What I Wore: When a pink hoody = happy clothing

There is something about a new sweatshirt that makes it much more comfy than a sweater. I think it because it has that knock around factor which means it wont pull or tear or go wonky no matter how hard you wear it.

When its a hoody and pink, its also fun to wear. 

The jacket

From Coles for $25. 
Cotton/poly.
I like it.

Are you noticing the pom pom scarf?

In a Liberty cotton print with large pink-magenta pom poms at the ends. $44 from a boutique in Beecroft called Beautiful Things By.

As much as I love the scarf, I didnt wear it with the hoody. It was just too much & the pom poms werent the right shade of pink to tone in with the hoody as they were magenta shaded.

But I thought I'd leave it in the photo as I wanted to wear it. 

The top 

A black cotton Bonds tee.  

The jeans

My new favourite wide leg jeans, turned boyfriend style. $20 from a local boutique and the brand is a cheapie, Philosophy Australia. 

The necklace

From Kirsten Ash for $90.
She has a great website & loads of charms that can pep up any outfit.

The bracelet

Litchi bracelet from Paris. I picked it up at Bijoux in Chatswood Chase - they carry some lovely imported pieces.
The Litchi trademark is these discs made into necklaces, bracelets, brooches & more. What I like about this bracelet is that each disc has a different print. 

The other bracelet

A favourite Italian brand, which does items with more of an industrial feel. Its called Jolly Venezia and its from Venice. I usually buy this from a store called Silva Guanta in Mosman. 
This was $140. The stone on this one is like a glass rock  in matt silver. The rest is a silver wire spring band which has silver circle wires around it.   

The rings

The rings are my usual Bottega Veneta sterling ring (ebay) and resin Chanel rings.

The shoes

Same as yesterday - the Car Shoe, little sister of JP Tod's.

See you tomorrow.

What I Wore: Every woman should have one piece of cashmere in her wardrobe.

Cashmere is the warmest fibre on earth. Even if its short sleeved. I noticed this vest in the cupboard & decided today's outfit would work around it.

The sweater 

The sweater came from ebay for $100.
Its 4 ply, pure cashmere is a grey mottled knit. If you look closely at the close ups, you'll see threads of green, blue & brown amongst the greys. 

Everything in this brand is amazing. Its known to be "relaxed & refined". Its by a Persian designer called Eskandar. 

It happens to fit perfectly. Its made in Scotland. The retail would have been around $1.5K. A fabulous find. 

You can see a red texta mark on the label, which means the seller got it at a warehouse type sale which means he/she could afford to on-sell it at a good price. Enter me!

Initially I thought the large A line may have been a mistake, but it wasnt - it falls beautifully. Cant explain it. It just does. 

The top

A Bonds black tee with sort sleeves. From David Jones and all I remember is that it was 30% off.

The jeans

Cheap Aussie brand called Philosophy.
From a boutique in North Rocks. I paid $20. They are fitted around the waist but have a wide wide leg. I rolled them up to turn them into boyfriend jeans. It worked. 

Dont try this if you are on the short side - as a wide leg rolled will swamp you. 

The necklaces

Every time I wear this jewellery combo infront of my 9 year old nephew, he says "You wear too much jewellery Aunty Val."  Yeah, this is coming from a kid who has 50 pairs of shoes (most are sneakers, but still...).

The big chunky round diamante was from Diva.
The round circle long chain which has green & matt gold balls on it was from Sussan.
So far, affordable.

The squirly round pendant on the chain, has the oval metal necklace attached to it. Some of the ovals have diamantes attached onto them. This came from a store in Double Bay called Inro. I am not going to admit how much I paid for it. All I can say is even though it looks "plain", its lovely. 

Open sesame! It has a magnetic closure.

The bracelets

A bunch of bracelets in toning muted colours.

The shoes

The Italian brand, JP Tod's has a sister company called the "Car Shoe Company". These are its shoes. A bit funkier than big sister, Tod's. I bought them at a Luisa Sale at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney quite a few years ago. A really good basic. Not cheap, but worth every penny. 

See you tomorrow!

What I Wore: French tailored jacket loves cheap boyfriend jeans

Another formula day for me - a jacket, tee & jeans. 

The jacket

A Louis Feraud wool jacket from about 8 years ago, bought on sale at David Jones. Not cheap, even on sale. The pattern? Window pane checks! Yes, that's formula for me!

Its one of the shortest jackets I own and its a bit snug these days, which means it looks like everyone else wears their garments these days.

Plus it has a gorgeous nipped in waist - Feraud tailoring is always special.

The top

A Witchery tee in black, fitted & flared through the waist with these rabbit ear things on each side hem which extend past the hem at the centre front  & centre back. It just flaps around and makes the top a bit more interesting.

The jeans

I got these at a store called Simone Louise in North Rocks, which has since gone out of business. They are an Australian brand called Philosophy which tends to cater for an "older" market in clothes. These jeans fit me to a tee and are high waisted with wide legs. 

In the old days we called wide leg jeans, "carpenter style". Now, if I roll up the legs, they become boyfriend jeans. I was really pleased to have found a way to make them look modern.

Dont do this at home if you are on the short side. There is alot of fabric rolled into the hem & unless you're tall, they can swamp you.

The necklaces

I layered a few gold toned strands. 

A jade colour pendant from Lovisa (or Diva!).
Two tassel strands from a store in St Ives Shopping Village for $5 each.
A gunmetal chain with black wood beads from The Corner Shop which mixes in with anything.

The cuff

Recycled, Hermes tan cuff, $99 from The Frock Exchange, Balmain.

The bag

My 3.1 Phillip Lim is my everyday bag & doesnt normally get a look in here (because it is always the same). But today is special because she asked me to wear a bag accessory. The only bag accessory I have is the pom poms.

The pom poms are by Hermes, 100% wool with a leather string & I love them dearly. They were a product which was introduced and then didnt sell well, so they were discontinued. I think they were around $300 which I think is cheap for the quality. 

I am still pining after the one that got away - lime, chocolate & deep purple....

Here is a side view of the bag - the top & bottom of each side  has a flap with a zip...to make the bag smaller, you join these flaps by joining the zips so she looks squashed at each end. 

The shoes

Very old Ferragamo Mary Janes in nappy leather, black.

Paid a bomb, but worn steadily for the last 10 years. 

Made to last, just the way I like them. 

See you tomorrow. 

What I Wore: I am not rich enough for cheap clothes.

I was at Fitted for Work for most of the day today, so the outfit had to be smart (as I am styling clients) & practical (as I am bending, stretching & reaching for items in all sorts of places).

I think I nailed smart-modern, but practical was not-where near nailed. Read on... 

The jacket

A navy waffle weave double faced wool long line Escada jacket. Lightweight & while it has a matching pencil skirt, there is no way my thighs can fit into it at the moment.

The jacket is a tad tight around the hips so I wear it undone - it has a lovely drape abut it - looks better undone than done.

I love the cuffs on this too.

STYLE TIP: When you try on a jacket, in addition to fit, colour, fabric, consider the "softness" of its look. No, not just the softness of the fabric, but the softness of the look.

What am I talking about?

See how it is curved at the bottom front edges? See how the cuffs are rounded? The lapels doent have a peaked (pointy) bottom part? All that contributes to the softness of the jacket. So if I wanted to really intimidate someone, say in a business setting, I would wear a jacket which had no curves (apart from being waisted).

The shirt

This is the non practical part of the outfit. Its the first time I have worn it & I had a feeling it wouldnt win "Practicality of the Year", but that was an understatement.

The upshot of something you love not being practical is that you wont wear it often. Cost per wear (CPW) will stay high.
Hence the saying: I am not rich enough for cheap clothing. 

Its a Zara shirt in 100% sheer poly in a blue check. Its part of the Zara Woman range, which I find more fashion forward with better fabrics than the "Zara Basic" range. It was $80, I think.

FABRIC TIP: If this top was 100% viscose (which would have had a similar feel), I would not have bought it. Viscose doesnt wear well. It is very fragile when wet & loses its body easily, making it look very ratty. 100% poly will last a million landfills (unfortunately) but at least I'll be wearing it forever.

What won me over about the top was partly the check pattern (I love checks) but also the cross over front. The last time I saw this wrap shirt style in a big way was back in the series LA Law in the late 80s/early 90s. The District Attorney, Grace Van Owen used to wear them all the time.

STYLE TIP: While styles do come back, please note that they always come back differently. This is a good example. 

Back then, they fully crossed over & were tucked in. 
Now they are cut longer, lower, at the most, half tucked in, more casual & just, well, cut differently.

The Zara trend picks up from the wrap shirt trend on the runways for SS 2013 (southern hemisphere 2013/14). We saw it at Dries Van Noten, Derek Lam & Alexander Wang, 

Its a top you slip over your head - it doesnt open at the front, apart from the collar area. the two wrap bits on either side of the body are one continuous strip of fabric which is literally folded over to produce the wrap. The back is a single layer, and it sits longer. 

So - what's the practicality problem with this shirt?
It keeps riding up....it didnt help that I unpicked the press stud that keeps the front closed, but it just keeps riding up & choking me - well, almost. Drove me mad, keeping it down.

The reason I unpicked the press stud was because it was a pressure point & would pull the fibres in that area - which was front centre. Not a good spot for pulled fabrics to show. 

When you look at the work on this closely, its not flash.
But its a good example of you get what you pay for.  For example, the stitching on the sleeve shows some rippling of the fabric (machine tension not correct). But I liked the style & print enough to get over this and buy.

The underlayer

A shirt this sheer needs cami. The first place I go to is Target. They have shoestring camis in every colour for $9 each. 

Their Hot Aptions range has the same, but with a lower quality (& price). Specifically the straps on the HO range are an elastic which is different to the fabric on the body of the cami & with wear, it starts to look very different in colour to the rest of the cami. Not a good long term look.

As for the colour, I was looking for a navy one & couldnt find it (oops), settling for this cool toned dark mocha. 

It worked well to bring up the blues in the top. 

Also since practicality was an issue for me today - these Target camis are long line - it sat over my jeans and didnt move all day. Unlike the Zara top. 

The necklaces

Alot of open space around a chiffon neckline calls for a few layered necklaces.

Enter a Tiffany and a lapis cross (ebay from a lady in the UK who sold me a few of her bling pieces), both sterling.

The bracelets

One of the bracelets has fallen off the photo. It was a haematite strand with a marcasite magnetic closure.

The two which arent camera shy are a Santos Wish & a home made silver one.

The shoes

These are the YSL rubber platforms which I literally bounce on. 

See you tomorrow.

What I Wore: A mash up of dramatic & boho

The shirt

Country Road, 100% cotton, from about 20 years ago.

The necklace

A cats eye polished stone from Giorgio Armani.
Very dramatic - nothing boho about this.
One of the few brown things that goes anywhere near my face but the interplay with black & the shapes make it work.
Weighs a tonne & cost the same. 
About 12 years old.

The layering necklaces

Both from a Kaboodle stand in a Westfield somewhere for around $30 each...the ball one has a watch on one side & is a see through, to show the watch mechanism on the other. It spins around on its axis. We love each other alot. 

The scarf

A distant cousin of the shirt, a current season Country Road scarf in a wool mix $69.
Also one of the few off white/cream things I wear near my face.

It is still available, although it was part of the first AW 2013 drop where they showcased B&W window pane checks a la Dries Van Noten. 

The pants

Hammock & Vine, around $90, reduced. 
Very good Aussie brand for large thighs & not so large hips.
From the larger David Jones stores.

The bag

Dont fall over - I havent changed my bag for the next 6 months. Just for the day. I remembered this baby & thought she may like to spend a day with new (& old) friends. This was largely made possoble b/c a few days ago, I cleaned out my day bag, so everything was organised & transferable.

A Jamin Puech from a Belinda warehouse sale about 6 years ago. I paid $400 but RRP on this brand's bags starts at $800. Scanlan & Theodore also carry the range.

If you like their Facebook page, they have lovely photo updates - very French and quite bohemian.

Look at all the detail - different pattern & shape patches, stitches, the turquoise beads, the velvet ribbons...& its all on the side...

the base is a nappa leather, very soft....

front detail....& notice the pom pom closure on the cotton string....

The shoes

Clements Riberio from Myer, < $150 a few years ago. 
The ankle length pants showcase the metal ankle straps very well.