Fashion Idle: Alannha Hill

From the tiny town of Penguin, on an Island floating not only in the shadows of its larger nation but what seemed like in time itself- to one of Australia's top hot designers, Alannah has come a long way.
To me, she is an inspiration... not only for her love of pretty dresses and old time charms, but her story to success and the hardships she had to face, give me the courage to dream.

Her label is everything i look for when designing my wardrobe... Fun, quirky, coquettish, with a sprinkle of 1950's elegance and romance. And I'm not embarrassed in the slightest to admit I droll over every new design she creates, taking a photo or drawing it in my sketch book...
If  I -as a young christian girl- could have an idle, Alannah Hill would be mine Fashion God.
          Love Miss Samii

weekly Fashion Inspiration: 1950's

If someone asked me what I considered to be one of the most glamorous decades in the last 100 years, I would instantly reply "The 1950s".

Everything about that time was beautiful and extravagant and…new. I can't explain it but it was luminous and bigger than life. The way people went to parties, the dresses, clothes, cars, even the advertising and way almost everyone smoked cigarettes. People were naive and eager to be something bigger than themselves - wanting only to put their best face forward…Women especially. You were not to leave the house without your hair curled and some rouge on the lips. You were to look refined and even a little daring and sexy.
 Miss Samii

The turning of a time

Last night i just finished reading the amazing squeal to Sally Gardner's The Red Necklace, The Silver Blade.
It is a beautiful fictional love story set against the 'Terror' of the French Revolution.

In the first book, Sally Gardner creates a perfectly captivating beginning of an odd paring between a young gypsy boy and a Marquise's daughter.

 Yann has an amazing talent, he is able to read people's minds and throw his voice. Yann works with a magician - called Topolian- and a dwarf- called Tetu. The three of them put on a show where the main magic trick is the Pierrot a puppet which can move, talk and read people's minds.

So when one day Topolian is asked to go and perform at a Marquis's house, but every thing goes wrong. At the party is the famous Count Kallovski who lets people borrow money in exchange for their deepest darkest secrets that they wouldn't tell anyone. One of the tricks Topolian preforms interests the count a little to much.. the trick- that Topolian can be shot and that he won't die. However, Count Kallovski tampers with the gun...

Yann and Tetu have to escape from the house, and with the help of the Marquis's daughter Sido,Yann and Tetu safely escape the house and go back to the theatre in Paris.

Sido hates her father, ever since she was i little girl. You see the Marquis hates his daughter as she reminds him of his wife who died when Sido was very young. The Marquis detests her as she isn't beautiful - just plain- and because she walks with her limp. He hates the girl so much Sido is sent to live at the convent.

Yann and Tetu have to hide from Count Kalloviski. Things get so bad that Yann gets sent to live in England with Sido's aunt and uncle who are very close friends to Tetu's friend.

But when Sido and her father fear the worst and they need to escape France, they contact a certain Mr Toll. But Mr Toll is actually the enemy and he sends them to prison to die for being aristocrats. Can Yann save Sido who he has found that he is in love with? Read the book to find out.

In the Second Book, The Silver blade, it is the year 1793, the blade of the guillotine falls on the neck of the king himself, and the spirit of the french revolution lies in tatters. The Reign of Terror has begun.
Yan Margoza, the mysterious young man known as the magician, is helping desperate people to escape to England, where Sido, the girl he loves, waits to hear from him.
But Yann's past haunts him. He is in danger, and so is Sido. For under the streets of Paris, in the catacombs, the howl of a great beast can be heard. And a boy with angelic looks and an evil heart is ready to do the bidding of a man who has made a pact with the devil.

The two books are a thrilling tale of secrets, of locks and keys, of murder, revenge and romance, written with the vividness and passion of any girls dreams.
What i love the most is that from the very moment Yan and Sido set eyes upon each other, they know, even before they understand what it is, the only person they could ever love was the young child that they met one horrible winters night. 

I hope you enjoy this tale as much as i have..

     

Welcome one and all

To whom whoever find this...

welcome to the wonderfully magical world of my life...

I loved to write. Poems, songs, plays, long long, very long stories. But I've never been very strong in my English studies. And thanks to some wonderful, beautiful lady's whom became my saviors last year in school I learned that anythings possible... Even for a girl who still struggles to read and spell correctly.

So after years of being told i couldn't spell, or read fast enough, or write a report, essay, or even a short story...I was told, I could write...

“Potential is nothing if it’s wasted and talent is nothing unless it’s developed.
Ultimately, nobody can tell you how to direct, nobody can tell you how to write. They can show by example, they can lead by inspiration, they can encourage you but ultimately it comes down to you… Relying on your instincts is the only way you ever got about it.” – Frank Darabont

Thanks to a perfect old friend, whom I thank the lord for everyday, I realized that I may not be technical or systematic but when write, what i write, is full of heart.
I'm not able to write 10 pages on effects of WWII & relate it back to a period play and explain the effects such things have on the economics of the time the play was set....
But I know the information, I know it all like the back of my own hand...I understand and can relate to the characters, know about the fashion, the war itself, the people in power and the people that suffered, I could put myself in a characters shoes and give it heart, life, as if it was my own to live.


I guess what I'm saying is that, if you'd be my audience, I'd like to share a little part of my story...my world. 

Sincerely

          Miss Samii