Photography Project, Uni SA

It occured to me today while teaching a Year 9 Photography class, that I have not uploaded my Photography Collection from when I studied Digital Photography in 2013 at Uni SA! And I really wanted to show them my example. So here it is.

Two of the images (out of six) were published a few times in the Uni SA student magazine 'Verse' and one was selected as the only state finalist for SA in the NCAP: National Campus Art Prize, hosted at Nexus Art Gallery, Adelaide.

My images were inspired by the likes of Alexia Sinclair, Kirsty Mitchell, Tim Walker and Annie Leibovitz. They were all connected by a common thread, literally! All garments featured were designs of my own.

The behind the scenes Blog Post can be found here

Many thanks again to my friends who modelled for me, and lent their skills to my creation.

Inspired by concepts of a woman living in an opulent hyper-reality of beauty and decadence, but wishing she was someplace else.

Enjoy!

Belinda

www.facebook.com/BelindaZanelloFashion

NCAP State Finalist & Published in Verse Magazine twice!

Published in Verse Magazine

Diner en Blanc Adelaide 2016 Costume!

Le Diner en Blanc, an international phenomenon, (and one of my favourite events) has now hit Australia in the last several years, and this one was my third!

In summary, it is a mass-picnic you sign up for, location unknown! You must wear white (originally the idea came from Paris 25 years ago, so that you could find each other!) and then you are taken to your secret location, to set up and picnic, dance and enjoy the vino, live music and good times with friends! Once the clock strikes 11pm, you are packed up and out of the location, as though it never really happened! Quite a fairytale, hence why I adore this time of year!

To learn more head to: https://adelaide.dinerenblanc.com/

For 2016, our secret Adelaide location was Elder Park by the river, illuminated with beautiful lights, photobooth stations, stage with live music, and even a Hair and Make-Up Station!

My design this year was inspired by Elizabethan collars, flower crowns, and as a fashion design teacher I really wanted some STEM (science, tech, engineering, maths) thrown in for good measure!Since the Met Gala, I've noticed more electronic designs making their way into the mainstream media, and can't wait to explore more of this myself!

Around 250 LED lights, 2 fibre optic lights, 4 battery packs concealed, 6 bouquets of white roses, 5 metres of metal wire, metres of lace and fabric, a headband, a dozen glue gun sticks and at least 20 hours of pattern drafting, sewing and so much hand seeing and gluing!

Thankyou to those who supported my design along it's construction, in particular photographer Julius Zieleniecki who documented these incredible videos below. Also many thanks to those who approached me on the night to talk about my costume. I'm glad you're supporting local Adelaide designers such as myself! Please continue to buy local and support our art! Thankyou Diner en Blanc Adelaide for another stellar night! Until next time! 

To keep in touch with my work:
Facebook: Belinda Zanello Fashion & Costume
Instagram: @belinda_zanello_fashion

Three creative years of designing and making outfits for dinerenblancadl ! 2014, 2015 & 2016. This year may be my swan song due to starting graduate work in 2017, but only time will tell how well I can juggle things!

Featured in VERSE Magazine, Uni SA

Thrilled to report that my digital photography was featured in Issue 5 of VERSE MAGAZINE, Aug 2015, University of SA, pg. 54/55 and pg. 26.

Grab a copy on campus or online at http://versemag.us11.list-manage.com/track/click…


Many thanks to my beautiful models and body artist friend Vanessa Kalderovskis xx
Model wears silk corset and rose garland by made by me.

Both images were shot by me in 2013 while I was studying Digital Photography at Uni SA.

The image of the 'sleeping beauty' with a rose garland crown also made the NCAP: National Campus Art Prize exhibition, and was the only finalist from SA in 2013. It was exhibitted at the Nexus Art Gallery on North Terrace, Adelaide, along with all the other finalists Australia-wide.

Thankyou to the publishing team at Verse Magazine, Uni SA for making this happen!

Belinda.
www.facebook.com/BelindaZanelloFashion

Carer Support Personal Styling Workshop!

Last month, I ran a 'Personal Styling' workshop for 33 carers, who were having a "pamper day" and a well-deserved day-off to relax and invest in themselves. 

"Carers are people who look after someone who is frail aged or has a disability, a mental illness, a chronic illness, an intellectual disability, or a physical disability. They can be a family member, friend or neighbour". - Carersupport.org.au

It was very inspiring to meet so many men and women who put their own lives on the back burner at times to focus on someone else's wellbeing and quality of life. One of my best friends is a carer to her father, and I see the level of commitment and love involved in such a full-time role.

Some of the statistics involved in a carer's own quality of life include: 35% feeling isolation, 30% felt depression, in 2003 48% of Carers were caring for 40 hours or more a week, 34% felt weary and lacking in energy, 44% have a disability of their own or suffer injuries or illnesses left unchecked usually because they do not put themselves as a priority, and sadly 34% report their relationships are strained or experience divorce or relationship breakdown because of the stress of caring responsibilities. - Carersupport.org.au

Which is why I was thrilled to contribute to their special day, called "Discover Yourself" held at The Farm, in Willunga. The workshop included a lovely bound booklet with activities to help find your best colours to suit your complexion and hair colour, activities on how to dress for your height and build and most importantly how to express yourself and tell your story of who you are.

There was a powerpoint slideshow I created, detailing design principles we normally take for granted, but which are employed everyday in designs to make us appear at our best. Principles such as linear emphasis, scale and proportion, colour theory and we even had a look at Trinny and Susannah's make overs.

It was lovely after to receive some great feedback from the carers and the lovely staff at Carer Support, thankyou for having me and I look forward to running this workshop again in future!  

www.facebook.com/BelindaZanelloFashion 

 To Contact Carer Support:

Eastern Carer Support Centre

290 Glen Osmond Road, Fullarton

(08) 8379 5777

View a location map

Southern Carer Support Centre

241 Main South Road, Morphett Vale

(08) 8433 9555

View a location map

Other Contact Information

General Queries     supportadmin@carersupport.org.au

Media                         media@carersupport.org.au

If you have any feedback (whether it’s positive or negative) or suggestions you’d like to share with Carer Support, please email us at feedback@carersupport.org.au

Facebook                  www.facebook.com/carersupportsa

Twitter                       www.twitter.com/carersupportsa

Dîner en Blanc in Adelaide!

 “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

 In June I was in Paris. I was also overseas for the first time in my life (travelling around Europe) seeing iconic places, galleries, culture and more which I'd only previously seen in books and films, and now it was unbelievably real. Yet I was still pinching myself to the point of bruising, especially when I first laid eyes on this beautiful, haunting, social phenomenon which is known as Dîner en Blanc.

I was on my tour bus for the 'City Lights Tour' of Paris at dusk, going through the chaotic, jammed-up traffic in the heart of the bustling city. As we passed the chaos, we glided alongside the River Seine and there was this apparition of thousands upon thousands of people dressed soulfully only in white. 

There is something to be said about the power of colour theory and emotion (as a fashion graduate), I can only summon adjectives that make me sound like a new-age hippy, but in a word, all these people together, in white really were: 'soulful'. It struck a chord with everyone on the bus, especially the misty-eyed hopeless romantics like me who were just awe-struck and teary.

Our cameras madly clicking at this white sea of people but only capturing a blur of white and candle light as they talked and laughed at their chic, white picnic tables sharing wine and breaking bread with their loved ones.

I thought to myself, “If I were a Parisian, I’d be there wholeheartedly.” And I think I must have made a little wish in that moment, to be a part of that magic someday….

Flash forward 5 months and I’m back in Adelaide, sitting on the coach bus with some of my best friends (who need recognition and gratitude for going along with my eccentric and over enthusiastic pleading that we needed to experience this for the bucket list! I love you guys, thankyou for agreeing to support this fanatic), decked head to toe in white, even my shoes are white! (I painted them white with glitter).

 And we are packed and ready, travelling to a secret destination we have only been speculating on its whereabouts. The beach? The Barossa? Mount Lofty? Last year was the Adelaide Zoo... Where would you sum up the heart of our city and culture?... Answer: In the literal heart of our fair city, we were headed for Victoria Square! “The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.”
―F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

I think I need to back track a bit here and explain what Dîner en Blanc is and why we would get on a bus without knowing its destination first! Ok, so Dîner en Blanc started in 1988, launched by François Pasquier in Paris. He wanted to find his friends at a park for a picnic and suggested they all wear white to find each other easily. The rest is history.


It grew every year and the locations became more prestigious and eventually it spread overseas. On average Paris hosts nearly 15,000 people each year. This is Adelaide’s second year, hosting just over 900 people. 2500 have already signed up on the waiting list for next year.

“Guests are brought together from diverse backgrounds by a love of beauty and good taste. Thousands of people, dressed all in white, and conducting themselves with the greatest decorum, elegance, and etiquette, all meet for a mass “chic picnic” in a public space. Le Dîner en Blanc recalls the elegance and glamour of court society, and diners engage one another knowing they are taking part in a truly magical event.” – Dîner en Blanc Adelaide.

Once we arrived it was all systems go as hundreds of people began to alight from the many coach buses, in a really organized, elegant fashion. Our lovely leader Alice showed us where to set up our tables and chairs (we hired our chairs, brought a fold-up picnic table and strapped them to a collapsible sack-truck. Picnic crockery and food, etc. in large vintage picnic baskets).

We arrived at 7.30pm and were given a generous 45 minutes to set up and then once everyone was ready the signal was given to wave our white napkins in the air to signify it was time to eat and the picnic had officially begun! As part of the guidelines, you needed to bring a three-course picnic dinner, real crockery and cutlery and white cotton napkins.

(No plastic disposables!) This is for you. Feel special. You deserve to treat yourself once in a while, ok! In a group of four this was easy. One friend organized the antipasto, one friend did the main and the other friend did the dessert. I decorated our table with a white vintage bird cage, white roses, lots of battery-candles and silverware I’d collected from op shops.

It was delicious and also really nice to see everybody enjoying their food and laughing and smiling at this beautiful spectacle as the sun was starting to set and the last golden rays of light made everyone in white seem to glow. You felt special. Like you were getting married, except all the guests were too, thus a mass feeling of fabulousness was felt and the fairy tale was real.

Table decorations were stunning, everything from vintage parasols, to giant LED trees, to floral table pieces, giant roses, lights upon lights upon lights, it almost felt like the Diwali festival of light in India… Which brings us to the next part, my favourite part, the lighting of the sparklers to signify the dining part had ended and now the dancing could begin!

All 900+ people were given a sparkler each and on the signal they were lit up and what a sight! By now it was very dark, close to 9pm at night, and the sparklers were a sea of radiant, warm, ecstatic light all around you! When you stood up you could see it go on and on and on and the lights illuminated everyone’s faces and all you could see were smiles and laughter and the occasional smart phone selfie taking it all in!

People were in love with the sheer beauty and romanticism of what their eyes beheld. You were seeing it yet you were a part of it. As F. Scott Fitzgerald put it, “I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.” –The Great Gatsby. It was unforgettable.

 There was a wonderful band playing also, the singer had a great voice and did a fantastic cover of a Christina Aguilera song from Burlesque. The DJ also put on a great variety of music from different decades to suit our broad variety of guests of all ages, and I mean all ages! I hope that when I’m of an older age I am still going to this!


Once the dance floor had opened up, the rest of the night was beautifully cruisey. A great time to go have your photo taken professionally, dance every time a favourite song came on (‘Shake it Off’ by Taylor Swift – half the female population left their tables to dance), keep eating and drinking and enjoy each other’s company.
 
“In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.”
―F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
 
 I somehow found the time to design and sew my own fishtail skirt and wore a Butterfly headpiece I’d created years ago, and surprisingly …I won the prize for ‘Best Dressed Female’! 

(There were also prizes for Best Table Decoration and Best Dressed Male, who I saw was in the full white tux with a top hat and ruffle shirt! 

Kudos to you, sir! Considering it was quite a hot, balmy night!) –In our group we were having our own competition for whose white clothes could stay cleanest the longest! 

By 11.30pm, almost like the Cinderella fairy-tale, we packed up our enchanted memories of this night, made our way back onto the coach bus, and glided back into reality, wondering if this had really happened, could it ever be imitated? How much was real? As we smiled and wondered whether it was all not a dream? A dream I hope to have again next year… 

Thankyou to the Adelaide organisers, team leaders and Every. Single. Person. Involved in making this a reality. I wished for you in Paris. Thankyou for bringing the magic home to Adelaide.
Belinda xx
www.facebook.com/BelindaZanelloFashion
Instagram: @belinda_zanello_fashion  


Source: http://adelaide.dinerenblanc.info/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DinerEnBlanc.Adelaide

featured in 'On The Record'

Lovely journalism student, Carney Sims has written a great article (feat. me) in 'On The Record - Uni SA online magazine' about life after winning the Blank Canvas and my views on Adelaide's Fashion Industry and it's future.

Click the link to read: http://www.ontherecord-unisa.com.au/?p=7202  

Thankyou, Carney! <3 br="" nbsp="">

Mrs Carter World Tour!

Had the best time seeing Beyonce at the Mrs Carter World Tour, Nov 5th at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre!

Her costumes were phenomenal as was her performance! She didn't disappoint!
I'm so grateful I got to share it with my best friend, it was outstanding!

These were my favourite costumes from the performance! I was really shocked by her cropped locks, but she carried it off well and was just as fierce as ever! x
www.facebook.com/BelindaZanelloFashion