Last month I picked up the cute Rebecca Minkoff Liv double wrap belt in the Shopbop sale. A complete impulse buy, I was just looking for something a little different to update my wardrobe as I am feeling pretty content with all the clothes I have. And I looked at accessories as the weather wasn't cooperating with all the dreams I had for buying cosy knits, it was a very warm start to autumn!
I wore the belt to the office two slightly different ways, with the same bag each time. My Mimco black button bag is a classic most Australians would recognise, and my very first 'expensive' (triple digit) handbag purchase.
With the cooler mornings and evenings, and a bit of rain, I was excited autumn may finally be arriving in Brisbane. I did want to get more wear from this vest before it got too cold though. I find vests better suited for warmer weather. When it's cold, I want my arms covered. If was the perfect day to wear this vest though. Cool, but not too cold. When I first bought this vest, I thought of belting it. I see bloggers belting vests all the time, so that's probably what gave me the idea. This is it's tenth wear though, and the first time I've belted it!
I really liked this outfit! The dusty pink of the vest worked perfectly with the blue Aztec print in the dress, with the black belt matching the black in the dress print as well as the Mimco button bag and black ballet flats. I'm surprised it took me so long to belt this vest as I love the look. I'm glad I eventually gave it a go! The outfit was practical too - had the flu shot at work in preparation for the upcoming winter and needed my arms uncovered.
I didn't like this outfit as much as the one above. The blue Paisley print of this dress is beautiful, but I felt the black accessories didn't look as good as they could have with it. I was really liking the outfit until I went to pick a black necklace. I don't have many, and this was the best one I could find. The velvet belt has gold hardware and this necklace has really prominent silver. I felt a little mismatched all day. I don't mind mixing gold and silver in bracelet stacks or when layering necklaces together, it just felt a little 'off' having the different metals on different accessories.
Just a minor thing, but next time I'd spend the time to hunt out a gold necklace and I'm sure I'd like the outfit better!
A really easy way to change up the look of your favourite dress is to add a belt. It doesn't require buying anything new, as you probably already have a couple belts you could try it with. In these photos above I matched the black belt with black accessories, but you could also add a belt that contrasts with your outfit and other accessories for a pop of colour.
What I wore for celebrating the end of our 3 day lockdown in Brisbane at the start of July to enjoy what was left of the school holidays and get out with the kids. Kept my outfits simple and monochromatic with jeans and a tee. Even wore monochromatic scarves too, and a real wardrobe oldie with my black Mimco button bag. Added some colour with cardigans as I just can't seem to do a full neutral outfit without adding a bit of colour!
After a little uncertainty, we were so pleased when lockdown was lifted the evening before and my son was able to compete in his sports tournament as planned. Even if all the parents and spectators had to sit outside and peer into the sports hall from the doorway to make sure everyone met the post lockdown indoor space restrictions 😅
Despite having to sit far away it was so good to see him competing and my bright mustard cardigan ensured my son could spot me in the crowd. I wasn't expecting to have to sit outside so I was pleased this was just the right outfit for it. The cardigan wasn't too heavy when the sun came out, but it and my scarf kept me warm when the sun hid behind the clouds. And luckily no rain too! Turned out to be such a good morning, so pleased they were able to still run the event.
I liked using my big Mimco button bag again! The 25th anniversary of Mimco had me thinking about my button bag again - this is one of the original styles, I bought it in 2007 when I was at uni. Was so thrilled when I bought it, it was a craze for a few years and they were everywhere in Australia. Still see them around now and then, although mostly the newer, smaller version of this style. This one you wouldn't know is over 14 years old! It's in great condition, I should wear it more!
Very similar to the outfit above. Again, a monochromatic jeans and tee outfit with a black and white printed scarf and a colourful cardigan. This purple one isn't as bright as the mustard yellow one above, but it still adds the perfect amount of colour to this outfit. With the different shades of grey in the tee and the skinny jeans, the purple cardigan was the perfect topper. And with no other prints I could wear this fun contrasting striped scarf for a bit of an instant print mix without it clashing with anything.
Thankfully one of the workshops I'd booked in advance for the kids went ahead despite a lot of other school holiday activities I'd planned for the week being cancelled as soon as lockdown was announced, even though it was just for 3 days. Because it was still on after lockdown was lifted we had a pretty fun day. The kids got to make their own light up DIY aquariums in a jar which look really cute! These are kind of similar. We even managed a little play time in the playground before the rain arrived that afternoon which was perfect.
Again I wore my Mimco button bag - it seemed the obvious choice with the neutrals and it fits snacks and water bottles and the essentials nicely.
Layering in winter gives you lots of fun options for accessorising. A colourful cardigan can add a burst of brightness to a monochrome jeans and tee outfit, and a printed scarf adds some extra interest and a little warmth.
More office wear! After a chat with Kiki on her blog comments section I had been thinking about my old Mimco button bag, and decided to finally take it out and wear it again. Although it doesn't get worn a lot (last worn almost 2 years ago!) this bag will never leave my collection. It was my first ever handbag splurge. I'd spent ages researching and thinking about the best colour combinations and saving, patiently waiting until I'd graduated university and was earning enough to justify it. I still remember the excitement of calling the store and getting them to put one aside for me to pick up in my lunch break, getting my gorgeous bag, and that great disappointment that comes from the first scratch on a pristine bag. There was also a conversation with DH (my then boyfriend) that it was so perfect I'd 'never need another handbag'.... we all know how that turned out ;)
It has been such a long time since I last wore this handbag. I'm glad I pulled it out again, I still love it. Thought black was good with the printed pink shirt and grey skirt.
Last time I wore this skirt I wondered if maybe the fabric was a little too dressed down for the office. I still feel it's too dressy to wear casually though! This time around, I dressed it up a bit more with a button up shirt and heels. I didn't feel as out of place in this outfit, I thought it worked quite well. It is a very comfortable skirt, so I want to make it work.
It's been a while since I last wore this top too. As I mentioned when I last wore it, it's great for office wear! Thought I would try it over a pencil skirt. It looks nice tucked in, but I thought I'd wear it untucked and belt it over the top. I regretted my decision to belt this later in the day though - the top is custom-made so it nips in perfectly at the waist, but the belt was just riding up and down and I kept having to adjust it through the day. It wasn't sitting comfortably with the top and the waistline of the pencil skirt underneath. Definitely need to wear it without a belt next time.
I have worn the grey version of this skirt frequently on the blog, but I've only worn this black one three times (one, two and three). I bought it just before I got pregnant and it wasn't exactly accommodating for a growing baby belly, so that's why it's had so little wear. I do have a lot of pencil skirts, and a few black ones so I'm debating if I should keep this or not. I'm going to keep this in my wardrobe for the moment and see how often it gets worn now I'm back at work after baby. No point in keeping it if I keep passing over it to wear my other black pencil skirts instead.
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!
Nice casual outfit to work from home today and take Cooper out for a very brief walk. We had a big Church Online team meeting in the morning, so I worked from home to allow myself to take a break from the office and log on for an hour. It was good fun. Of course I wore my church tee, haha. Seemed fitting.
Scarf: gifted Dayaday maroon and grey scarf Top: Supre metallic stripe knit (with black singlet underneath) Skirt: Jeanswest 'Helena' black jacquard skirt Shoes: Rubi primo ballet flats in silver Bracelets: the usual Bag: Mimco black button bag
A rather unexciting day of meetings today, so a nice and comfortable outfit for that. Very cold morning, and having cold meeting rooms at work meant a jumper was necessary! Maroon scarf to blend into the sea of maroon footy shirts at work for the State of Origin match tonight.
Linking up with What I wore Weds, Fashion and Faith and Three-fer Thursday.
Few sales and extra discounts announced today! I've updated the sale page.
HGBags has a new coupon code: "200off42" gives you $200 off and free shipping for an order of $600 or more
Extra 25% off the Shopbop sale with code 'EXTRA25'
And the Reebonz offline sale is coming to Brisbane this Friday and Saturday!
