Fashion & Lifestyle

Long Weekend Celebrations

At SBE we like to celebrate fashion, design and the arts and share this with our customers

We welcome May 2015 and all the celebrations that follow. While the Northern Hemisphere welcomes Spring we Australians embrace Autumn, its cool change, and all the festivities that grace us.

Events include Fremantle Streets Festival, Sydney Opera in the Open Festival, Randwick Race Day, The BMW Sydney Carnival and Comedy Festival as well as the Adelaide Food and Wine Festival. There’s also  Surfers Paradise Festival, Melbourne Winter Masterpiece, and of course Australia Fashion Week just to name a few.

While festivals at Sydney Harbour seem to be few and far between, it would appear that this autumn will be the time to take advantage of all that the Sydney Opera House has to offer.  The Sydney Opera House will be re-introducing a festival known as GRAPHIC, which will also crossover with this spring’s Music at the House program. It must be said that this year’s lineup looks like it will be simply stellar.

THE Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival heralded the arrival of a host of new trends for autumn-winter this week. More than 40 national and international designers showcased their new designs for the season at Central Pier with bold silhouettes and man-style tailoring dominating the runways. The cooler months will also see fashion embrace clashing textures, buttery-soft leathers, and longer hemlines. In keeping with tradition, black will reign supreme in the colour department this winter while crisp white, dove grey, rich jewel tones, and sugary pastels also dominated the collections of our most celebrated designers.

Melbourne Winter Masterpieces 2015-From The Hermitage: The Legacy Of Catherine The Great. More than 400 works from the personal collection of Catherine the Great will travel to Australia in July. Gathered over a 34-year period, the exhibition represents the foundation of the Hermitage’s collection and includes outstanding works from artists such as Rembrandt, Velasquez, Rubens and Titian. Exemplary works from Van Dyck, Snyders, Teniers, and Hals will also travel, collectively offering some of the finest Dutch and Flemish art to come to Australia.

The exhibition, presented by the Hermitage Museum, National Gallery of Victoria and Art Exhibitions Australia, is exclusive to Melbourne as part of the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series.

Adelaide Fashion Festival: Live Street Runway Installation and Designer Market – Designer Tiff Manuell‘s love of silk, vibrant colours, and hand painting were all beautifully showcased through her live street runway installation at the 2015 Adelaide Fashion Festival. Complementing and contrasting her popular style of accessories with her first collection of wearable art gowns, models paraded from Hindmarsh Square, along the Pirie Street pavement to the Art Hunt Studio.  For fashion lovers and street style photographers alike, this live street runway event was kinda like fashion Christmas.

The Gold Coast seems to have some free family fun most weekends, I guess that’s the beauty of having good weather all year round. The Surfers Paradise Festival is now in its 6th year and it gets bigger and better each year, this year it kicks off on Friday 3 April, and runs until 18 April so there are plenty of chances to experience some free entertainment, especially over the long Easter weekend. This relaxed and all-inclusive festival celebrates food, art, culture, dance, music, film and entertainment – it boasts an action-packed program of events guaranteed to suit the whole family. Plus because it’s on for a couple of weeks – which includes a bank holiday – even those with a busy schedule will be able to catch some events and find time to enjoy

For two weeks across the whole of Surfers Paradise from the beachfront to Chevron Renaissance and Cavill Mall, there is just a tonne of entertainment, competitions, and activities on each day. There will be dance completions, cooking demonstrations, film screenings, fashion shows, music classes – loads of stuff to get involved in and learn a new skill.

With the Easter long weekend at hand, we wish you all the most joyous and safe celebrations however you chose to spend them. May you be surrounded by loving and devoted company, a perfect ambiance and fabulous food in this wonderful county we call home.