Red White And Blue

What a patriotic colour combo...


In the vain of my last few posts- here is a dress that I have not actually worn yet. Turns out I have a lot of these hiding on the racks! I bought this one in Adelaide a few months back on an epic shopping afternoon with a handful of like minded derby girls. We were over there to skate in an Australasian tournament- but managed to set aside a decent couple of hours to hit the shops the way we hit our opponents. HARD.








I actually found this dress in "Valley Girl" which we have in NZ as well. This store really knows how to put on a good sale! There have been many occasions where I have flicked through racks of $10, $15 and $20 specials. It is a great way to run a sale really. I spend a lot more money when I can get multiple items. Its easy when there is a perception if getting more value for your money. (and obviously money aside- I like leaving a store with full bags of new clothes!) This dress was on a $20 and under rack. It cost me $14.95AU.

Red ,white and blue still has a really nautical feel to it. To me anyway. I like that I can match this dress with a red or a white crinoline petticoat (the white one pictured here to balance out the white detail at the top of the dress) and then push with the red accessories to lift it a little more. It came with the red belt- so I have run with that as an option this time but I can see there are possibilities to swap out the red and go for green or yellow belt, shoes and hair piece or necklace too!

Blue and Teal Circles

This is the latest in a long line of hidden treasures the Wardroom has thrown out at me in the last month or so. In the name of Frockstar- I have been rummaging to find some new inspiration for outfits and blog posts. This is a dress I have never worn. Not even once. It has been in my possession for more than a year now. It came from a Hospice shop in Melbourne. I pulled the price tag off when I took the pic- so I can tell you that it cost me $10AU.

It is a simple halter neck dress with a flared skirt. It is actually made of silk which feels amazing on the skin. I love the retro vaguely 70's overlapping circles pattern on the fabric and this is made even better buy the colour scheme of turquoise and a deep teal green over white.

Now that I know that I have matching shoes, hair flower and can wear a crinoline petticoat with it- I think it will make it out to the streets as a completely wearable outfit!

NB- while this has absolutely nothing to do with the outfit in this post- something very weird is going on with the spacing here. For some reason I cannot change the gaps between the pics and the words. It is highly annoying...

Pink Coat

Pink is not a colour I wear very often. Don't get me wrong. It's not that I have anything against pink as a colour - I have just never really been a pink kindofa girl. In saying that I think I have warmed more to it in the last few years. It pops up in outfits from time to time but I have always leaned more towards green, red, blue and lately yellow before pink.


Now when it comes to coats I don't ever think you can have too many options. (although I may be pushing the green options a little. At last count I had 12 green coats in the wardroom!) It's nice to be able to match any possible outfit with a coat that isn't just black.


This coat has a faux vintage quality to it. That was the part I liked about it the most in fact. I actually bought it from Just Jeans of all places. It was on a sale rack for $29.00. Pretty good for a coat.







I would like to think of myself as very open minded about where I buy my clothes from. I have learnt over the years to drop any form of snobbishness when it comes to which stores I will frequent- and which ones I may not have previously looked at. You never know where your next favourite piece is going to come from and you certainly don't want to limit your options by not looking in unexpected places from time to time.


Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Glassons- they all have their place when it comes to clothing purchases. I don't think I am at risk of being stereotyped into an "off the rack" kind of girl. The beauty in these occasional items is being able to really make them your own with how you wear it.


For this picture I have opted to keep it very simple. Black v neck shirt and pencil skirt underneath to really make the coat a feature. My colour co-ordinating OCD kicked in and I matched it to some simple one strap pink heels. These shoes hailed from The #1 Shoe Warehouse's seconds store. I have always called this the #2 Shoe warehouse. They were $7.00. Brand new shoes for $7? Crazy I know!






I love the texture of this fabric. It also has depth with a dark maroon colour layered amongst the paler pink, white and a peachy hue as well.


The coat and shoes may not be in my top 10 favourite things in the wardroom but I think I can still pull together a solid outfit using them with each other.

Khaki with Roses

I have recently rediscovered this top and have a whole new appreciation for it! I don't know if this happens to anyone else- but in the wardroom things get lost on the racks from time to time. I occasionally get a bit stuck in outfit circles- and forget to rummage through the rest of the options. I am glad I had one not too long ago as I rediscovered a few pieces to throw into the mix for the coming months. Between that and the weather showing the first signs of getting warmer- it is an exciting time for outfit picking!


(Upon re-reading that last sentence maybe I need to get out more....)







So back to my first rediscovery. This top has been kicking around for a few years now. Its no secret that I love any shade of green. It's also no secret that I have a thing for flowers. Especially roses. Oh look. This top has both. Tick and tick.


I love that the roses have a vintage quality to them. They are such a vibrant red- and this really stands out on the khaki. I like that they aren't a "flat" colour too. They have a depth achieved with the shading on the applique. (flowers and leaves I may add...)








In this top's recent reincarnation I have teamed it with a red scarf around my neck, staple black pencil skirt and finished it off with red peep toes. When I wore this to work a week or so ago I also worked in a red handbag.

I Buckled....

I have been on a self-imposed clothes buying hiatus for the last few months. It is only temporary of course. It is all in aid of an epic shopping spree in Melbourne in a few weeks. Historically I am not a very good saver but this time I am tracking pretty well in fact. All I can think about is the vintage stores, amazing restaurants and great finds!

I found this dress on trademe a few weeks back. I really liked it but managed to convince myself that I didn't need it. I verbalised my thoughts on this to my boyfriend- and moved on. Or so I thought.




The following week I was on some pretty heavy duty painkillers and at home for the day. I was essentially in a state where I could entertain myself by staring at a wall for a few hours. Turns out I got on trademe and bought this dress while I was in a Tramadol induced stupor. I had no recollection of it whatsoever until I came back to work to find the payment instructions waiting for me at my work email... oops.

I may not have meant to buy this dress as such- but I really like it and don't mind too much that I slipped ever so slightly off my good savings work. It was only $50.00 so I didn't break the bank too much. Given that I recall nothing of buying it in the first place- my drugged up purchase could have been much much worse for my bank balance!

The dress itself is a nice cut. Buttons all the way down the front and a white collar feature on the top. The skulls and roses are bordering on cliche I know- but it still really appeals. I like that I can wear this with my red, black or white crinoline petticoats- and team it with red, black or white accessories too. I especially like that there are a few skulls in the fabric with blue eyes that seem to look right through you.




Now that I have justified this dress post purchase- I am going to need to make sure it is as verstaile as I have convinced myself!

White Leather

I love a good leather jacket. I love the smell. I love the soft touch. I love how it feels to wear it. (Sorry to all my animal rights activist friends out there!)



I had been looking for a decent leather bomber jacket for quite a while when I came across this one. I really like that it's white. Somehow I imagined that this would make for a very versatile colour in the scheme of things. I mean- what doesn't go with white?






On paper this should be a very versatile piece of clothing yet somehow- it isn't. Don't get me wrong I love love LOVE it- but I have heaps of trouble working it into an outfit.


I am unsure if it is the cut of the jacket or the fact that it's white that makes this difficult. I have worn it with fancy dress costumes when trying to be "rock n roll' or "bogan" Maybe the trick is to make these themes a regular P.O.F more often to get past the versatility barrier!







So anyway. I love it. The cut has a great diagonal zip that alters the way the collar sits. It has zipped pockets- and a great lining fabric! (I realise that this isn't going to be seen by anyone while I am wearing it- but thought I would mention it and show a pic anyways) It makes me think of something between early 80's Madonna and Debbie Harry mixed with Andy Warhol pop art.

I managed to score myself this little piece of amazing on trademe - for a cool $50. I was actually expecting it to arrive fro me to discover it was not leather but pleather. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was totally genuine for that price!

NB- the outfit this jacket is teamed with in the pic is not one I have ever actually worn anywhere. It was my attempt to showcase the jacket with a reasonably minimal ensemble that would not detract from the style. I could not help myself with the shoes though. Any black and white outfit will ALWAYS have these puppies on my feet! they aren't exactly minimalist- but they are the epitome of beautiful.....

Piano Roses

Ok. This will be my last jewellery post. For a little while at least. I have attempted to group these items together in ways that kinda make sense. For some reason piano's and roses make sense together to me.

Warning. Lame joke following.

What's better than roses on your piano?

Tulips on your organ.

Told you it was lame.

I will start with the rose portion of this blog entry. I do like a good cameo. Whether it transpires into earrings, a brooch or a necklace- there is something particularly elegant about this old fashioned design. I have seen skeleton cameo's and general face silhouettes- but this is the first flower cameo I have come across. The necklace itself is quite a lot longer than I would usually wear- but that just means I get to see it more easily while I am wearing it!

The piano portion is a fairly obvious theme for me to pick up and run with. You MAY have noticed that 99% of all frockstar pictures are taken in front of my beautiful baby grand piano. (its kind of fake but that's a whole other story....) I have a piano bag. Piano shoe laces. A Piano lanyard- and now piano jewellery. There is one helluva piano P.O.F brewing I can assure you!

Both these pieces were actually gifts. Not even birthday or Christmas gifts- just the kind of things where they were seen in a store and they thought of me straight away. Aaaaaaw :)

The bracelet is on elastic bands so is a stretchy cuff kind of style. It works way too well with the ring to not wear them together....

2 Tiki's And 1 Ghost

As per my previous post- I pulled out a bunch of my favourite pieces from an overflowing jewellery dresser to showcase on frockstar. In lieu of buying anything new to put up- I figured I have a lot of options in the wardroom that aren't ALL hanging up on racks.

I don't know how often you have looked at genuine NZ tiki's but they are pretty cool. Also- pretty expensive. There seems to be a few levels of tiki's available for purchase with varying levels of credibility.

• The top of the list boasts the genuine article. The true blue hand carved greenstone. These are nothing short of amazing and would be a great way to remember a trip to NZ if you did not reside here.

• Next down the list would be the slightly tacky versions bought in souvenir stores. The vaguely plasticy type that are meant to look like greenstone- yet don't.

• Right at the bottom of the pecking order are the ones that I have bought. They don't try very hard to look genuine. They are all out cheap plastic and don't try to hide it. I found these gems in a souvenir/ kebab store in downtown Auckland a year or so back. They are sold in every colour of the rainbow so I bought pale green one, a turquoise blue one and a white one. (not pictured) So many bases covered!
  

So I realise that there isn't much of a link between the tiki's and a hand crated Ghost brooch - but thought I would throw them together in one post anyways.





This Ghost was sold as part of the merch tent at a Music festival I went to a few years back. (Camp A Low Hum) The band responsible for the ghost was Bang Bang Eche (Not a bad band- but I liked their merch better than their music) I had this brooch for about a year before I realised it was the perfect lift to an outfit that was teamed with purple shoes. PERFECT!

Sparkly Creatures

Anyone who has spoken to me for more than about 5 minutes know that I like things that sparkle. Quite a lot in fact. Seeing as I am on a serious saving plan at the moment (read between the lines as upcoming Melbourne shopping spree!)- my purchasing rate of new things to post up on frockstar has slowed down pretty drastically. Thought it was a good opportunity to run with a couple of jewellery posts.


The first 2 sparkly creatures were actually purchased on my last shopping trip to Melbourne. Almost a year ago in fact. They were bought from a make shift store in a tiny arcade that was floor to ceiling sparkly brooches. Sensory overload ensued. About 20 minutes later I finally managed to find 2 that I deemed as the best- and walked out a very happy girl.









The peacock is actually a lot more stunning in real life. I found it quite hard to get a good pic of it. It is a perfect bird shaped cluster of blue, green and pink sparkles with an added feature of a red eye.








The owl is a little more simple- and actually has some personality I think. (in that weird way that any inanimate object can of course) I had a brief but productive flirting with Owls that week. I bought a great hoodie with an Owl on the front as well. I love the contrast of the blue and orange together. Always a winning combo in my books.








The spider has always been a favourite of mine. I love the way the light catches the bulbous body. It is an interesting shade of charcoal grey- which isn't always a colour synonymous with sparkly things.







This last one is not a creature at all- but is extra sparkly so I thought I could still fit it into this post. It actually came from the $2 shop of all places. I love the colour combination of turquoise, white, red and green coloured stones in a floral circular setting. This brooch works really well with a lot of different outfits with that colour combo!

P.s- sorry for the long stretch of no posts! I will make it up to you. I promise.