Restyle Wrap Up

Seeing as I’ve now successfully op shopped, worn, photographed and blogged about 31 outfits in one month I thought I’d break it down for you in numbers, because when I did it for myself it was a little eye opening to say the least!! According to my various blog stats, the outfit you liked the most was Tailored (by far!!) and the least loved was Texture (sad face)

Over a period of approximately four weeks I visited all the Australian Red Cross op shops in Perth (many of them more than once) and bought 67 pieces of clothing which consisted of:

20 tops

14 dresses

9 skirts

6 pieces of jewellery

5 jackets

5 pairs of pants

5 different accessories

3 pairs of shoes

In total I spent $461.50, the most expensive thing I bought was $25 (the fur cape) and the cheapest was $1 (a scarf), although I did pick up a number of things for $2 (like my amazing pink silk wrap top!). There were 13 pieces that I didn’t use for Restyle and will hence be donating back to the Red Cross (along with many other things from my wardrobe). By breaking it down like this there are some things I want to point out…

It’s SO easy to build a versatile wardrobe full of good quality items from op shops! It took me about four weeks to pull together my looks for Restyle, and I was only visiting op shops on a Saturday because I work full time. I got everything from cosy jumpers and casual t-shirts to a gorgeous cocktail gown and everything in-between (including a couple of awesome designer pieces). So before you head to Myer or David Jones, check out your local op shops first!

Even though the average cost per item was only $7, that money quickly adds up if you buy something you don’t need/will never wear. I wasted $100 on things I didn’t use for Restyle! This is a bit of a wake-up call for me and I’m going to be extra careful when I next go op shopping to ensure I’m not  buying something just because it’s SO cheap (a trap I often fall in to)

And lastly, although it’s impossible to choose just one, I wanted to share some of my favorite looks from each of the Restyle bloggers...

 Click on each picture to go to their blog and view the whole post (it’s worth it!!)

Thank you so much for following along with my Restyle journey. I hope you’ll stick around In The Dress Up Box, I’ve got plenty more op shop adventures to share!!

Hello Spring! Goodbye Restyle!

Happy first day of Spring! I can’t believe Restyle is over! How am I going to get dressed every day without a prompt to guide me? (hehe!). Being chosen to be a Restyle blogger for the Telstra Perth Fashion Festival was the biggest honour ever. I got to meet some fabulous people, attend some awesome events and most importantly shop my heart out at Australian Red Cross op shops. It’s been a brilliant, if slightly exhausting, experience and I’m so grateful to Renee and the rest of the TPFF team for putting their faith in me.

                  glitter                                           less than $10                                   collar                                button down

               pastel                               outerwear                                 tailored                                      cut outs

It has been an absolute pleasure working with the Australian Red Cross for this project, not only are their op shops superb (spoken with experience!) but the money they raise goes to so many excellent causes. I need to thank the lovely Adrienne from the Red Cross head office for being so welcoming and helpful and supportive of me. I hope I can continue to work with this wonderful organisation in the future and maybe one day I’ll work up the confidence to donate some blood... eek!

                        sheer                                 spots and dots                               arm candy                                   tom boy

                    floral                                       DIY                                       monochrome                                gown

                                  knit                                neutrals                             embellished                                 animal print

I’ve going to do a bit of a Restyle rundown tomorrow, so come back then to learn how much money I spent in August and what I got (it’s been eye opening!). For now, it’s Monday morning, so delay the start of your working week by a few more minutes and check out any of my Restyle looks you may have missed.

                stripes                                         classic                                            lace                                       athletic

            graphic                                  cropped                                      fringe                                     maxi 

       texture                            double denim

Which one was your favourite? 

Restyle Day 31 - Outfit to Donate Back

Oh my goodness it’s the last day of Restyle (and winter, woohoo!). The past month has seriously zipped by! I’ll be back tomorrow with a proper run down of my Restyle adventure, so let’s just get down to the matter at hand shall we? The very last style prompt is an Outfit to Donate Back! As any keen op shopper will tell you, it’s very easy to amass a giant collection of clothes VERY quickly when everything costs less than $10. So it’s SO important to donate your unwanted clothes back to the op shops regularly.

 

I try to operate under the principle; one item in, one item out. This helps me to keep my wardrobe within a reasonable size (my boyfriend may disagree) and ensures I only buy things I REALLY REALLY love. About twice a year I’ll do a thorough cull and drop a few large bags off to my local op shop.

Last weekend I invited some of my girlfriends over for a high tea/clothes swap. We drank champagne and ate cake while rummaging through each other’s cast offs. It was mayhem such a fun afternoon. At the end of the day everyone went home with a few new (old) pieces and I dropped off all of the leftovers to my local Red Cross. In total we donated eight HUGE garbage bags full of good quality clothing, shoes and accessories. Thea and Brenda at the Red Cross op shop in Freo were thrilled and I am so happy that mine and my friends clothes will be going to new loving owners.

This is just one of the many many outfits I donated, if you like it, head to the Red Cross op shop in Freo and try your luck!

Dress: Country Road

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses: Asos

Bracelet: Lovisa

Bag: Vintage

Scarf: Vintage

The Australian Red Cross are always in need of good quality clothing, shoes or accessories. These things do no one any good sitting unloved and collecting dust at the back of your wardrobe, donate them to your local op shop so someone else can enjoy them!

Restyle Day 30 - Double Denim

Ahhh double denim, how you terrify me. I find double denim is either a look you love or loath, there doesn’t seem to be much middle ground. I was sitting happily in the loath camp, mainly because I didn’t think I could ever pull off a double denim look. This Restyle prompt was a serious challenge (probably the hardest day yet) but I am actually very pleased with my outfit.

Mixing denim pieces is a fine art and I certainly had to think long and hard about how to manage it successfully. The most important thing to remember if you want to avoid a Canadian tuxedo situation is to mix denim washes (light, dark, acid wash, black etc). Luckily the Australian Red Cross op shops are full of awesome denim items so finding something to fit this prompt wasn’t hard.

When I bought this dress it was full length, had long sleeves, massive shoulder pads and was a size 18. I loved the idea of a denim dress so I thought I’d experiment with taking it in and up and removing the sleeves. An hour or so at the sewing machine and a few darts later, I am so happy with the result! I really didn’t think I’d be able to make it wearable, but at $5 it was worth the chance. That’s one of the myriad of things I love about buying things in op shops, it really allows you to experiment with DIY, sewing and styling without breaking the bank if it's a total disaster

Dress: Australian Red Cross Hamilton Hill $5

Shoes: Australian Red Cross Willagee $20

Hat: Op Shop

Jacket: Garage Sale

Socks: Target

Sunglasses: Stella McCartney 

Photos by Tash

The Restyle Photo-A-Day Challenge is proudly supported by Lotterywest

Restyle Day 29 - Texture

The use of animal fur in the fashion industry is a very controversial issue and rightfully so. I love the look of fur in fashion, but strongly believe faux fur is the way to go. Even buying all my clothes from second hand shops I still avoid real fur if I find it (and I have), I’m happy with my synthetic fur thank you very much! When I saw this prompt on the list I automatically knew I wanted to find some fabulous faux fur piece to wear. Luckily for me the Australian Red Cross op shops are filled with just such items.

I already have a really great light colour fur jacket that I wear a lot in winter, so I was on the lookout for something different to that. This faux fur cape fits the bill perfectly! I LOVE CAPES! This little number makes any outfit automatically glamorous just by throwing it on. I could be wearing my trackies and a sports bra under here and would still look totally fabulous!

The label on this fur cape clearly states it’s synthetic and made in Melbourne, but the texture is so lovely and soft. It’s a delight to wear and everyone wants to come up and pat me. This cape is the most expensive thing I bought for Restyle, at $25 I still feel it was an absolute bargain and a fantastic addition to my wardrobe.

Cape: Australian Red Cross Hamilton Hill $25

Dress: Australian Red Cross Hamilton Hill $5

Earrings: Australian Red Cross Mandurah $2

Belt: Op Shop

Shoes: Gorman

Stockings: Leona Edmiston

Photos by Liz from mypagesturned.com

The Restyle Photo-A-Day Challenge is proudly supported by Lotterywest

Restyle Day 28 - Maxi

Today’s style prompt is perfect for me but finding the right piece to wear was slightly tricky. I found this Hawaiian print maxi wrap skirt in the costume section of Red Cross Duncraig. The costume section of an op shop is always my first stop, it’s usually where you find the vintage gear and all the ‘weird’ clothing that I absolutely love.  

Being a tall girl I often hear my shorter friends lament that they are too small to wear a maxi dress or skirt. Well my friends, let me tell you, wearing a maxi dress or skirt as a tall lady isn’t a piece of cake either! A lot of the time items that are designed to be ‘maxi’ are actually skimming two inches above my ankles, which is a very odd length. Finding a full length skirt or dress that falls at the right place is tricky. Usually vintage pieces will have extra fabric folded up in the hem so all I need to do is let it down a bit. But more often than not I’ll buy something from an op shop that’s meant to be maxi and hem it to a midi length instead.

Luckily that wasn’t the case with this fabulous skirt. It’s perfect just the way it is and I didn’t have to do a thing! The colours and print of this skirt are so tropical and exotic. I just wish I was swanning around in Thailand right now, rather than posing precariously in front of a garage (but isn’t it a lovely colour?!). This is a very summery look and one I can’t wait to whip out when the weather warms up.

Skirt: Red Cross Duncraig $6

Hat: Op Shop

Top: Zara

Shoes: Seed

Sunglasses: Ray Ban

Restyle Day 27 - Fringe

I honestly thought today’s style prompt was going to be the hardest one of all! But I got seriously lucky and found this great fringed top quite early on in my Restyle op shopping mission. I’ve already worn it a couple of times and am so happy with it! I love that it’s a simple shape, but because of the sheer fabric and fringe detailing it's something a little bit special.

When wearing anything fringed, the obvious and only thing to do is twirl around. So to maximise the twirling effect I paired my fringed top with my pink full circle skirt. Perfect for dancing and twirling all night long! This top has a lot of things going on, it’s cropped, fringed, sheer and has a lace trim so wearing it with a block colour skirt is the way to go.

I bought this little brooch (in my hair) at Red Cross Mandurah, I’ve worn it as a brooch quite a few times already, but I thought I’d experiment with pinning it in my hair. It was actually really easy to do, and looks very chic I think. I just used a bobby pin to secure the brooch pin in to my hair, too easy!

Top: Australian Red Cross Scarborough $6

Brooch: Australian Red Cross Mandurah $4

Skirt: Op Shop

Boots: Jeffrey Campbell 

Photos by the magnificent Liz from mypagesturned.com 

The Restyle Photo-A-Day Challenge is proudly supported by Lotterywest