stay in school

Now this is a massive call, but I'm prepared to make it; this shirt is undoubtedly my best online purchase. Ever.

Consider, will you, the sheer scheme of this statement in light of the thousands of dollars I have spent on clothes, shoes and accessories online over the past 3 years (before which I did not a) own a debit card, or b) been introduced to the devil that is Asos), this shirt is the most perfect lightweight, washed cotton, boyfriend-style shirt in the history of mankind. And it cost me a measly $24.

From the glorious fantasy land that is Korean online store Style Nanda, it may just be the most confusing/annoying/cute/madness-inducing website I have ever visited but there are some serious gems hidden amongst the bad designer rip-offs. Now I know the Australian retail industry is going down the gurgler, and I'm not helping, but we really need to step up our game if Korea can churn out these ridiculously lovely articles for next-to-nothing!

The shorts are also NANDAAAA (to be pronounced in a squealy voice whilst making 'peace' signs with both hands), the combination of which made me look like a legitimate schoolboy. This is a just-for-fun, comfort-of-my-own-backyard, oh-shit-there's-someone-at-the-door-quick-get-changed-don't-let-them-see-me kind of outfit, but considering there is pretty much nothing that won't go beautifully with this shirt I can guarantee it won't leave my body until the threads start to unravel.

[wearing: Style Nanda shirt & shorts, Target sports bra]

shift to bright

Cobalt // Dion Lee silk form shift

Tangerine // 3.1 Phillip Lim silk dress

Cherry // Bec & Bridge lace backless dress

Rose // Acne satin shift

Four delightfully simple bright shift dresses to get me out of my early winter blues. Cobalt is always going to be my first choice though, and the incredible Dion Lee dress is on sale at Green With Envy.. So tempting!!

blue steel

Here's my latest sewing venture: a metallic peplum jacket inspired by THIS gorgeous Ellery one shown at fashion week recently. Would have been so good in that black/forest green colour combo, but I work with what I have, and luckily I had a heap of this fabulous metallic blue taffeta sitting around. So tailoring is not really my forte, but I think I did pretty well considering this is my first attempt at a fitted jacket, or any jacket for that matter (excluding a fur disaster I had recently!). This sort of flashy jacket will be perfect paired with a nice simple little black dress or jeans and killer heels for a night out. Can't wait for it to get some public exposure.

[wearing with: Asos velvet trousers & cuffs, Santini heels, vintage bodysuit, ebay choker]

midnight velvet

 So how do I avoid working on important uni assignments? Procrastination in the form of sewing! I came home from the Ellery sale yesterday and all I could think about were peplums, so rather than forking out a few hundred dollars I'd rather keep in my pocket I thought I'd try my hand at replicating one of the tops there. I was going to do a toile, but they always seem like a waste of time and fabric... I found this beautiful midnight blue cotton velvet in my collection, it's got a very small pile and feels lush and thick, exactly what I needed to hold fairly stiff gathering.

It's a pretty basic design, two sideless bust pieces with darts running down the front and a peplum. I left the hem raw to get a good fraying effect, similar to the Ellery ones, and added an invisible zip and a couple of hook & eye clasps down the centre back.

I'm looking forward to giving this piece a work out soon, probably will be wearing it with a bra though, just in case I twist the wrong way and flash some poor unsuspecting citizen.

Wearing with: Country Road jeans, H&M cuff, vintage bracelet and watch, necklace from Vietnam

ellery armour

This morning I dragged myself out of bed to get down early to the Ellery pop up sale in Melbourne's GPO. I'm glad I did as there was some pretty good stuff, but I held off temptation to buy everything in sight, settling on yet another little black dress to add to my collection. Not your average black dress though, it's made of this wonderful ponte fabric that looks and feels a lot like neoprene, but a lot less heavy! It also features the incredible armour sleeves which played a huge part in the Spring 11 range (HERE), which makes this dress so striking.

So if you're in Melbourne I highly recommend you check out the sale quick smart, it ends Monday!

Wearing: Ellery ponte armour sleeve dress, Windsor Smith Loren heels in cobalt, DIY copper choker (tutorial HERE), Ebay cuff

splatter skirt

 My latest DIY involved reviving this nursey-looking navy blue pencil skirt I bought years ago from an op shop with the full intent of doing something creative with it. I went into this insane painting phase after getting all Van Gogh on my jeans in my last DIY HERE, and now I see a vast majority of my wardrobe as having the potential to look amazing if I splashed some paint on it! These urges must be reined in though, or else I will end up looking like a walking canvas (that a 2 year old painted).

So I promised myself this will be the last garment I paint for a while now. I started off with an ocean greeny-blue background and went a bit Jackson Pollock over the top of it. Unfortunately some of the white splatters look a lot like a bird pooped on it, but that's just the price you pay for being an inexperienced paint-flicker.

Wearing with: Asos top and boots, necklace from Vietnam, vintage ring and bracelet

paint pants

All my creative energy had been bottled up inside me for so long until I finally got around to doing a long awaited DIY painted jeans project yesterday! So so simple I'm not sure why I didn't think of it earlier, but I guess it's true that the best ideas are the ones you leave brewing for a while.

I bought these jeans from Primark when I was in London in February. I'm sure most people know about the craziness of Primark and how you just don't bother trying to line up for the change rooms, so it's all a bit of a lucky dip sizing-wise. Thankfully these jeans were a perfect fit, although for £11 it wouldn't be much of a loss if they didn't!

Materials:

Any odd pair of jeans (light colours work best)

Acrylic paints

Textile medium (I used Chromacryl)

Paint brushes (various sizes)

Instructions:

No prep required, but if you are using brand new jeans it's probably a good idea to put them through the wash first to get any excess dyes out.

Lay your jeans flat on a surface with newspaper or a drop sheet underneath, slot extra newspaper inside the legs so the paint doesn't seep through either side.

Mix up your acrylic colours with textile medium in separate disposable tubs/bowls (the medium should come with instructions, mine said to use 2:1 parts paint to medium).

If you plan on using light colours or not covering the entire fabric with paint put down a thin base coat in white or any background colour you like.

Then, go nuts! But not too nuts, you should try and just stick to a few complimentary colours and have a theme going (mine was inspired by lush tropical rainforests). It's really easy to go overboard with the paint so step back every now and then to think about your work (sorry if I sound like your 8th grade art teacher!).

If you're not very artistically confident and are lucky enough to know an abstract painter, get them involved! But I'm pretty sure anybody can whip around a paintbrush as I've done, so don't be afraid.

Hang the jeans up to dry. When the paint's completely dry iron the jeans under a tea towel or scrap fabric on the hottest setting to set the paint. Hand wash them in cool water to make sure the paint doesn't run (if it does though, there's basically nothing you can do except try and set the paint with the iron again). If you're paint runs it means you haven't used enough textile medium, so my advice would be to try and wash it all out and start from scratch unfortunately.

Wearing with: Style Nanda top, COS necklace, DIY perspex cuffs (as seen HERE), Windsor Smith Loren heels.

pants party

So I may have bought a new pair of shoes as a reward for finishing my first uni assignment of the year... A little premature considering I could quite possibly get a shocking mark back and then these shoes will forever be a horrible reminder of my failure as a student. BUT hopefully that's not the case!

Anyway, they are the ultimate Barbie platforms, super high and probably ankle breakers if I'm not careful, but they're a nice change from my chunky boot obsession.

Pulled this look out some things that were gathering dust in my wardrobe like the amazing watermelon necklace and my good old Ksubi MC Hammer pants. An unusually bright outfit for me, but I'm celebrating the lovely warm autumn Melbourne has been blessed with. Keep it coming please weather gods!

Wearing; Witchery dress (as top), Witchery bra, Ksubi pants, Windsor Smith Loren heels (from Styletread HERE), 'vintage' watermelon necklace and ebay gold cuff

ombré skirts

Spent yesterday dip dyeing these two skirts! The purple one was an old thrifted linen skirt I shortened, but have probably worn it once in my life, I'm thinking this makeover will encourage me to wear it more often.

The second skirt I made from pieces of old silk scraps that were wedding dress offcuts. It's very cut and paste, plus I'm yet to hem it (partially out of laziness, but also because I was too excited to not blog the result of the dyeing immediately!) so it looks seriously scrappy. The ombre is pretty subtle on the blue so I'm considering re-dipping it, but all I can say is watch out to every piece of white clothing in my wardrobe... You may soon be receiving a serious dipping!

Wearing with DIY sequin collar (HERE), DIY tank (HERE), DIY pendant (HERE) and Diavolina wedges