One Two Chi Chi Chi

If you are looking for a deliciously fluffy, full skirted dress, stop by Chi Chi London for the prettiest, flounciest ones. It’s a pastel and floral frock shock but regardless of your day to day style, tell me you don’t want to have a good twirl and bounce in something so fun. I paired my lovely mint dress with some strappy heels but if you were going to a themed fifties party or garden day, some little sneakers would be just brill too!

If you’re interested in this dress, its made of a lovely thick material but something that you will definitely need to have steamed so it floats nicely. I would also recommend looking in the petite section if you were after a dress that isn’t so long. Available on their own site with free worldwide delivery and also Asos!

Dress (c/o Chi Chi London) / Heels 

Mint Condition

Hello hello! 3 weeks without posting :0 This is the longest absence I have had in a year and I’ve missed the excitement of scheduling a post to go live. I could tell you work got in the way or mid-semester exams took over or Sydney was having terrible weather but in actuality, I was not feeling the buzz to shoot. Then, during the ANZAC long weekend, the clouds parted, the stars aligned, I was finally digging my Insta feed and my creativity fuel was back!

Kicking things off, we have this autumn-appropriate outfit, shot in the cute little streets of Surry Hills. The hero piece is a great thick and structured double-breased blazer perfect for work and dressed down with boyfriend jeans for the weekends. So here’s to a better month ahead filled with blog posts!

Recreate my look:

Blazer / Tee / Jeans / Shoes / Sunnies 

Marble Timepieces and Double Pinstripes

In the last one to two years, there has been a sudden influx of watch companies popping up over the internet. Over the weekend, I read this article in the Herald about how ironically timed these start ups were – coming in at around the same period as the launch of the Apple Watch. Apparently, the market isn’t as saturated as I originally thought because watch brands that haven’t even hit the one year mark are managing to make turnovers of almost a million.

Today I’d like to introduce to you a new player – Valor Watches, founded by T. Bermejo and launched only a handful of days ago. To give you some context around the title of the post, the Cross of Valour is awarded “only for acts of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme peril”. When I look at this watch, it reminds me of one of my personal mantras – I am made of courage, compassion and commitment. When jewellery can transcend its original purpose to become something invaluable for the wearer, you know its a special piece.

The marble face paired with the classic black leather band perfectly embodies what I like to refer to as ‘modern prep’. Carrying the theme into the rest of my outfit, I went with the ultimate preppy pattern after feeling incredibly inspired by the Australian Olympic team’s uniform unveil by Sportscraft earlier this week. To give it that modern twist, I layered two pinstripe pieces but kept the base crisp with white jeans. Front ties have been popular of late and knotting a complementary second piece will give you a similar silhouette.

The white denim, flowers and linen must make you think that I live in the northern hemisphere! Nope! Sydney has just brought a lot of warm weather this month but I’m hoping that the end of daylight saving will bring some colder weather along with it.

Recreate my look:

Shirt / Blazer / Jeans / Watch (c/o)

My First Denim Jacket

Is it weird if I tell you that this is the first denim jacket I’ve ever owned? *Collective Gasp* I think its for the same reason that I don’t have a leather jacket either. I often procrastinate buying basics because they’re usually the pieces that don’t go on sale. When ASOS offered to partner up for a back to uni post, I made sure to add a denim jacket to my cart. If you want to pick a piece that gives you lots of layering options, I would recommend a shrunken cropped jacket like this. It allows you to put on a longer item like my cardigan underneath without swamping your body. For an even more casual loungewear look with this cardigan, have a squiz at this post at the beach.

I have a Pinterest Board dedicated to layering and I’ve concluded that it really is an art form. I can’t wait for the months to continue to get colder so I can pile on the layers but you always need to have that base first layer whether it be a plain tee or in this case a classic black slip. Mine’s actually a detachable one from a sheer dress that I never wear anymore and you can see how essential it is regardless of season in this summer post.

Thank you for supporting Style Smorgasbord collaborations! ASOS is one of those big brands that I never even bothered to think about because they have a reach of a few million whilst I’m just in this tiny corner of the internet. If you haven’t already, make sure you visit Monday’s post for some more campus inspo featuring some other great ASOS buys!

Recreate my Look:

Jacket (c/o) / Similar Cardigan (c/o) / Similar Slip / Shoes 

Biker Jeggings

These Rockmans’ jeggings with their stitching and panelling are appropriately called ‘biker jeggings’. My first instinct was to run far far away because the word jegging takes me back to my first pair which were from Valley Girl and made of a thin material that was excellent for tucking in to tall Ugg boots but not so much for hiding my neon coloured panties. My second instinct was to pair them with studded biker boots and a leather biker jacket. But that’s not what Style Smorgasbord is about. Instead I pared it back with some neutral boots and a flouncy shirt.

Recreate my Look:

Top / Jeans (c/o) / Boots / Watch (c/o) / Necklace (c/o) / Bag

Oh Vivonne, Bae.

When we were in the visitor’s information centre at Kangaroo Island, I saw a wonderful sentiment that I would like to share with you today. “Kangaroo Island is not what it was nor what it will be. It is a story about change, isolation and remoteness. Natural change is never ending. Human activity influences change. Conservation is about managing the rate of change.”

Whilst the main point about conservation is importantly clear, I think its also a great reminder of why you should travel. Do it now and do it often because the places you go today will look different in ten years.

Take Vivonne Bay for example, in a survey of 10 000 beaches, it was judged one of the best beaches in Australia by University of Sydney’s marine studies centre director, Professor Andrew Short. I’m not exactly sure how they reached this conclusion but there’s something magical about those turquoise waters. That magic may disappear in the future but for now I’m just glad that I had the opportunity to see it.

Recreate my Look:

Kimono (c/o) / Tee / Jeans / Watch (c/o) 

 

Black, White & Summer All Over

My mum has a fantastic collection of blazers. Most of them have BIG shoulders but hidden among her wardrobe are a few gems. I’ve had this white linen United Colours of Benneton blazer sitting in my wardrobe for about two summers and have always been hesitant to wear it because its a bit too broad for my shoulders and the sleeves have yellowed from years of storage.

I kept holding onto it because the fabric was such nice quality and made in Italy – something of a rarity these days on the high street. Then last week I was feeling particularly creative and I decided to chop off the sleeves, seam the edges and reconstruct the leftover fabric as a sash. I’m really happy with how it turned out and I’ll definitely be layering it as we change seasons and also wearing it without the sash and with open lapels. It actually looks like a lot of wrap jackets seen in resort collections and if you were to buy a rope tassel from Lincraft, you could create a vest like this one from Seed.

I styled the vest with my knitted skort (last seen in the winter styled with tights and a coat ‘Four Seasons‘) but I think it could pass as a playsuit if you wore matching linen shorts. I also opted for some delicate silvery jewellery from Iconic-Style to go with the silver woven thread in the shorts. I don’t usually go for v-necks so when I do, I like to add a small necklace and this whimsical star one is the perfect length.

Recreate my Look:

Vest / Skort / Sandals / Ring (c/o) / Necklace (c/o) / Watch 

Photography thanks to Adela (Styliminal) 

Pier Pressure

For me, summer means quirky patterned string bikinis, long days by the sea and greasy buckets of fish and chips. It means sticky sunscreen legs, strappy lace up sandals and awkwardly shaped tan lines. The sea-sun where we bring out the little white dresses that we have been saving since EOFYS sales.

Tomorrow is Australia day which means that it will really and truly be time to get back into the daily grind come Wednesday. Luckily, I still have around 3 more weeks until I start working. They say it takes 21 days to instill a habit. I better find something to stick to and make those days count!

Happy Australia Day Eve! I’m sure a lot of you are on ‘sick leave’ today so I hope its been a delightful long long weekend. I’m excited for some lamb and a pavlova topped with this season’s freshest. What are you plans for the 26^th?

Sheer Lace Dress ($35)

Embellished Sheer Bodice Skater Dress ($21)

Flutter Sleeve Midi Dress ($35)

Overlay Dress ($24)

Sandals / Watch (c/o) / Ring (c/o)

Conservative Trending

Top / Jeans / Belt / Bandana / Watch (c/o) / Flats / Bag / Nails

I’ll always go to the clearance section of any store before I even glance at the new arrivals. Further 50 percent off emails and banners make my hands sweat with excitement. Pricing an online store from lowest to highest gives my great satisfaction. Lets face it, I’m not the biggest fan of spending money on trends. Its easy to see what’s going to go out of style and what to invest in. I like the whole 70s thing that every chainstore is shoving down our throats but not enough to commit to a pair of flared jeans for more than a month. Instead, I add a red bandana and brown cross body both stolen from my mum’s wardrobe and I don’t have to spend a dime.

That’s not to say I don’t like to splurge on the finer things. Timepieces are something I thoroughly enjoy and this year I have managed to acquire quite a few unintentionally. One of which includes this Rumba Time piece. The beautifully cut edges reflect light and create the prettiest rainbow effect on your walls. Unfortunately Rumba Time’s website only ships to certain places. However, you can buy this exact style on ShopBop which I recommend because the shipping is crazy fast even if you live in Australia.

So save those dollars and invest in lasting pieces that your children can steal from you down the road. Or put it towards that holiday you’ve been meaning to take yourself on. Experiences are always greater than material things. Period.

Edit: I have decided to update my sign off with a more personalised touch. Writing Christmas cards and gift tags helped me come up with a new way of spelling out ‘much love karen’. Let me know what you think of it and thank you so much for reading.

22 Marine Pde.

Mid-sem break is sadly over but I’m trying to recover from my two days of school this week by having a slow Saturday morning. The rest of the weekend will be spent cramming for assignments and exams because its go go go up until the end of November when I sit my finals. I’m working on my laptop outside today with my huge cinnamon, pear and banana breakfast smoothie which was inspired by a similar drink I had at The Butcher’s Block a few months back. So delicious and easy you should whip one up yourself over the weekend. Just throw one banana, one pear, a handful of ice, a handful of oats, half a cup of milk and one teaspoon of cinnamon spice in the blender.

If you’re a Sydney sider I hope your long weekend was a brilliant one. Despite the crazy hot temperatures, it was lovely going to the beach for some palm tree caps (more on that in a future post) and Doyle’s fish and chips but my favourite was walking around all the streets and seeing the pretty beach houses. I must have sounded like a parrot because I spent the entire day cooing over how cute the pastel exteriors and nautical embellishments were.

As soon as I stopped off the pier, I spotted 22 Marine Pde. It was a few hundred metres away (and I have bad eyesight) but I heard my calling and I knew that was where I wanted to snap a few quick outfit pictures. I appropriately went with a very nautical palette on this fine Sunday and threw on a super lightweight trench that is a great transeasonal addition to any wardrobe. You can see how I styled it earlier in the fall in Red Lip Classic Thing. I also went with my royal blue shorts that are very loose and more flattering and sweat proof than denim cutoffs. You can see how I wore these shorts in Sandy Tops Sea Bottoms & China Blue x Moroccan Prints.