Guest photo editor, Vitek aka my boyfriend :)

My regular readers would know that Emma is no stranger here at xssat, I’ve photographed her twice before, here and here. Emma is a Surry Hiller through and through, from her style, her clothes, her home, everything is in true Surry Hills fashion. If you haven’t guessed it yet, she lives in Surry Hills with her boyfriend and 2 flatmates in THE most amazing apartment I’ve ever set foot in. Naturally, I asked if I could go photograph her and her apartment.

So here I bring you the latest xsstyle profile – Emma Daniels.

Emma’s apartment isn’t what most people would call amazing, I was describing her apartment to 2 guys at work and what I thought sounded quirky, artistic, NY loft like, to them sounded dingy, dodgy and well, down right scary. Arh, taste, such a subjective thing.

Emma’s place is on the top floor of a converted warehouse, it’s a huge space with 3 bedrooms and lots of huge, open and bright living spaces. It’s the kind of place I dream about living in. I am a hoarder, I like to collect lots of random knick knacks and I’d love to have the room and space to display them and let them breathe.

Just as eclectic as the place is Emma’s style, she’s recently gone from a heavily 80s influenced style to a 50s and early 60s vibe. Oh you know what… enough of me blabbering on, I actually did an interview with Emma! I think she’s much more qualified to talk about her style and her apartment than me! Well, enjoy the pretty pictures and the interview.

Now the interview! First up, we’ve the usual questions.

Name: Emma Daniels

Favourite clothing stores: (local or overseas) Do charity shops count? I can count the number of times I’ve shopped in proper clothing stores this year on one hand, those times primarily being to buy underwear. For some reason, second hand undies don’t appeal to me quite as much as second hand clothes.

Your style is very eclectic, what are you fashion and style influences? I’m influenced by anything and everything.

How do you go about deciding what to wear each day? Not in a way dissimilar to your average acne-faced, 17 year old boy, I should think. I do some shower-time day dreaming (though in my case the dreaming is more to do with clothes than the absence of them) so that by the time I’m faced with my metaphorical wardrobe, it’s easy: I just rummage through the mountain of clothes on my floor until I find something I deem passable in terms of cleanliness, mix and match with some dreamy goodness and voila!

The decor of your apartment is also very eclectic.

I live with five others, which means that we have double (triple?) the creative input most homes have. Another advantage of living with a changing roster of lovely people is the amazing furniture they bring and, sometimes, leave behind. We take great care in not inviting a couple of previous housemates over (despite our fondness for them) lest they remember they left their blue velvet couch/1970s armchairs/vintage suitcases. Just kidding… kind of.

Where did you collect your furniture from?

As I said, a lot of it belongs to people who have lived or do live with me. The rest I’ve collected from garage sales, the side of the street, eBay, charity shops and the odd eclectic furniture store. I picked up the sweetest ’60s orange vinyl chair off the curb earlier this week.

You are finally opening up your very own vintage clothing shop. When will it be open?

It’ll be an occasional thrift store, stocking lots of vintage and retro clothes, accessories and nick knacks, occasional art gallery and general creative space. We plan to play host to a whole range of low-key but super cool events.

Emma’s blog: http://owlandthegrapes.com/
Keep track with Emma’s yet to open vintage shop, Dear Pluto via their facebook page.