No dress rehearsal.

I arrived at Frida Kahlo's Blue House in Mexico City in 2018 on a bright, sparkling summer's morning. I joined the queue that was already snaking its way down the street. Hundreds of tourists lined up, snacking on churros, waiting for their chance to experience the place where Frida had lived and wo...

Last winter I was getting ready for work when I thought I'd experiment with a new outfit. I had a jacket that was a soft yet structured cross between a military jacket and one you may see in a marching band. Cropped at the front with long tails at the back and big silver buttons. I paired it with so...

For most of history, women wearing pants was considered scandalous. In many parts of the world it was unlawful.

Not unfashionable, illegal.

In western culture, prior to the early 20th century, women wore dresses and skirts for everything. This included riding horses which they were forced to do si...

Working in fashion retail, one word I heard over and over again was 'flattering'. Flattering is used constantly on the sales floor by staff and customers. It is also used in product descriptions and sales copy everywhere.

Flattering, it seems, is the holy grail of style. I have definitely bought cl...

There was a moment in my 40's when I looked in the mirror and realised my outfit no longer made me look cool. The vintage dresses I loved wearing suddenly turned on me, and now I was the one that looked vintage.

The outfits that once made me feel myself, now had me falling into a frumpy abyss. Some...

When I worked in fashion retail, there was a common phrase used. I'm sure you've heard it - 'The husband chair'. The husband chair is a chair located close to the fitting room for husbands to sit in while their wives browse and try on clothes.

The chair was in fact used by many people. Partners of ...

I currently have a stunning Stine Goya dress sitting in my wardrobe. A gorgeous iridescent piece with giant puffed sleeves that would make Anne of Green Gables green with envy. I adore it.

Yet it has been hanging there like a beautiful shimmering ghost for two years, unworn.

I still remember the m...

I have styled many women for special events over the years. Weddings, birthdays, engagements, graduations, charity balls, all of it. One of the most common things a woman would say when trying on an outfit for such an occasion is 'I'll have to buy the suck me in undies'. By which she means shapew...

As a teenager in the 90's, it was cool to wear Doc Martens. Except it wasn't cool if they looked new. They had to look scuffed and worn, like you had been wearing them all your life. Which is weird given we hadn't been alive long.

The whole concept of looking cool was looking like you didn't care. ...

A couple of years ago, a woman wandered into the shop I was working in. After a few minutes of browsing, she paused and picked up a coffee cup, gently moving it around in her hands while she admired it. 'I wish I was the kind of woman who drank her coffee from a beautiful cup', she stated.

My inter...

With the film industry awards in full swing, I hoped I would find myself intrigued, captivated or in the very least, interested in the red carpet.

But the truth is, I'm not.

I'm annoyed.

With countless celebrities locked into long term deals with luxury design houses, they present more as walking...

When I was in my late 30's I worked in retail sales for a major Australian fashion brand. You learn a lot about women when you work with them in a fashion retail environment. Although the store itself is a public space, the changeroom is intimate. A place where our deepest insecurities come out to p...