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.

Tiger Tiger

I'm sitting at Tiger Tiger in Perth, digesting my Granola Muesli with Poached Pears. No-one in Perth serves porridge; it's a little disconcerting. They also don't know the difference between a long mach and a strong latte, but Tiger Tiger do have free wireless so I'm not about to complain.
At a nearby table sits Peter from Create Digital Music with his entourage who are in town for the byteme festival. They have commandeered an entire table and covered it with an assortment of macbooks and other digital paraphernalia. One of them has an iphone which he's allowed me to play with for a couple minutes. Hearing him rave about it in his Californian drawl has sparked a new feedthegirl obsession.
I. Want. One.