The Password

From the gutter to the stars in Sydney and beyond

Saturday 20 September 2008

Designers vs the Op Shop

If I hear one more fashionista use the words vintage, retro or electic then they deserve to fall off a catwalk in their Jimmy Choos. BUT, the brainchildren at the Ted Noffs Foundation have come up with a new take on the humble Op Shop that not only helps the style-hungry to look hot, but also keeps kids off drugs & alcohol in the process!

Onenoffs, opening in Randwick this month, will send the second-hand clothes it receives from the public to up-and-coming Sydney fashion designers to customise, before they are sold at the store. With the majority of the proceeds going to the Ted Noffs Foundation, designer-to-watch Kate Hurst has already put her name to the cause.

And if designer op-shop clothes don't excite you enough, Onenoffs will have an art feature wall attacked by a new artist each month, and special in-store events in the pipleine... with talk of hair-cut nights! Clearly the one-stop-shop for your next reinvention.

Does cool shit actually happen in Sydney?


Despite the fact that it doesn't register on many a cool-hunter's radar, an obscure island like Australia does actually have some pretty cool shit going on.

Our politicians gyrate erotically in their underwear, we are the 4th most pro-Obama nation in the world and orphaned baby whales make front-page headlines for a week. Perth is the new Brazil, Sydney rivals LA for wheatgrass shot bars and girls actually wear hotpants. Lots of girls.

To get you used to the idea that the land of Kylie, the Crocodile Hunter and Speedos could actually be cool, The Passord has the lowdown on what's worship worthy and just plain wack in the magical land of Oz.

GRAFTON PRIMARY

When my little brother first started Djing, he was buying records a year after they were cool, so I didn’t pay too much attention to his collection. Then I heard him play Grafton Primary. Grafton Primary are co-producing brothers Ben and Josh Garden, who have recently been joined for their live shows by drummer Robbie Mudrazija. If they were a film, it would be Ghostbusters meets Weird Science to take Bill and Ted on an Excellent Adventure, and singer Josh Garden has a rats-tail hair do that is totally HOT.

I went down to their gig on Saturday September 9 at Sydney’s Oxford Arts Factory, and not only did I dance non-stop for 90 minutes in gold platform wedges, by the end of the set I ended up busting past security to join the band on stage with most of the crowd. Their debut album, Eon, is out September 13 2009 through independent label Sonic Constructions.

Check out my interview with them in 'Sup magazine: http://www.supmag.com/checkit/archives/2008/09/grafton_primary.html