WEARING A "CARIOCA GIRL" BLOUSE

Hi Everyone, trust you are all well

Although, technically, it is almost the middle of the spring season in Australia, the temperature jumps around like a yo-yo and you don't know what to expect from one day to the next.  On the day that I wearing this outfit, it was nice and warm and today I wish that I hadn't put away my winter puffy jacket.

Luckily, today the weather is quite pleasant for me to wear just a light blouse, a pair of jeans and slides.  First of all I want to tell you about my new pair of jeans.  In the last couple of years you have seen me wearing a pair with a lot of holes in it but eventually I've become a little sick of wearing the same pair over and over besides the streets of Sydney have been over-saturated by everyone wearing the identical distressed style to the point that I've become fed up with it and decided that it is time to look for something different.

At the moment all the stores are having mid-season sales and you can score a very good bargain. Following a brief consultation with my fashion forward older daughter, I set out to look for pair of jeans that a) is cropped and b) raw-hemmed and c) without holes.  And last but not least, they should be straight, not skinny.  Armed with all these prerequisites I set off on a quest of a perfect pair.

I generally try to avoid the speciality shops, like General Pants for example, where jeans and all denim related clothes rain supreme mainly because these shops like to play loud music to appeal to a young clientele, the sale staff, for the obvious reasons, consists of young boys and girls who find it hard to stay still for more then 5 consecutive seconds and seem to always move with the beat and most of all, no matter how unflattering you look in their clothes, they always say the same old adage: "This looks good on you".  I cringe every time I hear this praise. 

I prefer to shop in big department stores: they stock the same brands as the designer shops but the atmosphere there is much more relaxing and welcoming and you can spend the whole day trying on garment after garment at your own leisure.  Besides, when these stores run independent sales and if the amount of stock becomes too low, they sell it very cheaply to clear the floor for the new arrivals.

And that's where I found this pair of jeans by Neuw.  I previously bought a pair of black jeans, worn here, from this label so I know exactly what size and style suits me best.  At first glance, they ticked all the boxes and I took them into the fitting room.  They felt very comfortable, the size was right and I liked the extra detail that outside each leg run two slim panels of different colour denim which made them look different from the rest of the pack.  And the original price was reduced almost by half.  What's not to like about them?

Next, my new blouse.  Well, technically it is not, it is a hand me down from my older daughter like the one I showed to you here.  Interesting fact, she bought it while on holiday in Brazil at the shop called Farm, a hip clothing store which she praised very highly and suggested that we should go there while in Rio de Janeiro to check it out and so we did.  I liked the shop and its funky clothes, the swimwear and accessories looked really pretty in bright bold prints and a lot of embellishments, which I thought was a big too much, besides the clothes are predominately designed for "Carioca girl", young girl who likes the beach, parties and nature and everything else related to Rio de Janeiro life style,  and I just felt that it was not exactly my cup of tea.

Six months later, however, and here I am wearing the blouse from that same shop and quite liking it.  I think that having just one thing made me appreciate it.  It is made of very soft wrinkle free fabric in a simple silhouette with a deep v-neck cut that has an easy relaxed feel.  I like the way the red colour embroidery, fringed by the same colour tassells richly decorates the front and follows the shoulder line of the blouse.  The sleeves have a fluted shape with side slits and they too are highlighted by the same pattern as the front of the blouse.

I opted for white slides that I bought in Marrakesh souk during our last year holiday that compliment very well my relaxed easy-going outfit and old leather saddle bag that I bought many years ago in Cape Town from one of the community workshops.

Until the next post,

Anna
xoxo