Reckless

Last week saw the death of a well known Australian writer and political commentator, Bob Ellis. I happened to be listening to the radio when an old interview of his was broadcast, and was immediately drawn in by what he was saying. He described most people as creating a large group of friends in their youth and then gradually losing them as they moved through life. He saw this as the mechanism by which we become "old" and felt that we lose something important to our sense of self by no longer having people in our lives who knew us when we were young and vulnerable and naive.

I found this fascinating, because I have recently re-connected with two old high school friends, and have been amazed at how easily we have managed to bridge the intervening decades and how comfortable we have felt in each other's company. Maybe it is our oldest friends who can not only tell us who we are but also remind us of who we were. Perhaps they provide the milestones that help us to appreciate both how far we have come and how much the journey has cost us.  And maybe they are the ones who, having seen us in our awkward, arrogant, unfinished, unpolished youth, are best placed to be forgiving of our middle-aged follies. Bob Ellis, thank you and rest in peace.

And so, to fashion. As promised last week, I am showing you another silhouette I wear frequently. It is essentially the reverse of last week:

  Slim pants +trapeze-shaped top

This is a particularly comfortable combination to wear in summer, as loose tank style tops work well.

Here is the casual version, which I wear often at home.

Top:Manning Cartell

Pants: Country Road

Necklace: Frank Ideas

Shoes:Jo Mercer

And here is the dressy, work version. Once again, you can see that the overall look is the same and the dressiness can be dialled up or down depending on the fabric and colour of the individual pieces and the footwear you team it with.

Pants:ScanlanTheodore

Top:ScanlanTheodore

Jacket:Veronika Maine

Boots:Wittner

I find this silhouette the easiest to wear in summer, because trapeze-shaped tops generally look good without a jacket or another item over the top. That means that on the really humid days, I can get away with a single layer of fabric and no sleeves and enjoy the cool. However, it is a simple look and I feel like I have to make sure the rest of my outfit is quite polished to be comfortable wearing it to work. These pants have a slight shine and the top is textured, so up close they look a bit more grown-up than the casual version. I also think wearing a heel and a jacket make most outfits more formal.

Do you still have friendships from back when you were young and reckless?

Reckless by Australian Crawl

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

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

Biding My Time

This is the second experimental sale purchase I wanted to show you. I bought a winter dress by this brand, Alpha60, last year and loved it. This dress was in their summer collection  and caught my eye when I saw it on their website during the sales. Alpha60 don't have a store in my city so I couldn't try it on before buying it, something I always prefer to do. I was a bit concerned that the neckline might be too low or gape-y but I decided that I could always wear a T-shirt underneath and went ahead and ordered it.

                                                             Dress: Alpha60
                                                             Culottes: Uniqlo
                                                             Necklace: Frank Ideas                         
I have to tell you that it is one of the most comfortable and versatile dresses in my closet. On very hot days I wear it on it's own, and the top is just fitted enough not to cause a problem with gaping or chest exposure. I also wear it with a shirt underneath when I want more coverage, and today I have worn it over a pair of culottes to give more volume and length at the bottom of the dress. The asymmetry and drape make it visually interesting and the sides can be buttoned together at the back to create a sleeker look. I am now putting "strappy sun dress" on the list of things that can work for me.

One important point: I do think that fit is important with this style. I suspect that if the top of the dress hadn't fitted quite so perfectly I may have felt much more anxious about wearing it with nothing underneath.

Happily, the Alpha60 size guide appears to be quite accurate. I have had pretty good experiences with ordering the right size online and I think it may be partly because I take chest, waist and hip measurements periodically and use those when deciding what size to order, rather than the number on the tag. The only problem I have had so far with biding my time and stalking pieces online has been that sometimes my size sells out. But as someone over at YouLookFab sagely remarked, "It is not necessary to own every pretty thing in the world"

Do you buy clothes online? Have you been happy with the results so far?
Biding My Time by Busby Marou

Hot Hot Hot

I live in a city with a warm climate and one of the big advantages is that when the summer sales happen, there is still a good two months of weather that will require summer clothes. Knowing that anything I buy will get good wear in the current season, I have used the sales as a way to try out new-to-me brands and styles or silhouettes that I want to experiment with without too much of a financial commitment. I bought three items at the sales, so I will be showing you the results over the next few weeks.

Top: Manning Cartell

Necklace: Frank Ideas

Pants:Country Road

Shoes:Wittner

This top was a find from an Australian design house that I have admired, but never purchased from before. It is a linen blend and has a trapeze shape and an asymmetrical hemline that provides a dramatic train-like effect at the back. I seem to have fallen in love with tops that give me movement and drama when I am walking around!

                                                                                                Jacket:Veronika Maine

The shape of the top, the lustrous fabric and the darts at the bust line actually create the impression of volume over my chest. And I also like it worn with my cropped jacket from last summer, so I can continue to wear it even when the days are no longer quite so beautiful. I am counting this experiment as a success, and will be keeping an eye on this brand in the future.

Do you use sales as a way to dip your toe into the water of a new style or brand? 

Hot Hot Hot by Arrow