Ruby

Here is some new recent styling work of mine with a new photographer I'm working with, Gavriel Maynard. I'm really excited about this collaboration and I hope you enjoy this, our first shoot together. More from us to come over the coming months, look out for it xxx

Photography Gavriel Maynard
Styling Hayley Hughes
Make-up Alana Kobie
Model Ruby @ Chic

Garage Decadence

Checked shirt – Limedrop ’Lumber Sheer Check Blouse’ in teal/black $220.00 | Shorts – Limedrop ’Getaway Wool Shorts’ in mustard $198.00 | Boots – Soles ‘The Kiss’ in digital space $179.95 | Necklace – Corky Saint Clair ’Corky UltraLuxe’ Sterling Silver & Rough Hewn Titanium Druzy Crucifix$220

Tartan shirt dress – Limedrop ’Lumber Check Shirt Dress’ in red/navy $242.00 | Red boots – Soles ‘Boot This’ boots in wine $159.95 | Bra – Vintage YSL bra worn throughout | Wach – Vintage Casio watch worn throughout | Necklace – Corky Saint Clair ‘Anatomica’ Cross Bones Necklace $140.00 | Ring – Corky Saint Clair ’Black Light’ Angular Titanium Druzy Ring $120.00

Cardigan – Chip Chop ’My heart on my sleeve’ cardigan in navy $149.00 | Dress – Minty Meets Munt ’Elle’ dress in red wine $148.00

I'm so happy to share with you this new styling work that I'm really really proud of. Shot for On The Streets of Sydney the editorial is obviously inspired by the the punk movement but beyond that I was inspired by the local Melbourne subculture of Sharpies that came about in the 1960's - 1970's. Essentially suburban skinhead gangs but with more style Sharpies were unique to Australia (and perhaps Melbourne?). The biggest and most famous Sharpie gang was in Blackburn, close to where my mum grew up and she also dressed in Sharpie style for a time. Shaved heads, skinny jeans and cardigans were the order of the day. I went to an exhibition of photographs from the era by an ex Sharpie member back in 2005 and the 'sharpness' of their look has stayed with me ever since. Be sure to check out the full editorial here xoxo.

Team
Photographer Aimee Han
Stylist Hayley Hughes
Model Sarah Tarrant Kuang from Luna Models
Hair and Make-up artist Michelle Hoang

La Dolce Vita

Stylists own vintage polka dot lace blouse, Minty Meets Munt sheer white maxi skirt, Limedrop floral headpiece, Leon Tyne black patent heels.

Dotti polka dot Dress, Colette by Colette Hayman 'Naomi Mixed Brad Loop' earring, Colette by Colette Hayman 'Naomi Wrapped Dia' ring, Supersoft by Diana Ferrari black ballet flats.

Junk cobalt blue cape, Mel by Melissa black jelly gumboots, Minty Meets Munt peter pan collar blouse, Minty Meets Munt 'Sabine' skater skirt in black,  Colette by Colette Hayman   'Billie Cut Out' earrings,  Colette by Colette Hayman   'Tine Big Stone' ring.

I'm so excited to finally share with you some new styling work that was released today on Fashionising.com. As you can probably guess the shoot was largely inspired by the 1960's and the mod look. Check out the full editorial here.

Photography Yie Sandison
Stylist Hayley Hughes
Hair Koh Tanyawanichapong
Makeup Vic Anderson
Model Roelene @ Chadwick Models
Styling Assistant Sofie Bartter

Breakdown by Et al

While I was down in Melbourne I participated in a few little projects, one of which launched on Friday so I can finally share it with you. I was asked by Anthony Capon, of Project Runway Australia fame (he was the winner of season two) to model in the label he designs for, Et al's AW lookbook campaign for their 'Breakdown' collection. I said yes straight away as I loved the concept, which Anthony explained as "Basically our campaign is going to be like the infamous United Colors of Benetton ads of the 90's I guess, showing that our label is not specific to any age, size or gender." With people from all walks of life featured in the campaign, from the iconic Australian fashion designer Jenny Bannister to retail managers, art gallery directors, stylists and bloggers with the youngest participant at 20 and the oldest at 80 I am honoured to be featured.

"Et al’s philosophy is that regardless of age, size or gender, any person when put in the right clothing, can look and feel incredible.The campaign for Et al’s Autumn Winter collection highlights the one essential characteristic of all of our clients which is the love of eccentricity and style, quality workmanship, and unique and sophisticated designs.Wanting to break down any stereotype of who the ‘ideal’ Et al client is, instead of using a professional model, we’ve chosen people of all ages, different sizes, male and female, with various occupations and backgrounds.The campaign is simple. It is everything that Et al believes in. size, age and gender become irrelevant when it comes to style."

Et al are currently holding a facebook competition to win one of their fabulous AW coats. To enter simply like their page.
You can check out the full campaign imagery here.

2011 in review

I have a blogging tradition of looking back at the previous year and all the highlights and lowlights that made up the 365 days of the year that was. The look back at 2010 was full of exciting highlights but 2011 has been a hard year for me. Living away from friends and family has been hard, especially as my grandfather got sick and then passed away last month. I am lucky that with the work that I do I was able to take time off and go spend a few weeks with my family to help them through that period, but then I missed my other family, namely my Sydney family of my husband Henry and Hachiko our handsome hound. Professionally I'm in a better place than I was 12 months ago, but I'm still not at the point I would like to be so 2011 almost feels like it was one long pointless struggle. Perhaps I feel like this because there was no overseas travel for me, even if there were lots of trips back to Melbourne and one to Perth it just wasn't the same. I do have plans in place to travel overseas this year already so I guess 2012 is looking up? Oh yeah and I dislocated my knee at the start of 2011, that really sucked balls and screwed up some of my plans (did I ever mention I did it whilst getting ready to be filmed by ABC TV who were unable to reschedule the interview so they cancelled it, yeah that's like adding an extra layer of sucky to the sucky you already knew) Anyway lets take a look back at 2011.

Proud

Firstly I want to say I am proud of myself for taking the initiative and launching my SOS Japan fundraiser after Japan's terrible earthquake and tsunami in March. With the help of some amazing local designers, bloggers and creative's who all donated to the charity auction we raised $1784 all of which went to the Red Cross's efforts in the affected area.

Career highlights

Styling the Vice x Westfield advertising campaign

Elle USA magazine street style photography capturing the best of Sydney's streets for their global street chic feature.

Styling, creative direction and copy writing of Westfield x Fashion Journal advertorials. A fun youth based bi-monthly campaign that has been a pleasure to work on all year.

Styling the Sydney band Circle Pit for their feature in Fashion Journal.

Styling the September cover editorial for Fashion Journal.

Fashion Weeks

Wow I attended no less than four fashion weeks this year, all of them in Australia (which in itself is pretty cool, Aussie Aussie Aussie, oi oi oi and all that). First up was Loreal Melbourne Fashion Festival in March, struggling along on my crutches after I dislocated my knee a few weeks before. LMFF was almost the death of me I swear, it was so hard not only physically because of my knee but emotionally too as the Tsunami in Japan happened mid week and I was a wreck worrying about friends back in Tokyo (who were all fine, the radiation and aftershocks were the main worry). The fashion was good though and seeing friends was the perfect medicine after a difficult couple of weeks.

RAFW in May was an epic 24/7 affair for me and the On The Streets of Sydney team but boy it was worth it. Seeing Josh Goot's return to the Aussie runway was a highlight of my year.

Melbourne Spring Fashion Week will always be my favourite of all fashion weeks because it was the first I ever attended, way back when I was a teen. Its come a long way since then and every year the RMIT student show blows me away so I will always make time for MSFW.

My first trip to Western Australia for Perth Fashion Festival was super exciting. Perth has such a unique fashion voice that rarely gets heard on the east coast and its about time that changed. I hope to be able to return to PFF this year.

Bullying
I experienced intense bullying on twitter this year, worse than anything I ever experienced in high school. I don't want to dwell on it or give the bullies any more attention other than to say I was hurt by it as anyone with feelings would be, but I learnt a lot from it...mostly that people given the ability to leave comments or tweet anonymously can by cunts sometimes. Lesson learnt and I'm going to ignore it as much as possible from now on.

So what does 2012 have in store for me?

• In May I'll be heading to Tokyo for my birthday and I'm terribly excited. Its been way too long.
• Lots of hard work, my goal is to get published in print at least three times before May.
• Relaunch On The Streets of Sydney. This does not mean a re-design as I still like the layout, it just means actually working on creating original content again. We all got so terribly burnt out after RAFW that it has just sat there for a while, but I'm ready to jump back in and shake up Sydney's style again.

2011 was a hard year for me and I'm glad to see the back of it. Looking back on it though has proved to me that maybe it wasn't so bad. There were so many good times with friends new and old, great moments in my styling career and my blog took me to the most isolated city in the world so I have to remember to not dwell on the bad stuff so much and look at all the positives. 2012 watch out xxx

CanTeen Style

Tomorrow, Friday 28th October, is National Bandanna Day, which raises much needed funds for CanTeen who support young people living with cancer. Most people have been affected by the terrible disease in some form, whether its a friend, relative or even yourself. I'm no exception, a close friend from primary school died from cancer at only thirteen years of age, a terrible loss especially as she was so young and full of life. CanTeen do really great work and every year I try to support them by buying a bandanna. This year I'm going one better and I will be at Martin Place in Sydney from 7am - 9am tomorrow morning helping to sell bandanna's and demonstrating the many ways that they can be styled in the special fashion booth. There will also be a red carpet photo shoot for people to get shots of themselves styled up in their favourite bandanna so please come along. Above you see me wearing the pink birds design as a turban, a cute chic way to style the bandanna.


Another idea, which is perfect for gents headed to the upcoming Melbourne Cup, is to fold the bandanna into a suit pocket square, and for this look I chose the checks design.


Another way to wear a CanTeen bandanna is to tie it onto your bag to add some colour and personalisation to it whilst also doing your bit for charity. For this look I used the Autumn Leaves design by bereaved offspring CanTeen member Natalie Jordan who was chosen as the winner of the 2011 Member Bandanna Design Competition and you can see why as its such a beautiful bandanna.

To see the full range of CanTeen National Bandanna Day merchandise click here. Hopefully I will see some of you tomorrow morning from 7am - 9am in Martin Place. xoxo

Spring Styling

Have had a busy few weeks of work since getting back from my Aussie fashion week adventures in Melbourne and Perth (and I still have some stuff to post from those trips, yikes!). Above is some recent styling advertorial work that appeared in last weeks issue of The Brag magazine for Westfield Sydney's urban level.
Team
Photographer Ken Leanfore
Stylist Me
Hair and Make-up Rosalie Musso
Models Zac and Natasha from EMG

Cover Block

My cover shoot and editorial for Fashion Journal is out today, online here, and delivered to boutiques nation wide over the weekend. I'm so excited by this shoot, its my favourite work to date. Will be uploading all the images to my NEW UPDATED online portfolio this afternoon.


Cover shoot team
Photographer Andrew Scott
Hair Hair by Koh
Make-up Kristyan Low
Styling Assistant Sofie Bartter
Model Ashley Rae @ SixWolves




Pick up a copy or flick through it online and you will also see a shoot I did with Sydney based band Circle Pit, with an amazing interview by Hannah-Rose Yee from Capture the Castle. Boy that girl can write!


Circle Pit team
Photographer Lucia Pang
Hair and make up Rosalie Musso
Styling Assistant Sofie Bartter
Words Hannah-Rose Yee

xoxo

SUB culture

Culture magazine invited me to their SUB culture launch at the Oxford Art Factory in Darlinghurst. I love Culture magazine as its one of the few publications that take submissions which means every issue is a visual treat of bright new talent doing extraordinary things, you may remember last year I styled their April 2010 cover and editorial? The event was a great way to mingle with industry people. Above you can see Jayne Wild doing a live hair presentation on the Sessions Secrets Stage.


Stevie English hair salons did a live photoshoot for the Culture Yearbook due out in December.


I love the Fafi inspired hair and make-up.


Vanessa from The Monday Issue and friend. Vanessa is one of my favourite people in Sydney, she is so talented, and so genuine in her enthusiasm for...everything!


Lotsa awkward interview face, getting interviewed for Culture TV.


What I wore:

Blouse Evil Twin $20 from the Market HQ warehouse sale
Dress City Chic $99.95
Socks American Apparel $14
Mary-Jane Creeper's Sportsgirl on sale for $13
Red Fringed bag $10 Surry Hills markets find
Necklace Make Believe gift
Bracelet Elke Kramer gift
Ring MoMA design store in NYC $10


Pretty happy to discover these shoes in the Sportsgirl 70% off sale section.

Win tickets to see Kasabian in Melbourne

Sponsored Post



I have had a bit of experience now at styling bands. They are all different with different visions and ideas behind their music and therefore the image that they want to create for themselves. From your regular indie rock band to a more theatrical electro band I've been there. They are also primarily compiled of men/boys and for those of us with men in our lives (in particular boyfriends and husbands) then you will know what I'm talking about when I say men are VERY PICKY when it comes to fashion. They all have their idiosyncrasies, for example one may say adamantly “No I won't wear scarfs” of any kind just as adamantly as one may say I'm allergic to peanuts, or they will only wear super skinny jeans by certain brands, a belt needs to be facing a certain way (that one may be an actual rule though, I just have never encountered it before) and the cuts of shirts are more important than the print or style, if it isn't a button down shirt than heaven help me. So yes I have had experience in styling bands and dealing with their demands. I do love working with bands though, its always a fun day when your hanging out with a bunch of rock stars.

When MasterCard approached me to help get the word out about the latest gig in their Debit MasterCard Priceless Music Series with UK rock band Kasabian playing in Melbourne at Peninsula Melbourne Docklands on Wednesday, 5 October I immediately thought about how I would style the band. Knowing their style is a very English rocker with peacoats and skinny jeans featuring prominently that was my first step in recreating their looks. Keeping to a muted colour palette helps unify the band's look so that they do in fact look like they belong on stage together. Classic button down shirts are given a rock n roll edge when teamed with a pair of Chuck Taylors. Creepers, the in shoe of the moment, are a good way to update the classic winkle picker style of shoe the band normally wear. My favourite item on the mood board is the army jacket, so 90's and Noel Gallagher.

The band are releasing their new album Velociraptor! on the 16th of September. It will be their 4th studio album, proving their staying power within the fickle music world. The first single Switchblade Smiles has been released digitally with the music vid already gaining traction on YouTube.



The Melbourne gig is at Peninsula Melbourne Docklands on Wednesday, 5 October. To buy tickets go to www.mastercard.com.au/music Tickets are $41.25 (limit 4 per person) and are on sale from 9am AEST on the 25^th August. Tickets must be purchased with a Debit MasterCard. Most importantly have fun, and tell me what they wear xoxo

WIN tickets to see the gig

As a special treat I have 1 double pass to give away to a lucky reader who resides in or will be in Melbourne on Wednesday 5^th October. To enter all you have to do is comment on this post by 1pm AEST on Tuesday 30^th August with your email address (you can disguise your email address using spaces if you feel safer). Good luck and I hope you win xoxo

CONGRATULATIONS jax_cave you have won the double pass to see Kasabian. Enjoy xoxo

Fruit Loops

Some behind the scenes action from a recent shoot for the next issue of Fashion Journal magazine out September 2nd. Behind the scenes photos by my lovely assistant Sofie from The Milk Club. Can't wait to share the full story with you, it looks freaking amazing even if I do say so myself. I also updated my portfolio, moved it to a whole new website with its own url. Check it out and let me know your thoughts. I'm really happy with it, makes me want to do bigger and better things. xxx

Colour Blocking

Just a quick post with some recent work for the latest issue of Fashion Journal. Had lots of work on recently hence the lack of blog updates. Its good to be busy but I've missed the blogosphere and have loads of blogs and tweets to catch up on.

Stylist Hayley Hughes Photographer Ken Leanfore Hair, make-up & manicure Vanessa Collins Model Noni from Six Wolves Assistant Stylist Vanessa Low

Also there is still time to enter my Gala Curios competition to win an amazing prize pack worth over $634.
Good Luck xoxo

What's in my Styling Kit

We have all seen those "what's in my bag" posts around the place and I thought it might be interesting to share with you something a bit different, what exactly goes into my styling kit. If your not sure what a styling kit is, basically its a tool kit of useful items a stylist brings with them to a shoot. Every stylist is different, but essentially most kits will contain at least double sided tape, bull dog clips and scissors. I'm going to show you what I bring with me on set.


Organised chaos. I am looking for a better box with more compartments that is ideally on wheels, but for now this red metal box will do. I bought it at Arthur Daley's in Melbourne for about $25.


From Left to Right:
Sewing kit: I have a set of sewing needles and threads in different colours as well as a few other bits and bobs like extra buttons and an unpicker just in case.
Bobby pins: I find these are the most requested item on shoots, someone always needs just one more, so I have these on hand in both dark and light colours for those moments.
Zip lock plastic bags: These come in handy for so many reasons. I use them to hold shop tags as we remove them from clothes so as not to misplace any, I use them to keep models jewellery together so as not to loose pieces, I use them to store things inside my kit. Basically I use them a lot.
Black Markers: Great for labelling things as we go.
Lint roller: I prefer these sticky lint rollers to the more traditional ones as I find these remove more hair and lint and do it faster too!
Ball of rubber bands: Great for adjusting belts, necklaces, clothing. Also good for grouping things together.
Shoulder Pads: For those times when the shoulder needs that oomph.
Double Sided tape: For those times when you need something to sit just so, or to protect modesty when required.
Black Electrical tape: Shoes need to be taped on the bottom of the sole to protect the shoes from wear and tear.
Hollywood no shows: aka nipple concealers. For modesty.
Scissors: Pretty self explanatory really. 
Safety pins: Useful for adjusting clothing and jewellery and also for "punking" up a look. 
Bulldog clips: Again for adjusting clothing and jewellery to fit. I like to bring a variety of sizes.
Fragrance free wipes: Not only useful for models to remove their make-up but also good for keeping things clean on set.
More shoulder pads: A different style to the other pair, these are more sharp.
Black crop top: I like to use this under see through garments as I like the line it gives.
Black bike shorts: by Voodoo Hosiery, always handy to have on set to add the something extra to a look.

So that's what goes into my styling kit. Some of this might be a bit "no shit, Sherlock" but hopefully this post gives you some insight into the job. xoxo

Styling work: Westfield for Fashion Journal

A new issue of Fashion Journal is out today, but if you have a copy of the previous issue (issue 104) you will see this Westfield advertorial I worked on (a little late to be posting about it I know, the day the new issue is launched and all but only now getting my blogging mojo back). Inspired by nature and the season itself, Autumn and the changing tones in the natural world the styling used a dusty burnt orange, camel and caramel palette to showcase the latest trends. All clothing is available at Westfield Sydney's urban level 1, where we shot on location. Shooting in a shopping mall is getting less weird for me now as this is the fifth time I've worked on a Westfield level 1 advertorial. Talk about yay for a returning client, I must be doing something right. It also makes it easy that there are so many great stores and interesting design features on that level so its always easy to pull great looks and get some interesting shots with cool backgrounds (how cool are the pink legs?)
Stylist Hayley Hughes Photographer Ken Leanfore Hair, make-up & manicure Vanessa Collins Model Isabella from The Agency Models Assistant Stylist Samnang Sou

Styling work: Mori Gyaru - Forest Girl

I've had this idea for a shoot for a long time, a shoot inspired by a cult trend from the streets of Tokyo, and finally got to realise my vision this week and I'm pretty happy with the result. What with being out of action for the last few months due to my knee as styling is pretty physical work - there is the sourcing, the lugging of many bags and boxes back to the location, prepping the racks which often involves building them first, dressing models which involves a whole lotta kneeling (which I'm still unable to do) and then returning all the clothing the next day. Who ever said fashion was glamourous? I'm just so happy to get back into the game. Have a few new clients to add to the mix, as well as my work for On The Streets of Sydney, of which the above shoot was for. Check out the look in its entirety and read the blurb about my inspiration, part forest girl part swamp girl, there is one in all of us xoxo

Stylist Hayley Hughes Photographer Rachel Kara Hair & Make-up Sarah Scott Model Lauren Moody from Chadwicks