Details: C&C dress, Deborah Murray vest, Nocona belt, Chie Mihara shoes, Dooney bag
Thoughts: My quintessential summer outfit: a dress and a vest. I am still looking for my dream white dress, but this one is serving me well in the meantime. I am inching ever closer to full cowgirl mode; I haven’t committed to cowboy boots yet, but I did thrift this horse-patterned vintage vest. I loved the colours most of all, and it suits my summer aesthetic well. White, blue and brown is one of my favourite summer palettes.
Thoughts: I thrifted this Equipment blouse because I love its rainbow pastel colours — you know I can’t resist anything rainbow — and was intrigued by the snakeskin pattern stripes. I don’t usually like snakeskin but this felt like it had potential. I knew immediately that my first outfit would involve this skirt, and I decided to undercut the twee with oversized black accessories – this fab new (to me) necklace and belt. I like using black in this way; the contrast makes the other colours pop more.
Details: French Connection top, Ralph Lauren dress, Talbots skirt, Michelle Ross accessories
Thoughts: Pairing magenta and purple might be a rather “left field” choice, but it’s a combination that feels very happy to me. There is a synergy there, probably because they are both cool toned colours. I took a risk on this skirt because it’s silk and I have a love hate relationship with silk these days BUT I think (hope?) this skirt won’t prove too finicky, care-wise. I’m just a sucker for vintage (lined!) silk even though I’m also a klutz who spills on myself All. The. Time. The skirt is probably from the early 2000s or thereabouts, but the silhouette still feels modern — like something you’d find at Aritzia (except much better quality, hah). That’s basically my thrift mission these days: find high quality vintage versions of modern pieces for a fraction of the current price.
Details: French Connection top, Mexx vest, Banana Republic jeans, Stuart Weitzman shoes, Echo scarf
Thoughts: I’ve been wanting to put together a jeans and vest outfit for a while, but couldn’t quite settle on the right pair of jeans for it. And then these showed up in my life, and I decided the time had come to try again. This is a pretty traditional vest/waistcoat which I think works well for the vibes here, but does require some careful editing. I was afraid the scarf might have pushed the outfit over the top, but adding the sneakers brought it back down to earth.
Details: Urban Outfitters top, Pelican Cove vest, Laura Ashley skirt, Barbara Barbieri shoes
Thoughts: The 90s called and want their everything back. I’m digging it. Someone on IG said this was peak 90210 vibes, and I am not mad about that either. When I was a teen, I could only have dreamed of being that cool. Healing our teenage fashion trauma in our 40s? Sure, why not.
God I wish I could heal my teenage fashion trauma from the 1990s.
In my 40s I realise how much not having the financial wherewithal to purchase my dream clothes (and my perception that I didn’t have the figure for them) caused angst and really impacted my confidence then.
My tween daughter doesn’t care about clothes nearly as much, how refreshing for her!
I had a lot of trauma around not fitting in as a teen and clothes were 100% part of that. I’m also super sensitive about my daughter’s experiences as she approaches adolescence for that very reason. I don’t want her to have any hang ups if it can be helped.