Wearing: Matin linen shirt, Christopher Esber trousers

New year, same style philosophy; Less is so much more.

I took the last month off, focused on recharging my batteries and getting my headspace right to head into another year. If you’ve been following on instagram you’ll know i’m heavily researching and gathering inspo for bathroom renovations this year. So much to learn! And I promise that once we’re up and running and I’ve actually made some final decisions, I’ll be sharing all the details here.

Fun fact, and I was almost going to write a post about it, but decided against it (lets be honest, I was enjoying my time off and didn’t feel like writing an OTT essay about it) but H&H reached its 10 year milestone last month. That’s a long time, and I’m pretty proud.

I also took part in a couple of podcasts. If you feel like a listen:

Offline the Podcast (individual)
Offline the Podcast (panel)
Your creative start

Other than that, I’m back in full swing with The UNDONE, buying for pre-fall and strategising for the year ahead. If you have any feedback, want to get your favourite new label on our radar or just to say hi, I love receiving your notes! Feel free to get in touch here.

I’ll leave you with outfit notes and I’m loving this loose linen shirt with these wide leg pants. The shirt also comes in a tan colour and black, and also looks good worn unbuttoned over a slip dress as a layering piece.

Photos by Ana Suntay-Tanedo

A few weeks ago I co-hosted a lunch with my lovely friend Beck Wadworth to kick off the Australian summer. I promised that I would send though all the details from the set up, so here we go, details!

Alongside this I’ve put together a little how-to for my suggestions on throwing a lunch, especially when you’re doing so with a friend, which makes the whole experience so much better! 

Send out a Save the Date

We hosted our party in peak holiday season when there was a lot going on, so we made sure to send a save the date a month or so in advance to lock everyone in. You don’t need to know all the details at this stage, just the date and approx time of day so everyone can keep it aside.

Create a mood board

Putting all your ideas in one place and creating a visual moodboard is critical to executing what you’re trying to create. You can then refer to it as you go so you don’t stray from your vision. This also helps when you have multiple people working on the same project, so then you all know what the end goal is.

I love using Pinterest for this initial stage, this is our pinterest board.

Know your Budget 

Boring! but good to know what we’re working with and to make sure you stay on budget! 

Location

I ruled out my place pretty quickly, as two labradors would have been all over than cheese platter before we could have opened the first bottle of Penfolds. We knew we wanted somewhere relaxed and low key, but not wanting to go to a restaurant or local park. Luckily, a friend of Becks has a lovely home and backyard that she was able to let us use for the event.

Decor

I was working with a budget so used items I already had and then went to H&M home for a lot of this look, and even the local hardware store! Here is my run down.

• Base rug: Bunnings Painting Drop Sheet – yes really.
• Rugs: H&M home
• Pillows: H&M home
• Napkins: H&M home
• Plates: Mud
• Glasses: Reidel
• Coasters: RabLabs and other marble coasts
• Foliage: Eucalyptus (going just for greens saves $, and little goes a long way)
• Name cards: Beck DIY
• Gifts for Guest: An Organised Life Monogrammed Notebooks

Set a dress code

Yeh, I’m that person. But I also find this really helpful when attending other events so I don’t go in OTT or too undone (if that’s a thing)

We kept it relaxed with a dress code of: Summer Garden Party (think fresh whites and neutrals)

Food and Wine 

The hero of a summer lunch is definitely the food, and maybe more importantly, wine!

We did a dash to the grocer first thing in the morning to stock up on supplies and then Beck was in charge of assembling the platters. 

Wine time. Summer wine is definitely all about the crisp whites, so make sure you have an esky full of ice close by and that the wine is chilled to perfection! The Penfolds Chardonnay was a perfect choice.

Photography by Ana Suntay Tanedo

In collaboration with Penfolds