Managed to stick to second hand September with my purchases this month. After thrifting a few accessories in August I ended up buying a couple of clothing items from my frequent trips to the opshop for books for the kids and I.
What I bought:
thrifted Kmart black and white boho print maxi skirt
thrifted purple and red Paisley print duster
How I wore it:
Both the black and white printed maxi skirt and the purple and red Paisley print cover up were lucky opshop finds, and I've worn them a few times this month already, along with a few other preloved pieces I have in my wardrobe.
The Paisley print cover up is so fun and for only $1 I just had to have it. I really like the colours in the print and with the spring weather being here in Brisbane it's been perfect for the temperatures, so I've already worn it three times.
The black and white printed maxi skirt was another $1 item, from my favourite opshop. I only managed to wear it twice this month but I know it will be a staple in my wardrobe like my other maxi skirts. It's so good with sandals for spring.
I wasn't intending to buy anything this month, but always have a browse of the other items whenever I visit an opshop, and I'm pleased with these additions to my wardrobe that resulted. And despite being firmly casual pieces, I was still able to hit my "wear twice in the month I buy it" goal with both, even with my increase of days working in the office and decrease in work from home days.
I'm thrilled I reached 30 wears with this cute tropical floral print shift dress. Tee dresses are such a staple for me in my wardrobe, and this one always gets compliments. It's such a lovely print!
30 Ways To Wear: Tropical Floral Print Tee Dress
This is a fun dress, and with all the different colours, from the green background to the colourful tropical floral print, it's really easy to find pieces to wear it with in my wardrobe. It has the added benefit of being a nice light tee dress, perfect for spring, autumn and summer in Brisbane, it's one of those pieces I find myself reaching for fairly often. I have layered it up a little for cooler weather too, but the warmer weather is definitely when this gets worn the most.
I like the grey contrast sleeves - it has a grey panel on the back too, which makes it really easy to wear as you just focus on pairing things with the fun bright print and the rest is a muted neutral.
Cost Per Wear
While I have reached 30 wears on this dress, it's not quite at a dollar per wear goal so many people aim for. I bought it online from The Iconic back in September 2014, and with a discount code and it being on sale I snapped it up for $39.98. They had the same print in a shirt and I deliberated between the dress and tee, rationalising the dress was the better buy as I could wear it as a top too, which I have done a few times. So versatile, and it's currently at $1.33 a wear, with a lot of life left in it and a permanent place in my wardrobe. It may have gotten very little wear in the breastfeeding years, but I've certainly made up for that now with how often I reach for it.
Here are the 30 different ways I've worn this dress so far:
Floral Dress with Matching Colourful Handbags
Such an easy way to wear a colourful handbag with a bright dress - just pick a bag that is a similar colour to one of the colours in the print! Even if (like the burgundy crossbody bag in the middle) it's not an exact shade match.
Floral Print Dress With Blue Bags
Blue is my favourite colour and I have a lot of blue handbags! When I'm not sure what colour to wear with something, any shade of blue is an easy go-to.
Green Floral Print Dress With Pink Accessories
Pink and green is not a colour combination I wear a lot, but it's fun to try now and then. From a very subtle look with the blush pink sandals, or something a little bolder with the pink crossbody bag, pink accessories look great with this green printed dress.
Green Shift Dress Worn With Yellow
This is another example of matching something colourful to the colour in the print of the dress - the mustard cardigan and scarf, and little yellow crossbody bag look so good with the yellow in the floral print.
Floral Shift Dress Layered To Wear As A Top
I am so glad I bought the dress rather than the tee, as this dress can be worn as a tee so easily! I really like tucking it into skirts as it's a bit bulky trying to tuck it into shorts. It makes this shift dress office suitable if you tuck it into a pencil skirt, especially if you throw a blazer on top.
Layering A Printed Shift Dress
It's not just skirts you can layer this dress with - in the cooler weather I like cardigans, blazers, and of course the ever classic leather jacket to add some warmth to the short sleeved shift dress.
Wearing a Floral Shift Dress With Sneakers
Dresses and sneakers are a fashion staple and something I wear a lot of with my knee injury. I feel I default to sneakers a lot - and luckily this dress looks great with every style I have tried!
Floral Dress and Ankle Boots
Spring means the dresses, bare legs and ankle boots outfit combination is often on repeat! While I don't have a large collection of ankle boots, the different colours of the ones I do have all work well as neutrals with this colourful dress.
Although it's been quite a warm spring so far here in Brisbane, I finally hit 30 wears with this yellow cardigan over winter and I've been looking forward to sharing a wrap up post of all the ways I've worn it. Even if I have packed my knits away already waiting for cooler autumn weather next year!
30 Ways To Wear: Mustard Yellow Cardigan
Mustard is definitely my favourite shade of yellow! It's so versatile, and this cardigan is a nice cosy way to add more colour to a layered outfit on a cold day. I'm surprised it's taken me so long to hit 30 wears with it actually, I feel I wear it a lot!
Cost Per Wear
I have very good cost per wear with this cardigan. I've worn it 30 times and it was an opshop buy back in 2017. I paid just $2 for it. Such a good bargain find, although sadly that opshop has sold down as the charity sold off the building. It's down to just 6 cents a wear so far.
However, even better than the 6 cents cost per wear is the fact that this cardigan is from SES Fashion, an Australian fast fashion chain. Not only was it worn by whoever donated it to the opshop, but I've worn and loved it 30 times and I'm sure to wear it many more times! it's decreasing the environmental impact the more times I wear and enjoy it, instead of buying new. You can make your wardrobe more sustainable even if you have cheap fast fashion brands, simply by buying less and rewearing more often.
In saying that, it is just a cheap fast fashion knit. It's a lot baggier than it was when I first bought it preloved 5 years ago, and some of the stitching on the cuff and a shoulder is starting to come undone. It certainly doesn't look new, but it's still got plenty life left in it, even if I might have to patch up some of the stitching at some point in future. Here are the 30 ways I've worn it so far:
Mustard Yellow Cardigan With Blue
Blue and yellow is a colour combination I love - and any shade of blue works well with this mustard knit! Such a bright cheerful yellow, and something in my favourite colour (blue!) is a sure way to make me love an outfit.
Yellow Cardigan Worn With Neutrals
If you're not sure how to wear a bright block colour cardigan like this, try neutrals! Black, white and grey are a failsafe outfit base for a bright knit like this.
Mustard Cardigan And Orange Outfits
This is a particularly bold combination! While I don't like all the orange and yellow outfits I've created with this cardigan, I do love those second too, with the orange in the print of the tank and dress. Something I want to wear more of, the citrus brights are great together.
Yellow Cardigan Worn With Grey
Grey is easily my favourite neutral to wear with yellow. Mustard and grey are so good together, as you can see I've worn these grey skinny jeans with this cardigan a lot!
Wearing Green With Mustard Yellow Cardigan
Green is something I've eased into wearing with this cardigan. I like the bright green jeans with it on a day I want to be especially bold, but for a less in-your-face outfit, you can try it with olive green, that works equally well.
Print Mixing With Block Colour Yellow Cardigan
Winter means scarves and knits, and with this being a solid block colour piece it lets me try a little print mixing with the rest of my outfits, from a striped tee or dress, even those chevron print jeans. I've worn the pink and yellow skull scarf with this cardigan a few times as I like the matchy-matchy of the yellow.
Dresses With Mustard Cardigan
It's not just jeans I wear my cardigans with! A long cardigan like this is a nice topper over a printed dress - and perfect with tights or leggings in winter to make your outfit warmer. Although I've only won it the once as you can see in that first outfit, a cardigan looks great belted over a dress.
Shorts and Cardigan Outfits
When the weather is right it's good to bare some skin, and a cardigan over a shorts and tee outfit is ideal as you can easily take the cardigan off and stick it in your bag if the day warms up more than expected!
For this month's 30 ways to wear post, I'm sharing 30 ways I've worn these olive skinny jeans. Green is a colour I used to avoid and find tricky to wear. After giving it a try, I've since realised olive is so easy for me to style, and a great neutral. You will see that these jeans go with everything, it's no surprise I've worn them over 30 times!
30 Ways To Wear Olive Jeans
I bought these olive jeans back in 2018. I'd admired them on the Jeanswest website but they were sold out so I was pleased to find them when I visited the store, on sale and in the right size. I bought the next size up as advised on the website as they were a tight fit, but with a lot of stretch in them I maybe should have stuck with my normal size as they have stretched out a bit over the years. It does make them very comfortable to wear though, and thankfully they still stay up without a belt!
Cost Per Wear
Cost per wear is tricky to calculate for these as I didn't note down in 2018 what the prices were of everything I bought. I know they were on sale and had an extra 40% off but I can't remember what I paid, or even if I used a gift card on them. With there being very similar jeans at Jeanswest currently, also for 40% off sale, at $29.99 I'm thinking I spent around that on these jeans. That would work out to just under $1 per wear as I've worn them 31 times since I got them 4 years ago, but that's just a guess as I can't recall what I paid. Definitely worth whatever I paid for them, even if they are stretching out a bit, as I love wearing these!
Here are my 30 favourite ways I've worn them, and some colour combinations you should try if you have a similar pair of jeans or pants in your wardrobe!
Olive Jeans With Black
This is an easy go-to when you're not sure how to wear something - pair it with black! A good black tee goes with everything, and I like black bags and dusters and printed scarves with these olive jeans too. The two neutrals work well together.
Olive Skinny Jeans With Blue
Blue and green is a combo that I used to think "shouldn't be seen" but that old fashion rule is made to be broken, I love blue and green together. These olive jeans are worn a lot with navy, but other shades of blue, like that cobalt scarf, can be a good combination too.
Olive Jeans and Shades of Brown
More neutral on neutral pairings! Brown jackets, scarves, bags, printed tanks and kimonos (despite all being different shades of brown) look good with olive. I do think that the beige trench is my favourite shade of brown to wear with these olive jeans though, and it's a nice cosy option in autumn and winter.
Graphic Tees and Olive Skinny Jeans
Jeans and a tee is a style staple for everyone! Changing things up a little with a graphic tee instead of a plain tee, and some colourful jeans like these olive ones instead of a classic pair of blue jeans, is a nice way to make a staple outfit formula feel a little different. You can see this white Edinburgh tee I picked up in Primark in Edinburgh is a firm favourite.
Olive Skinny Jeans Worn With Other Shades Of Green
In my quest to find more things that go with olive, I've tried wearing different shades of green with these olive jeans. Accessories like necklaces and scarves, even little green bags, and of course a bit bolder with the green floral duster. I like the brighter emerald green against the more muted olive denim.
Olive Skinny Jeans and Knits Winter Outfits
Colder days in autumn and winter are perfect jeans wearing weather here in Brisbane! It's so easy to just add a cosy knit on top of a pair of jeans and sneakers, and maybe a scarf too if it's really cold. The olive colour is a very versatile neutral to wear that goes with all the knits in my wardrobe, and the moss green shade helps add just a little colour to winter outfits.
Olive Skinny Jeans and Orange Outfits
Orange and green is a very bold combination! I tried it out in small doses with the little peach Rebecca Minkoff small Love crossbody bag first. When I figured out I loved the colours together, as you can see in the middle outfit there, I went a bit bolder with a bright neon orange printed tee. Definitely my favourite of those 3 outfits.
Wearing Yellow With Olive Skinny Jeans
With the muted neutral shade of the olive jeans, I found that just as I did above with the orange, I liked bold pops of colour with them. Yellow, particularly mustard yellow, looks so good worn with olive! Although I did try a more pastel yellow tee once, as you can see in 4 of these 5 outfits mustard became a real go-to for me with these jeans.
This Target navy striped maxi skirt was definitely overdue a 30 ways to wear post. I consider maxi skirts a staple in my mum wardrobe and this one goes with, and has been worn with, everything! I had trouble narrowing it down to just 30 outfits to share today.
What Is The 30 Wears Challenge?
Something I picked up from The True Cost documentary, where to reduce the environmental impact of fashion purchases, we should endeavour to wear everything we buy at least 30 times. Each month I share the different ways I've managed to do that with an item from my wardrobe, by looking back at all the daily outfit photos I've taken and shared on the blog over the years!
30 Ways to Wear: Navy Striped Maxi Skirt
Blue is my favourite colour, I always find it so wearable! And navy is a true neutral that goes with everything, so it's not surprising that this skirt has gotten a lot of wear. While the side splits do mean I can't really wear this skirt in winter as it's a little chilly, I do heavily wear it over spring and summer, and it works in autumn too. I have even layered it up a little for winter a couple of times, before realising it should really be more of a warm weather piece!
Cost Per Wear
I struggle to calculate cost per wear on this skirt because my mum bought it for me! I don't remember the cost but similar skirts at Target are around $25 so I assume it was that price or less back in 2016 when she bought it. At 33 documented wears on the blog, assuming it was $25, that's a cost per wear of around 75 cents! Pretty good going! I've definitely worn this skirt more than it's been shared on the blog too, as I have some photos of me wearing it during baby boy's hospital stay, so it's really over 36 wears.
Here are just some of the ways I've worn it:
Simple Tank and Striped Skirt Outfits
On a summer day a plain tank and a striped maxi skirt is an easy outfit for beating the heat, especially if the maxi skirt has side slits like this one does. In each of these 3 outfits I haven't deviated much with the colours in the tanks close to the colours in the skirt, but brighter coloured tanks do work equally well.
White Tees and Navy Striped Maxi Skirt Outfits
Navy and white stripes? Try wearing it with more white! I don't have a lot of white in my wardrobe but I do love wearing the few white tees I have with this striped maxi!
Navy Striped Maxi Skirt With Purple
Blue and purple is a colour combination I really love, and despite the different shades and amounts of purple here, from the tank, tee or even the purple scarf and bag, they all work with the navy stripes.
Red Tops With Navy Striped Maxi Skirt
Red and navy is a nice and colourful combination! While this is a navy and white striped skirt with 4 different red tops, I don't think the outfit looks too American flag-like as the white stripes are smaller than the navy ones. I think with a differently striped skirt this might look a little like a 4th July outfit! But to me these 4 outfits work.
Outfits Wearing Yellow With A Navy Striped Maxi Skirt
Yellow and blue are such a cheerful combination! A bright yellow tee really pops against navy, but a little mustard yellow bag like I'm wearing there in the second and third outfits can be a smaller way to introduce such a bright colour to your outfit.
Pink and Navy Outfit Ideas With Striped Maxi Skirt
Another fun combination, pink and blue! Just like with the other colours I've shared here, again multiple shades work with the neutral navy skirt. A pink tee is a nice outfit option, but as above, a bag works just as well. I really like the blush pink bag in the first outfit with this navy maxi skirt.
Tonal Blue Outfit Ideas With A Striped Maxi Skirt
The easiest monochrome outfits for me to pull together are blue ones, as it's my favourite colour and I have a lot of it in my wardrobe! Each of the blue tops I've worn in these 3 outfits are different shades of blue but they all pair nicely with the navy. The first outfit is completely monochromatic with all the blue, but I've used accessories in the second and third outfits to add a little extra colour.
Layering Navy Striped Maxi Skirt With a Denim Jacket
When the weather cools I like to maximise how often I can wear this skirt, so throwing a simple denim jacket on top is a good way to do that. A denim jacket and maxi skirt work well for early autumn or spring days when there's a bit of chill in the air.
Grey Tees and Navy Striped Maxi Skirt Outfits
Throwing in a bonus 3 outfits there at the end that I've only shared on Instagram before. Illustrating that I've almost worn every grey tee in my wardrobe with this skirt and that it really is a staple! It was one of the pieces I packed for my younger son's hospital stay one December a few years ago. Extremely comfortable to wear for that!
Where To Buy Similar Striped Maxi Skirts Under $50:
Despite saying last month that I was almost exceeding the amount I spent last year and I shouldn't buy anything for the rest of the year, I had a very big spending month this month, with four things purchased. A special reveal video for one, as I bought yet another handbag (that's now 5 bags this year if you're counting 😂).
Target navy and white striped shift dress with frill sleeves
Why I Bought It:
Aside from the jeans, another month of preloved buys. While I have bought a few things this year (and have definitely exceeded my 2020 fashion spend) the jeans are my first retail buy since February which I feel pretty good about! As much as I love the Nobody Denim jeans for how they are ethically and Australian made and designed, they are also on the expensive side. $239 retail price for these jeans I couldn't justify, but on sale for $97 they are perfect! Was really thrilled to stumble across these in the David Jones sale.
The dress and bag were just lucky finds! As I mentioned in the video, I'd gone to the first local Glad Rags second hand market to support the organiser, and just wanted to have a little browse. The navy dress seemed like a great basic. At only $5 I was pretty pleased with my purchase and started making my way out when I stumbled across the Chloe small Paddington bag on the edge of a stall. I was very excited to realise it was authentic and that it was only $90! What are the chances?! The prices vary a lot online as it's a 2006 bag but some are still pretty exxy! I used to have a couple mini Paddington bags back in the day, and I used to authenticate Paddingtons too so I was super pleased to confirm it was real and grab this bargain.
I wasn't expecting to spend so much at the market, the bag was the item that pushed me over my 2020 fashion spend limit, but I knew I'd have so many regrets if I didn't snap the bag up. Didn't even haggle for the price, just wanted it to be mine! 😂
How I've Worn It:
Surprisingly, the jeans got worn more than I expected as we had a few cooler rainy spring days than we normally would in October. I was hoping to get one wear out of them before it got too hot but cooler days meant I managed to hit the "wear twice in the month I buy it" rule with these jeans, and everything else I bought. Of course the bag got worn a few more times, the neutral cream goes with everything!
How I'm tracking With My Annual Fashion Spend:
So far I'm $85 over the amount I spent in 2020, and I have two months left in the year and another Glad Rags preloved market coming up... Still under my 2019 spend at the moment though. It will be interesting to see my spend at the end of the year. It's the first time since 2018 and when I started tracking that I've increased my fashion spend from the year before.
Since I spent so little in 2020 on fashion I think it was going to be hard to meet or spend less than that amount this year, with everything opened up and so few restrictions in Queensland. It was a good goal to aim for though!
This quarter's Magnificent 8 theme was a tricky one for me: vests! I did have a vest once - and wore it 11 times before deciding it wasn't for me. I only share things I actually wear on the blog and because I really didn't feel like trying to borrow a vest just for a couple wears for a post to find out again that it is an item that doesn't work for me, I figured I'd share the 11 ways I did wear a vest before I admitted defeat and donated it. Pretty shameful cost per wear as I paid $29.99 for it on sale, but I really struggled to wear it so it was better to pass it on.
I don't mind the look of some of these outfits - I pulled out all my old staple formulas, like stripes with everything, and blue and pink. I just find a vest a frustrating piece to wear. It doesn't keep my arms warm so it's not a cold weather piece but it doesn't provide shoulder coverage either so it's a bad piece for summer. Vests and I just don't get along! I love the look of this vest but it just never seemed like a must-have for my outfits. And I always felt like I "should" wear it rather than wanting to wear it so it wasn't one that worked in my wardrobe.
If you're on the fence about vests, or you want some ideas for how to wear a similar waterfall vest you might already own, here's some of the ways I wore this old one I had a few years ago.
Blush Vest And Dresses
A long waterfall vest like this blush one looks great worn over a dress! Here I've tried the blue and pink combo I love so much, and for something different even tried to belt this vest in the first outfit. It's good to try little things like adding a belt to mix things up.
Blush Vest and Shorts
Seeing a vest as a warm weather piece, pairing it with shorts seemed like an obvious combo. Out of these 4 vest and shorts combos, I really liked the second and last ones the most, where I have a bit of a column of monochromatic colour under the vest that it layers so well with.
Blush Vest and Jeans
Can't go wrong with an outfit staple of jeans and a tee, and for something a little different I tried adding the blush waterfall vest on top. Again you can see the monochrome column of colour in these outfits too.
Blush Vest and Stripes
Whenever I'm not quite sure how to wear something I pull out the stripes! I find that striped tops worked well with this blush waterfall vest as it's a plain block colour and the stripe tops add a nice bit of interest to the outfit, so the vest isn't the only statement piece.
Similar Vests Under $50
The Magnificent 8
The Magnificent 8 is a collaboration of 8 stylish women, ranging in age from early 20’s to early 80’s. The mission of this collaboration is to showcase how ageless style is. There are no age restrictions on style. So wear what you want, when you want, add a smile, and strut your style with confidence. And be sure to check out all 7 of these other amazing ladies!
Every quarter, the group chooses a theme and each create an outfit that suits our own personal tastes and fashion choices. We post them on the last Wednesday of every third month. Check out everyone’s posts with the links above for style inspiration at any age as they show you their vest outfits. And get some inspiration from people who, unlike me, are big vest fans!
