frankie Magazine

Whenever it comes time to sit down and face the blank page, I find myself taking to a task I’ve ignored for the past month with gusto. I hoover up every dust ball from under my bed, wipe every surface clean, just to avoid staring at the blinking cursor, my nemesis. I tell myself to “just say something witty,” (possibly the most unhelpful bit of encouragement one could ever utter) and act surprised when my brain refuses to spit out an amusing story on command. My avoidance reached new heights recently – to the point where I devised an entire story to solve (or distract me from) my problems. In this issue, you’ll find advice for tackling creative block from people who write and make art for a living, including the…

LETTERS@FRANKIE.COM.AU Dear frankie, Thank you Kate Stanton! I thought I was the only person who dreaded their birthday (“The birthday blues”, issue 112). Like you, I hate the song, the attention, the pressure of it having to be a ‘special’ day, and the subsequent disappointment when it doesn’t go the way I imagined. I also worry about showing enough gratitude when I receive gifts, and hate that because of social media, I feel like my popularity is publicly highlighted by how many people wish me a happy birthday. The strange thing is I bloody love other people’s birthdays! I love making my family and friends feel special and loved – so much so, I am often referred to as ‘the birthday fairy’. Go figure! Jen (aka the birthday fairy) Dear frankie, I…

gently does it Silk Laundry’s latest collection looks (and probably feels) like clothes poured onto the body – soft, slippery and silky (duh) fabrics that pool about ankles and slide over skin. This is a wardrobe that might belong to a cultured person of leisure, someone who lounges in luxury but may need to be ready for a soirée at a moment’s notice. There are oversized chiffon shirts, bias-cut pants and airy slip dresses – threads that stay true to founder Katie Kolodinski’s vision for a brand that emphasises timeless silhouettes and feel-good fabrics. If that kind of opulence appeals, swing breezily by silklaundry.com.au for more. giddy up If we could summon the moon to Earth for a jig, we’re confident she’d love to bop around in shiny pink cowboy boots (she’s that…

prints & paintings Kalindy Williams Tell us about the print that started it all. My obsession with vintage prints and paintings began with this one nude by Larry Vincent Garrison. I went to a garage sale where everything was $2 and I saw her stuck behind a Snow White poster. I couldn’t believe such a gorgeous image was only two bucks! I snapped her up and now she hangs on my wall, still with the fluoro pink $2 sticker. The Vincent nudes were a popular print in the late ’60s and ’70s. There really isn’t much information about Vincent Garrison out there – he was a painter of family portraits and switched to painting nudes in the ’60s. There are hundreds of Vincent paintings hanging in galleries around the world, and thousands hanging…

I used to be a journalist and wrote for newspapers and magazines. After having two children, I started to think, “What do I want to do for a living?” I found out about escape rooms, which are themed puzzle rooms, and took my husband David along to play a game. I didn’t tell him what we were playing – it was a surprise – and we both fell in love with the whole idea. We like making things, so in 2016 we decided to start our own escape-room business, The Cipher Room, where we make the games ourselves. When people arrive, they’re put into an immersive world they can explore. They can move things; they can pick up on the storyline. They go through and solve puzzles to get out of…

When I was about 27, I realised I hated my office job so much it was making me a bad person. I’d scowl at innocent people on public transport and fantasise about writing a novel in which I killed off my co-workers in ridiculous ways. I’d spend $20 on food-court lunches with terrifying regularity. I knew I had to make a change, but the idea of going back to university made me want to cry into my $18 food-court honey chicken. And I was right to cry. When I finally bit the bullet and went back to school to change careers, I didn’t know it was one of the best choices I had ever made. Because most of the time it felt like one of the worst. I started so bright-eyed…