A Few Things to Consider

 “French women don't try to look like anyone else other than themselves. They know who they are and make the most of what they have.”  

Nathalie Rykiel, daughter of designer Sonya Rykiel.

source: i like, i wish, i heart

There have been a few very interesting posts floating around in the last week or so about people stopping shopping all together or even just moving away from the whole 4-5 piece French wardrobe concept in an effect to curb their spending (again). And I have to say I feel a fair amount of affinity for what these girls are saying. I too set out on my blogging journey in an effort to define my personal style uniform and cure my chain-store-tourettes. And my bad habit of accumulating clothes in a manner that vastly resembles that of a schizophrenic monkey on acid. But I feel like I have gotten a little lost on the journey and I am struggling to prevent this blog from turning into a shopping list of things that I think should belong in the perfect “French Woman’s Wardrobe” rather than the search for style that it was always meant to be. Although I believe I have achieved a slight victory though in cutting down my accumulation of crap for the sake of shopping – my mother commented rather archly the other day, while listening to the news, that the current woe the local retail market is suffering has mysteriously coincided with my shopping hiatus. Very funny mum.

source: the fash pack

So let’s look at what I have bought this year:

-White silk shirt
-Blue checked shirt
-Merino boat-neck black jumper
-Merino boat-neck grey jumper
-Merino Breton jumper
-Merino panelled plum jumper
-Linen navy/gray stripe top
-Black wool/linen pants
-Leather shorts ($10 vintage eBay DIY)
-Faux leather ra-ra skirt (another eBay bargain)
-Taupe suede boots

Also some staples/replacements:
-Black loafers
-Breton tops x 4
-Jeans x 2
-Grey tee
-White tee

I can honestly say that for everything that I have added I have culled much more chaff. Some things were replacements – the loafers replaced a very dead pair of black ballets for example – and some things signified a slight realignment of my style back to what suits me and what I actually enjoy wearing. Having mostly avoided shirts, due to the aforementioned difficultly with my womanly parts, I have since embraced them with gusto – despite the current cold snap requiring constant scarf wearing, resulting in irritatingly squashed collars. In fact the only item I have not worn to death since I bought it is the linen top but that is because, after I bought it, the weather instantly became too cold to wear it and the shape doesn’t lend itself to wearing as an additional layer during our sub-zero mornings.

source: the cheap girl

Unfortunately, what I notice most is that there are still way more things on this list than I am happy with – for seven months of controlled shopping at any rate. In fact, I’m not sure that I am really shopping less, one of the aims I set out when I started this blog. However, that said, I am definitely shopping smarter. Every item on this list is honestly something that I will wear until it is threadbare and falling apart. While not everything is classic – ra-ra skirt and leather short I’m looking at you – they all fit together to make a definite style uniform that I am proud of and am fully utilising. On Friday night for example, there was no prevaricating over what I would wear out for dinner and drinks, no staring at my wardrobe thinking desperately ‘I should have bought something new’. Instead I instantly reached for my trusty high-waisted black jeans, my white silk shirt and my khaki blazer. Add to that some heels, a big colourful scarf to protect from the cold and the gorgeous (early birthday gift) necklace my good friend had given me earlier that day and I was good to go. Sure the other girls were more – for want of a better word – flashy than I, but I felt great: confident and sexy. And ultimately that was my aim when I set out on this little journey. No more stressing about my wardrobe and having ‘nothing’ to wear and certainly no feeling uncomfortable and out of place because my outfit was unbecoming and/or not my style.

All in all I have noticed a refocus in my attitude, now when I walk through most shops I don’t see fun, on-trend, must-haves. I see cheap, poorly-made, future-landfill.  A bleak outlook sure, but ultimately my style (and my wallet) will thank me for it... I think!
Have you ever had a major style rethink?
And was it worth it in the end?

 “French girls know themselves; they don't follow trends.” 

Lou Doillon

source: oh... a sparkle

I Love It When…

I manage to rediscover an item in my clothing coffin and realise if I change it a little, said item will go from meh to awesome.


Case in point: my narrow-legged boyfriend jeans.


I wanted a pair and found some I liked but wasn’t sure because they were made to be worn rolled down at the waist, which is a look that really only suits people much thinner than I.


Long story short I bought them as they were a good brand and on sale for just $23 (down from well over $100). But I never really wore them until the other day I put them on with a red stripe tee and rolled the waistband back up to create high-waisted nautical perfection a la Ms Bardot. Needless to say, they are fast becoming a staple.

Image: Tumblr

Clothes Coffin?

The one thing every woman longs for is the perfect wardrobe. You know, that one from the depths of urban legend where you open the door and can quickly select one or two key items that will easily mix to form the perfect outfit each and every time with a minimum of fuss?

I don’t know about you, but my wardrobe isn’t so much a carefully edited selection as it is a coffin for my clothes. A wildly and carelessly accumulated stash of all of the crap I though I might have needed at some point in my life and just never got around to wearing or throwing out.

The strange thing is I have never been one to follow trends religiously - I cannot artfully drape or layer an outfit to save my life and I certainly don’t do whatever fashion magazines tell me to - but the more I aimed for a great wardrobe the more I missed. Nothing matched. Nothing really suited me. And certainly nothing was of a good quality. It actually scares me when I think about how much money I have wasted in chain stores on clothes that I love but that fall apart after an unacceptably small number of wears.

One thing I always noticed about my clothing habits was an obsession with t-shirts – which I’m convinced is genetic, one look at my brother’s wardrobe can only confirm this. In my youth it was brightly coloured ones with strange images, but for the last few years it has been white ones. With everything. It has been my stop gap for a long time now and has always been paired with either pants and a bright scarf or a statement-y type skirt (I would just like to say that I have photographic evidence of myself doing this long before that Jil Sander runway ;) ). I have now also segued into the Parisienne staple of Breton striped tees and own far more than most people consider healthy. But, they’re the perfect style statement and they, along with my hefty collection of white tees, are going to be the starting point of my plan to build the ultimate capsule wardrobe of timeless classics.

It's going to be a bumpy ride.

image: inclinedtocreate.com