Today was pretty action-packed, and a good example of some of the fun stuff that I get to do – so seeing as my last post about “a day in the life” was so popular, I thought you might like to hear about this one too.

It started at home at about 8am, with a few emails sent and received, while I was getting ready for the day. Then it was off to Fitzroy for breakfast and my first stop, Circa’s stockroom in Collingwood. There I picked up some copies of Love Vintage and some business cards, which I had forgotten yesterday when I prepared for today’s talk.

Then it was off to Malvern library where I was presenting a talk on ladies fashions of the ’20s to the ’60s. Arriving at 10.15am, I was greeted in the carpark by Kate, my liaison. She helped me unload the van and set up my materials: a clothing rack, twelve frocks and a cardigan, the books and business cards. She had set up a table and mic too, but thankfully I didn’t need the mic – if I can, I like to have my hands free so I can demonstrate with the garments. It’s also more relaxed – I always get nervous before a talk so informal is good. It’s more like I’m chatting with a group of friends.

Here’s my rack with the subjects, err, frocks, all ready to go. They’re in the order in which I will talk about them, from the ’20s to the ’60s. From silk to nylon.

It’s great to be early – plenty of time to put on my lipstick and get settled in. The first bookings arrived soon after, and Kate got more chairs for extra guests.

Morning tea was provided too, and I must say I was impressed – it was a nice spread. I never eat before a talk, just a glass of water but Kate put aside a couple of cupcakes for me to have later.

Some of the ladies brought garments from their collections and I incorporated them into the talk at the right point in the time line – I wish I could take some photos, some were really lovely, especially Beatrice who brought her mother’s wedding gown from 1933. It was black crepe with embroidered sleeves. Quite special and well preserved but very different to modern gowns.

As usual, I went over time – I’m quite dreadful really, and can talk about vintage until the cows come home. There’s so much to know! Questions on care and preservation, fabrics and construction techniques – thankfully no one seemed to mind too much.

I can’t resist this indulgent photo – it’s very flattering when your talks sell out, wonderful that people wish to share your interest. Some of the ladies asked if I could come back again and talk some more! I hope so, I really enjoy library talks.

Then it was back to the shop, where Victoria had been sorting the mens’ ties into decades and ironing new stock. I had a quick salad lunch and sorted out the frocks from the talk (most were from the shop, so needed to be reticketed and go back onto the rack) and did a few more shop things (like booking in the last two model fittings for the Darnell Collection fashion parade next week) until it was time for afternoon tea – the cupcakes from Malvern library came in very handy and went well with the Russian Caravan tea.

My next stop was the stockroom again, where I packaged up two webshop orders and two Love Vintage wholesale book orders, dropping all at the post office except for a book order for Readings in Carlton – conveniently on my way home, so my last stop was there before tackling the short drive home.

Forgetting it’s St Patrick’s Day, my trip home (usually uneventful) took me past two Irish pubs! Apparently it’s annual Drink-Guinness-and-wear-green Day. Traffic was v-e-r-y slow moving for some reason, but never mind – eventually I made it home where my black cat Ruby greeted me at the gate.

And that brings me up to date – a couple more hours of emails and even a blog post! Hope you enjoyed hearing about my day. If you’d like to come to a talk, there are several more coming up: the next one is April 7th at Cheltenham library. One of the ladies today said she also booked into that one! It’s always different, as I like to bring different frocks each time to keep it fresh.