdoch University.

And, since I'm on a bit of a photography kick, here are some of the best ones from the day (well, when I say best, I mean the best that I could do with my little camera!)...

The Pixies' album Doolittle is one of my all time top five albums, and so I was pretty ecstatic when they announced that they would be touring to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Chris and I have had our tickets since about September last year, so needless to say I was rather excited when it came to last Saturday night!
I've never been to Belvoir Ampitheatre before but it is an amazing venue. Seeing amazing bands, under the stars, in the middle of the bush... beautiful.

Here's what I wore! It's one of my dresses from Old Age on Etsy, and although it was pretty freezing cold, the dress is a really thick fabric which kept me nice and toasty - especially when paired with the boots I got from Betts (which I mentioned in this post).

Not just anybody, but anyone who is involved in the Perth music scene, and in particular, if you have any knowledge of concert promoting and ESPECIALLY if are a fan of bands like The Pixies and Pavement, or any band that is doing a "reunion" tour...

It's for an article I am writing & it would be amazing to get people's point of view.

If you can help out please email tara_lloyd89@hotmail.com. Thank you!

p.s Stephen Malkmus, you can email me too. Feel free, really.

p.p.s Please excuse the blatant misuse of my blog for personal promotion!

Where do you draw the line at heels? Are some of THESE even no-go territory? Do you avoid them like the plague (like some of my friends, who know who they are) or embrace them with a love only rivalled by, well, Carrie Bradshaw? If you know of any other shoe websites I'd love to know!

x

I wanted to write an interesting blog post, but...

the weather kind of freaked me out and I've been staying inside with yucky pizza (store bought, I wouldn't make a delivery person drive out in hail!), hot tea and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Hope you are inside where it's nice and warm! Stay safe!

x

Happy birthday dad! Thank you for:
♥ imparting your musical wisdom and listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, 60's girl groups, the best of The Beatles and The Who
♥ Keeping your whole 'Encyclopedia of Rock' collection of books (that, when I was little, actually thought was about... rocks)
♥ Always cheering me up by making lame (I mean... super hilarious) dad jokes
♥ Taking us to Rottnest every year, and camping in Exmouth when we were younger, which meant I wasn't totally wide-eyed and shocked during Outward Bound in year 11
♥ Letting Emily and I live in Perth (even though we know you miss us a lot)
♥ Assuring me that one day we WILL be the first ever father/daughter team on Rockwiz
♥ Supporting me when I wanted to do journalism, even though I will probably never earn any money
♥ Letting me know when you read my blog
♥ Always being silly and happy for his two daughters

And also... happy birthday to one of my best friends Renae! She is one of the most amazing, supporting, beautiful, stylish and tanned people in my life,  and I love her dearly!

x

As I promised, I found a new spot for my photos! This is the garden at the bottom of my stairs, and at the moment it has beautiful white roses blooming. I might have to steal some for my kitchen table! In this light you can also see the reddish tint that was put in my hair last time I went. And my new dress! And new shoes!

When I was watching Rosemary's Baby, yes, I was incredibly freaked out, but I loved the costumes (and if they're inspiring enough for the Mulleavy sisters, well...). I found it intriguing that although Rosemary is (spoiler alert!) carrying Satan's baby, her wardrobe is childlike and innocent. Peter Pan collars, short hemlines, boater hats, ballet slippers... her clothes aren't what I would call juvenile, and they probably were in fashion in the sixties when the film was made, but I'm sure it's no accident that the clothes aid her in her wide-eyed, naive characterisation. The first time I watched the movie I just thought "Oh, cute dresses, very iconic hairstyle, yes, OK please stop playing the creepy lullaby..." but once I thought about it, I was amazed at how much the costumes influence the film.

While I was looking up photos to back up this idea, I came across the website Clothes On Film, which offers some really interesting insights about the movie. And although I was a bit bummed that other people had noticed the styling, as that would mean I was not brilliantly gifted with seeing subtle costume themes and therefore realising I was NOT naturally gifted with costuming abilities, I was really interested to read about it from people who have some far more fascinating insights!

If you're interested, the pieces by Clothes on Film can be seen here, here and here. There is also a piece devoted specifically to the Ossie Clark suit. I kind of like looking into the costumes like this, instead of doing what I usually do which is saying HAY PRETTY DRESS SHE LOOKS COOL. Although to be honest sometimes that's OK with me too.

What did you think of the film? The costumes? That hair? The really, really, REALLY creepy poster?

x

{pictures via Clothes on Film, via FrockTalk.com}

I've featured Etsy jewellery shops plenty of times on here before, but never a clothing store, because there are so many it seemed too daunting! However, the Etsy gods must have decided to give me a break, because I found one that I have since bought two dresses from and I think you'll like it too.

I have to confess that I wore pretty much this exact same outfit yesterday and I loved it so much that I wore it again today. If I look really tired in the pictures, it's because I was so nervous about doing an interview for journalism today that I couldn't get to sleep until about 2. And we only had to interview one of our classmates! What a nerd I am.

The skirt is vintage fabric (I think 70s?) so I decided to play around with my photo editing stuff (I AM doing photojournalism this semester, after all) and make them a bit more retro looking. OK, and it covers up the humongous bags under my eyes.

In case you were wondering, the interview went fine (of course). It was my first time using a voice recorder so I was terrified that I would do a great interview (not the terrifying part) and then that it wouldn't record and I would be left with NOTHING. It went quite better than that, although I did record the interview outside so it sounds like there's a tornado AND bombs exploding AND a monster truck rally happening at the same time.

Also... I AM working on some more interesting locations for my daily outfit photos, since now I'm pretty sure you all know what my front door looks like.

x

I have a very tumultuous relationship with hairdressers. I had the same hairdresser in Bunbury until I was 18, had a brief fling with Toni&Guy, and then a disasterous rebound with Maurice Meade. However, in an unassuming little salon in South Perth, I think I may have found my hair soulmate.

At the moment, All About Me has an offer where first-time customers can get a cut, colour, paraffin hand wax, mini-facial, and hair treatment for $180. Although it IS a lot of money to spend on a haircut, for the sake of research for this blog (yes... research...) I decided to go for it. I was pretty much sold on the colour after Sascha, my hairdresser, let me know that the highlights from Maurice Meade were showing through again, and we decided on a dark brown colour with a reddish tint. I was really happy that she brought over one of those colouring books with samples of colour on synthetic hair, rather than just pointing to a picture of Jessica Alba and saying "Yeah, this is what your colour will look like".

While my colour was developing, or whatever the term is, I had my mini-facial and paraffin hand wax. I'm not beauty writer, or expert in any way, but even I could tell that the beautician was really good at her job. I have no idea on what kind of products one uses in a facial, but they did have nice face-tingly qualities. I was a bit cranky that my skin felt really greasy for the rest of the day, though. The paraffin hand wax, which I had never heard of before, was... odd. If you don't know, it involves having your hands moisturised and then dipped in hot wax, wrapping it in gladwrap, and then putting it in a big oven-mitt kind of glove. This locks the moisture in and leaves your hands really, almost scarily smooth. My hands are pretty soft anyway (thanks to doing no hard labour, some might say) but I could tell a difference after having it done. A pretty pointless exercise for someone who doesn't have dry hands but I could see the benefits of it.

I was a bit worried about the cut itself - I once got my fringe cut in high school and it was way too short and had ragged edges. I was quite scarred by having to wear a headband for four weeks while it grew out! I got a bit nervous after having the length of my fringe cut and then having all my hair straightened - I looked like an extra gothic Meg White. Or the girl from The Ring. I (silently) sighed with relief as Sascha started cutting the shape of my fringe and curling the ends of my hair to give it some bounch. The treatment she used was Moroccan oil and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD it was awesome. It makes your hair so incredibly soft and luscious feeling. I would have bought some if I hadn't paid so much for the actual cut itself.

All in all I was really happy with the end result. The colour looks great and they knew exactly what I wanted in a hairstyle. I may be ready to settle down with this one.

Pros: Fantastic hairdressers who actually LISTEN to what you want, vibrating chairs at the hair washing stations, great service from all the employees
Cons: Not a good choice of magazines (... it's important to me!), being "sold" to with the deal and with products at the end, I think that it would get really busy on late nights and weekends

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ and a half/ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This is what I picked up at the Unwrapped Markets. It was so much better than the last time, there were a lot more stalls and a lot more people. I was really happy to see so much local talent! And clearly very happy to support it, as my wallet will attest...

These are a few pictures from the My Girl Gwendoline stall that I helped out with, at the Unwrapped Markets in South Perth. I love the aesthetic of her clothes and I think that the stall really matched well with them.

And some Lomo photos (they capture the mood of the set up so perfectly, I couldn't resist!).