Amber and Hilary

Style Shots Night #5

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 06:16:00 +0000

A few style shots from Friday night at New Zealand Fashion Festival.

Love Amber & Hilary

Photographer: Brigette Norcross

Remix Seminar

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:10:00 +0000

The Remix Seminar on Friday Featured (right to left): Marissa Findlay-Fashion Photographer, Garth Badger-Photogrpaher, Hannah Richards-Beauty Photographer, Chris Sisarich-Fashion photographer from NZNTM, Sophie Donovan-the assistant editor and co-ordinator for Remix Magazine and Tina Moore-Remix Editor.

The seminar was mainly aimed at Photographers, we found it quite informative-mainly just a reminder on things we already knew.

Here are some notes/tips we picked up at the seminar:

-Life as a photographer is full of set backs, so be positive and keep going.

-Editorial is a photographer's advertisement. It is also a good platform for meeting people in the industry, you can develop a great team of creative people i.e hair and make, stylists, assistants etc. from them, which is key to future success.

-Hannah Richards stressed that you should always do LOTS of planning, because the responsibility lies heavily on you. At the end of the day, if you didn't get a good shot, it's your fault. However, always be prepared for things to go wrong, don't have your mind heavily set on one idea because on the day everything can change. Make sure you take advantage of the flukes and moments of accidental magic.

-Create mood boards to explain to the team the feel you are going for, and expressions etc for the model.

-Your relationship with the model is EXTREMELY important. You must be inspired by them and have good interaction with them. In castings make sure you figure out their personality and how they move, never choose a model just on looks.

-Don't feel like you have to wear every hat. Each person on the team is looking for their own details i.e fashion stylist-the loose tags and threads tucked away, hair- wisps in front of the face that need to be removed, photographer-correct lighting, etc. That way there will be less editing to do after.

-This is why working with others on big shoots is helpful. It is critical to make EVERY person feel comfortable and important.

-You want to avoid re-touching/photoshopping photos as much as possible, it is really time consuming and costly. Chris Sisarich says he easily spends thousands on people editing images for him.

-It is important to always be plugged into what is new. New faces, stylists, trends etc. Look at blogs, websites, magazines and news articles.

-As a junior starting out, try as many styles/ideas that you can, and offer to work for free lots. This will add value to your portfolio and overall experience.

-Most of all, it is easy to be influenced by others, be original as much as you can-this is what will make you stand out from the rest. Think outside the box people.

Amber & Hilary

Marissa Findlay

Garth Badger

Hannah Richards

Chis Sisarich

WIWT-Amber

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Just on my lonesome and feeling rather tired on the last day of NZ Fashion Festival, (Hilary had to get back to Christchurch) We are uploading images of last night as we speak! Enjoy the weekend, and watch out for the storm New Zealand! Not too sure how serious it is but my girlfriends and I stocked up on 16 litres of water just incase!!

Amber x

Wearing: Zara top, Saben bag, necklace from Indie Soul, jeans from Paige Denim, Country Road heels.

Have you entered? 2 days left!

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 06:19:00 +0000

Have you entered our give-away to win an

Indie Soul NZ Crystal bullet necklace??

All you have to do is,

* Like us and Indie Soul NZ on facebook here and here

*Tell us which necklace from the photos above you would like to win (on either this post or the last)

Thats all, easy peasy!

The competition winner will be drawn at the end of the week on Sunday 4th March.

Amber and Hilary x

Ps. If you can't wait till the end of the week, you can buy them here:)

NZFF Night #4

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 03:22:00 +0000

Last night was defiantly the best so far at New Zealand Fashion Festival. We thoroughly enjoyed the show with funky music and some gorgeous designs on the runway. We are excited about dressing this winter!

Helen Cherry-GORGEOUS. We love the first image with the bold colour sitting with the abstract print, styled with fun black hat and metallic silver shoes. We also saw fur laptop size clutches! Helen Cherry did a nice job of collaborating together summery dresses with winter accessories such as gloves, hats and boot heels.

Workshop Denim- the casual army jacket paired with a suit jacket, shirt and tie was fabulous! And isn't Matt Purcell a babe! They also did lots of leather including skinny jeans, jackets and dress-seeing these all together made a real impact.

RUBY-we loved the way they styled the black swing bag to sit behind (large image with girl in cute white frill top, sitting over some patterned leggings). All of their pieces looked stunning on the catwalk, it reminded me I need to go in to spend my voucher from Christmas-buy what to choose!!

Sable & Minx-the model's french plaits suited the clothes nicely, they also had some fun necklaces, as did Brady.

Huffer-did you see the Overland platform shoes with camel, red and white? they were fun. We really enjoyed the men's wear,

wouldn't mind dressing our men in some Huffer threads

Carlson- the pop of the orange lace with scalloped edge was a winner, and of course the maxi silver dress for Hilary and Amber the magpies!

Pearl- the opening outfit was a gorgeous long silk organza dress matched with a tailored blazer and sparkly necklace-amazing! We loved this combo. We also loved the lace singlet over the puffy black silk organza skirt. Very glam.

Lonely Hearts-had some great pieces, we adored the brown, gold and black striped dress, it had a really flattering muscle back.

Kate Sylvester- her blue Negligee dresses, which we spotted in her promotional email a week or two ago looked stunning. You can buy it online here. We also enjoyed her floral red dress with black chiffon sleeves-great colours for the coming winter, oh we can see it now matched with some yummy brown boots! We also like how the belt was pulled through and left hanging-nice.

Last show night tonight!!

Amber & Hilary

Close up Style

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:32:00 +0000

More fun shots of stylish people at New Zealand Fashion Festival Night 4

Amber & Hilary

People we meet and enjoyed chatting with last night:

1. First picture is designers/friends Sarah Horton and Emma Highfield-we love you girls! was great to catch up

2. Evelyn Ebrey from nzgirl, she did a lovely write up on us here

3. Sarah Campbell featured in the last 2 images from the NZFF PR company Maxed Thomas

4. Tegan Larkins from raw brand+connect (third picture, wearing a gorgeous beaded gold/black top)

5. Tiffany Low from the downlow (amber pebbles blog)

6. Alex, Mino, Danny and Chin from Foureyes

WWWT Day #4

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:22:00 +0000

"What we wore today"

Amber: Zara shirt and jeans, Jeffery Campbell shoes.

Hilary: Glassons skirt, lace dress and heels, Celine Rita belt.

A & H

New Zealand Fashion Festival Night Three

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:26:00 +0000

It has been really enjoyable to watch the clothes come out again. Even if we have seen them at fashion week and/or in stores; because we got to look at the shows from more of a styling point of view, and at individual garments rather than the overall picture of the collection.

Things we enjoyed from Wednesday's show were:

-Cybele's vintage floral, rustic brown and black print, her butterfly motif dresses-she always nails this.

-Ingrid Starne's monochrome look-orange on orange. This piece was a bit of a show stopper, we have already seen many people talking about it!, her collection was particularly fun with pops of colour.

-Sabatini's music was so lovely! Can someone please tell us what is was, we were so distracted by the tunes that we didn't get anything written down on her garments!

-Trelise Cooper always pleases our feminine eyes! Her ranges are so big and busy that you can see it a million times and still spot new things. We loved her as per usual, mix of prints and textures all in one outfit, the swan print and the colourful hydrangea print on the pants were amaze-balls! and that pink/white jacket with the front and back arm slits-yes please, we would like one each! On a side note, we are excited to see Trelise's new "Board Room" label coming soon.

-Taylor was a lot more grundgy and moody than usual, we enjoyed the fresh look. The artistic clip played before her range came out was fabulous.

-Andrea Moore also made a fun presence, with her bright winter colour palette and gorgeous hats.

-Lastly our favourite of the night Celine Rita. We love that she asked her facebook followers to help with her choices of outfit styling, what a great way to get the auidence involved. We thought her garments looked sophisticated but fun and seeing the pieces again on the runway made us want to buy it all! Particularly the floral suit and the black/white print sweat-heart dress. Gorgeous.

Amber & Hilary

Style trends- a close up look

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:45:00 +0000

Hilary and I both working for companies within the fashion industry so we have never yet been to an event just as "Amber and Hilary".

It has been so much fun! We have had a lot more chance to be social and get to know fellow bloggers, models, industry workers, designers etc etc.

We shot some close-up images of what all the attendees were wearing for you all to see:)

Amber & Hilary x

VIVA Seminar

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:19:00 +0000

The lovely Karen Walker was interviewed by editor Zoe Walker and beauty editor Janetta Mackay. She spoke about the several plates she is juggling at the moment. It was really interesting to hear how big her production team was, especially for her latest New York fashion week show. Karen had a call sheet of around 50 odd people, but still prepared alot of the things only 5 days before the show; i.e model castings, hair, make up and styling decisions. She mentioned she had a stylist, back stage photographers, front of house photographers, writers, show co-ordinators, music and lighting directors and many more (after that my hand couldn't keep up with the speed of what she was saying!) AND after all that work it's over in a 9 and a half minute show!!

It was interesting to hear where her inspiration came from, every designer works differently. This range (below) "Sea Monsters", Karen was inspired by victoriana in the 50s and 60s, victorian study rooms and the movie "20,000 leagues under the sea". You can defiantly see that in her use of gold, silks, paisley prints, 50's/60's silhouette and the hair styling. Then of course she matched it with her own Beau Coop shoes-which she says have been a real hit! Along with many of her other collaborations. Oh how i could go on....

Next, VIVA'S photographer Babiche Martens and fashion editor Ana Macdonald, spoke about what it is like organising a shoot for the newsprint magazine and gave us a run down of all the designer clothes with a mini show. We also found this interesting. We loved the Juliette Hogan tan coat-HAVE to get one of these for winter.

Our favourite was probably the Food critic Nici Wickes, purely for the entertaining way that she spoke, her talk was informative and fun! At one point she described a meal "like a Chinese new year going off in my mouth!" -she was great. We got lots of tips as to where we can go out to eat a nice meal in Auckland.

See you all again tonight!

Amber & Hilary

M.A.C "On Trends" Seminar

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:10:00 +0000

Some more great tips learnt at the M.A.C Seminar, and more fun goodies!

There is a third seminar on Saturday at 10.am and we REALLY recommend you go, not only do you learn great things, but there are heaps of fun people to chat to AND you get a $50 M.A.C voucher a free mascara and a lip colour! So it is totally worth the money! to buy tickets go here

The session this time was about creating an "athlete skin" i.e a fresh, natural and "elegantly sweating look" and the other was a "neon" look which is very on trend at the moment -goes in line with the colour blocking fashion. This is what we wanted to share with you:

1. Keeping the skin moist is very important (ewww I hate the word moist!). M.A.C have this great product called "fix plus" which is a moisture spray. They recommend to use this throughout your make up process. This allows make-up to be applied smoothly and blend in with the skin, making it look more natural and stay for longer.

2. Colour injections. The girls created this crazy monochrome "neon" look with a blue lip and blue eyelashes. Personally i'd only done one lips or eyes but it was fun to see the model all done up! To get a the perfect colour, use a white primer first and then apply the colour-POW!

3. "Shop M.A.C, cook M.A.C" is a new range coming out, so keep your eyes pealed. They had some amazing products including a hot pink lip colour- it's a sheer butter cream.mmmmm

4. Always use 2 brushes when putting on product. One to apply and one to blend.

5. using a paintpot-a solid colour, under your eyeshadows, stops them from moving or leaving your eye, so you can have perfect makeup all night!

6. Putting bronzer on your shoulders, collar bone and middle of your legs makes your body look more contoured/slightly skinner. Why not!

Hope to see you all on Saturday.

Amber & Hilary x

WWWT

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:06:00 +0000

WWWT

New Zealand Fashion Festival night 3

Amber and Hilary x

NZFF Day #2

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:35:00 +0000

We had fun watching the show and catching up with friends.

The vibe was very relaxed, social, and the models were smily and looked like they too were having fun.
We enjoyed seeing the current 'ready-to-wear' clothing from our New Zealand Designers.

Our favourite styling ideas were:

-Nom*D's mix of "mullet skirts" and asymmetric silk dresses with knit jumpers overtop, matched with converse shoes and bunchy socks-we loved the cream shoes.

-Annah Stretton's tulle bows in the hair, an easy way to fem up your outfit!

-Men's glitter chucks in WORLD (DIY idea lightbulb went on immediately!)

-Lennox's use of vintage make-up travel suitcase type bags-how fun!

-Not a new idea but, Who's Henri's socks and heels combo-this is key in Auckland weather.

-We also enjoyed Marylin Seyb's mixing of textures, this creates depth and interest to an outfit.

More to come tomorrow.....

Amber & Hilary x
Photographs by Hilary Johnston, Will Seal, Richart Symons and Sacha Stejko thanks to Maxted Thomas PR

M.A.C Seminar

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:32:00 +0000

Amber and Hilary reunited!!

We went to the second night of New Zealand Fashion Festival tonight with our gorgeous friend Tiffany Low.

Here we thoroughly enjoyed the M.A.C Seminar.

Hilary is a bit of a pro on the make up front so it just re-inforced what she already knew, but I was completely enthralled, and felt enriched with knowledge! However, no matter what your level of make-up skills, I think everyone got something out of it.

Some great tips we learnt were:

1. There is no need to used bronzer AND highlighting. Using a highlighter directly on the check bone creates that contour and natural shade on your face, use it to lift your lips placing a little just above the bow on your top lip and under the eyebrows to lift your eyes. If it is used correctly then your face can have dynamics and vibrance without changing the colour of your natural skin tone.

2.Glitter always gives make-up a pop. Use it subtly i.e the centre of your eyelid and a touch in the corner of your eyes. We are ultra fem girls, so the minute the glitter went on we were hooked to the look!

3.When using eyeshadow, or even when doing a "smoky eye" use product sparingly and slowly build it up. You will be surprised at the difference it makes, block coloured eyeshadow is a no no. There is defiantly a real art to shading, but it just takes practice. Be patient and have fun with it!

4. Ever heard of a zoom brush? This magic tool from M.A.C is used to get mascara evenly ands nicely into short lashes, clears clumps, and helps you effectively "tickle" over your bottom eyelashes, making them sit out but naturally-don't you always find that too much mascara on the bottom lashes looks really strange?

If you missed out and are keen to go yourself get online and buy tickets for the seminar tomorrow! You also get a goddie bag with a $50 voucher, a optimum black mascara and a gorgeous lip colour-GET THERE!

Love Amber and Hilary x

WWWT

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:55:00 +0000

WWWT (What we wore today haha)

New Zealand Fashion Festival

Amber and Hilary x

New Zealand Fashion Festival Night One

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:53:00 +0000

I genuinely enjoyed the opening night of New Zealand Fashion Festival 2012.

With Amber still in Australia, I picked up my great friend and model babe Tiffany Low, and headed down to Shed 10 at the Queens Warf in down-town Auckland.

It was so enjoyable being surrounded by the hustle and bustle of all that is fashion. What do I truly like about these kind of events; the excitement, drama,

people, fashion and social buzz.

The evening started with a feijoa cider in hand and a seminar by NZgirl creator; Janine Foster on "5 simple steps to become a magazine editor."

It summed up everything I had already believed/known... blogging takes ALOT of hard work, but if you stick at it and really believe in it you can take it far.

Here is a small summary of her advice on creating a blog/website:

1. Find a subject. Make sure it's entertaining and something you really believe in.

2. Blog everyday. Make sure your content is interesting and you keep up with constantly changing trends. Be original. Tweet, Pin, Tumble, Facebook etc etc etc.

3. Be willing to work for free. Get you name our there in order to network with people in the industry.

4. Be useful. Offer you services to companies that will give you great exposure.

5. Keep going, for like 5 years. Don't give up. Don't expect amazing things overnight.

The line up for tonight was Moochi, We'ar, Blak Luxe, Neverblack, Starfish, Esprit, Storm, Salasai, Coop and Skull and Bones.

We saw dark moody tones, cream lace, velvet and faux fur.

I can't wait to be re-united with Amber tomorrow and to bring you more photos and seminar/show reviews. Hilary

Photographs by Hilary Johnston, Will Seal, Richart Symons and Sacha Stejko thanks to Maxted Thomas PR

WIWT

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:46:00 +0000

WIWT- New Zealand Fashion Festival Night 1

Hilary

Little One Dress, Glassons hosery and necklace, Number One shoes, Vintage bracelets, Dotti ring

Amber and Hilary Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:33:00 +0000

Crystal bullet necklace giveaway

We are so excited to introduce our latest giveaway,

an Indie Soul NZ Crystal bullet necklace!

All you have to do is,

* Like us and Indie Soul NZ on facebook here and here

*Tell us which necklace from the photos above you would like to win in this post's comments.

Thats all, easy peasy!

The competition winner will be drawn at the end of the week on Sunday 4th March.

Amber and Hilary x

Ps. If you can't wait till the end of the week, you can buy them here:)

Day by Day 'two'

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Here's another look at my 365 book from Kikki K.

It's been my little journal of drawings, paintings, photographs and things that inspire me:)

You can have a look at the first half of the book here.

Hilary x

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:32:00 +0000

We're very excited to be gearing up for New Zealand Fashion Festival!

Stay tuned for style photos, show images and reviews, backstage shots (if we're sneaky) and model profiles.

Amber and Hilary

Nea

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:59:00 +0000

Nea by Vivienne Mok. Dew Magazine Issue 3

www.fashionising.com

WIWT

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:35:00 +0000

My Friend Rach tried to get a quick snap of me in my outfit this afternoon, I had been running around all day that I could bearly stand in my heels- BUT you know what they say "Beauty is Pain"!

I am off to Melbourne on Wednesday, let me know if you live there what the best fashion spots are!

Love Amber x

Wearing: MARCS top, Zara shorts, RubyNZ belt, Wildpair Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:29:00 +0000

You haven't heard?? Where have you been! It is the new tumblr! Perfect for blog followers who want to keep their inspirations and ideas catogrized! This is my new guilty pleasure, procrastination &creative outlet... pinterest. I have found it to be the best way to accumulate and store the coolest things you've found inspiring on the web - whether it's a wishlist, style ideas, recipes, colour boards, craft ideas, home decorations (for when I have my very own place!) fashion designs and DIY projects, lovely quotes, ... or anything else you're (p)interested in. It's far too easy to let hours fly by on it! Have a look for yourself-you can keep your favourite images from our blog-all neatly organised for when you may need them! Here are a few images I 'pinned' this week...

Love Amber xx

Go Explore

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 11:30:00 +0000

I rather like these. They work well with my extreme need/want/dream to travel
overseas as soon as possible!! You can buy them here.
Hilary

The Native Fox

noreply@blogger.com (Amber Whitecliffe and Hilary Johnston) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:04:00 +0000

Hot, skinny, stylish and chic: the modern day street-style blogger.

Does this interest you or just make you jealous? I'm a lover and a hater simultaneously.

Hilary

Amber and Hilary

Style Shots Night #5

Remix Seminar

WIWT-Amber

Have you entered? 2 days left!

NZFF Night #4

Close up Style

WWWT Day #4

New Zealand Fashion Festival Night Three

Style trends- a close up look

VIVA Seminar

M.A.C "On Trends" Seminar

WWWT

NZFF Day #2

M.A.C Seminar

WWWT

New Zealand Fashion Festival Night One

WIWT

Amber and Hilary Giveaway

Day by Day 'two'

Nea

WIWT

Pinterest

Go Explore

The Native Fox