What I Actually Wore #0134

Serial #: 0134
Date: 29/07/2013
Weather: 19.5°C / 67°F
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

It’s funny to open up the archives and see this outfit, because very recently this dress came back into my life! I had given it to a friend of mine two or three years ago. She had worn it a few times that I had seen, but finally decided that it swamped her a bit (she’s shorter than I am).

She asked if I’d like it back, so I agreed to have another look at it. However, I’m just not sure that it fits in with my style anymore – the best explanation I can come up with is that it’s too girly for me. I’m not sure if it’s merely the velvet bow belt (easy enough to remove), the sweetheart neckline, the tulip shape, or all three at once.

Here though I have worn it with a wool knit (that I still wear with much affection, though it is darned in several places), and a few other accessories that I all still own.

I have always liked pink paired with brown – it livens up what I have always thought of as a rather dull shade. Ironically, I do much prefer chocolate coloured tights – as I am wearing here – to common black (I always think of liquorice legs when I don black tights on the rare occasion).

The 70s inspired patent wedges I still like too, although I rarely wear them these days, but I feel that I must hold onto them for the sake of some female descendent of mine who will adore them in twenty or thirty years.

I am not sure which era this fur-trimmed, black velvet cap comes from. When I pull it right down, it looks very much like a 20s cloche cap, and there are no labels inside to give a clue to its age; it’s definitely vintage though. The hoop earrings are another vintage relic from eras unknown, but I will never part with those.

All in all, I still like this outfit, but I don’t know that I could wear it now. The dress is hanging in my closet, but when I reach for something to wear in the morning, my hand always hesitates over it.

Items:

Dress: Cue
Tee: Kookaï
Tights: Voodoo
Hat: vintage
Earrings: vintage
Ring: souvenir
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Shoes: Nude

Photos: September 2013

What I Actually Wore #0133

Serial #: 0133
Date: 17/07/2013
Weather: 18°C / 64°F
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

When I was young, a teenager, I hated brown. I think because it stumped me: I didn’t know what to wear with it except more brown, and that was dreary beyond everything, I believed. One day I had an epiphany about the colour, and learned that pink looked wonderful with brown – as do many hues, brown working somewhat like a neutral shade. It’s a good base to build an outfit on.

The skirt I chose to wear with this wool Kookaï knit has a herringbone weave, which is deceptive because one is accustomed to that weave in wool fibre, but this Catalan skirt is actually linen – the day was mild enough to wear it. I bought it as part of a suit many years ago while on holiday in Spain.

Sweet accessories introduce interest into the rest of the outfit: a caramel wool fedora, a necklace made of rectangular beads of cocoa seed, chocolate over-the-knee wool/silk/cashmere blend socks and licorice patent mary-jane heels. (Tasty!) Over the top I wore my vintage 60s black velvet coat. I highly recommend the socks by this French label – so soft and comfortable! I wore them so much I wore them out.

Amazingly, I still own and wear all these items, although the socks are heavily darned in the toes and the knit has a few moth holes in it too. It is currently in my darning pile, damn those flying menaces! The knit is such a great colour, I can’t bear to part with it. I actually thought I was not too bad at darning until I Googled it recently and saw some jaw-droppingly intricate examples that put my clumsy efforts to shame. Still, I always say a darn, even an inept or imperfect one, is an improvement on a hole!

Items:

Tee: Kookaï
Skirt: Celia Vela
Socks: Philippe Matignon
Hat: David Jones
Earrings: hand made
Necklace: second hand from the Salvos
Ring: souvenir
Shoes: BCBG

Photos: September 2013

What I Actually Wore #0132

Serial #: 0132
Date: 11/07/2013
Weather: 16°C / 61°F
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

There are some colour combinations that are easy to choose, and never fail: black, red and blue is one of them.

This outfit was put together like building blocks, starting with the kimono-sleeved dress. It’s really a summer dress, so I put a three-quarter sleeve grey top underneath. This is the trick with adding a fourth colour – it would have been too much to choose a matching blue, but the grey is neutral and subtle.

Blue tights printed with white stars add a fun touch; a more obvious – and storybookish – pairing would have been black and white striped tights. Red Dorothy heels, current favourites, sparkle on my feet. They are actually not very comfortable as they are not leather, which is more yielding, but they look fabulous!

The red wool jacket adds warmth, but I also wore on top my 1960s faux sealskin coat, and a velvet close-fitting cap. My jewellery – black onyx bangle and ring, silver bauble earrings, charm necklace and silver watch complement the colour of the clothing.

I had my bangs trimmed that evening, and one of the salon staff exclaimed in delight when she took my coat and saw my outfit. I looked so cute, like a doll, she said. It has never been my ambition to look like a doll, I must confess; I’d rather look like a woman. In fact, in later years on one of my wardrobe culls, the dress, the tights and the shoes all fell victim to my ruthless dictum: anything that could be considered ‘cute’ was immediately cut! I still have the jacket and the jewellery however. The haircut is long grown out, but I’m considering growing my pixie into a bob again.

Items:

Dress: Luella
Top: Kookaï
Jacket: Muii
Tights: Sock Shop
Earrings: handmade
Necklace: souvenir and vintage
Bangle, ring: souvenirs
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Shoes: Wittner

Photos: October 2013

What I Actually Wore #0131

Serial #: 0131
Date: 03/07/2013
Weather: 16°C / 61°F
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

On a chilly day I decide wool is necessary. A new Anthropologie dress is the easiest choice; I had recently purchased it secondhand on eBay. I had picked it out because of the geometric pattern, which was very Art Deco, even if the minidress had a more modern shape. The knit is quite thick and sturdy, and surprisingly warm. I like the belt which is made in the same fabric too. Matching belts are one thing that so often go astray from their dresses in op shops – it’s maddening! Contrasting ones sometimes never look quite right.

Underneath the dress I wear what I always thought of as my black Guinevere knit, because it had a medieval look with the little puffed shoulders and fitted sleeves. I purchased this Max Studio top in Hong Kong in, I think, 2006, so it had been in my closet for a decade before being culled at the end of last winter. The stockings are also wool for warmth, and my sparkly red Dorothy heels add a splash of colour.

Over this outfit I wore my beloved but fragile vintage 70s Zhivago coat, suede with rabbit fur trim, a vintage velvet and fur-trimmed cloche cap, and carried my black patent vintage 60s/70s handbag. It’s quite a vintage look, but once the coat is off this is a fairly simple outfit, which I like. My hair looks freshly-bobbed too. As it’s growing out now from my current pixie cut, I have been wondering whether to get a bob again, but I am a long way off from this length still.

Photos: July 2013

Items:

Dress: Alice + Olivia for Anthropologie
Top: Max Studio
Coat: Stephen Dattner, vintage
Stockings: Columbine
Hat: vintage
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Jewellery: souvenirs (bangle, ring), handmade (earrings)
Bag: vintage
Shoes: Wittner

What I Actually Wore #130

Serial #: 0130
Date: 02/07/2013
Weather: 19°C / 66°F
Time Allowed: 10 minutes

This is an outfit that was dictated by the cool weather. Once I picked out the navy and white houndstooth skirt, it was easy to build on it with warm layers. It used to be once upon a time that pink and red were considered a ghastly combination, and I’m not quite sure why, since they sit beside one another on the colour wheel and therefore meld quite harmoniously. Both colours look great with navy too.

Some of the items I am wearing were bought second hand in op shops: the coral pink merino wool and silk knit (the front panel is silk) has no label, but I suspect it may be Kookaï; the vintage houndstooth pleated skirt; the red wool beret, and the vintage 60s handbag. The patent wedges are by Australian label Nude, and I purchased them on the online sale site, Ozsale. All the items are still in my wardrobe, miraculously, except for the white and pink striped cotton tee I am wearing under the knit – that wore out.

The other interesting piece is my necklace, which is made up of a number of different charms that I have collected on my travels: an antique Moroccan coin, an 1890s cash register key, a crown and a high-heeled shoe. I have since added some cherries, a pair of boxing gloves, a dove and an antique-style key. I last wore it yesterday. I don’t like charm bracelets, but I would like to make a pair of charm earrings to wear with the necklace – each with two or three different dangles. I do enjoy a-little-bit-wrong things as well as odd things, in both senses of the word: eccentric, and uneven.

Items:

Knit: second hand
Top: Dazzling
Skirt: David Jones
Tights: Columbine
Hat: vintage
Earrings: handmade
Necklace: souvenir/vintage
Ring: souvenir
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Shoes: Nude
Bag: vintage 60s

Photos: July 2013