Shoe Bonanza

Lowy // DreamCanvas // No flashIf you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might have noticed that I have a particular fondness for shoes. This is an understatement – my friends have been wont to call me Imelda from time to time.

I also have the good fortune to live within walking distance to Wittner’s warehouse shop: I pass it every time I go to the supermarket. (This is very dangerous for my budget.) However, most of the shoes there are greatly reduced, and one day I had an extraordinary bonanza there: three pairs of shoes for around $50!

Silver patent, black studded suede, and spiked buff leather – those are quite dangerous to wear in fact: I’ve injured my ankles merely crossing my legs! They had been reduced to a mere $10. How could I possibly resist such bargains? I didn’t of course. I wore them all to work in the following week. Here they are in all their glory.

Spikes! :: Lowy // DreamCanvas // No flashShiny! :: Lowy // DreamCanvas // No flashStuds! :: Lowy // DreamCanvas // No flash

Winning Silver

Many good things come together in this silver metallic clutch by Country Road that I found a while back in an op shop (thrift store).

So, what’s to love?

1. A bag on a wrist strap is so kicky! It also makes it much more convenient to hold – clutching a bag under the armpit always feels precarious.
2. The elegant, slim shape harks back to my beloved, lost envelope purse.
3. Silver is much cooler (in both senses of the word) than gold, and I have always preferred it.  
4. Silver, like grey, matches everything! This minimalist style will always look elegant, even when strict minimalism goes in and out of fashion.

I call this a first class thrift shop find!

Dear Hunting

These charming beads look like sharpened pencil tips!In the past year or so I have got very lucky with one of my favourite contemporary jewellery labels, Elk, finding quite a large number of necklaces, and one bracelet, in thrift stores. To date, I have found seven of the label’s wooden bead necklaces, all ranging from between $4–$10, which at 25% or less of retail price is some bargain hunting!

By chance, most of the necklaces have been in the grey–blue colour range, and all of them feature wooden beads, either simply strung on a single strand, or quite intricately woven. I don’t wear them more than one at a time of course; they are quite sculptural, stand-out pieces on their own, and look great against simple shapes and block colours.

Now I just need to add a pair or two of earrings to complete the collection.

Photos: December 2015

Five of my other Elk necklaces in shades of grey and blue, and one red

Nights of Shining Glamour

Yesterday while I was frantically looking for historical images of women bedecked with bows (that I didn’t use anyway), I came across this lovely fashion editorial from a 1987 issue of Australian Vogue. It looks so quintessentially Eighties, doesn’t it, but a more sophisticated style than one usually thinks of – or perhaps that is just a trick of photography?

On the opening page of the fashion section, the fashion editor has written:

“As though by design – exactly what it is – dressing this winter has crystallised into two distinctly different images, as different as night and day, each counterbalancing the other, in an ideal blueprint for a modern woman’s life. There is the pared-down polish of looks made to move upward in corporate realms, to aid you in confronting your day with authority and competence. And clothes for nights of shining glamour, fantasies in taffeta and velvet, tulle and sequins, clothes cut out for nothing but pleasure.

There’s no better way to signal the flip side of your workday self than by the way you look. Shed your corporate carapace and emerge as another kind of creature, more fantastic than earthbound. Your transformation may come as a surprise to those who know you as a no-nonsense competent. Good. Who wants to be predictable? More important still, you may surprise yourself.”

Now I’m imagining a sturdy little caterpillar, working away by day, and a shining butterfly, frivolously beating through the night. Wearing bows, of course.

Tearsheets from Vogue Australia, May 1987; phographed by Claus Wickwrath

Beau Ideal

I have a volatile relationship with bows. At the moment, I am still deep in the throes of minimalism, so I am feeling dubious of anything too decorative and frivolous. Practical bows are currently acceptable, but froufrou bows are eyed with suspicion. Therefore, my own ideal bow is hand-tied, with a free-form, imperfect shape.

Last year when I did my big wardrobe clean-out, my criteria for culling was: “if it can be described as ‘cute’, or ‘girly’—it’s out.” A lot of things with bows (even innocent small ones) were ruthlessly tossed aside like old shoes (those went out too; the ones with bows were first against the wall).

The sleeves are silk chiffon, puffed, and finished with a bow. You can’t get any more horribly girly than that!

The black tee by Bettina Liano was one such victim. The sleeves are silk chiffon, puffed, and finished with a bow. You can’t get any more horribly girly than that! But then recently, while I was searching in my storage room for something to complete a costume piece, I came across the very same tee and something unaccountable happened: my heart softened towards it. I brought it upstairs and back into my closet! (Weak.)

The candy pink hat is vintage 70s, and it survived the cull (bows on hats are okay), as did the antique periwinkle silk chiffon bow pinned to my white blouse. I purchased that on Etsy, and although I won’t wear it at the moment, it is too pretty to be cast aside. It is in a favourite shade of blue too. But who knows—I rescued the black tee, so anything could happen!

Photos: March/April 2014

This tearsheet is from British Vogue from the last year or two. I’d now deem all those items too twee for me!