There is something rather dart-ish about the F1. I definitely don’t consider darts to be a proper sport and before this F1 season I’m not sure really I thought that driving a car was either; even if you drive it really, really fast. But after watching the final, I am in awe of the length of time they’re squashed up inside those tiny things for, not to mention the speed at which they hurtle round the track.

 Friday night was courtesy of the lovely chaps at Savills, where I used to work when I lived in London. They had a table at the Podium Lounge at the Ritz-Carlton.

Because I don’t tend to think too hard about what I am going to be wearing until just before the taxi arrives, I surmised Ritz-Carlton = freezing air con and opted for my long sleeved, short, tight DVF dress bought for a song from Robe Raiders.

(Please excuse awful grainy pic taken on my iPhone 4 which I’m using in desperation after my #5 was swiped in Saigon; like everyone else I’m waiting to get my hands on the 5S)

Little did I know – must read the small print next time – the Podium Lounge is an outdoor, poolside affair. Hot does not describe it (compounded by the fact my long sleeved dress also required Spanx).  I managed stoically, employing that failsafe method of quenching my thirst with champagne…

Whether or not my fashion faux-pas became legendary over night I will never know, but the very next day I got a call from Karen Lee who owns the online fashion store Robe de Princesse.  She offered to dress me for the next two nights.

Hurrah! RDP carries a bunch of established Aussie designers including George Spyrou, who I didn’t know anything about but now love, ditto Wayne Cooper whose capri pants are just fabulous (slightly stricter fitness regime required until I can rock a pair though)…and Central St Martin’s graduate Christine Lam who designs under the label Aly & Rachelle.  I love, love her dresses which are wearable, inexpensive – joy – yet esoteric enough not to be worn by anyone else.

This is one of my favourites from her Spring/Summer range.

Saturday night was a bit tricky on the dress front as we had to sweat our heads off watching The Killers at the Padang from 1030pm-12am…

before hot footing it to the Podium Lounge again, but this time to support the gnossem.com crew (pronounced ‘nossem’ – silent g) for their fashion show there:

How the hell do you dress well for an outdoor concert that’s back to back with a fashion show…and all in swelteringly hot tropical weather? Karen suggested this dress:

by Aly and Rachelle which was perfect, in quite thin silk so not too hot (oh, and no sleeves helped enormously).  I wore it with my Two Pigs earrings I bought at last Friday’s trunk show.

Sunday was Sky Suites for the final which was a real treat.

We were just above Turn 3 and so really saw a lot of the action – perhaps I am a secret petrol head after all – as they all negotiated the corner…

…and we glimpsed the beautiful firework display from the roof terrace there which heralded the end of the race for another year.

I wore another Ally & Rachel creation, again in silk but this time slightly thicker (the Sky Suites had air con, I did my research) with slashes of alternating white and black fabric which I really liked as it meant you looked totally different from each side:

Here’s what it looked like from the back:

I was in fact so well organised that I even managed to match the chequered ‘end of session’ flag which probably scored me serious fash minus points, but who really cares or noticed quite frankly! (This, below, is supposed to be an ironic photo rather than a serious one, just in case you are wondering!)

My Charlotte Olympia shoes were a bad choice though and too high for tottering up all the steps in, not to mention walking for miles in to find the car afterwards (thank God for the pair of flipflops I stuffed in to my handbag at the last minute before leaving home).

My lovely black and white slash dress was perfect worn with blood red nails and lips but did desperately need a red clutch (I turned my wardrobe upside down before realising that I don’t actually own one) for a pop of colour.  Oh well….next time.

Thank you to Robe de Princesse for saving Saturday and Sunday, sartorially anyway, and for gifting me my dresses; thank you to gnossem.com for the tickets to Saturday’s Podium Lounge and to Woh Hup for tickets to the final at Sky Suites.  

Both ‘Zoe’ dress images courtesy of Robe de Princesse.