For those that know me, you’d know that I’m a veritable water baby. I came into the world a mere mile away from the beach, and have always loved being near the water. It is even more tragically so that other than my first 12 years growing up on an island, I have been largely landlocked. Oh, other than the blissful few years I spent commuting weekends to San Francisco, my life have been largely stuck miles away from the coast.

I am also a city girl at heart. I am not one of those that dream of playing house in the middle of the countryside living in a Laura Ashley catalouge dream; give me the grit and grime of the big bad city at any time. The problem is combining the city element with the deep blue sea element – there are really not many places in the world that combines this very well.

And this is one of the many reasons I fell in love with Sydney. A dynamic city virtually surrounded by water; seriously, what more can I ask for? So, when tasked with creating ‘an outfit that virtually SCREAMS Sydney’ for week 2 of the Awesome Tour of Sydney competition; I automatically looked to the water and iconic constructions as my main inspiration.

There is absolutely no denying that Sydney Opera House is the MOST iconic landmark in Sydney. It’s what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris & the Leaning Tower is to Pisa…and the Hollywood sign is to California. So with Zona (my resident Sydneysider), Lisa & Drey pitching in from Down Under, it was decided that inspiration should be drawn from both. Being a regular stall owner at craft markets and such here in the UK, I loved the plethora of markets in Sydney whilst I was there, absolutely LOVED it. Zona informed me that there are markets scattered all over Sydney – I remembered her moonlighting at her local market as a face-painting artist once – and jewelry designer! So my fashion piece definately incorporates the bohemian market feel to it – I can just imagine selling them in my own little store in a market in Sydney…

sourrain.com presents: Inspired by the iconic Opera House’s official logo, the gentle curves of the waves hitting Manly (my absolute favourite beach) and incorporating the sparkling stars from the Australian flag, here it is, the Sydspired collection:

I call this the tankNEY…beautiful white appliqued waves/Sydney Opera House on deep blue tank representing the deep blue seas of Sydney, this top is given an extra ‘Oomph’ by the addition of the Commonwealth star and the Southern Cross constellation of the official Australian Flag. It screams I am proud to be a Sydneysider and I am proud to be part of Australia. The only thing that came from a shop was the plain top, this is fully hand decorated & sewn by me.

(Click here for instructions on how to make yourself one!)

Now, a girl can’t leave the house with just a mere top, no matter how beautiful it is. So I came up with some accessories, all drawing from the same inspiration to form a capsule collection:

I call this the Singing Waves. Drawing inspiration again from the iconic Sydney Opera House, rolling surf and the Australian flag, this pendant is fully handmade from Sculpey clay, baked and glazed to perfection. My personal favourite from the whole collection.

(Click here for instructions on how to make yourself one!)

And what is an outfit without a trusty purse? Seeing that it’s winter Down Under, I took inspiration from the iconic Australian-made boots. Think warm comfy sheepskin and soft suede, keeps your toes toasty warm – can you tell what it is yet?

This is the CLugg – the clutch inspired by UGG. Incorporating the same beautiful Australian elements, this CLugg is perfect for a night out at the Opera House or Sunday brunch in Bondi. The perfect clutch for the fashionista Sydneysider. Handmade from double interfaced sheepskin, this clutch keeps all your importants in one place whilst still earning gold stars in the chic stakes.

(Click here for instructions on how to make yourself one!)

If you are in love with your shoes as much as I am, you’ll appreciate my final creation to cap off the collection. This was inspired by Zona’s declaration of Sydney’s Summer Winter Sunday- 28degrees weather smack in the middle of the Down Under winter. And half way across the globe we are shivering in a 18 degrees summer. How unfair is that?! But a girl needs shoes – so here’s my summery winter or wintry summer shoes….

I call this the THugg (heehee). Combining a pair of thongs (or flip flops if you insist on keeping the stiff upper lip ) with soft, warm and comfy cream sheepskin, this is THE footwear for the days that you’re not too sure – a too-warm winter or a too-cold summer. Handcrafted, naturally.

(Click here for instructions on how to make yourself one!)

And voila – the perfect Sydspired outfit:

The tankNEY, Singing Waves & CLugg. Did not make the skirt, but I did purchase it when I was in Sydney.

And of course – super-comfy thUGGs to get you from Bondi to Luna Park and Darling Harbour…

Special thanks goes out to Zona, Lisa & Dreybee for batting around ideas – you’re getting the activity tickets if I win!

All the items in the Sydspired collection are for sale (from £10 ono w. shipping on top) – with ALL proceeds going to the New South Wales-based charity of my choice – adoptashark.org.au . Happy to recreate any item from scratch for sizing purposes – most of these items took me the best part of two hours to create. Call me weird, but swimming with sharks rank as one of my favourite things to do in the world of all time. I love em. Weird again, but they are such gentle creatures – if you don’t mess around with them. Being brought up in a chinese household, it was hard to say no to sharksfin soup, but I have been sharksfin-free for ten years now (yay!)…..I also used to loveeee eating sharks meat – yummy in a curry or on the barbie. That had also unfortunately had to stop with me developing a bleeding heart for sharks. Through adoptashark.org.au, sourrain.com is aiming to adopt a mascot Grey Nurse shark for a year, which will cost AU$75 per annum – rest assured that if sales from the Sydspired collection exceeds this amount, all residual monies will also go towards adoptashark.org.au . You can also donate directly by PayPal to them if you prefer…buy a tshirt, adopt a shark, buy a stubbie cosy…just do something to help keep these wonderful creatures of the sea around for our children’s children. Help me help them. Please email me directly (milimail at gmail dot com) if you have any questions on purchasing items off the Sydspired collection.

Rather make your own Sydspired collection? Fear not, I have kept very good track of my work! Click here for instructions! Be sure to send me pix of your collection!

You might also be interested in these

• The end of #me2sydney
• I’ve adopted a shark – have you?
• Awesome tour of Sydney Challenge W.3
• Podding apples
• Awesome tour of Sydney Challenge W.3 – Version 2