I bought some new cardigans recently to celebrate the cooler weather in Brisbane! You might have seen in Monday's office wear post how to wear them in the office, but today I'm picking the navy one and showing you two different ways to wear it.
This is the new season Jeanswest waterfall drape cardigan, which has two buttons on the top and button holes in the hem. It means you can button up one side as an impromptu breastfeeding cover, or you can button up both hems and wear it like a cowl neck knit.
While it's winter now, it was still a mild autumn when I wore this cardigan for the first time, so I'm wearing it with shorts in both outfits.
I was so eager to squeeze in another wear of these shorts, in my effort to hit 30 wears on them before the summer weather really ended. With the ankle boots and long cardigan, they were just warm enough for the last of our summer heat before autumn truly set in. The blue shorts were an obvious choice to wear with the navy cardigan as I love wearing these shorts with navy pieces to create monochrome outfits.
The mustard cardigan is something I've worn frequently with these shorts too, I really like yellow and blue together. A nice cheerful and colourful outfit, yet still practical for working from home and doing the daycare drop off / pick up.
There was a little more rushing around when I wore this outfit. We had some errands to run and a doctor's appointment in the morning. I thought the cardigan buttoned up and worn like a tank would be perfect with shorts, as it was quite a sunny day. It was also rather windy though, so I did regret choosing shorts when walking between stores and giving Cooper his afternoon walk when the wind picked up.
The magenta Balenciaga Day bag is my favourite part of this outfit - it really pops with the navy cardigan. If it had been a less windy day, I would have liked this outfit more I'm sure. It was still warm in the sun, so jeans would have been too much with the cardigan buttoned up like this though. Not a bad outfit, just not the best for the weather that day!
During those in-between seasons where it's not too hot or not too cold, a cardigan can be a good option with some shorts! A neutral navy cardigan like this will go with so much too. While this has buttons to take the hems up, you could easily replicate the second outfit with a waterfall drape cardigan you own and a brooch or pin.
When you want to wear all your autumn/winter knits but the weather isn't cooperating, try wearing them with shorts! With our extremely warm start to autumn I wore this outfit combination a few times to wear some cosier pieces without overheating.
The perfect opportunity to wear one of my recently unboxed winter knits. While I keep my summer pieces in my wardrobe year round, I have no need for winter knits and scarves and leather jackets most of the year here in Brisbane, so I box them away. Unboxing them when the weather changes is always so fun, even if it does lead to the inevitable 'I have no space in my wardrobe' and 'why do I have so many clothes?!' freak outs when I try find a spot in my wardrobe for it all.
It was a cooler morning and we were spending the day playing outside in the shade at playgroup, so I thought this knit would work well with shorts and ankle boots. It was the perfect weather and outfit and I loved wearing this. With the embellishment on the knit I wasn't sure at first if it would work with the printed shorts, but with a lot of white in the print I thought they tied together nicely when I put them on. I really enjoyed wearing this outfit.
Since I enjoyed the outfit above so much, I thought I'd try the formula again. I should have checked the weather before I did so, it was a warmer than usual day and I did regret the knit at a few points. Fun day though! We had our local ABA mother's group in the morning, a little shopping in the afternoon and then I got changed and we headed down the coast for dinner with my family.
It's the first time I've worn this necklace, an item sold as a fundraiser for ABA. With the silver beads and print I thought it would match nicely with my silver foil knit and tempete Balenciaga day bag.
Last time I wore a normal necklace to the ABA I regretted the decision - spending my stay at home mum days at playgroup or mother's group means baby-friendly necklaces are the best choice! While my boys are past the teething stage, my friend's baby adored chewing on this necklace as I held him for a moment while my friend was busy with her other son. I think I'll be wearing baby friendly necklaces for a while, even though my boys are toddlers now!
I did think that the necklace, knit and bag all worked well together but I'm not too sure about the olive shorts. I usually find green a tricky colour to wear, I think a neutral bag might have been better with this outfit.
Thin knit jumpers like these are great pieces that you can wear by themselves in spring and autumn or layered up with things over or under them in winter. If the weather isn't the perfect coldness, you can still wear them with shorts as I have above. Definitely pieces you can get a lot of wear from outside of winter.
It took a while for autumn to arrive here in Brisbane! But when we started getting cooler mornings I was excited to add some layers and autumn pieces to my dresses - even if they are just lightweight scarves! I find summer dresses easy to layer up for cooler weather just by adding an extra piece or two and swapping out your shoes for something cosier.
It was a really cold morning when I wore this so I added a scarf, denim jacket and ankle boots to my dress. After a busy day working from home, rushing around in the evening meant I'd gotten warm and quickly taken both the scarf and jacket off. I picked the boys up from daycare to take the little one to his specialist appointment.
This shimmery scarf was a gift from my mum last year and I love how nice it looked with the navy dress. Even if I didn't keep all the layers on in the warm afternoon, I did enjoy this outfit for the short time I wore it all together in the morning for daycare drop off and the denim jacket came in helpful in the evening.
This was such a productive day, although I wasn't completely happy with my outfit. I love the crochet scarf with the navy dress. I was unsure at first with the pattern on the dress and the texture of the scarf but being similar colours I think it worked really well. It was a little chilly so as well as the scarf I added some Converse. Converse are a go-to for me in spring and autumn and are a nice alternative when it's not cold enough for boots. On the surface, a great outfit.
We dropped the boys off at their grandparents for the morning to get some stuff done and it was a productive morning. I did wish I'd added a denim jacket to this outfit though once the rain showers hit. Then we had lunch with the boys and their grandparents which made me regret my outfit even more as this dress felt much too short. If I'm spending time with the boys it's better to go with a maxi length or something like shorts! I was happy to get home and change after lunch. I chucked on some PJ pants under my dress so I was a bit more comfortable to lounge around and play with cars and setup train tracks with the boys!
This dress is one of the ones that works so perfectly in summer, layers well for autumn or winter, and it doubles as a professional looking top for work sometimes too. I was really hoping to have hit 30 wears on it by now, but I do find the length tricky to wear when trying to sit and play on the floor with the boys which limits how much I can wear it right now.
You don't have to pack your favourite dresses away when the cooler weather arrives! Swapping sandals for Converse or ankle boots and adding a scarf helps keep the chill away and lets you wear your favourite pieces more often. When it's really cold, you could add tights, leggings, and cosier scarves. But mild autumn and spring days are perfect for lightweight scarves like these.
My blog friend Ruth does these 5x5 style challenges on Instagram. Another blog friend, Eileen and I started talking with her about it and thought it would be fun to participate. We decided to do an international style challenge a couple of weeks ago near the end of November.
The rules: 5 pieces of clothing to create 5 outfits over 5 days, with a black and burgundy colour scheme. Accessories like shoes, necklaces, scarves, handbags, outerwear, can be added as needed and don't count as one of the 5 pieces.
Who took part: Ruth @ruthyannie, Eileen @eileensed and myself, @awayfromblue. Ruth did this over autumn in the cold weather, and Eileen had to dress a growing baby bump too! I have so much admiration for them both!
This is going to be a bit of a long post as I share with you what we wore over 5 days! I hope you'll get a lot of outfit inspiration from it though, and discover some new ways you can rewear pieces you already own.
My Capsule Wardrobe
After a few last minute swaps and changes, these are the 5 pieces I came up with for the challenge.
black drawstring waist maxi skirt
black denim shorts
burgundy jersey dress
black, burgundy and cream shirt dress
burgundy slouchy tee
My choices were limited by the colour scheme which helped me make decisions about what to pick as my 5 pieces. The last time I did a capsule, it was my third trimester capsule wardrobe and the growing bump helped limit my options there too! I did have to go into the office for one day which made me pick the shirt dress, even if the print is more red than burgundy. I figured it was close enough!
The main worry I had was around structuring the pieces I wore to allow me to have them washed and ironed ready for the next wear With two messy toddlers it was highly unlikely I was going to be able to wear things twice in a row without washing them! In the end I came up with 6 outfit ideas so that if something wasn't ready in time, I'd have a fall back option.
For the first day of the challenge I went with a classic tee and maxi skirt combo. When I'd first started planning outfits and pieces for the challenge I'd went with a different burgundy tee, and changed my mind and swapped it for this tee instead. I didn't like the way this one sat with the maxi skirt though, I was a bit frustrated with it both tucked and untucked and wasn't as comfortable with this outfit as I could have been. Easy outfit for playgroup though.
This was as 'formal' as my outfits got during the challenge, the majority of them were casual outfits. I had to go into the office, so picked this shirt dress to fit in with the business casual dress code. I found myself fussing with this outfit too during the day though, the dress seemed to ride up a lot and I was constantly tugging it back down. I much prefer wearing this dress as a kimono, or layering it up with tights in winter.
I knew with the darker black and red print on the dress (it's a geometric print although it looks like polka dots in the pics!) that this Marc Jacobs bag would work perfectly with it. This bag doesn't get worn as often as it did when I first got it, but it's still a nice choice for work. It's been tagged in 62 posts on the blog and most of the time it featured in both outfits of the posts, so you can see it was worn a lot in the past! Such a unique colour too, a deep purple-y brown.
The simplest of all my challenge outfits, and also the most popular. I wore this to work from home and attend a specialist appointment with baby boy in the afternoon. With the burgundy star print dress, I added black through my accessories, with the same ankle boots I'd worn the day before and another little worn bag, my Mimco button bag.
This was actually my first expensive bag purchase, despite how little I wear it now I'm never going to let it go. I spent months thinking about it and saving for it and picking out the perfect colour combo I wanted and I still remember the excitement of going to the store to pick it up! Very treasured even if not frequently worn now. I think I bought it in 2007 at the height of the button bag trend, still looks great. Sadly it's discontinued, the closest thing is the Mimco Turnlock bag that's around $200 more expensive than the button bag was 10 or so years ago, or to go to ebay for the classic style.
An incredibly busy day called for a comfortable and casual outfit, and the first wearing of the last of my 5 pieces, my black denim shorts. Added the comfy slouchy burgundy tee and the printed dress was worn as a kimono. Converse were a practical choice for a busy day, and the mustard yellow bag was a fun touch of colour with the black and burgundy.
Baby boy had some more tests at the hospital in the morning, so I had the day off. With my mother in law available to watch the boys, as it was a day I normally work, I made the most of it and she looked after them both once the testing was done so I could gt a rare child free afternoon to go Christmas shopping. And I shopped up a storm, getting the majority of the things remaining on my Christmas present list!
For my fifth and final outfit with my 5 pieces, I wore my denim shorts again and the lovely burgundy dress as a top. I added turquoise accessories with the necklace and Rebecca Minkoff mini MAC bag for an extra touch of colour. I've won dresses as tops before, it's a nice way to wear something a little differently. The extra dress fabric wasn't too bulky although it was a bit of a pain tucking it in to the shorts every time I went to the bathroom! I had considered doubling up on the dresses and wearing the shift dress as a kimono over this again, but despite how little time I spent with the boys the day before it still got messy and had to have a wash. That was the hardest part of this challenge - making sure everything was washed and ironed in time to wear again!
This was a nice outfit to finish the challenge on, I ran around with the boys completing a few errands.
Hope you enjoyed seeing the different outfits we were able to create for the challenge. While it was a fun challenge for me, I was looking forward to getting back into my regular wardrobe at the end of it! Especially after buying lots of new pieces that month that I was eager to wear.
Thanks so much to Ruth and Eileen for inviting me to take part - if you don't already, you should follow them on Instagram!
