Fashion Tips for all Seasons
I was asked with this question recently for a feature article, "In which times will you go back to if you can time travel?". I quickly responded that I would love to see 50s and 60s as I love the women's fashion at that time. I have always been interested with fashion, mostly with dresses. I love dressing up with or without occasions. As with any girl, I love shopping clothes especially matching them up in different ways depending on which season and for which event. Living in Sydney where you can experience all seasons in a day, it is important that your wardrobe is varied enough to make fashion made easy for you. This does not mean that you have lots of clothes but rather lots of ways to make matching outfits and varying styles using same set of clothes. This does not mean clothes being expensive as quality clothes don't have to be always branded. To me, a quality wardrobe consists of the Essentials, Specials and In-betweens.
Daily Wear Essentials.
A Denim Skirt, White Top and Sneakers. During summer, you can wear this exact outfit, either for a casual work day in the office or weekend brekky meet ups with friends. During colder seasons, change the sneakers to heeled boots and wear leather or bomber jacket on top and you already switched for a dinner date or a night at the pub outfit. The cheapest but trendy bomber jacket that I have been using for few years now is from H&M. I prefer ankle and mid-boots in black or light brown soft leather from Wittner as they will surely last for decades I think. I value style over brands for sneakers. One of my recent best buy is Black Nike Epic React Flyknit that I use for casual wear and gym classes too.
Events Specials.
Little Black Dress that suits your curves or Sequin Dress and Black Stilleto Shoes. I have 3 black dresses in my wardrobe, of different lengths, which I have been using for almost a decade now. They weren't expensive at all (less than 50 AUD but bought in Asia) and I just use them in special events so it always look new to me and to people's eyes every time I wear them. I recently bought a magenta sequin dress from Mango which would last for another decade I think. The trick for these clothes to last is to use special laundry detergent that are just used for blacks and immediately wash them by your hands after wearing. Washing instructions on the label are meant to be followed and not to be ignored.
Favorite In-betweens
Floral Dress, Sandals or Wedges and Scarf. Spring season or not, I put on my floral dresses for some good vibes. I don't associate florals with just summer or spring as I use them to brighten the mood too when its a gloomy winter day. For shoes, the height of my heels depends on how formal the event is. To me, casual wear means flats while office or night out wear means sandals or wedges. The sleeve lengths of the dresses don't have to match with the season. I wear short-sleeves dresses on spring, autumn and winter too but I just make sure that I have a matching scarf, jumper or coat with it. Most of my flats and sandals are of neutral colours from Nine West or Cotton On so that they easily match with any colour of my clothes. I usually buy scarves when I am travelling as I get them as souvenirs too. The designs are usually of more variety in local markets when you shop them anywhere in Europe or Asia. I am not into printed scarves as I meant to use them as protection from cold and not as the main highlight to my outfit. I value the quality of the scarf over looks. I have light brown scarves, woollen and cotton, that I bought from Melbourne and Singapore. I also use them during travels, especially inside the plane or in the airports.