NGV hangs

I took some cute photos at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) last weekend while hanging out with my boyfriend. I've definitely come to value time spent relaxing and away from doing strict work-related things. I should also point out that a number of the galleries are free to view and there are very few people around as well. It's a short walk from Flinders Street Station and curated in such a way that artwork from a specific region and point in time is carefully explained within the context of the values of ancient civilizations. If you're based in Melbourne or just visiting I would recommend visiting the gallery based on the free exhibits alone, but they also sell books on art and fashion (at exorbitant prices, but at least you can find out about them in the first place). Hopefully I'll have more posts about what I did on the weekend, where I shopped, what I ate coming up soon in time for Summer!

Life Lessons: Don't Work for Free

*The following applies to blogging and online written content, volunteering experience is invaluable as long as you gain new skills

Occasionally, as a blogger, I get approached by companies to join their next social media campaign. The punchline is, they want me to work for free. Normally these companies ask you to create an outfit or moodboard inspired by their product and with links to their site, and yet, they have very little to do with fashion, yet they see personal style and outfits as an untapped energy source.In return, they promise to share ‘their favourite outfits’ across various social media streams, which should translate into more exposure for your site, or in the case of a developing brand, your product. But from the outset, they’ve told you they are under no obligation to give you exposure as payment for your work; however, the implication is that there are hundreds of others who are vying for the same opportunity. If they’ve provided a hashtag for their campaign then you can at least check out if they have followed through and the sorts of bloggers who participated in past campaigns.

In my personal experience, being a participant has never translated into more views for my blog and the post itself is visited less than say a normal outfit or moodboard post. It is much better to contact the creatives in your local city, go to events, go out and meet people, ask if they have your permission to photograph either their store, or booth if it’s an exhibition and always collect a business card. When it comes to writing, you can then email them in advance and show them what you’ve done. It’s also very obvious when a brand collaboration doesn’t fit well and when someone has sold-out. If you do want to make your blog a commercial venture, pick your opportunities very carefully and above all, VALUE YOUR TIME. DO NOT WORK FOR FREE- whatever crazy promises they make you. It does not translate into paid work later down the track, the same brand will take advantage of your good nature months later. Ultimately, you are devaluing your work and time by saying you can afford to work for free. This is not a sustainable business model, and you can't feed yourself, cloth yourself or pay your rent in Instagram likes. 

1- Gisele for Chanel, 2- Hayett McCarthy in “Twin Souls” for Modern Weekly China SS 15, photographed by Janneke Van der Hagen. 3- Alana Champion Shot By Daria Kobayashi Ritch. 4- Teen Venus, Awol Erizku, 2013. 5- unknown. 6- Photo by Mehdi Lacoste. 7, 8 & 9- Samantha Pleet SS16 by Amber Mahoney. 10- Opening Ceremony spring 2016. 11- via. 12- Oyster Originals Celeste Tesoriero For The International Woolmark Prize Shot By Ryan Brabazon. 13- magdalena at Kenzo FW11, backstage.

Where is My Mind

It's hard to believe it's been over a year since I first penned these journal entries (remember that I wrote my 2014 journal entries in a 2013 diary?) and a lot has changed since then. These feelings of uncertainty towards my partner have since been resolved, or rather I was able to express them and feel so much better for it. We're back together now but that feeling of freedom and being in touch with my own body and soul was so grounding. Anyway given that I spent a lot of time composing these thoughts and creating little doodles to accompany them I thought they needed to exist online as well as tangibly. Or that maybe someone would find these photos at just the right time and deem it some sort of miracle and take comfort in these words frozen on the page. The human experience is always an embarrassing debacle but there are rare moments of exceptional beauty. Not the stuff of art films but memories which crystallize in our minds and we will hold on to for decades to come. I take comfort knowing that people have extended such kindness and warmth to me in the past, and those moment are just as powerful as being told that I am loved. In those moments words are not needed, I feel it all around me and there can be nothing more perfect or powerful.

Brooding

I'm really looking forward to finally seeing the David Bowie exhibition at ACMI in Melbourne, and as a consequence of that I've of course created a moodboard. It features some of the photographs that accompanied Grimes in her interview with The FADER magazine (which I highly recommend), as well as Kate Bush and Beth Ditto. Basically the unifying theme is transformation viewed from the eyes of a teenager. It is those years which seem the most pivotable, informative and malleable in terms of who we are and who we will become. It is less easy to transform ourselves in our twenties, and then into our thirties and forties without it being labelled as a mid-life crisis. Despite its difficulties it is always worthwhile to reexamine and have the courage to re-imagine ourselves but is fraught with the social perils of alienating our loved ones and those around us. This narrative is something that I come back to time and time again, which makes me think these feelings are part of the human experience in general but more closely associated with youth. Seeing someone else's life chronicled through outfits, but also the makeup they wore onstage will help inform these thoughts, but open many more questions. 

1- Kate Bush performing “Babooshka” on the Dr. Hook Show, 1980. 2 & 3- Grimes for Fader Magazine Issue #99 August-September 2015 by Ben Grieme. 4, 5 & 6- YSL.com. 7- unbenannt by Czar Kristoff on Flickr. 8- Marjan Jonkman by Greg Kadel for Numero. 9, 10 & 11- sadkejawaan. 12, 13 & 14- Exile on Prince St by Susan Meiselas. 15- Damaris Goddrie shot by Bryony Wright. 16- Cry BB by Hannah Kristina. 17, 18, 19, 20 & 21- Beth Ditto in POP Magazine (2007), “Size Zero” by Steven Klein. 22 & 23- Chloë Sevigny releases No Time for Love, a photobook filled with snapshots from photobooths and candid images of the men in her life, from her father to her first loves. Available on InnenZines.com