Remake-Remix

MEDIA ALERT

RMIT fashion students give charity donations a new lease of life

WHAT: Launch of Remake-Remix exhibition of garments recreated from second-hand clothes

WHEN: 11am–noon, Tuesday, 4 December, 2007

WHERE: Brotherhood of St Laurence Hunter Gatherer Store, 82A Acland Street, St Kilda

Remake-Remix is an exhibition of garments designed and created by past and present fashion students from RMIT’s School of Architecture and Design, using clothing donated to the Brotherhood of St Laurence.

RMIT students will model some of the garments at the launch. Clothing given a second chance includes:

• trousers from an airline uniform turned into the billowing sleeves of a jacket
• layered fluorescent necklaces made from old T-shirts
• the sleeves of discarded woollies incorporated into contemporary scarves
• designer dresses and tops created from conservative men’s business shirts

Speakers include:

• Emer Diviney, Research and Policy Coordinator for Ethical Business at the Brotherhood of St Laurence
• Mick Peel, Program Director RMIT Fashion
• Five student designers

hunter gatherer

Hunter Gatherer has its origins in 1999 when Victorian welfare organisation the Brotherhood of St Laurence got the idea to set up a vintage clothing store. The shop started in a Collingwood basement selling the best of hand-selected vintage clothing for men, women and kids.

They now have stores on Acland Street in St Kilda and Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, still selling hand-picked vintage, their own range of ethically produced garments and accessories from local suppliers. The stores' profits all go back into the Brotherhood's social welfare programs.

As its history suggests, Hunter Gatherer is more like a second-hand clothing shop (with prices to match) than an op shop. However, all the proceeds do go to charity and that's what counts in my book.

I've had some great finds here - a cotton Scanlan&Theodore skirt, a 70s black velvet floral print skirt, Fred Bare children's clothes. I particularly like it that HG stocks retro children's clothes which can otherwise be hard to find.

There's more info, including about their ethically produced No Sweatshop vintage-inspired new gear, on their website.

The Laying House

I just had to show off this latest purchase.... My Cinderella now has a "Laying House!"
Well there is one great thing about my new full time job, lunch breaks along Smith St and the great Op Shops I get to rummage through.
I found this at St Vinnies for the bargain price of $5, brand new in its box. I know I am going to be collecting those three little balls from underneath the couch over, and over again, but it'll be worth it!

the liberry

Last week on Friday I:

- was vomited on at three in the morning
- missed my flight to Tasmania
- locked myself out of the house
- drove to Sandringham to collect my neighbour's house key in order to get my spare key from her kitchen drawer, and
- visited the All Souls' Opportunity Shop in Bay Road, Sandringham (tel: 9598 2189; M-F 9:30-5:00, S 9:30-12:00) where I recovered a portion of my childhood.

Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library! is a book that I read as a child and have been trying to recall for the past few years. I could remember that library was incorrectly spelled but not the actual title and thought that it was a picture story book. I always have a look on the bookshelves in the op shop - for good children's books, for craft books and, well, anything else of interest. I have no recollection of how this book ends - it's next on my reading list!

The All Souls' Opportunity Shop is fantastic, one of those old fashioned op shops where things cost a couple of dollars and there is a 5c basket. I also bought some great children's clothes, a vintage Fisher-Price toy, a couple of jumpers and a rubber duck (from the aforementioned 5c basket). Highly recommended.

doing 'the rounds'.....

As fate would have it today, i was meant to opshop! not that i need much encouragement you understand, but today it all just fell into place.


Our family BUS has been leaking bits and pieces and making funny noises for a few days now, Ty normally handles this side of life, not this morning...
When the BUS started spewing litres of coolant in the carpark of Theo's, I had to act.


Our lovely trustworthy fantastic mechanic is in Croydon so we limped down and left the BUS in his capable hands, 3 hours of bakery, park, and 'the rounds' ensued:Vinnie's, the Salvos, Red Cross on Main street and The Brotherhood of St Larence around the corner.

Waiting, waiting, waiting....lots of waiting!
My companions were well behaved/asleep and it was lovely to have no excuses but to browse.

Lots of treasures to be had, two cardies for Ami, a cool linen growth chart, a very loud smock style apron which will be harvested for its fabricy goodness, and some shirts that WILL fit if i get back to the gym and put down the tim-tam!


Most times, if the opping gods are kind, i tend to come away with a favorite, a pearler, something that makes doing 'the rounds' worthwhile...

Presenting Marion, my new writing compendium...

Marion, who were you?

Somebody obliviously felt that you were very special, gold embossed lettering, smart blue leather.

Marion, why didn't you ever use it?

20 crisp envelopes and a fresh 'Basildon Bond' writing pad

The gold engraved plaque reads, 'from Typists, Pensions Repat. Dept. 1972'

Retirement, promotion, years of service?I will never know.

For $2 i couldn't leave you behind, Marion you will have a new life with me, i will use you and continue to dream about the intent behind your presentation.

For me that's the real joy in opp shopping, finding little treasures, imagining their past life and giving them a new one...

MY LIFE IN A TABLE CLOTH DRESS RETURNS TO THE STAGE

Could op shopping lead you to the next big thing? It already has! Found at the bottom of the salvo’s 50 cent bin, join the quest for love, life and the ultimate bargain. A journey which visits the highs and lows op shopping, drawing on music from Bic Runga, The Beatles, Matthew Robinson and many more. In an age of vintage revivals, romantics beware, who knows what lies within.

Cabaret
November 1st to 4th
Thurs to Sat at 7pm Sun at 6pm
Tickets $20 /concession $15
At The Butterfly Club
204 Bank Street, South Melbourne, VIC
http://www.thebutterflyclub.com/

Sorrento contributes to my library again!

Hooray for JackandAndy's op shop at the bottom of Sorrento's main street! Tuesday: eight books (they all look as if they've been read once, most still have their Antipodes $32.95 pricetags on them) for $18.50. I realise they're not the GREATEST baragins in the world, but given that all my books invariably make their way into about five other homes thanks to my motherr-in-law, an excellent buy = I not only get THEM to read, but 'borrowing rights' to other books in return. Hooray!!!