august wish list

Friend of Mine Smith Sweater / Theyskens' Theory Vala bag / Style Nanda baggy jeans / Topshop boots / Nixon The Kensington watch

In preparation for warmer days I'm thinking I need to invest in a cropped knit and an open-air ankle regime including cuffed jeans and cut-out boots. The collection of new knits at Friend of Mine is ridiculously good (also got my eye on the Lafayette dress), the perfect season tie-over. Although I hope I'm not kidding myself in thinking we're getting out of winter sooner rather than later!

shredded

Inspiration: Maison Martin Margiela

-What you need-

1 pair of jeans for sacrifice

stanley knife

-Method-

Slit jeans on back pockets and down the front by cutting straight horizontal lines at 'random'. I drew lines with a pencil to roughly guide the slits, don't make them too uniform or they will look weird.

Cluster the slits in sections about the thighs and upper shin area of the jeans making incisions no wider than 1cm, this makes it easier to pull the threads out.

After you've made the slits, start to pull away the blue vertical threads with your fingers (or tweezers if this is easier). I find it's quicker if you wriggle the white threads away from the blue as much as possible before trying to pull them out.

Done!

If you want, go back over any patches that look bare, but make sure you don't make holes too far up the thighs or you may end up showing off more than you want to. You can make them as shredded as you like, I went pretty far here, but you can go more extreme depending on how you like them. Just be careful if you're going to put them in the wash because they may end up disintegrating completely, hand washing is probably the best option for keeping the finish.

Note: This method is pretty time consuming (I spent a couple of hours on these!) so if you're feeling lazy, just throw the jeans into the washing machine to get the threads out. It works almost as well, although you don't have as much control over the result this way.

It's been a long time since I've put up a proper DIY, so when I stumbled upon this pair of almost perfect Ksubi jeans at Savers ($10!!) I knew they would make the perfect easy DIY shredded jeans.

I also cropped these jeans because, apart from the fact that they were a little bit too long for me full-length, I think they look much better shorter and when the weather warms up I reckon they'll become a wardrobe staple with jelly sandals and a basic tee.

[wearing: thrifted DIY'd Ksubi jeans, Siren heels]

what to wear with: bomber jackets

T by Alexander Wang bomber jacket / Linda Farrow x The Row aviators / Topshop cashmere tank / 3.1 Phillip Lim trousers / Elizabeth and James sand pumps

Topshop floral bomber jacket / 3.1 Phillip Lim 31 hour bag / River Island dress / Asos Harlot sandals 

A.L.C. wool and leather bomber jacket / Stella McCartney sunglasses / Topshop foiled jeans / Topshop tee / Asos hightops 

Topshop pastel silk bomber jacket / Clare Vivier fold over clutch / T by Alexander wang tee / VPL curvate skirt / Jeffrey Campbell hanger bootie

Bomber jackets are perfect for 'sporting' up an outfit but I find that if you don't get your proportions right with your botton half then the whole look can get out of whack badly! I think you need to keep it short and sweet or slim and long, carrying through the sporty theme in small doses- think aviators and hightops. I have a great basic navy blue vintage bomber by Pierre Cardin found by someone (not me) in an op-shop. It's technically not mine (it was being held ransom in the depths of my brother's wardrobe before I rescued it!), but I have claimed the beauty and promise to do it justice. I think I'll go the Alexander Wang route and team it with bright pants and pointy heels. Experimental outfit post soon!

key lime

Staying true to my vow to take a more colourful approach to winter wardrobe, here's some pics of my latest Asos purchase. I had been deliberating over this one for so long, leaving in my saved items for what felt like a century, that when it miraculously went on sale I almost cried. Not that it was expensive to start with, but that was just the thing to push me into it. This shirt is definitely not the same colour in the pics on the website.. a lot more blue-green than citrusy, but I am definitely not regretful. It is the loveliest silk, just the right weight, softness and transparency you need in a silk shirt. The watercolour effect is kind of strange, but gives this shirt character that means it will lift any outfit out of banality.

The shoes are another newbie from Siren. They were heavily discounted (still on sale at the moment) and I was seriously in need of a proper 'grown up' heel so these seemed like just the ticket; super simple with the sweetest little ankle strap. As you can see it was seriously windy today so taking photos was a big struggle. I didn't have a lot to choose from as most of the pics were affected by a little blurring and a lot of hair-in-faceing! I ended up doing a couple of indoor close ups which turned out a lot clearer (not to mention warmer). I think I'll have to do a whole lot more indoor posts if this chilly wind keeps up.

[wearing: Asos silk shirt, Cheap Monday jeans, Siren 'fallen' heels, DIY copper twist rings]

for sale

  

I'm very excited to announce that I've just opened my Etsy shop! This little collection of painted skirts (and denim leggings) are up for sale as well as a couple of pieces of jewellery from my last post HERE. I'm in the process of putting lots more up so keep a look out.

Come visit my shop NOBIGTRUTH.ETSY.COM
You can also keep updated through my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/nobigtruthblog

white out

I've never been a white girl. I mean, yes I'm incredibly 'white' in both my skin tone (thanks winter) and culturally, but I'm not a big wearer of the shade. Maybe it's Melbourne's influence or there's simply not that much good white stuff about, but I thought I would give this whole sporty/crisp/luxe business a go.  So from the VERY few white clothes I have in my closet I put together this outfit. The sheerness (nonexistence?!) of the tee really helps to break up that blocky, sterile feeling that makes full head-to-toe white hard to wear. Skin is good, and white just so happens to give the illusion of slightly tanned flesh which is very handy in the middle of winter. I went minimal with black boots and bag, no jewellery and slicked hair (wet not greasy!).

[wearing: thrifted shirt and reworked jeans, Asos tee, Witchery bra, Office London boots, Life with Bird bag]

recap

Mini / Maxi dress

Future basic tank

Collars

Floral shorts

Ombre skirts

Paint pants

Metallic peplum blazer

Splatter skirt

Candy stripe dress

Velvet peplum top

I've been looking through my 'DIY history' and decided to do a recap post on my favourites. This is partly spurred on by the fact that I'm in the process of a whole new load of DIYs which I'll be putting up for sale. Sometimes I'm tempted to sell some of my designs when people tell me they'd pay for me to make them something or buy an existing piece off me, but the problem is that most of the time I've made something out of a small piece of fabric, without a pattern and fitted to my body measurements so it's extremely hard to replicate. Another issue is my emotional attachment to pieces, I may not get a whole lot of wear out of some stuff but just the thought of never seeing designs again is enough to haunt me! Sounds silly, but when I slave over a piece and end up producing something I'm seriously proud of it sits close to my heart. SO that's why I'm making pieces specifically for sale! It will be a mini collection of painted skirts and jeans, all exclusive styles. So far I've finished one skirt and started a second, hoping for them to be done and up for sale before July starts. Watch this space!