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Style Profiles

January20th

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Style Profile – Tanja Kovacevic of Petite Grand

Posted in: Style Profiles, Womens Styles

I have no idea how I first came across Sydney jewellery label Petite Grand, but when I did, I instantly fell in love with the simple and delicate pieces. At a time when chunky rings, big bracelets and statement necklaces rule, Petite Grand is a breath of fresh air and something any girl would want to wear.

In December I visited Tanja Kovacevic, the creator of Petite Grand at her home studio. We talked about her lovely jewelleries, fashion, life and of course I took lots of photos too. Tanja is so amazing and down to earth, she showed me around her light filled eastern suburbs apartment, brought out some of her treasured things for me to photograph and even made me a bacon and egg sandwich for lunch! It was delicious by the way.

See all the photos and my Q&A with Tanja below.

Some Petite Grand pieces draped over Tanja’s lovely white bird cage

One of Tanja’s favourite dresses

Name: Tanja Kovacevic
Occupation: Jewellery Designer
Describe your style: Casual and feminine but with clean lines.
Favourite fashion designers and labels: Bassike, LP33.3, Lanvin, Jean Despres, Victoire de Castellane.  
Favourite clothing stores: Incu, Somedays, Bloodorange, My Chameleon.

Tanja at her workstation, where all the magic happens

The most lovely moodboard, filled with postcards of artworks and photographs Tanja collected during her travels

When and how did Petite Grand come about?
I started Petite Grand in 2011 – the business is now 11 months old! Petite Grand came about because of my love of making jewellery and wanting to express myself in a more creative way.

Have you always wanted to make jewellery?
Yes, I’ve always had a passion for it, but being an Accessories Buyer at Zimmermann really cemented it for me. I enjoy the thrill of creating something with my own hands and then seeing it on someone else, who loves to wear it.

Tell us about your latest spring summer collection and where its inspirations came from?
The summer itself – fresh, bright, warm, colourful beach days! My travels to Europe and Morocco and the Art Deco design influences in those places. I have used a lot more colour in this collection and I love the combination of mixing different metals together in the one piece.

Petite Grand has garnered a big following in quite a short space of time, what do you think made Petite Grand an instant hit?
Sometimes the simplest things make the biggest impact. I think that my jewellery is so simple that it appeals to everyone. You can wear it in your own way and I think people really love that.

A selection of Tanja’s treasured possessions

What’s your personal story?
I grew up on the Northern Beaches so I guess that has influenced my low-key sense of style. Working for designers like Nicky and Simone Zimmermann and Mela Purdie have taught me so much. Working in London and travelling for several years exposed me to a lot of different people with eclectic style. It has also given me a perspective on other cultures and aesthetics that I draw from daily. 

How would you describe your aesthetic?
Clean Lines
Easy
Classic
Feminine
Fun

Where do you see Petite Grand in 5 years time?
With my own Petite Grand team! Hopefully selling overseas and expanding our range of accessories. Having lots of fun!

Said bacon and egg sandwich!

You simply must check out Petite Grand if you haven’t already! In fact, one better that, head over to My Chameleon to order some gorgeous pieces right now!

PS. Thanks for lunch Tanja! xx
November11th

2 Comments

Style Profile – Sara Phillips

Posted in: Style Profiles, Womens Styles

I’ve been a fan of Sara’s designs ever since I first read an article about her in Fallen magazine last year. Then Australian Fashion Week rolled around and I photographed the entire Sara Phillips show backstage, documenting Sara, Ryan Lobo and my friend Dana Fernie working their magic with my street photographer’s eyes. It was then I fell in love with her latest collection, Natural Law, drawing on Australian native floral and fauna, the digital prints are simply sublime. Each piece is simple yet complex all at the same time, but always very chic and wearable.

I popped into Sara’s studio a couple of weeks ago and did a photo shoot to showcase Sara’s personal style and her studio as well as an interview about her, her work and her style. Sara is svelte, soft spoken and most lovely. So without further ado, I’ll let the photos and the interview below speak for themselves.

Name: Sara Phillips
Occupation: Fashion designer
Describe your style: Simple & comfortable.
Favourite fashion designers/labels beside your own: Maison Martin Margiela, Nathan Smith & Stella McCartney
Favourite clothing stores: Scanlan & Theodore, Incu and Acne

How did you get into fashion design?
After completing my course at East Sydney my graduate collection was picked up by a few stores and it has just gone on from there.

As a creative, does your lifestyle reflect your design and style philosophy?
Yes, but to be honest I spend more time in the studio than at home.

What’s it like to work in the heart of Surry Hills?
It’s a great hub for the ragtrade. There are also great galleries around the area as well as places to eat and go out!

Tell us about your latest collection, Natural Law.
Natural Law is a truly Australian collection. Inspired by our native flora and fauna. We used vintage 1930 elements and re drew them and brought them forward by using heightened colours, as well as placing them in unique engineered prints.

What’s your favourite piece from the collection?
The Batson dress (shown in the last photo). I love the real Waratah prints.

Do you have yourself in mind when designing?
I always have my customer in mind whilst designing.

See more of Sara’s amazing creations on her website.
August5th

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Style Profile – Me

Posted in: Style Profiles, Womens Styles

I have turned the tables and willingly put myself under the microscope. Why? To prove that I should be Nokia & Elle’s next style correspondent! This only happens once in a blue moon, so you better keep reading!

I figures it’s a bit weird to interview myself, so you’ll just have to put up with my rambles. Let’s start with my usual.

Name: Xiaohan
Occupation: Photographer – Designer – Blogger
Describe my style: Simple, easy effortless chic with a twist of quirky details.
Favourite fashion designers: Miuccia Prada, Isable Marant & Albert Albaz.
Favourite clothing stores: Pretty Dog, Cream on Crown & ASOS.

My personal style

Growing up I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy and I think I still am. I live in a pair of old jeans and a loose t-shirt, I still twist my ankle all the time while wearing heels, pink and red are colours I only started to wear in the last few years. I first cut my hair short when I was 12 and it’s pretty much stuck around ever since. That quirky touch has become an integral part of my style, it shows off my creative side. Whether it’s a bag I bought in Mexico, a skirt I found in China or a fluro orange satchel, I always add a different touch to each of my outfit.

Coach cape, Zara white blouse, ethnic hand embroidery skirt I bought in China, Opening Ceremony shoes, Cambridge satchel in fluro orange, Nokia N8 in pink

In my trunk to New York

What I’m planning to pack to NY fashion week is closely dictated by my personal style. I’ll be packing a small but select range of clothes with me to spend those last days of sultry summer.

I love wearing whites in summer, with a tan, it’s a rocking looking! So I’m packing a bunch of basics in white, black, grey, blue and denim. My accent colour for New York will be pink (like the Nokia N8) and orange (like my satchel). Pop!

The women I love

My style icons are definitely not your average fashionistas, they are known for their work first, their fashion second. They don’t get easily swayed by trends, they know what works for them and they all have a strong sense of style. I want to be like them one day, in the mean time I’ll be slowly seeking out my path and evolve my style to suit.

Sofia Coppola, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chloe Sevigny & Alexa Chung

Effortless chic takes a fair bit of effort, no?

Vote for me and make me Nokia and Elle’s next style correspondent and I’ll bring you the best coverage, from the catwalk of big name designers, backstage at start up labels, to the splendid street style on the side walks of New York. I’ll bring all of you along on my adventure and you won’t miss a single beat! Like my entry right here >

Or click on the banner below to see my full entry and don’t forget to like it!
August6th

17 Comments

Style Profile – Emma Daniels

Posted in: Style Profiles, Womens Styles

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

Occupation: I’m currently half way through a short term administrative role at a Surry Hills based company. I also write, DJ and spend a lot of time hunting down vintage goodies for the store slash creative hub I’ll be opening with my partner later this year.

Describe your style: I don’t know when precisely I laid to rest the eighties but all of a sudden I’ve found myself perfectly immersed in the pre-hippy sixties.

Favourite fashion designers: I’m a bit out of the loop to be honest as I spend more time looking through old collections than new ones. However, I love Yves Saint Laurent, Hermes, Chloe, Ann Demeulemeester and, only recently, Fendi.

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.

Did you set out to decorate it this way or did it come along slowly?

The current decor and layout of our apartment has come about very organically.

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 open this Spring. We’re very, very excited. It’s pretty much all I think about. It’s invading my every waking moment, in the best way possible. Like a favourite perfume, that’s been sprayed on a touch too strongly. It’ll be called Dear Pluto (our store, not my perfume). Find us on Facebook!

And what can we expect from it?

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.
July4th

1 Comment

Green eyes – A little preview

Posted in: Style Profiles, Womens Styles

Do you remember Emma? From here and here. She is definitely one of my favourite Sydney stylesters! I had a shoot with her at her utterly amazing apartment today for my xsstyle feature, I got so many great shots, I just couldn’t resist sharing a sneak peek with you :)

For the full feature, I’m afraid you’ll have a wait a while.

Emma’s blog: http://www.owlandthegrapes.com/