paisley please

J.W Anderson x Topshop quilted paisley silk tee / 3 Gun Vase / Windsor Smith Mara heels / COII leather look shorts / Essie polish

Killer Condo Yves Satan Laurent tee / COII paisley jeans / Nicholas Joclyn heels / Essie polishes

I've never, ever been a fan of paisley. But it's been popping up on the runways for a while now (remember Givenchy Resort 13?!) so I set to work finding some wearable / affordable pieces in this tricky print and came across this sick tee and jeans. The trick is to keep your colours to a minimum and try to match or complement a colour found amongst the paisley.

I'm definitely considering more risky retro prints for my wardrobe from now on.

pink panther

Here's one of the outfits from a shoot I did the other week with the lovely Gabby.

This dress is seriously killer with its beautiful, vibrant printed silk and draped Tarzan-style skirt. It needs only to be worn with the bare minimum of accessories and a whole lot of attitude.

[Friend of Mine Rocketman Dress Pink Panther & clutch]

cadillac

I haven't been able to wipe the smile off my face all weekend due to my most recent acquisition of this glorious jacket. It was hands down the best thing ever when, after talking myself into the Midnight version of Friend of Mine's Cadillac jacket, I stumbled upon a smaller sized black one (in a 6 - not even a plausible option originally) and miraculously it fit like a dream! I was quite relieved really, considering I have so many black clothes in my wardrobe and I'm not the biggest fan of navy blue and black worn together. Pure silk with leather lapel and pocket trim- this is a ridiculously perfect jacket that will no doubt become my staple dress blazer for many seasons to come.

wearing [Friend of Mine Cadillac Jacket / Nobigtruth blue ombre skirt / DIY silk tank / Asos boots (old) / DIY copper jewellery]

Also, apologies for the recent absence, life's crazy busy at the moment and it's causing serious blog neglection :(

sew sew

I've put some more items up for sale HERE including a few of my own designs, most of which have featured on the blog at some stage. If you're interested in anything please send me an email at nobigtruthblog@gmail.com. Postage within Australia is $9, enquire for specific international rates and any garment measurements.

1. 100% sand-washed silk layered skirt w/ gathered waistband (free size) $40

2. Hand dyed shift dress w/ raw hem (vintage Sportsgirl dress, marked size 14 - best fit 10-12) $15

3. Spot waisted dress w/ racer-cut neckline & dropped circular hem (best fit size 8-10) $25

4. Sheer laser-cut 'scales' shift dress (best fit size 8-10)  $25

5. Striped jersey dropped rounded hem dress (best fit size 8-10) $25

I'm also selling a little collection on Etsy through my NoBigTruth shop so have a look see!

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]

all i want

[1. Topshop lace dress 2. J Brand jeans 3. Erdem lace skirt 4. Jess Hart for Pencey Standard shirt 5. Rosamosario camisole 6. Topshop leggings 7. Topshop organza dress 8. A.L.C. cotton pants 9. Dion Lee silk cutout blouse 10. Tibi silk top 11. Topshop scallop edge shorts 12. Nicholas cutout shirt 13. Tibi skort 14. Equipment blouse 15. No. 21 lace skirt

Loving the gorgeous lace-floral-organza-patchwork thats going on in All I Want, Karla Spetic's collection for SS12/13.  Keeping with her signature pastels and ultra femme silhouettes, the trousers and high buttoned shirts have a refreshing masculine edge to them. Can't wait for it to hit stores, in the mean time here's a few pieces that will give you the look.

b.f.w

I've decided to be completely un-Melbourne and support B.F.W: Brights for Winter, a totally fictional program I've just made up that supports advocators of bright clothing in the colder months. None of this gloomy depressing stuff, I have challenged myself to give up buying anything in black/shades of grey as of now. I'm tossing up whether shoes and bags count, but for the purpose of this post I don't think so (metallic silver does not count as grey). Also, the (grey) neoprene jacket I just bought from Asos doesn't count, but none the less I'm dying to wear this magnificent beast with some crazy brights underneath. Will do an outfit post when it arrives (hoping tomorrow, fingers crossed).

Topshop ombre trousers

Romwe jumper

Acne Corinne silk bomber

Zara sandals

3.1 Phillip Lim Lark zip clutch

P.s. Sorry posting has been so slow lately, I've been up to my neck in uni work. I'm hoping, come June, I'll be back sewing again after the nasty onslaught of assignments and exams is finally over!

in search of the perfect silk shirt

I've recently been on the hunt for the perfect silk shirt. Quality is something I'm willing to justify forking out a lot of money for, so when I see something is 100% silk I'm very happy to pay the price. But this often isn't the case for a huge majority of big-name designers who are more than happy to make a fully polyester shirt and slap a $250 price tag on it. I'm not an idiot, you may have called the fabric 'crepe', but I can read a label and it definitely doesn't doesn't say anything about silk. I'm not trying to hate on polyester, it has it's place in a vast amount of my wardrobe and it serves it's purpose well, but it's just not a fabric with which I associate luxury prices and quality fabrics.

So the dilemma still stands as to what's a reasonable price to pay for a silk shirt. Plain, single colour fabric I would be willing to go up to $150, but I'm more interested in printed silk, namely digital, as I know this a hell of a lot more expensive to produce. Depending on how nice the print is, $300 is about the ball park for me, but that's honestly not the sort of money I have to throw around at the moment.

I thought long and hard about buying the Sara Phillips printed dress shirt in the top image, which was $495 down to a sweet $250, but decided it was probably best to wait until I'm feeling a little more affluent! For now I might settle for the beautiful green water print shirt from Asos, a steal at $73!

Top image: Sara Phillips digital print silk dress shirt

Bottom image: Clover Canyon printed chiffon shirt

Emma Cook denim print silk/cotton blend shirt

Asos Premium silk water print shirt

3.1 Phillip Lim silk crepe shirt

Equipment daddy printed chiffon shirt

back to future basics

Recently I've been on a mission to replicate the beautiful high-cut race-front style necklines seen in Josh Goot's future basic tanks and dresses (which can be viewed HERE).

After making several prototypes (the red being the first, floral second and blue dress third!) I finally settled on a design in the wonderful black and white print silk in the first few pictures. The fabric is gloriously lightweight and breezy, toughened up with the exposed chunky plastic wetsuit-style zip sewn down the back.

Can't wait to wear this out on a hot summer night very soon!