Red Cross Pop Up Shop

Why Hello there! Today I’m partnering with one of my absolute favourite op shop charities, The Australian Red Cross, and I couldn’t be more excited. Did you know that this Saturday the 24th of October is the national Garage Sale Trail event? If you don’t know what that is, do click the link, because it’s super cool and you don’t want to miss out! The Australia Red Cross are stepping things up a notch and hosting a massive Pop Up Shop in the Murray Street Mall on Saturday the 24th of October along with seven other charities. It’s like a massive op shop / garage sale in the middle of the city with all the money raised going to support the fantastic projects and programs these charities run. Pretty great huh?

All this week the Red Cross have a Donations Container set up in Forest Place near Top Shop, you can pop by and drop off some of your unwanted but excellent quality gear (clothing, accessories and household stuff welcome!). The container is open for donations only any time between 7am and 2pm until this Friday the 23rd. I stopped by on Monday morning and dropped off a bag of donations, including the two dresses in these photos. I also styled up one of the mannequins, there is seriously SO MUCH awesome stock it was hard to decide what to put on display. If you can’t get down to donate then I’d definitely encourage you to drop by and have a rummage on Saturday, it’s going to be epic!

When I stopped by the donations container on Monday I saw racks and racks of gorgeous clothes all ready to be sorted and organised by the fab Australian Red Cross volunteers and that was only the first day of donations! I had to drag myself away very reluctantly. I’ll be back on Friday to show you another couple of outfits I’ve donated to the Pop Up Shop that you’ll be able to purchase for a steal if you like them.

Red printed Kookai maxi dress - donated to the sale!
Vintage floral print dress - donated to the sale!

For more info check out the Red Cross Shops Facebook page

A Weekend of Love

Oh my goodness I am so excited you guys! After years of be-moaning the fact that I never get invited to weddings / none of my friends were getting hitched it’s finally started to happen! This coming weekend Luke and I are heading down south for our very first friend’s wedding! We have a number of them over the next few months and I’m so excited! This past weekend I went to a hens night, an engagement party and a bridal shower, it was pretty full on, but so much fun. This is the outfit I wore for the bridal shower (you do not want to see for I wore for the hens night!).

I’d never been to a bridal shower before but I felt like something flowery and super girly was in order, and I was right on the money. All the guests were decked out in beautiful summer frocks, perfect for sipping champagne and nibbling treats while partaking in the bridal shower fun. The bride to-be stole the show of course (as she should!) in a beautiful full blue skirt and pale pink top.

I bought this dress a few months ago, it’s Review, which is a brand I really love. Their vintage styles have a modern twist which is right up my alley. I was very excited to find this barely worn beauty hanging in the racks at Salvos. I originally thought this might be a good option to wear to the actual wedding, but then I found something even better (which I’ll share next week). So this floral number was perfect for the weekend’s activities.

Do you have any weddings coming up? I know Summer is wedding season, so I’d love to know what your go-to guest outfit is!

Dress: Review, Salvos Osborne Park $17

Shoes: Melissa

Sunglasses: Pared
Earrings: borrow from Mum

Trackside

A lot of the time I find myself wearing outfits to work that many people would wear to a wedding or another special event. I try super hard to dress things down with basic hair, makeup and accessories. But what can I say, I just LOVE wearing pretty dresses and if I’ve got to work 40 hours a week I may as well be doing it in a fancy frock!

This dress is newly thrifted, it’s Leona Edmiston and I got it for a total steal. Obviously I was desperate to wear it immediately, so there was no way I was going to wait for a special event. But wouldn’t this be the perfect outfit for the races? The Melbourne Cup and all those fun racing events are coming up in a few weeks so I thought I’d whack on a facinator and show you what I might wear if I were going...

Unfortunately the Melbourne Cup is 3 days after my surgery, so I’ll be in no state to dress up and drink champagne track side (such a shame!). So instead of wearing this outfit to the races, I wore it to work, minus the facinator. Speaking of which, do you prefer a fascinator or a hat? Or even just a simple head band? My attitude towards fascinators is unlike the way I feel about any other accessory. Basically I only wear them once a year, so I only need to own one. Unlike some other blogger babes, like Amy from Willow Curves, I don’t wear fascinators regularly or on any day other than the first Tuesday in November, so I don’t feel the need to have a huge selection, plus they are SO expensive for what they are. I’ve had this red one for 4 years and have worn it every year. It was the perfect buy because it goes with so many different things. I’ve had no trouble putting together a new and exciting races look year after year.

Do you own lots of racing head-wear options, or just the one like me? What is your go-to Melbourne cup look?

Dress: Leona Edmiston, St Lukes Op Shop $8

Clutch: Alannah Hill, Vinnies Claremont $3

Boots: Bresley

Stockings: Leona Edmiston

Facinator: Gregory Ladner

Earrings: Mimco, gift

P.S We are half way through Frocktober!! Make sure you donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation by clicking HERE! 

Take Two

So I promised I’d give you another way to style this basic black tube dress (there are endless ways!) and here it is… 

Wear it layered with a skirt of course! The other day I was just in a skirt mood, when I was pulling all my summer clothes out of storage I found this vintage beauty and suddenly it was all I could think about wearing. So layering it over a basic black dress was the perfect way to keep my Frocktober challenge and still get to wear the skirt. 

I really love the cut of this dress, so I’ve actually worn it as a top a few times already. As long as you vary up the accessories and skirts, people will never know you are re-wearing the same simple black dress over and over! It’s magic!

Dress: Salvos O’Connor $6

Skirt: Vintage shop, Berlin

Shoes: Salvos Fremantle $10

Necklace: Lovisa

Sunglasses: Pared Eyewear

One Week In

We’re one week into Frocktober! Have you been rocking a frock each day? I’m super excited by the glorious weather we’ve been having, I’ve been able to pull all of my lovely summer dresses and sandals out of their winter hiding places. 

Now this black dress may not appear to be anything special, but I must say it’s one of the most versatile things in my wardrobe. Particularly during Frocktober when you need to stretch your collection of dresses to last for a whole month. A black tube dress is essential! This one is from Supre (by way of Salvos) and is so easy to wear. It can scrunch up into a suitcase, hides a myriad of marks and the slightly athletic neckline is super flattering on broad shouldered girls like myself. It can be dressed up with heels and the right jewellery or down with some casual accessories and flats. I wore this outfit on the weekend, perfect for running errands and catching up for coffee. 

How do you like my little bag? I decided I wanted to customise a cross over bag with my initials, so I set about finding a cheap (just in case the DIY failed!) black bag in an op shop. It didn’t take me long to find this one for $1 in the bargain bin at Good Sammies, I then bought some iron on letters from Spotlight and super glued them to the bag. It took me all of 30 seconds and I’m so happy with how it turned out. I want to put my initials on everything now! 

Next week I’ll share another way to style this dress, which will let you get SO much more wear out of it and people won’t realise you’re repeating too often.

Dress: Salvos O’Connor $6

Bag: Good Sammies Fremantle $1 (plus DIY letters)

Sandals: Good Sammies Subiaco $10

Scarf: Op Shop 

Hat: Vintage, eBay

Sunglasses: Karen Walker

P.S Apparently this dress gives me quite the ghetto booty... who knew I possessed such a thing?!

Something Pretty

Nothing inspires you to dress up more than a pretty new frock! I wanted to share this gorgeous dress with you today, it was very kindly gifted to me by the lovely Petra from AVA. I received the package in the post on the day after my birthday, which was also the day I found out about my thyroid tumour, so to say it arrived at the right time is an understatement, it seriously made my day! I’ve never actually met Petra in person, but she clearly knows me well, because this dress just screams HANNAH. The beautiful floral print, the fantastic vintage-inspired style and the seriously cool neckline. I’m totally in love with it.

I wore this outfit to a work function on Friday night. Petra designs clothes for the woman on the go, and this dress was perfect for a networking event. It has two massive pockets hidden in the pleats which easily fit my phone and business cards, so I could wonder around with free hands ready to snatch passing canapés and network my butt off.

Thanks for the fab frock AVA, it certainly makes dressing up fun when you have something as lovely as this to wear!

Dress: AVA

Belt: Op shop

Shoes: Melissa, eBay

Sunglasses: Pared

Bangles: Sonia Rykiel and Dinosaur Designs

Frocked Up

HAPPY FRIDAY! It’s the second day of Frocktober, have you been donning a dress each day? I have! I wore this little number yesterday for the very first day of the month and I gotta say I sure do love it. I’ve had this vintage dress for a few years and have actually worn it on the blog twice before (here and here). Both times I styled it almost identically to the way I’m wearing it now… oops! I guess this dress just calls for white shoes and a side part. If it works, it works!

I’m also show casing my new sunnies! These House of Holland beauties were a birthday present to myself. They also come in a more sedate torteshell, but I couldn’t resist the wild see-through pink. What do you think? A bit Elton John meets Dame Edna right? Just the way I like it!

I’m zooming down south this weekend with some of my great and newly engaged friends! We are going to scope out wedding venues, bask in the sun and scream bloody murder at the pub while watching the grand final. Sounds like a pretty perfect weekend huh?! I hope yours is good too!

Dress: Op Shop

Shoes: Chloe, eBay

Brooch: Op Shop

Sunnies: House of Holland, eBay