Around the World in 15 Outfits - Accessories

Finally my beautiful city has turned the weather on! It was gorgeous and warm yesterday so I spent a sunny Sunday afternoon playing lawn bowls and sipping cider with friends. In between games I managed to sneak off with my friend to take some outfits pictures. Tash knows how to use my camera better than I do, so these turned out really well! (Thanks Tash!!)

This wasn’t the outfit I had planned for my next Around The World post, but I was in a very summery, ladylike mood yesterday and I couldn’t resist throwing on this lovely vintage Laura Ashley dress. So I’m going to tell you about accessories instead! Vintage accessories from overseas make excellent souvenirs. They are small enough to fit (multiple) in your suitcase and you can wear them with lots of different outfits, always taking a bit of Paris (or New York or Prague or San Francisco) around with you. Second hand accessories are also great if you can’t commit to a fully thrifted outfit and just want to incorporate a little bit of vintage in to your look. They can give your outfit a retro feel without being head to toe in vintage (although there’s nothing wrong with that!).

I found this little 1960s white and yellow flower brooch in a vintage store in Berlin and bought it for 5 euros. I bought a pink one as well, they had a few other colours and I’m kicking myself now that I didn’t just buy them all. I’ve recently fallen in love with brooches and I wear my yellow and white flower all the time (here, here and here are examples).  The big blue flower in my hair is from Prague. It’s not vintage, but it is silk and I bought it from a street market where a little lady was sitting in the snow and making them by hand (again I wish I had bought more than one). So there you have it, if all else fails, buy accessories! (that should be everyone’s motto to live by).

My dress was $10 from Vinnies in Claremont, my shoes were $4 from Portcare op shop in O’Connor and my sunglasses are Prada. I’m so excited for more long sunshiny days like yesterday, bring on the warm weather! 

Every Day Jewellery

Today I was feeling girly... can't you tell? Looking at these pictures I realise that I may have gone over board with the pink and the flowers and the braids, but I still think it's a great outfit, so who cares? As you may have noticed my wardrobe is fairly eclectic. Today I'm all roses and pink and braids, but yesterday I had squid dangling from my ears and tomorrow I might be decked out in my doc martens and leather jacket. I LOVE being able to create a new persona almost every single day! 

Of course there are always a few constants in my outfits, namely winged black eye liner and my every day jewellery. I wear the same two rings pretty much every day unless I'm playing volleyball or going to boxing classes. 

Both rings are fairly new additions, but I love them so much and I hate going a day without wearing them. I bought the pearl ring for myself at the beginning of the year after much indecision.Two of my close friends have pearl rings and I had been admiring them for ages and subtly (and then not so subtly) dropping hints to my boyfriend that I would REALLY love one too. I eventually got sick of waiting and I just bought one for myself. I'm so glad I did, you shouldn't have to wait for a boyfriend or husband to give you beautiful jewellery if you really want it. Every time I look at my pearl ring I feel a little bit empowered, I'm lucky that I'm in a situation where I can buy myself nice things every so often (note to Boyfriend, you can still buy me nice things!).  

The other ring was my Grandma's. She passed away at the start of the year. She lived in Seattle so my dad brought a few bits and pieces of jewellery back to Perth for my brother and I. I was very excited to be given this ring, I remember my Grandma wearing it all the time, she had it made in the 70's when she was living in Tom Price with my Grandpa, Dad and his brother. It's actually just iron ore and cubic zirconia, the ladies at the jeweller where I had it enlarged were very confused as to why I would get something so 'worthless' re-sized. My Grandma's name is engraved on the inside, so it's pretty special to me, plus I think it looks beautiful even if it is 'just' iron ore and cubic zirconia. 

My skirt is a flea market find for $3 and my top is vintage Sportscraft that I bought at Anglicare for $6, my sandals were $4 from the Portcare op shop in O'Connor.

P.S being a hand model is SO awkward!!

Holiday Dreaming

I'm going on a family holiday in early December. I'm pretty excited. I have a wonderful relationship with my parents and brother, so I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time relaxing by the pool and sipping cocktails with them. We haven't even booked our flights yet and I've already started planning my holiday wardrobe (that's totally normal right?!). 

Top of my packing list is this lovely silk Shakuhachi dress that I found at my favourite op shop in Mosman Park. It was half price so I got it for $6, ridiculous! Our holiday destination is going to be hot and humid, so light weight clothing is the way to go, I think this dress will be perfect. It's also going to be a great addition to my wardrobe for our Perth summer, when the temperatures creep beyond 35 degrees and the thought of wearing any clothes at all makes you want to weep. 

Unfortunately holidays are still two months away, so I'm wearing this dress with a slip underneath and wedges, instead of a bikini and thongs. My wedges are from Hobbs and they are actually the most comfortable shoes I own. Not the most comfortable heels/wedges I own, the most comfortable shoe, period. They are amazing! I love the structural look of them and the leather is such great quality. They weren't cheap (about $180 from memory), but they were worth every penny. 

The gold tassel necklace I'm wearing is from Lovisa (I think it was $5) and the thin gold one was my Grandma's. I've got quite a few holiday outfits planned and I can't wait to wear them. Now I just need to get through another 8 weeks of work before the cocktails and pedicures begin! 

Squiddy!

I'm very new to the world of blogging. I only started writing this blog (my first) in July, and before that I had only been reading and following blogs for about 6 months. I get very excited when I find a new blog that sparks my imagination and inspires me to try different things with my wardrobe (and my life). Luckily for me, whilst I was following the Perth Fashion Festival Restyle challenge in August, I discovered some really awesome Perth bloggers. 

Some of my favourite Perth style blogs are Little Miss Mon Bon, The Vintage Valley and The Harbour Master. These girls are much more experienced bloggers than I am and they are super stylish, creative and interesting. Almost every time I read a new post on their blogs I'm inspired to try a new hairstyle, colour combination or style an outfit differently. It's pretty great! 

Any way, LONG story short, the brains behind The Harbour Master blog also designed and created these amazing squid earrings! I had seen them in various incarnations on her blog and when the opportunity came to purchase some of my own I jumped at the chance. Everyone should have dangley squid earrings!! The white and red are a perfect colour combo for me and I know they will be the pièce de résistance for many of my outfits.

Today I'm wearing my CapnMueller squid earrings with a black and white spotty blouse that I scored at an op shop in Queensland. My op shopped denim skirt is my new favourite, I've literally been wearing it almost every day, it's just so versatile! My sunglasses are two tone vintage Chanel, I trawled the internet trying to find a pair of these after seeing them on one of the Olsen twins. It took about 3 months of searching but I eventually found them on eBay and snapped them up for $100. My shoes are red patent brogues by Rachel Antonoff.

I really need to learn how to photoshop the permanent volleyball bruises from my knees! Not a good look!

Around the World in 15 Outfits - Sizing

I have been roughly the same size since I was 15. I'm pretty lucky because I'm quite tall, so if I gain 5 kilos then it just gets distributed around my body and the only person who can tell I've put on weight is me. When op shopping I never really pay attention to the sizes, I tend to just look at the piece of clothing and decide whether I think it might fit before trying it on. All that being said, learning about international sizes is pretty important when shopping overseas.  

As I said, I've got a pretty good eye when it comes to knowing what will fit me and what won't, but if you are a slave to the little number on the tag then you should educate yourself about the sizing system of the country you are shopping in. American and European sizes can be very different to Aussie ones. I was feeling very chuffed about myself when I first went shopping in the US and fit in to a size 6, only to realise later that the sizes weren't the same as in Australia.

This lovely little Emanuel Ungaro top is a size 8. The tag is super confusing, because it says Paris and also Made in Italy, but I found it in a thrift store in Seattle ($8 bargain!!). I actually didn't even notice the size until I got it home, but if I had, I might have baulked at the single digit number on the tag. I don't think I will ever fit in an Australia size 8, but an American size 8 is equivalent to an Aussie 12 and that's more my kind of number!

This skirt is a relatively new one, I picked it up last week at the Salvos in Fremantle for $7. It's a size 10, which is also another good example of why you should just ignore the sizes on the tags and just buy what ever fits you best!

I was feeling very colourful when I put together this outfit, so I threw on some turquoise necklaces as well. The spikey one is from Diva and the other one is from the Eumundi markets in Queensland. My shoes are from Urban Outfitters, they are my favourite summer wedges, but they are sadly falling apart (that's what you get when you spend $30 on a pair of shoes). I will have to invest in a better quality version!

Hello Summer!

Hello Summer! The weather was 28 degrees on Thursday and I celebrated by wearing a super summery outfit to work. That's what the change of seasons is all about right? Digging out your warm weather clothes and discovering things you forgot you owned. That's what I look forward to anyway, that and long warm summer nights, wearing sandals, eating fish and chips at the beach. So much to look forward in the next few blissful months as the weather heats up!

Over the winter I have still been buying summery stuff from op shops, I just can't help myself! I have a few bits and pieces that I am just hanging out to wear (including an amazing vintage swim suit). I bought this skirt all the way back in April from Good Sammies for $6, it has been sitting in my wardrobe waiting for the weather to warm up so I could wear it. Thursday was the first hot day we have had in months and I was SO excited to throw it on. The print is kind of an abstract beach scene with palm trees, how appropriate!

When I was pulling this skirt out to wear, I noticed that my collection of skirts has really grown over the last year. I used to be a committed dress wearer and never really wore anything else. But I have fallen in love with skirts recently. I'm still not a great lover of pants because of my large bum and thighs, but skirts, particularly a-line and full circle styles, are so flattering and easy to wear, plus they are great transitional pieces because you can pair them with any kind of top depending on the temperature.

I only have skirts that sit on my waist because they are the most flattering for my body shape, plus the most comfortable! This little $2 top is perfect to wear with a high waisted skirt, it sits just at the right spot. I decided to tie the front instead of tucking it in for this outfit, I think the tie makes it look even more summery and casual. My flower brooch is hand made fimo by me and my sandals were $5 from a flea market. I'm excited for more warm days so I can continue to wear all my lovely summer skirts (and shorts and dresses and swimsuits!).

Primary (Colour) School

I was having a look back at some of my posts and noticed that I wear ALOT of red and blue (some examples here, here and here). It's an unusual colour combination really. Wearing red and blue is difficult to do, if you wear block colours then you can look like an American dressed up on 4th of July (or a Parisian on Bastille day?), and if you wear pattern then the whole look can be very over whelming.

Clearly I have gone down the pattern route (don't I always?!) with this outfit. I guess because the patterns are fairly clean and both include black and white, they work together nicely. The red stripe of my dress is as basic a pattern you can get and the flowers on my jacket are large and not overly detailed, so things don't get too busy. Plus both peices of clothing are a fairly basic shape, nothing too complicated here!

I really enjoy mixing bright colours that you wouldn't expect. As I've said, I'm not a person who wears/owns alot of black, so finding fun, interesting ways to wear my bright patterned clothes together is the aim of the game.  I wore this outfit on our Monday public holiday, I spent the day pottering around the house, cleaning, cooking and just relaxing. It was a great Monday!

This dress cost me $4 from an op shop in Alice Springs. It is so comfy and stretchy, but still looks fairly nice. It's also my go-to dress when I'm travelling because it can be scrunched in to a little ball and never needs to be ironed! My jacket is my newish Simona one that I got for $7 at Vinnies a few weeks ago. My jelly shoes are from Jelly Beans, I made my anchor brooch out of fimo and my red necklace (which unfortunately you can't see very well in any of these pictures) is from Lovisa.