Questioning minimalist wardrobes and in a fashion rut... again.

Earlier this week I had an epiphany moment.  I am a LAZY creature of comfort and as a result my favourite pieces are falling apart and I need to change this because it does not make me happy.

Get me into a dress which I feel comfortable in, and although it may not be the most flattering of dresses, you will not be able to get me out of it - until it tears!  Yes, that's right, earlier this week I found myself in the ladies loos (rest rooms) at work armed with a roll of packing tape and some scissors fixing my dress which I had worn to death.  This came only weeks after I retired my favourite black silk dress after the tearing under the arms got so bad that I could no longer lift my arms without looking homeless...

One would think that I own only two dresses... and it seems that people do because the moment I wear something different I get asked "Oooh, is that new?" (and it probably is, but then I don't wear it again for ages, since I'm in favour of my dresses).

Recently not a week has gone by that I haven't worn one of the following dresses on at least 2 weekdays (funnily the same dresses which I wore last Winter):

From left to right: Country Road, Adam, Country Road, Country Road.

In the image above, I have included both retired dresses - the Country Road animal print dress dress (any ideas what I could do with the fabric?) and the Country Road black silk dress which incidentally I have managed to replace (thank you eBay).  This replacement will be saved for occasional dressing as the fabric is too delicate to wear on an everyday basis.

I know that it's a good thing that I now literally wear out my clothing (how it should be I think?), but I can't help but feel sad when I do given I have so many other things in my wardrobe which could be rotated around to prevent my favourites from wearing out.

It has made me wonder again how some of the women who follow the "minimalist wardrobe" method of dressing manage it?  Is it possible that they are all Law students with only 9 university contact hours hence most of the time they are just sitting around studying at home or in the library in their James Perse trackie dacks? (For my overseas readers 'trackie dacks' is what we Aussies affectionately call track suit pants).

I don't care how expensive an item is, if you wear it constantly it will fall apart.  Blazers will develop a shine from multiple dry cleanings, cotton breton tops will eventually look manky (especially under the underarms from deodorant) and a delicate silk item will likely develop seam slippage if you wear it normally. That is move around in it typing, carrying files and what not...

I'm sad that my favourites are gone, but the reality is that if you wear things, they wear out.  In actual fact I think that I'm just surprised.  Until recently I never wore anything out.  I would buy a heap of clothing, only wear it once or twice and then forget about it as I bought the next thing.  When I was a younger party animal, you would not catch me dead wearing the same thing in the company of the same friends.  Then Facebook came along and the has-this-been-photographed-on-Facebook test was born before getting dressed to go out.  Haha... those were the days.

My aim for this coming work week is not wear any of the above dresses (granted I can't wear the animal print one anyway as it's torn).  This is my way of injecting some impulse into my life.  Can I do it I wonder?  I might even need to plan my outfits for this week!

To do list success stories

In the interests of avoiding the all talk, no action pitfall I have refrained from listing all the things that I need to get done to organise my life on this blog.  Instead I have slowly plugged away at each task I know needs doing in between work, household chores, social engagements and property hunting (this last task in particular is especially exhausting and time consuming)...  I have a few successes to write about.

þ Finish my cosmetics cull.

One lucky Vogue forums member received 1.5 kg of my culled cosmetics including MUFE, Dior, Revlon, Lancome.  It felt good passing on this stuff to someone who would get a thrill out of it.  After having bought all new cosmetics in the US recently I knew that I would never use up all my older stuff since my shiny new things were a lot more appealing.

þ Sort out my paperwork. 

My boyfriend is happy we no longer hoard old receipts and cc statements from credit cards I have long cut up and an identity thief is currently plotting to become me since all of this was accidentally thrown away in the regular trash.  I still have an old paper accordion file to go through.  I have a sneaking suspicion that it is home to phone bills dating back to the mid 90s (from my first mobile phone).

þ List the remainder of my culled stuff on eBay. 

The majority of the photographs ended up being over-exposed since I was photographing mostly black Winter pieces in the dark (I miss you day-light savings time).  Thankfully it all mostly sold.  I still have a few Summer items to list.

þ Inch a step closer to actually donating the items from my charity pile. 

For months we have had an unsightly box in the hallway filled with stuff to donate .  Last weekend I packed it all away and it is now sitting in the boot of my car.  Next time I drive by a charity shop or a charity bin - it's good bye to this lot.

I’ve been battling through a few let’s just say ‘life’ issues lately so I’ve really had to force myself to do these things.  It is so easy just to surf the net or to vegetate on the couch and watch movies even though it feels so much more rewarding to get things done.  Sometimes the easy route is not easy after all...

Repurposing vases...

For ages now my Nespresso pods have been stored in one of those cheap IKEA food containers - you know the 17 for 7 bucks type. Not exactly pretty.

I looked into some of the storage products for sale at Nespresso but none really spoke to me apart from the clear perspex cube - but for forty something dollars I figured I could find something just as effective but cheaper.

I ended up buying a 16 cm diameter Maxwell and Williams Diamante Rose Bowl for $4.95 at General Trader and while I was at it, I also bought the 20 cm diameter version for a measly $9.95... Things then got a little bit out of hand when I visited IKEA and bought a further 2 vases for storage, but this time heavy square shaped ones. They were only $7.95 each - not bad.

So what can one store inside of pretty clear vases? Cat toys, makeup, nail polish, fruit, random knick-knacks making a mess of your surfaces just to name a few.

Inspiration - how to style a bow belt

I felt like needed some cuteness and happiness in my life at the moment, so I bought some bow belts made out of soft ruched leather.

Cuteness and happiness in belt form

Then my Mother dropped off her June/July issue of Harper's Bazaar and on page 40 I spied the original Burberry Prorsum version.

Then I got all excited about how Burberry Prorsum might have styled these whimsical accessories (and about the concept of "fashion" for the first time in a long time), so I had a look online.  Wear it over a skirt, a dress, a coat or a gown - you name it.

Burberry Prorsum - Pre-fall 2012 collection

Then I found a picture of Kate Bosworth looking magnificent in head-to-toe Burberry Prorsum and thought to myself, I must find a skirt like that!

Then I visited Net-a-Porter and I found out that said skirt costs a thousand bucks! Given my history with pencil skirts I thought I better not risk it (also spending that much money on a skirt seemed a little bit insane to me).

A cool grand will buy you this textured pencil skirt by Burberry Prorsum

Then I tagged along with my boyfriend on his quest to buy new glasses to the local shopping mall (I figured he might need the company).  Whilst occupying the time before his optometrists appointment, I found a similar skirt and for a fraction of the cost of the Burberry Prorsum original!

www.cue.cc

Now all I need is an owl jumper (!) but I'd happily settle for one with a different creature on it, maybe a squirrel?

Picture taken on a walk through Grant Park, Chicago, IL.

Don't you just love it when you get on a fashion roll?  It's been a while for me.

All Day Heels update...

So the All Day Heels did not work for me... at least not with the 10cm high shoes I wore to dinner last Friday night.  So sadly rather than gracefully walking home in my heels like I used to back in the day, I hobbled home in pain.

Although the instructions explain that correct placement in the shoe is the most tricky bit and the key to good results, I found that removing the backing to expose the sticky side was the most challenging. I swear I wrecked about 3 fingernails doing so! I actually think that the placement was quite easy and that I did a good job since I did not feel them in my shoes - at all.  This is a good thing, yes, but I now query whether this is why they didn't work FOR ME?  Maybe my inner arches are too high for this invention?

Also maybe not all shoes are made equal? Maybe the shoe last that my D&G pumps were designed around were flawed?  As you can see this product has left me with more questions than answers... For some reason I can walk for miles in my ACNE Pistols (and I could walk around the world in my IM Dickers) without developing debilitating pain. Yes my feet are sore after a whole day in my Pistols, but I don't hobble!

Nevertheless, before I give up on these acclaimed inserts, I am going to try popping them into a pair of Country Road mid-heels which should be comfy, but aren't.  Fingers crossed.