Monday 23 April 2012

Sunday 22 April 2012

The Fashion Workshop

I went to a group styling session at my local Westfield on the weekend. It cost $5, which got you 1 hour with the head stylist, talking about and reviewing the hottest trends as modelled by a very tall model, a cupcake from Shingle Inn, a bottle of water/mineral water, and a goodie bag filled with various samples and discount vouchers.

To say that I was excited about the 'event' is an understatement. I love fashion and I thrive on getting inspiration from other stylish women, so this was definitely my cup of tea.

But before the event I was so freakin' worried about what to wear. Do you notice that often all the big fashion designers and people in fashion tend to wear black? Yeah, me too. And surely they are in the know? So I opted for a black top from Kmart that I've had for yonks, and a patterned Easton Pearson silk skirt that I picked up for a steal from David Jones, with my trusty Wittner wedges and a necklace I made myself.

See? This is my outfit.

So, the session was good, and informative, and I got some great outfit inspiration and ideas about where to purchase budget friendly items, but I left feeling a bit confused and down-trodden about my own outfit choices.

But first, lets talk about this seasons 'Hero Pieces' (as the stylist liked to call them). She ran through 3 looks for each item (one for work, casual and evening) so the model really earned her pay that day!

1) Pleat print skirt from Diana Ferrari (I can't find a pic of this, but it was black with a camel coloured flower print all over it)  - this was used to demonstrate how to do the 'print clash' trend. The way to pull off this trend is to link your two pieces via pattern and/or colour, but we all knew that, right?

Image via ASOS
 I love this look but don't think I could pull it off confidently

2) Coloured jeans - this was where my self doubt set in. The stylist said to stick to muted tones like dark mulberry, navy and these teal ones from Sussan
This was the casual look - love the silver cuffs & snake print bag!
She said the brighter colours, like red, are hard to wear and will bring a lot of attention to your legs. I cringed and sunk back into my chair... me, the owner of BRIGHT RED JEANS! Eeek. Oops. I later told her that I was an owner of red jeans and she advised that it was ok to wear red jeans so long as I was a person that liked (and usually wore) bright colours and wore them confidently. I nodded 'yes' and 'yes'. I like colour. I wear my red jeans confidently. Phew! But then she said she wouldn't team black or white with red jeans as there was too much of a high contrast against the red, and would instead team camel, brown and neutrals with them. What? Really? I always wear black or white, or black and white in the form of a striped top with my red jeans. Uh oh. I've been doing it all wrong. But hang on, what about these stylish women? They can't all be doing it wrong too?

Miranda Kerr via Pinterest

Lauren Conrad via Pinterest
So then I got really worried about what to wear with my red jeans... And then through the magic that is Pinterest, I found this:

Brillo. Wear with white, ivory, blush, nude, khaki, chambray, leopard, cheetah, python, black.

via Pinterest

3) Patterned tights - the tights were only subtly patterned, which the stylist said is much better for people with chunky legs (aka, moi).

4) Tailored pants - or 'a tapered pant' as the stylist put it. These were an interesting item to see styled up and one that I never would have considered for myself. The pants they used were from Portmans. These ones:


They have a pleat at the front, which scared me slightly as I have a tummy and have always steered clear of anything that might accentuate it. But the stylist assured me I could wear these, as the pleats have been sewn flat/shut at the tummy and therefore create a smooth finish..

Casual look

Evening look
So, all in all, it was a good session. Some other little pearlers the stylist dropped into the session include:

+ Layer with neutral tones, not just black. This is particularly relevant to wearing black tights and a dress. Like this:

+ Black doesn't suit a lot of people (despite the stylist herself wearing head to toe black AND all of her assistants wearing it too)
+ If you're going to wear all black, incorporate different textures e.g. lace, matte fabric, shiny leather look fabric, etc
+ Snake print will be big for spring/summer so buy up now
+ Bracelet sleeve lengths in tops/dresses are very flattering as our wrists are the thinnest part of our arms and it highlights this feature

She also got me thinking about where I buy my items from. The session highlighted the fact that you don't have to spend a lot of money to look good. Even one of the stylists assistants was wearing $15 leather look leggings from Cotton On and $30 Lady Gaga-esque booties from Payless Shoes. She proclaimed the shoes to be super comfy, but when I went to try them on I discovered that my chubby little foot is too wide for the shoe and hence they were not super comfy. Never fear, I will not give up on the cheap shoe shop.

So, all in all it was a good session and I'll definitely go to one next season. If you live near a Westfield, check out their website and the Fashion Services they offer. Book yourself into a fashion workshop for some new season inspiration!

C xo

Thursday 12 April 2012

Enough babble

Sheepishly, she re-enters the blogosphere hoping that no one will notice her extended absence... 

I know I'm letting the ball drop on this blogging caper. I'm finding it hard to fit social media into my life at the moment. But I'm trying to change that. So... hi!

Speaking of social media, I had a mini break from Facebook for a couple of weeks. It was quite refreshing! And renewed my interest in it again. And made me more diligent with editing what I see in my news feed so it cuts out all the crap and I only see the good things.

Anyway. Enough babble. Onto the good stuff.

Miss L is growing up so fast. She is now standing up on her feet while holding onto the couch/wall/bath/etc. She can't pull herself up yet but is trying. She must take after me in that department because she has a tendency to give up easily especially when the going gets tough. I still do this. Effort. Meh.

Remember how I told you that we invested in some heavily discounted baby Missoni attire. We got it! See?

For Easter I baked these delicious white choc mud cupcakes which wooed my fellow workmates. I needed the wooing to up the friend making factor at work. I think it worked!


Miss L had her first taste of chocolate this Easter. Just little bits though. Don't want to get the addiction started too early, although it is inevitable with my genes (she says as she wipes away smooshed up chocolate from the keyboard - oops!).

At work wearing green blazer (from cheap shop!) and stripe top from H&M 

Outfit photos are scarce but there are a few floating around...




Working the Seed tube dress with a Forever New sheer oversized top
Formatting? What is happening Blogger? Uggh... I am digging the neutrals and bright colour combo at the moment. I plan on wearing lots of brights throughout winter.


How is everyone? What's news? Tell me something. Anything!

C xo

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Things Vogue Taught Me: Part 3

Oh dear. I really am slack at this whole blogging business, aren't I?

Can we just overlook this fact and carry on as normal? Ok. Excellent.

Nevermind the fact that I'm late for this months 'Things Vogue Taught Me' installment....... *ahem*

Here are the top 5 things that Vogue Australia's April edition taught me.



1. The girl on the front cover has very attractive hair, make up, nail colour, nail shape, nail length and outfit. The first thing I thought when I saw the cover was 'Zoe Foster would largely approve of this girls hair, make up, nail colour, nail shape, and outfit' and low and behold what does Ms Z.Foster tweet? But a direct and poignant tweet stating that she does in fact adore the cover girls hair, make up, nail colour, nail shape, nail length and her hat.



2. Gingham. Its in amongst the fash pack. The off duty model wears it very well and in all forms - from a gingham shirt to a gingham print on a pair of glasses.

3. Ear cuffs. We all need to be adorning ourselves with ear cuffs. Elaborately bejewelled ear cuffs that snake their way up our ear.  I spotted a trendy mctrendster in Winn Lane in Fortitude Valley wearing an ear cuff. She must read Vogue.

4. Sparkling embellishments on your clothes/shoes/accessories are not just for night time. No Sir-ree. Whip out the sequins and sparkles for cheery day time wear. What better way to boost your dreary Monday morning than to don your most sparkly sequin jacket?

5. In the walking vs running debate, running wins hands down for weight loss. But we all knew that, didn't we? Running burns more calories/kilojoules so of course its going to promote weight loss. People always talk about the 'running high' you get when you go for a run... I'm slowly starting to feel the first glimpses of that. I went for a run on the weekend and I ran for the longest/furtherest I'd ever been. I didn't want to stop. I just wanted to keep running! Who am I?!!

C xo