thank you, 2014
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February: The Happy Place
With 2014 coming to an end, I thought I'd do a round up of some of my highlights from the year that is so quickly leaving us behind. 2014 was an absolutely crazy year at uni for me, I studied over both summer and winter and now over summer again. Without any uni breaks, I sometimes found it hard to find time to update my blog and shop when exams and assessments are always looming. However looking back through my archives, it seems that there were indeed times where I didn't study all day and actually went outside and created some really great memories that made 2014 such a beautiful year.
So here goes,
- THE HIGHLIGHTS OF 2014 -
k is for kani alice mccall orpheus dress
January: Orpheus
A couple of years ago, I was the Vice President of the photography club at Monash uni. Through there I met so many fellow students who shared the same passion in photography as me. Actually, you should have seen me when I first discovered this club in second year uni, I was basically jumping because it was one of the first clubs in uni I had come across whose events and activities did not revolve around the art of drinking which really never appealed to me because I don't drink. Anyway one of people I met, Sutejo, has become a good friend of mine and we always like to shoot some fun things together whenever we get the chance. You might have noticed his photography around here over the past few years - he shot my flying mint dress here a couple of years ago, as well as helped me shoot my ASOS Future Stylist entries which I later went on to win (thank you!!). Anyway we've never shot on film before and earlier this year, he suggested we try some film of his. Basically, every 99 out of 100 photos I am in, I am pulling a strange face so I was slightly worried we would never get any shots until we went through 30 rolls of film. Thankfully things didn't go that bad and we ended up with some lovely photos in the soft afternoon light. And this ended up being one of my favourite posts of 2014. Thanks, Sutejo!
k is for kani watermelon birthday cake fruit cake
February: Turned 22
In February I cut open a watermelon fruit cake in celebration of my 22th birthday, surrounded by some of my closest friends. It was about 39 degrees and being somewhat lactose intolerant, I've never been a fan of actual cake, so I decided it would be a good idea to create something that was a birthday cake but not a birthday cake. Watermelon seemed like the perfect base to start with and after a quick google, it seemed like it wasn't just me who wanted to build cakes out of fruit. Hence, the fruit cake was born - much to the confusion of some of my cake-loving friends (and boyfriend)!
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April: With Lighted Pixels Photography
This is an unpublished photo from some of the series of photos I took with Kelvin Koh. We took these photos in February but for some reason it took me three months to press publish on these, because life just got in the way. Anyway, you can read about how much I admire Kelvin's work or just check out shoots together here and here. Kelvin, It was so lovely to catch you again in Singapore earlier this month too!
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k is for kani mbfwa14 alice mccall 1
April: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia
April was the month of fashion in Australia and I headed up to Sydney again to check out some of my favourite designers. Alice McCall was easily my favourite show and whilst I published a backstage post here (I feel like backstage always provides a more personalised, intimate take on shows), I never really got around to posting photos of the actual show. The above two are of the final walk, packed with confetti snow.
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April: Point Lonsdale with Honda
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Right after I got back from MBFWA in Sydney, Tom, a couple of my best friends and I hopped in a CR-V to go on a long weekend road trip in collaboration with Honda. We stayed in the most beautifully decorated beach house I had ever laid my eyes on - it was seriously a feast for the eyes and I spent so many minutes of my day just walking around the rooms looking at the decor and appreciating the interiors. This place probably increased my love for interior decorating by a hundred fold. Honestly, that natural wood day bed is the most aesthetically pleasing thing I've ever seen.
May: Colour Bug
Aside from a day time run of a theatre show for year eight music class, I had never been to the theatre before. So I was super excited when Tom and I were invited to the opening night of Wicked at Regent Theatre! 'Colour Bug' was one of my favourite outfits of the year and also what I wore to the show.
Basically nothing happened for the month after that because I was glued to my books studying for semester one exams. Moving along to July!
k is for kani undertow media intern internship pr agency
July: Interned at Undertow Media
As part of the marketing major for Bachelor of Commerce at Monash, you can take a capstone unit where you can undertake an internship as part of my Commerce degree. I did mine at Undertow Media and despite it taking up my entire four weeks worth of uni holidays, I had a blast! Whilst I've dealt with agencies on the media side of the spectrum, I've never worked in an agency before so my time there was definitely interesting. With a massive client portfolio including Jetstar, Mirvac, Lavazza and Kevin Murphy, I felt like I was learning from the best in the industry and definitely learnt so much. Thank you UM for taking me in as your intern!
k is for kani the label floral headpieces home design studio craft office 7
August: Started the great studio makeover
It has taken me almost a year to get started on getting my studio room going and whilst it is still no where near what I hope it would end up looking like, it's finally getting somewhere. In August I installed some new shelving units, to reorganise all my flowers which I use to create my floral headpieces. I still haven't found the time to do part II (which is reorganising the inventory and getting a feature wall going) and even a part III (which is basically everything else) but I'm hoping there will be some spare time to do it in between my summer semester classes!
k is for kani gorman patchwork quilt winter instagram
August: Fell in love with a certain Gorman quilt (here, here & here)
From when I was about 15 and discovered Gorman at Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, my life changed forever haha. I have this massive thing for Lisa Gorman and her team's prints and this quilt was basically heaven on earth when I saw it. All the AW14 prints in one big sleepable, huggable, grammable (totally a word in my books) quilt? Yes please!!
say it with pandora sydney shoot k is for kani
August: Say it with Pandora
In August I also had the pleasure of hopping back to Sydney again to shoot a campaign with Pandora. It was so surreal to see the final image in print in both Australia and New Zealand magazines, as well as on the Pandora website and e-magazine.
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K is for Kani New Zealand Fashion Week NZFW 2014 outfit benah karen walker cupcake shirt alice mccall shorts 7
September: New Zealand Fashion Week
In September I was so thankful to be invited to New Zealand as a guest of New Zealand Fashion Week. Despite living in Australia all my life, I've never crossed the ocean in that direction before and so was really excited when I had the chance to go. Going in the middle of semester two probably wasn't the most ideal situation but it was so definitely worth it! I made some lovely new friends across the sea and especially have to thank the sweet Izzie Austin for teaming up with me during the week.
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September: Above ground in Auckland
Right next to Sky City Grand Hotel was Sky City Observation deck and I remember the utmost joy I felt when I found a 45min window in my Fashion Week schedule to see the city. Seeing Auckland beneath the setting sun was one of the most surreal views I had seen and I honestly have no idea why I haven't shared a photo of the view with you yet!
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October: Printemps
October saw me back in Melbourne catching up with uni work though we took some time out to investigate what was blooming in the area. The results of which lead to this floral-packed shoot!
k is for kani asos pink coat home interiors
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October (and all year round): made lots and lots of headpieces
One of my absolute favourite things to do is make and create and I've had so much joy in creating so many new floral headpieces for my customers this year. Thank you everyone for support and loving my work, it is the most incredible feeling to know that someone loves the pieces I create as much as I do and want to wear them at their weddings, parties, events and more.
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All year round: Ate way too much sushi
If you've followed me for a while then you would know that sushi is hands down my all time favourite food. Seriously, I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for an entire week and not get sick of it. I've been asked many times where my favourite places for sushi in Melbourne are so I thought I'd do a quick round up for you all. Top left and top right are photos from Waya in Glen Waverley - my favourite dishes are the waya maki roll and the scallop sashimi and one of the reasons why I loved going there was because it's so hard to find a budget place that serves actually serves scallops! Top middle and bottom right is Ari Hashi in Richmond. We found this place by accident after not being able to get a seat at a nearby restaurant but was surprised we had never heard of it prior. They have a pretty extensive sushi menu. Bottom middle is Suzuran in Camberwell, they do the best takeaway sushi platters and whilst I'm pretty sure they're meant to be for parties and large gatherings, I kind of just eat them by myself or with one other person (haha). Other places I love that are not pictured include Wagaya (the more fancier sister restaurant to Sushi Hotaru) in Chinatown, Maedaya in Richmond (they do this amazing (not sushi) curry dish) which you have to try), Gaijin in South Yarra (the baked dynamite roll is incredible) and Yu-U in Flinders Lane (if you're on a student budget like me, go here for super special occasions only haha). Oh and just when I thought I had finished with my sushi recommendations - Shyun in Glen Waverley do the best seared nigiris, Sakura Kaiten in Flinders Lane have a great sushi train with lots of variety (slightly pricey for students though!) and Wabi Sabi Garden whilst not specialising in sushi, is a really beautiful place to go for a date. The sushi pics you see on my instagram when you search #kisforkanilovessushi are basically all from those places above - hope that helps your 2015 sushi adventures!
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Bottom left is actually a sushi place in Sydney by the name of Izakaya Musashi. If I had to give recommendations for sushi in Sydney, I'd say Masuya is my absolute favourite place - perfect for dates and fancy evenings. Followed by Makoto and Sushi Hotaru for more casual meals.
December: Took some time off in Bali, Lombok, Vietnam and Singapore
I spent the entire November buried in my books (hi exams, I love you too) and then one week later took off to South East Asia with my sweetest boyfriend (and we are celebrating our six year anniversary today!! hi Tom!). I can't wait to share the rest of our travel diaries soon, including hopefully a well edited gopro video diary on Youtube (wish me luck..!). But first, I just need to get some study out of the way :-)
So that's it for 2014 and I wanted to say thank you again to each and every one of you for following me on this digital journey. Thank you for the love, happiness and positivity you bring into my daily life and I hope this blog brings the same to you. Wishing you all beautiful NYE and an incredibly insane 2015! And if you are ever in doubt at any time of the year.. 'always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.'Happy New Year!