Accidentally In Love

The Accidental Icon wrote a post recently in which she described layering as sculpting with garments. I love that idea! I am not at all creative or artistic but I really appreciate the beauty and individuality that can be created through layering. Deborah on Stylish Murmurs layers to perfection and I think she has really influenced me to see the potential of the style.

One of my most frequently worn items this summer has been a sheer tunic that is used only for layering. I have been astonished at how versatile it has proven to be, given that it is too sheer to be worn on it's own. I have already shown it on this blog worn under a strappy top, but here I am also layering it with other sheers to give volume and opacity.

 Tunics:Nicola Waite

Skirt: Dogstar

Vest :Dogstar

Necklace:FrankIdeas

You may also recognise the woollen vest I am wearing. One of the fun aspects of being flat-chested is that it is sometime possible to wear clothing items back-to-front to achieve a different look. I like the trapeze shape created by wearing wider pieces on my bottom half and keeping things sleek at the top and wearing the vest like this gives a smooth, straight line down the front.

As you can see, reversing the vest also gives an interesting drape and flow to the back and side of the outfit. This is an off-duty look for me; it is not structured or simple enough for me to feel comfortable wearing it to work. I enjoy having a more interesting, arty style on my days off. It feels a bit like having a secret identity and for a non-creative like me, it is as close as I come to beauty.

Are you a fan of layers? And have you tried reversing your clothes?

Accidentally In Love by Counting Crows

ABC

Well, that took longer than I thought! Uni has commenced again for me and between study and Easter and family, I fear I have neglected you. First things first. As promised, a picture of my beautiful sister and sister-in-law with me before we headed out to the Brisbane Comedy Festival:

 A good time was had by all!

Today, I thought I would talk about silhouette, and how considering it can make it easier to choose clothes you feel good in. The blog Into Mind has a really good explanation of this concept. I like variety in my wardrobe but I still find I gravitate to a few basic combinations. One of my favourites this year has been: 

                                       Flared or wide leg cropped pants +boxy short top +heels  

So here it is, translated into outfits for both casual and work. This is what I am wearing today for a lazy day at home avoiding study and procrasti-baking.

Top:Veronika Maine

Jeans: ManningCartell

Sandals:JoanneMercer

Necklace:FrankIdeas

And here is the work version of the formula.

Top: ManningCartell

Culottes:Uniqlo

Shoes:Wittner

Now, you can probably see that these are almost identical outfits. The shapes are the same. The colours are the same. The difference lies solely in the individual elements. I could wear the first top with the second pants and have a perfectly respectable outfit for work (in fact, I'm pretty sure I have worn that exact combination). Likewise, wearing the lace top with jeans would dress them up enough for me to feel comfortable going out at night with the girls.

Having that formula in my head has been extremely helpful when choosing individual pieces that will work with my wardrobe. It also makes getting dressed in the morning easy: if I want to wear wide pants, then I choose a top from the options that fit into the "short and boxy" category.  I have a few other silhouettes that I wear frequently, so over the next few weeks I will show you the casual and work-appropriate variations of those. What are your favourite combinations for outfits?

Oh, and yes! New hair! My hairdresser asked "Do you trust me?" I think my faith has been rewarded!

ABC by The Jackson 5

Fade To Grey

My husband travelled interstate last week to spend some time with his parents, so I lost my photographer, but he was kind enough to capture this outfit when he returned. It is a casual outfit that I was wearing for a day a home but the day was one of the few cooler ones we experience here in Autumn, hence the long sleeves.

Last Winter, I realised that I loved the warmth and ease of long-sleeved T-shirts, but was not a fan of how they looked on me. I had a few different fixes for that last year: crop tops worn over the shirt, jackets with detail on the front and scarves. This is another variation on that theme: a draped knit vest.

 

                                   T-shirt: Sportscraft

                                   Culottes:Veronika Maine

                                   Vest:Dogstar

This particular one can be worn a few different ways, but the general idea of wearing a light-weight layer over my torso remains the same. I like the contrast that the drape and generally unstructured style of the vest creates with my more dressy pieces. I have also worn this vest over a fitted, body-con dress and enjoyed the effect.

Balancing comfort and aesthetics can sometimes be tricky, but I have fun experimenting and in my view, feeling good and having fun are the most important points of fashion. And speaking of fun, next weekend sees my beautiful sister and sister-in-law visit me for my sister's traditional birthday girls weekend. I will be sure to post some pictures!

What are you looking forward to this week?

Fade To Grey by Visage

China Girl

I have arrived home from a wonderful, interesting holiday, and am enjoying the warmth of a balmy Brisbane Autumn. After a week of cool and rainy weather as Hong Kong emerged from winter, I must confess to being glad to see the sun! One of the aspects of the trip I enjoyed most was to see the street fashion. Our guide informed us that Hong Kong has 50 million visitors a year, and the streets were full of people from all over Asia. However, there was a definite uniform and most people sported some variation of it, namely leggings, a short skirt or shorts, a top and then a short, puffer-style jacket and scarf over the top. Footwear was mostly flat, chunky-soled boots or Converse. It is both warm and practical for sight-seeing and commuting, and everyone had little variations that made the look their own. I fell in love with the style and decided to try to duplicate it when I got home.

Shirt:Veronika Maine

Shorts:Country Road

Jacket:Cue

Boots:Wittner

I'm not sure what the hand signals mean, but it seem to be the thing all the tourists did when having photos taken!

 

These are all items of clothing I already have in my closet, and whilst the jacket makes the look a little dressier than the outfits I saw on the street, and my boots are far less cool that the popular footwear, overall I was pretty happy with how it turned out.
The scarf overwhelms me a bit in these photos, and I would not wear it here without an overcoat when braving the elements, but I have left it on to provide a bit more outfit authenticity.

I love the practical, tom-boy feel of this style of dressing, and plan to incoporate it into my winter wardrobe more frequently. Isn't it amazing how seeing things in a different context can give a whole new perspective to the familiar? Have you ever had a wardrobe epiphany after being exposed to a new style?

Holiday

Well, by the time this post is published I will be on holidays! I had booked a trip to Hong Kong for September last year and postponed it after my diagnosis, due to the uncertainty about how I would be feeling and what treatment I would require. I was quite disappointed, but now my friend and I plan to make up for lost time!

Top:Cue

Pants:Just Jeans

Sandals:Joanne Mercer

This knit top was one I bought with an eye towards layering it under tops and dresses for winter. I have worn it under the black Mod dress I showed you a few weeks ago and liked the effect, and I can also see it working under the white crop top I showed you last year. I am also planning to wear it under the plum jacket you saw last week.

Wide, high contrast strips are not the most flattering choice for someone with broad shoulders and no breasts but I actually felt good wearing this and will probably wear it again with jeans and boots over winter.  I would never have felt comfortable wearing a top this close-fitting a few months ago, so I feel proud of myself that I have reached a new level of self-acceptance. Hopefully, that will prove to be a permanent move, and not just a holiday! What is your dream holiday destination?

Forever Autumn

Last week, I mentioned that I had been experimenting with transitioning my wardrobe into the cooler months. Today I wanted to show you an experiment that I felt happy with and which had the added bonus of giving a second chance to a top that I haven't worn since my surgery.

T-shirt:Cue

Shorts:Country Road

Booties: Wittner

This is a silk T-shirt that I used to wear with my pencil skirts to de-bombshell them and make them a little less dressy. My husband hates it. He thinks it is both too dark and an unflattering shape The last point we can definitely agree on - fitted on the chest and loose on the waist is not my best look! I like the colours and it is certainly soft and comfortable, but it feels way too boyish and casual now and consequently it has gone unworn.

Jacket:Cue

However, I was pleasantly surprised with the effect I got by layering over a jacket. I think the whole outfit immediately looks dressier, and the shape of the jacket produces a much less boyish silhouette.

Admittedly this is still a fairly casual look, but I don't feel quite so much like a teenage boy who has snuck out the window to play World of Warcraft at his friend's house.

And the back is all kinds of cool. I am looking forward to Autumn and wearing this jacket with some of the loose tops I have already shown you. Sadly, even with the jacket, my husband still hates the T-shirt, but I think it could be a good way to bring a bit of fun and youth to some of my Autumn outfits.
How do you transition your wardrobe between seasons?