photo from the Alannah Hill spring/summer collection
I’ve been receiving a lot of questions about fashion lately, where can we buy beautiful Princess style clothing online? What are the most elegant designers? Do I still wear lolita? What is Princess style? I want to answer all of these and more so I’m declaring this week Fashion week here at Princess Portal! I know I’m going to have a lot of fun sharing my favourite looks with you, and I hope you’ll enjoy this theme as well! Please feel free to send me more fashion related questions.
To start things off I want to share with you some of my favourite designers!
Alannah Hill An Australian designer who won my heart the first time I walked in to her Claremont shop. Alannah Hill creates gorgeous feminine clothes with the cutest prints, colours and motifs. Lots of florals, pastel tones, antique lace, pearls and bows on everything! She’s even used some of the same fabrics as japanese brands like Emily Temple Cute. The quality and rich textures of her fabrics are a pleasure to touch. Her website is simply charming as well, it has a secret garden theme right now!
Betsey Johnson A pretty big name in the US at the moment, she designs cute flirty feminine gowns with wide skirts and lots of ruffles! Satins and organza, velvet and silk, yards and yards of tulle! This designer has her own style with a touch of prom queen, barbie dolls and rococo ruffles. You can even buy direct from her online store!
Valentino Very often when I see a photo of an amazing gown on a red carpet or runway (or lately in Gossip Girl) a dress that takes my breath away, I’m not surprised to discover its Valentino. Synonomous with class, elegance and delicate beauty, all Valentino gowns make such a statement and look gorgeous on whoever is wearing them. Its a far off dream for this Princess, but one day I would love to own one!
Alexander McQueen Something a little darker and more mature. Alexander McQueen designs beautiful gothic faerie tales, tattered gowns of ravenswing black, elegant suits with tailcoats and braid, high collars, wide skirts, nipped waists and a beautiful array of fabrics that show just how much you can do with black. Definitely check out the video of his latest collection.
Wheels & Dollbaby I’m so happy they have a store in my city now, Sab and I went there last week and drooled over the gorgeous gowns and antique furniture (not literally!) Their look is more mature and Femme Fatale though they have some sweeter, more innocent pieces too. I adore their ballet skirts, so much tulle! Feminine and luxurious with a mix of burlesque and rocker chick. I also fell in love with their little embroidered cardigans. Take a peek at their website and online store, and do go in to one of their boutiques if you get the chance!
I would love to hear about your favourite designers, send me picture links! I’m always excited to discover something new and inspiring in the fashion world.
As much as I love the cute and innocent look of lolita, lately I’ve felt myself drawn more to elegant full length dresses and flowing gowns. There is something about pretty, frill trimmed skirts that flow about your feet as you walk that is decidedly feminine and princess-like!
It’s no secret that I like to read, some of my favourite places in the world are bookstores and libraries, the smell of paper and ink is enchanting. Indeed books hold a magical fascination to me, the ability to pass on knowledge from years or centuries past, to transport us to other worlds, other lives. I’m usually reading more than one book at a time, which is a bad habit. I read on the bus, on the train, before bed, in waiting rooms and even in the bath! (another bad habit.) Here are a few of my favourite links for bibliophiles.
the common image of a Fairy tale Princess is surrounded by songbirds or woodland creatures. In many stories animal friends offer help to maidens in trouble and sometimes they grant wishes too! Where I grew up we were surrounded by forest and so I spent much of my childhood around wild animals. At the Kings palace there are so many birds 
from little finches and honey eaters to a whole family of kookaburras and several packs of magpies. Sometimes there are bobtails and large monitor lizards that come out to sun themselves on a rock. I used to get up very early to walk down to the forest and see the kangaroos grazing and once we even had a wild fox who came to visit.
From Rapunzel to Lady Godiva, Princesses in tales and history are often famed for their beautiful hair and I’m sure many of us would also like soft, shiny, healthy hair even if not quite so long! After writing the first two parts of my skin care article I’ve had a lot of requests and great suggestions for a Hair Care lesson. However I think there are so many sites out there with fantastic information on hair, growing long hair, looking after it and even dying hair naturally that instead I would like share with you my favourite links and some excellent ones that have been sent to me so you may peruse them at your leisure.
I think many Princesses dream of living in, or at least visiting beautiful castles. The very image of these buildings evokes romantic notions of eras past, knights and nobles, banquets and balls, tapestries and tourneys, I think it must have been amazing experience to live in one of these grand estates. Today I present to you some of the most beautiful and famous Castles in Europe, I hope you will enjoy looking at pictures and reading the histories of these magnificent palaces and towers. Some day I would like to visit all of them!
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of Victorian artists, poets, critics and writers who started as a rebellion towards the modern mechanistic style of art and shared a love for romantic symbolism and expressing nature and emotion through art. I was fortunate enough to see an exhibition of some of their most famous works a few years ago when it visited our local gallery. I was so enchanted by their style and the depth of their work that I have been a firm convert ever since.
