Bling bling

I was just doing a bit of shopping yesterday...went to Allans in the city (Tuesdays seem to be new gear days for me!) to buy guitar strings and a new tuner (I stupidly left mine at the high school. $45 down the tube. le sigh.) and to lust after guitars. I played a REEEEEAAAAALLY nice Epiphone Casino. It was even, dare I say, nicer to play than the Gretsch Electromatic 5120. Won't be buying any new guitars soon though...I have to first get a tuning pedal, a volume pedal and a proper gigging amp (Fender Blues Junior here I come!).

So anyway I was walking past Cotton On and decided to go in as I know they sell cheap and cheerful shoes now, and they had a table full of EXACT COPIES of the Dior gladiator sandals SJP was wearing in the SATC movie. I know what I'm getting next pay. Super duper high so I'm going to have to practice walking in them, but SO NICE!!! (What is with me and Caps Lock today...)

But yes, was shopping, and popped into Diva. I bought a cute 'silver' ring with sparkly sparkly crystals so I have something fun to wear when I'm playing guitar, then was queuing up at the register when I saw...the Lego ring!!! I immediately grabbed one. I remember seeing it on the net aaaaages ago but it was a sterling silver and diamond version and cost a pretty penny. Yay for cheap jewellery shops ripping off nice jewellery and selling it to me for $10 a piece :)




- Robyn

PS I'm going to Karaoke on Friday night....yay for not working Friday nights anymore! Any suggestions on what to wear?

Ballet tonight, tights and peeptoes

We went to the ballet tonight (it's weird, we have like months without the ballet then they go and put them all on at once). I think I changed three times before settling on this. I forgot this dress was around, which is weird because when I do remember it I wear it all the time.


Dress - Forever New; Cardigan - had since I was 8; Belt - vintage; Jacket - Big W (thanks, fashionfake!); Tights - Witchery; Shoes - Nina.

I would have preferred to wear chunky leather gladiator style heels but I own like five pairs...these were my year 12 formal heels. I don't wear them often at all, but am trying to get used to it, since I now have to gig in them

Video from Friday night

Our very first song of our very first gig, Fascinating Rhythm. Shame I was too busy trying not to throw up to enjoy myself (I have performance anxiety issues).


- Robyn

PS we have a myspace page too.

All that Jazz

So last night was the first gig for Connie Lansberg and the Sisters of Sass. Oakleigh Junction Hotel Sportsbar, perhaps not the most illustrious of venues, but it was packed with family, friends and random dudes coming in for a drink and being hypnotised by the sight of an all-girl, all-glamorous, all-sequinned big band rocking (swinging?) the house. My faithful guitar now has a curved scratch marking the path of my sequinned sleeve as I strummed away so I'm deciding whether to buff it out every time I play or just let it get a bit trashed. I ended up in a vintage American sequinned dress which Connie received yesterday (she collects vintage American beaded tops and dresses). Apparently I look like Agent 99, judge for yourselves as I don't watch Get Smart.



Dress - vintage; Boots - Sandler; Belt - vintage.

- Robyn

Go wildcats!

I had my first performance in front of an audience (not counting drunken karaoke appearances) since I left school tonight...and ironically, it was at school. My little sister and mum went to see Michael Buble so because I am such an awesome sister I played bass for her in her school bands. Unsurprisingly I was quite nervous, and I did drop a couple of clangers here and there but it was great to get back up onstage, especially because I'm playing tomorrow night with my other big band, the one I'm actually getting paid for. If you're in Melbourne and up for a bit of jazz, come down to the Oakleigh Junction Hotel tomorrow night at 8 to see Connie Lansberg and the Sisters of Sass. It's $10 entry and we'll be playing some awesome jazz.

Anyway onto the clothes...yay for not being a student anymore! It means I didn't have to wear the simply horrible performance uniform (I seriously did not think a skirt could be that unflattering till I owned one). I have realised however that I am seriously lacking in black shirts (apart from my work ones, which all smell faintly of chip fat despite repeated washing and so are not good for wearing anywhere other than work). I wore the bowler hat to and from because it was intended for the drummer of the big band to wear, but because I was carrying two guitars and had no hands free, I ended up wearing it myself.


Blouse - Black Friday (from Dangerfield); Singlet underneath - Supre; Jeans - Sportsgirl; Shoes - Sandler (from Myer)


As before, with Cardigan - Jay Jays; Jacket - Jay Jays; Hat - Mimco

- Robyn

Liam photos

I'm sorry about the lack of photos the past couple of days...I haven't been wearing anything of interest (skinny jeans, the jacket already pictured, converse) because of the cold weather and my increasingly untidy wardrobe making it impossible to find what I want. After my last exam on Monday it's time for a serious overhaul.

Anyway Liam was amazing as he always is, and this time there were so so many people at the gig! Last time we saw him last year at the Northcote Social Club there weren't that many, but I guess with all the publicity and stuff the public are catching on to his genius. Well my friends and I were at his first ever solo gig in Melbourne last year so we can say we were there first...lol...we're wankers.



He had the lovely EJ Barnes on backup vocal/percussion/autoharp duties as he has done for a while. She's very funny and they bounced off each other well. She was having problems with her vocal looping pedal leading her to scream 'FUUUUCK!' a lot into her mic (and she can really scream) and was taunting Liam about his (lack of) height. Liam smashed his guitar into the ceiling upon taking it off for the first time, and it wouldn't stay in tune after. EJ asked if he had to stretch far to reach the ceiling.


- Robyn

Introducing le chat

This is my little sister Kathryn. She's 16 and has a much, much better sense of style than I did at that age...at her age I was trying to be a punk.


Singlet - Cotton On; Cardigan - that random one I stole yesterday; Skirt - Volcom; Shoes - Emily the Strange.

I'm seeing Liam Finn tonight...very very cool musician (and yes, the son of Neil Finn of Crowded House fame, my absolute most favourite band ever). Liam does crazy one-man-band guitar loops and drums and is a talented bugger. Check out his music here.



Coat - Sportsgirl; Scarf - Cotton On; Dress - Target; Boots - Nine West.

And finally, thanks to my myspace-obsessed immature sister:



- Robyn

Yay for hats!

I felt like wearing my Mimco bowler today. I feel like I need to get some value out of it...I bought it a few months ago in a moment of insanity when I was working heaps and hence (relatively) flush with cash, and this is why I need a more regular work schedule. I'm hardly working the next couple of weeks because of birthdays and gigs (one I'm watching, two I'm playing) so I'm really flat broke at the moment...argh. That hat could have gone towards my physio bills or a guitar pedal...oh well.



Hat - Mimco; Blouse - Quirky Circus; Dress - Bras N Things (It was a nightie I bought on sale for $10. Score!); Cardigan - stolen from my sister; Shoes - Sandler; Bag - my mum's.



I look better overexposed.

Oh and I only had five hours of sleep last night, hence the zombie face. I had to be up early for rehearsal and was kept up reading James Morrison's (the trumpeter, not the singer-songwriter) autobiography, Blowing My Own Trumpet. Seriously the funniest book EVAR.

- Robyn

The colour of your guitar DOES matter.

I've been playing guitar for about two years now, and I've been helping out my old high school with some guitar related matters over the past couple of months (my little sister Kathryn plays bass in the Stage Band, so I do have a legitimate link still!). Last week they gave me this old Yamaha to restring, which I finally got around to yesterday and I noticed that it matched my outfit pretty much perfectly. I think I need a canary yellow pleather waist belt, don't you? (and yes, I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered putting a strap on the guitar...besides I didn't have one which matched my outfit!).

Sex and the suburbs

I am very bad at the first post thing...but wanted to start a fashion blog having been inspired by a lot that I've read. So, first outfits first, right?

Last night Brendan (my boyfriend) and I saw the Sex and the City movie. It was kind of long but the clothes and accessories were pretty amazing. I love the studded belt Carrie wore with a lot of her outfits, and the blue dress with the long sleeves and the big gold chain-link necklace.



Dress, tights and boots - Target, Cardigan - Jay Jays, Scarf - Cotton On
(hey, the blog *is* called Chain Store Whore for a reason!)

Oh and the very cool wallpaper behind me is courtesy of Brendan's stylin little apartment. I'm jammed between the table and pantry in his kitchen.

Hopefully by the time most of you read this I will have links for my favourite blogs somewhere on the page.

-Robyn