Apologies again for the terrible photo quality, they were taken at about 2am so the lighting was less than ideal. Tonight we went to a club I’d never been to before - I hate clubs normally I’m definately more of a bar or pub type of girl. I checked out the club’s website last night and was distressed to see dozens of photos of buxom barbie-blondes with unnatural tans and tiny clothes. (Not that there’s anything explicitly wrong with that but it’s totally not my style). What was I going to wear?!

Agent 99 TShirt - Op Shop Skirt - Target Tights - Wittner Shoes - Vintage Bag

I sauntered down to my favourite op shop this afternoon and ended up buying two skirts - a lace black pencil skirt and the one I ultimately ended up wearing. I fell in instant-love with both of them, but when I got home I felt like I may have been hasty with the lace pencil skirt because it doesn’t fit me as well as I remembered in the fitting room. But I’m so happy with the floral skirt purchase! It’s a wrap skirt, two layers of chiffonesque fabric that kind of flips out at the bottom, it’s really flattering, even more so when I don’t have an oversized t-shirt bulging out underneath! I go to that op shop so often and find nothing so I was pleased I found this at the last minute.

Needless to say it certainly was more conservative an outfit than the majority at this particular club, but I felt comfortable. I also think the skirt will be great in summer. I also bought these two items off Etsy in the last few days:

Black Flutter Skirt
This skirt is so pretty I love how the seller has really casualised it with the white t-shirt.

Maroon Tank Dress
I don’t expect this to fit very well the way it is designed but it should look great cinched with a belt!

Oh, did I mention I got a haircut? We removed about 3 inches of damaged hair, which I feel happy about although I miss the length greatly. No more constant blowdrying anymore!! Also, I’ve changed my links to specify which of my favourite blogs are run by voguettes! Hullo my lovely voguettes!

Tags: Online Shopping, Vintage, What I Bought Today, What I Wore Today by Alicia
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Thank you to everyone who responded to my questionaire! I have received many more respondants than I was expecting so I’m absolutely thrilled. Tomorrow I am off to Malvern to conduct the survey in person! Should be interesting.

Today I went back to Business Victoria with one of the ladies in my course. We finished faster than we anticipated so spent the rest of the afternoon walking in the area and visiting the op shops. I found another divine glass bowl (did I mention I’m obsessed with glass/crystal bowls? they’re so handy for knick-knacks!), a cream lace fitted top and the cutest little 90’s deadstock dress! The shop where I got the dress had several of them, all exactly the same, brand new, $10 each. What a bargain! It’s navy blue with a kind of forget-me-not floral pattern. I can’t wait to wear it. If I had more money I’d have bought some more to sell in the etsy store.

Another recent purchase is the Mimco studded cuff which I picked up on sale from $169 down to $50. I couldn’t resist, it brings out the rock star in me.

Off to make a cuppa!

x

Tags: Vintage, What I Bought Today by Alicia
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Some people don’t understand ‘fashion’, they find it excessive, unnecessary, impulsive, insane… it’s this massive fat line and you either get it or you don’t. People on the other side of the line cannot see fashion as art. The dedication to fabrics, cuts, tailoring… fashion-as-art is an intricate craft that many fail to recognise because they can buy a t-shirt at the Reject Shop for $2.

I showed some people pictures of my hilariously bat-winged purple op shop shirt and got some pretty strong reactions. One said “I don’t like it because it looks ridiculous. You look like a magician from the 80’s.” I replied “Why is that a bad thing? Magicians are the best people in the world. They’re always pushing convention, challenging people’s minds. What you see is not always what you see!”

The shirt in question.

Isn’t that what fashion-as-art is about? Isn’t fashion a little bit of magic? Designers are magicians, they’re always pushing convention, and challenging people’s minds!

Sandra Blacklund, Natalia Brilli, Scherer Gonzalez
(Thanks to StyleBubble for the reference material!)

Now having said all of that, I completely appreciate that often these magical designs do not always translate well into a daily wardrobe. I also acknowledge that I do not wear designer clothes because I can’t afford to, and that I do not even very often execute in my choice of wardrobe to reflect that which I covet. But I certainly don’t see the confusion in occasionally playing a role, and indulging in something fantastically bizarre, unusual or quirky, and every now and again pushing convention!

Even if it is one hilariously bat-winged purple shirt.

Tags: Style Inspiration, Vintage by Alicia
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So I picked up a pair of dark red tights yesterday at target and decided to give them a go today. Can you tell that garnet shade of red is my favourite colour? I was going to go with the longline cardigan a la my polyvore set, but changed my mind at the last minute for a shorter cardigan that lent itself more to a layered look.

?? Black Cardigan - Country Road Swing Tank - Cotton On Bandage Skirt - Target Tights - Dorothy Perkins Ballet Flats - Mimco Rope Chain Necklace

Still agonising over the Witchery skirt I missed out on a few weeks ago, I stumbled quite unexpectedly across the perfect replacement on ASOS last night! I was very happy with the last purchase I made from them so I didn’t hesitate to snap it up. I love the horizontal pleat detailing on the bottom! It came in two different lengths and I ended up choosing the longer one because I felt it was more classic. The best part is that this skirt was actually less expensive than the Witchery skirt, including postage from the UK.

Feeling very euphoric over this excellent purchase, I headed down to my local op shop this afternoon seeking more bargains. I ended up coming home with two blouses and a lesson. One blouse is red with red dots, it buttons up to the neck but I think I’ll use some holywood tape and curl the neckline in on itself to create a v-neck. The other is bright purple with a slightly metallic kind of art-deco design on it. I initially dismissed this one because when I lifted the sleeve it looked enormous so I figured the shirt would be too big. When I came back to it, something compelled me to look at it again and I realised the actual body of the shirt was small, it was just the sleeves that were huge.

I was so surprised when I tried it on, the shirt fit perfectly and the sleeves are very 80’s avant-garde. I remembered something a girl I used to work with said to me when we were discussing the excellent vintage clothes she was always turning up in. She said “when it comes to vintage shopping, sometimes you need to choose things you wouldn’t ordinarily wear.” That is certainly the case with this blouse! To think I almost dismissed it!

Tags: Online Shopping, Vintage, What I Bought Today, What I Wore Today by Alicia
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Today I went back down to Chapel St with my sister, this time to peruse certain craft stores and maybe the new American Apparel store, where I ended up buying the Tri-Blend Lightweight Raglan Pullover in Athletic Grey after reading much hype about it on the Vogue Forums.

There was a lot of concern over the length (some girls complaining it was far too short) so I ended up choosing a medium, which means it fits a little looser and is also a bit longer. It is absolutely so soft it’s incredible, but very very thin. I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of wear out of it this winter, I just hope it’s warm enough! I did feel a little silly spending $55 on it, I really hope I get my monies worth out of it.

I felt very comfortable in What I Wore Today. I’m so glad to be getting more wear out of this dress! Expect to see it appear again and again! Originally I had planned to wear it with my patent elasticised belt and patent mary-janes but I got concerned about the comfort of walking a fair distance in the heels. It was just as well I didn’t because we ended up wandering much farther than I expected! I really need some new flats, I am wearing these Dorothy Perkins ones thin! Lucky I got my mother to bring me back another pair from London!

Ink Wool Cardigan - H&M Dress - Vintage Belt - Target Wool Tights - Dorothy Perkins Ballet Flats

One of our stops today was at a shoe repairer that sells vintage boots. I’ve bought two great pairs of boots from him before, they’re much cheaper than new boots and they’re already broken in! I found a great pair of Salvatore Ferragamo dark red flat boots for $160. They fit perfectly but something just didn’t feel right. In one respect they were a pretty great bargain, but I really didn’t have $160 to spare for a pair of boots I didn’t know how much wear I’d get out of. Which means it’s not really a bargain after all!

I did pick up a couple of cute purple dresses at my favourite op shop, one of which I think doesn’t fit as well as I expected and will go in the boutique. The other I haven’t decided whether I will keep it or put it up for sale yet, it’s very sweet but I don’t feel I’ll get too many wears out of it.

Tags: Vintage, What I Bought Today, What I Wore Today by Alicia
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Sunny Girl Jacket - Stussy Jeans - Joanne Mercer Shoots

A really uninspired outfit. Something to do with feeling uninspired. I had on a different outfit originally, a pale beige blouse with black detailing, trying to go for a feminine/edgy vibe, except it was basically a disaster. Although my ultimate outfit of choice is definitely lacking in the creativity department, I felt good in it and that was important.

Just running errands today mainly, which included a visit to my favourite op shop. I only came home with a pale grey belt but I had around a dozen items in the fitting room with me including a green damasky long blazer, a bright red pencil skirt, an off-white/super-pale-grey long line jacket that had a real art-deco feel, and a red wool jacket with no lapel or buttons to do it up. None of them fit my body properly, and I really had to convince myself to leave them behind (especially the green blazer, it was lovely) because it isn’t a bargain or a good find if it doesn’t fit!

I felt a little bit sad putting them back on the racks simply because I felt sad that someone might come along and buy them and not really appreciate how nice they were! Especially when I found two DIVINE pairs of shoes both far too small for my over sized trotters.

I think I will continue to visit the op shop more frequently in the hopes I can grab the brilliant buys that will actually fit me before someone else does. In the mean time I should try and visit more fashion blogs because apparently the dozen or so I religiously visit every day (including two new favourites It’s Vintage Darling! and StyleBytes) aren’t doing their job and inspiring my outfits well enough.

Tags: Style Inspiration, Vintage, What I Wore Today by Alicia
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even if I do think she over charges me. I found this skirt the same day I bought the furry coat, it was $7 and marked size 14 but I feel that back in the day, designers used more realistic sizing so a vintage skirt marked 14 is probably the equivilent of today’s AU12. I took it to the tailor and she charged me $28 (i got a discount though so it came down to $25) to take it in on both sides. Overpriced? Probably. But where else can I get a skirt that I can guarentee no-one else I know has, and that fits like a glove for $32?

I love it so much, it has a very subtle metalic sheen to the fabric. I think I’ll wear it to a going away party I have this Friday night …but with tights, it’s freezing here at the moment!

Tags: Vintage, What I Bought Today by Alicia
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The skirt I won on ebay and found didn’t fit turned out to have a manufacturers fault! One of the seams hadn’t been sewn properly and there was a rather large gaping hole, not sure how I missed it at first. I contacted the seller and she offered to compensate my by sending me a free item, rather than me sending it back to Hong Kong at my expense. Lovely. I’ve asked her to send me a dress instead, i hope it fits.

I saw a beautiful faux fur jacket at David Jones yesterday that was so soft and beautiful but the cut didn’t suit me. I liked it because it didn’t look like it was imitating real fur, it wasn’t designed to look that way. So today I decided I was going to go to the op shop to buy a fur jacket there because they often have various faux fur jackets and even though I often don’t find anything good there I felt a preminition I would today.

When I got there i found a reddish / light burgandy faux fur jacket straight away which I fell in love with. It fit pretty well, a little big but it means I can wear layers under it and still move. It was $15 to boot so I was really pleased. I also found a cute skirt with similar colour influences but it was a little big so I’ve dropped it off at to the tailor to be taken in.

Later I met my favourite fashionista for coffee and we walked past a cheapish asian store I hadn’t been into for months so I asked if we could pop in. I found another jacket there which I was instantly attracted to, and since I’d got my new warm fuzzy fur jacket at such a bargain price I decided I could afford this one, too. It has a kind of damasky pattern on it which was the big draw, and the cut was surprisingly flattering! The only issue was that it’s designed to be belted and I hate belted coats. Luckily the belt is removable. The belt loops stick out at the back but my lovely mother has offered to pop some invisible stitches in them to tack them down.

What I wore today to meet my fashionista for coffee and see a film with some old work friends. Apologies for the awful photo, I took it in the fitting room at the op shop! Bad angle, bad lighting, just plain bad. I actually liked this outfit except for the belt. The skinniness didn’t work with this outfit. That, and I couldn’t make the scarf sit right. Still working on that.

?? Black Cardigan - Cotton On Black L/Sleeve Tee - Cotton On Scarf - Vintage Skirt - Target Wool Tights - Vintage Boots - Miss Shop Belt - Mimco Love Bird Brooch

Tags: Online Shopping, Vintage, What I Bought Today, What I Wore Today by Alicia
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Dear sellers,

Thank you for spending countless hours trifling through thrift stores and op shops to find choice vintage items to sell online at awfully inflated prices so I don’t have to.

If you could see your way to not belting EVERY SINGLE DRESS in EVERY SINGLE PHOTO I’d really appreciate it. It’s very hard to tell what cut a dress is if there’s a belt around the waist. I understand you’re trying to demonstrate how to style it, but one shot out of the seven hundred photos you’ve posted of yourself prancing around in the dress like you’re Sasha Pivovarova that’s a complete unadulterated shot of the dress as it is, would be awesome. Front and Back.

Thanks.

P.S. Yes I’m still on my shopping ban, but I might break it tomorrow, one day early, because after spending today wearing four layers and still freezing my butt off, it has become evident I’m in desperate need of a warm jacket.

Tags: Online Shopping, Vintage by Alicia
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But I’ve still been drinking. And by drinking, I mean shopping.

Mister J was sick over the weekend which gave me a rare opportunity to hit the Camberwell market on Sunday morning. I woke up at 6:30am and drove myself down there for the first time (an adventure in it’s own right). I picked up a skirt, three dresses and a shirt for $59. I was specifically after “obviously” vintage clothes. Not just second hand clothes.

The only problem with a ‘trash and treasure” market like that is there’s nowhere to try things on. It was not until my return home that I discovered three of my five purchases had ‘fit’ issues.

One of the dresses just didn’t fit at all, and is currently up for sale on ebay. Another of the dresses has potential but is far too large and needs to be attacked with the sewing machine. Since I only paid $15 for it, I’m really loathed to have it altered by the tailor who quoted me $50. The worst by far was the shirt I bought, which had some amazing embroidery, and, to my discovery once I tried it on at home… ridiculously hilarious puffy sleeves. This one needed to be altered by the tailor badly, it was no do-it-yourself job.

The two salvagable items I bought was a floral skirt which I plan to hoist up and wear as a dress, and a pleated skirt that my favourite fashionista declared as “very dior-esque”. It’s hard to see the pattern on the skirt in these pictures though.

Ahaha those poses are almost identical, and they were taken on two different days.

The puffy-sleeved shirt came back from the tailor looking much more normal.

WIBT was a tan coloured thick waist belt (made of 50% PU and 50% leather, bizarre combination, I guess it’s leather “lined”, I hate PU and try not to buy it) from Dotti (I scoured the chain stores thinking this would be an easy item to acquire and boy was I wrong!), some long cream knitted fingerless mittens (which will be perfect for driving to uni with on cold mornings!) also from Dotti, and a skinny elasticised and patent black PU belt from Portmans (on sale for $5, how could I resist?).

I also spent the morning calling up Witchery to chase that skirt up. Only four interstate stores have it in my size, I don’t know if I can justify the $110 for the skirt and another $15 only to find it doesn’t fit, I’d be devastated. They did let me know it’s an older style and they have no plans to release more in the future.

Finally, I bought a vintage dress on Etsy a week ago, it arrived in the mail today! It fits like a glove, I can feel it will be my new favourite dress.

Tags: Online Shopping, Vintage, What I Bought Today by Alicia
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