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...
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]
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....
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