A metaphor, maybe?! Of course culture plays a huge role in society. Shaping it at its edges like Josephine Bakes and molding it into what we humans pass off as trend. & No, we are not just talking about Timothy Chalemet and his love / hate reasonings over Ballet and Opera. (Josephine was one of the first hairstylists to create the beloved eton crop; it was an overly dramatic look that started the first of finger waves)

 

Throughout the decades we've eyeballed how modern history tells a story through fashion and how it plays a massive role in your everyday lives. What you choose to amplify who you are and what your thought pattern is, or how you express your individuality, is more than just fashion. Surprisingly, it's actually a hidden political statement, a rebounded whisper into what is actually happening in the world around us. Okay David Attemborough let's, have it?!

 

Disease - High Heels

Tignon - Oppression

Drawn on Stocking Seams - Economic Disparity

Mini Skirts - Women's liberation & body autonomy

Victory Rolls - Work place safety

Shoulder Pads - Armour of authority

Denim - Rebellion Medieval Rebirth -

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Escapism. What's the easiest "non-living thing" to escape to? LOVE! Why?! It's a human trait. Felt on a multitude of different levels, across the billions who wake here.

 

Messy - Digital Burn Out.

 

Did you know the searched word "ROMANCE" is currently sitting at a five year high. It's been searched that much that's being predicted as a sustained long-term style over just a quick fad. We're on the cusp of a digital burn out. We're living in a messy, overstimulated world. Information is being thrown at us from every angle. What do we want the most now more than ever. Connection.

 

If you've got this far, you're doing really well.

 

‘Fallen foliage playfully tumbles across the drive. Wildflowers of delicate textural touch are amplified by sunbeams of misty shattered light. In front me stands once a majestic mansion and masterpiece, now a half exposed burnt, buckled brick dwelling who half rests beneath earth's dirt. Whispers of myth and magic; a chamber they say, romanticised by folklore and fantasy and quite possibly full of treasures unseen. (even ones we humans tend to easily forget). For this mansion whose owner, only ever once hosted the most elaborate of parties - ones so exclusive, you'd assume you'd been asked to accompany a noble to a royal family wedding.

 

Had you been invited, you were part of the very few elite Stonequarry and Brush citizens. They called themselves the founders of the 'New Country.' Adorned by dresses and attire that would easily make you assume your wardrobe had come from the 16th Century. Italian silks woven eccentric and bold. Feathers, pearls, beads and structured hair styles. Men in wigs and three-piece suits. Side-hoop structures made of whalebone, metal, or cane for corsets: pretty pirates you'd assume by the tone of the code. But no, this feels more like the rhythms of an alternative era. Banquets of exotic food and desserts so lavish and ripe in tone that juices would dribble from the corners of your cheeks, whilst caked cream was licked off by finger. A consistent flow of voices in celebration, engulfed by this extravagant atmosphere. High ceilings of the odd and old were said to have come alive to tell secrets at full moon night"

 

We townspeople knew it as an untouchable underground society. All but with one job - a telling of trends. Enriched by fashion and defined by culture. A society shaped by the ones who gave it influence and used it as an identity to power They say those that inhabited such a place were slightly unhinged!! You know, l like the wicca. Whilst others say, intelligent like scholars and scribes. Still both the estate, its last remaining internal structures and the town it once gave life to, brings with it an insatiable curiosity. For what now remains are fragments of history written in paragraphs over parchment. Detailing the charisma and old-world charm disguised as delicate, dark, drama’

 

Yes, this patch of land hidden within our modern time Southern Highlands has kindly been decorated by statues you'd only ever see in the likes of Monet's garden. A collection of culturally shaped ideas that move through each decade, gives an eclectic - like - atmosphere to this elaborately styled homestead estate. A different kind of paradise. When I visit here and lay my hands on the white painted fence, there's a different kind of frequency - a world buried by the mainstream. Nature here, she speaks to me, like whispers of the wind that blows the strands of my silky dark hair behind me. There's an energy here. I feel it.

 

Escapism: ohh she be resting in a world where society is on the edge of a digital burn out. Where access to excess information flies at her in every imaginable direction. Decision making feels more of a chore than a simple delight. In a world overstimulated with opinion and overconsumption, the telling of her poetic and ethereal - like love story now feels lost in chaos and heavy like the snake bite of an Eastern Brown.

 

How to be authentically yourself in a world driven by trends? We spark a curiosity to change them. For artisans alike our offerings are woven through generations of traditions refined by modern skill. For us the term fashion is not something that feels fast like a trend but instead sustained and long lasting, usually something with a point of view. We don't do minimal, we do intentional. Thus, giving those who seek us, a beautiful collision of love written in fine art and established in a life of lavish but quiet luxuries. Where avant guard is naturally romanticised and brought back to life by visual representations from those of a spirited and limitless imagination.

 

Styled shoot Mood Board: no visual interpretation, just a collective of words. - Inspired by the fine arts and lavish luxuries of a time capsule stuck in history. A beautiful collision of romanticizing old-world charm through modern creativity but making it avant guard with an ethereal bridal touch.

 

Images by Tilly Roberts Photography: https://www.tillyrobertsphoto.com Instagram: @tillyrobertsphoto

Venue: Kalinya Estate: https://www.kalinyaestate.com.au Instagram: @kalinyaestate

Makeup Artist: Angela Jane Beauty: https://www.angelajanebeauty.com Instagram: @angelajanebeauty

Hair Stylist: Erin Shanley Hair: https://www.erinshanleyhair.com Instagram: @erinshanley.hair

Cake Artisan: Cooked by Julia: https://www.cookedbyjulia.com Instagram: @cookedbyjulia

Styling Engineer: Giant Silk Productions: https://www.giantsilkart.com.au Instagram: @giantsilkart

Floristry/Signage: Rosey Days: https://www.roseydays.com.au Instagram: @roseydays_

Bridal Gowns: Barefaced Bridal: https://www.barefacedbridal.com.au/ Instagram: @barefacedbridal

Brides Jewelry: Moira Hughes: https://www.moirahughes.com.au/ Instagram: @moirahughescouture

Muse: Koko Mukai: https://www.instagram.com/kokomukaaai/ Instagram: @kokomukaaai

BTS Catering: Bakery 43: https://www.bakery43.com.au/ Instagram: @bakery43

 

Written piece by Erin Shanley

Collaboration Published by Polkadot Weddings 

A Love Letter to Romance, Art & Individuality at Kalinya Estate - Polka Dot Wedding

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