Confident

Happy New Year to everyone!
I was unfortunate enough to be struck down by a gastro bug shortly after Christmas, so it was an early night and light rations for me, but overall 2015 has been a good year.

I was diagnosed in mid-2013 and spent the rest of that year recovering physically. 2014 was all about difficult conversations, re-negotiating relationships and recovering emotionally. 2015 has been the year I have managed to be me again. If you are struggling with the difficult physical or emotional work a cancer diagnosis brings, please believe that it will get better. And in the meantime, there is always fashion!

 

                                       Camisole: Uniqlo
                                       Pants:Cue
                                       Dress: Gift from my baby sis!
                                       Shoes:Wittner
My beautiful baby sister sent me this dress for Christmas, and I think she must have read my mind because I have been wanting a shirtdress that I can wear open as a long jacket, for a 1920's style look.
This is not a figure-revealing silhouette and I like the long, straight vertical lines, which I think are quite flattering on a straight body. However, the true beauty of this style is really only captured in movement: the dress billows around me in a very satisfying way. I suppose it is another version of a cape.

I like to wear a top and bottom of the same colour when wearing a long jacket over the top. I think it makes the outfit more cohesive and reinforces the tall, slim look of this style.  I'm wearing a simple, close-fitting, inexpensive Uniqlo camisole as a top and I think the simplicity works well when there are other aspect of the outfit doing the heavy lifting style-wise.

I hope 2016 is a year of dreams coming true for all of you and I am confident that whilst the year will hold both triumph and disaster, we will prevail! Many thanks to all who have read and commented over the last year. I hope I will have your company again this year. xx

Confident by Demi Levato

I'm Growing A Beard Downstairs For Christmas

One of my concerns about living in an age where pubic hair is apparently passé is that post-mastectomy, being hair-free can look child-like. That's not an appearance I want to cultivate, so I was very amused when Kate Miller-Heidke released a single in support of Decembeard, a fund raising effort by Bowel Cancer Australia. You can watch it on YouTube, but there is also a "Donate for Download" option below, if you are partial to the comedy Christmas song or would like to support a great cause. For those who feel like that is entirely too much information, I give you pictures of my Christmas dress for 2015!

                                                     Dress: ScanlanTheodore
                                                      Sandals:Wittner
                                                     Bangle:Mimco (gift from a friend)
You may recall that a new dress is a childhood Christmas tradition for me, and I try to choose something dressy enough for seasonal parties. I wear mostly neutrals, but I fell in love with the colours and print of this dress. I worked for a number of years in rural Australia and this print reminds me of the beauty of the Australian bush.

It is made of silk, and is very soft and light and cool, perfect for summer parties. I also love the way it drapes: it does not cling to my chest and the gathers at the waist are just the thing for disguising the effects of holiday indulgence!

I also wanted to show you my Christmas present from my lovely husband: some beautiful, delicate leaf-shaped earrings. I think they echo the print of the dress beautifully.
I wore this dress on Christmas day and had a wonderful time with my boys, their girl-friends and members of our extended family. I now have a week to relax, read and have some down-time before work starts again. I hope you all had a very happy Christmas surrounded by people you love. xx

I'm Growing A Beard Downstairs For Christmas by Kate Miller-Heidke and The Beards

Decembeard Donate for Download

Santa Baby

I am lucky enough to work with some truly fabulous women and feel fortunate to be able to count them as friends as well as colleagues. As the year comes to an end, we have begun to exchange gifts. I was given this top last week, and I thought I would show you because it illustrates a few really good principles to bear in mind if you want to wear a fitted top rather than something more voluminous.

Top:Seed (Christmas gift)

Skirt:ScanlanTheodore

Belt:Veronika Maine

Bag:Oroton(Christmas gift)

Shoes:Wittner

Ok, so here are my thoughts about rules for wearing fitted tops. Your mileage may vary, but I have found these ideas helpful in choosing clothes.

1. Silhouette is king. I like to think about the overall shape of the entire outfit. I tried this top with a fitted skirt and found that creating a lot of shape on my lower half just emphasised the lack of shape at the top! I feel much more comfortable with the overall triangular, 1920's style of a full skirt or wide-leg pants when wearing a fitted top.

2. Texture is your friend. This is a thick, Milano knit fabric with a lot of weight and body. Whilst it is fitted, it is not clingy and it sits slightly away from my chest. One of the most valuable lessons I have learned this year has been the importance of fabric.

3. Dark is good. The light does not bounce off any unevenness over my chest or create unflattering shadows in the way that lighter colours do when I wear fitted tops. (Lycra gym wear, I'm looking at you!)

4. Detail allows you to choose where you want the focus to be. I love the asymmetrical hemline on this top, as it draws the eye down. I have reinforced the effect by adding a decorative belt. Jewellery and accessories can fill the role for plain tops, but I find that I am drawn to pieces that have some kind of built-in design interest.

5. Yeah, the side view is never gonna be great with a fitted top. You need to be at peace with that if you want to wear them. This style is definitely about looking good without breasts rather than looking like you might have breasts. I find that I reserve fitted tops for days when I am feeling particularly confident and fabulous for this very reason!

I think my friend did a great job in choosing this top for me! I really love it. Do you receive any fashion-related gifts at Christmas? How do you feel about others choosing clothes for you?

Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt

Living In The 70's

Hello! The weeks seem to be passing so quickly at the moment, and the weekend is over before I have had time to think about an outfit to show you! I will try and be a little more consistent now university has ended for the year and the days are getting longer.

A huge trend that has hit all the shops here this Spring has been the 70's look. I am not a big fan of boho style - it is generally too unstructured to really make my heart sing. However, this resurgence of 70's style has brought with it the return of the flare and the bootcut. I really like the freshness of the new silhouette, but I was concerned that it was not a look I would be able to wear. It seemed to me that the extra width on the bottom would require a fitted top to balance it and I usually prefer some volume over my chest, especially in the warmer months when I am not wearing a jacket or cardigan.
The solution I have found has been the tunic top.

                                                     Top/dress: Cue
                                                     Pants: Cue
I had several in my closet from last summer, and I have bought another one this season to get the "white-out" look. A few of these are dresses which are a little too short to be work-appropriate. They are now going to do double duty as  both at-home summer wear as a dress and over pants as a tunic for work.

I think the trick with this type of pairing is to choose a tunic with a triangular shape.That way, the top flares out in a way that echoes the pants. The shape also draws the eye down, and the narrow, fitted shape on the shoulder and chest becomes a part of the overall silhouette rather than the focus of the outfit. Wearing all one colour also helps create a long vertical shape that de-emphasises my chest. This is essentially a longer version of the trapeze top silhouette that I wore a lot last summer but with the fun addition of flared pants.

One of the things I love about fashion is the excitement of the new, and the clever reinterpretation of the old. How do you feel about the return of the flare?

Living in the 70's by Skyhooks

Underneath Your Clothes

The warmer weather is here, to my infinite relief and I have been sorting through my clothes from last season. I still really like almost all of them, so one of the challenges I have set myself is to find new ways to wear them. You may remember this top from last summer - I loved the strappy style, but struggled with the fear of scar exposure. I ultimately found a work-around with fashion tape. This season I have found another solution, and one that I feel really happy with.

                                                   Tunic: Nicola Waite
                                                   Camisole:ScanlanTheodore
                                                   Shorts: Country Road
I bought this sheer tunic as a layering piece to wear over shorts. I figured it would minimise skin exposure whilst still giving me the coolness and airflow of exposing my legs. Happily, I discovered that it also works for strappy tops. The high neck and close fit means I can be confident that I am not showing the world my chest, whilst the light style still looks summer-y and cool and feels comfortable to wear.

 Sheer and lacey garments seem to be trending at the moment - I am seeing a lot of sheer skirts with opaque linings that end above the knee, so I am happy to have found another way to make this look work for me.

Have you restyled any of your garments from last season?

Underneath Your Clothes by Shakira

Happy Birthday, Helen

How cool would it be to have a song written for you to celebrate your birthday? I always enjoy the little insight into relationships that songs written for a specific person gives. Yesterday was my 48th birthday and whilst I did not have a song written for me, my lovely boys did work together to make a delicious meal that we all shared. Eating and talking and laughing with my husband, my sons and their beautiful girlfriends is one of my greatest joys.

                                           Tunic:Nicola Waite
                                           Gilet: ScanlanTheodore
                                            Shorts: Country Road
                                            Shoes: Wittner
This was what I wore to dinner with my Uni girlfriends on Friday night. The 70's look is really big in stores at the moment and this gilet is one of many I have seen around.  I really like the way the fastening gives some emphasis at the waist but allows the gilet to open out at the top and bottom, creating an hourglass shape. I think simple, long lines like this are very flattering on a straight figure and I have tried to keep the look as cohesive as possible by wearing a long, sheer tunic underneath.

The advantage of a piece that goes over the top of other clothes is that it skims the body and gives just a hint of shape rather than clinging. It also dresses up more casual clothes: I am wearing shorts under the sheer tunic, which is not something I would not usually choose when going to a nice restaurant. I think this gilet is going to be my go-to piece for smart casual occasions over summer.

Have any of the 70's looks caught your eye recently?

Happy Birthday Helen by Things of Stone and Wood

Day By Day

You may have noticed last week that I now have an Instagram icon on my blog. Last summer, I attempted to define both my warm weather style and the items of clothing that I wore more frequently and felt best in. The single most valuable tool in that quest was the month of daily outfit photos that I took at that time. They allowed me to see at a glance what I was ACTUALLY wearing, what felt good in and which combinations worked for me aesthetically. I decided that I would repeat this for winter and so have started taking daily outfit photos. I am posting them on Instagram in case anyone has an interest in how the individual pieces I show on this blog translate into real life.

                                                          Top:ScanlanTheodore
                                                          Belt:Cue
                                                          Skirt:ScanlanTheodore
At the beginning of winter, I had a shopping list that included some winter tops that I could wear without layers or scarves. I ended up buying three, two of which I have shown you already. This is the last. I especially like it because my husband urged me to buy it when he saw me try it on, and it remains a favourite of his. It is felted wool, so it is warm and has a soft, sculptural appearance. The pleat at the front not only gives me some texture across my chest but also give me a hint of waist definition, which I always enjoy.

I have reached a point now of feeling really happy with my winter wardrobe. I feel confident when I choose my outfit in the morning that I have items that will go together well and that I will feel good wearing. I am so happy to have reached this point and it has been fun for me to take photos every morning and see how everything works together day by day. How are you feeling about your wardrobe as you approach the end of the season? Have you had any unexpected hits of misses?

Day By Day from Godspell