What I Wore: Weekend Playdate

Mulberry Soft biscuit croc bayswater
Dress, no label (thrifted); shoes. Old Navy; cardigan, J. Crew Factory; bag, Mulberry (via consignment)

With the 30 x 30 challenge fiiiinally over, of course I had to wear all the new things. I promised I would, and I’m a woman of my word. So. New things! (Just not all of them, because that would be impossible considering my, ahem, shopping habits.)

First, a maxi dress I thrifted sometime last fall; it meets my not-really-exacting maxi dress requirements by being (a) under $10, (b) bright; and (c) cotton blend. It does hug the body a little more than I’d like, so I’m officially on the lookout for a second (more hands-offish) maxi dress for days when a big lunch is on the agenda.

Second, my newish Mulberry Bayswater bag. Can you believe I bought her all the way back in February and never wore her? Well, until now. I was going to wait until September, because she’s more an office bag than a mom-of-wildlings bag, but my patience and willpower have limits. So, at the risk of looking ridiculous, I brought her out to be paired with a cheap ‘n loud maxi dress. If that’s not the epitome of hi/lo pairings, I don’t know what is. You better believe I guarded her closer than Castle Black.* I’m happy to report she suffered no ill effects on her first outing.

Oh, and this is what I wore earlier on the same day (hello, fickle Edmonton “summer” weather):

Geometric print maxi dress
Cracking up because my husband called me an old hippie

* I’m still in the throes of Games of Thrones withdrawal. Bear with me, and if you’re feeling especially charitable, send me pics of Kit Harington. Bless.

34 Comments on All the New Things

    • Love you, mean it. Seriously, that link is everything. Everybody needs to watch that video (that leg caress, I DIE!!), although yes – abs would have been even nicer.

  2. Coming out of lurkdom to say that that is a lovely maxi dress. Why can I never find something like that? The only maxi dresses available in Sweden are, like, animal print. No colours. 🙁

    • Yay, for unlurking! Welcome 🙂
      I actually have a hard time finding cute maxi dresses in thrift stores. This is an exception. But there are tons in regular stores – have you had no luck with H&M, Zara, etc.? For what it’s worth, I really like animal prints too 🙂

      • I despise animal prints with a passion (and I strongly suspect most Swedes feel this way because surprise surprise the animal print stuff is always filling up the sales racks come end of season). But I’ve noticed that NA people are mad about it. What can you do, each to their own. No, sadly the chains stock nothing here and colours barely exist. If I like the print/colour the shape is wrong and so on. First world problems. 😉

        • That’s so interesting … I wonder if there is a broader reason for that, beyond personal preference.
          I’m sorry to hear about the limited shopping options … sure, first world problems, but they still be problems 😉
          Like Stephanie suggested, do you have options for online shopping? Excuse my ignorance, but do you have an eBay equivalent? That’s where I buy a lot of my clothes, especially brands that don’t sell here in Canada, or that cost a lot at retail. The sucky thing for us Canadians (and perhaps you as well) is the shipping. Pretty much all companies that offer free shipping within the US charge us an arm and a leg to ship here. More first world problems, LOL.

          • Ah, I’m not the greatest online shopper, I like to try things on. Sweden does have an Ebay, but you know, you can only find second-hand what was available first-hand, so … I’m just insanely jealous of all the options you have abroad! Including sizing options like petite and tall. And the online shops that will tell you garment measurements and what size the model is, to give you a good idea of how it will fit … I can but dream. But I’m too chicken to shop from outside the EU coz I just know I’ll get slammed with customs fees lol, and it probably won’t fit anyway and that’s just soul-suckingly sad. 🙁 The only think worse than paying through the nose for shipping is paying to try things on when they have to be returned, right? (As for the animal print, the general Swedish taste is more understated, and animal prints are too flamboyant, I think. To us it says tacky, cheap and other bad things. You’d have to be very young and self-confident to get away with it, like.)

          • Thank you for the insight! I love hearing different perspectives on style/fashion, so I hope you will continue to comment 🙂

            Ebay is tricky for sure. You can’t return things if they don’t fit or don’t end up suiting you (unless they’ve been misrepresented by the seller), so there is always a bit of trial-and-error going on. I’ve definitely gotten a few duds in the past, but I think I’m generally batting above average. I’m selective about the things I buy though, to try to keep my error margin low. I’ve had some decent luck with eBay UK (especially with all things Boden), so maybe you could look there too? Boden always does really cute prints, and they do have maxi dresses too …

    • I’m from Germany myself, so I definitey feel your pain… I just ordered some maxi dresses from H&M and I like them. My others have been picked up from a few other sources – do you guys have UK stores like Primark or New Look in Sweden? Otherwise online shopping is always an option! Best of luck to you 🙂

      • Stephanie: Yes, I look a lot online, and more and more UK shops are shipping to the EU at very reasonable costs, which is fun. However, UK clothes seem to be for short people, lol, so the fit isn’t always great. 😉 Ideally I’d like to shop less or no fast fashion though, but if I’m buying online without trying things on it has to be so cheap for me to take the risk! Adina: I used to buy stuff from Ebay UK quite often but so many people won’t ship abroad these days since the Royal Mail price hike! Depressing. :O

  3. I love that maxi dress and the colors look great on you! I hope we’ll get to see it in all its glory without a cardigan once the weather gets better in your neck of the woods 🙂

    • Hmmm, maybe. Like I mentioned, it’s a little bit tight/curve-hugging. I might need a strong drink to ditch the topper 😉

      • To be honest, I can’t imagine it being that bad but I guess that’s a confidence thing. I’m a lot bigger than you, so I usually have to wear a cardigan with sleeveless dresses and maxis, so I’m jealous of everyone who gets to go without. And in your case, I clearly attributed the cardi to the apparently fickle Canadian weather 😉

        • You’re right, it is a confidence (or I should say “comfort”) level thing. I don’t really care that much anymore about what people think of my body, but I used to and it’s like … an old reflex or something. I thought about your comment yesterday, and I actually ended up wearing that dress, sans cardigan, last night. Nobody recoiled in horror, LOL!

          The weather here can be super fickle in May and June (the blog posts run about 2-3 weeks behind) – snow is not unheard of – but we’re going through a heat wave at the moment so, yeah … it was time to ditch the cardigan.

    • Thanks 🙂 It’s a really easy peasy to accessorize dress because of all the colours, so I can’t take (much of) the credit.

    • That is one of my fave KH articles 🙂
      I may or may not have written some fan fic about secret aristo Kit. (I totally did.)

    • Thanks 🙂
      I think tan bags are quite versatile (much like cream ones, which people also tend to avoid). They are a really good neutral, and if you find a good leather, then you shouldn’t have too many issues with scuffs, colour transfer, etc.

  9. Hello, I just found your blog and I love it. Do you have a link to an RSS feed so I can keep up with it?