Christmas Maxi Dress Outfit, Casual Shorts and Print Mixing. Balenciaga Bags

Two more Fox in Flats Darecember style challenge outfits I've worn. The first is what I wore for an early Christmas, maxi dresses are always a favourite of mine for Christmas, forgiving after you've stuffed yourself with delicious food!

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas! Just a few more sleeps!


Here's what I wore to celebrate Christmas with hubby's family:

Dress: Jeanswest grey snake print maxi dress
Shoes: Asos 'five star' leather sandals (new purchase)
Bracelets: the usual plus silver charm bracelet
Bag: Balenciaga flat clutch GSH in 2010 Sang


A Christmas outfit already! As some of hubby's family were going overseas, we held a big get-together for an early Christmas. We exchanged gifts, ate a yummy Christmas meal and had fun celebrating early.

I'd made the decision this year not to buy a new dress to celebrate Christmas in, partly because we will be having so many Christmas get-togethers! I still hadn't decided what dress I'd wear to each Christmas event when I saw that the style challenge for the day was 'bare back', and this backless maxi seemed like a great choice for the party.

The clutch wasn't really necessary as I left it in the baby bag the whole time anyway, it just helped me feel a little more "dressed up" for the occasion. I wasn't sure about the pale pink sandals and the red clutch, but felt they were far enough apart that it didn't matter that they didn't match. I was eager to wear my new shoes!

It makes me really happy to see that the last time I wore this dress, I was pregnant and going for an evening out with hubby. Our last baby-free dinner date! This is a more casual and dressed down look then before.


Last worn: snake print maxi dress, Balenciaga flat clutch. First time I've worn the sandals.

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Here's what I wore to go out without baby T:

Sunglasses: Rayban new Wayfarers
Tee: Cotton On 'Asher' short sleeve tee in white and grey marl deck stripe
Shorts: Jeanswest 'Scarlette' printed shorts (on sale, 40% off!)
Shoes: Asos 'five star' leather sandals
Bag: Balenciaga giant hardware Day bag in 2009 tempete


My favourite of my style challenge outfits so far, 'print mixing' was the prompt and I knew stripes would be one of my prints. I do wear a lot more stripes now!

Wore this out to go into the city for the first time without baby T. He stayed at home as DH and I caught up after work to view the results of the family photo shoot we'd had a few days earlier. (I didn't get blog photos of my photo shoot outfit, it was just jeans and a tee). It was a really strange experience being in the city by myself! It was such a hot day I was glad I'd picked a simple outfit to wear as I got a little lost trying to find my way to the photo studio on foot.


So soon after the first wear above, this is the second wear of my new shoes, so my thoughts:

I'm really pleased I snapped these up in the Asos sale, I felt I needed a nice simple sandal option for those days when I want to be a little more dressed up than I am in my trusty Havaianas. I've owned a few Asos leather sandals, they always last a couple years and are super cheap, so I'm happy with this purchase and see the shoes being worn a fair bit. Hope you've enjoyed reading along as I analyse all my new purchases - it's certainly making me think more about things I buy and actually helping me to buy less, even though it's only been a few months since I started sharing my purchase reviews on the blog.

While I'm happy to have added the shoes to my wardrobe, this tee is leaving! I've worn it three times on the blog since I bought it (here, here and now), which isn't a lot for something I've had 2 years. It sounds good, a grey striped tee, and it was a bargain, so good that I picked it up and bought it without even trying it on. I've never been completely happy with it any time I've worn it, and this time around was the same, I worried it was sitting oddly or that the stripes looked weird...I have other striped tees and other grey tees I love more, so this tee is going in the donate pile. No point in holding onto and wearing something I don't love.


Last worn: Ray-Ban Wayfarers, striped tee, printed shorts, leather sandals (above), Balenciaga Tempete Day bag.

Linking up with Style Sessions, Real Mum Style, Celebrate Southern, Confident Twosday, Trend Spin Linkup, Style Me Wednesday, Watcha Wearing Wednesday today.

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Printed Jersey Mini Dresses and Owning One Item In Multiple Colours

I've shared a few times on the blog that when I really like something, I tend to buy multiples of it in different colours. I'm trying to really question my "need" for this, to reduce the size of my wardrobe. I wore two cute little jersey dresses a couple of days ago, with the goal of picking one to keep and one to remove from my wardrobe and add to the donate pile.


Here's what I wore to visit my parents:

Sunnies: Rayban new Wayfarers
Dress: French Connection butterfly jersey tie waist dress
Shoes: black slim Havaianas thongs
Bracelets: the usual plus enamel coated Marc By Marc Jacobs Katie bracelet


Brisbane was tipped to get over 40 degrees Celcius (104 Farenheit for my American readers), so I wanted to wear as little as possible. A bikini was out of the question though, haha! I picked this cute little printed dress as it's great in the heat. We all headed over to my parent's place for the day, to sit and soak up their air-conditioning and protect baby T from the worst of the high temperatures.

I did add a cute little bracelet to accessorise a bit, but it was really too hot to want to do anything to wear this dress differently! Didn't even take a bag - had all my stuff in the baby bag.


Last worn: Ray-Ban Wayfarer, printed jersey dress, Havaianas.

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Here's what I wore to catch up with a friend:

Sunglasses: Rayban new Wayfarers
Necklace: custom Cooper charm by Silhoupette
Dress: French Connection star dancing jersey dress in red rust/almond
Shoes: Acne pistol boots in "skin"


Wore this second dress simply too, just added my trusty pistol boots. I know that when the summer heat comes to stay, I won't be wearing them very much, so I'm getting all the wear out of them I can now in Spring! Simple outfit to go visit a friend for a chat with baby T.

I've worn this dress 9 times since I've been blogging, and the butterfly printed one 7 times. Not sure how long I've had them, although I do have an old picture of a night out in 2008 wearing one of them. They've both had a good run in my wardrobe, but as I'm trying to downsize, getting rid of things I have multiples of seems to be a good way to go.

I picked this burgundy star print dress to wear after the multi coloured printed one above, as I was certain that this would be the dress that would be leaving my wardrobe after looking at them both hanging up. However, after wearing this dress, I've decided to keep this one and donate the more colourful printed one above. I just love the burgundy colour of this dress too much!


What do you think? Would you have kept this burgundy star print dress as well, or do you think I should keep the more colourful printed one?


Last worn: Wayfarers (see above), star print dress, Acne Pistol boots.


The Thanksgiving holiday in the US brings a lot of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales! I'm always updating the Sales and Discount page, but below are a few of the sales that have started already:

• ShopBop The Big Event Sale. 15% off orders of $250+, 20% off orders of $500+, 25% off orders of $1000+ with code 'GOBIG14'
• The Iconic Shop More, Save More sale. Get $15 off $100 with code 'SHOP15', $40 off $200 with 'SHOP40' and $100 off $400 with 'SHOP10'.
• Reebonz Pre-Black Friday Sale - extra 11% off with code 'BLACK11'

• Bloomingdales Big Brown Bag sale - up to 50% off.
• Diane Von Furstenberg 40% off sale
• French Connection (US) - 30% off with code '30FCBF'
• J. Crew 30% off full price and 40% off sale with code 'HOLIDAY'
• Juicy Couture - 50% off and free shipping with code 'JCBLACK'
• Luisaviaroma - extra 20% off with code 'BFRS'
• Modcloth - 50% off new arrivals. No code needed!
• Nine West (US) -  up to 50% off.
• Saks Fifth Avenue Sale - up to 60% off

Hope all my American readers have a lovely Thanksgiving!


Shop similar printed jersey dresses:

Linking up with What I Wore, Style Me Wednesday, Thursday Favourites today.

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Statement Denim Outfits - Blue and Purple, Metallic Gold and Mixed Print Shirt. Monthly Purchases

Just like Monday's post, getting a little uninspired with my outfit choices and I wore jeans twice in a row! Coloured jeans for a bit of interest, but still sticking with the comfy denim!

Here's what I wore to spend the day with my mum:

Tee: Atmos&Here 'Cara' mesh panel tee (on sale!)
Tank: Jeanswest 'Jenni' basic singlet in Hawaii blue
Jeans: Jeanswest blackberry super skinny jeans
Shoes: black slim Havaianas thongs


Wore this to spend the day with my mum, and a slightly grouchy baby T! It was a cooler, overcast day so I layered up a little with this sheer stripe tee over a tank. First time I've ever worn this tank without a baby bump! I was in my second trimester last time I wore it.

I really like wearing blue and purple together, I've worn this combination before frequently with these jeans. The one thing I didn't like in this outfit was the stripe tee. It was one of my July purchases, right back when I started sharing my purchases and trying to be more careful to only buy things I'd actually use. Since July, this is only it's third wear. While I do like it with jeans, much more than it worn with maxi skirts, it was a bit warm despite the cooler day. With the weather warming up more too it's unlikely I'll get a lot more days to wear it this year, so it would be sitting in my wardrobe for a long time before it would get worn again. Given the limited ways I can wear it, and the limited time I'll have left to wear it, I don't think it's going to be a frequently reached for piece. I did consider this in my purchase review after wearing it twice, but I held onto it then, thinking I might still get lots of wear out of it. Today it's leaving my wardrobe, going into the donate pile, and serving as a lesson to myself to really think things through before I buy them! Not a great cost-per-wear.

Slowly but surely, I'll work my way through wearing all the items in my wardrobe and end up with a wardrobe full of things I love to wear and can wear in multiple ways!


Last worn: blue tank, sheer stripe tee, purple skinny jeans, Havaianas.

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Here's what I wore to meet my mothers group and run errands:

Sunglasses: Rayban new Wayfarers
Necklace: Dogeared 3 Wishes stardust bead necklace layered with vintage gold initial necklace
Shirt: Jeanswest 'Ruby' mixed print shirt
Jeans: Sass and Bide 'Three Words' metallic gold jeans
Shoes: Cotton On thin strap thongs in black
Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs pretty nylon Eliz-A-Baby bag


Unlike the previous outfit, I loved everything about this one! The sleeves on the shirt were a little frustrating to me through the day, but only as I was in a rush in the morning and hadn't taken the time to roll them up properly.

Wore this shirt for a busy day! Caught up with some of the ladies in my mother's group in the morning, and then had to run around fitting in as many errands as I could. No matter what time I go, there always seems to be a huge line at the bank.....thankfully we got home in time for my mother in law's visit that afternoon.


Last worn: Ray-Ban Wayfarers, mixed print shirt, metallic skinny jeans, Cotton On thongs, Marc by Marc Jacobs baby bag.