Fashion (turn to the left)

SHOW/S OF THE WEEK

Adventure is the theme of this years Loreal Melbourne Fashion Festival and there are 21 shows on around the traps that are sure to be more interesting than forking out $50 to see a runway show. We don't want to pay to look at clothes we can't afford or fit into.

Contrary to popular belief fashion is for everyone. Vivian Westwood, progenitor of punk and all things Nana once said "Fashion is very important." and we here at Handmade Life couldn't agree more. It is the artists and craftists of fashion that give us new ways of exploring, rediscovering and rethinking the ways in which swaddle ourselves as we move through the world. We're really very excited by the long list of exhibitions on offer, and fully expect to run ourselves ragged trying to see as much as we can while the fun lasts.

With this in mind here's three top picks to get you started.

Noble Rot examines an unseen history of fashion - the unfinished, the soiled, the discarded. The show includes work by dynamic design duo S!X who's continued tactile boundary pushing we just can't get enough of. Set in the genteel halls of Como House it'll be well worth the $12 entry fee. We may even stop for tea and scones.

The National Trust Australia (Vic) Como Historic House and Garden Cnr Williams Rd and Lechlade Ave South Yarra 16 Feburary-7 May Mon-Sun 12.30pm-3.00 pm Adult $12.00 Concession $9.00 Child $6.50 National Trust Members free

My Sisters Wardrodrobe. Ok so you have six great items of clothing that you cant bear the sight of anymore... but they're too good for the local oppy and you're too lazy to organise a stall at Camberwell Market. What to do? Why not take them to a party at the museum and exchange them for something new? It's such an insane idea it just might work! This exhibition/event gives a whole new meaning to the phrase Swap Meet - especially after a few glasses of champagne.

Handmade Life will be there alongside our failed fashionista brethren clutching our misguided purchases and hoping to find that perfect pre-loved Zambesi jacket or a pill free Westwood knitted hobble skirt under a pile of bad twinsets, asymetrical hems and the sad schmatte skeletons of the early 90's minimalist/utilitarian drum'n'base era.

Melbourne Museum, Nicholson Street, Carlton. Tele:13 11 02. Thurs 2 March 6.30pm – 9pm Admission $6 (Includes a complimentary drink on arrival - woo hoo)

Ulterior Modish. Handmade Life recommends this show purely on venue. Blindside never fails to present dynamic festival shows and is one of our fabvourite venues. We grabbed this bit from the Fashion Festival website - " Exploring the interstices of text and fashion, represented through the language of four local and international artists, Nick Currie (Berlin), Fiona Mcdonald (Melbourne), Susan Robb (Seattle) and Constanze Zikos (Melbourne). Expressed within the context of a culture that addresses a tactile urge, the virtual and the material are threaded together with the formalesque eye of the needle or the alloy-trace of the machine sewn."

Sounds pretty cool to us, even if they've used the word formalesque.

Blindside gallery, Level 7, Room 14, Nicholas Building, 37 Swanston Street 23 February - 11 March 2006 Thurs-Sat 12.00 pm-6.00 pm

Start planning your outfits now.