Printed kimonos are the best. I don't just wear them with plain pieces though. I have a lot of stripes in my wardrobe so I like to print mix by layering my kimonos over my stripes. Even if I didn't love one of these outfits as much as the other, they are both striped tanks with printed kimonos. And of course I accessorised with my Rebecca Minkoff mini MAC bags.
Wore this out to my local Australian Breastfeeding Association group. While it was a hot and humid day, I felt this kimono was light enough to add a colourful layer. With the white and navy striped tank, it made sense to wear a blue kimono with it. I really liked this outfit, so simple and perfect.
The only thing I didn't like about this was the humidity - the meeting quickly turned from a planned discussion topic into sharing tips and tricks for surviving the heatwave with kids. Lots of good ideas, and sometimes it's just nice to hear that you're not alone and after weeks of stifling temperatures, other people are getting a bit stressed out too!
Kept the accessories simple with the shorter necklace and the silver mini MAC bag. This bag really goes with everything!
With it being Valentine's day and Lunar New Year, I had to wear a little bit of red. Picked this kimono as my newest item of clothing with some red in it, and wondered what top to wear it. This pink/red/coral brushstroke stripe tank hadn't been worn in a while (I last wore it when I was pregnant!) and I really liked it when I put the two side by side. The shorts were a new purchase, so perfect to wear for the new year.
When I tried it all on I wondered if it was too many prints all together, but I liked it enough to wear it out. Well to wear it to daycare drop off and pick up and work from home! Had mixed feelings about it after seeing the photos I took though. Don't hate it enough to class it as an outfit fail, but I probably won't wear the tank and kimono together again, it was all a little much. What do you think?
Stripes are always a good place to start when print mixing, and adding a colourful kimono on top means you can take it off later if you change your mind about the pattern mix! A nice non-committal way to try a little bit of print mixing.
The beauty of this printed tank from Jeanswest is that it goes with so much in my wardrobe. It's nice and light for summer and was perfect to wear on two very hot days during some of the heatwaves we had in Brisbane.
Wore this pretty tank for the first time to go out to dinner. I thought the chambray maxi skirt would be nice with the blue leaves in the print, and they are both light pieces which was perfect for the heatwave we were experiencing.
The red leaves in the print made me think of this little red saddle bag right away too. (See 30 ways to wear a red saddle bag here.) I really liked how this outfit came together. While the usual 'fashion rule' is to avoid pairing two voluminous pieces like this skirt and tank together, I've done it a few times. Sometimes you just want loose, comfortable layers, and on this super hot day it was exactly what was needed. I really liked wearing this outfit. So comfortable, and great for overindulging at dinner as the maxi skirt has an elastic waistband!
Had a fun day out planned with my mum and sister. Again, it was a hot day so I went with comfortable pieces like the printed tank and the pastel pink shorts. The tank has pink leaves in the print that match so nicely to the shorts. Just like last time I wore these shorts though, I managed to get them dirty. I'm kinda glad I thrifted these as they are confirming my suspicion that I'm just too clumsy to get white shorts or jeans, ha! It's annoying to have to try remove stains so often though.
The pretty necklace was a Christmas gift, I thought it worked really well with the neckline of the top.
There were just a few things I wasn't too happy about with this outfit. I think a different bag would have worked better, the black is a bit harsh with all the pastels. It looks okay, but I have other bags (like my metallic mini MAC) that would have looked better I think.
I also wish I'd gone for a different backdrop to show the outfit off better, it kinda blends in with the bricks. I was just looking for a shady spot to take a photo that morning though, didn't think about how it looked with my outfit. I always pick spots for their shade, I admire the bloggers that drive around looking for the perfect locations to match their outfits! It's too sunny to use my normal spot over summer, so I'm finding the shade where I can.
A multi coloured printed piece like this leaf print tank makes creating outfits easy. You can change up the way you wear it each time by picking clothing that matches different colours out of the print. Picking a colour out of a printed piece is a good way to pick an accessory too if you're unsure what would go best and you don't want something other than a neutral piece.
Everyone repeats clothes at some point (even celebrities who probably have more clothes than they could ever possibly wear). In my quest to try and get more use from my wardrobe, I try to wear things a little differently now and then. Instead of completely repeating an outfit piece by piece, I'll take elements I loved and use it to come up with an outfit formula to follow to wear the same thing slightly differently. Like everyone else though, sometimes you just have to repeat an entire outfit head-to-toe!
When I saw these olive embroidered shorts, I instantly thought of wearing them with stripes. I decided to wear them with my foil striped tee, and loved it so much the next time I wore them I picked another striped tee. Same formula, slightly different results.
I wore this back in December! I'm usually a little behind with sharing my outfit photos on the blog, but nothing makes me feel more disorganised than sharing December photos in January, with the new year making these last years photos 😂
Delayed posting aside, I really liked this outfit! I wore this for our playgroup Christmas party which I overly shared on Insta stories. I've been going to this playgroup since Toddler T was a baby, he had his first Christmas party there and I always go snap happy taking tons of photos of the boys enjoying the massive picnic spread. There were chocolate eclairs this time, and so of course I have a fair few chocolate face photos!
I thought the metallic foil stripes on the tee and the Christmas bow on my wrist were nice nods to the Christmas theme without getting too dressed up, as there would be a lot of sitting on the ground and running around with toddlers. I did dress the boys up in their novelty Christmas tees though!
I liked the first metallic stripe tee outfit so much that I planned this one, again with the same shoes, although a different Rebecca Minkoff bag. I liked this resulting outfit much I wore it twice! Wore it on Monday, for some errands and a specialist appointment and then again a couple days later on the Wednesday. There was a bit of a stressful day or so in between with an unexpected overnight hospital stay for the little one, and some frantic rescheduling of planned appointments and work for me so that Baby Boy was taken care of.
To make things easier on myself, I just pulled on Monday's outfit again. Another doctor's appointment but also the opportunity to work from home while my mother in law looked after baby boy. An outfit formula is a wonderful way to make getting dressed easy, but there is nothing easier than repeating an entire outfit when you're too stressed to think of anything else!
Crazy backstory aside, I did enjoy wearing this outfit. Nothing really matches, with the navy stripe tee, olive floral embroidered shortsand mustard bag, but I do love the way all of the colours work together.
Nothing wrong with repeating an outfit combination you love! But if you want to change things up a little, try using the pieces that you loved from the outfit to make up a formula to follow to recreate a similar one with different pieces. This also works if you're inspired by an outfit you see but don't have the exact pieces in your wardrobe - identify what you liked about the outfit and see if you could create something similar based on that formula. Outfit formulas work well when you're pushed for time in the mornings too. You can use an outfit you loved for inspiration for a quick outfit another day, just by following the formula you create.
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!
I've been on a bit of a shorts buying binge this spring! I've been slowly swapping out some of my current shorts and selling or donating them to make room for some more of these cute relaxed fit soft shorts. I'm not really sure if they have a proper name, 'relaxed fit soft shorts' seems a bit long. I do know that they are insanely comfortable and perfect for Brisbane's heat though. They look great with this floral print kimono too.
Ordinarily I wouldn't wear voluminous pieces with a kimono, I don't always like the results, but I loved the relaxed vibe of both these outfits. Perfect for playgroup.
With the warmer weather, I have been so excited to wear these blue printed shorts again. I know from my personal stylist session that they aren't the best style for me, because post-babies my waist isn't the narrowest part of my body and these shorts highlight that. But I really don't care, I love them anyway. So much so that I went and bought a couple more in a similar style!
I'm surprised that these have only been worn 16 times so far, nowhere near 30 wears but I'm aiming to reach that goal with them this spring/summer!
I usually pair these shorts with stripes if I'm wearing another print, but decided to go with the neutral metallic tank and add the floral print kimono for something different. Partly also because I'm trying to hit 30 wears with this kimono this season. I really liked this combination, nice and comfortable for a warm day at playgroup with the boys. I've worn the tank and shorts together before too.
Back when we had our failed shopping trip that ended up with x-rays, I'd seen these shorts in Jeanswest and considered them but figured they were a little too expensive and I didn't love them enough to go try them on. I hadn't been able to get them out of my head since then though, and even tried going back in store to buy them. They didn't have my size and again something came up with the boys and I couldn't get to the store that did have my size.
So when I saw these shorts in the 40% off sale I had to get them! Was so pleased to discover them as it's been a while since I last saw them. While the shorts are already a relaxed fit, I thought of pairing them with this black tee right away. I really liked the combination, and the floral kimono added a little extra colour to the outfit. I was really inspired by loving the first outfit so much.
It's got a bit much going on, with the voluminous pieces together, and the mix of prints and embroidery, but I really liked this outfit. So insanely comfortable, and such an easy outfit after our big day out the day before.
How You Can Wear It: Relaxed fit, soft shorts are perfect for hot days. light and airy, and still great coverage when running around with two toddlers, without having to worry about things riding up. You don't have to stick to neutrals if you have a pair of printed shorts either, a kimono is a fun layer that doesn't make you overheat in the sun.
