I bought a few things in January but as I mentioned not everything arrived in time for me to make a video, so I decided to compile my January and February purchases together. Some January sale finds and a few opshop bargains!
What I Bought In January / February:
Kmart culotte short in navy lemon print
Kmart black sleeveless frill hem peplum tank Rebecca Minkoff Edie small crossbody bag in magenta
Thrifted Kmart abstract blob print tee
Thrifted Crossroads black ruffle hem maxi skirt
Thrifted Target colourful printed tank
Thrifted red statement bead necklace
Thrifted Spirit grey marle jumper Jeanswest Emily cotton v-neck tee in coral
Why I Bought It:
Despite getting a lot of lovely clothes and accessories for Christmas, I just had to check out the Kmart clearance sale in the new year and came away with some new clothes and even PJs, using a gift card I got for Christmas.
My search for a good local opshop continued in January and February, trying to find an alternative one after my favourite closed. I picked up quite a few bargains when I was browsing the opshops in the surrounding areas, most of the clothes only being $1 each. All completely impulse buys though, and nothing I absolutely needed, just things I wanted.
How I've Worn It:
I noticed I'd perhaps gone a little overboard with the buying (although certainly not the spending!) when I struggled with meeting my 'wear twice in the month I buy it' goals with some of my pieces. A good reminder that even if those clothes are only $1 each, I need to be more thoughtful with what I buy. With the grey jumper being an autumn / winter piece, I'm giving that a pass for not meeting the 'wear twice in the month I buy it' rule as I know I'll love it later!
I anticipate that the next few months will be a little slower with the purchases, while I enjoy what I own for a while.
The end of another month, and a new 30 ways to wear post! This month I'm featuring another bag, my Balenciaga truffle brown day bag.
With this monthly series, I pick a piece from my wardrobe I've worn over 30 times and go back through my blog archives to show you some of the ways I've worn it.
30 Ways To Wear Balenciaga Truffle Brown Day Bag
Cost Per Wear
I bought this bag back in August 2015 from Designer Archives consignment store in Brisbane, so of course I've worn it more than 30 times in the 3 and a half years I've had it. Still looks just as good as the day I bought it too!
This was a complete impulse buy, I'd taken some other handbags in to consign and seen this bag and just had to get it - it's the same as the day bag my bestie has, so it reminds me of her! I paid $900 for it so it works out at $25 per wear so far. Not as low as some items of clothing I've calculated cost per wear on but pretty good for such an expensive bag! It's not been worn as much as my other Balenciaga day bags, but it is one of the most recently purchased ones.
30 Ways To Wear Balenciaga Day Bag: Video Style
Balenciaga Brown Day Bag With Colourful Outfit
Unsurprisingly, this neutral brown bag works great with colourful outfits! From a colourblocking blue and green outfit to a more subtle burst of colour like a pink blazer or cobalt jacket, this brown bag is such a good neutral to add to any colourful outfit. It's a good go-to bag when I'm not sure what colour would work!
Balenciaga Day Bag With Flares
While I do love my skinny jeans, I do have a single solitary pair of flared jeans. And I bought this bag around the time I aggravated my old knee injury in a bus accident. The flared jeans were the only ones I could fit my compression bandage underneath, so they and the bag were frequently worn. This bag does look great with other styles of jeans, but I wanted to call out how well the slouchy hobo style works with flared jeans and make it it's own category.
Balenciaga Brown Day Bag With Green
I was surprised to see when I looked back on the pictures that this brown bag has been worn so much with green! An olive tank, emerald green pants or even olive pants, this brown bag compliments the shades of green so nicely. I'm trying to get outside my comfort zone and wear green more often, so I'm mainly wearing it with neutrals. A no-fuss neutral bag like this is heavily relied on to go with anything green in my outfit.
Balenciaga Day Bag With Matching Boots
The old 'match your shoes to your bag' fashion rule is one that is rarely followed now, and one I certainly don't wear a lot. Partly because my handbag collection is a lot more colourful than my shoe collection! While not a perfect match, the truffle brown Balenciaga day bag is such a similar shade to these Chelsea boots that I can't resist a little matchy-matchy by pairing them together.
Balenciaga Brown Day Bag In The Office
A slouchy hobo style bag might not be your first choice for office wear, but a big bag like this is just what I need to take everything into the office. It's comfortable even when full and a neutral shade means it stands out less than a similar style in a brighter colour, making it a good casual bag to try in a formal office environment. It helps that my office is a business casual one too so it fits in nicely with my dress code.
Balenciaga Day Bag In Pregnancy
If you've seen this 30 wears series before, you'll know I can never resist including my baby bump pics in the wrap up! When I had a little girls weekend away in Melbourne during my second trimester, I picked this bag to bring with me. The neutral colour worked with all of my outfits and it held everything I needed (scarf and water bottle) to tackle the varying Melbourne temperatures. Plus these pregnancy photos illustrate so well that if you invest in accessories you can wear them no matter what changes your body has!
Balenciaga Day Bag in Summer
I've worn a lot of layered and cold weather outfits above as this brown bag is a perfect choice in autumn and winter, but I wanted to include these pics too to show you that it works year-round. I'm not one of those people who thinks you need to restrict handbags to particular seasons, and a brown bag works in spring and summer as well as it does in autumn and winter
If you're looking for more outfit inspiration with this bag, you can see all 30+ ways I've worn it in my blog archives. I've included some links to other handbag related 30 wears posts below too. You can find the full post series by clicking here.
While these are great outfits to beat the heat, a cover-up in the office was definitely needed. Throwing a blazer over these outfits makes it look instantly more professional and stops you from shivering in the freezing meeting rooms. Why are they always so cold?!
While the peach and blush leaves in the print don't really show up on the camera, I thought the blush was a perfect match for this pink tassel necklace and Rebecca Minkoff Darren messenger bag.
I was a little upset the necklace seemed kind of lost in the print of the tank in the photo, but photo aside, I loved wearing this. I thought the gold earrings and shoes were cute accessories, even if the hardware on the Darren bag is silver.
The silver tassel earrings might be a bit much with the layered necklaces, but I wanted to wear them all and figured the neutral colours would tone it all down. Felt like it had been a while since I'd last worn this tank so got it out again to wear to the office. Like the tank above, it's one of those pieces that works casually or in a formal environment.
I packed a black blazer to wear over this and it created a very formal suit-like outfit, even with the fun tassel earrings and the casual hairstyle. Such a hot and humid day, and despite the heat I had to rush across the city with some files in a gap between meetings - a really hectic day!
A fun printed tank isn't just for casual wear! Add a pencil skirt to make it office appropriate for a business causal environment, and a blazer on top if your office is more formal.
Weekday Wear Linkup #07
Welcome to the Weekday Wear linkup! A linkup for you to share your weekday outfits - whether that is office wear or stay at home mum wear - if you wore it on a weekday, you can link it up!
Guidelines:
1. Please link to a specific outfit post, not your blog homepage.
2. Link back to this post so others can find the link up.
3. Follow your host Away From The Blue on Bloglovin, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.
4. Add up to two posts and be sure to visit and comment on as many other posts as possible to get some weekday outfit inspiration!
Optional: tweet the post you linked up with the hashtag #weekdayWearLinkUp so I can retweet!
With the summer heatwave back in January, shorts and a tee were all I could face wearing! Of course I tried to make the outfits a little different by wearing printed tees and adding some accessories: long tassel necklaces and a neutral Rebecca Minkoff MAB camera bag.
I was excited to get in my first wear of this new tee that I thrifted recently for just $1! I've been hunting for a good opshop after my local go-to closed down, and while this one is further away, $1 per item of clothing is my kind of opshop. This was a Kmart tee, fairly recent I think, maybe last spring, so it wouldn't have cost much more new.
Ordinarily I'd worry that shorts and a tee were too casual for a specialist appointment (especially with this doctor, she is impeccably stylish!) but it was too hot to contemplate anything other than shorts and a tee. With the black blobs in the print I thought the black denim shorts were the obvious choice, with the tan Rebecca Minkoff MAB camera bag and gold sandals to accessorise with. As I had the gold hardware on the bag and gold shoes and the pink on the tee, this pink tassel necklace that has a few gold beads spaced through the chain was the ideal finishing touch.
Was comfortable and cool in this all day - from the playground with the boys in the morning, the appointment, and then lunch and working with my mum on something in the afternoon.
This day was a quieter day but again I stuck to the same outfit formula. They are the best. When you're not sure what to wear, think back to something you liked to wear and repeat it, changing a couple of things if you want the outfit to feel 'new'. I wanted something easy because as you can tell from my hair the heat and humidity was bad on this day!
I picked a striped tee to wear this time, and as it had navy stripes decided on the blue denim distressed shorts to wear. I really liked the MAB camera bag and rose gold sandals together in the first outfit, so I repeated that outfit combo again, but I picked a turquoise tassel necklace to accessorise with this time instead of the pink one.
For another point of difference, I added the Fashion Scarf Girl hair scarf on my wrist. I thought with the stripes on the top it might have been a little too much to wear in my hair, but it worked perfectly on my wrist. I've worn it on my wrist before.
Simple shorts and striped tee summer outfit, for a morning out with the boys. A couple of errands, a trip to the library and playground and grabbing some groceries on the way home.
Shorts and a tee is a summer staple - wherever you are in the world! A great fall-back outfit for a summer heatwave, it's easy to change things up slightly by wearing a fun printed tee instead of a plain one. If you're adding colour and print to your outfit with your top, you can stick with neutral accessories to compliment whatever print or colours you are wearing. Metallic sandals go with everything, and so does a neutral bag.
You will recognise these frill sleeve tees - I got them as presents last year from my mum. They are nice, basic block colours, with a fun little frill on each sleeve and heavy been frequently worn since I got them. While I've worn them with shorts before, it was time to try something different and pair them with maxi skirts.
Not the first time I've worn this red printed maxi skirt with a navy top! I really like the combination. I thought this skirt would be perfect for another hot and humid day. I was just working from home so wanted something cool and comfortable to wear. This skirt is perfect as it's such a light fabric and it billows around as I walk, making its own lovely breeze!
I kept the accessories simple - this beaded necklace pairs so nicely with the navy tee and I thought the gold sandals were a nice matchy-matchy touch with the gold hardware on the MAB camera bag, you know I love a bit of matching in my outfit.
Wanted an easy outfit for a busy day - had to go update my expired passport. I always look washed out in passport photos so I thought that the bright pink tee would be a good choice to try make me look a bit more awake! 😂 I also needed something simple to cope with the summer heatwave we were experiencing, so I could also run errands after the passport appointment, pickup my friend in the afternoon, and go to another friend's house to watch church online together.
The night was a little more stressful than anticipated when my son, overexcited by dinner being ready, decided to bounce over to the unzipped opening of the mesh around the trampoline. I turned around after helping my other son down, just in time to see him bounce right out of the opening and off the trampoline through the air. I caught him before he hit the ground but he got a little bashed on the way down by the side of the trampoline. It was hilarious and terrifying all at once!
With the chambray skirt and pink tee, I thought this navy necklace complimented the combination nicely, even if the necklace had silver hardware and the MAB camera bag has gold hardware. I don't mind mixing metals in my outfits, and do it often. The camera bag was a great neutral addition for the colourful outfit.
While I did love this outfit, the heat and humidity left my outfit looking a bit crumpled! One of those outfits that didn't look as good in the photos as I felt it did while wearing it.
If you're looking for a another way to wear a tee in summer instead of shorts, why not try a maxi skirt? You can pick a basic block colour skirt like the chambray one, or change it up a little with a printed skirt like in the first outfit. It's an easy combination to pull together that's still just as practical to wear in the heat if you pick a lighter fabric maxi skirt.
Another Weekday Wear Linkup for you to join, and some office style. As much as a work wardrobe needs classic, neutral basic pieces you can turn to again and again, it's fun to introduce some bolder prints and colours too!
My work wardrobe has certainly changed a lot in the 10 years I've been at my current company, from neutrals and button up shirts to bright colours, statement necklaces and fun prints. The dresses I'm wearing below might be a bit too bold for a more formal, conservative office dress code, but work perfectly in a business causal office like mine.
This orange dress is such a bold print and colour but it's perfect for our summer heat as it's linen, and the print disguises creases so it's perfect for a busy day of sitting at my desk in the office!
I added the colourful Ruby Olive necklace for a little extra colour, not that the dress needed much! I had another necklace in mind but I thought it was too much, this necklace seemed to work nicer with the orange print and it was a lovely way to remember my friend though the day, as she lost her cat the day before.
The Marc Jacobs Fran bag has been worn a few times with this dress, so I tried to change it up a little this time and wore the hair scarf tied in a bow on the handle, just a little point of difference from the last time I wore the dress and bag together.
This dress has been in my wardrobe for years, although it's not been as frequently worn as others. You can see the first time I wore on on the blog back in 2012, in one of my early posts! It just goes to show that animal print will always be a classic you can pull out year after year.
It's not the first time I've worn this dress with the Marc Jacobs Fran bag, they have been a frequent combination over time, as I think the carob brown of the bag works well with the neutral colours in the print. With the camel flats too, I thought the outfit needed a little touch of colour with all of the neutrals, and this yellow statement necklace was the perfect touch.
A printed dress is such a fun office piece. You can pair it with neutral shoes and a bag to tone the print down, or cover it up a little more with a blazer if you are worried it might be too bold for your office environment. Alternatively, you can maximise the print with colourful statement necklaces and bolder handbag and shoe choices.
Weekday Wear Linkup #06
Welcome to the Weekday Wear linkup! A linkup for you to share your weekday outfits - whether that is office wear or stay at home mum wear - if you wore it on a weekday, you can link it up!
Guidelines:
1. Please link to a specific outfit post, not your blog homepage.
2. Link back to this post so others can find the link up.
3. Follow your host Away From The Blue on Bloglovin, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.
4. Add up to two posts and be sure to visit and comment on as many other posts as possible to get some weekday outfit inspiration!
Optional: tweet the post you linked up with the hashtag #weekdayWearLinkUp so I can retweet!
