One of the best things about hoarding gift vouchers is that when you get to that weekend before pay day and are desperate for some retail therapy, you can indulge without feeling guilty. That was the situation I found myself in on Saturday, hoarding a voucher from about two months ago when I attended a fashion event hosted by boutique store, Blondies, held to raise money for Breast Cancer. You may recall I was the lucky winner of the $750 first prize in the raffle, to be spent on label Found By, on an outfit of my choosing.
I finally found the time to get down to the Port Melbourne store this long weekend and spent just over 90 minutes with the fab Blondies staff trying on almost every outfit in the store. Dresses, tops, pants, jackets – they had it all. The Found By label is Blondies own brand and designed by an all female team. Catering to women of all ages, the label ranges from size 8 to 18 and as luck would have it, I had come to the store at sale time so was able to find a bargain or two.
Unfortunately sale time does also mean limited sizes so while I tried on lot’s of size 12’s, I did discover the clothes were quite large and ended up buying 8’s and 10’s (which did eliminate some of my favourite pieces as they were sold out!) The clothes tended to have a lot of drape and layering, most often occurring in the typical Melbourne blacks and greys with accents of purple and white. Lot’s of jerseys are used for comfort and style while catering for everyday wear basics to eveningwear.
After 90 minutes of trying on clothes (and a big thanks to the staff who were very patient and put everything away for me!) I had a cute black and grey cape jacket, reduced to $200 and a black dress with sequin and draping detail for $300. With $250 left on my voucher, I re-entered the store and tried on more garments, things I wouldn’t usually bother with, just to see how they fit. Just as I was about to accept defeat, I noticed the mannequin wearing one of the dresses I liked and was thrilled to find it was a size 10. Tried, tested, sold.
Of course this dress was $400 so I ended up paying the $150 difference which I guess is still a small price to pay for over $1000 worth of clothing. (My mother will be shaking her head right now) I wore said dress out to a 30th on Saturday night and did feel very glam – suffice to say I don’t usually spend $400 on dresses; $150 is close to my limit, so it did feel special!
I also wanted to make note of some of the other labels Blondies carries – Cowen, Transit, Sita Murt, Boo Radley and Sabatini, as well as Won Hundred and Antipodium at Gloss by Blondies. The Port Melbourne store has homewares too – a true all rounder!
If you want to know more, you can also read an article from 2007 in The Age by fashion writer Janice Breen Burns about Found By and Blondies.
