The Inspired Shopper

‘Put another pin in your hat, Dot. You’re in for a fast ride!’

– Phryne Fisher

Television can sometimes have an explosive effect on the fashion industry – witness the rage for all things sixties created by Mad Men. The phenomenally successful Downton Abbey has introduced a new generation to high-end Edwardian couture and jewellery, setting off a number of global trends.

Another era is currently receiving a much-deserved boost. The Roaring Twenties – the extravagant period that came before the long slog of the Great Depression – changed fashion forever. It’s being brought to life for a whole new audience in recent and forthcoming movies and TV series showcasing the sheer larger-than-life glamour of the era.

‘The twenties was the most revolutionary decade for fashion in the 20th century’, says Nicole Jenkins, owner of Melbourne vintage fashion store Circa. ‘This era  has reverberated through the years since.’

Nicole,  also a costumier and collector, points to revivals of twenties styles in the 1960s and 80s, as well as current revivals by Prada and other design houses.

‘The twenties has [also] been a perennial favourite for dress-up parties, as the look is so distinctive and easy to put together.’

Two recent Australian television series have already showcased, to great acclaim, Roaring Twenties pizzazz. Underbelly: Razor (pictured below) is a 13-part Australian miniseries set in Sydney. It depicts the‘razor gangs’ who controlled the city’s underworld between 1927 and 1936 and features truckloads of glitzy, gaudy twenties glamour. According to Wikipedia, the first episode made the show ‘the highest rating drama in Australian history’. The Daily Telegraph ran a competition giving readers a chance to play extras in the series, and was inundated with entries.



Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is a detective series set in Melbourne, Australia, in 1928. Oozing glamour and sensuality, wealthy amateur sleuth Phryne Fisher swishes through the staid drawing rooms, foggy back lanes, grimy docks and smoky jazz clubs of the city with her sleek chestnut bob, toting her pearl-studded pistol as she brings murderers to book aided by her handsome colleague Detective Inspector Jack Robinson.

The series has just completed its first run in Australia and a second series is in the pipeline. I couldn’t find information about overseas sales, but I’d be very surprised if Phryne doesn’t make an appearance on the BBC and possibly North American screens at some point.

Phryne – superbly brought to life by the elegant Essie Davis – is a style icon with a conscience, a glamour girl from humble origins who strives to achieve justice for the underdog. She resides in an elegant two-storey Victorian mansion replete with iron lace balconies and wonderful art nouveau decor, supporting a household staff of three, a foster child and a dedicated lady companion, Dot Williams, who assists in her investigations. With a series of exotic suitors and a simmering sexual tension between her and DI Robinson, she epitomises the new sexually liberated woman of the twenties. Her superbly tailored wardrobe delights the eye with its intricate designs, bold patterning and deliciously luxuriant fabrics.

The series is based on the bestselling novels by Australian solicitor Kerry Greenwood. An intellectual heavyweight with a yen for crime, Greenwood has created a larger-than-life heroine, a period female superhero who speaks several languages and is as adept at flying a plane as she is at dancing the tango. Yet Greenwood strives for authentic period settings, and only agreed to the TV series because she was given a say in the design. She was thrilled with the results.

The odd cloche hat makes an appearance, but Greenwood wanted to distinguish the distinctive style of the late twenties both from the flapper fashion that marked the early part of the decade and the very fitted styles of the thirties. At the time, costumes were designed as whole ensembles, with everything matched from underwear through to coats, and fabrics were incredibly fine and embellished. While purists have pointed out historical anomalies in some of the props, the gorgeous locations are apparently in the main true to 1928 and the years before it.

Nicole concurs that the fashions in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries are distinctly‘fashion forward’, and not always recognisable as classic twenties. She goes on to suggest that these days original twenties fashion is not always replicated ‘in its true form’ because styles aren’t always flattering – yet the era has still been highly influential.

‘The drop waist styles are loose and comfortable and particularly flattering for ladies with slim, boyish figures. Unfortunately, they’re not suited to curvy figures, which most of us have, so interpretations usually involve adding a bit more shape.’

More twenties glamour to come

Cloche hats, concave bobs and  sequinned, feathered headbands will certainly be on display in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming extravaganza The Great Gatsby. I’ve only seen the trailer, but that alone suggests that the film will make Chicago look like a Sunday picnic.  It’s to be released in 3D, and will be playing in US cinemas from 25 December and in Australia from 10 January.

As far as twenties fashion goes, it seems that the unassuming Dot Williams is not the only one in for a fast ride in the next few months  – I can’t wait!

Until next time!

If you enjoyed this blog entry, you might also like Wanted – An Annie Hall for the 2000s.

Getting serious about saving money can seem like an onerous task. But it starts with simply changing your attitudes to money and the way you approach spending it. Here are three new frugal tips that are so obvious you may not have thought of them yet!

1. Assume you don’t need anything

Apart from the basic necessities (food, housing, energy, transport) we often say we ‘need’ new items. What we really mean is that we believe our lives would be easier, happier and better overall if we had those items.

When we go shopping for a particular non-basic item we start from a default position that’s so drummed into us we don’t realise it – that we must buy whatever it is we’re looking for. We feel deprived and somehow inadequate without the item.

One way to decrease your spending is to assume that you already have everything you need apart from basic necessities. Then, when a fresh need comes to your attention – a new smartphone; a pair of Mahno Blahnik shoes – you start from the assumption that you don’t need it and work backwards.

Assuming you don’t really need it, ask yourself if there’s anything you already have that could substitute for it. Alternatively, could you borrow it instead? Find it secondhand? Swap something to get it? Or, when you give yourself time to think about it, do you really have enough of that kind of item already?

Of course, at any one time there’s a fair chance that you don’t have everything you need. I often recommend people write a list of things that they intend to buy to put some boundaries around their spending.

The beauty of starting from a default ‘no needs’ position is that you exhaust every other possibility before buying the item. Then if you decide you do really need it, you can buy it without guilt. The real, genuine needs will emerge from the dross of your many wants like shining diamonds, and you’ll find the right items easily at the right time.

2. First things first

I used to be in a 12-step program, and if there’s one thing that is plentiful in these programs it’s wise sayings. Some might argue there are too many, but they can sometimes be quite profound. One of the sayings that has stuck with me over the years is ‘first things first’.

There are two useful ways you can apply this to your spending. The first one is simply allocating enough money for the basic necessities of life (food, housing, energy, transport) before buying non-necessities. Of course, there are many ways you can reduce your spending on these necessities so that you can save more money or buy something you really need.

The other meaning of the saying is even more straightforward, and involves how you spend your time. Shop for the necessities first, and then do any leisure shopping you want to do. If you’re prone to overspending, getting your priorities right in this regard could help you reduce the amount of leisure shopping you do, and therefore your spending. Instead of tacking your food shopping onto the end of a spending binge, take the time to think about what food you’ll buy, where you’ll buy it,  and how you can buy the healthiest food to look after yourself. Changing your priorities in this way is a signal that you’re looking after yourself, and this could also have benefits for your spending. 

You could also look more carefully at other basics like the transport you use to get around, and how you use electricity and gas. Putting time and energy into thinking about those things that you might otherwise spend, say, shopping online could not only reduce your carbon footprint but give you a more mindful experience of life.

3. Look at your family’s money history

You’re not stuck with the spending habits that were instilled in you – it is possible to change your attitudes, and looking at how you came to develop them is a great way to start.

A useful exercise is to sit down and write a history of your family’s attitudes to money. Ask yourself:

How did my parents and grandparents spend money?

What were the attitudes to money that lay behind their spending habits?

What are my attitudes to spending?

How have the attitudes and habits of my family helped form my own attitudes?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be able to look at your spending habits much more objectively and start to get some distance from them. And you’ll begin to understand that you don't have to be stuck with them!

After taking a serious look at my parents’ attitude to money, and those of my maternal grandparents, I now have a completely different approach to saving and spending from the rest of my family. 

Have you found that you gained more control over your spending after changing some of your basic attitudes? What were your original attitudes and how did you go about changing them?

Until next time!

If you enjoyed this blog entry, you might also like Are Any of These Negative Beliefs about Money Holding You Back? and Be a Creative Stinge – 12 Great Tips for Cutting Your Spending and Saving Money.

When Liane Shannon had her daughter, Emma, she was concerned about the effects of synthetic and non-organic fabrics on her skin. But finding children’s clothes that were made from natural fibres and also fashionable and vibrant was much harder than she’d anticipated. So she decided to create them herself, and founded an innovative company in the process!