What I Actually Wore #0092

Serial #: 0092
Date: 04/09/2012
Weather: 24°C / 75°F
Time Allowed: 8 minutes

It is a beautiful spring day, all sunshine! And how easy is it to dress on such a morning, especially when one has planned the outfit the day before? My choice was made simple by the mere fact I had a new dress – and new clothes are meant to be worn immediately of course.

The vintage 80s polka dot dress came from Center Stage Vintage on Etsy, and the black cello straw lattice hat is vintage 50s, also purchased online on eBay. My jewellery includes a pair of black onyx bauble earrings and bangle. Black and white is always a classic combination, but I add a burst of spring-like colour with a pair of pink patent heels, and my vintage 70s hot pink silk coat to ward off the morning chill.

Amelia-Jane grins when she sees me, ‘Well, you’ve embraced spring, haven’t you?’ Who couldn’t be delighted with such a glorious start to the season?

Items:

Dress: Scarlett, vintage 80s, from Center Stage Vintage
Coat: vintage 70s
Hat: vintage 50s
Earrings: handmade
Bangle: souvenir
Rings: (onyx) souvenir, (silver) Roun
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Shoes: Wittner

What I Actually Wore #0091

Serial #: 0091
Date: 02/09/2012
Weather: 19°
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

It is Father’s Day and I am dressing up for a family day at my parents’ house. It isn’t terribly warm, but it is nice and sunny. The outfit starts with the vintage red velvet jacket, which is a newly arrived purchase I made on Etsy, from a Canadian seller. It makes me think of a pierrot with its trapeze shape, feather pompom buttons and cuffs. I fell in love with it the minute I saw it on the website, and purchased it immediately – I had to wait nearly six weeks for it to arrive though, the slowest international mail service I’ve experienced.

Red always looks lovely with grey, and is one of my favourite combinations. The skirt is by Danish label Staff (now called nü), which I purchased in Dubai when I was holidaying there years ago. Such details as pin-tucking, pleating and gathering sumptuous always attract me. (I am also wearing a medium blue long-sleeved, ruched top underneath the jacket.) I love that the red stockings exactly match my T-bar suede heels – a trick that makes one’s legs look longer.

The handbag is also vintage, and is knitted from plastic cord! I have had it for years, and it is always a conversation starter. The purple velvet cap trimmed in feathers is another vintage purchase from Etsy. (On the day I clearly had my hair up, which always looks better with 50s hats.) The bauble drop earrings I made myself, using sterling silver beads and vintage enamel beads in blue with embossed silver stars on them.

I spotted an abandoned stack of mattresses in my parents’ neighbourhood, and thought it would be rather amusing to play princess and the pea for the afternoon, with my niece snapping the photos. (You can see another version here.)

The Princess & the Pea :: Wonder // W40 // No flash

Items:

Jacket: vintage
Top: Anthropologie
Skirt: Staff (now called nü)
Stockings: The Sock Shop
Hat: vintage
Sunglasses: Calvin Klein
Bag: vintage
Earrings: handmade
Rings: Roun (silver), souvenir (onyx)
Shoes: Wittner

What I Actually Wore #0090

Serial #: 0090
Date: 01/09/2012
Weather: 15°
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

It’s the first day of spring. I am meeting a friend for an afternoon movie treat, and all the sunshine pouring through my windows has deceived me into under-dressing: I forego stockings, and regret it later commuting home in the evening.

I don’t often wear prints, but in honour of the day I wear a cherry blossom patterned blouse, bought in Sydney in a pop-up sale a few years ago by a now-defunct Australian designer label. I team it with a golden velvet dot skirt, and a vintage tam in a matching hue – pink for spring blossoms, and gold for the glorious sunshine.

The icing on the cake is a fun collection of sugar-sweet Betty Jackson jewellery: a carousel pendant; a Cupid-style diamanté-studded heart shot through with an arrow that has matching earrings; and a twinkling skull and crossbones ring.

Items:

Top: Bracewell
Skirt: Maeve for Anthropologie
Jewellery: Betty Jackson
Watch: Lencer
Hat: vintage 

What I Actually Wore #0089

Serial #: 0089
Date: 24/08/2012
Weather: 14°
Time Allowed: 20 minutes

You might have noticed I am not one to ever bother with hiding my light under a bushel … I picked out this shiny, glittery outfit to wear to Melbourne Theatre Company’s Season 2013 launch, when I, and a number of other staff, would be shining our lights on the stage during the presentation.

It was a chilly and wet winter evening, and I planned to walk to the arts precinct, hence the rather heavy black patent heels and stockings. (I offset them with my black velvet evening coat.) Usually I would not wear silver and gold metallics together, but this vintage 80s spangled top has both, so I decided to run with the theme. The silver skirt I had bought for a wedding many years ago, the silver rose a whimsical purchase online, and the metal mesh bag is one of three I already own.

I must say I do like the effect of the rose against my loose French roll – the only time I like myself with long hair is when it is in an updo. And apparently, although I was standing in the back row, those sequins did light up the stage like a disco ball!

Items:

Top: Miles & Mike, vintage
Skirt: David Lawrence
Coat: vintage
Headpiece: vintage
Earrings: handmade
Ring: Autore
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Bag: Glomesh, vintage
Shoes: Wittner

What I Actually Wore #0088

Serial #: 0088
Date: 22/08/2012
Weather: 21°
Time Allowed: 7 minutes

Some outfits just come together like magic. This one was like magic out of a storybook on account of the striped jumper and the star printed stockings. Not to mention the red glittery shoes, which always add a touch of fairytale to an ensemble. Someone from my work tried to define my look and called it a retro après-ski style – that was for my pompom scarf I guess! Only the hat is vintage in fact – a 1940s number bought on eBay.

I like this outfit because the graphic elements and bright colours give it a cartoon-style fun without venturing into caricature or the realm of harajuku costume. One of my illustrator friends often dresses her characters in striped tops and bright paints like these, and I like to imagine I look like one of the girls stepping out of her picture books.

Items:

Top: Meredith
Skirt: Anthropologie
Hat: vintage 40s (eBay)
Scarf: souvenir (Hong Kong)
Stockings: The Sock Shop
Earrings: handmade (by me)
Bangle: souvenir (Vietnam)
Ring: onyx, souvenir (Vietnam); silver Roun
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Shoes: Wittner