As worn by monks - not quite a dress for day 6

Traditionally a #frock was a loose fitting, long sleeved garment, tied in the waist worn by monks.

This was my #frocktober outfit for day 6.

A green blouse and full length black skirt, tied in the middle with a thin tan belt.

The outfit is from Penney's (aka Primark) in Dublin. On my second day in Dublin I went for a wander around the city and shops. I thought I was fine. I walked across the Liffey, visited the GPO, wandered near Trinity and sheltered between rain showers in the doorways of stores on Grafton Street. I found Penny's on a main shopping strip. I found the blouse, of course drawn to the colour, as soon as I walked into the store. I saw the skirt, long enough to cover my legs but cool in the heat (with a free belt) and went to the changing rooms. Once in there I sat down on the wee bench in the changing room to remove my shoes, I gently leant my head against the wall and lightly closed my eyes. I drifted off to sleep for a moment. I wasn't fine. I took the skirt, the wee tan belt and the blouse to the counter and tried to get out of this massive store as quickly as possible. It proved a difficult task and I got panicked at the thought of being in a strange place, overwhelmed.

My baby brother took these pictures of my outfit on Saturday.

We went to Te Papa together and we took this picture in one of the exhibition spaces. We visited #ngatoi together too. Nga Toi is the dedicated art gallery space in Te Papa. I love going to galleries with my brother as he has become so confident in expressing how he feels about the works. I find that the galleries at Te Papa are always filled with compelling, beautiful and important New Zealand works. The collection at the moment is particularly delightful. To see more about the gallery, click here. It turns out that as well as being able to talk about art, my brother is quite a good photographer.

 



This is Bill Culbert's Drop and Daylight Flotsam. The work was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2013. Yesterday when I was visiting the work for the second time I saw so many people drawn to the work, they spent a long time in the space and discussed the work with the people they were with. It is an amazing thing to hear someone see an art work for the first time and gasp or point or say "hey, look at this." I am glad that this work represented New Zealand to the world.

 

This may just be one of my favourite photos of all time.

 

 

 

 

Day three - a special day

Day three of #frocktober was a pretty special day; it was my baby brother's 15th birthday.

This is my brother and I at a "cool" bar in town. I went to work, came home, we went to Denny's for tea, then we dropped the BF and the sister at home. I felt like it wasn't quite awesome enough so the bro and I got back in the car and drove up Mt Victoria to the look out, it was a beautiful night. We then drove to the dairy to get milk, it was closed so we drove back to the supermarket to see if our friend was there. On the way home I spotted another friend in the "cool" bar so I pulled into a park and we went in for a drink of Gingerella and Lemmy. Cool kids = us. 

 

This is the dress I wore through all the adventures. It's actually my sister's dress (cheat) that I pinched a while ago. It's light, navy blue, has wee birds on it and is suitable for work; easy to love. I love anything with sleeves at the moment. I thought it was a bit short but really, it's okay. I just have long legs. I love this picture because you can see the (so happy about it) sister taking the picture & you can see Kimbra's record in the box. I love Kimbra, so much. When I was overseas I listened to a Music101 podcast every time I was on a train just to hear her latest track. It made me feel much better about being on the other side of the world. I also love that you get a glimpse of my world in this picture, my collections of teacups, a piece of my art on the wall & a stack of books.

I took this picture at work in a moment of, oh yeah, I'm doing Frocktober, quick, upload a picture.

It's awesome, like the day I had.

 

The same but different - day two #frocktober

Day two of #frocktober and as I was last year, I am overwhelmed that total strangers are liking my pictures on instagram. I post the pictures on instagram during the day and then write the blog when I get the time. This dress, for the keen observer, is the dress I wore for the first day of Frocktober last year. You can see it's story here. I'm worried I may not have 31 dresses so there may be the odd double up... To make sure I'm doing a service to the quest I've styled it completely different than last year.

The cardigan I'm wearing in this picture is one of my favourite pieces of clothing at the moment and the necklace I'm wearing I wear almost every day. The cardigan is from a "straight from China" shop called Mirrou and the necklace is from Trade Aid. The older I get, the more conscious I am about the choices I make as a consumer. I love this picture because I snapped it on the stairs while stuck in the stairwell; you can see the sheerness of the dress and the great pattern of the top. It appears that I'm really sticking out my chest but I swear, it's just the angle. A great angle, no less.

In the evening I went to see my friend Terri who was in the middle of her art installation/performance work AuraSecure*. The work was not only beautiful, well executed and polished but a subtle observation of the surveillance we are subject to, every single day, of our lives. She had secured the space through Urban Dream Brokerage, ff you haven't heard of them, please look them up and to see more about the work itself, click here. In this picture I am standing in front of just part of the work.

 

I know Terri as an artist, a PHD student, a mother, a wife, an auntie and an amazing friend. All of which, she puts her heart and soul into. Through our short time together I have shared more with her than most of my friends. She is one of the kindest, bravest, most generous people I know. I am blessed to know her and to watch her make art and to raise such wonderful little boys.

Start as you intend to go on - The polka dot dress for day one

Ebbing Tagaloa - Exhibition - Enjoy Gallery - Works by Suzanne Tamaki and Paula Schaafhausen

Day one of #frocktober and I started as I intended to go on; doing amazing things with amazing people in amazing outfits.

 

For the first day I decided to wear my new favourite dress, a polka dot second-hand number from Wellington. The 1 October was the opening of my friend's exhibition at Enjoy Gallery. Ebbing Tagaloa features a series of sand and coconut formed depictions of the God of the Ocean Tangaroa made by Paula Schaafhausen. They smell incredible and I couldn't help but fall in love with them. Over time they will melt into the floor, take what you will from it. On the wall behind me is a piece by Suzanne Tamaki called tributes to Tangaroa. Suzanne makes the ordinary into the extraordinary and this piece is no exception. This polka dot dress has replaced my black dress as my go-to dress when I need to feel powerful.

Me discussing Johnson Witihera's work

I wore it in July when I was asked to do bi-lingual tours & speak at an event at the Wellington City [art] Gallery. I was terrified. I hadn't spoken Te Reo Maori in a long time and I had to stand in front of a crowd of strangers and talk without notes. For those of you who know me, you will think that it is unthinkable that I would have been nervous but really, I was terrified. The night started with me doing the bi-lingual tour. Below is a picture of me in front of one of my favourite pieces in the Grant Stevens show that we toured. It's a cup with an apparent meaningless phrase on it. It's his observation of how we place this mantras on cups and that we become so used to it that it looses all meaning. A comment on how what we read is sometimes completely different that what is written. The phrase on this cup is meant to be a throw away phrase but for me, the day I walked into the gallery, that's how I felt, like I wanted to resign as manager of the Universe.

 

In the second half of the evening I had to stand next to poets, playwrights & fluent Te Reo Maori speakers and talk about myself. To feel better I wore my new fav dress and to insight my ancestors, I wrapped myself in my Mackenzie tartan.

 

Of course I took this dress when I went to explore the world and I discovered that it is a fantastic dress to travel with. Easy to wash/dry and squash in a bag, put it on and instant pretty/fun.

 

My first stop on my trip was Dublin. This is me in front of one of the many Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy memorials around the city. Obviously (looking at this picture) I had a great time in Dublin visiting for the first time, and with two Penny's bags in my arms, why wouldn't I be happy.

 

Then I travelled to Tralee, County Kerry for the Rose of Tralee to support our darling New Zealand Rose of Tralee, Lisa Bazalo, as she took on the world. Love that the day I wore this dress the only redhead Rose wore navy polka dots and that the only redhead escort wore a navy suit. We may not have souls but we certainly have style.

The Rose of Tralee is a week long festival in Ireland that celebrates young Irish women from all over the world. This picture (above) sums up the madness I experienced. After Tralee I travelled to Cork for a quick stop before making my way to Crosshaven for the Irish Redhead Convention.

This is me wearing the wore the dress for day two of the Convention. This is a picture of me being interviewed by the BBC. Pretty overwhelming that all these people were so interested in the kiwi that had flown half way across the world to the Convention. To see the clip, click HERE



When I arrived at the Convention I was a bit hesitant about blending in. It's a strange feeling to not be the odd one out (as above). As soon as the beautiful redheaded children started arriving I was so happy to be there. Parents had bought their redheaded children from all around Ireland to show them how special they were. Such an amazing thing, especially as supporting the Convention meant we were also raising funds for the Irish Cancer Society. They raised 5,000euro this year.

Yes, it does appear that I am trying to snatch this child.

I was so well looked after by Joleen Cronin, the organiser, and her beautiful & generous family while I was in the village. Crosshaven the village itself is beautiful and the food and drink was incredible. If you are ever there, please go to Cronin's (the pub) and say hi from me! You will be well looked after.

Oh yeah, I won a certificate for "furthest travelled redhead". Here I am with the 2013 King and Queen of the Redheads. Both real stars and great ambassadors for the gingers of the world. At the Convention I made friends for life and I have no doubt that I will go back to reunite with the wonderful, crazy, beautiful, brave people that I meant while there.

 

 

After Ireland I travelled to Northern Ireland, Scotland and finally, England where I stayed with my best friend, Anita. This is us in Plymouth where my Dad comes from. I miss you Anita.

 

The day before: #frocktober

On 31 September I wrote on facebook; "to do, or not to do #froctober, that is the question." I posted it with this picture of me against the Seven Sisters of Sussex. I chose it because I look like a cardboard doll, ready to be dressed.

 

 

My Mother thought it was a wonderful idea, my sister (who took almost all the pictures last year) thought it was a terrible idea, but generally, the feedback was positive.

 

Last year I disliked not being able to wear my favourite dresses when ever I wanted, of course I missed my jeans, and I often, if not always by the end of it, hated the thought of taking a picture.  

 

These pictures were taken when I was in Sussex only a few weeks ago. I was in Brighton staying with my best friend, her boyfriend and her father. I had spent 4 weeks travelling through Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and finally, England. I can't bring myself to write about it yet; I'm not ready.

 

These white cliffs: the Seven Sisters of Sussex are stunning in real life, they are formed by layers upon layers of built up sea shells. As soon as I saw I was the same colour I had to take the picture above. I rolled up my dress and tried to disappear into the rock. The red hair didn't help.

 

On the way back I had this picture taken. I had folded down by dress around my waist to feel the sun on my shoulders. I was aware that within a week I would be returning to winter.

So this is it, the paper doll, ready to be dressed... 31 days of wearing a different frock: #frocktober

Adventures with Alma. 5 days out of the last 10.

Yesterday a dear dear friend left to return home to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since she arrived I have been out every night. For a girl that didn't think she had much of a social life and over the years has been called a Nana (more than once), I think I've done pretty good at staying alive for the last two weeks. Looking back I have had an amazing time, with amazing people, in amazing places. So this is how it went...

Wednesday 6 November

My new friend arrived.

This kinda looks like us, me and Alma, but with the skin colour reversed

My new friend (Alma) arrived on Thursday. I went to meet her, another friend and my boyfriend at a cafe. I was anxious. When I saw her, her face was beaming, she was literally grinning from ear to ear and embraced me as though we were long lost friends. I was instantly comfortable and myself. We didn't stop talking until she left.

Most Wednesday's I go to a bar in town called the Hangar. It opened on a Wednesday and my friend and I went on the first night and have been going there since it opened. We sit at the bar and have a few drinks while we catch up with whoever comes in to join us. It's nice to spend time with friends and the boys that run the bar are incredibly hard workers & make beautiful drinks. They love what they do and they are good at it. 

This Wednesday was my friend's birthday so we were joined by lots of his friends. It got quite rowdy; some people made a human pyramid, a girl fell off. She's a bit of a dick so I quite enjoyed that bit. I stayed till midnight to say happy birthday (because it was actually Thursday) then I went home.

Thursday 7 November

Thursday night we went to the opening of Kowhiti. Alma was here in Aotearoa looking after the dance group from New Mexico: Dancing Earth so got us tickets to the opening night of the contemporary Maori dance festival. My first glimpse of Dancing Earth was through the window from the balcony. One dancer was bound, twisted in rubbish, one wore a gas mask and the other played a violin. They wore striking blue.

This picture is taken from the balcony before the show began. I look totally unimpressed with Tamahou's story, I probably wasn't, it was probably more that the camera was right in our face.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/us_embassy_newzealand/10731087615/sizes/m/in/photostream/

The performances were brilliant. Dancing Earth and Mas from the Torres Strait Islands stole the show. Dancing Earth opened the show and after it I felt as though I had been to New Mexico and back. Their narrative about the value of water, conservation, people's effect on the land and culture was powerful. I saw the creatures, felt the land under my feet and heard their pleas to understand their plight. 

Mas from the Torres Strait Islands danced like a bird. His feet quick quick quick as he brought his ancestors to the stage. 

The other piece that struck me was one by Louise Potiki-Bryant. Her piece Kiri, a conversation between a piece of clay and a clay artist was sophisticated and subtle yet every movement left me breathless. At one stage I couldn't hold it in and yelled, she's a hei tiki, look! 

You can see pictures of the Kowhiti performance on the US Embassy's page at the link above.

Friday 8 November

On Friday I got to see two on my fav people in the world. These two have taught me more about myself than they will ever know. I hope we stay friends forever.

At night Alma, the BF and I went to a really cool fundraiser. Our friends helped organise a haangi (google it) and entertainment for their daughter's kohanga reo (Maori Language learning nest for preschoolers). One of my fav singers Ria Hall was performing and I love haangi. Actually, the haangi we had was the best one I've ever had in Wellington. We got to hang with cool people, eat good food and listen to good music. It was choice and for such a cool cause. 

Saturday 9 November

I got up early to take the BF to work and got to go to the supermarket by myself on a Saturday morning (it's something I like to do). I then went home, got Alma and we went to Te Papa to hang with Dancing Earth and the Kowhiti whanau.

Alma and I went shopping and we met Shane one of the dancers from Albuquerque. We all went to the market and we laughed and I talked and talked and talked. I hope I meet him again. He features more in Sunday's story. 

I didn't know but there was a workshop on at Te Papa being run by Dancing Earth. Of course, I couldn't not take part so I took off my shoes and started the workshop with Rulan, the choreographer & instructor for Dancing Earth. Although I had bad pants on (tight jeans) and every time I bent over my ass crack smiled at the sky, I let go of all inhibition and surrendered to Rulan and her lesson.

She taught us how to not step on the grass, to step with intention and to breathe through our bodies to the land beneath us. Part of the lesson involved getting into a group of three and being the holy trio of food; beans, corn and squash. I was a corn, and a sexy corn at that. I may have even found my calling.

After the workshop we were treated to a performance by one of the Dancing Earth family, Ria Thundercloud. Ria danced the dance of her ancestors. It was magical and beautiful, like this picture.

That night we went to the NZ Poetry Slam. Holey shit, how did I now know about this before. For those not in the know, people recite poems and they are judged by random members of the crowd, the highest and lowest scores are taken away and then the remaining scores are added to get a winner of each "round". They battle till they have a winner.

We arrived late, the bar was packed and people were clicking fingers to show they liked what was being said over the mic. We arrived for the semi-finals and what we witnessed was nothing short of astounding. Long story short, the three finalists were all young men; Michael from Dunedin (who I stalked when I was at school), Michael from Hamilton (a handsome Maori fulla) and the winner, Te Kahu also from Hamilton (also a handsome Maori fulla). They spoke about Mother's being beaten to death, about playing league to impress the father that beat you, about the dickhead your girlfriend likes that makes you look good as a boyfriend, about property agents as the scum of the earth, about the sucken ship that wreaked his home but bought his people together, about being men that write poetry. 

We were there with some amazing people and if all these young people are the future of our country then that is just fine by me.

Sunday 10 November

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, my week was completed with a day full of all the things I love. As I say, Sunday's are for doing the things that matter, with the ones that you love.

But wait, there's more.

I'm entirely aware that I have not blogged the last 3 days of dresses from the stash. Rest assured, I wore them, they were amazing & and I have good stories to tell. I'll post a blog entry tonight, but until then, here is a picture of one of the stars of the last few days of the challenge: a baby blue vintage number bought from under a mountain. 

 

I wore over 31 dresses over 31 days and by the end of it all I was quite over getting my picture taken in them. While I started out with the same pose and serious face, this picture shows how much I didn't care by the end, booty out, in the doorway.