How To: Get the Ra Ra Braid look with Tracie Weaver

We met up with our resident hair and make up guru Tracie Weaver recently to find out exactly how this talented lady created the Ra Ra braid look for our recent lookbook shoot. Here is a little step by step in case you want to try it at home.. looks tres easy.

Step One:
Prepare hair by doing a GHD curl, with curl going towards the centre of the body to give it a different look. Gently brush curl out to create nice waves.

Step Two:

Part hair down the centre and divide hair into 2 even top sections. Start with one side first and create a neat plait. Tie the plait with a clear small elastic, leaving no overhang.

Step Three:
Roll the plait into itself and secure with bobby pins. Repeat the same on the other side. Make sure both sides look even. You can also try tying up your plait with a pretty ribbon for a variation on this look.

VOILA! You have a pretty new look for winter.

Q & A with our fab stylist assistant Georgia Starky

We love including our fun & fashion savvy customers in ra ra activities, so when time came to shoot our latest lookbook for the A/W 2012 "Happy Days" Collection, who better to ask for help than you guys. Submissions came flooding in... we wished everyone could come to the shoot. But one person stood out  for her cute and funny poem.  Her name is Georgia Starky and she was a great help to us on shoot day.. Here is a bit about Miss Georgia the winner of our "Stylist for a Day" competion. Check out the behind the scenes pics here, if you haven't already.. Thanks Georgia!! 

Q & A with Georgia Starky

Tell us a bit about yourself, where you live, what you like to do?

My name is Georgia and I am sixteen years old. I live in Corinda and I love op shopping, anything vintage and sewing.

What do you dream of doing when you are all grown up?

I think it would be amazing to work for a magazine like Frankie or Yen because I love their interesting articles and fashion ideas and there would be so many different things to try out.

What made you apply for our "stylist" competition?

I love Ra Ra Superstar’s clothes and I thought it would be such a fun and amazing experience, which it was!

What was the best thing about being a stylist for a day?

It was great to see how things really work at a shoot and it was just so much fun to be a part of it all.

Has working behind the scenes on a shoot changed your view on fashion and the images you see in magazines?

It didn't really change my view, but I now really appreciate all the work that goes into every photo in a magazine

How would you describe the fashion scene at you school? What's the latest trends that everyone is trying out?

It varies a lot which you can really see on free dress days - I think it is great that there are so many different personal styles and different tastes

Describe you personal style in three words... 

floral, chic and retro

If you could teleport back to any era for 24 hours which would it be and why?

The 1950's because I love the swimsuits and the cocktail dresses from that era.

Any blogs website we should know about that you absolutely love right now?

I love Esme and The Laneway and also trendi

Is there a fashion item in your closet you just can't live without? How do you like to wear it.

I recently bought a mustard coloured cape jacket which I am so excited to wear in winter with boots and a skirt.

Prepping for our new lookbook shoot

So it's been a while since I've posted. Sorry! I have no excuse other than being busy, hope you can forgive me. So enough about me... what I wanted to talk about today is more exciting stuff, like the planning of our next lookbook shoot.

Our new winter collection has been in the works for months now, fabric swatches have been studied, designs and patterns tweaked, samples sewn and fitted. We've named the collection "Happy Days" as an ode to simpler times when dressing up was a daily routine & days were spent having fun, dreaming (or picking berries ha ha). We've chosen a colour palette of deep pinks and dark navy's, juxtaposed against warm oranges and browns. It's for the girl who wants to be a lady, but likes to have a rebel moment every now and again. Check out our mood board...

Part of every new collection is a new shoot to give our customers an idea of how things look on & also set the mood for the collection. This is definitely the fun part of the business! We can spend days planning and painstakingly choosing props & styling items.

But before we do any of that we have to get a team together. This lookbook shoot we will be working with our fave regular photographer Lis Harvey. Her understated documentary style is simple and pretty - perfect for the Ra Ra girl. Check out some of her work below.

The lady behind our beauty direction is the very talented hair and make up artist Tracie Weaver. We have not worked with Tracie before but have admired her work from afar.  She is a veteran on the fashion scene in Brisbane and has worked with some amazing designers. So we are a tad excited to finally be working with her. Check out some of her beautiful images below.

Model Chanel Thomas we spotted on Facebook and loved her quirky look. This little lady is represented by Vivien's Model Management and is also super sweet! Wow this is going to be such a fun shoot... stay tuned for more updates.

Summer Holidaydreaming....

It's January already wow how time flies... just a few weeks ago I was meticulously planning handmade Christmas presents & looking forward to a bit of r & r on the beach. Well the holidays are now but a distant memory and the new year is well & truly here... but before I say good-bye to sand between my toes... I still have my shell collection to admire and memories of the childish fun that going to the beach brings.

Our summer holiday began with a road trip to Avoca Beach for a family visit where we spent  a lovely week laying low and catching up. We then hit the road for a spot of camping on Cockatoo Island. This former jail colony was an interesting place to spend our time in Sydney and made it easy to explore beaches & surrounds by ferry. Especially fun was spending a whole day catching ferries every where and ending up at Manly's pretty Shelly Beach, stunning weather made it all the more memorable. To finish off this perfect few weeks we stopped in Byron Bay and loved the warmer water, perfect sand and yummy fish & chips. 


Now it's time to get back to reality, finish working on my New Year's Resolutions & the Ra Ra Superstar Autumn/Winter 2012 collection. So far this collection has a distinctly 60's vibe, but with a classic Audrey Hepburn less is more attitude. Stay tuned...

Twas The Night Before Christmas

Yes it's almost here... Christmas... just one more sleep. Today has been a relaxing day of wrapping presents, listening to vintage Bing Crosby Christmas records & filling the house with smells of baking & mixed spice. But nothing get's you into the Christmas spirit like visiting some of the Christmas lights in and around the city.

I took the kiddies out the other night on a Christmas lights trail & the squeals of excitement were well worth the effort. It's amazing how much effort goes into these amazing light shows, some of them are truly spectacular & the best free entertainment around. Especially fun was the house in Sinnamon Park where the lights light up to music, crowds of people dancing to the chicken dance outside this house was a sight to see.

Hope you all are having a great start to the holiday season and are bracing yourself for tomorrow's feast. Its definitely the time of year to reflect, and thinking back upon 2011 it really has been a great year and we are so thankful for all your support. 

From the Ra Ra team we would like to wish all our lovely customers a happy and safe holidays, thank you for making our jobs so much easier with all your wacky and wonderful stories. Enjoy the long weekend and we shall see you all soon!!! 

Gifts you can make in an afternoon...

Only 3 days til Christmas.... running running running to get everything done. Decided to take an afternoon off to make a few treats for the neighbours, teachers & the generally nice people in my life. As it was only an afternoon there was no time for experiments. So my tried and tested brownies were the way to go.. I gave them a christmassy spin with some fresh rasberries. So easy and so yummy!

The trick with these is to get them out of the oven before they start to go too hard as you want to retain some of the gooeyness. Once they cool they become harder ... but still keep their lovely moist chocolatey goodness.

While the brownies rested on my counter.. I tried to come up with some pretty packaging ideas. I found a couple of pretty vintage china bowls.. which were perfect. But still needed more so decided to use egg cartons. Cutting them in half and using the flat side. I peeled off any stickers and covered the egg carton with simple butcher's paper. Putting some baking paper on the bottom for absorption, I layed the cut up brownies inside. Now all they needed was some clear cellophane and christmassy ribbon! 

This cost under $15 and took only one afternoon, but the receivers were suitably impressed & I was left feeling rather satisfied.

 

Christmas gifts for the little ones

When I was a little one, I remember my Aunt Rose always got me a pair of boxer shorts every year for Christmas. I would open it up amongst my pile of barbies and be like 'yayyy...another pair of boxer shorts....." move them to the side and start dealing with the more serious side of Christmas, brushing my Barbie's hair. The year would role around, all those gigantic toys would be forgotten and there I would stand next Christmas in my Aunt's boxer shorts.
At the time I didn't realise how lovely the gesture was, looking back at my childhood the 'boxer short tradition' is one I fondly remember and cherish.
What I'm trying to get at is that I don't expect my 10 year old niece & 8 year old nephew to loose control over these Pj bags I made them, but basically Aunty Cass is sick of seeing them play their wii and ds consoles, so homemade Pj bags & boxer shorts is what they will be getting...trust me they will thank me one day, maybe even mention me in their blog.

You can start your own Pj tradition with the little one's in your life this year by clicking here, for a full set of instructions to making your own.

Buying for the kidlets is fun, but it's also the type of gifts that are most likely to end up in landfill by next christmas. If you dont have time to make some scary super cool Pj bags, here are some ethical & environmentally friendly gift ideas.



All products are found on "Made It" so they are all handmade in Aus & available to arrive before Christmas. Happy Shopping!

Links - Stewie, Little Man Bear, Pants, Aprons, Cushion, Hobby Horse, Soaps, Dolly Pegs.