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Last time we looked at how to maintain a sense of glamour whilst tackling heavy cleaning or dirty jobs. Today’s post is all about how to deal with super chilly weather and not come out looking like a crazed Arctic explorer.  I really feel the cold and finding ways to dress well, especially on those mornings it has dropped to a chilly one degree in my bedroom, used to prove a big challenge.  From the responses I received on Twitter as well as comments on the last post and a number of personal emails, it seems that dressing in cold weather is an issue for many of you.

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Firstly, let me preface this by saying that my experience with cold weather is mostly limited to the type of weather we have here in Australia.  This means that I’ve never lived somewhere that it snows all the time during winter, and although I have spent quite a bit of time  in the snow it was only for recreational purposes where heels and snowboards don’t mix.  So the advice I can give you on this one is really aimed at anyone who finds that their winters get to lows of about zero degrees and not more.  To check out how to look gorgeous in absolutely freezing conditions check out Freelancer’s Fashion blog from Helsinki ( I have quite the love affair with this beautiful woman).

Back to Basics

Keeping warm on the worst of cold days has forced me to remember things I wore as a child that, somewhere along the line as an adult I forgot all about.  Mum would always bundle you into a singlet and thick woolen tights each day before beginning to add the outfit.  As an adult, wearing a singlet was something I’d forgotten about until a few years back, but their rediscovery was an absolute revelation.

• Thermal underwear. It may sound like the reserve of invalids, old ladies and story book hillbillies; but these are about the best things ever invented. When dressing in winter I always begin my layering with whichever style of thermals will work for my outfit. I keep singlet types and long sleeve tops that are made of a super fine knit merino wool that breathes well but traps that layer of warmth as close to your skin as possible.  One of the mistakes people make when layering in winter is to layer up on the outside only. The best way to trap heat is to keep it close to the skin and thermals are the best way to make this happen (well, short of spending the day wrapped in cling film).  You can buy these pieces everywhere – KMart, Harris Scarf, Target etc.. and each singlet top will set you back $9-$20 depending on the composition and whether they are on sale or not.

• Leg wear. Winter doesn’t mean that you have to live in pants, there are other sneaky ways of keeping chill at bay. I love my opaque tights in winter and mixing up an extreme contrasting colour palette is one of the things I love about the season. The trick to getting the best opaques is not to scrimp on these. Buy the best denier (that is closest weave) you can afford.  Not only will it help stop the chill factor, but the higher the denier the less likely you are to put a hole in them.  Brands I like and wear quite often are Voodoo, Jonathan Aston, We Love Colours (online store with amazing range of colours, patterns and plus size hoisery).  Both Voodoo and Jonathan Aston make knitted tights too, so if you need to up the warmth factor, going for a wool blend, close knit, really works.

• And here is a secret that you will most likely only hear on Super Kawaii Mama – what about if you need to wear stockings that are flesh coloured for your outfit? How do you do that without loosing a leg to frost bite?  My secret weapon is compression tights! I buy the kind of flesh coloured support hose that are worn by Air Hostess’s to keep DVT at bay and their legs from aching.  You can get these in a variety of qualities, colours and grades of compression, but the benefit of these is two fold. Firstly, they are lovely and thick but don’t appear so. They cut the wind chill factor significantly and still look good.  But the best part about these is the compression factor – it keeps up the blood flow in your legs keeping you nice and warm,more so than any other style of tights will be able to do.  They aren’t an expensive option either.  The ones I wear for day to day (only a relatively light compression, you can find much stronger) are found at supermarkets and retail for about $7, “Sheer Relief” and from memory come in a variety of shades including black opaques.

• Hats.  This is pretty self explanatory as we’re all taught that 90% of the body’s heat is lost through the head, so wearing a hat is kind of a no-brainer (ha ha)! Once again though, choose a stylish version that will carry you through each day without the need to remove it indoors.  For me, this means a knitted beret – please no beanies unless you are in the snow.  Choosing something simple like a beret is a good, gentle option for those of you that find wearing a more dramatic style of hat attracts too much attention.  They are easy to customise to your outfit or the occasion – adding brooches for fancier days or leaving them plain for stay at home or simple days.  Note- Berets are also a brilliant ‘I haven’t had time to do my hair’ solution to. Pile it all up in there, pitch it at a jaunty angle and you’re good to go.

• Scarves. No doubt we all have the woollen, knitted versions of these; but they don’t always cut it in the glam stakes making us look more like snowmen than ice queens.  A big, good quality, square silk scarf (or even an imitation silk of heavyweight) works just as well but has more versatility. There are infinite ways to tie these for extra glamour factor, but if you find yourself out in the freezing wind they can be tied around your hair and ears for a climate chaser of the more stylish variety.  Wrapping your head in a knitted scarf is more homeless chic that Grace Kelly, hence always having one of these scarves around will save you both from the cold and having to carry a paper cup for change.

• Gloves. Oh Winter, how I love you for you opportunities to over accessorise!  Again, this is an easy one with gloves being available everywhere. And once again it is all about making a stylish choice in the first place.  Having one pair of soft red leather gloves is far better than half a dozen acrylic ones from the $2 shop.  If you like the soft, fluffy feel, be on the look out for felt gloves with feature stitching.  The number of place now also making fingerless gloves and arm warmers have also come to my rescue as sitting stationary, typing for hours on end used to cause my hands to turn blue with cold.  If you find yourself in the same predicament, then arm warmers will be your saviour. There are wrist length frilly ones or simple, over the elbow lengths that can be worn underneath your sleeve for extra stealth warmth.

• Footwear. Boots are the obvious winter choice, but as Miss Lizzy who asked me about the cold in the above comment, can’t wear them, I thought I’d offer you another on of my winter secrets. If you’ve followed all of the previous advice and want a little extra something for the feet, lambswool inner soles are magic!  Most of the versions of these inner soles are actually acrylic (aka Vegan) and can be purchased in supermarkets.  You can cut them down and fit them into just about any shoe or boot, providing you allow for the fact that they will take up about 1/4 of the shoe size point. Eg – if you wear a size 8 shoe, adding these will make them feel more like a 7&1/2 to 7& 3/4.  You can find actual lambswool inserts at specialty fleece stores and they have a better wear factor than the acrylic.  So for about $11, you can feel like you are wearing your fluffy slippers about all day and no-one is the wiser!

And there you have it – my secrets revealed!  I’d like to know how these tips work for those of you suffering from cold this winter and if you have any other brain waves to add, please let us know in the comments section. Remember, if there are tips and tricks you’d like to know to help you overcome the roadblocks in your path to living more glamorously – Write to me and we’ll add it to the list.

Next time  in Secrets to Being Glamorous for Every Occassion- So little time, so much to do.

Finally, phase one of the Great Wardrobe Project is complete! Not for lack of trying, but other pressing matters keep pushing this project to the bottom of the list.  Well, that was until I decided to take a total ‘time out’ on my weekend, not leave the house even once, employing my mini troops in the battle against chaos. Occupying children when you have every piece of clothing and accessories you own scattered around, can be a little tricky. So I armed them with swimming goggles, spray bottles (of water), dusting cloths, cameras and clip on earrings! Rather than tackling the Everest that is all my clothes (that is costumes, collection etc..) I stuck to only the current day to day wardrobe.  With vacuum in hand, plenty of boxes, tape, surface spray for warding off any critters;  we set to work.

Taking everything out of the wardrobe is the best time to check for any creepy crawlies, give it a thorough vacuum, wipe down and take measures to protect your threads until next time.  And while you have everything out, check its condition – holes, buttons, seams, threads, cleanliness. Only the pressed and perfect go back in, and I keep a clothing rail in my studio for all the fixer-upers.

Maximise your space with clever thinking. All my long necklaces and belts are housed on tie racks at either end of the wardrobe, making use of the depth of the wall rather than more horizontal space. All the larger, soft handbags and totes go into a big plastic storage container with pictures at the front. Each bag is in its own dust cover inside and these are rotated out seasonally. I don’t like to keep things in plastic as a rule, as plastic gives off fumes that aren’t great for textiles.  But this container has a front opening door that allows me to reach inside and pull out what I want without taking the whole box down.

Special occasion hats are all in various hat boxes, with those I use most frequently, able to be grabbed at a moments notice. I love to colour block my clothes, but the various lengths and space restrictions make this tricky.  So they are blocked by colour and length to allow for more shoe storage and drawers under the shorter garments.

Of course, there is never enough room to house ALL the shoes, so those not worn quite as regularly as housed in boxes with their photos on the front. An old trick, but a good one, as even though you can now buy those see through plastic boxes, I resent paying for something that comes with the shoes already and is better for the environment and the longevity of my shoes than yet more plastic in the closet.

My dressing table houses the majority of my accessories, and as you well know, accessories are one of those things you really need to be able to see at all times or you totally forget what you have.  So I make good use of all the drawers, using yet more old boxes to help separate and store things so they don’t become damaged and jumbled. Even the scarves are folded and stacked so I can see the ‘spines’ of each of them to help identify them quickly.

And as for all the hair & makeup stuff… how do you tame that beast? With the help of fishing boxes from the hardware store, makeup cases, and lots of hooks.  Also, having a handy MR. SKM around to get the shelf on the wall was rather critical to the success of this one too!

If all else fails and you know like me, that your wardrobe has to extend into the rest of your house just to find homes – get creative.

China cabinets need not just be for nana nick nacks, they are the perfect place to do a bit of visual merchandising with your favorite handbags, hats and small plastic friends!

…… and Done!

If you’ve got any other great wardrobe organisation tips – share them with us in the comments.

Image by Elineart via Flickr

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I have an ongoing project, a nemesis if you will. The quest to have a house filled with “nothing that is neither useful nor beautiful” in the words of William Morris.  Sure, it sounds simple enough, but for me it gets right to the heart of a daily struggle.  You see, I am a Maximalist Minimalist. There exists within me an eternal struggle for the bright,the shiny, the hoarder and collector; and yet I hate to dust and know that I would spend far less time having to tidy up if I had less stuff! Indeed, this is a luxury of a dilemma to have, but a dilemma nonetheless.  So this year I have been working ever so slowly towards getting it under control.

Being a vintage clothing collector, I often feel compelled to “liberate” pieces from their current situation. Find a beautiful vintage dress two sizes too big in an Op shop? I still have to have it in case it is ragged, or bought by someone to be cut up for a school play. There is little logic involved when it comes to collecting, and fashion even more so; as it is difficult to store, requires constant care and attention and it’s display relies primarily on your body remaining the same shape! Why on earth do we do it if not for love?  The problem is that when you start to attach such strong emotional values to your vintage clothing, it starts to extend into your regular wardrobe, which then extends into your family’s wardrobe… and on it goes.  So I find myself sitting it a storage room filled with three racks of clothes I no longer wear (or am ever likely too – maternity pants anyone?), boxes of baby clothes and toys, hats, purses etc… and each piece has a memory attached.  Somehow giving them away feels like a betrayal of those times.  As if by letting go of that little pink baby suit, I am letting go of the baby who wore it. Like I said, no logic.

It is at this point of having moved the unnecessary items into storage, that I must face this crisis of emotion and move onto the next level of enlightenment.  My very good friend Nicole has become my spiritual leader in this regard. Not to sound too serious, but unless you face a similar crisis yourself it is hard to understand its hold in you.  She tells me, (to paraphrase) ” I let go of clothes. Let them out into the cycle of clothing karma where they will find a new home and come back to me in the form of that perfect vintage dress I have been looking for all these years.” And then the penny dropped.  If I continue to hold onto all these things, they will only serve to be a burden for me.  There will be no space to let anything new in, and neither will the well be replenished for others if we all keep on hoarding it.

So I am letting go.  I have forgone the marketing or eBaying of this last lot, as it is just too much effort.  Instead, I have boxed things up and sent them on their way to new homes with my blessing.  Yesterday I took about 40 kilos of clothing and accessories to my local Op Shop. (Please – don’t ask why there was so much!) I make sure that everything is clean and well presented to allow it to hit the shelves straight away, and always hand it to the volunteers in person.  Part of my hesitation in letting many of these pieces go, is the rate at which they are simply put into land fill and treated as rubbish.  But my rational is that if I treat them with respect that the store will also, and then they will find a good new home.

After letting go of many of my personal pieces, I headed into some serious emotional territory and opened the boxes of baby clothes. I had sold off many at the local market, but still had a ridiculous amount remaining, and knew that I had to let them go to move on.  When it comes to baby gear, knowing that they will go somewhere that they are truly needed and appreciated is the only way I could part with them.  So I did a little research and found a small hospital that cares for mothers and new babies from disadvantaged backgrounds.  (The Caroline Chisholm Society in Melbourne needs your little baby gear if you have it to spare! ) Knowing that these pieces, so lovingly knitted by Nana,  would keep another baby warm, was all I needed to let them go.  I have kept a few pieces.  Things my girls wore home from hospital, heirloom pieces and one handmade piece from each family member.  The other pieces I found hard to let go, I photographed and then boxed up.

I know this isn’t the end of my quest, but just the beginning.  The day I master it I’ll let you know, but until then I will keep on working towards my goal;  heading off a future that sees me living as a  slave to stuff!

I’m currently craving colour. Colour and order. Perhaps this is a backlash from the last few days of monochromatic posting, or perhaps it is the result of spending lots of time in a fabulously merchandised, colour blocked store recently.  Whatever it is, my constant penchant for cleaning, purging and organizing is taking on yet another layer of complexity.  The desire to colour block my closet!   I’m imagining a perfect world in which I has so much storage space that I can keep every outfit and accessory together in small, harmonious colour groups.  Where pink angora sweaters brush up against musk coloured wrist gloves and hot pink patent shoes.  Of course, this is entirely impractical as I struggle to simply store everything as it is, let alone spread it out like this! (Oh the trials of a collector.. sigh..) I suppose it all stems from this weekends BIG activity – the yearly cleaning of the wardrobe.

I don’t mean the seasonal culling that we all undertake, but and honest to goodness, soap and water scrubbing. With a wardrobe full of vintage beauties, you cannot neglect their care lest a sneaky moth or twenty decide to make their home their.  After finding three holes in three separate (cashmere!) garments this week, it seems that I am overdue to wage this years war. So I got stuck into it today, only to find yet more ways to confuse the situation by wanting to make it look even prettier in the end.  Stumped for innovative storage ideas, I turned to the fountain of inspiration that is Flickr and promptly found some great OCD storage sets. Perfect.

So aside from this Everest of a task, there are a few other minor things on the agenda.

Creating good wardrobe Karma by packing up all the unused items for a women’s and children’s shelter.

Experimenting with the new hair cut. Currently taking daily photos after yesterday’s hot roller set, so that I can show you the results as it evolves to see if day four is as good as day one….

Discovering that those Air hostesses know a thing or two about leg wear, as I find my legs both warm and super comfortable in light compression stockings! Who knew they were the perfect solution to a winter chill?

Letting go of a ridiculous amount of glossies that have accumulated over the last few years.  Why do we get so attached to these?

Playing surgeon in the toy animal hospital – I had ten patients in surgery this morning!

Image by Elegant Mint

… and taking lots and lots of photos of everything for more eye candy next week!