G O I N G R E E N .

(Ellery top, Gifted American Apparel Pants, Topshop Shoes)

Just a few (or perhaps only two) photos of what i wore to my best friends surprise birthday last week. In between frantically running around trying to buy enough food for everyone, catering to a party and making sure we actually got the birthday girl there, i was left with very little time to put together an outfit let alone take photos of it too. I opted for a pair of American Apparel pants which are an unusual colour i seem to absolutely love. Bottle green is not the easiest colour to style but for some reason it gave me a chance to finally wear my Ellery top, which is just another piece i find hard to pair with anything else. I think because i wear pants when i'm working during the day you'll rarely find me wearing them when i'm going out. Being a creature of comfort i should have known how quickly i'd start incorporating pants into my night life wardrobe and how perfect they would be for the night festivities, which may have ended up being a few of us climbing to a lookout overlooking the ocean at 2am in the morning or rolling around the kitchen with Luke.. on a large exercise ball.. eating pink frosted cupcakes.. ?? Surprisingly my top survived the obscure night as well!

In more exciting news, my backdrop arrived today so the rest of the week has been put aside for a four day photo shoot! I started uploading the new accessories to the web store yesterday and it all of a sudden hit me how real this all is but also how much i still have to do. I can only pray that i'll have time to blog leading up to the launch. It's not very far away now!

And please don't forget to enter our Schmooks giveaway too! Entries close tonight and we'll be drawing the lucky seven winners a few minutes after! Another giveaway is on it's away and will be announced either tomorrow or the next. Good luck everyone :)))

L A V E N D E R .

(Vintage pleated skirt/hat/cross necklace, Random Top, Alexander Wang loafers)

With the rain holding back and the sun finally behaving like it should this time of year (you know, rising early and setting late) I've been able to start wearing some of my favourite vintage hats from my ever growing collection. They're cute, fun and practical all rolled in to one and keep my face protected from the harsh elements that come along with Summer. This black satin hat fits my head perfectly and comfortably sits on the back, top, or side of my head without falling off, which is impossible with shallow, wide brimmed hats! I always find it weird when you stumble across something that makes you question if it was indeed made for you and if it was fate that you found it?

Anyway, I've been patiently waiting for my new backdrop and studio equipment to arrive in the post so i can finally start taking photos for the store. I haven't told you all yet but I'm launching my new online store in just a few weeks! It's been a secret for so long now that i didn't really know how to go about telling you all, so i opted for the super casual approach instead. It's been 3 months in the making and I'm so excited to show you all the work I've been quietly doing over the past few months, not to mention the new branding, blog, lookbook and stock i have coming! I'm so nervous and anxious to see if it's going to go well and i never anticipated the amount of stress that still comes with launching something you have put your whole heart in to. I've already burst out crying once, let's hope it doesn't happen again!

To give you a better idea, I have backlogged over eight hundred beautiful dresses alone, ready for the launch, with another three hundred expected to arrive just before Christmas! Then add jackets, jumpers, cardigans, skirts, shorts, tops, and boxes full of new accessories i have accumulated and you can imagine the amount of stock i have right now! If everything goes to plan you will all be seeing it very very soon and i honestly can't wait to show you the amazing pieces i have. A sneak peek will be up next week so stay tuned :)))

T H E E L E V E N T H H O U R .

(Gifted The Eleventh Hour top, vintage grey maxi skirt, vintage faux fur shawl)

Oh how there is nothing i love more than wearing a pretty outfit in a pretty field. Natural scenery, a slight breeze, and a setting sun is always the best (and free) accessories you could have to compliment any outfit. I received this beautiful top from the new Australian label 'The Eleventh Hour' with a hand written letter from the designer herself, Anne. The pleating detail on the shoulders is just amazing and it honestly makes me feel like i have wings. Something so delicate deserves a shoot of it's own in my favourite meadow just down the road. Add a faux fur shawl to keep me warm once the light disappears and the chills arrive, some dandelions, and the best boyfriend in the world and it quickly turns into one of the loveliest afternoons i've had in ages. Like all good things, afternoons like this can't be planned, they just happen, and it's impossible to try and measure the fun you're having when you're there in the moment experiencing it first hand.

I've received a few emails this week asking how i get this light effect on all of my photos and what program i use. I edit all of my photos in photoshop and usually just play with the shadows to make them lighter, but this whimsical effect is mainly from shooting in natural light at a certain time of day. So if you're after this effect i would highly suggest shooting in the late afternoon when the sun isn't directly above you, which creates harsh shadows across your face etc. Luke and i absolutely love shooting in natural light and the results are something that can't be achieved in photoshop, especially the warm golden tones when you shoot just on sunset. Plus it's a wonderful reason to get out of the house after work, miss the news, and cut yourself off from the world for an hour or so and escape into your own. It's healthy for the body and mind and i find it incredibly soothing. It makes me realise how many beautiful sunsets i've missed in my lifetime when i'm just sitting inside working, replying to emails, or doing god knows what else i do when it's 7:00pm!? Actually, i was more than likely watching Masterchef now that i think about it? How I wish i could spend every afternoon like this with Luke.

A very big thank you to Anne from 'The Eleventh Hour' for inspiring this entire post, for the beautiful gift, and for dragging me away from my work and getting me out of the house. It's always easier for me to write so freely and openly when i'm feeling inspired by someone or something and i feel like i'm bursting with love at the moment - so thank you.

I'll be going to 'The Eleventh Hour' opening night of their pop up store in Sydney tomorrow night where Anne will be debuting her new collection. If any of you are around please come along, it would be lovely to meet you!

G I V E A W A Y : S C H M O O K S .

To mark the exciting one year anniversary of my store, my blog, and Gary Pepper Vintage in general, some wonderful and talented people have come on board to offer some lovely giveaways to give us plenty to celebrate about and get us all in the spirit for the festive season which is quickly approaching. I'm also celebrating a few extra little things this month but i'll be sharing that news with you later this week. How exciting!

So each week for the next month or two i have lined up giveaways from some creative folk that i think you will all enjoy immensely. Each giveaway will run for a week and will range from high end, to beauty, to art, to fashion - the sky is the limit when it comes to my loyal and devoted readers! If you're a designer or brand that thinks you have something unique and interesting to offer my readers, please contact me here with your proposal.

First up is the super cute jewelry line from Schmooks, created with love and carefully hand made by Claire Cimbora. I fell in love with Claires work when i saw it in Frankie a few months ago so you can believe how excited i was when she emailed with such a generous offer for my readers! I love her unique and quirky designs of panda bears wearing bows, elephants on string, rabbits with oversized glasses and cute little owls. I think they reflect my store perfectly and i couldn't have asked for a better fit.

So what will we be giving away? We have one of each of the rings pictured above and two of the turqiouse panda rings to give away to five lucky readers! You also have the chance of winning one of the two necklaces pictured below so that's a total of $300 AUD we're giving away to seven lucky Gary Pepper Vintage readers!

Please note; Entries have now closed.

Congratulations to Maria Nguyen, Sares Spencer, CeeJay, Ploy S. Chityothin, Sara Jane, helen zhang, Edwinathemu! You'll be receiving an email from me shortly :)
A big thank you to everyone who entered. Our winners were all chosen by random using a random number generator. New giveaway will be announced shortly!

If you have a new found love for Schmooks and would like to order your own jewelry, prints, or future Christmas presents for your loved ones this year, you can visit their online store here. But be warned, it's full to the brim with super cute trinkets and you may not come out alive! I wanted to buy a ring in each colour but after much restraint i decided on this little pink rabbit in his oversized glasses - i think it's love!

C O R N E T T O .

Hot on the heels of the exciting news i shared with you all yesterday is something even bigger and more surreal than i could have ever hoped for. Remember about a month ago i blogged that i was in Sydney shooting a new campaign? Well, after much anticipation we were finally given the green light last night to finally tell all of our readers the big secret! So here goes.. This summer i will be one of the faces of the exciting new Streets "Endless Summer" Cornetto Campaign! It involves tv commercials, billboards, bus backs, guest appearances plus a huge campaign spread out over the entire summer with plenty of exciting giveaways to be won! I actually wish i could enter myself after seeing the amazing prizes up for grabs! You can stay up to date with all of Cornetto's giveaways and news here.

We spent the best part of our day dancing up and down on the spot for the cameras, laughing and eating ice cream. I also got to blow bubbles around the back yard which i would have happily done any time of the day. To make this experience even more memorable was meeting the group of amazing people that came with it. I had the pleasure of meeting fellow bloggers Amanda Thomas from Here Comes the Sun, Isaac Hindin - Miller from Isaac Likes, Adrian Fernand from I Do Believe I Came With A Hat, Lorraine Elliot from Not Quite Nigella, Mark Ipaviz from Matinee Idol and Johnny, Will, Andreas and Alastair from Melbourne band Johnny Rock and The Limits, plus their two beautiful girlfriends Kasia and Sara who came along for the weekend.

If i had one wish it would that the shoot went for longer. Three days flew by all too quickly and before i knew it we were all going our separate ways (in quite a hungover state after the wrap party) and were already planning to catch up again over the Summer. Isn't it amazing how quickly you can bond with complete strangers and how much you miss them when they're gone? I suppose coming back to reality isn't always easy either...

This couldn't have happened at a better time either. I realised it was Gary Peppers first birthday last month and now to celebrate we'll be on television! I suppose there are a few things i should be celebrating if i wasn't so busy working at the moment. But don't worry, I have a few surprises to share in the next two weeks so our birthday won't be going unnoticed :)

The tv commercial is set to go to air in Australia and New Zealand on December the 1st which is only two short weeks away, and will be running for 3 months! For now, Cornetto has released a short 40 second slip of behind the scenes footage which will give you a sneak peek of what's to come, plus plenty of photos i took of us passing the time in between takes. Isaac may possibly be the very first male to ever successfully hula hoop? It's one of his many secret talents.

The ocean, sun kissed skin, salty beach hair, warm mornings and ever warmer nights, midnight swimming, good company and ice cream? Just quietly, I think it's going to be one pretty amazing Summer. I can feel it already :)

C L E O .

(DIY Flower headband, Camilla & Marc high waist Shorts)

I can't begin to tell you what a wonderful day i had yesterday. Not only have we finally settled in to our new home after 5 days of painful and torturous moving but i also received some wonderful surprises in the post. The biggest surprise of the day was when Chloe returned with the brand new copy of CLEO Magazine fresh off the racks. I excitedly flicked to page 82 where i found a jaw dropping page full of my photos alongside an article about street style blogs! I did this interview about a month or two ago and you never know what photos they're going to use or what quotes you've nervously said, so the feelings that rush over you when you see something like this for the first time is, well, it's indescribable. I experienced so many feelings in the few minutes it took me to read the article. I was excited, nervous, happy, overwhelmed, and after a whole 24 hours it still hasn't sunk in yet. To be honest I'm not sure if it ever will...

A very big and warm thank you to Jess from CLEO for writing such a beautiful article, and to Ellie to whom none of this would of been possible - not even in my wildest dreams! I hope you believe me when i say from the bottom of my fluttering heart i would never have thought Gary Pepper Vintage would be on the pages of a magazine like CLEO.

I thought i would scan in the pages for my international readers who can't get their hands on a copy. Oh and before i forget, Chirssy Lau is featured in this wonderful issue too! I was ecstatic to see her beautiful illustrations gracing the CLEO pages and we excitedly messaged back and forth as soon as the issue came out. I always knew she was a brilliant artist, i guess now the rest of Australia will too :) Enjoy!

// www.cleo.com.au //