It is that time of year again. The weather is still miserable, the wind still bites, but I’ll be darned if I’ll give in to it. I’m already yearning for the sun on my (sunscreen protected) skin and a scotch in hand, while the days get longer and the parties start to arrive. This is the same time of year I get restless with my wardrobe and start to listen to that little internal voice of inspiration that tells me what I want to be wearing in the coming months.  This time I’ve come over far more casual than I usually do and that can only be a good thing as I need a little more ‘relax’ in my current wardrobe.

Of course, because I always seem to be so far ahead of the curve, it isn’t likely you’ll see looks like this in store for a while yet, but when you do, you’ll know where it came from!

This time, for something different, I’m giving you more of a window to my world and adding the music I’m listening to as well! Just click to listen, and as usual, just click each image to see the details of the what and where’s of each outfit.

These Boots Were Made For Dancing

This isn’t your usual nightclub attire, but then it isn’t for your usual nightclub girl. It is for springtime evenings, house parties, kicking up your heels with friends, closing your eyes and jamming in your mind.

I’m currently dancing to Ezra Lee - Mean What I Say – Ezra Lee From his album “Can’t Stop a Freight Train” available on Prestone Records. I highly recommend you check out Ezra’s Myspace and get yourself a copy of this album!!

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Cocktails at the Saloon Bar

Tell me any eligible eye candy could miss you in this number! Loads of swank, licks of sexy and lots of lucky! Stretch those pins and start smouldering.

Propping up the bar in style to Reconsider Baby – Lowell Fulson.

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Fancy a Drink Cowboy?

I never thought a cowboy hat and I would ever see eye to eye, but after my photo shoot with Helen McLean I may just be having a little secret love affair. This is how you do Country style with an eye for City Chic. There’s nothing dusty about this!

Tipping my hat to That’s Alright Mama

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Country Princess

The perfect Day to Night party transition outfit. Just change up the top, swap your flower for a bejewelled bow, crimson lips and you’re good to go. You’ll already know that denim is huge for this season, and while double denim remains on the no go list for me, this is about the only way I’ll work anything close to it into my look. With a beautiful satin and denim bra top with vintage style.  Yes, it could be a little racy, but paired with a sequined cardigan its all lady out the outside but the business underneath!

Kicking back to Jackson – by Johnny Cash & June Carter a personal favourite!

You just never know where you’ll find fashion inspiration that captures you’re mood of the moment, but one thing is for sure; whatever you wear make sure it captures YOUR mood, not just the prevailing trends.  This is where you’ll find the best answers to your wardrobe dilemmas!

When I flew out to Hobart last Friday morning at 7am,  the last thing I wanted to do was spend ages getting ready at the crack of sparrows o’clock.  We’ve talked about how to dress for travel before, yet it seems that this is one activity that people place on a par with going to the gym when it comes to what they wear.  So I thought this time I’d give you my real world example from this shot that Mr SKM took on my way out the door at 6am.

Yes, it was a vintage weekend so the outfit did have a serious 1940’s tone going on, but other than that, I can tell you with certainty this this is no less comfortable than wearing a track suit for travel.

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Outfit Details

Dress – 1970’s Perri Cutten woollen knit

Belt – made from vintage buckles and modern band

Stockings – Compression stockings for warmth and comfort in freezing Hobart weather

Petticoat – (unseen) 1950’s silk full slip

Shoes – Lucia Rossi satin finish basic pumps

Gloves – vintage woollen felt

Hat – 1940’s felt afternoon hat

Earrings – 1950’s pearl screw on’s

Hair – Side sweeps with the rest in a net to stop it getting messed up

I also took a coat that I could wear over my knees in the plane and put on when disembarking.

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It certainly wasn’t a difficult outfit to put together. I didn’t have to match colours, worry about many accessories or extra bulk.  Even better, by keeping it streamlined and the fabrics simple it meant that I didn’t have to disrobe at the airport for security.  No big heavy belts or earrings setting off alarms; not even steel heeled stilettos to stop me in my tracks.

So yes, dressing simply, comfortably and well for travel can be done. It just takes a little forethought and the banishment of running shoes!

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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.

I have a new hat. I put it on a took a photo. Then I realised who I reminded myself of…

Lauren Bacall!

Yes, she’s a blonde and I’m a brunette, but there was something in the mood of this photo ( in which I was attempting to capture good detail of the hat for you) that begged for black and white. So I worked a little Photoshop magic lighting and got the feeling I’d seen this before.  Okay, so perhaps not exactly the same, but I’m sure you get the same feeling I do with this.  Anyway, I digress…

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I have a new hat. One of the greater thing about living in Melbourne as opposed to let’s say Sydney, (I speak from experience so don’t lampoon me), is that you can wear a hat here and people just think you are ‘arty’ as opposed to ‘completely crackers’!  Either way, I’d still wear mine, but living in Melbourne does make me feel like I have license to wear them more often without being compelled to answer a barrage of questions each time I make an outing.

This lovely number is a black felt, 1940’s afternoon hat.  I’m always a sucker for the asymetrical, but the fact that is an “afternoon hat” as different to a “morning hat” wins me over!  And I totally love it.  Some people tell me they can’t wear hats, which is actually complete rubbish; you just need to know what suits your face shapes and how to create hat hair.  This is not the kind of hair that is flatened after wearing a hat, but hair that is created around that hat so that it look stunning both on and off.  Today, I went with pin curls and a feature side sweep.

And what did this look like all put together for my afternoon meeting?

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Pretty darn swanky for a $150 outfit!

(yes I fixed my seams after taking the photo – thank goodness for outfit shots to get a better rear view!)

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Outfit Details

Blouse – retro 1980’s  does 1940’s styling, Gabrielle label – found at Poppet

Skirt – Friends of Couture

1940’s Afternoon hat – Vintage found at Clara Fox

Stockings – Voodoo

Shoes – Luca & Marc

Fan – Wooden fretwork red fan found in an antique store

Lisptick – MAC Russian RED

The other week I received my first pair of shoe clips.  I’ve tried my hand at (dodgy) DIY versions before as I loved the idea of these versatile accessories, but had never looked into finding some specifically built for the job. And let me tell you, this is a VERY exciting style moment! *Disclosure* – Yes, Emmersen sent me these as they thought I would love what they create and boy were they right!

Being a vintage collector I’ve seen my fair share of dress clips and fur clips, (not always still in matching pairs) but hadn’t seen anything new until I came across Emmersen. Exclusive and made by hand here in Australia, Emmersen is producing a stunning range of shoe clips along with matching gloves (yay!) and even limited edition pieces like their tulle bustle – also a brilliant style add on. So I spent quite a bit of time the other week browsing through the site trying to decide on two different styles of clips that best worked with my look and would be the most versatile.  The first of these you will have noticed in the previous outfit post – the stunning red AVA clips that I added to the back of my shoes.

Given that I was already plotting the myriad of ways I could wear these, the decision to choose the vintage diamonte ones ( On the Rocks – what a name!) was a foregone conclusion. I am imagining them on capes, collars, bags, hats, furs, hair slides…. and I’m sure I’ll come up with even more options as time goes on.

Anyway, when my little package arrived I was equally impressed by the beautiful boxed packaging. They’ve obviously thought about the type of women who will wear these and the best way to keep the pieces in tip top condition.  The box is a lovely heavy weight card with a matt laminate finish and a cello window so you can always see which pair you are looking for. The clips themselves are a quality french mechanism with tiny little barbs to stop them slipping or disappearing off your shoes.  I put my AVA clips through their paces on Thursday night and not once did I have to readjust or go looking for a rogue bow. The more I played with these the bigger fan I have become.

The Ava shoe clips that I wore on my black patent shoes in the last post. They are so lovely! The finish is satin and the backs are a super soft felt to that there is no danger of scratching and it also helps them grip a little better to the slippery patent leather.

The On The Rocks shoe clips in all their sparkly, swanky glory. I really, really love these but to be honest I’ll probably wear them more as dress clips or on hats as I want to see them all the time, and if I always wear them on my shoes I’ll likely trip for always looking at them!

I started experimenting with a few different ways of wearing these and decided to try them both out on one of my structured vintage bags, and the diamontes were just the thing to add night time glamour to my new vintage hat.

They clipped on very easily and didn’t damage, leave dints or holes in anything which is always a concern when you pin things in to vintage garments.  Here is a close up of how they work.

Each time I wear these differently in an outfit I’ll show you how I’ved used them and try and give you even more creative ideas, but this morning after pin curling my hair  and popping on the scarf to keep them warm, I had a brain wave.

Thanks to Emmersen I’m having my very own Aunty Mame moment!