What I actually wore #0023

Serial #: 0023
Date: 04/02/2009
Weather: forecast 31°, morning a cool 19.5°
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

This outfit was built around the pants, which I think are adorable. Karen Walker described them as ‘plus-fours’. The Runaway label features an illustration of a little ragamuffin with all her worldly goods packed away in a square cloth that is dangling from her walking-stick. Cute as a button! … And she is embossed on the gold button too.

The fabric is also sweet – dark olive checked lines on army green, with tiny maroon flowers scattered all over. I love the stretch cuffs on the pants too. (The last time I wore these pants was in Vietnam a few months ago when I was having a combined mani/pedi. The two lovely girls attending my limbs giggled excessively over these stretchy cuffs.)

Occasionally I like to be naughty with my prints, so I decided to wear a blue top from Cue; the baby cord is printed with an art deco style pattern. The top actually flares out, so had to be tucked in, or I would have looked like Tweedledum. (Not Tweedledee, needless to say.)

As a counterpoint, I wore my heavy onyx bead necklace (read more here). The blue-green beads are so delicious I could almost eat them. I like that they are made from onyx beads I bought from completely different markets across the globe: the black from Stanley Market in Hong Kong, the green from the Blue Souq in Sharjah (one of the United Arab Emirate states).

Items:

Top: Cue
Pants: Karen Walker Runaway
Earrings and necklace: green onyx from Sharjah, black onyx from Hong Kong
Rings: green stone ring from Dittoday, silver rings from Roun
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Sunglasses: agnès b.
Shoes: Zoe Wittner

What I actually wore #0022

Serial #: 0022
Date: 03/02/2009
Weather: forecast 31°
Time Allowed: 5 minutes

Another hot day, and another easy, comfy dress. This is not a shape I generally go for, as I think the silhouette is a little unsophisticated, but in this climate you can’t go wrong.

It was really the print that attracted my eye: it is almost like a giant snakeskin pattern, hence the high sandals. The straps are black patent leather, but the sole and heel are snakeskin in black, brown and white tones. The spotty pattern also influenced my choice of earrings: a pair of chandeliers made from seed pearls.

It was really the print that attracted my eye: it is almost like a giant snakeskin pattern…

And those agnès b sunglasses! Last year I went to Dubai, and did not realise I had stupidly forgotten to take some sunglasses with me. As it happened, shortly after my arrival X and I decided to go on a balloon flight over the desert, and booked places for the next morning. “But I don’t have any sunglasses with me!” I exclaimed in panic. What a good excuse to go to Dubai Mall for a shopping trip that night!

What a trip it was. I have never seen a car-park that enormous, and the mall was only one-third finished. It even has an aquarium, and an ice-rink if one should tire of shopping. But we were on a mission and had two hours to complete it.

I was after Calvin Klein sunglasses, but no-one seemed to sell that brand in Dubai. We trawled all over the unfinished mall, trying to decipher the multi-page map just to follow the convoluted walkways. Everywhere there was bling, bling and more bling! No wonder no-one sold CK eyewear – it’s too minimal.

Finally I tracked these sunglasses down in agnès b., but of course I couldn’t buy them immediately, as we hadn’t yet scouted all the stores. After endless traipsing and trying X’s patience, we returned at last to the boutique and I handed over my credit card.

The next morning they perched glamorously on my head the entire balloon trip. The sky was so hazy I didn’t once need to shield my eyes from the rising sun!

Items:

Dress: Ink
Earrings: Portobello Lane
Ring: Roun
Sunglasses: agnès b.
Shoes: Zoe Wittner
Watch: Kenneth Cole

What I actually wore #0021

Serial #: 0021
Date: 02/02/2009
Weather: forecast 31°, sultry and unsettled; reached 27°
Time Allowed: 0 minutes – picked out the dress the night before

This dress amuses me. It looks like nothing on the hanger, and on me – if the wind blows in the wrong direction – it can make me look like I am in the family way, to put it delicately.

However, I am always attracted to unusual cuts. This dress had a minimal, Grecian feel, and I particularly liked the belt. It was white (a non-colour I love) and the billowing linen promised to keep me cool on the hot days of an Australian summer. It is by Australian designer Karla Spetic, and I happened upon it in a sale store that popped-up for a brief time in Chapel St.

My red earrings are carved cinnabar beads from a shop in Bridge Rd, Richmond, and still give me good mileage many years later. The red frames of the sunglasses sport a leopard print; I scored them from a Frenchwoman on eBay.

The dress certainly delivered on its promise – and I have at least one maternity outfit at the ready!

Items:

Dress: Karla Spetic
Earrings: Chinese import shop
Hairclip: Paris Mode
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Sunglasses: vintage
Shoes: Zoe Wittner

What I actually wore #0020

Serial #: 0020
Date: 27/01/2009
Weather: a sweltering 36.4° and this was at 6pm!
Time Allowed: 10 minutes – shower, dress, go!

I had a date with Guy Pierce at the end of January. Oh alright, the date was with my cousin, who works at the MTC and got me a freebie to see Poor Boy. Nevertheless, I had to rush home in the stifling heat of a summer afternoon, quickly shower and change and then calmly, unperspiringly walk to the theatre in Southbank. So to save time, it behoved me to mentally assess my wardrobe on my walk home.

I would wear my white silk Montana dress. Of course, being such a hot evening, silk was probably not the best choice, but I was determined to wear it. It was a special dress, and I had only worn it once before. I had for years admired it in Cleg’s… in the Vogue Designer patterns book before I finally purchased it. I adored its A-line shape; the funnel neck; the cap sleeves. And the matching lightweight coat was lovely too.

…white silk! Could I be trusted not to spill red wine, or drop some deep-fried hors d’oeuvre on it?

I had decided I wanted white silk crepe for the dress, and found the fabric online for US$40 a yard, a quite reasonable price. (I also purchased some lovely taupe coloured linen for the matching coat for around $7 per yard, compared with $90 per metre for Irish linen in Cleg’s; mine was of no lesser quality.) When the fabric arrived in the post, I was terrified by how beautiful the silk was – I mean, white silk! Could I be trusted not to spill red wine, or drop some deep-fried hors d’oeuvre on it?

My darling sister Blossom sewed both garments beautifully for me – the coat, made from hardy linen – has seen much more wear. (I never intended for them to be worn together: that would be far too matchy-matchy for me.)

That hot afternoon I slipped the dress over my head, and chose my white wedges to wear with the dress. The neckline of the dress required simple jewellery, so I went minimal with slender toothpicks of silver. My cute Burberry bag was my other designer item, a surprise present from X back in December. I hadn’t worn it anywhere special yet, so a date with Guy seemed to fit the bill.

So I gingerly walked to the theatre along the Tan, an incongruous sight amongst all the joggers, and made it home again late that evening, the dress none the worse for wear. And now it hangs demurely in my closet, waiting for its next outing.

Items:

Dress: Montana
Earrings: Roun
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Rings: Roun, Ian Potter Centre Gallery Shop
Bag: Burberry
Sunglasses: Agnès B
Shoes: Scanlan & Theodore

What I actually wore #0019

Serial #: 0019
Date: 18/01/2009
Weather: a balmy 25°C
Time Allowed: 5 mins

Sunday brunch with girlfriends; warm day. I wasn’t long back from Dubai, and was still pleasurably enjoying the new additions to my wardrobe. I decided to wear my ‘alibaba’ pants (as I like to call them), so something slim-fitting on top was called for.

The tshirt is from Rich, and is something that I’ve owned for years. I have gone through summers where I like it, and wear it; and summers when it languishes in my drawers. I have at least once rescued it from the charity shop bag.

The bag has such a nice shape and balance for swinging when the sun’s out, too.

As the outfit was all grey tones, I added a bit of colour with a pair of red enamel earrings, splashed asymmetrically with white, and a pair of vaguely Oriental-looking wedges that are piped with red. A present , the Burberry bag clashed fabulously with my tshirt. It’s very little, and fits little more than my wallet, phone and tissues, so will do for occasional outings only. The bag has such a nice shape and balance for swinging when the sun’s out, too.

Items:
Top: Rich
Pants: Staff
Shoes: Unique Shoes
Bag: Burberry
Earrings: from Love It