Such a simple outfit formula - pick a printed top and pair it with a plain maxi skirt! Since both the polka dot cami and logo tee have a little red in them, I thought my Rebecca Minkoff mini Avery bag was the best accessory for both outfits.
Wore this for a busy day! We had our final ABA meeting for the year, so it was Christmas themed. It was also, sadly, our last time at the Australian Breastfeeding association group meetings. The new year means a change of day for the sessions and we can't make it on the new day unfortunately! I'm still a member and will try organise some pram walks on the days we are free so I can still catch up with my friends.
After a slightly emotional morning, it was off to run errands. The post office was okay, but waiting in line at the bank with two kids who had filled up on sugary morning tea (including chocolate brownies I brought along for the group) probably wasn't the best option. 😂
Hyper kids aside, I really liked this outfit. It was comfortable for the day and the red and green necklace, which can be worn year-round, definitely didn't look out of place at the Christmas party.
I was doing a couple of Instagram style challenges in December and the theme for the day on them both was stripes. I hard a hard time picking one piece to wear, stripes are definitely my favourite print! I settled on this fun Coca-Cola thrifted tee, as I thought it went really nicely with this chambray maxi skirt. It's not the first time I've worn this chambray skirt and little red Avery bag together, they are a lovely combo. It tied in nicely with the red logo on the striped tee too.
The boys and I had a quieter day - a couple of errands to run (including picking up food for the daycare Christmas party later in the week) and then some time playing at the playground. Nice easy outfit for all of that.
A plain maxi skirt is a great outfit base, letting you pick any printed piece to wear with it - stripes or polka dots work equally well. They are also a nice option for a hot summer day as a stay at home mum as you can easily run after the kids (and break up wrestling games in the bank) in them!
Two simple summer office outfits, with two pretty printed dresses and a pink Balenciaga city bag. All pieces I love and have worn before, but I do have something new to share with you - a new outfit linkup!
Sometimes I find the square neckline of this sheath dress a little tricky to accessorise, I often debate for a while each morning about what necklace to wear. This long pendant necklace has been a frequently worn one lately though, so I decided to give it a go and I really liked the combination!
The paisley print dress and pink Balenciaga city bag are frequently worn together, I really like pink and blue! And as I had a gold necklace, these gold mouse flats were an obvious shoe choice. Really easy summer office style. I did have a blazer too for the cold aircon in the office, but it was much too hot to wear it for photos in the morning.
It was a little cooler this morning (although not by much) so I wore my blazer for the pics. Again I picked a gold necklace to wear with the blue printed dress, this Kmart one is another frequently worn one, and so cheap too! For the blazer, shoes and belt I went with black, due to the darker colours in the Ikat print of the dress.
While the blue print in this dress is darker than the one above, I still think the pink Balenciaga city bag is a fun accessory with it - it really pops with the darker background.
A little bit of a quieter day at work meant the opportunity to get some training in too which was wonderful - we have an online training site but I so rarely get the opportunity to use it and there were some courses I've been wanting to do for a while!
A printed dress is such an easy office option as you can just pull-on and go. You can always accessorise with a nice neutral like all the black pieces I wore in the second outfit, or make a brightly coloured dress even brighter with a bold bag like the pink Balenciaga city.
Weekday Wear Linkup #01
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!
A new 30 ways to wear post, as well as a review of what I bought last year and my fashion budget for 2019!
I love handbags, and I have a lot of them! But I frequently sell some to have funds towards something else I want more. This Chloe Marcie hobo bag was a bag I loved, but rationalised I didn't wear as much as my Balenciaga day hobo bag, so I decided to let it go. I did hit 30 wears before I sold it, so I've dug through the blog archives for some older photos of my wearing it. I wonder if I'll cringe as much looking back at outfit pics now in a few years as much as I am looking back on these pics now? 😂
30 Ways To Wear: Chloe Marcie Hobo Bag In Nut
Like many of my bags that I've now sold, I find this tricky to calculate cost per wear on! I bought it at a Reebonz offline sale, after wanting it for a while. I got a really good deal on it, so much so that I managed to sell it for almost what I paid for it. So you could calculate cost per wear based on the price I paid, or take that price minus the amount I got when I sold it and calculate it on around the $100 difference. I'm never sure what to do in these cases.
Inability to calculate cost per wear aside, I'm happy with the use I got from this bag. It held up really well, still looking like new when it eventually left my wardrobe, and I was pleased to look back at these old pics and see that I had hit 30 wears with it. I do sometimes regret selling it, but I know it wouldn't have gotten much more wear if it stayed in my wardrobe longer!
Chloe Marcie Hobo Bag In Summer
The handle drop on this bag is quite large, especially as the leather of the bag sags down a bit when the bag is full. It makes it an easy bag to throw over your shoulder in summer as it doesn't feel too tight or irritating to wear. The neutral colour works with all kinds of summer brights too!
Chloe Marcie Hobo Bag With Winter Layers
Being a neutral brown, this 'nut' shade is perfect for adding to winter outfits. I've picked similarly coloured scarves to wear with the bag in each of these layered outfits, but you can see it would work well without any matching as it looks great with black winter layers!
Chloe Marcie Hobo In The Office
Printed dresses or pencil skirts, I found this Chloe Marcie bag worked so well for the office. Again making the most of the neutral shade I could wear it with brightly coloured or printed pieces, or just let it compliment a neutral outfit. It's a rather structured hobo shape so doesn't feel too casual for work.
Chloe Marcie Hobo Bag With Jeans
As you can see in these photos, before I gave up my blue jeans I used to wear them a lot! The Chloe Marcie bag just works so well with denim, it's an easy choice when wearing jeans. I wore it a lot with skirts and dresses as you've seen in the earlier photos, but it was still a go-to with jeans too. Really versatile bag.
Chloe Marcie Hobo With Printed Outfits
Because this 'nut' shade is a nice neutral colour, it made the bag my default neutral piece to wear with prints. Something like a printed dress, or just a little print like a skirt or top, the hobo bag works nicely with all different prints and colours.
Chloe Marcie Hobo Bag In Pregnancy
Despite only having this bag during my pregnancy with my eldest boy, it was worn enough times for me to be able to include it as a category here in my wrap up. You know I love looking back at my bump pics when doing these posts! I wore the bag a few times in the second and third trimester as you can see. It isn't a heavy bag so was nice to wear during pregnancy, the braided strap is really comfortable on the shoulder.
What's In My Bag: Chloe Marcie Medium Hobo Bag In Nut
Where To Buy:
This hobo style of Marcie has been discontinued, but there are still some places you can buy second hand! All the bags above come with authenticity guarantees even though they are preloved.
I totalled it up, I bought 30 fashion items (clothing and accessories) in 2018. In 2017 I spent $1,696.53, my goal in 2018 was to spend less than that. I achieved that as I spent $1,014.44 if you include gift cards, which works out to $84.54 a month. If you don't include gift card spend, I only spent $664.44. I'm really pleased with the figures and that I met my goal!
I also continued to work on this 30 wears challenge! Every month I have to find something in my wardrobe I've worn 30 times or more to make these posts. This makes me focus more on ways I can rewear things I already own and makes me less likely to turn to a store for inspiration when looking or something to wear. Looking through my blog archives for ways I've worn things before often gives me ideas of things to try from past outfits!
My Goals For 2019
Same as last year, my goal for this year will be to spend less than I did last year. To make things easy on myself, I'll include the gift card spend. So 2019 will be the year of spending less (again), rewearing more, and hoping I don't go over my $1,014.44 budget! Wish me luck!
