I don't believe in basics, well not in the way that nearly every magazine or fashion blog preaches their importance to your wardrobe - "The 10 must have winter basics you need have in your wardrobe now" with a list of mostly black, white and denim pieces that are all incredibly boring to my eye. For me my winter wardrobe basics are of the loud and bold variety, sure I need a raincoat but make mine yellow with bright flowers all over it. Pink tights replace black tights, a cute pink beanie instead of a grey one, pink patterned gloves and so on, you get the picture - give me all the colour please! As Buzzfeed said recently of my style it's "retro meets rainbow, and shows that bright colours shouldn't be confined to the warmer months"!!! These photos were taken on a cold and rainy day whilst we were away in Daylesford, at beautiful Lake Daylesford. Did I mention it was absolutely freezing cold and lightly raining when we decided to walk around the lake? Thankfully I had my trusty and oh so bright Tsumori Chisato raincoat to layer over my outfit to keep the rain at bay, which had all the Daylesford locals and tourists starring at me as I was the brightest person in the whole town that day.
Outfit details Yellow flower raincoat Tsumori Chisato Pink leather jacketGorman Neoprene tie dye co-ord jumper and skirt Shakuhachi no longer available but the dress is on sale at David Jones Pink tights Kardashian Kollection from Woolies Pink glasses Bespecd Nara's in Rose Pink Pink ear muffsDaiso Pink beanieDaiso Lilac backpack Little shop in the main street in Noosa Brogues Gorman
Underneath the raincoat I was wearing my trusty pink Gorman leather jacket which kept me toasty warm. A biker jacket is a must have piece for winter in my opinion, and I love owning one in statement making pink!
My outfit was this Shakuhachi two piece co-ord tie dye neoprene jumper and mini skirt that I picked up at their store in the Emporium on sale. Neoprene get's a bad rep from a lot of people who don't like the texture, personally I find it really warm and comfy and I love how bright this set is.
Protected from the rain in my hooded raincoat from Tsumori Chisato. My Daiso gloves help keep me warm too.
Pink glovesDaiso Yellow flower raincoat Tsumori Chisato Lilac backpack Little shop in the main street in Noosa
As does my Daiso beanie and earmuffs! Perfect winter basics in my favourite shade of pink!
I'm super excited to announce that I'm teaching a class with Lady Petrova at her School of Fabulousness all about finding YOU & YOUR PERSONAL STYLE on September 19! In this insightful class, Fashion Hayley & Lady Petrova will teach you how to create your own signature look and fine tune your style identity. We will also help you with your self confidence and teach you the tools so you know what styles, colours and silhouettes suit you & your figure best. 100% Body Positive, Fun, Quirky and Insightful! For more information and to secure your spot please click here. I can't wait to meet you all (｡♥‿♥｡)
On the weekend I went to Lady Petrova's School of FabulousnessCreate a Flower Crown class, where as the name of the class suggests we learnt how to make a flower crown! Now I've made my own flower crowns in the past but Lady Petrova's flower crowns are known for their fullness and amazing flower combinations so I was eager to learn from the best.
I set to work making my crown - going with my trademark pink with a blue headband to match my outfit.
Looking in the mirror to see if my flower crown needed any adjustments.
Very happy with the final results.
Delicious tea and mini cupcakes were served after the class.
Everyone in their stunning floral creations. The class is held in this amazing rooftop venue with full city view. It was such a beautiful sunny autumn day, although the sun was a little too bright for our eyes for this photo.
With the queen of all things flower crown - Lady Petrova.
I wore what has fast become one of my favourite outfits. I bought the fabulous dress the night of the Miranda Skoczek collaboration with Gorman launch, which was a really fun event made even more fun by the amazing collection which I just love. Every piece is adorable and I now own another dress from the collab so be sure to check back in for my blog post featuring that.
My finished flower crown in all it's glory - so happy with how it turned out.
I wore my new favourite necklace from Michael Hill jewellery, which means a lot to me. If you've been following my blog and social media over these last few months you would know that my husband and I had a little rough patch where we had a break for a few months (which after eight years of marriage is kind of understandable). Anyway I'm happy to say we have consciously recoupled and are more in love than ever. Last week we celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary and for my gift Henry gave me this beautiful key necklace as I'll always have the key to his heart, which was just so lovely and romantic. Oh and notice my name tag there, Lady Petrova somehow made mine to perfectly match what I wore, how lucky!
Whilst it was rather sunny it was still really cold in Melbourne so I had to wear tights or freeze to death. I found these old We Love Colors tights bundled up in a drawer, unopened and never worn, and immediately knew they would perfectly match this new dress with my cute pastel pink jelly heels, and I'm all about the matchy matchy as you know.
My sweet little Michael Hill jewellery wedding anniversary pressie from Henry (｡♥‿♥｡)
This is part one in a three part series in collaboration with Lady Petrova in celebration of the opening of her new online store. I've been a big fan of Petrova's cute style since first seeing her on season one of Australia's project runway back in 2008 (which I blogged about here) and have been a loyal customer of her eponymous boutique ever since. Her latest Spring/Summer collection 'Sisters of the Crown' is possibly her cutest yet with it's beautiful lace pieces and free floating petals in the dress I'm wearing as a skirt above. It was so fun to play around with a few pieces from Lady Petrova's latest collection, shooting in the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens Conservatory, even if it was too hot in there for poor ol' Henry and all the tourists wanting photos with me (I think the bow may have stood out...maybe?).
Outfit details Pink peplum topASOS SkirtLady Petrova 'pocket full of posies dress' worn as skirt Pineapple clutch House of Cards from Lady Petrova Pink leather bow headband Lady Petrova Pink jelly heels Juju Sunglasses Karen Walker Orbits from Eyegoodies in crystal pink Resin necklaceSymantha Rose
One of our fondest memories of living in Tokyo seven years ago is of riding our bikes around daily. Living within riding distance of Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya and even Koenji and Shimo-Kitazawa meant we used our bikes as our main form or transportation, even riding home at 4am a little worse for wear after a night at Trump Room in Shibuya. Somehow we just never got into that habit since moving back to Australia - not sure why that is really, I even owned a great second hand bike for a while but just never rode it so we sold it before the move to Sydney. Now that we're back in Melbourne and no longer living in the CBD - where we never really feel safe riding on the busy roads, we thought it was time to get back in the saddle so to speak. We're currently in Fitzroy which is ideal for bike riding, the back streets are safe and mostly car free - just like where we would ride in Tokyo. I loved my red Japanese mamachari so much, for $90 new it really was a great bike. You can't really get a bike that cheap in Australia so when I saw Reid Cycles vintage styled ladies bike for $235 I knew that was the bike for me, especially as it came in so (read too) many pretty colours to choose from. I eventually went with the cute pastel lavender as in person the pink was a bit too metallic for me. Henry found his bike on Gumtree (our version of Craigslist) and yesterday we went on our first ride together and had so much fun. We rode to East Brunswick and had brunch at Small Block, and checked out some cute boutiques I've been meaning to visit forever - Monk House Design and Kuwaii who were having a cute little wedding ideas event (check out my instagrams from the day) and then rode on to Brunswick Savers where I actually picked up the cute lavender top and skirt I'm wearing in this outfit. We stopped and had well deserved ciders at a local pub and then had rode home through Carlton stopping for dinner along the way. Talk about an epic first ride but oh what fun we had. So happy to be back in the bike lane.
Going to an op shop (thrift store, charity shop etc) with a set idea of what you want to find is never a good plan, but it so worked for me this time. I went in to Savers hoping to find some cute pastel purple pieces and voilà I found exactly what I was looking for. The op shops gods were certainly looking out for me because that has never happened to me before.
Outfit details Purple knit top Brunswick Savers $4.99 Purple tartan skirt Brunswick Savers $8.99 Pink flower headbandLady Petrova Pink fluffy clip-on earrings Gift from a reader (thank you so much!) Pastel pink satchel Swanston St $2 shop for $10 Pastel purple chain braceletHouse of Baulch studio sale Cute badgeFashiondacci Resin necklaceSymantha Rose White sunglasses Tsumori Chisato cat eye sunglasses from Pet Shop Girls $300 Purple polka dot socksClear It Fitzroy for $3 Pink clear jelly sandalsRubi Shoes $14.95 Lipstick Lime Crime 'Great Pink Planet' lipstick from Makeupnet Lavender bicycleReid Cycles single speed vintage ladies bike $235
At the Kuwaii event guests were all given these cute bouquets by local florist Cecilia Fox that were just made for propping in my bicycles basket - super chic. I decorated my bike with some faux flowers from my local $2 shop just for some extra cute factor.
Lavender bicycleReid Cycles single speed vintage ladies bike $235 Pastel purple chain braceletHouse of Baulch studio sale
So happy to finally own my dream sunglasses thanks to an early Christmas present from my mum. I've been lusting after these Tsumori Chisato cat eye sunnies from Pet Shop Girls since I first tried them on in March, every outfit I've put on since then I've been thinking "if only I had those sunglasses to top it all off". Also a lovely reader saw that I wanted a pair of Poms fluffy pom pom earrings but don't have my ears pierced so she made me a pair of clip-on earrings and sent them to me. So lovely.
Pink flower headbandLady Petrova Pink fluffy clip-on earrings Gift from a reader (thank you so much!) Cute badgeFashiondacci Resin necklaceSymantha Rose Lipstick Lime Crime 'Great Pink Planet' lipstick from Makeupnet
Now that the cold cold days of winter are behind us I can finally rock my fave socks + sandals combo once more. Purple polka dot socksClear It Fitzroy for $3 Pink clear jelly sandalsRubi Shoes $14.95
