my life

“THIS is Australian,” says the salesgirl. “See here on the label? It says ‘Designed in Australia’.”

She is holding a leather handbag and letting me see only the top half of the label. The bottom half is obscured by her red-nail-polished thumbnail.

I look at her. Her thumb moves.

“Made in China,” says the label.

She laughs. I can’t tell if it’s a guilty or an embarrassed laugh.

“All our stuff’s made in Australia, to an extent,” she says. “I mean, most of it’s made in China - but we’re a wholly Australian company.

“It’s all designed here.”

We’re in Pitt St Mall in Sydney at 2.45pm and I’m conducting a little experiment: If I wanted to spend my $900 stimulus payment locally, could I find Australian-made goods worth buying?

Will I end up with nine pairs of ugg boots? I hate uggs.

In every shop, I ask if there are any Australian-made goods.

On every occasion I’m greeted with some degree of awkward throat-clearing or defensiveness.

“Oh, yeah, I know what you’re saying,” says one saleswoman. “I like to spend my money here too.”

Staff tell me there’s no Australian content in Hype, Witchery, Nine West, Esprit, Just Jeans, Oroton, Emporio and Strandbags. At Surf Dive ‘n’ Ski, they’re selling green-and-gold thongs bearing the names Surfers Paradise, Bondi, Cottesloe, Maroubra.

All made in Brazil.

How about the flower stall?

“Ah, these ones are Singapore orchids - from Thailand,” says the florist, holding up flowers so blue they’re almost neon.

Laughing with an apologetic air, she adds: “Some of the others are from Africa.”

In the 19 stores I visit, only seven have any Australian-made content - that’s 36 per cent. Only one, Jurlique, is all-Australian.

A shop named Glue has an Australian-made Backstage dress for $119.99.

Portmans has a healthy stack of local clothes and at Soul Pattinson pharmacy, there’s Le Tan, Sukin skin care and Nude by Nature makeup.

At Sussan, everything’s made in Asia except the nail polish and the lip gloss.

Then I get to Borders and it seems a gleaming ray of hope.

Of 28 books on the new-release shelves by the door, only five are printed overseas.

It’s an array of Australian-made words. Even the latest books by British authors Jeffrey Archer and Alexander McCall Smith are printed here. I’m delighted to discover such a beacon of localism, right here in the American chain store that locals love to revile.

Borders can’t be that bad, if even the foreign books are Australian-made, can it?

But that situation exists only because of protectionism: a long-enduring ban on the parallel importing of books, which the Government is now considering axing because it keeps prices artificially high.

So in this little shopping strip we have a perfect encapsulation of the Australian economy.

There’s a bit of manufacturing, a bit of protectionism, a fair amount of free trade - and an awful lot of embarrassment.

“We used to make it here but it’s just too expensive now,” one young salesman informs me. “It’s all Australian ideas, though.”

And that’s the crux. It’s just the reality of our modern economy, right? Australia is no longer really about making things. Manufacturing is 9.2 per cent of our gross domestic product. Mining is 10 per cent.

Agriculture is 2.6 per cent.

We’re a services-dominated nation: retail, finance, law, tourism, education, transport, construction, hospitality.

The Pitt St shop girls are the economy, even when selling Singapore orchids from Thailand.

So why all the bashfulness?

Well, here’s one reason: The shop girls know as well as I do that it’s very hard to be sure about the conditions in those Chinese factories or Thai hot-houses. Are they as good as in Australian factories?

Do the workers get holidays? Are they paid fairly?

AussieBum underwear founder Sean Ashby is still horrified to recall the time he visited a Chinese manufacturer who wanted his business.

The showcase factory was clean, brightly lit and staffed by apple-cheeked employees taking regular tea-breaks.

Then he saw the real factory out the back: dirty, dark and stacked with bunk-beds.

That’s one of the reasons it’s cheaper to manufacture offshore. That’s why Ashby keeps his production in Sydney.

And that should be the issue that concerns us. I don’t care if products are made in Bangladesh or Bankstown as long as they’re made by people treated decently.

We can’t make everything here, or stand alone against the tide of globalisation. Protectionism won’t protect us forever.

But we can be inquisitive about what we’re importing. We can look beyond the embarrassment and think about how things are made.

We can read labels and ask questions in shops.

I haven’t spent my $900 handout yet. Turns out half the ugg boots are made in China anyway. What a relief.

On Tuesday we secured our place in the World Cup Final by beating the West Indies by 146 runs. It will be the first time we have been in a World Cup Final since 1993 and is a massive achievement for all the girls.

For me this meant an unrelenting list of interview requests which is phenomenal and showed that all the hundreds of people I have contacted over the past four years have been taking notice and are cottoning on to how good these players are.

First up were rights holders Sky Sports followed by Sky Sports News and then Sky News. We also fitted in BBC, various national newspapers as well as the Loughborough Echo, the Leicestershire Mercury and other regional press. I’m always keen to continue to provide for the regional press as they cover us year in, year out, so it’s great to reward them when things are going well.

By 9.30pm the interviews were just about finished and England had just woken up. Cue 52 more interview requests for the players. This was brilliant even if it did mean a 2am finish for me - a 20-hour day no less! We have managed to fulfil every single one of those requests so hopefully the players and the game are now getting the profile they deserve.

Over the past few days I have had so many messages of good luck to pass onto the squad which has been just brilliant. It’s great to see that people back home are taking an interest and really getting behind us before Sunday. Lots of my friends (who know I’m here, but don’t really follow the cricket) have heard the scores and are emailing, texting and Facebooking me to let me know and wish us well, which is awesome. Even my Dad, who’s in Siberia, has been keeping up to date with how it’s all going and has been sending pep talks via text! All greatly received!

On Wednesday night after training we had a team meeting and Clare Connor and I gave a brief media session to the players in preparation for what could be the biggest week of their lives.

This was made slightly amusing by the fact that Caroline Atkins and I had swapped clothes for the evening as people keep getting us mixed up! I think I’ve got the better end of the deal there - an opening international bat vs a media manager?! While I dressed Shaggy, as she’s affectionately known, in a lovely joules skirt with a white vest top, cardi and white flip-flops, she dressed me in her baggy jeans, a salmon pink polo shirt (salmon is not my colour!) and my running trainers! Needless to say she got the best straw in the clothing stakes!

When the players all saw me there was a deathly silence as they were all too polite to say anything, until one of them started laughing and then they all did with huge sighs of relief that it wasn’t real. This is no slight whatsoever on Shaggy’s clothes as everyone kept telling me - they just look a lot better on her! Caroline, on the other hand, got a lot of compliments and even managed to get served at the bar first that evening!

The win over the West Indies and the fact that India had beaten Australia meant that our game against the hosts on Thursday had no relevance on our place in the final. However, we wanted to win. After winning the toss and batting we were all out for 161 and they knocked off the runs in 34 overs. This was so disappointing but, as Lottie keeps saying, we’re in a World Cup Final so we have regrouped and are now looking ahead to the most important game on Sunday.

Despite the loss, the good luck messages still roll in and everyone is still very much behind us which means so much to everyone here.

Today was a rare day off and after my 1am finish this morning I managed a lie-in until 8am. After a quick visit to the gym I started my first round of interviews with Isa Guha and the BBC. That was swiftly followed by Katherine Brunt with various journalists and then I returned to my computer to reply to the emails that had come in overnight.

Whilst here I am still trying to keep up to speed with things back home like our PR and media plans for this year’s Friends Provident Trophy, the ICC World Twenty20, and anything else that needs doing.

Anya and I then headed out to George Street to find some Ugg boots. Mine were for myself and my boyfriend’s sister while Annie’s were for her sister and her brother’s girlfriend.

We eventually found a shop that sold original Uggs after traipsing round hundreds of shops, much to Annie’s annoyance! We rewarded ourselves with pizza for lunch and then a quick stop back to the hotel to catch up on a few more emails and phone calls. This afternoon we headed down to the Aquarium at Darling Harbour following a recommendation after bumping into my colleague Gill Harris in Circular Quay earlier!

It was then a quick dinner before returning to the hotel to do an hour’s worth of interviews with Lottie. Another late night with training tomorrow and then the pre-final press conference and photo shoot at the SCG with Lottie again.

She’s going to be extremely busy over the next few days!

SOME things remain constant, even in hard financial times. A fashion festival will attract a certain cast: preening, glossy haired princesses with vacant stares and glistening lips; ageing madams eyeing off the flawless catwalk colts with pursed-lip longing; flashy spectators who have piled on every fashion trend at once — sequinned cape, ruched shiny leggings, trilby hat. Less is more anyone? And, of course, where would any fashion festival be without some multinational exploiting the target audience and spruiking a 97 per cent fat-free product. Skinny Cow anyone? (It’s an ice cream.)

Thank goodness for moments of levity and catharsis — and there were some as the Melbourne Fashion Festival drew to a close at the Docklands yesterday. The festival’s final show, staged by budget department store Target, bristled with the sheer joyousness of acrobatics, dance and youth. If there was a lesson to be had, it was that in the end it’s not so much the clothes that maketh the man (or woman) but his (or her) dance moves. One young break dancer, Aron, busted some show-stealing moves, wearing nothing too directional, a baggy T-shirt, baggy jeans.

The two Target catwalks shows were a mish-mash of styles and influences plucked from bygone eras, and reprising recent trends: ’70s peasant, paisley blouses teamed with denim shorts; shiny leggings with disco-style off-the-shoulder tops; bottom-skimming micro-mini dresses with vivid tights; skinny jeans teamed with tasselled boots and check flannel shirts; ugg boots and trackie-dacks; sexy secretarial looks with pencil skirts and cinched waists; a muted palette of grey and black set off with vibrant accessories.

“The thing with fashion at the moment is diversity, there are so many things happening, so if you’re into all black linear, you’ve got it, if you want bright pop bold you’ve got it, so there are all these counter trends,” festival director Karen Webster said. “But … I’ve noticed most of the week is that fashion is dressing up again. I think this is one of the things that have come out with this whole current economic position, is that people are wanting to feel good and look good.” I like uggs .

Emu Australia, the sheepskin footwear company, has named Andy Knowles as CEO Europe with a remit to oversee all European marketing from the brand.

Knowles was most recently VF Jeanswear managing director where he oversaw the Lee and Wrangler brands. He has also held senior positions at Nestlé and Cadbury Schweppes.

Emu Australia entered the UK market in 2006 and has just opened a European head office and sales showroom in London. The company was founded in 1994 and positions itself as a luxury brand with the strapline “naturally Australian”.

The privately owned company is a rival to Ugg boots and has just shot the 2009 autumn/winter campaign at a heritage-listed historical sheep station.

The exclusive social club has sent members a two-page illustrated guide of its strict dress code.

Bare midriffs, torn jeans and thongs are banned from the Member’s Reserve.

Men will be refused entry to the Long Room or Member’s Dining Room if they have no tie or wear a zippered jacket and women will be turned away in leggings, denim jackets or three-quarter pants.

In case members don’t know what tracksuit pants and ugg boots look like, the MCC had models pose in the unacceptable clothes.

The latest MCC membership letter warns members they will not be admitted unless they can pass the fashion police.

“To avoid any embarrassment at the turnstiles, please ensure that your attire, and that of your guests, is appropriate.”

MCC chief Stephen Gough said the guide was necessary to inform members, who will this year pay up to $726 in fees.

“It’s come about because we have so many occasions when members might bring guests that are unaware of the requirements,” he said.

“Sometimes members themselves don’t know what is expected of them.

“So we’ve done this because it can be embarrassing for people to get knocked back and a major inconvenience.”

But MCC members said the dress guide was a step too far.

Country member Brendan Carrick said the MCC was pointing out the obvious.

“If you’re a member, you know what you’re expected to wear,” he said.

“You don’t need a two-page guide to remind you to wear a collar or to remind your guest that they have to wear a tie.”

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After the largely dark, recession-tinged array of clothes shown during New York Fashion Week, we’ve been eager to bask in the dramatic, fanciful quirk of Milan’s collections — the searing-hot pinks at Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci’s polka dots, and the baguette hats and handlebar-mustache dress that only Agatha Ruiz de la Prada could hallucinate. So it dismayed us to discover that the Dsquared2 collection — the same boys currently putting the touring Britney Spears in headdresses and feathered epaulets — looked more like a Walk of Shame than a runway show. Is it possible that the pervasive, sloppy-starlet style we’re most accustomed to seeing in Us Weekly’s “Stars: They’re Just Like Us” section (”They look hung-over!”) actually is crossing over to the catwalks?

For years, we’ve been baffled by otherwise adorable actresses embracing their inner slobs. Homeless chic made for a brilliant parody in Zoolander, but that movie also theorized that you could brainwash someone into committing murder by playing “Frankie Goes to Hollywood.” It was never meant to be taken seriously. When the satire became celebrity street attire, we threw up our hands — and on occasion, our lunches. An untidy aesthetic can be excused when you’re popping out for some groceries, and sometimes, the unpolished thing can be very sexy. But there’s carelessly cute, and then there’s looking like it’s been laundry day for the past eighteen months: Mary-Kate famously pioneered ripped hose paired with mountains of heavy layers (and $2,500 shoes). Lindsay Lohan spent the last two years in leggings and unwashed-looking concert tees. And despite Blair Waldorf’s testimony that tights are not pants, Mischa Barton actually did treat a mangy old pair of brown hosiery as if they were real trousers. Grunge was one thing; what these girls did seemed more like grime.

Which is why it’s alarming to see the ensembles celebrities wear for morning-after coffee runs actually appear, in some form, on the allegedly sophisticated European catwalks — in Dsquared2’s case, complete with real Starbucks cups, in case the point had not been made finely enough. It felt like a derivative cocktail of Olsen, Barton, and Nicole Richie, with a dash of Miss Sixty and an assist from Katie Holmes’s pegged boyfriend jeans.

We hope this is merely an artistic statement on how our collective economic woes may make us all a tiny bit less self-obsessed. Because if Mary-Kate Olsen’s castoffs are hot for fall, then by spring 2010, there may be nowhere left to go but Pam Anderson–style track pants, tank tops, and Ugg boots. At a time when we’re seriously considering stuffing all our money under a floorboard, fashion should be our escape. Who wants to bankrupt herself in order to look … well, bankrupt?

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A £2,000 haul of designer boots was found by police during their clean up Cardiff operation.

The Ugg boots were recovered alongside stolen motorbikes and industrial tools, many of which have been traced back to burglaries in Cardiff and Penarth.

Police released the details after the latest leg of their Operation Clean Sweep in Llanrumney and Rumney.

The operation is moving through the city area by area.

Warrants were executed in Llanrumney and Trowbridge and five arrests made for offences ranging from handling stolen goods to burglary.

The Uggs, which may have been fake, have been handed over to the council’s trading standards department.

A £2,000 haul of designer boots was found by police during their clean up Cardiff operation.

The Ugg boots were recovered alongside stolen motorbikes and industrial tools, many of which have been traced back to burglaries in Cardiff and Penarth.

Police released the details after the latest leg of their Operation Clean Sweep in Llanrumney and Rumney.

The operation is moving through the city area by area.

Warrants were executed in Llanrumney and Trowbridge and five arrests made for offences ranging from handling stolen goods to burglary.

The Uggs, which may have been fake, have been handed over to the council’s trading standards department.

SEA ISLE CITY— The Cape May Co. Prosecutors Office appealed to the public for assistance, on Friday, regarding the death of a Pennsylvania woman whose body was found near a boat ramp in Sea Isle City last Sunday.

Shortly before 8:00 am Sunday morning (Feb. 15) the body of 35 year old Tracy Hottenstein was discovered on a tiny sliver of marsh next to a public boat ramp at the street end of 42nd Pl.

The Conshohocken Pa. resident had been in town for Saturday’s annual Polar Bear Plunge.

According to the Cape May Co. Prosecutors Office, Hottenstein was at the Ocean Drive Bar, on Landis Av. later Saturday night, and was last seen leaving the OD around 2:15 Sunday morning.

Although her body had been in the water at some point, an autopsy has failed to determine how Hottenstein died — furthermore, sources tell NBC 40 that the cause of death is not drowning.

Authorities are still waiting for the results of toxicology tests.

On Thursday and again Friday morning, Middle Twp. and State Police divers searched the bay near where Hottenstein was found.

Described as 5′4″ tall and weighing approximately 135 pounds, she was last seen wearing a pink plaid hat, pink scarf, a black long sleeved top and a black vest, along with dark jeans and tan Ugg boots.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Cape May Co. Prosecutors Office — Major Crime Unit, at: (609) 465-1135.