Being A Fan of Lara’s Nan. Soon Maternity.


It’s the day after Being Lara Bingle: Episode 1 and I think Lara has achieved her objective.  Everyone’s talking about Brand Bingle.  The press are having a field day, the twitterverse see her as fair game (as it always has but now there’s the new hashtag #beinglarabingle with which to justify any ‘constructive criticism’).

Image courtesy of www.news.com.au

As I read the opinion pieces and tweets that were on all the Australian online news sites today, I wondered if perhaps we’ve lost the point of some reality television.  That sometimes there isn’t much of a point at all.  Is there anything wrong with giving your brain cells a rest for half an hour so that you can just immerse yourself in the highly edited, slightly glossy and somewhat rough goings on of a girl from the Shire?  Must everything on television be high brow, laden with symbolism and (at least pretend to be) intelligent and informative viewing?  Must every female celebrity aspire to be a role model for young girls?  Can they not lead their own lives and perhaps have everyone learn something from the consequences and outcomes?

Can’t viewers exercise their own intelligence by determining what they want to get out of a particular pice of television that they view?

I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed watching the first episode.  As far as I was concerned, Being Lara Bingle covers all the major food groups of reality television :

  1. a star with a colourful past and a desire to have ‘her side of the story heard’
  2. fleeting references to the worlds of fashion and PR (I finally got to see who Camilla and Marc are and now know that it’s not unusual for PR firms to operate from beneath a mountain of hair care products) 
  3. the age old dilemma of trying to be a ‘normal person’ doing ‘normal things’ whilst being tailed by photographers and making yourself conspicuous by driving a large black tank and dressing all ‘fashion’
  4. an array of family members and close friends with their own relationship dynamics whose presence on the show sometimes threatens to steal the attention away from the star.

My favourite scene of the whole episode?  Lara’s Nan and her terse words of wisdom in a telephone call to Lara after the latest scandal made a 6.30pm ‘current affairs’ program.  As Nan wisely lectured, she made me realise a universal truth about families.  It doesn’t matter who you think you are, your family will always keep you grounded and try to protect you from yourself by telling you the things no one else has the courage or interest to do.

After celebrities, there’s always shopping.

And today’s purchases come to you by way of Melbourne label Soon Maternity.  I recently placed an online order with them and was really impressed by the customer service.  I received an email the day after I placed my order to offer me some options on a top that was no longer available in my size.  I emailed a reply stating my decision expecting that to be the end of things.  I then received a phone call a few minutes later from a staff member who had gone to the store room and found an alternate colour option that she thought I might be interested in.  Which I was.  It was a really thoughtful thing to do and that willingness to go out of her way to be helpful was something I really appreciated.

Madeline LS Wrap Dress – Soon Maternity, wool scoop neck knit in light pink – Soon Maternity,  necklaces – Coco White and Audrey by Red Phoenix Emporium.

And I really am “lovin’ my Soon Maternity” (as I wrote on Soon’s Facebook page).  The dress has some stretch to it and is very comfortable to wear.  Creases also seem to miraculously drop out of the fabric after an hour or two on the hanger.  The wool knit has plenty of length and the neckline sits neither to high nor too low – it works well for both work and the weekend.  All in all, a perfect outfit for work that is going to get a lot of mileage this winter, thanks also to my collection of RPE necklaces (which have cheered up many a pregnancy transition outfit these last few weeks).

I’ve heard great things about Soon’s trousers and am planning to order a pair in the next little while.  Stay tuned for a follow up report on these and on quite a few other maternity fashion related purchases. The poor baby hasn’t even got one piece of clothing to their name yet and here I am with practically a whole second wardrobe.  Already.


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