#BIEBERFEVER

BIEBER fever is sweeping Oceania at the moment with Justin Bieber's arrival in Auckland last night. MYgoodness have you seen the chaos that ensued in Sydney that caused an open air performance to be cancelled due to wild crowds?

Oh the hype! I have just read "Tween dreams for sale" in Martin Lindstrom and Patrica B. Seybold’s book BRANDCHILD: Insights into the Minds of Today's Global Kids: Understanding Their Relationship with Brands and gosh Bieber fever is an amazing example of the empowerment of this influential and influenced market.

It's a common opinion both amoung media critics and grumpy older family members alike that popstars are "created". These opinions aside what is extraordinary to note is the manufactured reality of fans surrounding their glorified stars success.

The star struck tween's experience is mediated through a variety of sources that are consciously and unconsciously engaged with. Instant tweets from JB create pandemonium in airports, #bieberfever and #justinbieber as twitter trending topics create awareness of his continuing popularity (making him cool to tweet about) while jokes and facebook groups referring to Bieber as female rile up fans. No longer does adoration extend to a bedroom poster and doodled graffiti in school books reading "aych+bieber 4eva".

The private has become public and it's this public adoration/mediated experience that propels created stars into previously unimagined success.

One Kiwi fan has decided to sell her broken Bieber heart on trademe after Justin ignored her at the airport on his arrival last night. She woefully writes:

"Trademe w0n't let me sell my heart, cos its like danger0us for my health an stuff s0 I'm like selling a drawing of it I just made instead

I was l1ke totes @ the airp0rt last nite when Justin Beiber like flew in2 New Zealand and I had a sign tht sed 'JUSTIN MARRY ME. PLZ!!!!'

He like totes ignord me and now my heart is like totes brokn.

I have no use for it in a world when I cannot be Mrs Beiber.

Plz n0te picture of heart is be1ng sold as 1s. It 1s deliberately drawn br0kn and 1m pretty sure n0thing but Beiber's l0ve can repair it. Perhaps even a k1nd w0rd. A s0oft kiss

It mite be a bit damp fr0m my tears. "

At least there is an easy way to remind intermediate kids of the "i before e" rule... think of BIEBER! Thoughts

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The Uniform Project puts 211 kids through school!

THERE ARE ONLY FIVE DAYS LEFT TILL THE UNIFORM PROJECT REACHES 365 DAYS!

Remember our fashion heroes Sheena and Eliza of The Uniform Project? Sheena has worn the same black dress (well, there are 7 exact replicas created by Eliza...) for the last year as a creative endeavour and to raise funds for the Akanshka Foundation - an organisation in India that helps kids pay for school and expenses like uniforms. So far Sheena and Eliza have raised $76,234. That equals 211 kids in school! Epic!

With only five days remaining I cant WAIT for her final outfit! Check out the clip below to relive the journey.

Uniform Project Picture Book from The Uniform Project on Vimeo.

p.s. I love that ebay matched donations dollar for dollar over the holiday period *:-)

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Best dressed digits

Oohhhhee I am craving some spectacular gloves - can you feel the winter chills? Maybe it isnt cold enough to wear gloves yet but I just want to jump on the "Yay-it's-a-new-season-lets-wear-exciting-clothes" rant.

I would love these little gems to adorn my digits.

Images: Style.com

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Family Photo

I have the JOY of living with five wonderful young creatives. For a while we have been talking about taking a family photo so today we took our living room to the domain :-)

Thanks to Carla Wong for taking these images!

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Nutty for Soapnuts

Happy Earth Day!

I must share with you the most amazing ecolicious discovery our flat has made - SOAPNUTS~!

Soap nuts are the husk of the soap berry fruit and contain a natural insect repellent that works as a detergent. You place four or five of these "soap nuts" inside a small cotton bag with a few drops of essential oil in your regular washing machine cycle instead of chemical laden laundery detergents. The soap nuts can do about five loads of laundry before needing to be put in the compost heap.

I must admit we were all skeptical but as we were keen to save some money and love planet Earth we gave them a chance. We bought a large bag from the SAFE store in St Kevins Arcade for about $23 and the instructions say the nuts will wash up to 180 loads of laundry. EPIC! Our clothes and towls smell DELICIOUS (thanks to the orange calming blend of essential oil) and feel so clean. A great option for those who have sensitive skin/allergies.

Our next step is to try a product like Oxygen Bleach by Smart Range to give our whites some extra natural sparkle.

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FASHIONWEEKEND in SYDNEY

Friends! I can't believe it is only 12 days till Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (RAFW)! I'll be blogging and tweeting up a storm with the social media pack over in Sydney so make sure you are following me on twitter and are a fan on facebook.

Last year I missed out on actually exploring Sydney due to my tight shedule but this year I have an extra day in my itinerary. Any top tips to get the most out of a day off in Sydney?

Thanks to OneGreenBean I have five passes to give away to the FASHIONWEEKEND event in Sydney (13-16th May). Leave a comment on this post (or email me hannah@aychblog.com) with your must see's and top tips for navigating the harbour city - FASHIONWEEKEND passes to the most creative*:-)

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Chop chop chop..

A little me slaving away in the kitchen - baking with Gran (:-)

I'm thinking of getting a blunt fringe...It scares me but I need a change.

In the last year I have craved side bangs but I think its time to do something radical. Looks so good on everyone else but reminds me of being 4years old.. I think.. I'm going to do it...

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STREAKERS!

Chalkboards by Emma Schoombie and Ralph Matthews.

Love this quote by Banksy:

"The human race is an unfair and stupid competition. A lot of the runners don't even get decent sneakers or clean drinking water. Some people are born with a massive head start, every possible help along the way and still the referees seem to be on their side. It's not surprising some people have given up competing altogether and gone to sit in the grandstand, eat junk food and shout abuse. What we need in this race is a lot more streakers."

My flatmate Emma collaborated with graphic designer Ralph Matthews on this piece of work for our living room. They painted two old pieces of plywood from a demolition yard with blackboard paint and hung the boards from the ceiling with fishing tackle. Chalktastic.*:-)

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Thirsty...?

Check out this info re: the impact bottled water has on planet Earth.

UHG it makes me so sad that our recycled bottles are often only downcycled... Just to end up in landfill.

I cried. x

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OH so DREAM!

Would the fashion gods please smile on me and deliver to my wardrobe this GORG lilac dress by CelineRita?



Inspired in part by the Nutcracker ballet, CelineRita's Winter10 collection "So Dream" is epicly pretty encompasing a balance of fluid and structured silhouettes that creates one kick-ass girl about town!

It is a joy to watch young designer Celine Chapman grow her baby into a very commercial business. I believe this season is her best yet and I cant wait to see what future seasons bring.

View my other fave outfits after the jump *:-)

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Dear: The Selby. Can you take my photo please?

Ohhgoodness I can't believe I have only just discovered The Selby! After seeing this satirical "How to get the Selby in Your Place" poster at refinery29 I was curious. (*Remember refinery29's "How to get shot by the Sartorialist" poster?)

"Todd Selby is a portrait, interiors, and fashion photographer and illustrator. His project The Selby offers an insider’s view of creative individuals in their personal spaces with an artist's eye for detail." - TheSelby.com

Ohh Goodness... he has just captured my dream life:







Images: TheSelby.com - reproduced with permission.

Todd Selby's book "The Selby In Your Place" goes on sale in May - check it out here.

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Dancing shoes

Look at my gorgeous Sueanne! We got to groove the night away last night at the wedding of our dear Jess and Chris *:-) Suey was a contender for the best dressed feet! x

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Wedding bells, confetti and the ultimate +1 dilema

Image: My diary x

Ohh goodness me its wedding time - three of the most gorgeous ladies in my life are all getting married within the next 3months and the excitement is building! I have just returned home from a wedding rehersal and golly I'm craving it!

Image: Iwatchstuff.com

I have had a few Carrie moments recently with more and more invites arriving with "+1".

I think I need a Stanford in my life.

Curly blond locks, lace gloves and lots of glitter. That's my strategy.


x

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BUY BUY BUY at aychstore

Little monkeys I have been having all sorts of fun today creating aychstore.

I am selling a bunch of stuff so aychstore will be the place to have a gander and ask questions and all of that jazz. Clothes/Books/Accesories.. You know the drill *:-)

I'm selling everything through my trade-me store. When an item is sold I'll put "Sold" through the image on the store blog. Any items that dont sell in a trade-me auction will still be available on aychstore.

Email me any questions! (hannah@aychblog.com)

x

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Symonds St and love letters

Oh you know how much I love little messages - check out this advertisement on Symonds St for TV1's new Monday night drama "The Pacific" *:-)

Very clever! (Watch the trailor here)

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Lime green dreams and the Easter bunny

I visted my family for Easter today - check out the "retro cheesecake" my Mum made:



She is so cute! And truffles too...



Happy Easter!

x

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Tim, Susie and Tommy make me giddy

Ohhh goodness me little cherubs guess what?

Rosemount Australian Fashion Week tweeted this afternoon that Tim Blanks (from style.com) will be joining the fashion pack at RAFW in May. Ohhh goodness me! AND I'm sooo excited that Susie Bubble and Tommy Ton will also be attending. OH!



It has been a HUGE year in the fashion world and RAFW 2010 arguably marks a year since the worlds first intensively tweeted fashion week. *(although the previous New York FW did get the ball rolling).

This radical new way of information sharing has now become somewhat normal in the realm of social media. As bloggers and social media kids grow at a rate faster than you can refresh your browser a new discussion is brewing amidst the blogging community re integrity in this very grey world.

As Sassybella tweeted earlier this week the Australian published this article on the "Invasion of the digital dress dictators". It is a somewhat amusing article (especially to those who have experienced a "unnaturally tall gentleman gouge his high heels into your Gucci boots as he pouts for the photographers with a glittery lip") but some are quite miffed at the illustration of this digital celebrity.

Elements of truth in both sides of the camp. Please know dear readers I love our industry with all my heart + I never want to be the kid who is way to cool for their Doc Marten school shoes. 2010 will no doubt be a VERY interesting year in the digital fashion world.

OH did I mention Tim, Susie and Tommy are attending RAFW?!!!!

The thought of being in the presense of such royalty makes me feel a little giddy.

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I think I'll hang my clothes from the ceiling

Ooooo look at these coat hangers! Oh so fab!



And, while we are lusting over Jeremy Scott have you seen this STYLE batwing top? Ahhh makes me giggle. x

Images: TheCobraSnake

O so my lovelies it's Easter weekend! I hope you all have delicious plans. I'm about to get my bake on and make some creative Easter cookies sans cookie cutters so I'm not sure how they will turn out. I figure if they look nothing like little Easter chicks then I'll douse them in lemon icing and sprinkle fairy dust on them slash I'm sure my little cousins will love them *:-) x

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