Found! The perfect breton top which won't break the bank...

Whilst wandering around Myer on Friday night (aimlessly looking around for a housewarming and Christmas gifts), a breton top caught my eye from afar.  I tentatively approached, expecting to see a hideous print on the front, an odd repugnant ruffle or a beastly spotted bow hanging off one side (as has been the case in my search for a breton top which is plain and simple). But no... I was pleasantly surprised.  What I saw was exactly what I have been looking for: thick cotton/elastane blend fabric, boat neck, 3/4 sleeves and the perfect length to boot.  My only criticism - it only comes in one colour way being navy and off-white! I have been wearing the top all weekend like so:

Breton top - Weekend by Jane Lamerton ($49.95) (own image)

Pants - J.Crew

Bag - SABA

Boots - Isabel Marant 'Dickers'

Earrings - Mimco

I enjoyed wearing it so much on Saturday, that when I saw that Jane Lamerton was on sale this weekend (30% off), I bought another one for myself and one for my Mum as a Christmas gift. Greedy much? The first time in a long time that I have bought multiples of something.  I should add that I was with my boyfriend and whilst paying for the tops he was muttering "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist shopping until we arrived in NYC..." Haha, he knows me too well.

Images source: Net-a-Porter, SABA, Mimco

Set yourself a goal...

If you are like me (whereby you can only save money to spend money) - I think that there is nothing more effective than booking a holiday (or buying a new car... or saving a deposit for a home... or renovating a house) in order to get one's butt into gear to start scrimping and saving.

In exactly 3 months time I will be in the United States.  My first stop is New York City!

I have never been, so just writing these words makes me all giddy.  Of course the thing that makes me more excited is that I plan to shop till I drop... but for the time being I need to STOP shopping.  I keep telling myself that every dollar saved now is an extra dollar that I can spend in the US (sorry Aussie economy).

Over the next three months I plan to do a lot of wardrobe planning to best prepare myself for the biggest shopping spree of my life.  Hopefully I can also find the time to document events on my blog.

My wardrobe planning will involve:

• Completion of my wardrobe culling and cull diary. I am eager to see at the end how many items I have eradicated.  Like I said in my last post - I have a long way to go...
• Creatation of my wardrobe inventory list (a complete list of the items in my wardrobe). Ideally I would like this to be both a written and visual record. In doing so I also plan to critically analyse each item in my wardrobe in terms of frequency of use, adaptability for all seasons and occasions and each item's cohesiveness in terms of the other pieces in my wardrobe. I would like to do this to better understand the types of clothes I should be buying over those that I buy because they just look great, but then don't get worn. I'm interested to see how many pieces I own.
• Determine exactly what it is that I want my ideal wardrobe to contain. The missing items will comprise my US shopping list (again, just writing the words "US shopping list" gets me all excited). I want to shop smart and not like a shopaholic maniac.
• Creation of the perfect travel wardrobe, for travel across the US in March... I gather layering is the key?  I also need to keep in mind that I will need lots of space for my shopping! 

Image source: myfdb

The cull diary - the big pre-Summer cull

A few weeks ago I wrote that I had spent an entire day culling. I basically emptied the entire contents of my wardrobe and then tried each item on to determine whether it was staying or going.  I'm far from finished as that weekend I only managed to sort through my wardrobe.  When I get around to the culling AND the writing, I will document the items culled from my shoe closet (IKEA Billy bookcases), chest of drawers and tall boy.

That weekend I culled:

• 1 black skirt (chain store bargain)
• 5 pairs of pants
• 15 dresses (mostly Summer party dresses, but a few well worn workhorses too). 

Number of pieces culled that weekend: 21

Cull tally since starting this blog: 81

I ashamedly admit that many of the items that I culled are now too small on me presently, albeit most were well worn *phew*.  I did notice however that out of the six bottoms I culled, only two pairs of pants could be classed as "pre-loved", the other three pairs of pants hardly worn (read: two pairs of pants were NEVER worn).  The skirt was an impulse purchase off a Witchery sale rack.  I remember that I forced myself to wear it a few times last Summer, only to discover that - yes, there was a reason why the whole range of sizes was still available even though the skirt was 80% off RRP...

The Twilight Zone

Upon finishing my cull I had a few pieces floating around in what I will refer to as "the twilight zone". I was very undecided about whether or not to officially throw the items on the cull pile:

• Kate Sylvester black military detail linen dress
• Veronika Maine cream shift dress
• Witchery grey linen blend pants
• T.L. Wood black silk shift dress
• T.L. Wood khaki linen 'safari' suit

The reasons why these items survived the cull is because these pieces totally represent my style... (unfussed and easy to wear) but the only thing stopping me from wearing these pieces tomorrow - are my giant hips! I hope that one day (I give myself until 1 March 2012) I can fit into these items again.  After all, without hope, we have nothing...

I also decide to "archive" a few pieces (I mentioned this in my last post about how I plan to organise my wardrobe).  These are the pieces which hold sentimental value to me. A separate post me thinks!