Blowout at Buckingham Palace

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So Buckingham Palace's Australian reception is done and dusted. Three hundred and fifty guests descended on the palace last night for a special meet-and-greet with Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, ahead of next week's royal visit downunder. So far there don't seem to be terribly many photos of Andrej Pejic. But Antipodium designer Geoffrey J Finch snapped these two shots of Pejic en route to the do in a rather demure black vintage Versace pencil skirt and charcoal grey Paul Smith blazer (and not Jean Paul Gaultier, a rack of whose clothes, we hear, had been sent to Pejic prior to the event). Teamed with, Pejic tells frockwriter, an Issey Miyake blouse, black tights, boots from Australian high street chain Tony Bianco and his mum's vintage gold belt from the 1980s, the most extravagant aspect of the outfit was his coiffure: dead straight blond hair extensions which reached to his waist - the antithesis of his Bellatrix L'Estrange-meets-Marie-Antoinette up do at Myer's recent relaunch party. In the absence so far of any photographic evidence, did Pejic actually get to meet the Queen or did he just mill about the reception rooms while a select few were run past Her Majesty? "All the guests who attended last night's reception were presented to The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh" a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told us.
 

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It is highly likely that Pejic and Australian singer-songwriter Gabriella Cilmi, both just turned 20, were the youngest invitees. 

Also in attendance were Finch, Collette Dinnigan, Yasmin Sewell, Jason Donovan, Hugh Jackman, chef Bill Granger, who assisted the royal kitchens in the preparation of lamingtons and pavlova (iconic Australian pastries) and Elle Macpherson, who curtseyed when meeting HM (see below) and looked equally demure in a nude silk cocktail dress and matching handbag and pumps. 

Not quite so demure was Australian novelist Kathy Lette, who rocked up to the event with her husband, British QC Geoffrey Robertson - both staunch Republicans - in an outfit emblazoned with pictures of corgis wearing crowns. 

The Queen was resplendent in what we are reliably informed was an eggplant silk cloque tailleur by British couturier Stewart Parvin.  

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Because the night - LMFF 2011

Alex Perry's Spring/Summer 2011/2012 presentation was not the only glamour event at last week's L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival. Although unlike Perry's show, it provided no reveal of any brand new season's offerings, the L'Oréal Paris Runway 5 show on Friday night, presented by Harpers Bazaar Australia, was nevertheless a wonderful showcase of highend PM-wear from some of Australia's most acclaimed designers: Collette Dinnigan, Toni Maticevski, Aurelio Costarella, Jayson Brunsdon, Dion Lee, Scanlan & Theodore and Willow. Here are a few shots below. Click (here) to see frockwriter's backstage portfolio shot during the show.

Thurley's butterfly effect

Deadlines kept me away from Thurley's Spring/Summer 2010/2011 runway show last night at a gracious old home in Sydney's Woollahra. But a few backstage shots were slipped frockwriter's way. The four year-old cocktail and eveningwear line is designed by Helen O'Connor, who has earned comparisons with Collette Dinnigan - much to the latter's chagrin. The new collection is called 'The Butterfly Effect' and the show featured all Chic Management girls, including Samantha Harris, Meg Lindsay, Hannah Saul and Emma Norris. Styling was by Jolyon Mason, with Jon Pulitano for Redken on hair, makeup by Amanda Reardon and shoes by Camilla Skovgaard - the real Camilla Skovgaard, that is and not one of numerous Australian mid market manufacturers who are knocking her off.








all photos: courtesy golightly pr