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)

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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) 

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.

Create

I may preach all this motivational bull but I’d like to just point out that I am such a hot mess haha. Case in point, after I wore this skirt for 3 hours, I promptly split the back hem after I made too big of a stride in the unforgiving hills of Sydney’s CBD. This is a momentous blog post because it is the first of hopefully many future posts where I foray into a new style of dressing. Join me as I embark on a journey to find things to wear that aren’t always black … starting with this great khaki midi skirt that does not require an ounce of ironing.

Top (old) / New Look blazer / Forever New skirt / Tony Bianco heels / MK Parker Watch / Essie ‘Urban Jungle’

Red Lip Classic Thing

Style will forever be one of my favourite Swift songs along with the piano rendition of Forever & Always, Never Grow Up and Begin Again. Its lyrically, vocally and musically beautiful and it will never go out of style (pun intended!). I wouldn’t say my style is classic per se because I’m young enough to throw random stuff together and leave the door without much thought but I do like the idea of modern prep which I think is how I would describe my go to style … which brings me to this lightweight trench coat. With the winter solstice behind us, that means we can start looking forward (maybe a little too early but I’m just wishful like that) to longer days and warmer weather very soon! It was 5 degrees this morning when I left for university but much warmer when the sun was beaming so I really shouldn’t complain. I like keeping it all loose like a goose with this coat and then layering my infinity scarf and furry snug for maximum impact. Add some fun printed pants, practical boots, a classic leather band watch, bright lips and you have my personality in an outfit – bubbly, practical and imperfect!

// Trenchcoat (c/o) Trendsgal / Pants Cotton On / Boots Jeffrey Campbell / Infinity Scarf Cotton On Similar / Fur Snood DIY / Watch Vintage Tiffany & Co //

Coming Up Rosy Gold

Anything copper or rose gold I am down. Particularly love it when its paired with maroon, pink or navy. What I like most of all about this bomber is the little pocket by the arm. I’ve never been one for magic tricks but when I whip out my opal card in two seconds and slam it on that rainbow circle triumphantly, I chuckle to myself a bit whilst all the plebeians have to go through the process of taking out their wallet from their bag, behind, etc. and flipping through their cards in slow motion.

// Bomber Jacket: H&M (similar here) / Cropped Sweater: Miss Shop (similar here) / Peplum: Forever 21 (similar here) / Leggings: Dotti / Slip Ons: Zu (similar here) / Purse: Coach / Bracelet: Pandora / Watch: Vintage / Ring (c/o): Elyia / Scarf: Old (similar here) //

Pictures by Adela 

Wrong Way (Don’t Turn Back)

Christmas is now sadly over but I hope you all had a very merry day or week or month! There’s so much build up leading to the 25th that it almost becomes anticlimactic when we fall asleep in our santa hats with our food comas watching the ten hundredth Christmas film (for me this was Arthur Christmas!) and sucking on candy canes that we hoarded from store promotions (is that just me?!?!) I’ve had a great week filled with all my favourite F’s: food, family, friends, fairy lights, falalala music and festive everything.

Yesterday was Boxing Day. What Boxing Day means now for the modern person is just as ironic as its American counterpart: Black Friday. You spend the day before being grateful for what you have and then the next day you go and buy what you don’t need … I remember when I was younger, I thought boxing day was just a plot my parents had to delay us opening our presents and then another year I read that it was the day the box was invented but today I actually learnt a brief history about it that  sounds legitimate so I thought I would enlighten any other souls who have always wanted to know. Boxing Day is actually an old holiday where servants box up leftover food from their employers and take it home for their family. Unfortunately,  retail employees today have to get up at wee hours of the morning to ready themselves for the morning shoppers one of whom included me!

On my 7 hour trek (never again or so I say haha!) I wore this mostly pink ensemble. What kind of pink is this? Peachy pink? A light salmon? I’m not exactly sure but I know for sure that its a new favourite. For most of senior high school, I stayed away from pink clothing after going through a bubblegum pink phase in junior high where I had pink cable knit sweaters and pink plaid skirts and an obnoxious pink backpack. But now, pink is coming back into my closet in the prettiest way. Its soft and feminine but there’s no trace of lace or silk in sight.

This top is actually the wrong way around. I wore it back to front because I liked how the zip detail give the fluted hem some edge. Plus, convenience-wise, its much easier to zip on a top from the front (haha!). Perfect for making snap decisions in the change room where there’s a sea-length of impatient shoppers. Continuing on my love for this kind of colour, I wore my summer slip ons that have what I like to call ‘pony hair’ * on them and my minimalistic light weight watch. Then I have these cute little pair of pin striped shorts underneath that I wear every summer and can’t seem to let go of because they have way too many sand printed memories on them.

* I think I call it pony hair in my mind because it reminds me of a pony’s coat and it would be incredibly sad to see a pony drenched in water just like these slip ons would be completely ruined under rain. You comprende? Probably not but that’s ok because I confuse and contradict myself all the time anyway.