Around the World In 15 Outfits

I'm back! Sorry about the extended blog break, my week just got away with me! As you know I'm fairly new to this whole blogging game. I started back in July and was lucky enough to have the Perth Fashion Festival Restyle Challenge to get me through August and keep me occupied while I tried to establish my blog. Now it's mid September I think it's time for a new 'challenge' so I'm starting a little feature called Around the World in 15 Outfits. 

I love to travel (as most 20 somethings do) and one of my favourite things to do while I am on holidays is to go vintage shopping. Instead of buying crappy Eiffel tower statues and I heart NY emblazoned coffee cups, I buy vintage. I love bringing home thrifted treasures from overseas as my souvenirs. So over the next 15 weekends (that will take us to the end of the year) I am going to show you my favourite international finds and share a few of my tips and tricks for buying vintage overseas.

This outfit I am wearing today actually includes two European finds. I'm wearing leather shorts from an op shop in Berlin, pink jumper from RSPCA Palmyra, vintage Jaeger blazer from Prague and black flat-forms from Good Sammies. My blazer is what I want to tell you about today.

I was in Prague in February this year and unfortunately my lovely boyfriend and travel companion got pneumonia while we were there. So while he was bed ridden I was determined to find some vintage shops, I was convinced that Prague would have the best European op shops and I wasn't going to be deterred. According to Google there was one 3 kilometres from our accommodation, so I left the boyfriend sniffling in bed, donned my warmest clothes and walked 3kms in the snow to an op shop in the suburbs of Prague. It was terrible. The shop was filled with the Czech equivalent of early 2000s Kmart track suits and uninspiring t-shirts. I managed to pull this gorgeous Jaeger blazer out from a pile of polyester dental assistant uniforms and quickly purchased it for 3 euros. 

Moral of the story and my first international op shopping tip... don't bother in Prague. Well maybe I just had a bad experience, but I would definitely say do your research before you go trekking off through the snow to a shop in the middle of Czech suburbia.

The Perfect Skirt

A week or so ago I wrote about my quest for the perfect denim skirt and that I had found said skirt and was completely thrilled... I lied. Well I didn't lie, I just didn't realise at the time that, that denim skirt wasn't THE perfect denim skirt. 

The one I wore and wrote about in my Denim Darling post (pictured below) was a skirt I purchased at the Salvos in Fremantle for $6, it had almost everything I was looking for so I snapped it up and rushed to tell you about it. But there were a few things that made it not quite right. First of all the buttons are fake, although it looks like it buttons up, it actually just has a seam and buttons attached to the front so you have to slip it on over your head. It also has an elastic waist band which makes the back sit a bit awkwardly. 

On Friday I had the day off work and went op shopping with my cousin in Belmont. In the Anglicare shop I found this amazing button up denim skirt on the 50% rack, it was full length so looked very dowdy, but I saw it's potential immediately. I bought it for $3 and hemmed it to the length I wanted. It is exactly what I was looking for (I was using Stella Mccartney spring 2010 as my skirt inspiration). 

My other denim skirt can go back to the Salvos now that I have replaced it with one I like more. That's the beauty of buying stuff from op shops, you have more freedom to try different styles, customise things and step outside your comfort zone when clothes only cost a couple of dollars.

It was incredible weather on Sunday afternoon, so I put on my new (old) skirt and this little green halter top which I op shopped last summer. My orange pineapple bracelet is actually a necklace, I bought it on Friday on my op shop trip to Belmont for $1. My bag cost $3 from Claremont Vinnies. My wedges are Carvela and my ring was a birthday present. This is such a summery outfit (it probably wasn't really warm enough to wear it yesterday), I can't wait for more long sunny Sunday afternoons.  

Cocktails Anyone?

Last night I threw a little cocktail party to celebrate my birthday, it was also a bit of a house warming too as it was the first time most of my friends had visited our new place. I love throwing parties, so I had lots of fun preparing the food and decorations, but the main focus of the night was the cocktails.

I asked all of my guests to bring a different bottle of spirits (I allocated everyone something so we didn't end up with 7 bottles of peach schnapps). I bought all the mixers and garnishes, including many mini umbrellas and novelty swizzle sticks. Then everyone was left to their own devices to create custom cocktails or just stick to traditional recipes. 

I 'invented' the most delicious drink which I think will be my signature cocktail from now on, everyone needs a signature cocktail! It was one part gin, one part rosemary syrup, half part lemon juice in a chilled martini glass and garnished with rosemary... SO GOOD! Seriously, who knew rosemary would be so amazing in a cocktail? (my friend Caitlin did, she's the one who told me to make rosemary syrup).

  

Anyway, on to the outfit... I specifically wanted everyone to dress in cocktail attire and I was quite impressed with the effort everyone put in. It's interesting how the lure cocktails can convince even the most casual of people (ahem, boyfriend) to don a shirt and scrub up a bit. I wore this vintage Laura Ashley dress I bought in a Seattle op shop for $12. It has tulle in the under-skirt but I put my crinoline on as well to really accentuate the 1950's silhouette. 

My shoes are Scanlon & Theodore which I picked up at a consignment shop about 7 years ago. They are a classic style and such great quality. I love t-bar shoes they look so classy and work perfectly with this style of outfit. I'm also wearing my favourite black belt which I've featured on the blog about 30 times already.

Ok, blogging done, I'm going to nurse my gin hangover on the balcony in the sun, have a great Sunday!  

Designer OTT

Tonight my boyfriend took me out for a wonderful dinner for my birthday. When getting ready for my dinner date I decided to go all out, it's my birthday so why the hell not?! I wanted to layer on my designer items, but not look too designer-ish (impossible anyway because my designer wardobe is very limited!). My boyfriend sometimes gets overwhelmed by my overwhelming dress sense, so when we go on dates I try to dress 'normally' but still retain my general style.

I think this outfit is a perfect example of a 'boyfriend friendly' outfit! This dress is Diane Von Furstenberg. I got it for $7 from Good Sammies in Osbourne Park and it's amazing. Every time I wear it I feel like a bombshell, it's 100% silk and totally gorgeous. The fit is perfect and super flattering for a curvy girl like myself. 

My shoes are Witner, bought for $10 from Salvos in Belmont a few days ago, they are fantastic summer sandals, I think I'll get heaps of use out of them. My gold bangle is Givenchy inherited from my Grandma and the other two bracelets are Ted Baker bought at Nordstrom in Seattle.

My clutch is (relatively) vintage Louis Vuitton that I picked up at a consignment store in San Francisco, it always makes me feel a little glamorous and I don't use it often enough. So this outfit is completely second hand, but still involves designers, fancy jewellery and expensive shoes. I honestly don't know why anyone would buy stuff from high street shops or department stores when you can find amazing stuff for a tenth of the price at op shops!

Terrifying 26

It was my birthday yesterday. I turned 26, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it. 25 was such a great year for me. I did lots of travelling, moved in to an amazing new house, made some great friends, worked hard, started playing volleyball again and finally started blogging. I feel really good about myself and where I am in life at the moment, but it would be nice to stay 25 just a little bit longer. 

I love getting dressed up for my birthday, I love getting dressed up any day, but on the 4th of September I really get excited about it. I wanted to wear my favourite coat (I wore this coat on my birthday last year too), so I based my outfit around it. I bought this vintage purple print coat from an op shop just over a year ago. It's amazing. I love the cropped sleeves and the pattern is to die for. I wish it was lined, but you can't have everything!

My pink and purple floral dress is a new addition (very new actually, I bought it on Tuesday for $2!!), it's actually size 16 so I had to cinch in the waist a lot to make it fit. I might try and alter it when I have time. I really like this dress, the skirt is an great shape which allows me to wear my crinoline underneath. I love wearing my crinoline, it makes me feel very lady like and proper, which is exactly how you should feel on your 26th birthday! My belt is an old leather one I've had for years, picked up at an op shop in Hervey Bay QLD.

My spikey white brogues are from Asos. I'm loving brogues at the moment, because I'm so tall it's great to have a shoe option that isn't a heel but still looks stylish. Brogues are it for me, I have a patent red pair too and I just ordered a black and white pair online yesterday (birthday present to myself!). I think they will be awesome to wear with bare legs and summer dresses when the weather starts to warm up. 

So that's my birthday outfit! Lot's of pink and purple and flowers and puff... it's a very Hannah outfit!

Big Red Dress

Hello! I'm back! I took a little blog break after posting every day in August. I was seriously fashion fatigued by the end of Restyle 2013. But here I am again to tell you about the amazing outfit I wore on the last day of winter. 

I had a big event at work, one that I coordinated and have been working on for months, so I was very nervous/excited for it all to come together. Luckily it all went off with out too much drama and I got to wear my incredible Big Red Dress and dance the night away (this dress is perfect for twirling). 

I bought this silk gown from Anglicare in Fremantle for $40 a few months ago. It fits like a glove, and all the cute ladies who work in Anglicare were squealing along with me in excitement when I tried it on. I normally wouldn't buy something like this no matter how well it fit, because I NEVER have an occasion to wear spectacular ball downs (seriously, someone invite me to a ball!). Luckily I had my work party coming up and, as I was the event planner, I just changed the dress code to black tie, and voila! An occasion to wear the dress! 

I was very tempted to wear flowers in my hair and go down the whole flamenco dancer route, but I decided that might look to costumey. So I just accessorised with my tassel earrings from Collette, these earrings cost $3 and they instantly make any outfit look fancy, and some op shopped gold bracelets. Because I knew I'd be running around for the first part of the evening I decided to wear these Yoejin Bae wedges I picked up for $10 from RSPCA Palmyra, my feet were grateful in the morning!

So all up my entire outfit cost $60 (roughly, I can't remember how much the bracelets cost me). Not bad for a full black tie look. I just want to be invited to another event so I can wear this dress again! 

My boyfriend took these pictures and it was so windy, I promise my hair looked a lot nicer before the wild sea breeze got to it! 

Dress to Donate

Today is the last day of Winter and the last day of Restyle! The past 30 days have been really fun! I have blogged every single day for a month and I'm pretty impressed with myself, although I honestly didn't realise how hard blogging every day was. Tonight I have a major work event, which I have been working on for a while, so I'm going to take a few days break from the blog to recover and then dive straight back in to business next week (which is also my birthday week!!).

The very last prompt for Restyle 2013 is 'an outfit to donate back', so I'm wearing this purple jumper dress I bought from Good Sammies in Fremantle at the beginning of winter. Winter is now over and today is the first day I've worn it, so tomorrow it's going back to Good Sammies and hopefully someone else will give it a good home. 

Getting in to the habit of regularly donating clothes is a good one, especially for an op shopper. I go through my wardrobe every few months and cull the clothes that I haven't worn over the season, don't love any more or don't fit me any more. This helps me keep track of all my clothes and it means that I only keep things that I really love. This purple dress is awesome, which is why I bought it, but it's not my style and it's doesn't look that great on me (I took 78 pictures to get these 5 which are only OK).

It's a pretty wild dress, so I thought I'd just go all out and throw on my highest wedge sandals (Carvela from Asos) and a few layers of necklaces, the spikey one is from Diva and the coral one is from Anna Chandler. This isn't my usual style but it was fun getting dressed up out of my comfort zone for a few hours. Tomorrow I'm heading to the donation bins with a garbage full of goodies, I hope someone else finds and loves them like I love all my op shopped stuff!