Posts Tagged ‘fashion’
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Fashion Swap Items for the Aussie Bloggers Conference
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If you’ve stumbled across this post, you might like to read this introductory post first for a little bit of background information. The items below are on offer to attendees of the Aussie Bloggers Conference 2011 as part of a Fashion Swap project co-ordinated by @Gabfran of Caveat Calcei and myself.
I’m excited about Fashion Swap. I’m sending some old fashion favourites off to a good home and I’m decluttering. Win-Win.
What do I have on offer? Behold:
One From the Heart Maternity Tops
I’m offering these two maternity tops as one item, as they are identical except for the colour. I wore these lovely tops, which I bought from the Pumpkin Patch maternity wear section, both during and after my pregnancy. They are loose and comfortable. Both are medium in size and made from polyester/nylon.
Black Vivienne’s Collection Pants
These tailored pants are in quite a heavy material and fully lined. Unfortunately, thanks to three pregnancies and an addiction to chocolate, I can only wear these pants if I don’t want to breathe at the same time. Tempting, but probably not for the best. The pants are size 10, 100% Australian wool with polyester lining. Spare button still attached to care tag. The flash has made them look a little grey, but they are actually black with no fading. Care tag says dry clean only.
Black Adele Palmer Pants
I adored these pants, but unfortunately they haven’t seen the light of day for some time. Yet another pair of tailored pants that forces me to choose between looking stylish and breathing. The legs are quiet full and the pattern is a dark green stripe with a fine red stripe either side. The pants are lined with a side zip. They are size 10 and made from wool/polyester acetate. Care tag says dry clean only.
Pale Blue Gino Nicci Heeled Sandals
Never worn, these shoes were an impulse buy that simply didn’t match anything that I had in my wardrobe. They are very cute, with Austrian crystals covering one of the straps across the top of the foot. Size 8 1/2 with a 2 inch heel, fabric upper.
Brown No! Shoes
I was never going to fit into these lovely size 7 heeled shoes, but I bought them anyway. Why? Your guess is as good as mine, but they have sat in my wardrobe taunting me for long enough. They have never been worn and I would love to pass them on to someone with (slightly) smaller feet who will love and enjoy them. 1 1/2 inch heel and synthetic upper. The colour is slightly darker than it looks in the photographs.
What now? If you are attending the Aussie Bloggers Conference and would like to claim one of my Fashion Swap items, please list the item and the phrase ‘It’s Mine!’ in the comments below. Make sure that you include an email address, blog and/or Twitter name so that I can contact you to confirm your interest.
Don’t see anything here that suits you? Don’t be discouraged. Follow the #FashSwap hashtag on Twitter and visit the other blogs that are taking part. Check in to the Aussie Bloggers Conference forum at Aussie Mummy Bloggers as well, as we’ll be posting Fashion Swap updates there over the coming week. I’ll be regularly updating the list of participants on my Fashion Swap Guidelines post as well.
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Twitter Fashion Advice
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I threw out a random thought on Twitter today. After the first visit to the dressmaker with my daughter for the junior bridesmaid’s dress she will be wearing at her aunt’s wedding, I was wondering out loud what I would wear to that same wedding. The bridesmaids’ dresses are aubergine, the bride will wear cream, mother of the bride TBA.
In the bride’s immediate family there are five additional females. One sister and both nieces are in the bridal party and her mother will be mother of the bride (duh). That leaves me alone in that fashion minefield that is finding a dress to wear that matches everyone else (for the photos) but doesn’t make me look like a bridesmaid wanna-be.
As I wondered aloud about this conundrum on Twitter, I mused that maybe I should go retro and wear a nice 80s style apricot taffeta. I mean, you can’t go wrong with a nice puffy-sleeved taffeta frock in a fancy shade of orange, can you?
From this humble beginning, Suzie Eisfelder (@SuzsSpace), Marg Bates (@MargReads) and Bambi Gordon (@DoTheWoo) joined me on a nostalgic journey through the highlights of 80s fashion which led me to suggest one electric blue shoe/one hot pink shoe worn with one electric blue and one hot pink sock (worn with opposing coloured shoe, of course). Ah, the 80s. What were we thinking?
After much serious deliberation and fashion-savvy advice, my final wedding outfit appears to be a lime and yellow polka dot nylon jumpsuit with blue court stilettos, fluorescent orange socks (courtesy of Suzie), an Adele Palmer white leather jacket (kindly donated by Bambi), a glomesh purse and a circlet of flowers as a headpiece (thanks Marg). We didn’t discuss the specifics, but I imagine the flowers will involve quite a bit of Baby’s Breath.
We even deliberated over makeup – hot pink and blue eyeshadow, electric blue eyeliner and mascara and blue opal lipstick (remember the one that was pink with a blue shimmer to it? Fashion gold, my friends).
Can you hear that sound? It’s Alison Tiffet (@StyleCounsel), who will be helping me with my wardrobe makeover in the near future, hyperventilating in the corner. Take some deep breaths, Alison. It won’t be as nearly as traumatic as you imagine. (I hope).
After everyone had moved on to other topics, I realised that we had forgotten to include legwarmers (would this be overdoing it with the socks and stilettos?) and some nice lace gloves, probably in black and with some hearts or stars on them. Noice.
I think Suzie, Marg, Bambi and I came up with a winning combination, although Alison seems to think she might be able to pull together something even better.
What do you think? Will I be the Belle of the Ball? I’m happy to take further suggestions on board.
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What My Lipsticks Say About Me
1In an attempt to complete the De-clutter Challenge set by The Organised Housewife, I recently decided to de-clutter my cosmetics. Not a huge job, since I don’t use much make-up, but there were definitely some items that could be tossed. Yes, Mother’s Day Stall hand cream gift, I’m talking about you.
After sorting through a few lotions, potions and crumbly lipsticks that needed to go, I was left with a small selection of makeup (foundation, blusher, bronzer, eye shadows, one mascara, lip liners and eye liners) and a pile of lipsticks. Nineteen to be exact.
Just in case you’re assuming that a supply of nineteen lipsticks means I have one to suit every outfit and occasion, behold:
Yes, nineteen lipsticks, but only 3 – 4 shades, all of which are variations of brown.
Despite my lack of makeup application know-how, I do love cosmetics, especially lipstick. You can put on some foundation and lipstick and suddenly you’re ready to face the world. Obviously I think the world is a bit fragile and unable to cope with unexpected change, as I’d look pretty much the same no matter which lipstick I chose from my collection.
“But wait!”, I hear you cry. “There is a bright red one. There, in the centre. Proof that you aren’t totally predictable.” You’re right. There is a red one. It was given to me in a thank-you gift by a friend. I’ve never worn it. *Sigh*
So, after much soul searching (well, a good 2 minutes at least), I have come to the conclusion that my makeup, like the majority of my wardrobe, has been chosen to make it as easy as possible for me to fade into the background, a compensation for my tendency to have strong opinions and a sarcastic sense of humour.
Or maybe I’m just colour blind. Who knows?
I feel a bit like Billy Birmingham’s spoof of legendary cricket commentator Richie Benaud with his “cream, bone, white, off-white, ivory or beige” jackets. My monochrome obsession just comes with fancier names like sherbet, dreamy, blush, dusk, hot toffee and marshmallow.
Maybe Alison Triffet will be able to revamp my cosmetics as well as my clothing when she does my wardrobe makeover…
What does your lipstick say about you?
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The Ghosts of Fashion Past
1Inspired by this recent Retro-styled post by Meredith at Oh, The Thinks you can Think about her childhood fashion faux pas, I have searched through my photos to see what I could come up with. It was the 70s, so the chances of finding something truly atrocious were reasonably high.
I was actually searching for a specific photo. This is the photo that I will be keeping in mind when my mother is old and feeble and I am responsible for choosing her clothing, which will probably be something in loud, floral-print polyester. If you’re reading this Mum, I want you to remember that when you’re trying to work out why you are wearing bright red slacks with an orange and pink print blouse. It’s called karma.
So, here it is. Apologies for the dodgy photography. We’ll blame the 70s for that, as we can for so many other things.
This stylish chocolate brown and gold-striped vest and trouser ensemble was made by my grandmother. The vests were actually satin-lined. My grandmother was obviously having a moment when she chose the material, but otherwise the clothing was beautifully made. I guess I can’t blame my mother for the outfits, since it was her mother-in-law who actually made them. I guess I’ll just have to blame her for the red sandals with white socks that I am wearing with the brown and gold suit. *shudder*
As proof of my grandmothers’ talent, let me show you Exhibit B, a photo of myself and my sister. The blue crocheted dress worn by my sister was made by one grandmother and the pink and maroon knitted dress I am wearing was made by the other. I think both look quite cute.
I’ve enjoyed searching through the old photos to find these gems. I’ll have to some more in the future, as there are some wonderful (and when I say ‘wonderful’, I mean ‘truly hideous’) fashion moments to share.
Since Meredith closed with an image of her father in what I can only hope and pray is fancy dress (nice fishnets Mr G), I will finish this post with a photo of an undisclosed male senior family member (not my father) who is also hopefully in fancy dress.
Do you have some appalling fashions from your childhood to share? Please join in the fun and blog about it then leave a link here and at Oh, the Thinks you can Think so that we can share the scary fashion love. 
