A New You...Dressing the Petite Plus Sized Apple #7...The Four C's...

 

I started this year determined to find a more Chic presentation for myself.

 

Mid life weight gain, and lack of knowledge had seen me decline into Mummy mode as far as dress sense goes, and whilst that was still not awful, it wasn't the way I saw myself in the long term.

 

Knowledge is Power

 

I bit the bullet, and signed up for The French Chic Academy, and an investment of about $180 a month for a few months (payments now completed), saw a fundamental change in the way I thought, spent and dressed.

 

As with anything Knowledge is Power, and as I have been saying all year, if you do nothing else, research your body shape, and go from there. I've gone from thinking I was an Hourglass, to realising I am an Apple, and thus being in a position to make small but significant changes to my wardrobe, that meant a whole new, flattering look.

 

I need to add that I am not a Stylist, just an ordinary person trying to decipher the secrets of looking well presented each and every day. I don't pretend I know all the answers, and in fact I only know a few for my shape...The Apple. And even then, what suits me, may not necessarily suit you. I suggest hitting Pinterest for ideas, having first determined your body shape. Knowing your body shape and proportions, believe me, is the crucial starting point. From there, you can only go up!

 

Have you ever admired an outfit on someone, tried to emulate it, and wondered why it didn't look good on you? Body shape is the likely answer. You may be a Pear shape, trying to emulate an outfit worn by an Apple or a Column. It sounds airy fairy, but this truly is the key. I promise!

 

Find Your Best Self

 

 

Searching for the Best Me, also meant embracing my inner Curliness, and refraining from straightening my hair. As I discovered years ago, too, there is an ideal, flattering length for my hair, and I think that's this look below. Just brushing the shoulders when dry, a little longer when wet or straightened for a special occasion.

 

Note too, that when the above photo was taken, I was still wearing my faux pearls.

 

Here below, are the beautiful, lustrous, glowing baroque pearls I treated myself to, with the money I'd saved by not spending up on unsuitable clothing. True story.

 

Same me. Still curly, still wearing black, still wearing pearls, but below is a kind of upgraded me, I think. What do you think?

 

Over the last eight months since signing up with Marie-Anne Lecouer, I've changed my daytime look from this...

 

...to this...

 

 

...and armed with Marie-Annes advice and a new found confidence, I leapt to this...

 

 

...and this...

 

...and people started asking me whether I'd lost 10 kilos....

 

...no, I haven't...but I look like I have.

 

Look 10 kilos lighter

 

You really can look ten kilos (22lbs) lighter, armed with the right information on how to dress for your shape, too. It's all about your shape and your proportions. I cannot emphasise this enough.

 

See my post early this year, The First Step, on how to determine your body shape, and click on the links provided.

 

 It's the middle of Winter here, and even in the Sub-Tropics we get the wind whistling around the eaves and a couple of months of genuinely chilly weather.

 

So my most recent thoughts, included making a decision on which of these trench coats to keep and wear, and which to discard.

 

Marie-Anne Lecouers' advice was to shorten the pink one, above. This one is actually my favourite. It is vintage, has a lovely gentle and flattering bell shape, had clean lines with no epaulettes or belt, and has elegant pintucking detail on the cuffs, collar, pockets, and on the half faux belt at the back. This lovely pink trench was a gift from an online friend. Thankyou S. I love it and wear it often.

 

 

She also thought that the standard stone coloured trench above, and the shorter black one below, were well worth keeping as classics. I had purchased this one from J.Crew a couple of years ago, but had never had the confidence to wear it. My suburb is not really one where you see folk swanning around in lovely trench coats. No more! I've worn it a dozen times or more, and felt very elegant. Why dress down to suit others, I ask you?

 

 

This black one is actually the one I've worn most often. I purchased it at Selfridges in London in 2015, and it's shorter length and neutral colour, means it has a more casual feel to it, and as I wear a lot of black, it's had it's fair share of airings. Marie-Anne advised keeping it, as again, it will never go out of style.

 Having gained no additional closet space with that advice....lol...I decided instead, to discard other items which I had held on to due to sentimental value. One an oversized denim jacket, not flattering, but kind of jacket du jour here in the Sub Tropics, and secondly, a fairly ordinary black blazer. I need to add that I have 2 other denim jackets and two more black blazers, so along with three trench coats, it was a bit of overkill for someone who only endures 10 weeks of Winter a year!

 

The Four C's

 

Remember that one of the secrets of the French woman, is to Cultivate a Carefully Curated Collection of clothing. The Four C's. Just like with diamonds.

 

Cultivate - try to improve or develop

Carefully - in a way that deliberately avoids error, cautiously

Curated - select, organise and look after the items in a collection

Collection - a group of accumulated items of a particular kind

 

Our Mantra

 

Improve, develop, organise, and look after, a select group of accumulated items in our wardrobe that flatter our shape, whilst deliberately avoiding error.

 

Print that out and carry it with you.  Or take a screen shot if you prefer. If you are shopping for a new item for your wardrobe, look at this to remind you of what you're trying to achieve. If the item you're considering does not fit these parameters, put it back. Seriously. And yes. I just made that up. I didn't steal it from anywhere. So if you use it, please acknowledge me :)

 

What are your thoughts? Which trench coat would you keep? Which do you think is most flattering? Do you have a favourite jacket or coat? Have you taken a critical eye to how it looks on you lately? Could you be due for a coat upgrade?

 

How are you going with getting to know the best way to dress your shape? Have you had any revelations about yourself and your presentation this year?

 

I'd love to hear!

 

...Mimi...

 

 

A New You #5...Dressing the Petite Plus Size Apple Shape...Investment dressing....

 

In my year long quest to find a more Chic presentation for my 57 year old self, I've made two investments that I think are amongst the best I've ever made.

 

First of all, I invested in Marie-Anne Lecoeur's French Chic Academy.

 

As I found Marie-Anne just before Christmas last year, and we were off on an overseas holiday, I elected to pay using the payment plan. That payment plan has just been completed, and I now have lifetime access to the Academy, and in fact, to Marie-Anne herself, who is generous with her time and advice on all manner of questions relating to what to wear, when and how, to present oneself in the most flattering light.

 

The most profound change I made once I had invested in Marie-Annes course, was to stop shopping. I mean really stop shopping. I was always proud of my thrifty ways, and my knack of shopping at the 'right' sort of thrift stores. I found many a good bargain over the years, and never once felt guilty about the spending. I was shopping frugally, supporting charity, recycling and wearing designer labels for a fraction of their retail cost.

 

BUT, was I dressing in the way in which I truly wanted? The honest answer is a no. I was finding things that I thought were 'me', and which suited my budget and looked nice, but were they the most supremely flattering garments? Not always, no. However, I justified that by telling myself that these items were costing under $10 per piece for the majority of the time, so if I only wore them 4-6 times, and then re-donated them, I was still doing okay. Meanwhile my wardrobe was bursting with things I didn't wear, and my sewing table was groaning under a mountain of garments that needed little alterations.

 

It couldn't go on. So I just stopped. Just like that. As you do with any undesirable habit built up over years, when you finally have the motivation. No longer do I just pop in to my favourite Op Shops as we call them, for a look. No longer to I spend up to $50 a week on items that surely are a bargain, but which are not going to live in my wardrobe for longer than 3 months. No more do I flick through the Sale racks in my favourite department stores, buying things based mostly upon their impressively reduced price. I just don't do it. Suddenly, there was the money I needed to invest in my course. And as there are weekly updates, I found I was looking forward to these, as much as I previously anticipated my trips to the Op Shop!

 

Marie-Anne's course suddenly made sense of all of those platitudes with which we are familiar, describing why the French are renowned for their Chic style, and why they continue to be admired worldwide, for their immaculate presentation. I'd heard many of them over and over in my lifetime.

 

 Here are some:

 

Invest in classics

Invest in quality

Buy the best you can afford

Have fewer garments, and love everything you own

Look for beautiful detailing

Buy what suits you

Buy what you love

 

Do any of those sound familiar to you too?

 

The thing is, that this advice is open to interpretation. And I'll be honest, my interpretation hasn't always been that accurate.

 

Let's deal with a couple of these today.

 

Invest in classics - well to me that means having a couple of pairs of jeans, a blazer, a white button down shirt, a pair of boots and a leather handbag. All items I've sourced according to the many '10 Things a French Woman has in her Closet' types of lists we've all seen hundreds of times. But what the lists don't tell you, is that there are a million variations on jeans, blazers, shirts, boots and bags, and what suits one person, is not necessarily going to suit you.

 

Because the number one thing, and in fact the FIRST thing that Marie-Anne taught me, was this.

 

 Are you ready? I've been talking about it a lot this year.

 

~ DRESS FOR YOUR BODY SHAPE ~

 

Honestly, that one piece of information was life changing for me.

 

First of all, I'd thought for many years, that I was an Hourglass shape. And yes, I may have been at one stage, but I haven't been for many years. I am an Apple shape. And not only that, I am a short, slightly overweight Apple shape. One of the most difficult shapes to dress.

 

Secondly, much of the information available on dressing the Apple shape, is seriously misguided. Belts? I don't think so. Rockabilly style dresses with fitted tops and gathered skirts, (and belts!) worn with mile high heels? Um. Nope. Lots of layers to 'disguise' fullness around the middle? Isn't that self defeating?

 

For every body shape, the aim is the same.

 

~THINK LONG, LEAN, AND WELL PROPORTIONED~

 

This is especially true for we who are petite and plus size. We desperately want to look taller, more slender, more streamlined. Right?

 

Here is the sort of thing that is marketed to the Apple Shape woman constantly. This is the very look I have cultivated for the last decade, wondering why I just didn't look the kind of 'pulled together' that I wanted. After all, this look is sold in the plus size section of every retailer you can possibly imagine, so it must be right....right?

 

Wrong.

 

 

 

Retailers are about fashion, not style. Retailers want you to buy stuff, so they present their stock in whatever manner required, to make you buy. They don't care if it actually looks good on you or not. In our case, they just label it 'Plus size', or 'Curvy', or use a full figured celebrity name on it, and we all just follow suit. Are you hearing me? And what it doesn't take into account, is that Plus Sized women can be all different body shapes too. There are Plus sized Apple shapes, Plus sized Pear Shapes, Plus Size Rectangles, Plus sized Hourglass, and Plus sized Inverted Triangles. What suits you as a Plus sized Pear, will not suit me as an Apple any more than it would if we were both slender. It's a stupid 'one size fits all fat ladies' sort of approach. Infuriating.

 

The look above, continues to sell, year in, year out, because we curvy types have been convinced that this is the only thing we should (can?) wear. Can I share what I've learned from applying the advice from The French Chic Academy, that has seen me donate 5 such Waterfall cardigans to my favourite charity bin?

 

1. These are usually made in a fine, closely woven knit. In theory, we Apple shapes SHOULD wear fine knits over bulky ones as the bulky knits add...well...bulk to our shape. But these waterfall cardigans are usually long at the back, and a fine knit is going to cling to your behind, accentuating all that is BIG about it. That might be okay if you're into the Generous Booty Brigade (and more power to you), but it's not the look I'm cultivating.

 

2. The whole 'waterfall' thing is considered flattering because it hides all of our perceived figure faults. Overly generous chest? Hidden. Round tummy? Hidden. Curvy thighs? Hidden. But it also hides all of our good points. Our generous chests are a good thing. Accentuated with a flattering V-neck in a slim cardigan or sweater, with appropriate visually lengthening accessories, our chests (fitted with the right size bra...a high chest is a youthful chest so says Marie-Anne), they can balance out our rounded tummy and thighs. V necklines are good for we Apple ladies. A V is visually lengthening in itself.

 

3.  We Apple shapes should studiously avoid anything that adds bulk to our frame. That goes for any superfluous fuss and frills....including waterfall cardigans. All that extra fabric might look okay front on, but side on, it presents the same problem as wearing a belt. To me, it looks as if I forgot I was fat...lol!

 

If you like that look, there are ways to wear it so it flatters our silhouette. Let's look at how, according to French Chic principles.

 

The looks featured in the panel above, have a few faults. White is always going to make the part of your body on which you wear it, look larger than it is. Light colours 'advance', dark colours 'recede'. The second and third variations, both have the models (who by the way are NOT a plus size Apple shape....another trick!) wearing a white top with a nondescript neckline. That's okay to show off the cardi I guess, but not the most flattering way for us to wear it.

 

The best way to look Long and Lean, is to wear darker colours, or at least to not 'break' the visual silhouette by mixing colours. This means that a monochromatic (meaning single colour, not black and white) look is more flattering.

 

So...

 

~WEAR MONOCHROMATIC COLOUR SCHEMES~

 

Look for plainer lines, forgoing the whole 'waterfall' idea. Of course, when I went looking for an image of something along those lines, it was almost impossible, but if you search 'Tunic Jacket' or 'Long Blazer', some ideas pop up. I liked this one.

 

 

 

 

I know, I know. She's not a petite plus sized Apple either. You begin to see the problem, don't you. But this jacket is better. It's more structured, it's in a fabric that is closely woven, but this one is not likely to cling where you don't want it to, and finishes at a point around the hips where it won't make you look larger than you are. I'd add weights to the inside hemline (a Chanel trick to make your garments drape more beautifully... fishing weights work well). This jacket has a narrow lapel, that forms a long flattering V shape down your centre front. It has that all important downward pointing V detail on along the hemline, tricking the eye into making your look long and lean. It also has an interesting zipper and cuff detail that draws attention to your lovely wrists. Little details are key in adopting a French Chic outlook, and you should look for subtle details in your key pieces. Worn monochrome in any colour, this jacket would be a Chic choice, for sure.

 

Thus...

 

~ELIMINATE SUPERFLUOUS FUSS AND DETAIL~

 

Now let's look at two other points...

 

Invest in quality

 

and

 

Buy the best you can afford

 

These points have confused me for most of my life. Investing in quality made sense in terms of longevity, but I always wondered what you did when fashions changed. And buying the best you can afford? Well I was doing that by shopping thriftily at Op Shops and end of season sales, wasn't I?

 

Here's where I was going wrong, and why 'fashions changing' shouldn't have even been in the mix.

 

The every day French woman, does not care about 'fashion'. She cares about 'style'. She cultivates a small wardrobe (partly because she only has a small closet in which to store it) of beautifully curated pieces, that she wears perennially. She adds investment accessories to bring variety to her choices.

 

I love that word 'curated'.

 

"Curated (kyew-rayt) verb to select, organise and look after the items in a collection."

 

Isn't that in itself, a revelation?

 

When I look back over my life, my 'style' has not varied greatly. I've always favoured jeans, straight skirts, blazers, pearls, scarves and long blouses. I've always looked for a classy presentation, depending upon where I was on that day. Some days I've been better at that than others. My size however, defeats me.

 

 I have grown from a size 8 at 21, to a size 16-18 at 57. That said, over each decade of my life, my size has not changed significantly. As for many of us, it's been a gradual 'creeping up' of things. So had I spent $120 on that divine silk blend t-shirt, or $650 on that designer blazer I admired greatly, and still regret not purchasing, I would have enjoyed wearing them for many years and probably not needed as many garments in my wardrobe. I would have been imminently proud and satisfied, in 'curating' those pieces.

 

 Instead, I went about spending $50 here, $75 there, perhaps $120 on a single occasion outfit, and never wore any of them more than a handful of times. Suddenly, that advice makes sense.

 

~DO NOT BE A CONSUMER. BE A CURATOR~

 

As for the advice 'buy the best you can afford', I have to confess that this is one of the very first questions I put to Marie-Anne. I had heard that French women beat a path to Monoprix (sort of the French version of Target or KMart) to purchase their Cashmere sweaters each Winter. Surely that is not buying the best you can afford. Her response was simple, and another revelation for me.

 

She said that French women know the value of a Cashmere sweater. They do indeed buy the best they can afford, and if the best they can afford is Monoprix, then they will buy a single Cashmere from Monoprix for 75euro, over several inferior synthetic ones for 25euro each. BUT they prefer to save for the expensive Cashmere they really want. They would rather wait, make other sacrifices, and invest in the quality Cashmere sweater of their dreams, and look after it. Invest in quality. See? The two really do go hand in hand.

 

~SAVE FOR THE ITEMS YOU REALLY WANT~

 

I had wanted a strand of Baroque pearls since forever. I've written about that before. So armed with Marie-Anne's advice, I used the savings I was making on not shopping, to INVEST in my dream pearls. I've showcased them a couple of times now. I love them so much. These were my second investment. The first being of course, my investment in The French Chic Academy.

 

I'd heard, and read often, that pearls enhance the wearer, and that they are versatile, and timeless. I even had some pearls, purchased as a wedding gift by my husband.

 

 

But these pearls always felt very formal to me, and even though I saw others wearing them daily, I never felt they were what I was after. I wear them, but rarely. I wasn't getting that vibe that people rave about when discussing pearls.

 

I've often heard too, the advice that the 'fake it till you make it' strategy works with pearls. I have to now categorically disagree with that. Once you've seen good quality, genuine pearls against your skin, and felt the sheer weight of them, there is no way you could ever compare them to faux pearls in any way, shape, or form. I've seen department store faux pearl strands selling for nearly $200 because they have some designer name attached to them. I've seen 'estate' genuine pearls selling for twice that because they belonged to someones Granny, that look exactly like my wedding pearls. For $500, I was able to invest in exactly the pearls I wanted. Genuine pearls, that truly are everything I'd been led to believe pearls should be. That might sound like a lot of money, but again, if I had exercised some discipline some years ago, if I'd 'thought like a French woman', I could have had the pearls of my dreams and been enjoying them for so much longer. I've spent more than $500 on accessories in the last decade, and not worn any of them more than a dozen times.

 

THESE pearls, the ones at the top of my post, are the pearls I now wear almost every single day. Every. Single. Day. I wear the earrings daily. The long necklace, several times a week, and daily if I can. Just the thrill of knowing I have them, makes me far more careful about choosing my daily outfit. I WANT to wear them, so I now 'curate' my wardrobe, to ensure that I have every available opportunity to do so.

 

 

I purchased my pearls from Laura at JaguarJems, and she has pearls to suit every budget. And sure enough, when you see genuine, superior quality pearls up close, and come to appreciate their lustre and beauty, I guarantee that they do indeed, enhance the wearer. There is nothing like them. Especially these beautiful oversized Baroque ones. I made sure that I chose the colour of pearls, that was most flattering to my complexion and hair colour. Not for me, the traditional creamy ivory pearls. I wanted the lustrous blue-violet ones, to compliment my silver hair and blue-green eyes.

 

I got exactly what I wanted, and for a price that I consider 'an investment' and 'the best I can afford', whilst still staying within my budget. I paid for my pearls, AND my course, by using those very principles I'd heard so often, but did not make sense of until now.

 

I feel quite the grown-up.

 

Husband and I went antique shopping yesterday. We wanted to buy an interesting trinket as a joint wedding anniversary gift. So something warm and comfortable was the order of the day as far as dress sense goes.

 

Here below, you can see that I assembled an outfit that is:

 

Monochromatic (single colour or tone on tone) using dark denim, a fine knit navy cardigan with a row of vertical buttons to carry the eye vertically, a V neckline, and a plain black blazer with no superfluous detail.

 

Uses accessories to make me look long and lean. A scarf in a colour that is flattering to my complexion and hair, tied so that it shows a V at the neck rather than up around my neck choker style, dangling earrings, a long necklace.

 

Free of fussy detail, frills, or fabric, that would add bulk to my frame.

 

Was comfortable, warm, appropriate for where I was going, and saw me looking Chic (always my aim) for the entire day.

 

Saw me showcasing my investment pieces...my pearls and a pure silk scarf.

 

The metallic silver sneakers are another investment. I bought these three years ago, and they were expensive by my standards. Over $200. But they have a properly supportive innersole, and are amazingly comfortable and versatile. Normally the advice for long and lean, would extend to wearing heels, but sometimes, that is simply not practical. What I love about these, is that the metallic finish renders them (to my eye at least) almost like a nude shoe. They could look clunky, but they don't. I have worn them constantly for three years and they are still going. I had a pair of silver imitation Converse sneakers that I paid $20 for at around the same time. My feet hurt in them, and I wore them but twice, before donating them to charity. Another lesson.

 

 

 

So what are your thoughts?

 

Are you thinking Long and Lean? Are you using monochromatic colour schemes, and eliminating superfluous fabric and detail, to visually trick the eye into thinking you are taller and more slender? Are you buying the best you can afford and investing in quality? Are you striving to be a Curator, not a Consumer?

 

Tell me all....

 

...Mimi...    

50 & Fab....Embellishing Clothing for that Designer look #2...Fringed Skirt...

 

I love looking good, but am not enamoured with paying thousands of dollars for the privilege. Alas, I love to travel, and I would rather spend the thousands on that!

 

However, I have found ways of getting the looks I love, for a fraction of the price, and it's not sewing my own. I do that occasionally, but honestly, I don't have the time right at this point in my life.

 

I'm a bit of an expert at embellishing though, and it's amazing what you can achieve with a bit of fringe, a few unique buttons or beads, and a dash of creativity.

 

I first mentioned this idea here, and here, when I shared how I often use Net-a-Porter or Polyvore to get ideas on how to look my best. Sometimes it's just a case of updating a shoe, or a scarf, or the colour of your handbag, to look current. These sites help you achieve that and more. You can learn what prints are 'hot', what accessories will help you look young and on-trend, and for me, what shoes to wear with what. I am a great believer in 'the shoe makes the outfit'. I know. It's a problem isn't it!

 

I also shared how, once I have my inspiration, I hit the sales and my favourite thrift stores, to source similar looks. I'm constantly surprised at how often 'just the right thing' jumps into my lap soon after.

 

The ladies in the photographs above were a recent inspiration. These shots were taken at Paris fashion week (perhaps not this year, but last year...for me it doesn't matter), and they appealed to me as the women concerned all look to be around my age. They look classy, neat, and a bit edgy and different. I like that. These looks also looked relatively easy to replicate.

 

I've chosen the lady in the middle as my first project. I particularly loved her fringed skirt, long lean shirt, tanned limbs and ankle booties. This looked like an outfit that I might wear for an outing to the ballet or theatre, so I've started there.

 

The immediate pressing task was to find the fringe. This is not an inexpensive option at Spotlight (the major haberdashery store here where I live), but a quick look on eBay, and I'd purchased 4 metres, for under $20. I did not need anywhere near this much, but thought at $3.99 a metre (yard), it was worth buying a little more than required. You can buy the fringe from here.

 

It arrived about a fortnight later, tied in a neat little bundle....

 

...it's heavy and is exactly what I wanted.

 

Now I already had this skirt. It's a knee length skirt in a heavy stretch type fabric, sourced at a department store sale for under $30. I liked it at the time, but had never actually worn it as I'm not a huge fan of dresses and skirts. I liked the abstract pattern on this one though, and it's straight, so didn't make me look fatter than I already am...lol!

 

Further research on 'asymmetrical fringed skirts' on Google yielded many different options and methods of using the trim, and eventually I decided to simply add the trim, leave the fabric underneath, and spare the unsuspecting public a view of my thighs. It was the only decent thing to do. There were certainly plenty of designer-ish skirts that employed this method, so all good.

 

 

I laid the fringe in place, as above, ensuring that the top of the trim was even with no ripples, and pinned it into place as seen below...

 

Now, something to be aware of, is that my skirt had a bit of 'give', as did the fringe. So I kept the entire length of fringe in one piece, and as I pinned, I made sure that I allowed for the stretch. I pinned in a downward slope from side seam to side seam at the front, then turned the skirt over, and pinned from side seam to side seam in an upward slope to make the fringe meet at the edges. I left a little overhang as seen below, which I trimmed once I'd stitched. It was just as well, as even though I'd allowed for that 'give' when pinning, I still needed a couple of centimetres (inches) more than I initially thought. 

 

I stitched using a normal needle and black thread. The actual sewing took about three minutes, maximum.

 

 

And here's the finished skirt....

 

 

It looks fabulous on, and who would imagine that the addition of $4 worth of black fringe could make something look so glamorous!

 

A trip to my aforementioned favourite thrift store yesterday, yielded a long lean white sleeveless top to wear with my skirt, but I need to take it in a little to slim it down. It's a bit voluminous at the moment, and whilst I love the flowing look, it's not right for this outfit.

 

The final addition is the shoes, and in the same thrift store visit, I sourced all of these shoes for just $7 a pair. Now I normally have an aversion to buying shoes from the thrift store, but as it happened, every single pair, bar the yellow ones which look brand new anyway, were unworn, still with tags! The yellow ones are Nine West and will go perfectly with my orange and yellow beads, another thrift store purchase...

 

 

 

 

And as for my jacket (seen above) embellishing project as seen in this post here, well that one was completed in one five and a half hour, hand stitching marathon of neon flat backed jewels, and pretty much looks just as I laid it out, seen here below. That one was a great success, and drew many compliments last weekend when I wore it to three different events. If I ever get the hang of the full length selfie, I'll share how it actually looks on!

 

The great thing, and a benefit I hadn't considered, is that the jewels weigh the hem down considerably, giving a very flattering and slimming line. Did you know that Chanel jackets all have chain stitched into the hems for exactly this reason? Or that many designer garments also have weights of one kind or another (even coins!) stitched into dress hems, and the hems of trousers? That's an idea worth copying as it gives such a lovely finish to your garments.

 

 

Those lolly pink ballet flats are going to look great with the jacket, and some white jeans this Summer I think!

 

 

The khaki ones with their fabulous flat black bow, will be a perennial favourite, and the black loafers look very similar to the ones the lady is wearing in the first photo at the top of my post, so I guess you see where I was going with that idea. The strappy, conical heeled, and very comfortable sandals, will be worn with the fringed skirt tomorrow night, when I attend my daughters Ballet Concert, and I hope to provide photos of that outfit then! Although, I must confess, that having secured so many bargains, I felt justified in spending a little on a pair of ankle booties as per my fashionista inspiration in picture number two. They'll arrive tomorrow and I'll make a decision then.

 

So first outfit, inspired by photograph two, successful.

 

Total spend $52, including the shoes, or a little more if I decide to keep the boots.

 

I call that a win.

 

Coming up is my Dolce & Gabbana inspired trimmed shirt....stay tuned....

 

 

 

 

...Mimi...