Saturday, January 05, 2008

Dilettante Opening

On my recent trip to Perth I was invited to the opening of my friend Didi's new high end fashion boutique in the city's expanding west side shopping district. Featuring exposed brick walls, metal-chain curtains, skeletons in glass cabinets wearing designer jewellery, and a back wall covered entirely in creeping ivy, Dilettante is a design masterwork and, stocking international labels like A.F Vandevorst, Anne Valérie Hash, Jens Laugesen, Lutz, Luella, Preen, Tsumori Chisato, Undercover, and Vivienne Westwood and local and New Zealand designers Arnsdorf, Romance Was Born, One Fell Swoop, T.V, and Jimmy D as well as shoes by Costume National, Hussein Chalayan and Olivia Morris, it is unlike anything else currently operating in Australia and a truly magical shopping experience.
And if you're like me and don't have a spare $3000 to spend on a pair of Vivienne Westwood high-waisted pants, you can always get a tub of Smith's Rosebud Salve for $9.


Didi Paolucci, owner and buyer at Dilettante and fellow ex-nightclub doorgirl.


Jodee Knowles with Kasia Kanik.


Kyoung Kim.




Kristen Angel, owner of Nyepovia.
To fund his high-end men's boutique in the newly developed Williams Lane, he packed his wardrobe of designer clothes and moved to the West Australian desert to work in the lucrative and physically demanding Mining Industry. This is a guy who works hard for what he wants.

No comments: