33 items - outfit 1

I find it difficult to take photos of myself every day but here is one of my first outfits for my new project

Sorry the background is so messy, we're still moving in properly and haven't unpacked the spare room yet. Also I have a bandage on my chin because I had some moles removed but other than that I've got some of my favourite items on!

Dress and Cardigan are from cheapie stories | necklace is vintage | marc jacobs flats

My 33 items

So I spent half an hour with some magazines and a notebook and came up with my 33 items for the summer season. Fitting that summer has just started, and so this is my list:

-full patterned skirt
-2 x cotton dress casual
-2 x work dress
-2 x long sleeve top, one blue and white stripe, one black
-loose grey tee
-tailored shorts
-denim shorts
-4 x cardigans
-chambray shirt
-3 x jeans
-black loose pants
-2 x casual short skirts
-singlet
-printed tee
-red beads
-nameplate necklace
-2 x rings
-2 x sandals
-Marc Jacobs ballet flats
-converse hi tops
-reebok hi tops
-grey suede heels

There are only 5 things needed to complete my list
-full skirt
-shorts x 2
-singlet
-printed tee

Tomorrow I shop and put away things not included. Will document each outfit each day.

Workout gear, beach gear, sleep wear, underwear not included.

The art of paring back your life

As I grow older I realise how much I hate clutter and waste. I want to achieve a life of less.

I read this post which was found by googling minimalist wardrobe... it's fantastic and it's a shame I didn't find it a few months ago so I could join in at the right time. I'm going to use it as inspiration though as I want to create my perfect wardrobe.

I often dress for work in a hurry and once I'm here feel that I hate what I'm wearing. Things are uncomfortable, ill fitting or the wrong shade and I don't realise until I'm far away from the closet. This is frustrating, and I know if I put the effort into getting the wardrobe right in the first place, I could get dressed without really thinking and be comfortable and happy all day.

I also want to project a different image than I did several years ago. I've always loved vintage and cute styles of clothing but at 27, I just look immature. I hate overly glam and I dislike anything too dressy, but as a result I often feel under dressed at work (though in Advertising it's a bit vague what "under dressed" really is).

I'm going to post a list of the 33 items I decide to keep and I'm going to be really ruthless.

Summer Footing

What kind of shoes do you wear in Summer? I haven't had time to give myself a pedicure but I'm wearing my sandals anyway, I'm such a rebel.

Share your Peter Fox Shoes pictures

Do you have a great picture of yourself wearing Peter Fox Shoes?

We are working on a "Gallery" page for our website and would love to see pictures of you wearing your Peter Fox Shoes.  They can be from past or present, your Wedding or everyday (especially if you are wearing a fabulous outfit!)  We can use your name if you would like....or you can be anonymous also.  Some of the best shots can be just of the feet!
All submissions will be entered in a weekly raffle to win one our cute shoe bags.
Please send photos to the link below
info@peterfox.com
Photo from Modern Bride (model is wearing the "Britta")

Dyeing Silk Shoes

Dyeing Silk Shoes

All of our silk-satin shoes are dyeable to any color. Our in-house dye service will custom-mix all of the colors to match your fabric swatch. It is a process that involves mixing colors to get the right shade and adding a diluting solution to make it lighter or darker. (It doesn’t affect the size at all.)

 Some colors can be quite easy to mix, and others can be quite difficult.  We mix the color and then test it on fabric swatches until it’s right. (No matter how long it takes!)

 Lighting can affect the color immensely; daylight tends to wash out colors and evening light tends to add yellow tones to a color.  That’s why it’s so important to let your dyer know what lighting situation you will be in.

 If you are wearing the shoes on a rainy day, we recommend you wear another pair of shoes until you get inside.  Although the dye will not run off, it might water- stain a bit.  Silk shoes can be waterproofed with a fabric protecting spray, but we don’t recommend it since it seals the fabric and the shoes cannot be re-dyed.  If they get a bit dirty during the wedding or event, the shoes can always be dyed a darker color later.  Most of our customers end up having the shoes dyed black; it’s always great to have a classic pair of evening shoes in your wardrobe.

Have fun with the shoe color, whether you decide to match a gorgeous gown color or go with a contrasting tone…color can add just the right touch.  Many brides opt for pinks, blues, silver and gold shades or reds.  It’s a great way to express your individuality and wear a pair of shoes that are unique to your own style.

Click the link to our “Gallery” page to see shoes we have dyed. 
Pictured above is style "Annabel" dyed red,  even the ornament is dyeable.

Dressing Vintage - Shoes

I've long loved wearing vintage clothes but recently I've really whittle my collection down because a lot of the items I owned were very tired. When I was younger, I'd buy a new dress every week for the nights I went out and at $40 a pop they were affordable. It's not pretty rare to get good vintage for that price, so I've been more inclined to buy second hand but not what I call vintage. Vintage has to be from the 1980's or earlier, it can't be last season...

Lately I've felt like dressing up more and want to wear more vintage on a daily basis. The big thing for me is shoes because apart from my Rocco's and my lace up mid length boots, I don't wear any other shoes. I love my sneakers but they are just too loud for someone aspiring to be senior management!

So I've been scouring ebay for some vintage flat shoes. I like the idea of loafers which I have always shied away from in the past.

I ordered some brogues from Urban Outfitters, can't wait to get them! It's really a winter issue because in summer I wear sandals every day.

What are some of your favourite vintage shoes? I don't have any photos of mine, must update my Flickr photostream soon!

A conflicting style issue

I have a very interesting wardrobe. From loose tees and jeans to 50's vintage dresses, I have at least one of everything. From one day to the next, I look like a different girl. I swing from wearing sneakers and fitted tights with loose tees to work, to the next week wearing brogues, a full skirt and having my hair tied back. I can't make a decision!

I wonder if someone was to comment on my style, what would they say. I know they'd say that sometimes I dress a bit too out there, especially for work. But then I know my work doesn't particularly mind it as I'm not in a super serious role where I have to speak to clients a lot. But then I wonder if I'm limiting myself?

I used to love wearing heels but now my knees and posture are too damaged so its flat shoes or a very very low heel only. This affects greatly what I can wear. Brogues are a great in between for people like me.

I really want to start dressing like Joan or Betty (Mad Men) every day but it's a lot of effort...

The state of retail in Australia

Gosh Australian retailers are slow. I can't remember the last time I bought from an online retail store that is based in Australia! I love Australian designers and brands but the experience just isn't right.

What are the issues then? As a bonafide fashion lover and an experienced digital producer, I'm putting it out there... I actually wrote about this topic nearly 3 years ago! AMAZING nothing has changed. Well not much!

Price
When you can go to Asos.com or UrbanOutfitters.com and buy 6 things for $AU100 there is little hope that you'd spend the same number of dollars purchasing just one thing from Sportsgirl or Country Road.

Included in price is the postage. Overseas stores generally have free shipping domestically. The average cost of postage from online stores within Australia is $10-15. Yikes.

Stock
Under the heading of "stock" we have both the difference between what's online and what's in store, and in general the availability of items compared with large stores overseas.

A store like Urban Outfitters or TopShop have almost every item online that you can find instore. This is not true of their Australian counterparts such as Sportsgirl where there is a great gap between online and the store.

Is it stock management? Is it supply management? It can't be that hard to figure out, but I'd say this is the biggest factor in getting the dollars in retail spent online within Australia.

The experience
The overseas sites are cool, with blogs and opinion pieces, styling advice and more. Sportsgirl has embraced this idea which has no doubt increased their online profile greatly. Retailers such as Witchery have had online stores for a number of years, but are missing out on the extra factor that is part of the web. It's not Web 2.0, that's old news. It's more than that, it could be called the unknown factor as it's so hard to pinpoint.

Beyond the unknown factor, it's also about useability. Lots of retail sites (whether e-commerce or not) are still built entirely in Flash which is a big issue with useability and scalability across platforms such as mobile and now the iPad market. E-commerce sites are notoriously poorly designed because the plug in shopping cart features are cost effective, but poorly designed.

So where to?
Australian retail needs to take the bull by the horns and get into the digital landscape. They need to employ digital project managers (like myself!), gun developers and strategists with sound experience and take on board their ideas.

[This post was inspired by this]

Loafers

I'm really into loafers for summer. I have to wear Orthotics so regular flats and sandals don't really work for me. In winter it's boots and sneakers all the way but for summer I want to be a little more classic.

I'm loving all of these from bluefly.com

tod's black speckled
prada hazelnut suede
prada perforated leather (pictured above)

But on my budget, I'll probably buy a pair of Asos or Urban Outfitters....

New place to buy exciting shoes

Solestruck.com isn't just a clever name, it's a website that's been around for 6 years but has not hit my radar until today.

Stocking brands I love like Camper, Jeffrey Campbell and Dolce Vita, the shoes are a fanastic selection and international shipping is free on orders over $200 (easy to spend that much).

The funny thing is the store is based in Portland, Oregon. I keep finding myself drawn to things that have a connection to this city in Oregon. I'm longing to go there and explore, find out what it is about that city that is magnetic to me.

I'm dying to buy shoes, and it's only 5 days til I take off to Hong Kong for a week, so I have to hold off but if you have nothing stopping you, check these out.

Visit www.solestruck.com to see all of their amazing collection.

Madewell and Alexa Chung

These days I don't see a lot of fashion worth reporting. Generally I find fashion too trendy and trends are boring and cyclical.


Even worse, shoes are just boring. I don't wear heels anymore, my knees ache from trying to get fit, and I am more comfortable in casual clothes at the office. I don't think the big team of developers would appreciate my heel collection so much. When I used to go to client meetings in my old role, it was different. Now with my client being essentially internal, it's sneakers and boots. Which is fine by me!

However, probably the only fashion icon I can respect is Alexa Chung. I read an article about her and how she'd been offered a ton of collaborations only to reject them all. I thought that had balls and showed her to be down to earth.

She has teamed up with Madewell and although they don't ship to Australia (and I have no money to purchase anything) I love the looks that are featured on the site.

If you want to have a look - you can see what is up thus far, and sign up for updates on the site.

www.madewell.com

TinFish on the Cover of 69 Magazine!

Check out the latest edition of 69 Magazine! Our gorgeous Irregular Choice Turquoise 'Lola' X Body Bag, Irregular Choice polka dot 'Kim Oh NO' shoes and our Fish N Chips by Base London 'Wallys' deck shoe all feature on the cover!!

Also worth checking out is the street style section where you can find an example of a fine TinFish employee- Charles

Good Old Birkenstocks

Birkenstocks Have Arrived!!
The Spring/Summer collection of Birkenstocks have arrived at TinFish!
As well as the basic black and whites we have a collection of super brights! Red Patents, Purples and Silvers! As well as some gorgeous pearlescent tones such as Ice Pearl Opal (Blue) and Ice Pearl Onyx (Grey)!!
Perfect for taking your summer daywear into eveningwear, Birkenstocks are well known for their comfort and versatility!
We've just added the classic Gizeh and Madrid styles to our website www.tinfishshoes.co.uk
But we have other styles available in store, if you fancy taking a trip to Leicester!

Finally an app that makes me REALLY want an iphone

MyShoeBox allows you to collate images and info about your shoe collection on your iphone. Use it as a guide when buying new shoes or shopping for an important outfit!

Check it out here!

Being a little heavy

Unfortunately I have put on a bit of weight in the past 6 months. I could blame my boyfriend, but he is amazing and I'm not really that unhappy about it.

I have to do a bit of shopping to best accentuate my assets. I know that I will likely fluctuate a bit, but being this size isn't too bad. It just justifies new clothes!

Only once

Oh my gosh, this morning I got dressed and found that I really do not have enough pairs of flats! I have over 100 pairs of high heels which I never wear, and I have several pairs of sandals which are great for hot weather. But when it's a little cool in Melbourne, I like my toes to be warm.

Hence next week to celebrate a recent payrise, I'm going to treat myself to a pair of custom designed flats from Bird Of Prey...

Hello

I am a terrible blogger! I have found the past few months that blogging was not on the top of my to do list but I need to turn that around!

I will make amends to any loyal readers who were interested in hearing about my shoe escapades!