Away From Blue | Aussie Mum Style, Away From The Blue Jeans Rut: trench coat

For this month's 30 wears challenge I'm sharing another wardrobe classic, my camel trench coat. It's a must have piece for the cooler weather!

Each month I look through the blog archives and find something I've worn 30 times or more to create this wrap up post showing you 30 ways you can wear a similar piece from your own wardrobe. Inspired by the 30 wears challenge I heard about in The True Cost documentary. It's a challenge to slow your shopping by ensuring each piece you buy will be worn 30 times or more and to reduce the environmental impact of fashion.

30 Ways To Wear: Camel Trench Coat

30 Ways To Wear A Camel Trench Coat | #30wears | away from the blue blog

This trench coat hit 30 wears quite quickly - I don't have a lot of winter coats in my wardrobe so this is worn at least once a week to the office in winter, and on colder spring and autumn days. Unlike in the northern hemisphere where a trench is more of a spring or autumn piece, this cotton twill fully lined trench coat is thick and cosy and perfect for a Brisbane winter!

Cost Per Wear

Worn more than 60 times on the blog I really wish I could remember the price I paid for it to calculate cost per wear. I remember buying it on sale at the outlets when shopping with my mum - it was massively reduced, definitely under $50, as it was out of season and one of the buttons was falling off. I bought it and set it aside for the next winter (after my mum fixed one of the buttons!). I had it before my blog, so more than 8 years ago. Given that I've had it more than 8 years and worn it faithfully every winter, I'm sure it's less than the '$1 per wear' figure most people aim for to get value for money. I'm really pleased with this purchase and don't see me getting rid of this coat any time soon!

Everyone needs a classic camel trench in their wardrobe, and this post covers just some ways you can wear it!

30 Ways To Wear A Camel Trench: Video Style

Camel Trench Coat With Burgundy

camel trench coat worn with burgundy in 6 different ways to wear | away from blue

You'll see a few go-to colour combinations come up in this post! While camel is a great neutral and goes with every colour in my wardrobe, there are a few colour combinations I repeatedly try with this trench. Burgundy is one of them. While I love my burgundy pants with the camel coat, I do like other burgundy pieces like a scarf or dress.

Tench Coat with Monochrome Black Outfits

adding a cmael trench coat to a monochrome black outfit 6 ways to wear | awayfromblue

Black and camel is another frequently worn combination. While I have added in some other colours to these outfits with accessories, the outfits themselves are monochrome black. Classic little black dresses or a black top and pencil skirt together, a camel trench coat is a great topper with a monochromatic black outfit.

Camel Trench Coat and Jeans

While I wear my camel trench coat frequently to the office with more formal outfits, it also looks great worn more casually with jeans. You can see a couple of the outfits here are older ones as I last wore blue jeans 2 years ago! Any colour of denim looks great with this neutral camel trench coat though.

Trench Coat and Printed Outfits

Of course, being a classic neutral shade, a camel trench coat works with all kinds of printed outfits. it's the perfect neutral topper to a colourful print mixing outfit, or an easy choice with a printed dress!

Camel Trench Coat and Sheath Dresses

I love a good sheath dress for the office, but all the ones I have are short sleeved or sleeveless. This trench coat is great topper for cooler weather, it keeps me warm and works perfectly with the prints on the dresses, no matter how bold they are! Just like with the other printed outfit options above. A sheath dress and a trench coat is staple formal office style.

Trench Coat and Pencil Skirts

4 ways to wear a trench coat with pencil skirts office outfit ideas | away from the blue

Another work outfit option, a pencil skirt pairs equally as well with a trench coat as the dresses above. You can go with a classic black one, or have a little more fun with colourful printed or textured pencil skirts. It's the best neutral outfit topper no matter what skirt you wear. This trench coat really does go with everything!

Where To Buy A Camel Trench Coat Under $50:

More Outfit Ideas:

For more outfit inspiration and ideas, you can view all the 60+ ways I've worn this trench in my blog archives, or browse the complete 30 wears series.

What I bought in March:

Emerson red skinny jeans (already worn here)
Jeanswest Bindi skinny 7/8 jeans in indigo luxe

Jeanswest 'Sierra' embellished black maxi dress (already worn here)
Jeanswest Elise longline emroidered shirt coconut blue
Jeanswest Nadine 3/4 Sleeve dusky pink blazer
Jeanswest Cassandra jacquard jacket

Not bad considering the last time I bought clothes for myself was in December! You can tell I had a few Jeanswest gift cards to spend ;)

March was the month I returned to the office after maternity leave. As I did so, I got all of my old office clothes out of the 'for after baby' box they had been hiding in and - honestly - started to get quite frustrated that I didn't really have any space for those things in my wardrobe. The slow and steady wardrobe clear-out process got a bit more focused and ruthless over the month. There are so many considerations and emotions around going back to work, and tackling my wardrobe at such a time was probably not the best idea in hindsight. I was just getting more frustrated trying to turn my wardrobe into something that would work for my new lifestyle. So I called in the professionals! One of my instagram friends (@sophisticatedmumma) recommended a personal stylist who lived near me (@istyl). I've been thinking about having someone help me with my wardrobe for a while, and facing a big lifestyle change with returning to work after maternity leave seemed like an ideal time to get an expert!

If you are thinking about getting a personal stylist to come help you with your wardrobe, do it! If you're wondering, I always disclose my sponsored posts. This is not one of them. This is all my own words and I paid for the services with my own money. I didn't even mention that I was going to blog about it. The wardrobe detox was not as stressful as I expected, and was actually really fun. It helped that baby T and Cooper were on their best behaviour and that Maudie was happy working around baby and his needs through the day. She was a superstar.

What I learnt from my wardrobe detox:

Babies never nap as long as you expect them too!
You will be trying on lots of clothes so you want to dress appropriately (maybe matching undies) or set up a little hidden spot to change if you're feeling modest. Dancing around the room half naked asking for a little help struggling to pull off a pair of stubborn skinny jeans / needing to fix a zipper caught halfway up a dress might happen more than once.

There are certain colours you can wear that can make you look incredible, and some that wash you out.

If your wardrobe is full of colours that don't make you look your best, there are a few tricks you can employ to get around this. It isn't about buying a whole new wardrobe, but learning how to make what you have work for you.

You'll never really comprehend how much stuff is in your wardrobe until you start going through it all.
It is extremely frustrating realising just how many 'perfect for nursing' tops you had hidden in your wardrobe, after you've stopped breastfeeding.

You will come up with the craziest justifications to explain oddities in your wardrobe. (Like why each and every one of your 14 grey tees is a complete essential and different from all the rest.) Thanks for humouring me Maudie!

A wardrobe detox is very emotional. Saying goodbye to old pieces, and re-discovering old favourites. You might feel compelled to tell stories of when, where, and why you bought things. It's a trip down memory lane.

Even you will be surprised with how stubborn you can be on keeping some pieces....and how happy you will be to toss others.

If there are things you just have to have despite the expert opinion saying it doesn't work for you, you can get ideas of different ways to style the items to make them work a little better.

Even an overflowing wardrobe can have 'gaps' in it. It is really helpful to know what things you should look for next time you are shopping, and what you should avoid buying more of. (Like jeans!)

Sorting things into piles of 'keep', 'tailor' and 'toss' is so much easier with an impartial third party helping.

It's never about you. You look amazing. Your clothes might not be working to show off your best self. And that can be easily fixed.

Hearing sincere and flattering compliments is always a good boost, especially after having a baby.
Some things you might be considering getting rid of can stay and become stand out pieces in your wardrobe very quickly when you know how to wear them.
Finding out why things make you look and feel good will help guide your shopping for the better.
A few hours, a bin bag full of cast-offs and a little bit of wardrobe reorganisation can make such a positive difference.

If you're in Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast I'd recommend Maudie as an awesome personal stylist. If a wardrobe detox isn't in your budget, try inviting a friend over and getting an honest opinion on some of the things you own. It's so helpful getting another view. I know some bloggers have check lists or flowcharts or things to help you do your own wardrobe detox too. Please feel free to link up any great advice you have or have come across in the comments.

As a result of my little spring-cleaning before my wardrobe session and a very productive couple of hours during it...there are a bunch of things that have left my wardrobe this month. I've included pictures of just some of them below, as they didn't all have a 'last wear' outside. You can find a few things on ebay. I'll be listing more as I find the time, and the rest will be donated to the Animal Welfare League shelter to end up in their op-shops.