Away From Blue | Aussie Mum Style, Away From The Blue Jeans Rut

Friday, 3 April 2020

30 Ways To Wear: Mothers En Vogue Navy Breastfeeding Tank

This tank is such a wardrobe staple! An extremely useful breastfeeding piece, it has hidden nursing access and is such a super soft bamboo that I wasn't ready to give it away with the rest of my maternity / breastfeeding pieces. I decided to keep it in my wardrobe as a great wardrobe basic, and it's been such a good piece to have. For something that I got when pregnant with my now 5 and a half year old, it's really stood the test of time!

30 Ways To Wear: Navy Breastfeeding Tank

Cost per wear is tricky to calculate for this tank as I didn't actually pay anything for it, it was something I got through a blog partnership back when I was pregnant with my now 5 and a half year old! The retail was around $70 if I remember correctly and I certainly think it's worth the investment. You can get it on sale for cheaper here or the long sleeved version here.

While I have worn it 30 times, only 10 of those wears have been after I stopped breastfeeding. It was a staple breastfeeding tank for me and on frequent repeat back in those days. It really shows that if you invest in the right maternity / breastfeeding pieces, you can get a lot of wear from them in the future too. In fact, both of the Mothers En Vogue pieces I got in pregnancy are the two pieces that have stayed in my post-pregnancy wardrobe. I've shared 30 wears with the pink breastfeeding dress, the other piece I got, before.

When shopping in pregnancy, stick with neutral colours, like this indigo shade, or colours you already have a lot of in your non-maternity wardrobe. I'm going to be still using and loving this tank in the years to come (or whenever I get to get out the house again!). I like the bubble gathered effect and the neutral navy colour goes with everything. I'll show you some outfit pieces and colour combinations you can wear a similar piece with in your wardrobe!

Colour Combinations With A Navy Tank:

Navy Tank In Monochrome Outfits

Blue is my favourite colour so I love a good monochrome outfit, easily done by pairing this navy tank with other navy or blue pieces in my wardrobe. To stop the outfit looking too plain you can try wearing different sades of blue together, or try a printed navy piece with the block colour tank.

Navy Tank With Green

Blue and green is a colour combination I've only been wearing for a few years but I am not sure why I avoided it for so long! With the neutral navy, it looks good with bright emerald greens like the necklace and skirt, or the floral duster kimono, as well as a more muted green with the olive shorts.

Navy Tank With Pink

Blue and pink look great together - and these three outfits showcase that so well with different sades and amounts of pink. With bright magenta jeans, a pink bag or a blush blazer, there is no shade of pink that doesn't look good with navy!

Navy Tank With Purple

Blue and purple is another go-to colour combo for me. Just as you saw in the pink outfit set above, different shades or purple and different amounts of purple work well with this tank. Purple skinny jeans, purple accessories, and a purple cardigan. Even a pink, blue and purple outfit like the last one there with the purple kimono over the tank and the magenta pink bag.

Navy Tank With Red

Red really pops with navy! Again, you can do this in different ways. A red bag is a fun burst of colour with a neutral tank like this, or you can go a little bigger and bolder like the outfit in the middle with the red skirt worn with the navy tank. Even if the skirt does look a little orange in these pics, taken back when Brisbane had a lot of orange haze from the smoke last year.

Navy Tank With Yellow

Yellow is such a cheerful colour to wear, but sometimes it can feel a little overpowering. A nice neutral basic outfit building block like this navy tank works well with yellow. It really lets even a little bit of yellow, like a yellow necklace, really pop.

Outfit Ideas With a Navy tank:

Navy Tank with Denim

It's no surprise that I've worn this top with a lot of denim! Jeans are such a mum staple and you've seen this top worn a lot with denim in this post. These 4 outfits show you how you can mix it up a little with the denim - trying different colours, or a denim jacket instead of jeans. They also show how much I loved that Nibbly Bits necklace when breastfeeding! 😂 I suspect that necklace is part of the reason why my kids love playing with my accessories so much...

Navy Tank with Prints

And the final way you can wear a plain navy tank like this is with something printed! It's such a fail-safe outfit formula, a plain block-colour piece like this top with something bold and printed. Stripes are a firm favourite of mine, but printed jeans or even a tie dye kimono, any print works!

Where To Buy Navy Tanks Under $50:

Not all of these are specific maternity or breastfeeding pieces but they will still be staples in your wardrobe!

More Outfit Ideas:

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

Wednesday, 4 March 2020

What I Bought In February And How I've Worn It: Second Hand Finds

After a big spend in January, I really wasn't intending on spending anything in February. However I couldn't resist just a little browse in the opshop when we passed by and ended up buying a couple of things! This month everything I got was second hand.

What I Bought:

thrifted navy viscose drawstring no label maxi skirt $4
thrifted Tree of Life ochre maxi skirt $4
Sass & Bide The Winning Day Lovestate Jeans in magenta Free

Why I Bought It:

We were walking by the opshop when my son noticed the door was ajar and ran in so how could I say no? 😂 We did the usual checkout of books and toys before I had a small browse of the clothes. With nothing particularly in mind but an extra 50% off summer stock I tried a few things on. Being petite maxi skirts are hard to find - in regular stores as well as opshops! - so I wasn't sure these would fit well. So pleased to find out that they don't need any alteration! I suspect that the ochre maxi skirt is actually a midi skirt, but it's a maxi length on me. It's a beautiful shade - couldn't tell if it was more rust or mustard, and it seems to change colours in different lights! I think it's a true ochre.

I'm a little annoyed that the navy maxi skirt doesn't have any labels other than the fabric tag saying it's viscose as it's so soft and such a good fabric for summer. Such a great find and it's a shame I don't know the brand to be able to hunt out more!

The jeans are a little difficult to explain - an impulse buy when it was cooler with the wild weather and I wondered if I should get some jeans. I stumbled across these at a great price on eBay and was excited to get them. However when they arrived they were not in the condition the auction made them out to be. I emailed the seller with pics of the disappointing condition and asked if I could try wash them or if they wanted me to return them without trying anything. The seller then immediately apologised and refunded me. I then washed them and they came up good as new. Since the seller had cancelled the transaction and refunded me I couldn't do anything about it, leaving feedback or anything. I did offer to send them back now clean but she said to keep them. So technically, I paid nothing for these jeans. And then since that took a while to sort out, the weather heated up again so I haven't worn them yet. And I also feel really guilty that I didn't pay anything as I got my money refunded!

How I've Worn It:

I set myself the rule of wearing things twice in the month I buy them and even with being a little unwell for February I managed to meet that goal with the skirts. Maxi skirts just work so well into my life as a mum, the perfect length for church or the school run, and with the heat and humidity these light skirts have been a good choice. Was so easy to hit my wear twice goal with these skirts and I have so many more outfits in mind for them!

The jeans I didn't wear as it's just been too hot. They are sure to get more wear when Autumn weather finally arrives, now it's officially autumn we just have to wait for the summer heat to leave here in Brisbane! They are a very bold magenta so I'm excited to show them off once the weather cools down.

A few purchases even if I wasn't intending to buy anything this month! I'm pleased everything was preloved though, second hand shopping is a lot kinder to my wallet and the environment.

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Friday, 28 February 2020

30 Ways To Wear A Red Bag: Rebecca Minkoff Micro Avery Tote Bag #30wears

Another red bag for this months 30 ways to wear series! Previously in this series I've featured a bigger red Balenciaga bag, and a little red saddle bag.

Each month since January 2017, I pick something I've worn 30 times or more and put this post together sharing the ways I've worn it to give you some ideas or inspiration for how to rewear a similar piece in your own wardrobe. Inspired by the 30 wears challenge I heard about in The True Cost documentary.

30 Ways To Wear: Rebecca Minkoff Red Micro Avery Tote Bag

30 ways to wear a mini red crossbody bag rebecca minkoff micro avery tote | awayfromtheblue

I tried to think of some different ways to categorise these outfits, as I have shared other red bags before in the 30 Wears series. Despite having more bags in other colours, the red bags seem to be ones I reach for over and over and they are staples in my collection! I'm surprised I haven't done a 30 wears post yet with one of my many pink bags - need to add that to my to-do list!

Cost Per Wear

This Rebecca Minkoff micro Avery tote bag was a lucky eBay find back in August 2018. I had an eBay voucher, the seller hadn't listed a lot of details, and in the end I paid just $17 for it. One of my best eBay scores, I've certainly got a lot of value from that $17! At 33 wears it's down to 52 cents a wear. A really good cost per wear figure for a designer bag, even if it is just a contemporary designer and a discontinued style, I love it.

30 Wears Video Style:

Blue Dress

I love red and blue together so of course I've worn this little red bag with a lot of blue! From navy to teal, the red really pops, especially against a printed blue dress.

Pencil Skirt

Despite the mini size, this bag fits quite a lot! It can fit my essentials (keys, wallet phone) and still has space for my camera, so it's a good size to take to work if I don't have to carry any notes around. It means I've frequently worn it with pencil skirts, I think the mini size looks great worn this way.

Graphic Tee

I like to wear this bag casually too. I love a good tee, and this micro Avery bag works well with a graphic tee - from being the only pop of red in my outfit like in the middle with the blue and white graphic tee, or in the other outfits where I've matched the red bag to the red in the print of the tee. As you can see from the Santa tees, this bag gets worn a lot around Christmas time too.

Matching Accessories

Matching bags and scarves is something I do often but I wanted to include that pic with the red and green beaded necklace there to show you you can match this cute little red bag to any red neck piece - a necklace or a scarf! Wearing this bag with a red scarf is definitely my favourite though!

Matching Print

red printed pieces with red rebecca minkoff micro avery tote bag ways to wear

More matchy-matchy, this time matching in some subtle ways, wearing red printed pieces with this little red micro Avery bag. From something as bold as a red striped tank to a more subtle red stripe on a rainbow knit, the red bag is a great accessory to wear.

Matching Clothes

how to wear a red bag matching it to other clothes in your outfit | away from blue

I think this is the ultimate amount of matching! One statement red piece in your outfit looks great, like a skirt, tee or jeans, but you can go all-out and pair those red pieces with a similar bag too! When I do this, as you can see above, I tend to stick with neutral pieces in the rest of my outfit, or go with shades of blue that always look good with a lot of red.

Pop of Colour

The final way you can wear a little red bag like this is not matching at all, it's using the red bag as the pop of colour in your outfit. I love the bold bright red against a neutral black outfit, but as you can see in the second pic there it doesn't have to be blacks and greys - it works so well with the mustard dress!