Net-A-Porter | RM

Always an avid fan of anything Roland Mouret touches, he's now penned and pinned a rainbow collection. You'd be forgiven for forgetting the northern and southern hemisphere are experiencing climate opposites at the moment, when everyone internationally is talking about the party season and these tiny dresses to suit. For that, I'm so thankful we live in Australia and the height of summer is coincidentally aligned with the chance to wear such fun and fancy frocks. It's so nice to finish a mad day at work and come home to see these gorgeous, colourful garments, reminding us all that it is the season to be jolly. The starts were shining brightly with this idea as it's great timing with the Dulux Jelly Bean promotion. Confection.

Natalie Portman

Is it just me or has Natalie Portman been ticking all the right style boxes lately? She's been attending the NY ballet and movie premiers left right and centre, sidestepping her usually opt for a more low profile lifestyle. But thank goodness for fashion, she's ignored that attitude in the last couple of weeks and colour couldn't be happier. From bright blues to fuchsia and back to a blue hue again, her fun and flirty approach is contagious for the upcoming party season.
I'm a big big fan of this girl. She has a bachelor degree in psychology, lives a vegan lifestyle with a strong moral conscious for the environment and is downright funny when she takes on herself or other co-stars, a personal fave in Zach Braff's Garden State coming to mind. Portman keeps herself distanced from celebrity scandal and always carries herself with poise and grace. Round of applause please.

Summer Rumbling

The countdown is on, three weeks until Christmas graces itself upon us whether we're ready or not. And for me, I'm excited to be making plans that don't revolve around rushing back to Sydney for the first time in a long time.
Christmas for me, is always associated with South Australia (and sometimes Sydney and Perth just to keep things interesting); Christmas is where my family is. Port Lincoln always puts on a brilliantly relaxing show, and Coffin bay around the corner provides the oysters. I remember seeing Coffin Bay oysters on the menu in Europe and the overwhelming pull to my childhood and jetty jumping was strong. However, it's all about Adelaide this year, my birth place and the place where most of my extended family still resides. My dear childhood friend is also still in Adelaide and this year, it's our mission to do all the things we've always wanted to do but never had the chance. Day spa's in the Adelaide hills await, Barossa wineries have our names written all over them and I've heard a rumour about a cupcake tour in Handorf, could the possibilities be any more exciting?
So as you all pack your bags for a well deserved and way overdue holiday, or prepare yourselves for a rested time at home, it's December and I'm a calling one and all to get into the spirit of the festive season. "Just hear those sleigh bells jingle-ing, ring ting tingle-ing too, come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you."

The Dinner Table

There's that age old question: who would your ideal dinner guests be, dead or alive? For me, having just watched Clive James on Andrew Denton's Elders, I need to set a new place at the table. I've always had Andrew Denton on that invitation list, his stories of who he has met would captivate all in attendance and keep everyone entertained. And now Clive James' additional commentary on life and happiness would assist for entertainment value. For me, he had a fantastic view of success and how it can be measured. I can apply his view of how to measure happiness to my own personal writing. He said that you're lucky if you're getting paid to do something that you'd do anyway for free, and my philosophy is that you can only keep learning from what you're doing, paid or unpaid. The biggest lessons in life, I think, are learned when you're doing it because you want to, not because you're obligated to, and in many cases a paid job becomes more of an obligation to sustain the intangible aspects of life. Continue to do what you do naturally, and your reward will be first and foremost to yourself and no one else. They can't take that away.

Me and My Pencils

For they send many running in the other direction, to me they are a challenge, but certainly rewarding. Not for everyone, the pencil skirt is something I have come to cherish. I never used to enjoy the constricting high waist of the skirt of my school uniform, but have learned to embrace my pencils skirts, as they certainly embrace me, and in all the right places too.
There was a moment in the Galleries Lafayette in Paris when my heart literally grew. I had found a black Hussein Chalayan on a sale rack (impossible I know) and the instant I tried it on, it was like magic what it did for my figure. I suddenly had a waist and hips, and because it finished somewhere north of my belly button, made my legs appear longer too. I know people with heavier legs aren't really supposed to wear pencils skirts as something with more fullness balances their silhouette but I've found some styles that are without a doubt true gems.
You've got to love Collette Dinnigan sample sales as well, because she's taken some gorgeous and truley unique fabrics in the past and turned them into optical illusion masterpieces. While the black Chalayan one is safe and like having plastic surgery yet not going anywhere near a scalpel, the red and gold ones make more of a statement thanks to the texture they create. They're great for work because they appear structured and change your posture to a more upright position. But beware, people will be able to tell if you're uncomfortable, so trying many styles on is the key.
Cinderella's story.

T H A N K Y O U

I'd like to start by saying a big thank you so much to you all for supporting me and continuing to read PROFILE. It's been four weeks today since I placed a tracker on my blog and here's a map of where you all come from in the world. I consider you to be on this fantastic journey with me so it's only fair that I keep you up to date with the progress of http://www.profile-profilemagazine.blogspot.com
I'm very proud to say that in the past four weeks alone, I've had over 300 visitors to PROFILE and hope that I continue to be able to provide you with something interesting to read and look at for a brief few moments during your day.
I love writing for my blog and will keep writing as much as I can over the holidays, stay tuned.
THANK YOU again,
Tegan

A Disobedient Girl | Ru Freeman

There's always an overwhelming sense of loss when finishing a much loved novel don't you think? Maybe that's too dramatic an assumption, but I know I've felt the pinge of no longer being able to look forward to sitting down and absorbing in the pages that twist and turn once I close the covers for the final time.
Most recently, this was the case for Ru Freeman's A Disobedient Girl. Her brilliant style of writing and fantastic plot, woven only at the end left me reveling in how brilliant this story really was. Transporting between chapters, and in this novel, different voices for two separate protagonists very cleverly told the journey of two women, one all in the space of two or three days, the other spanning thirty years. And it's this technique that generously answered all the questions in the end so perfectly, I was in, not wanting it to end and could recommend this for anyone's Christmas stocking.
Don't let the title fool you, naughty or nice.