Dancing Nina Proudman

Ok, you've seen the dancing episode, now you too want to look like crazy Nina on the dance floor, right?

#1. Paisley/floral, knee length, loose/easy fit.
#2. In this case its short sleeved, but it doesnt have to be.
#3. Gold necklace medallion
#4. Tan boots.
#5. Arm party - a stack of gold thin bangles 
#6. Simple gold ring & earrings

#1. The dress

Where to buy?

Affordable - Kmart, Tar-jay, Portmans, SurfStitch, Jay Jays, Just Jeans, Supre. I havent seen anything at Big W.
 
Mid / high priced - Charlie Brown, Megan Park, Little Joe, Lee Matthews, Paul & Joe, Camilla.


Most of the images below are to give you inspiration. Dont forget, the show was filmed over summer, while the items in store now are winter, so its often not possible to source the exact item. 


Here is a Kate Moss version - in black/blue tones. Sure this isnt in the brown tones of Nina's ensemble, but the theme is the same.....

Glue $150

 

Echo

Similar pendant to Nina

Zara

Zara

Empire seam is great if you are an apple shape

Supre $10

SurfStitch $60. There is absolutely no reason why a maxi cant achieve the same look.

2. Gold medallion necklace

You can even layer a couple of them, whether the same length or varied lengths.

If you cant afford the real thing, go costume.

I love strolling through Diva & Lovisa & frankly I think they have a better variety & interpret the trend better than Colette by Colette Hayman & Equip.

I posted this photo last week - its equally applicable this week - after all, Nina's style is pretty consistent week to week.

3. Tan boots

I Love Billy $90 on styletread.com.au

YSO $220 on styletread.com.au

4. Arm party - a stack of thin gold bangles

Again, if you cant afford the real deal, go directly to Diva & Lovisa.

5. Earrings & ring

If you have a gold ring you love - wear it. 
Even if its a cocktail ring - its still keeping with Nina's style - so wear it, even if its not identical to the small Nina ring worn here.


As for earrings - all you need is something simple....

In fact, see earrings on the left? look familiar? They are the brand Micheal Chubb & he has supplied them to the show.....

Michael Chubb

http://www.paddingtonmarkets.com.au/author/michael-chubb/

I hope this post has given you some inspiration for Nina's style in today's episode.

But dont forget what Blair says:

Nina Proudman shops at Zara

Nina loves her maxis, right?
 

 

And we have seen her with at least one leather jacket - a military style below.

Frankly I didnt like it....it looked too vinyl for my liking...& the pirate shirt...eeeww.....

So I popped into Zara in Sydney, thinking there HAS to be Nina inspired clothes in there.

So what did I find?

Step 1:

First the leather jacket.

A Zara Basic black pleather jacket for $119 
Note this is in a biker style - so cool.

or if she wants to go more high end biker:

This Zara Woman version for $359 (which was in the window).

Step 2:

Add a fitted camisole underneath..just like Nina:

This one is from the web site - but the store also has them in a myriad of colours for $20 or less.


Step 3:


Now let's find a maxi.....Nina's maxis are all floral or paisley, soft looking, often tiered.

Frankly, at the risk of alienating the readership (hahahaha), I'd like her to update her maxis to something that looks more modern, yet still in keping with her feminine style. My heart is in the right place - I just want to bring her into 2012.


So I found this Zara Basic maxi for $80:

It has a reptile print - yes, different for Nina.
But in a soft colour - very Nina.
& in irregular vertical pleats - something different for Nina.

WOW! Do you think neurotic Nina can cope with this?


But notice that the overall look & feel of this still says feminine boho - which is Nina's style after all. However some of the smaller details are different to what she normally wears.



Here are some more piccies from the web:

There's two things I want you to think about from this blog post.

1. Firstly

By updating Nina's pieces just a touch with the more modern items of a biker jacket and a reptile print maxi, she can still remain true to her style (feminine boho) but in a modern way.

Moral: For you & I, as much as we have been wearing a particular style, we too need to update our pieces as time goes on, so we dont look dated.

But can you handle this sort of tweaking to Nina's wardrobe?

2. Secondly

Everyone loves Nina's style - but dont forget that she is a fictional character. Use her as inspiration, but dont try to copy her look head to toe. Being individual is part of the beauty of being YOU.

Moral: As Blair Waldorf says:

 

Why your shoes dont have a driver's license

You may recall I am crazy for maintenance.
That's maintenance of my clothes, shoes, bags & jewellery. Cleaning, polishing, mending, dusting, packing, storage, organising, cataloguing etc etc. I love everything about this concept - it's like a religious experience for me.  heheheh.

If however you look at a pair of chocolate textured Bruno Maglis I own and you may be surprised that I just said that....because they look pretty worn & unloved...

In fact, they look like they have been through WWIII....the below photo doesnt show surface dirt - it shows horrible abrasions to the leather......

The right heel base has worn right through to the plastic, all the backs are badly scuffed.

I have worn them many consecutive days (no "rest days" in between), so the shape of my toes have imprinted on the shoe outer and that makes them look icky.

How could I do this to my babies?

Should we call Shoe DOCS (Department of Community Services)?

I am a bad mum.

Or am I?

In my defense, I need to give you some background - 

I bought these from the David Jones warehouse in Birkenhead Point, Sydney in around 2002.

The box lowest price was $218.75, but I would normally only buy when they had "red spot specials" like an extra 50% off the lowest marked price (which they did often)....so I sure I paid around $100 odd. Happy Dance!

Italian leather, the original was $299 (blacked out), their season is SS1998 (top right).

Surprised I keep the boxes, even after 10 years? Dont be - its all part of maintenance.

The box keeps them dust free & protected from pressure of other goodies (no pile of crushed shoes thrown at the bottom of the wardrobe for me). 

I realise some of you may not have the storage room, but if you do, boxes are gold.

Like all my shoes with a single (non platform) sole, I took them straight to the cobbler to get a topey sole put on the shoe.

But instead of going to my trusted cobbler in the city, I decided to try a local Mr Minit in the suburbs (with whom I didnt have a relationship - that's a professional shoe relationship....).

After a lengthy chat about the quality of their work, I left six shoes with them for topeys - big mistake, big mistage, huge! They had a relatively inexperienced fellow doing the job & each shoe came back with a knife cut along the base of the leather all around the shoe near the sole. I was devastated. 

...see the fine cut running along the leather? its all around the shoe.....devastated.....

I had willfully neglected my babies.

 

So now I had 6 damaged pairs - Mr Minit refunded the cost of the soles, but I didnt pursue the cost of the shoes through Fair Trading (in hindsight, I should have...).

I have worn the other 5 pairs here & there, but knowing of the damage (even though no one else notices it) is so disappointing.

As for this Magli pair - they were always a bit squeezy to start with - so I decided to put them in the queue as my driving shoes.

No, I am not talking about J.P.Tod's - the Italian shoes with the rubber dots on the bottom......

I am talking about any old shoe that has seen better days which I dont consider good enough to pass onto goodwill. 

I am talking about shoes that I only wear for driving, so that none of my other shoes need to be worn for driving.

As for the queue, well, occasionally there may be 2 or 3 driving shoes in the queue. When I wear one out completely, I throw it out & start using the next one (as a driving shoe). gee, I'm thrifty.....

I also use my driving shoes as wet weather shoes - as I never wear my loved shoes in the rain - I carry the good shoes in a bag until I have gone indoors. Even if it looks like it will rain, I take the driving shoes with me.

Make sense?

I know anyone out there who is super busy may be rolling their eyes right now - but its just what I do. 


The Maglis have been my driving shoes for about 12 months now & I dont recall ever having worn them in the rain - but look at how cruel the driving is to shoes. Imagine if you had to subject the shoes you really liked to this?  No, No, No. I'd want to call Shoe DOCS.


I keep the Maglis in the garage, next to the car so they are easy to slip on and off. 

So what now lives in the box?

Meet:

Marni toe capped mary janes from Ebay-land.

They are tan with a paintbrush effect on the leather with two cute buttons (red & green) on each straps. 


Marni is known for its quirkiness - & these babies are that to a tee.

& now with topey sole from my city cobbler, all perfect & pretty. Definitely not driving shoes.

Notice the cute rabbit (formed by dots) on the sole? - that's an adorable Marni trademark...


The moral:  

Your shoes dont have a driver's license because driving is bad for their health.

If you can, keep an old pair of shoes near the car for driving - even if your car is an automatic, you'll ruin nice shoes  much faster than if you dont use them for driving.

Woman of style - bright colours & a classy bag

I have to admit, that as a resident of an outer north west suburb of Sydney, I dont see as many blog worthy "women of style" as I would like, compared to if I was people watching in the eastern suburbs or the inner city.

However the woman of style in this post lives in my suburb & I spotted her at a local bank branch - yes, some of us still do some over the counter banking. 


Her name is Dele (pronounced Del) and she is a business manager for a company that imports and wholesales African food products.

This is Del:

Notice:

1. Slim figure, hence skinny jeans

2. With dark skin, bright colours near her face will bring the eye upwards, to her face (& right where it should be)...perfect!

3. A classy bag, Louis Vuitton (Bloomies in the US)

4. Neutral mocasins that dont detract from the brights but tone in with the bag (but not in a matchy-matchy way)

Now lets take a closer look at the lovely face:

The tee is a perfect fuschia for her.

But those earrings are an astounding jewellery selection for her. She bought them from a local costume jewellery chain store (like Diva, but not Diva)....those earrings are (figuratively speaking) gold for her complextion.

This lady definitely has a knack for what looks good on her & she glows with confidence.

Now dear readers, please go back to my facebook page & click Like if you think Del is a blog worthy woman of style!

Woman of style - Neralee & her arm parties

 

A few weeks ago, on a Saturday afternoon, I was driving to Hurstville. (sheepishly...) I suppose I should tell you why I was headed there as it relates to the blog...I was chasing (as you do...) a Jane Lamerton denim pencil skirt in my size - the only one left in NSW. 

Now before you start on me, I am not one of those people who spends $20 of petrol to save $10 on an item. Seriously I am not! Well, not usually....


The skirt was $28 reduced from $40 reduced from $80. Did I mention it was the last one in NSW? So naturally it was a matter of importance. Also the Myer sale which was currently 30% off at the time finished on the Sunday, so not only was it important, it was urgent, well, semi-urgent.


Driving along, thinking about the soon to be mine skirt and why the heck Hurstville was so darned far away from my home, I was rudely interrupted by a police siren. So I stopped, as you do, to determine where it was coming from so that I could figure out whether to pull over & what else to do. 

A second later, "BANG" and another car hit me from behind. Now that was ruder than the police siren, eh?. That sinking feeling of being in a car accident reared its ugly head faster than you can say "Hermes is the best brand in the world".

I got out & asked the other driver if they were insured & the answer was yes, thankfully. At their suggestion we pulled into the near by side street and got out of our cars to examine the damage and exchange details.

Well, it turns out it was a lady driver. As she got out for a split second, I got distracted by what she was wearing, then the logical part of my brain told the creative part to "stop it" and to focus on the business at hand... 


As I was writing out my details for her (her name was Neralee, oops, her name still is Neralee....) she quizzed me about the label on the pen I was using....

"I know Escada" she said.
"Yes, its a German brand that does high end womens clothing & accessories." I responded.
"I have bought it overseas" she then said.


Well, that was the first thing that officially made her a nice lady, despite the fact that she had crashed into my car.


As I continued to write, my right brain took over again and I kept one eye on this lady...its not that I didnt trust her - its that she looked really good. In short - blog worthy....


With all the paperwork and swapping of details now over, I told her about my blog/facebook page and that I wanted to take a few photos....she kept insisting she wasnt photo ready and that she was on the way to the hairdresser to get her hair done for a nite out dancing. 

Anyone watching us would have thought we were arguing about the crash - no way - we had far more important things to argue about.

I finally had to resort to the old "you do THIS to my car & you wont even let me take a few photos?" Emotional blackmail - works every time.....


Check out these photos ....

Here she is admiring her crash target - my  boot & bumper bar.....  

Notice:

1. Knit tunic top with assymetric peek-a-boo cut out - interesting. Top skims over the hips & doesnt hug in any wrong places.
2. Capri (7/8) pants
3. Black flats with interest on the vamp
4. Bracelet length sleeves which allow the showcasing of arm party on each arm.
5. Dark sunnies - glam no matter how late the previous night was.
6. Beautiful asymetric cut platinum hair which picks up well with the asymetric cut of the top.
7. Monochrome neutral outfit colour, top to toe - simple & easy. Also slimming due to the up & down eye movement it creates


Do you like her look? 

I do!

Now, let's take a close up of her arm parties!

One wrist was a whole lot of silver bangles, all different &  all bought at different times and on various trips. 


The other wrist had a whole lot of gold bangles, again different & interesting.

& the mani in lavendar!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.

A truly stylish woman, totally blog worthy.

BTW, Neralee is a caterer/photographer with an eye for fashion. No surprises given the flair with which she dresses.

Go to my Facebook site & Like if think Neralee is blog worthy. 
 

Nina Proudman - the clothes from season 3 episode 6

Today (episode 6 of season 3) we saw a couple of outfits and a PJ bottom (with tee shirt top).


The main outfit she wore when fighting with Patrick (& her headspace) was the red one and that's what this blog post will cover. 

Firstly, did you notice the outfit had more colour above the waist than was typical of Nina? Did you like that?

The red outfit consisted of the following items:

Red tank
Salmon pink jacket
Red chiffon scarf
Blue denim jeans
Knee high tan boots
Tan bag
Jewellery


The red tank:

Witchery have always carried one virtually identical for $30AU. The colour is "rouge".

or if you want one that is more bra friendly, Witchery again, "rouge" again, for $30.

Salmon pink jacket:

This one was interesting - initially when I saw the previews (bust & upwards), I thought it was a tee shirt material cardi like this one for $20 from Supre....

But on sitting 1 cm away from the TV screen, during the episode, I realised it was a lined short jacket in a poly or acetate fabric with very (very) dropped shoulders (read: ill fitting, not deliberately boho) & had a tiny salmon & white checked print. It was elbow length. It didnt look like it had any closure/buttons, adding to the relaxed feel.

The fabric looked straight out of the 80s, circa Emporio Armani, but the style was not as short as we wore them back then. It was waist level, with the front corners extending slightly longer.

My suggestion for a similar style is Metalicus.

Every season they do a myriad of soft cardigans that work as layered pieces or on their own.

The colours vary each season, but there is always one version of each colour available each season. Eg: The pink they do this year may be salmon, the pink they do next year may be peach and the year after it may be bay pink. But each season, there will always be a pink of some shade. 

Here are some suggestions:

These two with a ruffle....

& a slightly more structured style, again, Metalicus....

The scarf:

She is also wearing (surprise, surprise), a skinny scarf in red chiffon silk, with a white geometric pattern...


How about we try something like......

or even a string wool scarf

These infinity string scarves are popular - the infinity (continuous circle) would make a nice change for Nina while still staying true to her style.

A single strand floral scarf would well....

or a narrow crochet (or knit) scarf.....

The rules for Nina scarves:

1. No fancy ties - just hang it around your neck or wrap it around ONLY once.

2. Make it thin & long

3. Tone the colour into the outfit - in this case, the scarf (acquired & filmed in summer), goes back to the camisole part of the outfit, in a red shade.....

The bag:

A saddle bag, cross body in tan with a buckle front.

Nina's bag had a slightly smaller buckle, otherwise very similar.

Similar ones at Fossil, Coach, Hogan, even Guess and Sportsgirl.

The boots:

These look identical, except for the fold over part at the top.

These are easy to find - any high street shoe store should hold something similar.

The Jewellery:

- a stack of bangles on one wrist - various metals and weights - costume jewellery stores like Diva & Lovisa can take care of your needs here.

- her gold watch on the other wrist

- a short flat gold pendant that reached the breast bone.

The pendant on the right is probably closest - but any of these would give the same vibe.

- a longer gold ball pendant that reached the bottom of the cleavage.

Whether its a semi precious cat-eye or an antiquey opening one (for a photo (of Patrick) or a watch) or a pave look, any of these will do the trick.

Her earrings were a simple circular drop which she wore last week. I think they have a simple semi precious stone in the centre, about 1/2 cm in diameter.

And remember, dont get too hung up on replicating these items to the letter.

Nina is after all, a fictional character but you are a real person.  

Let your style shine through & just take a hint of her's as inspiration.

With this in mind, I leave you with two quotes from inspirational women in the arts:
 

Coco Chanel:
In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.

Anita Roddick:
If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just.