Belt, Tuck & Roll

I wore this dress for my birthday last year (see that post here) and its one of my favourites because its made of silk and so comfortable to wear. Now being the average heighted person I am, I find that a lot of Country Road dresses swamp me if I don’t add a pair of heels into the mix. After spending a week in work heels, I want the most comfortable, slipper like shoe possible!

To make a flat sole possible, I employed my favourite styling technique: the belt, tuck and roll. Basically, you take the thinnest belt you own to your midi dress and pull the fabric over to hide the belt so you’re left with a much shorter, weekend appropriate dress. To make sure people get the message that I’m doing Casual with a capital C, I like to add a cap, slip-ons and my trusty new bucket bag! Its not Mansur Gavriel but the structure is freaking amazing. You can’t get it online anymore, but definitely look into your closet Seed retailer for the last few 🙂

Recreate my look

Purse / Dress / Shoes / Cap / Watch

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Perrie

As you all know by now, Style Smorgasbord is a paradoxical blend of high and low, girly and masculine, tight and loose. Today, I decided to shake up the common denominator and went with boxy, structured everything.

Its the monochromatic equivalent of silhouettes.

When I build a look in my head, there’s always the hero piece that magnetises everything else together. This look centred around my new work bag from Paul’s Boutique SS16 collection. I worked with Paul’s Boutique last season so I was delighted to see their line sheet for the new season. There are so many beautiful pieces in seasonal neons but my personal favourites are those in tonal shades of stone, off white, navy and black. They are slowly releasing their lines and the ‘Perrie’ is from the Trinity Collection which is available in navy, blush and silver. The ‘Perrie’ is almost the perfect bag but I wish it could fit my 13 inch macbook air – it just falls short by about 2 cm 😦 ! I also love the classic silhouettes of the ‘Amber‘ and ‘Hunter‘.

Recreate my Look:

Shirt / Pants / Heels / Purse (c/o)

Bottle / Phone Case (c/o) / NARS Products / Watch / Purse 

Tassel Me Softly (+ Giveaway)

I’m really digging this plaid on plaid ensemble. I think I was a little inspired by Cher having rewatched Clueless for the upteempth time but instead of going matchy matchy I decided to mix it up with two kinds of plaid for that modern prep look that I am constantly gravitating towards. I was surprised at how seamlessly the two wool pieces pulled together and I believe it must have been the navy checks and purse that gave this outfit its lifeline.

Recently, I have developed a deep desire to tassel everything. Lamps. Cushions. Skirts. If its not moving I want to add that little bit of za za zing to it! This little navy bag from JollyChic is my first tassel item but it definitely won’t be my last. I’ve been seeing these little summer dresses with open backs and a row of tassels and a little bit of me dies because its not anywhere close to floaty clothing climate. In the mean time, I guess these tassel adorned knits and accessories will hold me over. If you would like to hop on this bandwagon, sign up with JollyChic and comment down below using the same email address and I’ll pick someone to win a $20 gift voucher!

Long sleeved knit / Short sleeved knit / Skirt

Crossbody (c/o) JollyChic / Scarf / Flats

Rain Rain

please stay and play i have a cute-as outfit

// dress: topshop similar here and here/ bag: collette by collette hayman (similar here) / shoes: jeffrey campbell //

NEO-DADA

“Your lipstick stain is a work of art” {5SOS ‘She Looks so Pefect’}

I hope you guys are having a lovely weekend! I recently went to The Art Gallery of NSW to visit the Pop to Popsim exhibit which runs until March so I totally encourage you to check it out if you live near by! I think one of the reasons I love this movement so much is neatly summarised in the guide itself: “Pop was one of the defining art movements of the 20th century. It was radical because it brought the realms of mass entertainment and consumerism into the halls of art galleries and museums …. While for many this new art was a shocking betrayal of high cultural values, for others it was a liberating encounter with the world that people actually lived in.” 

Although, I wasn’t able to take actual photos of the exhibition, I still shot some of the patterns found in this really neat pop art book that they had in the interactive area. Then I took my pictures in the permanent areas of the gallery which are architecturally breathtaking.

Taking cues from pop itself, I went with a lemon yellow cropped tank top with little ruffles at the bottom. I haven’t worn something this cropped since my middle school days but I thought this was so cute with high waisted pointe pants and some easy ballerinas. Then the highlight of the outfit is my cute little speech bubble bag which is the definition of pop and something that I have been obsessed with since my friend Emi got it for me. They’re like the Sophia Webster ones which have cheeky phrases all over them 😉 I have a bit of an affinity for small unpractical bags like these so lookout for some potential DIYs in the future because I hear Olympia and Spade inspiration calling!

So tell me, do you love a bit of Lichtenstein or do you admire Andy Warhol? What’s your favourite decade in pop? Pop to Popsim itself was divided into seven sections: The Future is Now, Swinging London, The American Dream, Euro Pop, Made in Oz, Late Pop and Popism. I hope you enjoy the visual delights and check out those crazy rainbow flowers i saw in Martin Place!

Photography Credits: Outfit – Adela Other – Myself

STYLE.

You got that long hair, slicked back, white t-shirt And I got that good girl faith and a tight little skirt And when we go crashing down, we come back every time ‘Cause we never go out of style {1989 Taylor Swift ‘style’}

I think its plenty ironic how I finished my last High School Certificate exam yesterday (which meant that I would never have to wear a school girl skirt again) but then the next day I go for a plaid skirt with a white top? If this outfit has any deeper psychological meaning to it, I really do not care to know.

Instead I would like to think that I am paying homage to Taylor Swift’s 1989, particularly my favourite song ‘Style.’ As a post HSC celebratory gift to myself and an inevitable purchase anyway because she is one of the few artists I still buy physical albums for, I got 1989 yesterday after agonisingly having to wait a few extra days. My favourite songs after Style are: Blank Space, Wildest Dreams and Wonderland. If you are think Taylor is a Slayor, then we are automatically friends and you are obligated to tell my what your favourites are too 🙂

Anyway, the plaid skirt is a nod to the whole No its Becky inside joke that she has with the Tumblr community, the cropped tee is for all the cropped tees she’s been wearing lately and the brogues are for Fearless era Taylor because that will forever be one of my favourites. And to top that all off, the heart sunglasses are inspired by her last era: Red.

Apologies for my rudeness, but HEY, welcome to THE BLOG. My name is Karen and I’m in that blissful, wonderful period where I have just graduated high school and have four beautiful months of mindless wandering and a summer vacation that is really, genuinely going to be longer than 104 days*. I figured that in between my trips to the beach and marathoning situational comedies,  I would do something that’s been on my summer bucket list for a long time: start a blog and have a domain! Thusly, Style Smorgasbord DOT COM was born on the 1st of November 2014. So make yourself an iced tea (or maybe a hot one if you’re in the northern hemisphere) and take a look around. I hope I can bring a little bit of sunshine into your day and if all goes well, some leaves, rain and flowers too?

* If you can get that reference. FOUR FOR YOU.