coincidence, fate, fashion friends and some HOT new purchases...

SO - wait for this.  Did someone say COINCIDENCE? On my last post I was busy hunting down the items as seen on Jessica Stein's Tuula blog; and found quite a few of them.  Woot.  Yes, I was feeling pretty chuffed - GOOD WORK FFIFY.  Finished the post and put it up - and got on with my day.  A few minutes ago I was perusing eBay (for something completely different of course) and checked out those Karen Walker sunnies again, as I had been thinking about them all day.  I thought I would check out the seller's other items - when I noticed their name.  Tuula Vintage.  NO WAY.  And there they were - most of the other items I had hunted down; plus a few more tasty additions.  Amazing.  Guess who her saved as a favourite seller??  Check out her items here.

Speaking of fashion bloggers, I came across another totally find-worthy version today.  Friend In Fashion (her blog is here) is a Melbourne based blogger who does most of her outfit posts on location in the Docklands.  I follow her on twitter - and jumped across to her Lookbook page this morning.  This was the post:

Super hot right?  She listed the blazer as August Street; two minutes later I located said blazer here at The Iconic:

August Street 'Native' blazer - $144.95.  Buy it now at The Iconic here.

So there I was, tossing up whether to buy.  Flicking back and forth, blog to store, blog to store - argh I was being annoyingly indecisive and just could not make up my mind.  And then, fate intervened.  Jumped on facey and this appeared:

The Iconic was rewarding me for liking them, by giving me 20% off.  No JOKE.  Yes - this was definitely fate.  There was no clearer sign that this jacket was meant to be mine.  Snapped it up - $116.  BANG.  3 day delivery, and free postage.  Cant get any better than that.  Spooky...

But.. of course I was also tempted by another of her ensembles:

The pants in particular... seems that washed out leopard print is everywhere right now.  SPOTTED: 

Found them here at SurfStitch.  And, they are VOLCOM.  Yes - you read that correctly.  I haven't worn Volcom since my punk rock days (uhhh try guys ripped Volcom jeans, studded belts, etnies and trucker caps.  Avril Lavigne eat your heart out) but I am definitely tempted by these. And at $69.99 - why wouldn't you be?

Am yet to add to cart.  I will sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning.

Other purchases that occurred over the course of the day:

Sass and Bide muslin and denim spliced shirt - $60 eBay

Tato & Memi silk and tweed spliced blazer - $150 eBay.  This guy is new season and retailing for $480.  FAB.

Sass and Bide 'The Ringleader' leopard print ruffle tee - $41 eBay.

OHH and then just this second snatched up this cute as a button Topshop knit - $21 eBay.

Hmm.  That was just today.  When you see it laid out like that seems just a little excessive...

Maybe just a tad.

Guess who cannot wait for the POSTMAN!

FFIFY xxx

hope the bf doesn't read this post... think someone may be in a bit of trouble otherwise eeeeeep.

Tuula the eBay way.. ill show you how!

So how have you all coped with the beginning of sale season?  Have you resisted the temptation to blow your entire pay on three witchery coats and six tunic dresses or have you indulged yourself (uh like me) and snapped up as many winter knits as you can possibly find?  It is not even officially the freezing season yet and already all the cold-weather appropriate fashion is in full sale – crap for retailers, but oh so good for us wearers; especially those whom (like myself) reside in places where winter hangs around for the majority of the year (why oh why am I here?).

I am actually coping okay surprisingly.  Contrary to what you may think given my rather out of control spending habits – I don’t often go nuts in the sale period.  For some bizarre reason, when everything is on sale and further reduced and 50% off and two for $50 etc etc the satisfaction of finding a bargain is somewhat dimmed.  Not to say I am not going to reap the benefits of a crazily early sale period; but I find more satisfaction in nabbing an item at a bargain price when all the rest of the items still at full price.  Oh the joy, the rush of knowing that you have found the buried treasure; the magical loot that no one else could find.  Hence my lifelong addiction to eBay.  I will always love you my dear friend.

Speaking of eBay (and really, lets be honest here.  When am I not?) I stumbled across some more miracles last night.  Completing a find for some items from fashion blogger Jessica Stein of Tuula (gorgeous girl, amazing blog, fabulous life – jelly? Moi? NEVER).  I am now totally addicted to her site (check it out http://fellt.com/tuula - you wont be able to look away. Cancel out the next five hours of your day. Trust me), living vicariously through the fabulous images of her charmed life.  The fashion, the travel; the girl has fun.

And, most importantly, she looks good.  Coming along the fashion path from her background in vintage and market find ensembles, Jessica now dons labels like Carven, Isabel Marant, Alexander Wang, Acne – yes, the list goes on.  BUT my findettes – do NOT despair.  The link to this ramble and eBay (as I began above – I do have a point and am getting to it eventually) is that you too can look just as fabulous as Tuula (which coincidentally means ‘like the wind’ in Finnish, and, with me being half Finnish myself there is a DEFINITE CONNECTION. Wow) right NOW.  Forget Net-A-Porter and Shopbop (not entirely – god NO.  Just for the point of this exercise and then you are free to head back over.  I sure will be), the majority of her fabulous outfits can be found,  bidded on, or (my personal favourite) BOUGHT right now in eBayland. 

PROOF (all images are taken from her website http://fellt.com/tuula, and then eBay, for illustrative purposes.  They are not my own; as if I could be so photographically genius):

HER WAY:

EBAY WAY:

Karen Walker beige ‘Number One’ sunnies – $210 buy it now.  Buy them HERE.

Ellery structured peplum top (in the MINT colourway, same as her pants) - $290 starting bid.  Find me HERE.

 

Isabel Marant amazing tie dye jeans.  LOVE - $499 buy it now or make an offer (I would be opting for the latter.. try $280).  Snap these up HERE.

Sass and Bide 'Cast in Bronze' cable knit jumper (this baby is def one of her faves, she wears it in a ton of outfit combos) - $150 starting bid.  Nab it HERE.

LOVE these. Sass and Bide 'Raising the bar' leopard print jeans.  $200 buy it now.  Hot.  you need me HERE.

Zara peter pan collar floral blouse.  Would have to be the bargain of the lot - $34 buy it now. What are you waiting for - HERE.

Rag and Bone surf jeans – totally amazing and I would already have bought these if only they were in my size.  $149 starting bid or buy it now for $180.  Make them yours HERE.

I could go on.  And on.  The inaccessible has just become totally available; all thanks to a little site called eBay. Love.

Moving on.  Today is a Melbourne Day.  Currently it is 6:58am and I have already been on the vline for 45 minutes.  My view:

Ideally today I am looking to linger in the city after work to let the early sale season take a little bit more advantage of my wallet and myself.   Todays outfit:

Today I am back on the leather top train.  Two reasons, with the first mostly centered around the fact that it looks good (a perfectly justifiable reason) and ALSO because it keeps me really warm.  And with the mercury dropping to -2 this morning warmth is a must.  SO – Country Road taupe leather tee, which is worn over a Sass and Bide tie dye silk printed tank.  On top of this is a Zara red blazer (smart and colourful – what a combination), and then the Neon Blonde no longer wetlook skinnies finish of the legs.  Tony Bianco black peep toe wedges and my Gorman camel Babushka coat remain.  Warm as toast, and feeling good.

OOH delivery alert from yesterday – the fabulous Zara Aztec print cape has arrived:

BF was delighted to see I had invested in yet another ‘horrible printed horse rug’.

Ohhh boys and fashion.  Love it.

FFIFY xxx

SALES sales everywhere I look!

OKAY. So - lets hope you all have TONS of money to spend as it is super sale central in shopping land right now.  Here are a few options to get rid of your hard earned:

First up is Witchery - up to 50% off starting now instore and online, PLUS 25% off all remaining full price items.  Not bad... interested - shop them HERE.  I don't have a store nearby so I shall be jumping on the computer to reap the benefits of this one.

My tips from Witchery:

Spliced dress - reduced to $74.95.  Team with ankle boots and a pop coloured leather jacket.  HOT.

Peplum ponti zip detail cropped jacket - $149.95.  Peplum is everywhere right now, and the zip detail is super cute. Team with printed shorts, opaques and ankle boots.  Fab.

Next up:

So by their image above you cannot tell who this is (clever marketing campaign that one.. keep us guessing I say) but it is SUSSAN.  Having just come off the back of their 'take a further 50% off sale items' this may just mean some products are going up in price; but rest assured there are a ton of new markdowns to still be enjoyed.  Check out their knits and fab scarf sale collection HERE.

My picks:

Animal print knit - $39.95.  Perfect layered over a white boyfriend shirt with skinnies and tan brogues.  Hey - I won all of theose items; this is now on the top of my list.

Check jacket - $99.95.  Tolly loving blanket-esque jackets right now, and this one would look equally fab cinched in with a tan belt.  Add a woolen shift dress, ankle boots and opaques and HELLO perfect winter look.

Up next is a discount denim retailer:

Now I haven't purchased any of their denim - but OH Jeanswest is killing it in the knit department.  Similar styles (and fabric, shape and overall quality) as seen in the higher end chains but for a quarter of the price - you cannot go past this as a sale.  Check them out online HERE.

My best buys:

Black ad white stripe knit - $30.  I own this bad boy - and it is a fabulous boxy shape and look amazing worn over a contrasting striped tee and cons.  Perfect weekend wear.

Maroon skinny pants - $42.  As they say, Jeanswest fits best - and these oh so now coloured skinnies are no exception.  Layer up with the above knit, striped tee and flats and bring on the weekend.

Just popped over to my local and picked up three knits for just over $80 - amazing.    These are all mine:

Will keep you updated if any more spendworthy sales come through... but this should keep your wallet satisfied for now.

Add to CART findettesyou know you want to!

FFIFY xxx

Midriffs, Magheritas, Missonis and a style challenge..

So today whilst hard at work, and girlfriend and I were discussing the alarming (and ever increasing) trend of Ballarat teenage midriff fashion.  Not even the threat of an 8 degree day can squash this growing phenomenon; the local plaza is overrun with teen bellybuttons.  True story.

This then got me thinking about midriff fashion in general, which then lead me to Margherita Missoni.  Ohhh.  Girl crush alert.  I think if there is any one single person I am more in awe of in the whole wide world apart from Miss Palermo herself would have to be Margherita.  She even makes the name Margherita sound cool - if it were my name I feel the not-so-tropical 'Marg' might be closer to the mark.  She nails super quirky-cool with each print-clashing, midriff bearing ensemble, and is one of the most natural 'just totally woke up like this' beauties out there.  Sigh.

My affection to Missoni actually goes way back. Well not really, but I have been madly in love with their cult and oh so vintage-esque zig zag print all the way since Year Seven.  I had a ‘Very Very’ (whatever happened to Very Very? Back then the fashion pages of Dolly were chock a block with Very Very, Vallen, Rare and Brian Rochford.  Those were the days) Missoni-print body shirt.  Wearing this baby with my Tencel wide leg jeans and eight-up electric blue Doc Martens I thought I was just about the coolest thing ever.  Since then, I have had to admire Missoni from afar; alas the designer label of my dreams has never made it into my price bracket.  Not without trying mind you, each year Missoni towels make it onto my christmas list, and I often add several Missoni cardis and knit skirts to my watch list in eBay but they never get as far as the checkout.  

This is the reason I love her:

She is just gorgeous.  And natural.  And just so Italian. How does she pull it off?

So, feeling inspired by MM I have decided to come up with my own version of a fabulous midriff-bearing ensemble that Margie would be proud to don; all sourced from online stores (of course).  Okay - here goes:

Top.  So I just HAD to include something Missoni in the outfit.. as this is obviously her thing.  This little ditty is $263 GBP from NetAPorter.com - buy me HERE.

Jacket.  So she loves a sixties shape, and this Jayson Brunsdon 'Modernist' number has such a 'Twiggy' feel with the bell sleeves and stunning tomato red colour.  Buy me HERE for $385 at MyCatwalk.com.

Pants.  So I couldn't go past Gorman for their quirky prints and high waisted shape - I just KNOW Margherita would love love love these.  Buy these super cute Papaya printed pants for $229 HERE from the Gorman online store.

Shoes.  She loves a wedge, and these Christian Louboutin wedge heel zebra print sandals tie in the print of the pants and top.  Plus, they are Louboutins and fabulous.  She would LOVE.  And if you do too - buy them HERE for a totes ridic $169, thank you LouboutinOutlet.com.

So that is my homage to Miss Missoni.  There is no way in hell I could get away with clashing prints, just woke up hair, midriff tops and full patterned fitted maxi dresses but OH HOW I WISH I COULD.

Speaking of outfits - here is my one for the day.  Oh Margherita, you can totally stop reading now.

So. Today's outfit would see me totally camouflaged on the plains of Africa surrounded by cheetahs and maybe some burnt tree stumps that have been blackened (this is to blend into the legs... oh not sure my whole analogy is really working so ill give it a rest huh).  Today's outfit includes the super cute and definitely don't wear it enough Sass and Bide blazer, worn over a taupe coloured Seed Femme poly pocket detail shirt which doesn't really go colour wise but I am going to stick with it regardless.  Next are the Neon Blonde 'used to be wet look that are now faded and look more like dark grey jeans so much so that I won't be able to wear them to work passed off as black pants' skinnies.  Sad to see them go.  And then all finished of with the magnificent EOS taupe leather boots which I am madly in love with (hence the number of post solely dedicated to their wonderfulness) and manage to tie the whole ensemble together.  FAB.

I am wearing leopard print Margherita - that must count for something right??

FFIFY xxxxx

OH delivery alert - one super cool Zara tweed oversized boyfriend blazer coming right up!

Why Grandpa this is right up your alley!

xx