Frocks & Frou Frou

Top: Sussan

Dress: Target

Stockings: Ambra

Shoes: Naturaliser

I've had a particularly heinous week I'm afraid, and I never seem to get home until after dark, so here's an outfit shot that I prepared earlier! 

I wore it about a week ago, but wasn't entirely sold on it, so it's been sitting in my Frocks & Frou Frou folder waiting for an occasion such as this; when I realise that I haven't blogged since Monday, and it's already too dark to go outside and blog my real outfit of the day (black dress, patterned stockings & green cardigan).

I'd seen a girl earlier wearing a similarly polkadotted dress with black opaques and a black cardi, and I thought it looked so swanky I'd try my own hand at it, but I'm actually not in possession of a black cardigan (I know! a terrible oversight that I'll be quick to rectify) so I tried layering the dress over a long-sleeved black top instead, and the result is... a bit meh. Hence why you didn't see it earlier, but oh well - beggars can't be choosers.

Daylight saving is still months away, but I'll endeavour to be better organised next week and actually get outside to take some pictures before the sun sets, leaving my in flash-photography hell!

Top: Sussan

Skirt: Sussan

Boots: Duo Boots

Necklace: Suzuki Night Market - no idea on the stall I'm afraid, but you can find a similar necklace here

Sometimes all it takes to turn an ordinary outfit into something a bit special is one really catchy piece of jewellery. 

With this basic (read: boring) black turtleneck and denim skirt combo, I decided to pair it with the fabulous brass necklace that my little sister found at the Suzuki Night Markets for me last Christmas. 

The black background makes the brass silhouettes of the pair on the trapeze really pop, and with such a statement piece nothing else is really needed by the way of accessories. 

Top: Dorothy Perkins

Jacket: Sussan

Jeans: Sussan

Boots: Duo Boots

Hello, old friend - I kind of forgot I owned you, but then I was going through the top shelf of my closet, and there you were, ready to be rediscovered! Sorry I've been so neglectful, you're an awesome jacket, really. I think I got a bit insecure about trapeze jackets after reading one of those fashion do's and don'ts lists for Ladies With Larger Busts, but really I should have known better. The only "fashion don't" I believe in is "Don't listen to fashion do's and don'ts". Seriously.

Top: Friends of Couture

Jeans: Sussan

Boots: Boots For Broads

I wore basically this exact same outfit about this time last year, and when I did... Good Things Happened, so it's kind of a good luck outfit for me. It's snuggly-warm too, which can only be a good thing, because Melbourne's being very contrary and contradictory at the moment, and after a spectacular sunny morning, we had a torrential rainstorm which has now subsided into a sulky grey gloom.

It's days like today that make me feel like throwing on warm colours and flamboyant hats and gloves... Did I tell you I got heckled by a busker once for being too colourful? 

Oh well, it is Melbourne, after all.

Long Sleeved Top: Emerge @ Ezibuy

Vest: Barkins

Skirt: Sussan

Boots: Boots For Broads

Remember how I mentioned a few weeks ago how it was red boots that led me to Boots For Broads? Well, this is them!

Way back in 2008 when I first started the blog I had been hunting for months and months for red wide-calf boots. They're a bit easier to find now, but at the time they were rarer than hen's teeth even for regular sized calves.

When I found these - in November - I was so over the moon that despite the fact we were looking down the barrel of a long, hot, Australian summer I placed an order immediately.

I still love them. They're my fabulous superhero boots, and of course, being custom-made they fit perfectly. The soles are pretty thin, and I had to buy some gel innersoles before I could walk in them for any extended period of time but I'm looking at having them completely resoled this winter, so expect to see them more often in the months to come.

Blouse: Victoria's Secret

Cardigan: Sussan

Skirt: Tartanista

Stockings: Best & Less

Shoes: Chie Mihara

A nice quiet one today - I've taken a few days off work, which is pure bliss.

Theoretically I'm supposed to be catching up on my reading, sewing my Macaron dress, making tomato relish and maybe an orange poppyseed cake.

Realistically, I'm just hanging about at home having some quiet time to myself before a packed and busy weekend.

I've been looking for ways to wear this skirt that isn't too schoolgirlsy, and I think I've cracked it with this combination of plaid skirt and polkadot shirt.

BTW, the stockings I'm wearing? Fleecy. I kid you not, on the inside they feel like a pair of tracksuit pants - just the thing for these cool winter months.

Top: Sussan

Skirt: Love To Love You

Boots: Duo Boots

It's been a few days since my last post, but I have an excuse: It was my birthday on tuesday! Hurrah! Happy birthday to me!

I had such a lovely day, punctuated throughout with little messages of love from friends and family - I really am surrounded by the most wonderful people, and I feel very lucky to have them all.

I got to wear something Very Special, too, because the day before I got a parcel in the mail... something I'd bought myself, but Loni from Love To Love You wrapped it up nicely with a little card and everything so it really felt like a birthday present. From me. Thankyou, me - I love it!

Loni's shop came to my attention when I was originally looking for bustles - her "Ruffle Bum" skirt popped up and caught my eye:

It's a BookBook! Thanks Mum - I LOVE it!

Cardigan: City Chic

Top: Inspyre @ Harris Scarfe

Jeans: Sussan

Shoes: Diana Ferrari

Just a touch of red today to cheer up a dreary Monday.

I'm a bit cross with this cardigan actually, somehow it seems to be getting shorter and shorter. I'm sure when I bought it it sat on my hips, but now it's definitely skimming my midriff.

My only other red cardigan is also a cropped one, so perhaps I'm destined to only have shortwaisted red cardigans?

Beret: Myer

Shirt: Dream Diva

Sweater: Sussan

Skirt: Tartanista

Stockings: ambra

Shoes: Naturaliser

Well, hi there Winter! I've missed you so!

My electric blanket's back on the bed (is there anything nicer than slipping between warm sheets on a cold evening?) I've hauled my jackets out of storage (hello, darlings) and I've reclaimed my hats and gloves from the bottom drawer where they're been hibernating since last year.

It's always funny at this time of the year... I don't know if it's just Melbourne, the changing of the seasons, or Australia but last Saturday I was hitting up the sunny Sydney markets in a short sleeved frock, and this Saturday I'm snatching a few extra hours snuggling in my warm bed before finally getting up just in time to prepare for a special afternoon tea with a new soul sister whose fascination with kids books rivals my own.

She brought a divine rosewater & lime semolina cake, and I cracked open my seldom used tea set (a much treasured 30th birthday gift from Haz Mo's Ma and the Cashless Cashmere) for a proper honest-to-God tea party.

Considering my school-girl get-up it probably wouldn't have been too amiss for me to pop a couple of soft toys on the spare chairs... and I love that my date probably wouldn't have even raised an eyebrow if I had.

Top: Friends of Couture

Skirt: Sussan

Boots: Rieker-antistress via Shoebuy

I'm off to Sydney obscenely early tomorrow morning for sales conference, and I'm totally not relishing the wake-up call (though I am excited about spending the weekend with my darling friend Lisa... watch out for us at Paddington Markets!)

Before I left for the sunnier climes I wanted to show you my Rieker-Antistress stretch knee-high boots.

Boots - all boots, even custom made boots - are big around the ankles. It's so you can walk, or so I am led to believe.

Trouble is, sometimes you just want a really sleek and streamlined look - especially if you're wearing your boots with a skirt.

If that's the look you're after then really you don't have another choice. You need to go stretch.

My first pair of knee-high boots were stretch. They had a plasticky feeling, were a size too big, and had to be hoiked up regularly like a pair of loose socks. And I loved them.

These are much better quality, and have been an essential part of my winter wardrobe for a few years now, but they're definitely starting to give up the ghost.

I only have one tip for buying stretch boots, which is: Try to get a pair that pulls on instead of zipping up. Synthetic stretch boots are a dime a dozen these days, but I've always found that unless you're meagre-of-calf the zipper will buckle, which is both fantastically uncomfortable and unsightly to boot.

hehe... "to boot"

Top: Giordano

Jacket: Veronika Maine

Jeans: Sussan

Boots: Boots For Broads

Woo! Finally cool enough to have another punt at profiling my collection of Wide-Calf Boots!

I was so excited to discover Boots For Broads towards the end of 2008 that despite the fact we were knocking on the door of a long, hot, Australian summer, I went right ahead and placed an order almost immediately.

What makes Boots For Broads so special? Well, for one thing they come from my old hometown, Canberra. Also, they custom make the boots from scratch, which means that if you have narrow ankles, wide calves and wide feet (like me) you can still get perfectly fitting boots without having to sacrifice fit. You simply fill out Janice & Elizabeth's exhaustive measurement form and the girls at Boot For Broads take care of everything else. The cost is pretty on par for a regular pair of leather boots, but it's fully refundable if you're not completely satisfied, which seems extraordinary to me.

There's only a limited number of styles, but they're all there: pointy toes, slouchy fit, heels, flats, even a cowboy boot. There's three colours too, black (obviously) brown (obviously) and... red (woohoo!) It's the red that led me to Boots For Broads.

Being completely, utterly honest here, the quality isn't as good as you'll find with store-bought boots. I have two pairs, and both are kind of coming away from the soles, but it's a small matter to have them patched back together. And the opportunity to have perfectly fitting leather boots for AUD$250 is too good to miss.

Meanwhile, do you like my new antique collar necklace? It came from Tree & Kimball on Etsy. She has the most fantastic jewellery constructed out of vintage lace and beads.

Necklace: Tree & Kimball

Striped Top: Emerge @ Ezibuy

Vest: Barkins

Skirt: Sussan

"Stirrup" Leggings: Ambra

Shoes: Naturaliser

I was born in 1978, which means that along with side-ponytails, culottes, "hypercolour" t-shirts and denim overalls I survived the first wave of stirrup pants.

I remember being very confused about them at the time. Did you wear your socks under them, or over? Did the stirrup go in your shoe? what was the point of them anyway? Personally I'd never had a problem with trouser legs riding up....

Like many fashion crimes of the 80's and 90's I never expected to see them return, but I guess you just have to sit tight - eventually everything old really does become new again.

Over the weekend I found, and am currently wearing, stirrup leggings.

Now, before you relegate me to the realm of Fashion Bloggers Gone Bad, I must stress that what I remember as being "Stirrup pants" and what Ambra is currently referring to as "Stirrup Leggings" don't bear the greatest resemblence to one another.

In the 90's I wore stirrup pants like these:

Now, mercifully, they look more like this:

Meanwhile, in other news over the weekend The Sophisticate, my housemate Joss and I hit up the shops to celebrate Joss's first proper paycheck.

Because I'm going to Sydney in a few weeks to see my darling and much-missed friend Lisa I was being good. Was. Right until the moment The Sophisticate found me this darling DKNY bangle watch:

It looks like an illustration of a watch, so of course - I had to have it.

Jeans: Sussan

Striped Top: Dorothy Perkins

Cardigan: Barkins

Shoes: Wittner

Brooches: Catrabbit & Button Tree

Bangle: Phillipa

So I finally managed to find a pair of narrow leg black trousers that I liked, and astonishingly, they're actually jeans.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with black jeans. Especially narrow leg black jeans. Alongside a sulky demeanour and too much hair product it's generally recognised as being an Emo wardrobe staple and since I battle against Emo tendencies on darker days anyway I've always tried to steer away from resembling one as I, at 31, am well past their usually mid-to-late-teens prime.

Still, a couple of the groovy gals in my bookclub also embrace the dark denim look and look fantastic doing it, so I'm being a copycat and trying my hand at it too.

I figure coupled with a cardigan, a couple of brooches and a grin I'm bucking the Emo trend and joining them in reclaiming the narrow-leg black denim jeans for those who deserve it the most.

Top: New Look

Jeans: Sussan

Shoes: Wittner

So I've been shopping online for a while now, but this is actually the first time that I've ever received an order from New Look.

I see their products on UK and European blogs all the time though, so I've been keen to try them on for size, and when I saw this cute short-sleeved cardigan, I thought maybe it was time to take the plunge.

I can't fault New Look for their customer service - I actually tweeted them my query and had a reply within a few hours. Shipping is also very affordable, £7.50 to Australia and it arrived less than a week after I placed the order.

I found the size chart OK - maybe a little stingy, and if you were between sizes I'd definitely suggest going up a size.

The quality's probably on par with Dorothy Perkins, the cardigan's quite a thin cotton knit and the detail of the heart (yep - look closely, there's a heart on the side there) is not nearly as discernible as the website shot would suggest:

Also like Dorothy Perkins, the skirts are frighteningly short - I also ordered this, but it'll have to go back because it's waaaaay too short for my own comfort.

I think overall I'm pretty happy with New Look and I'll probably be ordering from them again. They've got a good range of styles and trends, and I especially love their patterned knits. The cardigan that I'm wearing today is cute though irritatingly, it's also now half the price I bought it for, but that's a win for you, gentle readers - if you like the look of it, go check it out now.

Top: Sportscraft

Cardigan: Barkins

Skirt: Sussan

Shoes: Claude D'alban

Brooch: My Mum's

Yay! I'm halfway through a four days weekend, and feeling a smidge more relaxed than I have in a while.

I've had my hair cut (finally) and my horoscope told me - no kidding now - to "go online and buy those things that you've been hankering for" so I splurged a little during the 25% off Dorothy Perkins sale, and also picked up a cute cardigan and a no-doubt too-short skirt from New Look. Frugal February is well and truly over, methinks.

Alas, one of my more recent purchases - the snooty giraffe sweater - has turned out to be one of those items that simply doesn't photograph well. I wore it a few days ago to blog for you, but the photos were not terribly flattering, so unless I come up with some genius new way of wearing it (any ideas?) you might not see it again :(