Lucas Ossendrijver

A lot of men are very insecure when it comes to dressing. They ask themselves every morning, “What am I going to wear? Is it the right thing? Does it match?” Once they find something they stick to it, and I think that’s a shame. I think men should make a bit more of an effort. They should see clothing not as something necessary but as something fun.

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Tuscany Wine Estate

We spent last weekend at the Tuscany Wine Estate in the Hunter Valley. We were there for a friends wedding and we had such an amazing time. Best wedding ever? It might just be! Congratulations Chris and Kelly!

I took some time photographing the pretty surrounds.

Grown up shoes.

I’ve got heaps of sneakers at home. Like maybe 30 or 40 pairs? Problem is that I don’t really like any of them anymore. I look at all the bright colours and chunky soles and think to myself  “How did I ever wear these out in public!?’ Maybe that’s a bit harsh, but still, they are kinda ugly and I kinda don’t want to wear them anymore. I have a gallery on Facebook from 2007 dedicated to some of these shoes. Yes, I was obsessed.

I guess my tastes have matured since then as lately I’ve been all about leather shoes. You know, like proper gentlemen’s shoes. I like it. It feels right. I recall a time a few years ago when a friend bought some white Lacoste loafers. We would joke about them being his grown up shoes. Those were the days.

I generally feel a shift towards dressier shoes is actually happening in the real world. I could be totally misguided in thinking that, but boat shoes seem to be everywhere at the moment (I’m wearing some right now) and I think it’s only a matter of time before that morphs into other types of  ‘grown up’ shoes.

Anyway, I’ve been trying to find some nice ones on eBay. eBay is such an annoying site to find things, especially if you don’t know particular brands and styles, does anyone else find this? I type in Men’s leather shoes and a million come back. Where to start? Luckily I sifted through one million ‘men’s leather shoes’ and managed to find a few that I like.

PEAL & Co. for Brooks Brothers

Lanvin

Paul Smith

I’ll probably look back at this post in a week and think that they’re all ugly, old and worn out, but for now I think they’re pretty cool.

Let’s get Local

It’s hard to find inspiration in town such as Canberra. I recently holidayed for 3 weeks in amazing places like London, Paris and Berlin (where I also got engaged!!).  There’s almost an overload of inspiration in those cities, it’s just crazy, I love Europe so much.

It’s been hard getting back into the swing of things and have generally found myself a little down about Canberra. It’s not a great feeling, so I thought I’d try to find something great about this place;  I’ve spent the last few hours browsing the internet in search of people who do find it inspiring and are getting out there and doing some good things.  Here’s what I’ve found:

Spader clothing is a local label run by a few guys. They appear to be doing quite well for themselves, even if their designs are a touch on the safe side. They regularly update their blog with some decent stuff, so that’s worth checking out.

Luuk is another local t-shirt label. I’m a big fan of the designs – they’re totally quirky and original. Many of the designs can be seen around Canberra on  lamp posts, walls and even bike wheels.  There’s a whole stack of worm people drawings that seem to pop up everywhere, they’re pretty cute. I think it’s a great way to establish the brand while also giving it some street cred, even if it might be slightly illegal ;o)

Bookclub are yet another label, but they’re focus is on denim. I’m a big fan of denim in general, but I’ve yet to check out their designs. Shame on me. The cuts seem to focus on a slim fit with detailing such as leather back pockets and fold over ‘dog ear’ pockets ( I guess they’re pretty bored with standard pockets?) Anyone who knows me knows that I love small details in clothing, it’s the details that make the difference, so I really should hop on down to iTrip iSkip to see what their stuff is all about.

End of the Day is a photo blog based around Canberra. I’m not sure what the story is as they’ve no info on the site. By the looks of things they’ve recently visited one of my favourite places in the world, Tokyo. Last year I posted one of their photos on my Tumblr and I think it could possibly be my most reblogged post!

Sofia Polak, I’m pretty sure, used to hang out at the Candy bar a fair bit back when I played there. Now it looks as though she’s a fashion designer of sorts. Nice one.

Velveteen Loves seems to be having a good time, frequenting local fashion events, markets and hanging out with friends. I think it’s a blog I’ll frequent to remind myself that there are at least some things to do, even if we don’t move in the same circles.

I’m sure there are many more out there, so feel free to contribute any links to anything exciting in our lil ole town!

We were on ABC national news

I feel as though I look a little concerned as to what Till is saying. Good fun.

Greenwell Point

We went to Greenwell Point for a family friend’s 40th birthday. Good fun.

Thirty made me mad

For my 30th, I had a Mad Men themed party. It’s possibly my favourite show ever, which is a big call, but there hasn’t been a show that before that I’ve really obsessed so much over. Sure, I’ve enjoyed many shows in the past but not like this one.

I based my look on Don and had actually ordered a suit from TopMan about two weeks before the party, thinking that would be plenty of time for it to arrive. On the Friday, the day before the party,  the suit had yet to arrive. I started to get worried that I’d have nothing to wear at my own party, so I ventured out to Roger David to see what they might be able to offer. I bought a black suit that I had to have altered as the pants were too long. On the Saturday, shortly after picking the tailored pants, a white courier van pulled up out the front. ‘No way!’ I thought, but surely enough, my TopMan suit arrived. I’m pretty glad that it did, it’s a great suit and definitely fitted in more with the Mad Men vibe than the Roger David suit.

My girlfriend pretty much organised everything,  it was such a great night. I’m pretty sure she has a future career in party planning.

Jane and Betty

Thanks to everyone who came!

30 plus!

It’s my last day before I depart my twenties and enter my thirties. I don’t really have much to say, but I thought I’d better mark this occasion somehow.

A lot has happened in my twenties, plenty of amazing times and plenty of bad times. Thankfully more good than bad. Here is a list of highlights:

Meeting Till

Graduating from uni. It took one false start, but I got there!

DJing at Family nightclub in Brisbane.  Being flown up to Brisbane, picked up at the airport and staying in the Hilton was also part of that experience, I have to thank Chris for that one.

Supporting Sasha on the Canberra leg of his Australian tour. I’ll never forget the moment Chris told me live on JJJ that I had been chosen as the support. Awesome.

Buying my first house (even if it was only an apartment)

Being broadcast on national radio (twice on Triple J’s mix up)

Buying my first brand new car

Starting my first real job and generally being a job whore. I think I’m kind of setting down these days.

Being voted 43rd most popular DJ in  Australia in the 2006 ITM DJ Poll (also making the top 5 in Canberra in 2005, 2006 and 2007)

Having a half a page profile in street press magazine 3D world.

Putting on a few of my own events – Raw Groove (with Nash and Lyndon), Pod Warz (with Rohan) and Future Love Affair (with Charlie). Some more successful than others…

Getting Frankie and Lou Lou, the best puppies ever!

Travelling to London, Greece, Serbia, Italy, Germany and Japan (There should have been a lot more traveling me thinks, must make up for this in my thirties!)

Driving around Tasmania with Till. Such a great time and highly recommend it to anyone.

Playing to crowds of over 2000 at events like Stonefest and the Twisted series of parties at UC

Making a fool of myself in front of said crowds, Stonefest being the best performance of my life and I don’t even remember it!

Still being with Till

Making friends that I’ll keep for a lifetime, even if most of them are half way around the world.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten so many things, I have such a terrible memory! There’s too many people who have been influential to me in my twenties, I’d be here forever listing them, but to you all, I thank you for being amazing!

I actually look forward to being thirty, strangely enough. I wonder what the next decade will bring me, I’m very excited to find out!

Farewell twenties, hullo thirties!

Spring

The weather’s been great lately

Fix Up Look Sharp

A lot of my inspiration comes from street fashion blogs, I could look at them for hours. A few years ago I decided to start my own with the hope I could show the world that Canberra wasn’t so stylistically boring. It had a total of about one entry and then it died.  Maybe it was because I couldn’t find enough interesting subjects, there wasn’t enough time or I just didn’t have the confidence to approach people in the street to take their pictures.

It’s definitely something I’d love to be doing, so I could try and revive it in some sense. Do I have the time to search the city in the hope that someone amazing turns up?  How do you approach someone to tell them that you like their style and want to put them on your blog? How do people react when you ask them? Hmmm…

A quick search to see if anyone else is doing something similar brings up a few sites: Capital Thread, Capital Style, Canberra Street Style and Canberra’s got Style. Out of them, I think Capital Thread and Capital Style are doing the best job. I’ll have to add them to my list of sites that I check out regularly.