We're getting ready for a few rainy nights in, so we asked our lovely RUBY Head Office team what their favourite movies are, to give you a bit of movie-inspiraton for the weekend ahead!

Minty, National Sales Manager

I am a big fan of the director Wes Anderson. My favourites of his are The Life Aquatic, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited and most recently Moonrise Kingdom!

The costume, soundtracks, set design and stylistic features of each of these films is pretty incredible and always so pleasing to the eye.

Costume designer Milena Canonero who worked on The Darjeeling Limited is amazing! I am obsessed with the customised Louis Vuitton luggage, it is so beautiful. Canonero also did the costume design for The Clockwork Orange and The Shining, another two very good films.

Christine, Managing Director

My favourite movie at the moment is Searching for Sugar Man. It's a real and humble movie with the most amazing music. Rodriguez's journey to South Africa, where he is absolutely huge, has a lovely feel good factor. A must watch!

Lichelle, Accountant

My favourite movie is Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. It's an old classic that I used to watch with my Dad growing up. The story, actors and scenery are all amazing and I can't look past a good romance!

Emily, Liam Designer

It's a tie between The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Mulholland Drive.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert has awesome attitude. It's so fun, the colours are so vivid and the way that it is shot really makes me feel like I am on that bus with them.

I'm fascinated by Mulholland Drive. I keep watching it and watching it and every time, I get something new out of it. There is something about it that gets right into my subconscious. I recently got one of the RUBY tassel purses and every time I zip it up I have a genuine flashback to the scene where Betty and Rita zip up Rita’s bag full of cash.

Melanie, Head Pattern Maker

I have many favourites as I am a bit of a movie fan! It's quite hard for me to pick one, but I do love the movie A Good Woman. I love the screen play writing and original author Oscar Wilde. There's also a very good twist at the end of the movie!

Brigit, Stock Controller

I love the quirkiness of The Darjeeling Ltd. Set in India, the scenery is amazing and the Louis Vuitton Luggage Set is incredible. I also have a thing for Adrian Brody which helps too!

Deanna, RUBY Designer

Baz Lurhman's Romeo and Juliet. I saw it for the first time when I was about thirteen at the movies and ran straight across the road to buy the soundtrack. I love everything about it- the music, costumes, direction and of course, Leo at his finest.

Frances, Design & Production Assistant

Life is Beautiful is the most beautifully sad movie ever! Set in Italy in WWII, it focuses on a family's plight in a Nazi Concentration Camp, who try to protect their young son and turn their life into an imaginary game. One to watch in bed on a rainy night with a box of tissues!

Anna-Lise, Brand Manager

I'm obsessed with Clueless and Home Alone. Both films are super nostalgic for me and I could watch them over and over again, sometimes at the annoyance of my friends & family.

I love the costumes in Clueless. Who wouldn't want Cher's virtual closet? And who couldn't love Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone? That movie has some of the best one liners.

Happy Watching!

What better way to warm up this winter than with this delicious Mulled Wine recipe from the Liam x Petite Kitchen Recipe Journal?

CRANBERRY & HONEY MULLED WINE

You will need

• 1 bottle of good quality red wine
• 2 cups unsweetened cranberry juice
• 5 tbsp honey
• peel of one orange
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground ginger

Directions

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large pot.

2. Slowly warm over a low heat without boiling.

3. Stir well to dissolve the honey.

4. Simmer over a very low heat for 5-10 minutes.

5. Serve while it's warm and delicious.

6. Ladle into glasses and enjoy.

Serves 4

www.petite-kitchen.com

The beautiful sister of our RUBY Designer and talented fashion stylist & consultant Marina Didovich currently resides in Sydney with her photographer fiancée Steven Chee!

Marina has amazing taste, so we think she's the best person to let us in on a few of the best places to shop, eat and drink in Sydney.

My favourite thing about Sydney is that I live across the road from one of the most beautiful beaches in the world!

1. Flying Fish

   My absolute favourite restaurant in Sydney! The food here is amazing and the views are breathtaking. To top off the experience, catch a water taxi from the Rose Bay Wharf. Your driver can take you under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, past Kirribilli House and the Opera House. It's a fantastic way to see Sydney before being dropped off at Flying Fish for a delicious lunch or dinner.

   

2. Kinokuniya

   I can literally spend hours here. Kinokuniya has the most amazing collection of books of every genre imaginable. A great place to find inspiration.

   

3. Sydney Antique Centre

   This is an antique furniture/jewellery/clothing fiend’s paradise. It's an absolute treasure chest! Housed in an old industrial warehouse, this place is a must-do if you're a lover of vintage & antiques.

   

4. Jackies Cafe, Glenmore Road

   My favourite breakfast spot. The Parmesan scrambled eggs are a must!

   

5. Centennial Park

   If you visit Sydney towards the end of summer, make sure you check out their outdoor cinema - so much fun!

   

6. MAP Vintage

   A vintage (by appointment only) store, MAP houses designer vintage clothing & accessories - I try to avoid it at all costs if I'm on a spending ban! They also have an online store which I highly recommend you check out!

   

7. Camp Cove

   When I can't face the hustle & bustle of Bondi Beach this is the place to go.

   

8. Doug Up On Bourke

   Anatomy posters, printing presses, taxidermy camels, antique garden tools, vintage stamps, church pews, old school cash registers, medieval armor suits….. this store is ideal for collectors of all things unique and eclectic.

   

9. Seaplanes

   Seaplanes are such a great way to see Sydney. There are several reputable companies that will collect you from one of Sydney’s wharf side locations and fly you to some Sydney finest restaurants. I highly recommend Jonah’s in Whale Beach as a destination!

   

10. The Corner Shop, Strand Arcade

    The team at The Corner Shop do such a great buy, stocking premium designer collections from around the globe. You'll find key pieces that you no longer need to travel overseas or shop online to score!

    

We asked Marina what she's loving from our autumn/winter collections...

I’d have to say anything in RUBY’s silver metallic fabric! The Liam Sway Gown is divine and I love the RUBY Wolfy Stoles, in every colour.

We're very excited to welcome the lovely Kelly Thompson as a monthly contributor here on our blog.

New Zealand-born Kelly is an amazingly talented illustrator & photographer who we've had great fun working with over the years. Remember these from our RUBY 'Paint Your Heart Out' Exhibition in 2009?

Each month, Kelly will share with us all of the beautiful things that she has been working on from her current base, Melbourne and give us an insight on her creative process....

My first Work In Progress post is possibly not exactly what you would expect, but when working as a freelance artist you sometimes receive requests that are a little off centre, so why not start with this? I promise the next will be a little more lighthearted, I just have to wait one more week for it to be released!

The week prior to Mother's Day I was approached by Grey Melbourne for an urgent project for T.A.C (Transport Accident Claims). I have worked with Grey in Melbourne and Paris previously and always love working with them, so despite it being a tight timeline I gladly agreed to complete the project over the weekend.

The brief came in at 2pm Friday and involved creating a somewhat dated, not too attractive bouquet of flowers. Gift card flowers were the inspiration for this campaign - the kind of cards you grab when you forget one and can only find a dairy nearby - Granny probably has a few in the stationery drawer.

The idea for the advert was that when viewed upright it looked like a lovely bunch of flowers with petals floating in the wind, but when rotated 180 degrees it became a bunch of flowers with falling petals that were dying. You can see from this impressive masterpiece art director scamp below that illustrators are very necessary for commercial campaign work (All supplied scamp illustrations are this amazing...hmm).

From here I worked up an initial sketch. I worked on watercolour paper as Grey needed the texture of the paper, and they also requested I use watercolour paints for colouring - a medium I haven't used for a very long time, and to be honest I said I could do it without knowing if I would be any good at it! After submitting my first draft I was asked to add a few extra petals, before re- supplying the work and moving on to colour.

It was strange colouring up this image, not only because I remembered that maybe I wasn't a watercolour pro after all, but because the brief was to make it pink and almost anti-design, so the whole way through I was completely unhappy with the style, but had to constantly remind myself that that was a good thing. I submitted my first colour and Grey were happy with the colouring, but asked for some additional petals. I decided the flowers looked a little strange so created some extra work for myself and added some more layers to the flowers to make them look a little more realistic.

From there it was decided the bouquet needed some more greens so I filled the centre with some extra leaves, and by this time it was Sunday night.

Whenever working on an urgent project over a weekend it is smart to expect that you may have some last minute changes on Monday when the rest of the design directors return to work. I had a quick padding of petals to add in, but luckily it wasn't anything that a little Photoshop couldn't help with.

By Monday midday all was signed off, and the campaign ran in various newspapers and below the line media throughout Victoria in the lead up to Mothers Day. The campaign was very different from my personal work, but a meaningful reminder to stay safe on the roads on Mother's Day.

www.kellythompson.com

Check out our RUBY Round Midnight Pants on the beautiful Georgia Fowler in the latest Fashion Quarterly Entertaining issue!

BABE

For New Zealand Music Month, we wanted to chat to a few people in the music industry who are behind the scenes making our industry what it is today! Ben Lawson, the Studio Engineer & Producer at Red Bull Studio in Auckland, is super talented and works with some of our brightest talents in New Zealand music.

We had a chat to Ben about what New Zealand music he's loving at the moment and how he'll be celebrating Music Month....

I'm Ben Lawson AKA The Bengineer AKA The Mike Jordan of recording. I get to work with a plethora of interesting and talented musicians every day. Basically I help them record, mix and master their songs. It's cool to work with some of these artists that aren't 'established' yet, but are on the verge of something awesome. That's the exciting part for me.

What song do you currently have playing on repeat?

Jai Paul - Track 15. Yes, it's actually called Track 15. It comes from a record that was leaked about a month ago, and because he's only released 2 tracks previous to this, I was super excited to hear the new jams. I have played this track maybe 208 times. It's pretty lo-fi and mixed quite poorly (I played it to a friend who said "it sounds like someone is turning the volume up and down really fast"). I can't even make out half the words, but the song just makes me feel stuff OK?

Tom Scott and Lui T (of @peace) record with Ben Jamin for his debut record.

How will you be celebrating May Music Month?

I'll be checking out some of the gigs happening around town. Maybe buy more NZ music than I usually do. I'll probably play some NZ rap really loud in the whip. Also, we've been working on a limited edition 7" record with Boycrush on one side and Grayson Gilmour on the other. So you should pick that up when it comes out at the end of May, it's really good.

Ruby Frost came in to the studio as part of the George FM 'Damn! I wish I was your cover' series to record her version of Disclosure's 'White Noise'.

Your top 5 favourite New Zealand artists and your favourite song of theirs...

She's So Rad 'Time'

The Mint Chicks 'Life Will Get Better Some Day'

Electric Wire Hustle 'Perception'

Home Brew 'Yellow Snot Funk'

Rackets 'There's Treasures In These Mountains'

Your most memorable musical moment...

We ran a project last year called 'Red Bull Prodigy' where we pair up an established producer/artist with an up and coming artist. We put Chelsea Metcalf (Watercolours) and Jeremy Toy (Opensouls/She's So Rad) together in the studio for 2 weeks to write, produce and record a bunch of tracks. It took a couple of days of bad jokes and a bit of trial and error to get in the zone, but with the absence of any pressures that usually go with working in a studio and a genuine musical connection, over half a dozen bangers were made (and many, many more bad jokes). Inspiring.

Street Chant in the studio.

Which album release are you most excited about this year?

My homie and participant of this years Red Bull Music Academy in NYC - Louis Baker. I'm really interested and excited to hear what he's going to come up with this year. Dude can sing. His first single 'Even In The Darkness' really impressed me and I know he's got even more heat in the vaults too. Watch this space I reckon.

Must-see New Zealand concerts this year?

There's heaps! Go see Boycrush, go see Lorde. The Young, Gifted and Broke crew. The guys from Some Other Planets are doing some really cool live stuff with beats.

www.redbullstudios.com