Donate Back and Restyle Wrap Up

It’s the last day of winter and the last day of Restyle! Did you have a fun month following along with all the prompts? From what I saw on Instagram people were finding some fantastic things, I was a little envious at times! The very last prompt of Restyle is always Donate Back, which is a fantastic habit to get in to. As a keen op shopper, it’s very easy to accumulate a lot of clothes quickly. Fast fashion is completely the norm now, which means people (myself included!) want new clothes all the time. This means we often have wardrobes full of clothes, shoes and accessories which have been worn once or twice and won’t be worn by us again. These are the items which are ripe for donation! Put them in a big bag and take them down to your local op shop. Someone else will be able to breath some new life into them and a charity will gain some much needed funds for their important work in your community. I try to get in to the habit of taking one item out of my wardrobe for every new item I buy. This doesn’t always happen, but most of the time I’m pretty good. I keep an old IKEA bag in the boot of my car and just keep putting clothes in there, when it’s full I know it’s time to lug it down to my local op shop.

 

I had such fun following along with all the prompts this year. Not being an ‘official’ blogger has taken the pressure off and allowed me to just enjoy the month. I loved seeing everyone else’s outfits pop up on Instagram and on blogs. Encouraging and inspiring people to op shop is truly awesome, thank you so much Telstra Perth Fashion Festival for investing in such an amazing initiative. I’ll definitely be following along next year!  

 

 

 

If you missed any of my outfits you can just click on the pictures to take you to the post. My favourite look was the very first one! I just can’t get over my amazing tribal skirt from Good Sammies. I want to keep wearing it over and over again! Which was your favourite prompt this year?

 

 

I only missed two prompts, Blazer and Metallic, and on both days I did actually wear something that fit the prompt I was just too sick (blazer) and busy (metallic) to snap a pic! Thanks for following along with my Restyle attempts this year! I hope some of you were inspired to hit your local op shops in search of treasure (if you weren't already doing so!!).

P.S I’ve donated a few huge bags of clothes to Vinnies in Claremont, this is the op shop I visit most regularly so I figured they deserved my gear the most! If you are interested in having a rummage then definitely pop in, they are at 26 Ashton Ave in Claremont.

 

Life Recently

Oh August, you were here and now you are nearly gone! My life has been busy busy busy lately. I got back from my fab Queenstown holiday on the first day of the month and have madly started planning my next trip (as you do). I’ve been trying to keep up with the Restyle prompts each day, which has proven difficult because I’m just not that organised this year. Restyle is such a fun challenge though and I love anything that’s promoting op shopping to the masses, so I’m trying hard to tick off each prompt, have you been following along? Most importantly though, next week brings the start of Spring and my birthday! Huzzah! Here’s what I’ve been up to…

 

Eating healthier! After being struck down by two awful colds in the space of 6 weeks, I’ve been trying really hard to eat my 2 fruit 5 veg!

Drinking lemon ginger tea all day every day

Cooking pasta, always pasta!

Watching East Bound & Down, my boyfriend got me in to it and now I can’t tear my eyes away. Such a guilty pleasure!

Buying some fantastic black mens brogues, picked up for a fiver at my local op shop, I’ve been wearing them non stop!

Wearing op shopped clothes in honor of Restyle! (and also because that’s all I ever wear)

Reading a few different Tilly Bagshawe books… that’s some serious chick lit right there!

Avoiding getting sick again. Multivitamins come at me!

Browsing for Christmas gift ideas, the holiday period is creeping closer and I’m going to be one organised elf!

Needing THESE… I honestly need them. Don’t ask why.

 

I’m so excited for the next four weeks, and actually the next four months. The last quarter of the year is always so much fun. I’ve got lots planned including my birthday, Luke’s birthday, a visit from the in-laws, my volleyball finals, a wedding down south and another wedding overseas and then it’s all the fun that comes with Christmas… Plus somewhere in the middle we should be moving in to our very first home. Oh my god there is just so much to look forward to!

 

 

Tea and magazines while I’m sick in bed

My first proper blogger collab! Such a fun day!

Snuggling with Olive, she seriously get cuter every day

Watching the US ski team do their thing at Treble Cone in Wanaka

Fremantle turning the weather on for me

Bunnings hot dog for breakfast… as you do

Annual Collie Volleyball Comp was hilarious fun as usual

Our last day on the mountain in Queenstown

Our first day on the mountain!

An excellent Melville Markets haul

 

All pics are from my insta!

 

Black on Black

I very rarely leave the house in head to toe black, so I was actually excited about today’s prompt and the prospect of rocking a bit of black on black. I had another outfit planned for today but I changed my mind at the last moment when I picked up this amazing fringed dress at the Melville Markets on Sunday. I just had to wear it immediately. With its lace up neck and tasselled hem, it’s very ‘on-trend’ but that’s fine by me. I’ll style it in summer with a bikini, straw hat and sandals and in winter I’ll wear it just as I am now with my leather jacket and boots.

The issue I normally have with all black outfits is that they can be a bit boring. Classic and slimming and chic yes, but still boring. I want my outfits to pop out from a crowd and doing that in all black is hard! So making sure the black items you are wearing have a bit of detail is important (at least it is to me!). The fringing on this dress plus the metal details on my jacket add a bit of interest to a fully monochrome look. I also can’t leave the house without a hat and sunnies at the moment (my re-growth is soooo bad!).

I feel very rock’n’roll in this outfit, which is quite a departure to my usual style, but it sure was fun to try on a different persona for a day! How did you style your Black on Black outfit? Is all-black a look you wear regularly, or are you like me and think the brighter the better?

Dress: Melville Markets $10

Jacket: Wittner

Hat: Vintage, eBay

Sunglasses: Miu Miu, eBay

Boots: Tony Bianco 

Raine Square

The lovely people at Raine Square in the City invited me to check out some of their shops the other day. This was such a pleasure, because while I do spend a lot of time running past Raine Square getting to and from meetings, I hadn't spent much time actually exploring. At the moment they are having a big Health and Fitness push, which is PERFECT for me. After spending two weeks eating and drinking my way through New Zealand, I definitely need a little more health and fitness in my life!

I’ve been trying to kick start my healthy eating since returning from holidays. I eat pretty well in general, and as I talked about in this post, I’m really not fussed about punishing my body to lose extreme amounts of weight so I can look like someone from a magazine. All that being said, even I know enough is enough when I’m polishing off an entire block of cheese after dinner (don’t judge me!).

Mum and I spent a delightful morning in Raine Square. Before checking out all the different shops we grabbed a smoothie from Boost. One of the main healthy things I’ve been trying to do is cut down on coffee. I’ve found that I’m not addicted to the caffeine, but the habit of getting a mid-morning drink. So swapping my daily large soy latte for a smoothie or fresh juice has been quite easy. There is a Boost right in the centre of Raine Square which have sooo many delicious healthy options, it makes it very easy to wean off the coffee!

With Boost smoothies in hand we made a beeline to rebel to search for some new fitness gear for Mum. Man oh man is that place full of treasure! Rack after rack of bright and colourful work out clothes of all varieties. I was sorely tempted by all the fab Stella McCartney for adidas stuff (SO PRETTY!). I managed to drag myself away…but my birthday is in two weeks so fingers are crossed someone noticed me lingering longer than usual in the active wear section!

Across from the rebel apparel store is the rebel equipment store (yes there are two, it's awesome!) and as soon as we walked in the store I was drawn to the massive shiny display of all different kinds of balls (chuckle chuckle). I need a new volleyball and rebel had a large variety to choose from, which is actually quite exciting because normally volleyball gear is hard to come by.

Thanks for the invite Raine Square! It was so fun to learn more about this treasure trove of health and fitness retailers! Now I need to actually get off my butt and start moving! Happy Tuesday :)

Shorts: Thrift store in Berlin $5

T-shirt: Anglicare Fremantle $6

Jacket: Salvos Osborne Park $15

Shoes: RSPCA op shop $5

Hat: Op shop

This post was sponsored by Raine Square, but all the thoughts are my own!

Mini

The Restyle prompt for today is Mini! I love this prompt and this style, but unfortunately I wasn’t blessed with the type of legs which work well with mini dresses/skirts (oh woe is me!). Long though my legs may be, they are rather thick so super short outfits have never been my jam. That being said, where there’s a will there’s a way, and I just happened to come across this rather adorable mini dress while I was on holidays in Queensland. Its' handkerchief hemline is much more flattering and even though it’s pretty low cut, the long sheer sleeves balance it all out so I don’t look too tragic.

With its paisley print and billowing sleeves this dress is a fantastic example of 2015 does the 70s. I decided to embrace the whole 70s look and added some sky high platforms which is always a good idea when wearing a mini! This outfit was super fun to shoot and I’m planning to wear the whole look when I go wine tasting with my girlfriends in a few weekends time. Bring it on!

Dress: Vinnies Caloundra $5

Belt: Good Sammies Myaree $1

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Polka Dots

You may have noticed I’ve only been blogging my Restyle outfit’s for every second prompt. Purely because doing every single day is SUPER hard work and with my holiday at the end of July I just didn’t have time. So according to my blog post schedule I wasn’t meant to post an outfit for today’s style prompt, Polka Dots, but I just couldn’t resist. Polka Dots are my absolute favourite print. My wardrobe is full of them in all sizes and colour combos. The traditional black and white polka print is probably my favourite, which brings me to the other reason I decided to post on outfit for today….

SPOTTY CULOTTE JUMP SUIT. I mean… have you ever seen anything more magnificent in your life?! I found this miraculous piece of clothing in the Save the Children op shop in Subiaco while having a sneaky lunch time browse. I almost collapsed in excitement when I pulled it off the rack and saw it was vintage Katies and in my size. It originally had puffy 80s elbow length sleeves, which dated it a bit too much, so I chopped them off, added some darts and TA DA! I have a new favourite thing.

Because it’s now sleeveless it’s going to be my go-to outfit in Summer. I still can’t get over how amazing it is. Even with a wardrobe full of beautiful thrifted clothes, I still get SO excited when I come across amazing stuff while op shopping. Op shops are full of polka dots (which my wardrobe is a testament to) so I bet lots of people found great pieces for today’s prompt. If you did, tag me on insta and show me what you found (@inthedressupbox).

Jumpsuit: Save the Children Subiaco $7

Hat: Vintage, eBay

Sunglasses: Prada

Shoes: Chloe, eBay