This is the season to hail the return of the suit, that great fashion two piece that works perfectly on it’s own but does double duty as separates. As with any comeback, there is always a slight twist and this season bright bold colours and head to toe prints are the new kids on the block. Brighter and flashier than their more classic mates, they need careful consideration to get right.

So let’s begin with the printed suit. Head to toe print is a bold investment and so good right now. The trick is what to wear with it. When wearing the suit head to toe, team it back with non-descript classics like a great white tee, a tan shoe, a black belt. Keep it simple. It’s the only way to go. The only exception to this is jewellery (of course there is always a rule breaker). Jewellery should be bold and colourful but mixed in with the tones of the print. Now, once you separate the two pieces you can go wild with colour. A print pant with a bright yellow shell top, for example, or a printed blazer over a coloured shirt and tan pants. Mix and match and have fun with it.

When you come to a bright coloured suit, the rules reverse. Confused? Read on. You can wear any colour bright suit, but be careful with how you mix it. Keep like colours together and mix with a highlight of nude or tan.For example, a bright red suit works with an orange or pink top and a nude shoe is fabulously chic, (or a bright orange shoe even better) but wear it with white tee and a black heel and it just does not have the same effect. It just does not have the same punch.

The classics are still around, but they have been given an overhaul too with new accents: the tuxedo suit has a slightly more seventies vibe, or team a man style jacket with a wider pant. My advice is to stick to black and white with this. It’s classic for a reason and best not to stray too far from what has always worked. A bold red lip is the only colour needed. And keep it to a heel as it’s so much sexier.

So whatever your style this summer, suit up. It’s the right time

I have always loved sculpture, and anyone who knows me, also knows about my obsession with horses, and animals in general. So when a friend presented me with an amazing bronze horse sculpture as a gift for my birthday last year, I was more than in love. It’s not the only horse sculpture I have around me, I have marble ones, others made from zinc and not to mention the countless paintings. This one in particular is robust, oversized and round – pint size in comparison to the amazing Botero’s above, but gorgeous all the same! 

On a recent trip to Melbourne to visit our GPO store, I passed an amazing granite purse in Bourke Street  Mall. It is huge!!! You can see the scale of it next to the people around it. I love that it is permanent and really makes the street more than just a street. A little bit of what Europe does so well right here in Australia…..street art!! In Paris there is the gorgeous silver ball fountain in the forecourt of the Palais Royale. A real hideaway right in the heart of Paris….a must for any visitor to Paris. The first time I saw a Botero was in Paris, lining the Champs Elysee. There must have been 40 of them – one every 20 metres or so. Then I saw more in New York in the financial area in Midtown, and in Spain there is the huge puppy sculpture by Geoff Koons.

Another serious favourite is the inspired French duo, LaLannes. They created  their own brand of surrealism in the 60’s, sculpting fantastical creatures like huge rhinos that opened to become desks, cabbages with chickens feet and a cat with the body of a fish. Beautiful pieces that let the mind run wild – bunny heads on fish like torsos and fly toilet seats. Their life’s work generated a ‘zoo’s worth of animals’. A friend was lucky enough to see the retrospective exhibition in Des Art Decoratifs in Paris last year. They even worked at one stage with the late Yves Saint Laurent, creating a hand crafted gold bodice which he later showed as part of his 1969 collection. Tom Ford has one of their croc consoles in the foyer of his Madison Avenue store. Do yourself a favour and get a copy of one of their books.

It got me thinking about the up-coming Spring Summer season we are about to start designing. Inspiration can really come from anywhere……even in the most oversized unexpected places….

Guest Blogger: Glynis Traill-Nash, Freelance Fashion Writer and commentator.

Firstly, I would like to state that it has been some years since I attended a school formal. It would appear much has changed in the intervening years, while other things have stayed much the same. Plus ça change and all that. So, undoubtedly many girls still spend the best part of their chemistry lessons in the preceding months debating what to wear. I’m guessing, however, that rather than sketching their ideas on the back of textbooks, they are probably comparing tear sheets from Vogue and Harper’s—or flicking through catwalk exits on style.com on their iPad 2. The biggest difference is that, back in the day, most girls would employ the services of a dressmaker to whip up the dress of their dreams. You’d have to choose patterns, fabrics and then argue with your mother as to why you couldn’t wear black. The biggest decision was often the toss-up between plain or waterwave taffeta. (OK, it was the Eighties, I’ll admit.)

Today’s formal-goers have things so much easier. Head to your favourite store, choose the dress of your dreams, find shoes, book blowdry. Done! But here’s my word of advice. You will be looking back at these photos for the rest of your life. And not only that, all your friends will be putting them on Facebook where they will remain, on the internet, for years. Thankfully, that was something we never had to contend with. (And I’m guessing the corsage has gone the way of the printed photograph?)

My advice for this year’s formal-goers would be this. Don’t think about what’s hot this season—think what’s going to look timeless and beautiful for years to come. Think elegance. And the easiest way to achieve that—and make you look your most statuesque—is with a full-length dress. Minidresses—begone!

Lisa Ho’s spring/summer collection has a variety of elegant options in a range of colours, from wineberry to candy pink, aqua to tangerine. You might like a body-skimming gown in liquid satin, or a one-shouldered Grecian style, while strapless is always sophisticated. You don’t want anything too fitted, either, because a little volume or movement will come in handy once you’re on the dancefloor. Just add some dazzling jewellery and a great blowdry, or even an updo. Trust me, opting for elegance means you will never have to cringe at your formal photos, no matter how many years have passed—or how many Facebook friends you have.

Guest Blogger: Glynis Traill-Nash, Freelance Fashion Writer and commentator.