Additions from Witchery: "around the house" clothing

Culling clothes, wardrobe organisation (post coming) and eBaying call for comfy pants...  Out go my 8 year old lilac purple trackie dacks (which sort of give me camel toe and in which I wouldn't be caught dead in taking out the garbage) and in comes something a little more stylish:

 Witchery "Space Dyed Fashion Jogger" in Grey Marle

They feature exposed zips at the cuffs and slit pockets on the backside.  They are surprisingly flattering and only cost $17.95 - bargain!

Buying these pants got me wondering - when lounging around the house, cleaning and what not, what do you wear? Do you buy specific around the house "lounge wear" or do you begrudgingly wear the things that didn't quite work in public and that you should have culled (read: given away or thrown out) years ago?

Traditionally I have fallen into the latter category.  I've noticed of late, however, that even these "around the house" clothes are having a negative effect on my psyche.  When I come home from work and *slip into something more comfortable* I want to look good and feel good.  The last thing I want, is to be reminded that what I'm wearing makes me look fat, but that for some reason I bought it anyway.  I think it's high time I got rid of the majority of my around the house clothes - ONLY the majority though... I'll keep one or two lovingly worn out pieces :)

Inspiration - what to wear with red jeans

I was planning to wear my red jeans quite simply - with a loose white top and black wedges and maybe to give colour blocking a go (I was thinking magenta purple).

The images below, however, are especially inspiring me to try wearing blush shades and primary hues with them.  Further the last image proves that red jeans can work in cooler weather too!

Images source (from left to right):  

altamira:modelsoffduty.com, fashionsquad.com, golestaneh-streetstyle and Harper's Bazaar 

Here's what the NAP stylists have come up with:

Images source: Net-a-porter

Additions from Shopbop

So I bought some red jeans...

Ksubi Super Spray-on Skinny Jeans

I really liked the ones in Witchery, but they were too low rise for me... I took a punt and ordered the Ksubi ones online - they fit perfectly :)

The cull diary prequel...

As promised here is a post devoted to a list of the pieces I culled since starting this blog on 22 May 2011 before the inception of my "cull diary" on 30 August 2011.

Item culled	Reason	Comments
Beige wool vest	Seldom worn.
Navy military style blazer	Seldom worn.	Although I liked this jacket, I found the shade of navy difficult to match to other items in my wardrobe.  Black looked too heavy and the whole time I owned it I never managed to match another navy piece to it.
Black denim jacket	Seldom worn.	Because I mostly wear jeans casually, this was not worn often as I don’t do double denim. Verdict – denim jackets are not my thing.
Striped cropped blazer	Worn to death, time to let go.	TO BE REPLACED WITH ONE CASUAL BLAZER.
Gold linen blazer	Worn to death, time to let go.
Navy blouse	Too small.
Plaid cap sleeve blouse	Seldom worn.	I never found the right occasion to wear this. Too casual for corporate wear, too corporate for casual wear... if that makes any sense?
Red knit	Seldom worn...	... plus my partner said it was horrible (!)
Black short sleeve knit skivvy	Seldom worn.	Not sure why I purchased this.  I do not understand the concept of short sleeve skivvies.
Black wet look shell top	A piece with no longevity - no place in my ideal wardrobe.	I would like to avoid buying into 'trends'.
5 x white shirts	Too small.	TO BE REPLACED WITH A COUPLE NEW SHIRTS.
Black shirt	Too small.
White printed tee	Never worn.	I’m not really a tee person.
Cream bow cami	Not suitable for my current figure	Made me look like I had giant bazoombas.
2 x blue denim jeans	Too small.
Grey houndstooth skinny wool pants	Uncomfortable.	Even though these pants were lined to the knee, whenever I wore them I developed an itchy rash.
Beige pencil skirt	Wrong cut.
Black pencil skirt	Wrong cut.
Black bow front skirt	Not suitable for my figure.	Because I have a bootylicious figure with a sway back, the excess fabric at the front made me look thick through the middle.
Beige pants	Online purchase – did not fit.
Pink/brown/beige toned pleated skirt	Seldom worn.
Orange body con skirt	Fraction too small and too short.	*sigh* both skirts were fab.  A bit sad that I decided to let them go, but I’m standing by my decision to start afresh.
Black sequinned sirt	Fraction too small and too short.
Cream tank dress	Online purchase – disappointing in reality.
Black asymmetrical work dress	Too small.	TO BE REPLACED.
Black Designer LBD	Too small across the bust.	TO BE REPLACED.
Animal print dress	Too figure hugging and short.	Must avoid buying figure hugging dresses!
Batwing dress	Too figure hugging.	Ditto.
Silk beaded evening gown	Never worn.	It was literally hung in my wardrobe unworn for about 6 years!
Black shirt dress	Too small.
Magenta silk with billowy sleeves dress	A piece with no longevity - no place in my ideal wardrobe.
Black knee high heeled boots	Too high.	TO BE REPLACED IN TIME FOR NEXT WINTER.
Black suede OTK boots	Too high.
Black studded biker ankle boots	To be upgraded.	TO BE REPLACED WITH ACNE PISTOL SHORT ANKLE BOOTS.
Black high heeled ankle boots	To be upgraded.
Witchery ‘Simone’ ankle boots	Upgraded.	Already replaced with Isabel Marant ‘Dickers’.
Black block heel peep toe pumps	Not flattering on my feet.
Black mid-heel t-bar pumps	Not flattering on my feet	I bought them 'cause they were comfy...
Black and white peep toe pumps	½ size too small.
Black and white round toe pumps	Not balanced properly.
Black waist belt with silver buckle	Too small.	TO BE REPLACED WITH ONE NEW BELT (NOT SURE ON STYLE YET).
Black waist belt with antique gold buckle	Not worn in a bazillion years.
Beige leather tote bag	Seldom worn.

TOTAL NUMBER OF ITEMS CULLED DESCRIBED ABOVE  = 48

Since starting this blog I have culled 60 items from my closet!

My wardrobe is not all that I'm culling...

My Mum has FINALLY FORCED me to take away all my old magazines that I left behind when I moved out of home. Errr, ok, so it's my Mum that is doing all the culling... :)

I now have stacks of Australian, UK and US Harper's Bazaar, Instyle, Vogue & Elle dating back 3 to 8 years neatly stacked under and beneath my sizable lamp table. I know I should just throw them into the recycling bin without further ado, but before I do that, I can't help but flick through them for anything interesting or inspirational that I may find (such as the Keri Russell feature I blogged about yesterday).

I have already come across some interesting wardrobe planning/organisation and shopping tip articles which I might share on this blog... make it the ultimate culling resource one stop shop!

I'm wondering though if there is a better way to set up this blog for ease of navigation? It's sort of taken on a life of it's own...

Fashion dysmorphia

Have you ever been so inspired by a magazine feature or editorial, that you go out and buy the pieces in order to try to replicate the look for yourself?

Do you then look in the mirror with despair to realise that what you have come up with looks nothing like what was presented on the glossy pages of the magazine?

These images have been in the back of mind for many years:

Photographs by Pamela Hanson published in Instyle Australia - March 2009 (personal scans)

This Instyle feature inspired me to buy these shoes from Country Road:

For months now they have been sitting around in their box.  Each time I went to put them on I immediately took them off.  Even though they looked awesome in the Country Road catalogue, I felt they looked odd on me. I even thought this when I tried them on in the store (why on Earth did I buy them then?!?).

On Friday last week I said to myself - I HAVE TO WEAR THESE SHOES TODAY.

I wore them... but come lunchtime I had changed into a pair I keep in my cupboard at work. Up until then I had felt like a clown all morning. They just didn't work for me...

I'm not sure though whether I'm suffering from 'fashion dysmorphia' (i.e. my brain is tricking me into thinking I look like a freak) or whether I actually look OK (since Keri and the CR model looked so great)?

'Upgrading' ... when second best is simply not enough

In the spirit of this blog being a study in building my ideal wardrobe through the process of culling and then only buying things that I KNOW I will wear and enjoy to (re)develop my style... I have a confession to make.

An opportunity arose to buy the Isabel Marant 'Dickers' in the Taupe colour.  I seized the opportunity.

Isabel Marant 'Dickers' vs Witchery 'Simone'

Truth be told, although I never intended to buy the real deal, the idea did not seem completely obscene since I was immensely enjoying wearing my Witchery knock-offs.  Through wearing the Witchery shoes, I now knew that this style would work for me, so buying the Isabel Marant version would not be a waste of my money (like the countless other things in my wardrobe).  Further in reading owners' testimonials about how comfortable these shoes are (and comfort now being the number one factor when considering a shoe purchase these days), I decided to bite the bullet and splurge.  I figured if I didn't, I would regret it next week when someone else decided they had to have these shoes BEFORE I decided the same thing.

This is not the first time a Witchery dupe has caused me to spend a lot of money.  The Witchery 'Phoebe' - a knock off of the Chloe 'Paddington', sans the padlock started it all.

Although I liked the Witchery knock-off "Chloe" bag, I couldn't help but daydream about one day carrying the real thing... I patiently waited for the Paddington to go on sale, and when it did it became mine!  Buying it made me REALLY happy (but quite possibly because I was in a really unhappy relationship at the time).  

That Chloe 'Paddington' bag kind of set things off for me.  The Witchery knock-off didn't even compare to the real thing in terms of quality and workmanship (even though it was a lot more comfy to carry - weighing about a tonne less than the Paddy!).

Very similar detailing on the Witchery 'Simone'... but no leather lining and sole.

It seems that there is a trend based on my past shopping experiences and the most recent experience - that the Witchery "Simone" boots get culled after only a few weeks of being purchased - I like to make way for what I wanted in the first place. Which begs the question - should one save for what one really wants in the first place, rather than settle for second best or the copy? Or is the idea behind buying inspired goods or copies a way to road test whether to upgrade later?