Indio Valley Dreamin’

With my easter week long break coming to an end, I kinda wish I was at Coachella right now. I don’t even listen to much of that music but that red dust kicking and ferris wheel spinning has got my heart beating to Arcade fire. But you know what they say, dress for the job you deserve … or in my case the music festival I want to be at.

Parka: Shuca Global Work (similar here) / Sweater: Mum’s Closet (similar here) / Denim Cutoffs: Vintage Replay (similar here) / Combat Boots: Rubi Shoes / Socks: Rubi Shoes (similar here) / Necklace: Colette Accessories (similar here)

Birds of a Feather Mirror Together

I’ve actually been on a three week shooting hiatus so I decided today was the day to get off my behind and and put it in this wild midi number from Lil Muse. I have to admit, I’m not a big animal print person … I think this is the first animal print that has ever made its way into my wardrobe. Animal print frankly scares me but I threw myself in the deep end by trying out a double animal print mirrored midi body con skirt. What a mouthful! All full of words that usually do not exist in my closet vocabulary!

Making a statement can be terrifying. Committing to pink hair, a sleeve tattoo or a house made of glass would be impractical for most of us. For those brave souls who have that level of commitment, I applaud you. That doesn’t mean the rest of us can shy away from standing out every once in a while and I honestly can’t think of a better non-permanent form of expression than the way you dress. So go on, try that tucked away piece in your wardrobe and let that feeling of liberation wash over you.

Initially, when I started SS I was determined not to put outfit details at the bottom. I wanted SS to be simply a source of inspiration not an add to cart type of a site. More recently, I have been receiving messages and emails asking me where certain details are from so from this day forth, I will try my best to put details at the bottom. Keeping in mind, I’m just a broke student so sometimes my stuff is from two seasons ago and will not be available anymore. Today’s outfit however is still available online so I definitely recommend you check out the top and shoes since they are heavily discounted!

Top: Cotton On KN Alanis Cut Away Crop Skirt: (c/o) Lil Muse Snake of Paradise Skirt Shoes: Betts Slave Heel in Stone

No Shaking Required (DIY Polaroids)

We are all guilty of getting something new and then wanting something more. Except if you took the time to reflect, this greediness could be zapped (or at least leak out) from your system. I have a 365-day journal from Kikki-K that I write in every day. It’s a very healthy way of letting stuff out of your system or being thankful for what you’ve been able to do a particular day. Sometimes, I’ll just write a recipe down or attempt to write my name in different fonts. You don’t need to have an epic day for it to be worth recording because some of the best days are those lazy days where you don’t do anything but you appreciate everything. If you don’t think you have the enthusiasm to keep up a diary for that long, why not try do it just for the summer?

If words aren’t your forte, then maybe photos are? I saw a quote once that constantly resonates with me: “The photographer takes photos of things they are afraid to lose.” This quote troubles me because of the nature of my blog and social media. I take so many pictures of myself and inanimate objects that the ‘afraid to lose’ part becomes weirdly egocentric!

I have also had another great internal conflict for far too long. That is whether to buy a Polaroid camera or not succumb to the trend. I’m just not cut out for leaving things to luck and with a Polaroid, that’s exactly what you have to do and I’m sorry but I’m just not hipster enough.

Wait … but here’s the thing, today I have a DIY that’s different and less mainstream so I guess I can just say I out hipstered all you hipsters. HA! The other day I realised I had never printed out any of my photos from high school. That’s six years of photographs that have never made it off my screen. That’s a lot of cringe …which leads me to my third and final installment of my New Year series: Reflection – a DIY.

Start off by gathering all the pictures you want to use. Instagrams are the best because they’ve been squared already but by all means squarely crop all your other pictures and pop them into a folder.

Download Pixlr if you want to give your pictures that faded, timely, accidental look. I like my pictures brightly lit and sans filter but go ahead and filter that baby out till your heart desires. Pixlr in my opinion has the best filters but if you want to throw some better ones out into the ring, comment down below!

Open Photoshop or Gimp (free but very powerful) and open a new file that is 4 x 6 in size (standard photo printing size). Then centre your photo and don’t be afraid to give it a lot of white space.

Print your pictures out and trim to size. Then take a Sharpie and write the date, a song lyric, the location, whatever!

Your fake Polaroid is good for all kinds of stuff. If you have heaps make an entire feature wall filled with them or hang them up on twine. I think printing off a whole stack, writing cute messages on the back and boxing them makes for a cute, personalised gift.

 No vanity mirror? No problem! I would much rather stare at my beautiful friends and family instead.

Sandy Tops Sea Bottoms

One of my favourite things in general about blogging is the feeling of unexpectedness. I thought these pictures would end up being a mess because I shot them after a day at the beach. Sand was trapped in the weirdest places, my naturally thick voluminous hair had been naturally sea salt sprayed (god knows I don’t need any more oomph), I was sweltering in the thirty degree heat and my feet were sizzling on the pavement. Usually as soon as I get home from a shoot, I’ll stab in my SD card AY SAP because I’m impatient and I need results NOW. I just couldn’t bare to look at these pictures until a few days later so when I adjusted the curves and did some brightening, I was pleasantly surprised.

I have to say, this is one of my fancier beach get ups. My typical beach uniform reads like large t shirt over my swimmers and lots of sunscreen. Another unexpected part of these pictures are the colours. The top is beige like sand and the bottoms are blue like the sea. I like how its the perfect complement against the beachy background. If you scroll through my Style page, you’ll notice that I have never shot any pictures with people in the background because I think its distracting. However, it looks really organic in these pictures because the people are far away enough to add a sprinkle of life to the waves.

The sandy crochet top is anatomically the perfect beach cover up. Firstly, it is made of crochet which is a non brainer because crochet is basically synonymous with most coverups. It also buttons up backward and if you’ve read my wrong way don’t turn back post, you’ll know my affinity for backward things. Finally, my favourite thing about this top is that it’s ‘vintage’ Sportsgirl. It used to be my mum’s before I stole it from her closet which I think is so neat because Sportsgirl is an iconic Australian high street brand that opened in the 50s as the younger sister of Sportscraft. Now that my mum has moved onto Sportscraft, and I, Sportsgirl, I think its kind of fab to have something from a 90s Sportsgirl store that wouldn’t look out of place at all in today’s stores!

Then to finish off the look, I added some low maintenance bling by putting on some foil tattoos. They performed really well given that I crashed around in some rough waves for a while and nature exfoliated by arms by throwing me across the sand. If you’re going to a party or epic rave where you want to get some sparkle on without losing a bangle, try some foil tattoos next time!

{Outfit photographs shot by Emi and Arm photograph shot by myself}

A Gal at Bal

According to the Urban Dictionary, definition number seven, chinos are: A type of trouser made from chino cloth. Although they are very comfortable and soft, they come in the most grotesque colours possible which really makes them stand out. The fact that they are sold in excess in stores such as Abercrombie and Jack Wills doesn’t help their reputation much either. Chinos, the everyday hipster’s choice of trouser wear. So what then are chino shorts? To me they are the conservative short, which means they are the perfect piece to go with the bustier – a garment Victorian women wore to get their va va voom on. Since I have no desire to show off too much skin, I decided to pop on this light see through chiffon shirt and one button it up all easy breezy.

There you have it, all ready to set sail! Or at least walk along the boardwalk. How lovely does Balmoral look on this cloudy Saturday? I think the cool tones are the perfect complement to my sailing appropriate look and I love how bright the pictures turned out. Sometimes, a picture sans blue sky is really okay after all! And where do sailors brunch? The Balmoral Boathouse of course! Get the quinoa bircher it could seriously feed three!

Today was actually meant to be a DIY post and the last post in my New Year series but Optus decided to cut my internet for two days because the roof of a tower fell off or something so I have been in agony for the past 60 hours. It got to the point where I turned up two hours early to a party so I could use the host’s internet (thank you beb) and stood in front of the Apple store for an hour to leech off their fast wifi. Sue me, I’m so twenty first century.

The footless seagul { :(((( } and food shot by me, outfit shot by Adela 

Prep To The Top

If you can’t beat them, prep, prep, prep to the top! Now that you’re all inspired by last week’s post, its time to start preparation. I’m  a big fan of planners because without them I would literally be hopping from foot to foot trying to decipher the jumbled find a word that is my brain. I think Kikki K slays when it comes to planners and diaries and I’ve used their ‘cute’ range two years in a row but for 2015 I decided to upgrade to a planner. Kikki K also greatly dictates what my power colours are for the new year and this year I’m definitely getting my strength from lilacs and champagne pinks.

There are some really beautiful blogs out there that are solely dedicated to planner decoration which involves layers of washi tape, stickers and quote cards but as much as I strive for that aesthetic, its simply a bit unpractical. Instead, I stick to the two most important basics that you’ll need: sticky notes and colourful pens.

I use colour pens to colour code my schedule for example pink pen = social events, light blue pen = blogging and green pen = exercise. Throughout the week, as new appointments, fees, etc. come into my life, I’ll put them down on the day they’re due. Then, on the Sunday of each week I’ll take a to-do list sticky note and write down things I need to do for Monday in order of priority. I usually write a big list that is never finished in 24 hours so by Tuesday I can move the sticky note down and continue checking off my items. However, if something bigger comes up the next day, I’ll layer another sticky note on top, complete those ones first and then go back to my original list.

When you have an empty day, planners seem redundant but when you want to make the most of every minute, this is how to do it! Don’t believe me? Try How To Become a Straight A Student by Cal Newport and 168 Hours You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam for case studies, statistics and activities that will make you feel like an incompetent sloth. Kidding! However, if you do want to see how sloth like you are, create a 24 hour graph and record how much time you spend doing things like a) scrolling through buzzfeed before you get out of bed b) waiting for someone to snapchat you back c) standing in line for free ice-cream taste testing.*

* Kidding Kidding, there is always time for ice cream taste testing!

A Little Tulle Late

I have a really strange fascination with tulle and big poofy skirts like this. The strange part of this fascination is that it didn’t start when I was a young un and watching Angelina Ballerina … it started when I was about 14! What I like best about this tulle skirt is that its layered instead of just flouncing out at one length. This means that it is a lot of fun to twirl in to make for some great action shots.

I know I’ve been referring to it as a skirt but I’ll let you in a sneaky secret: the tulle skirt is actually my prom dress from year 10! I’m happy to say its not something i would cringe at all these years later but it makes me sad that I never wear it which is why I popped it on, Christmas day. Then I decided to dress it down with a plaid shirt cinched at the waist, popped at the collar and rolled at the arms so I could give my outfit some silhouette. To finish off the ballet vibes, I went with a big poof on my head and some bow heels that shouldn’t be leaped around in!

Summer Kind of Christmas

Some of my favourite pictures are taken on my Instagram and even though a picture is meant to say a thousand words, I have a few hundred more to add in today’s post! I think I’m going to start doing these monthly, just to give my readers a monthly glimpse into what I’ve been up to starting with the above two shots.

Summer time is undisputedly my favourite season but this year, the magnitude of what it embodies has been multiplied by ten because I get to truly experience it all sans distractions. In the past, its always involved catching up with school work, reading for school, stressing to friends about school and staying indoors far too much. However this year, I’ve been lucky enough to finally be done with school (momentarily) and spend my summer by the sea and pool including Bronte Beach (on the left) and Magenta Shores (on the right). I have two and a half months left before summer ends and I intend to spend as much of it as possible outdoors so if you would like to see more of my daily snaps in real time, check out @stylesmorgasbord on Instagram.

I’ve also had a lot of fun creating flatlays to capture what I’ve been up. I finally received my L’s on Monday so I can learn to drive and I’ve also been getting into interior magazines lately, particularly Belle and Real Living. I’m working with WeWork in the new year to share my creative working space so I hope you guys are excited for January 2015 because the general theme will be fresh starts, getting organised and preparing yourself for a kicking year!

One of the ultimate to do things on my bucket list include experiencing a white Christmas. When the weather is thirty degrees, snow angels, ugly sweater parties and hot chocolates topped with cream and mini marshmallows by the fire aren’t exactly practical. That being said, I have enough holiday cheer to rival Buddy The Elf so I still try to make the best of it anyway. So far, I’ve kick started my Christmas Cookie Bonanza with these amazing Lemon and Pistachio cookies; thrown a one person wrapping party featuring me and Pentatonix’s Christmas album: That’s Christmas To Me and decked the halls like a winter wonderland.

Lastly, when I started Style Smorgasbord, I was quite apprehensive about the nature of blogging in this genre. It’s perceived as a bit vain, kind of staged and those who do it are bona fide narcissists who are fiscally irresponsible and live in a world of excess. I didn’t want this blog to define me as superficial. But then I realised I could redefine what kind of blog I am maintaining and my goal is to start integrating other aspects of what I am passionate about into my blog starting in 2015. I think I’ve also grown a lot this year and that has partly been thanks to the internet. It has really opened my eyes to issues that I was previously ignorant of and also taught me about the kind of privilege I am lucky to have and the power I hold to help the less privileged. So to anyone who’s ever thought that fashion is purely superficial, I hope I can prove you wrong.

FANCY

I’m actually a very lazy person when it comes to dressing. Half of the time I’m in a loose tee and denim cut offs and more recently I’ve also started embracing the normcore that has always been in me by wearing joggers on occasions that don’t involve working up a sweat. The weather has been crazy in Sydney this week – think really hot mornings and spectacular thunderstorms in the afternoon followed by light sun at dusk again.

To combat the heat, my outfit for today is really just a fancied up version of your basic pyjamas. I love this light, chiffon button up because I’ve managed to wear it a million different ways and today I discovered a new way! The sleeves are actually very poofy when buttoned at the wrists but today I buttoned them up and pushed the cuff three quarters of the way down so that the sleeves would flow out in a more boxy manner. Then I’ve actually just got on a pair of monochrome patterned work out shorts and my good old flats as opposed to bedroom slippers because I do have to draw the line somewhere. To carry my stuff, I’ve got a canvas bag because that to me is the lazy bag. Unless, of course you’re carrying groceries in your canvas bags, then you are in fact very hard working and I commend you with many snaps.

If you’re curious, these shots were done at a University campus in front of what my friend and I believe is an anthropology mural with some questionable drawings that we had a good laugh at trying to figure out what exactly they were trying to convey. On an end note, I’d like to say Happy month-versary eve! It has been almost a month since I’ve launched Style Smorgasbord and I just wanted to quickly acknowledge how much your support and love has meant to me! I hope you have enjoyed the few posts that have tricked out of me and I hope to improve my posting schedule over the next month. Until then, have a great weekend – only 19 more sleeps till Christmas which means an ornament DIY coming very soon 🙂

NIGHT

Now do we have to dress up for the prom?/ Dude I dont think we have the choice/ Yeah it’s the night of all nights/ Gotta look just right {High School Musical 3 ‘A Night to Remember’}

Introducing the formal photos … yeah, high school made me do it. On Monday night I had my year 12 formal which in American terms is equivalent to senior prom. Having been on the formal committee, this night had been a year in the making and it was nice to finally see the venue, decorations, music and food in action. As you can see, the venue was super pretty and I wore a cream-ish strapless dress with a beaded-slash-sequinned bodice, ornate earrings, an Alexander Mcqueen inspired quilted clutch and taupe heels. The food read like pesto pasta for the entree, chicken escallops for main and ‘creme brûlée’ for dessert.  Highlights of the night included the Photo Booth which had a never ending line and the playlist which was pretty sweet 🙂 I know prom has basically become a rite of passage so if anyone feels let sharing, tell me your prom stories!

Photgraph Credits: My Dad and Lisa