By ANEEKA SIMONIS
THE Carrie Bradshaw of Selby has released her debut book, combining her love for fashion with her equal thirst for creative expression.
A coming-of-age book Dress, Memory: A Memoir of my Twenties in Dresses tells the tale of author Lorelei Vashti’s younger years remembered through her precision wardrobe.
Now in her mid-thirties, Lorelei’s love affair with dresses began from a very young age as she watched her mother, a seamstress, pour her passion and time into making clothes.
From falling in love for the first time to playing in a band and moving overseas with a new career, Lorelei has always stitched her memories to her fabric.
“Some people remember stages of their lives through the smell of certain places or the music they were listening to during that time. I remember them through my clothes,” Lorelei said.
With two full wardrobes in QLD and three in Selby, Lorelei wrote the book in the hope it may memorialise her dresses, allowing her to let go.
But when asked if she has gotten rid of any of her dresses, collected from across the globe, the answer was a certain no.
“I just couldn’t let go because they all have special memories. And now they are more special because they are in the book,” she said.
Dresses close to her heart include a neon yellow smock that she wore to her first writer’s festival, a repurposed red velvet dress she wore on stage with her band Young Professionals and the bottle green wool dress her mother had made 20 years earlier for a job interview.
The book contains 10 chapters which feature a new year and dress from her twenties.
The memoir has already received early praise from influential names including Offspring actress Clare Bowditch, who said: “I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading this book. Such a treat.”
Dress, Memory, published by Allen and Unwin, evolves from Lorelei’s fashion blog which she started in 2011.
To order the book which is released Wednesday 26 August, visit www.dressmemory.com.
