I’m back with another outfit 😊 I’ve been thinking about how often to do Fashion Friday posts because I seem to go about it in bursts, and then disappear for a while (usually when travelling). I’ve written before about how I contemplated doing it every three weeks instead of two, but that seems a little odd. I’ll give it a better shot next year, until I find my groove again. Perhaps I should do it in “seasons”, and do five outfits spread across ten weeks, then a short break before another season?

Most of the past few months has been spent overhauling my wardrobe after the weather has gotten warmer (I’m in Australia and we are getting into summer now). There were a couple of winter pieces I hadn’t worn much this year, or last year, so I chose to sell or donate them. And I realised that I was failing heavily in the skirt department because the few short skirts I had were made of fake leather and made me very hot and sweaty during summer! 🤦🏻‍♀️ So I ended up purchasing some new skirts made of cotton/cotton-polyester blends. Something I’ll keep in mind from now on. 😉

With that said, I’ve got a new skirt on in this outfit. I searched for an orange one, the main reason behind this being that two out of three orange garments in my wardrobe had gotten too tight. And since I love the colour, I know it’ll get a lot of wear. The brand is Keepsake the Label, which is a brand I sorta knew existed but I heard my friend Monica talking about it, along with Cameo / C/MEO Collective and Finders Keepers as having interesting high quality garments. I searched for some of their clothes on second hand websites, and I was surprised to find out that I really love the style of some of their skirts from past seasons.

It’s strange because I really don’t like what is in their current collections right now (I’m even questioning whether it’s the same brand!) and Monica and I agreed that their current collections are not our style at all. With that said, I love that I can get a good deal on second hand clothes that someone might no longer like but that is totally my style. 🥰 I had been looking for something like an asymmetrical skirt for a very, very long time – at least since I noticed how Monica had a few and I really loved the way they looked – and I’m glad I found this one. I didn’t have to get it altered and it fits perfectly, and even has enough room for my hips and thighs, and it stays put when I walk. The split is almost in a perfect spot to let me even run a bit. 😂

The black top was a top that I was in love with as soon as I tried it on. I don’t often go for black clothes anymore because I look for colour, and I exhausted my affinity for black when I was in my early 20s! This one has such a flattering cut, though, and I didn’t want to pass it up. I am a bit particular about how my t-shirts fit because certain sleeves can make my shoulders look fat – it’s to do with the angle in which they cut the arm and how tight the sleeve is. A straight cut, snug sleeve can make your arm look thicker – maybe you want this! But I don’t because my arms are muscular and I don’t want to play them up too much. That’s why I like the angled sleeves. I don’t like tight cap sleeves though, because again this makes the top of my arms look big.

I also love how the shirt slims at the waist, defining my waist! We all like when clothing flatters us, right? 😉

The shoes are the same ones I wore in a previous outfit, and they’ve been getting a lot of wear. I really didn’t think I’d love these shoes as much as I do, as I’m not usually drawn to animal prints, but I think because it’s quite simple I really like it. I’ve also taken a liking to non-traditionally coloured leopard prints recently. I don’t see myself getting bored of these shoes any time soon! I thought they paired well with the black and orange of my outfit as they are solid colours, so wearing a print wouldn’t make the outfit too busy.

I recently refreshed my jewellery collection after my favourite jewellery store, By Invite Only [referral link for 15% off], had a Black Friday sale. I took the opportunity to purchase a pair of silver earrings – I don’t have a huge selection of bigger silver earrings, and I wanted something that stood out. These earrings are the Palmier Ear Studs and although I wasn’t sold on them when they were first released, I love them now. I was under the impression that they would be too heavy or too wide, but they are perfect and very lightweight! I look forward to wearing them more often – I’ve worn them almost every day this week. ✨

My smaller earrings are from a minimalist jewellery store called RabbitsFantasyWorld. I love supporting small businesses like this one from the Netherlands, and they make high quality and very affordable steel jewellery that is perfect for my ears. They are not only small enough so my many piercings don’t look cluttered on my ear, but after reacting to fashion jewellery, I love that their earrings can be worn in the shower, swimming, and sleeping, without discomfort. I purchased these two pairs of earrings earlier this year after they went on a maternity leave hiatus and returned with a sale to celebrate the birth of their baby.

In the sale I also bought the kyanite bracelet I’m wearing. I’ve started wearing bracelets again and although I didn’t favour chunky bracelets for some time, I had room for one in my collection, amongst some of the more dainty ones.

I also bought a dangly pair of rose gold earrings as I don’t have any rose gold earrings that are dangly, and I also bought a gold necklace and rose gold necklace since I don’t have a lot of necklace options for those colours. I wore a few of these pieces to my work Christmas party the other week!

The necklace I’m wearing is an old favourite from By Invite Only as well, the Gwyneth tourmalinated quartz necklace. I’ve worn it in past outfits. I like the simple shape and how it fits with the crew neckline of the shirt.

Finally the glasses! 😎👏 I got another pair of Gentle Monster sunglasses while I was in Hong Kong. Originally I wanted the Dreamer Hoff sunglasses, but they looked incredibly huge on my face. 😞 My other Gentle Monster sunglasses are very big on my face but I wanted a square-shaped lens. With my sunglasses, I don’t like ones with a metal/plastic nose bridge anymore; I prefer ones that are part of the lens frames themselves. This leaves a lot out of my choices but the reason I don’t like them is because I frequently put my sunglasses on my head and it always gets caught in my hair! I also find them relatively more fragile, and I’m a clumsy person sometimes. 😛

I didn’t really want to settle on black, because I don’t do boring sunglasses, but I didn’t particularly like the other colours available. I think I made the right choice; I think I’ll still wear my other sunglasses as my everyday pair, but I will wear these when I want to wear something slightly more dressed up and formal. I chose them in particular for this outfit because they brought out the black of my top and the black in my shoes.

I might be visiting the Gentle Monster store in London when Nick and I go to Europe next April–May – I love their sunglasses, haha – but most importantly I think I need this pair adjusted because I didn’t get them fit tightly enough when I bought them. 😞 No harm done, just means putting them on my head as I usually do is not as secure. When I compare the arms of the sunglasses with my other pair, I realise they are so much further apart! Whoops.

These photos were taken in a park near where Nick and I live. The trees were blooming with purple jacaranda flowers just a couple of months ago, but was destroyed in recent thunderstorms – and probably just not blooming much anymore because it’s summer and not spring!

Fun fact: The colours of this outfit are reversed from the previous Fashion Friday, which is why I named this outfit like so. 😉🖤🧡

📸 All photography by Nicholas Cooke.

Outfit details

• Top: Nude Lucy (Basic Waffle Crop T-shirt, available at Glue Store)
• Skirt: Keepsake the Label “Into The Flame” skirt (purchased second hand)
• Shoes: Wittner (Isley 2 ankle boot)
• Necklace: By Invite Only (Stainless Steel Gwyneth Tourmalinated Quartz Necklace – no longer available)
• Bracelet: By Invite Only (Silver Revel Kyanite Bracelet)
• Earrings: By Invite Only (Silver Palmier Ear Studs); RabbitsFantasyWorld (Steel Bar Studs; Tiny Arrow Studs)
• Sunglasses: Gentle Monster (PaPas 01)

What did you think of this outfit? Have you discovered any new favourite brands lately?

I’m keen to do more Fashion Friday posts next year! This is sort of a work in progress, but I’m planning to write about my journey as a minimalist fashionista… stay tuned for that! 🥳