For the Waste and Recycle Conference (WA) Dinner, the theme is Spies and Agents. Going through the list of possible female spies I had; Charlies Angels, Mata Hari, a range of ‘Bond Girls’ and so on.
I decided to be cool and go as Carmen San Diego. She is technically an Agent but I believe in original versions she was a spy!
Unfortunately I had chosen my costume a little too late. While we were swimming in Trench Coats during the Winter Season, now being Spring they are almost impossible to find! I searched in vain in the City for a Red Trench Coat with no success.
Someone at work suggested dying the fabric of a cotton coat, using Dylon. I was surprised that people still dye fabric these days! In one frantic day, I found a cream cotton coat, and two packets of Dylon Red from the dodgy chemist around the corner (who would have thought!!).
Unfortunately after my first attempt the coat came out a dark pink. It turns out Dylon’s ‘red’ is a tulip red and therefore not a true red! With two sleeps to the Conference, I needed a plan B.
I decided to try dying it one more time using a true red. In the worst case scenario, dark pink was not too bad but Carmen wears red after all! A serious discussion with the lady at Spotlight had me doubting my plans. She advised me that to use a red rye on the pink coat would turn it purple or brown and advised against dying over it again. She suggested that I strip the colour off the coat and then re-dye.
Disheartened I went to the shops one more time to see if there were any remaining red coats I had missed. Still no luck, however I found myself at Riot Art and Craft.
Consulting the lady there, she advised that it should not be a problem to dye over the coat. motivated once again I picked up two packets of iDye – TRUE RED and went home to once again try and get my result.
This time I used one packet in case it went too dark and luckily I got my result!!
Red Trench coat finally mine, I picked up a simple red hat from Spotlight (the fascinator range) for $11.99 and attached a yellow band on the hat. The hat despite the colour is not too bad and can be re-made into a nice hat for the races – Yes I think that may be my next project… Fascinators!
The costume does not look too bad eh? It looks quite sleuthy! On the night I was among the nominees for best Costume but lost out to the two Keynote Speakers, one of them being the Chris Darwin – Great Great Grandson of the Charles Darwin. But hey, who can compete against Keynote Speakers? Not to mention Mr Darwin made a groovy Austin Powers!
Oh! I should also mention, I also co-presented with a collegue at the Waste and Recycle Conference. It was my first ever public speaking experience in the workforce! I think I went ok! The main thing is, the big boss was happy and said he was proud, and not to mention one of the other Keynote Speakers attended and told me that she was impressed. If a professional speaker thinks I did a good job, than surely I must have!
The girl who was in the line behind me was quite nice and provided company whilst in the freezing cold! She had actually gone to the Optus Midnight launch on Murray Street and seeing the hundreds of people there, tried her chances the next morning. I really hope the Optus guy was wrong and she at least got one!
