Lots of people have warmed to combining prints these days, but what is the key to doing it well..? Carly Findlay helps us out here.

Picture this: a glass of bubbly, meeting some of our finest independent fashion and accessories designers in their studios, a guided tour through Melbourne’s hippest fashion precinct, uncovering hidden gems and finding fabulous fashion – and of course free style advice all the way!

The exceptional fashion exhibition, The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture, is well worth seeing, particularly for those who ever doubted fashion is art. Following are some notes I took listening to a talk by Katie Somerville, senior curator at NGV (National Gallery of Victoria).

Out walking recently, I came across one of those things I’ve always loved – a large market full of home baked goodies and secondhand and vintage fashion in a pretty, sunny garden. Sadly, I have to say I only found 4-5 things even worth considering. The rest of it was junk. Pure junk. The designs were bad, the fabrics had pilled or faded and the seams looked dodgy. In a word: cheap. Cheap, disposable, fast fashion.