‘A High Tea Affair'

Written By Viray Thach

On the night of August 10^th, Gracious Magazine were invited to attend the ‘High Tea by Candlelight’ fashion parade held by emerging Adelaide jewellery artist Melanie Joy Steadman.

Held at Candles on Walkerville Restaurant , the free community event was part of this years SALA Festival making history as one of the first fashion parades to be showcased apart of this popular festival!

Mayanthi, Hiranya and I were given to opportunity to work backstage in preparation for the show. Read on as I give you an insight on the highlights of our experience.

SAFM’s Amanda Blair played host and opened the show with her charismatic and humourous antics, reminiscing back to her first encounter with Melanie and her dazzling jewellery. This was followed by a quip in typical Amanda fashion about how hanging out in the back with the models was ‘great’ for the self esteem.

After the laughter had subsided from Amanda’s side-splitting introduction, Melanie, the talented woman behind the night’s masterpieces, popped out to say a few words of thanks for the immense amount of support everyone had given, including the sponsors who freely offered their services for the show.

The theme of Melanie’s current collection is a combination of her own interpretation of ‘High Tea’ and the eccentricities and outrageous setting of the ‘Mad Hatter‘s Tea Party’. Men’s silk ties were pulled apart and reconstructed into sculptural neck pieces adorned with semi-precious stones, fresh water pearls vintage beads, buttons, broches and trinkets. Both an eco-friendly and clever way of creating fashionable jewellery.

Around 8:45 pm it was the start of what the audience had long anticipated for. The fashion parade had finally begun with its first segment showcasing Melanies’ more demure neck pieces. The room was filled with music orchestrated by accordions and old school trumpets playing, taking them right back to the 1950’s. Before the models began to strut their stuff on the catwalk, they introduced the show in the most unique and adorable way, with a tea party!

The models looked elegant in wedding-like gowns - generously supplied by Tiger Xiu and Little Fuchsia- which was an emphatic contrast against the elaborate and intricately detailed neck pieces. After a short break, the second installment showcased more colourful and playful pieces ending the show on an exuberant note.

However, the exhibition didn’t stop there as there was another ‘stationary’ exhibition on the side which displayed Melanie’s past works that were available to purchase. Gems, beads and trinkets were more dominant in these past creations, but still as beautiful as her current collection.

Melanie’s jewellery is not dictated by trends or what you will find in current retail stores. Her works are one of a kind collectible pieces of finely crafted artwork, made to be exhibited within art galleries alongside grand paintings, sculptures and such. Overall, the night was a success, the food scrumptious - generously supplied by Candles Restaurant - and definitely showed off the great amount of talent that Adelaide has to offer.

Click on this link http://www.facebook.com/MelanieJoyCreations?sk=info to feast your eyes on more of her artworks!

For more photos from the night, click on this link:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.270456036305629.71778.151032671581300&type=1