Daily Outfit: Bamboozeled

A few weeks back I (rather aggressively) entered a competition on Instagram for a new Australian company, Bambooz, to win a $150 store credit for their online store.

I really liked the style of the glasses, and the colours, but I wasn't sure how how they would look on me, or feel for that matter, and so I thought that the competition would be the perfect opportunity to experiment with a new style of glasses, without having to fork out for something that may very well not suit me. So, I entered the competition the maximum number of times allowed (five, fyi), and stalked the wesite, trying to decide which style I would purchase with my credit if I won.

And then, of course, I did win, and I chose something completely different.

Hustle & Scout: Style Scouted

Yesterday was the first birthday of the Hustle & Scout Markets here in Canberra, and I headed out to the gorgeous new location at Hangar 47 at Fairbairn to spend the afternoon Style Scouting the other attendees for the Hustle & Scout Facebook page.

I had a really great time at the markets, and I have to extend a huge congratulations to Tegan and her team for an amazing job well done. The space looked fantastic, the talent on display was phenomenal, and I truly cannot wait for the next market to come around.

Below is a selection of my favourite looks from the day, with very brief reasons as to why their looks caught my eye.

Daily Outfit: Style Scouting for Hustle & Scout

Today I met up with Jiawa from Closet Voyage, and she kindly too my photo for the Hustle & Scout Twilight Fashion Markets Facebook page, to announce that I will be there on Saturday doing Style Scouting!

I'm really thrilled to be able to take part in the event, and to see who will be there and wearing what. The past two Hustle and Scout events that I have been to have been absolutely phenomenal, and I am really looking forward to this new Spring session in a beautiful new home at Hangar 47 in Fairbairn.

I'm really excited to check out the new location this Saturday, especially with the promise of 2,000 free car parks, ATMs,  and a magnificent view of the runway and lots of aircraft activity. 

Canberra: VIP at Lucky's Local Fashion Trail

My look for the night. Photo by Closet Voyage.

On Thursday evening last week I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the Lucky's Local Fashion Trail event at Lucky's Speakeasy in the new QT Canberra Hotel.

The evening was full of delicious cocktails from the Lucky's menu, bite-sized snacks, and of course the very best on offer from some of Canberra's most interesting boutiques. 

Daily Outfit: Dressed But Not Impressive

I am counting my lucky stars that I wore this outfit today, as I had a surprise meeting concerning a job that I had applied for, and it could have been significantly uncomfortable had I been wearing some of my less-corporate clothing.

Daily Outfit: Rococo Underpass

I've been wearing my chinos to work a lot lately, and to be perfectly honest with you, it's got me missing my jeans.

I decided to bust out one of my least-often worn pairs of jeans today, and to pair it with a bit more of a luxe/dressed-up look on top. I love a good juxtaposition, and I'll happily make jeans the basis of just about any outfit. The shirt and necktie are both completely over-the-top patterns, and the double-breasted blazer adds a certain level of the dramatic to the look. 

StageLabel Model Casting at Lucky's:

This afternoon Jiawa from Closet Voyage and I took a late-lunch and headed over to Lucky's Speakeasy, not for a liquid lunch, but to check out the Model Casting for Melbourne-based crowd-funded fashion house StageLabel.

Daily Outfit: Hi-Vis High Style?

“You’re looking very hi-vis today Grant.”

These words came from a senior member of staff at work who, frankly speaking, terrifies me. Not only is she an incredibly impressive individual, but she’s also remarkably well dressed, and occasionally assesses my daily outfits in a few words in passing so succinctly that I'm often left completely unaware if she approves or disapproves of whatever it is that I happen to be wearing. I can’t even deal with it.

Daily Outfit: Sweats at Work

Today I am headed down to my parent's farm on the far-south coast for their annual Finnish Independence Day celebration; so I wanted a daily outfit that translated well into three hours in the car.

For transparency, I feel like I must say that I wasn't brave enough to wear the track pants to work in the end, even on 'Casual Friday', so I wound up changing them out for a pair of dark jeans.

Wardrobe Stories: Corr Blimey Slim Jim Jeans

After meeting with designers Louisa de Smet and SteveWright in the lead up to Fashfest 2014 and then seeing their amazing runwayshow for the Berlin collection, I knew that I wanted to get my hands on my own piece of Corr Blimey. More specifically, I wanted a pair of jeans.

After our initial meeting/consultation, I wound up choosing the Slim Jim Jeans however, because I'm generally difficult, I asked for Lousia to include the tabbed waistband from the Dustman Jeans, because I love the way that this looks.

Daily Outfit: Canadian Tuxedo

This evening I donned a Canadian Tuxedo and the boyfriend and I headed down to New Acton to check out the Hustle & Scout Twilight Markets, as well as The Forage.

I must admit that I didn't stay very long at all. Both the boyfriend and I are a mite claustrophobic, and the sheer number of people at Hustle & Scout, and the freezing temperature and lack of eftpos at The Forage, mean that we had both had our fill pretty quickly. BUT, Hustle and Scout was going off! There was a really awesome turn out, and I was really impressed with the designers that were showing their stuff. It was really great to see so many Canberrans out supporting such a fantastic and home-grown event!

Travel: Scandinavian Fashion Stalking

I spent a lot of my time in Scandinavia stalking the style of the locals.

I've used the term stalking because, like a deviant street photographer, I never actually approached any of my subjects and asked to photograph them. No, instead I would just casually look like I was taking a photo of the streetscape, and hurriedly snap a few shots of the outfit or accessory in question.

Of course, 90% of the photos I took in this manner were shit.

This post is the compilation of all the Fashion Stalking pictures I took that actually worked.

Luxury: Braddon Tailors

It is no secret that from the first time that I heard about Braddon Tailors, I have been something of a fan.

It should be no surprise then that I jumped at a recent opportunity to visit the Braddon Tailor's studio in the heart of Canberra's CBD, to check out their new range of neckwear and accessories.

Announcement: Ink & Leathers Turns Six!

Six years ago today, I decided to start a Fashion Blog.

Six years of this on-again-off-again relationship with my Blog, of taking likely thousands of photos of myself and my clothes, of changing platforms and addresses and templates and learning how to use twitter and instagram and never quite getting the hang of html or my camera or even really how to dress myself...

It has been something of a roller coaster ride, to say the very least.

Daily Outfit: Sports Luxe

I've always been curious about trying Sports Luxe as a style, and with incorporating this look into my own wardrobe.

This jersey was a last-ditch effort to try and salvage an otherwise dismal thrifting adventure (for me) that I had recently with Heather and Jiawa. My chief issue has always been that I'm just not sports savvy: It took me several Google searches to narrow down which team this jersey represents (the Dallas Cowboys) and then more to figure out which sport they play (Gridiron, apparently). Trying Sports Luxe as a look has always felt a little disingenuous to me.

Fashfest 2014: Designer Review – Corr Blimey

Last but by no means least in both the Fashfest shows and my personal reviews of the menswear collections, we have Corr Blimey’s 2014 collection Berlin.

Hands down, this was my favourite collection of Fashfest 2014.

Fashfest 2014: Designer Review - SZN

I won’t lie-I had really, really high expectations for Susan Dlouhy’s collection for SZN. Being Fashfest alumni and something of a prodigy on the Canberra Fashion scene, it was hard not to build slightly unrealistic ideas in my head about what would come down the runway.

Nothing could have prepared me to have my expectations so thoroughly exceeded.

Daily Outfit: Silver Atom X Corr Blimey

OK, fair's fair, I did not actually wear this amazing neckwear from Silver Atom to work today. I don't own it (yet), and it is on loan from Corr Blimey for an exciting opportunity that presented itself to me.

However, it is so magnificent that I couldn't help but throw it on today for my Daily Outfit photos.

The amazing piece was created by Silver Atom Designs for the Corr Blimey collection Berlin, which showed at Fashfest 2014 earlier this month. For a few twists of steel wire, it is remarkably comfortable to wear and in my humble opinion, incredibly beautiful.

Fashfest 2014: Designer Review – Perpetually Five

If there is one thing Canberra has come to expect from Fashfest Allumni Mitch Thompson and his label Perpetually Five, it is a bit of spectacle, and that is certainly what was delivered for the finale of Fashfest2014 Night Two – The Scientist.

Daily Outfit: Stripes on Stripes on Stripes

I’ve gone a little batty for stripes on stripes in this daily outfit.

In my humble opinion, patterns are really where you have a chance to show off and peacock a little when it comes to menswear, especially corporate menswear. It can feel like you are stuck in an endless cycle of following the heard when you’re a man in an office: Monday – Blue shirt, Tuesday – White shirt, Wednesday – Pink shirt. However, patterns help break out of the drollery and to set yourself apart.