Blood On The Leaves

My eldest son turned 25 this week. Imagine how old I feel!

One of the things I love about having adult children is the exposure to new ideas they give me. I mentioned to my son the other day that I didn't really understand why Kanye West was held in such high regard. He sent me a link to a wonderful explanation of how Kanye has used the human voice in revolutionary ways within the hip-hop genre and had thus progressed music as a whole. I now feel like I have a whole new appreciation of the artist and I can listen to his songs with a completely different perspective.

I have had a similar experience with a fashion style recently. Up until now, I have avoided low-cut or open neck styles on dresses, for obvious reasons. I felt that they were one style that made no sense for me and would never have a place in my wardrobe. This was despite loving the look of the simple, plain slip dresses used as the underpinning for many outfits in the exhibition of costumes from the Miss Fisher Mysteries.

 Dress: Alpha60

Risk of scar exposure: High 

And then I noticed Veronica Maine styling their summer collection with high-neck knits underneath open necklines and I suddenly got a new appreciation of ways that I could make the style work for me. I had a number of tops that I had relegated to layering pieces last summer and it occurred to me that they would work perfectly for this job!

Tops: Cue 

To my eye, the tops need to be short-sleeved and high-necked for this to look intentional.  I tried it with T-shirts and did not like the result nearly as much. Of course, it is always possible to layer over the top of a dress like this too.

  Long tunic: Dogstar

Crop top: Carla Zampatti

So I have gone from being sure that slip dresses were unworkable to being excited by the versatility to the style and enjoying the ability to pair it with things I already have

A new dress and a new type of music to enjoy! What more could a girl want?

Blood On The Leaves by Kanye West

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

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

I'm A Punk

Not really. In fact, not at all. Although I do like pop-punk bands such as The Living End, which earns me  disdain from my eldest son who is a fan of the Saints and the Ramones! I was a teenager in the 80's and remember the both the music and the clothes, but always found both a bit too rough around the edges for my tastes. One of the advantages of enjoying an aesthetic that is usually structured and feminine is that I don't have to colour too far outside the lines in order to feel quite daring and hard-edge. This is one such outfit for me.

Top:Veronika Maine

Skirt:Dogstar

Boots:Wittner

This is what I wore to see Kate Miller-Heidke perform at The Triffid on the evening of Valentine's day. The rough-textured matte look of the linen skirt, the metal clip holding the hem, the loop hanging from the waistband and the heavy flat boots provide a darker, messier look than I usually wear, but I have made it feel true to my style by pairing it with this top, which you may remember from a couple of years ago. The femininity and structure of the top teamed with a bright lipstick means I can wear this without feeling inauthentic, even though it is a little outside my usual style.

I've always loved the shape of this top but I haven't worn it much this year. The shiny look of the memory fabric feels a bit too dressy for day-to-day wear but the shape feels a bit too office-y for evening wear so it was never a piece I reached for first. It never ceases to amaze me how different items can look, depending on what is worn with them and I think in this case, teaming it with a more casual skirt made it feel just right.

So whilst I will never lay claim to the descriptor "punk", I do feel that adding in a few of the elements of the style has helped me give an under-appreciated  item it's time in the sun. And yes, the concert was fabulous! Kate is touring at the moment, and I highly recommend you see her if you can.

I'm A Punk by Doug Mulray

Starman

The final new-to-me brand that I tried during the sales was a Brisbane designer, Dogstar. I must admit that I had seen their clothes a few years before my mastectomy and admired the edgy, Japanese aesthetic, but they had never made it into my wardrobe. It never felt authentic or flattering on my former body and I had relegated the brand to "looks great, but not on me" status. I am now rethinking that opinion!

Tunic:Dogstar

Obi belt:Etsy (Lorella Creations)

Tank top:Uniqlo

Culottes:Uniqlo

I found this beautiful silk tunic and immediately thought that it could be a very useful item. It reads as a dress but is light and translucent, providing volume and movement without being heavy or hot.

It allows me to dress up simple tops and pants and provides an extra layer of camouflage over my chest when wearing close-fitting tops.

The front is cut slightly lower than I wanted, but I have found that I can wear this back-to-front, which gives me a high, boat neck look that works well if I want to wear a camisole with thin straps as an under layer. 

I wore this to my son's 21st birthday dinner last night, underneath the gilet I showed you a few months ago, and loved the petticoat effect of the tunic peeking out from the opening. I have also worn this over jeans and a T and like the way it dresses up a casual outfit. I have never been very confident with layering clothes, but I think a light, neutral piece like this is a good introduction to layering 101 for me and a great introduction to Dogstar as a brand.

Have you had any brands which you initially dismissed subsequently turn out to really blow your mind?

Starman by the late, very great David Bowie