Dressed For The Night
There's a particular kind of northern Tasmanian evening that happens once a year, usually towards the end of July, when the Mersey turns silver under the streetlights and somewhere nearby a saxophone is doing something rather lovely.
That's Devonport Jazz.
From the 23rd to the 26th of July this year, the city will settle into a different rhythm. People linger a little longer over dinner. Theatre doors swing open. Music spills onto the streets, and suddenly everyone seems to have collectively decided there isn't any great rush to be anywhere else.
We've always thought jazz and good leather have quite a lot in common.
Neither one is in a hurry. Both improve with age. And both have a way of making a room feel as though something is actually happening, rather than simply occurring. You don't really notice either at first. Then, before long, you can't quite imagine the evening without them.
There's something rather reassuring about that.
In a world that's forever encouraging us to buy the next thing, replace the perfectly good thing, or update the thing we only bought six months ago, jazz quietly carries on doing what it's always done and so does good leather. Neither seems particularly interested in trends, and they're probably all the better for it.
If you're heading down for a night of music, here's our thinking on what to wear. Or perhaps more accurately, what to take with you. We've never been terribly interested in outfits for the sake of outfits. We'd much rather talk about the pieces that become part of your life and come home smelling faintly of wood smoke, good food and winter evenings.
Start With A Belt
Let's begin with the humble belt, which, admittedly, has one very important job.
Keeping your trousers where everyone would quite like them to remain.
Beyond that, though, a beautifully made leather belt has a habit of quietly pulling everything together without making a fuss about it. A narrow belt in rich tan or classic black adds just enough polish to a favourite pair of jeans or wool trousers without announcing itself from across the room.
Nobody at a jazz club has ever been improved by a belt buckle the size of a dinner plate.
Good leather has never needed that sort of attention.
The lovely thing about a proper leather belt is that it becomes more yours every year you wear it. It softens where you reach for it. The edges mellow. The colour deepens. Before long, it fits not just your waist, but your routine. Those little signs of wear aren't flaws. They're simply proof that something has been well used, which has always seemed a far nicer fate than sitting untouched in a wardrobe waiting for the perfect occasion.
Then There's The Question Of A Clutch
A clutch is one of those things you hardly think about until the moment you're halfway through the evening and quietly congratulating yourself for bringing it.
It carries exactly what you need and absolutely nothing you don't, which feels rather refreshing these days.
Phone. Cards. Lip balm. Keys. Done.
There's something wonderfully liberating about not lugging your entire life around for an evening. Odds are you won't need the supermarket receipts from February, three pens that don't work or that loyalty card for a café you visited once in 2018.
A beautifully made leather clutch keeps things simple. Tucked neatly under your arm or carried in hand, it feels perfectly at home slipping from dinner to the theatre without missing a beat. Better still, when it's time to pay for a glass of wine between sets, you're not rummaging through what appears to be an archaeological dig while everyone patiently waits behind you.
Fumbling through an oversized handbag while a trumpet solo is happening isn't a good look and, frankly, it's rather rude to the trumpet.
Like all good leather, a clutch only gets better the more you carry it. The corners soften, the leather develops a gentle patina, and before long it becomes the one you instinctively reach for whenever an evening out appears on the calendar. Some things earn their place. A well-made leather clutch tends to do it rather quickly.
If A Clutch Is Not For You - A Crossbody Bag Will Tend To Do.
If there's one companion we'd recommend for an evening spent wandering between venues, stopping for dinner and inevitably deciding one more performance sounds like an excellent idea, it's a well-made crossbody bag.
Not enormous.
Not trying to carry your entire household.
Just beautifully made, comfortably worn and sensible enough to leave your hands free for the important things.
Holding a glass.
Clapping enthusiastically.
Gesturing while explaining to your friend that this next song is your favourite, despite having never heard it before in your life.
Leather that's already lived a little always looks particularly handsome under warm theatre lights. Brand new leather is lovely, of course, but leather with softened edges and a gentle patina has a confidence about it that simply can't be hurried along. It has stopped trying to impress anyone, which is probably why it does.
Shop Melaleuca Crossbody
Dress For The Evening, Not The Occasion
One of the nicest things about Devonport Jazz is that people arrive looking entirely like themselves.
Some wear beautiful coats they've owned for years. Others pull on a favourite wool knit, comfortable boots and a scarf that's seen more Tasmanian winters than they care to admit. Nobody seems terribly concerned about dressing for Instagram, which feels wonderfully refreshing.
We've always believed the best wardrobes are built slowly.
A beautiful leather bag.
A belt that somehow goes with everything.
A clutch you'll still be carrying ten years from now.
Good wool.
Good linen.
Pieces that become familiar in the nicest possible way.
They're the things you reach for without thinking because they've quietly earned their place.
Shop Split Sleeve Poncho
If you're heading down to Devonport Jazz this year, we hope you have a wonderful evening. Stay for the encore. Order dessert if you're still deciding. Wander home slowly.
And if you're travelling to get there beforehand, do pop in and see us.
Or have a wander online whenever it suits.
We'll be here, quietly admiring leather that's become even better looking than it was last winter.
