WHAT I WORE LAST WEEKEND

Hello friends, hope you are well.

Australia was doing so well combating the COVID but unfortunately two weeks ago the situation changed and some parts of the country have been put back in lock-down, which of course affects all of us 😔.  

Once again, my husband and I made a decision to stop going out except for grocery shopping where both of us put on masks and taking walks in the less popular parts of Sydney.  

And we do that, I try to make an effort to dress up in more stylish clothes than athleisure like the majority of people around us.   No matter how comfortable it feels and how fashionable and widely acceptable it has become lately, I don't like wearing it outside the scope of physical exercising.  My mind likes to differentiate between activities and find an outfit that matches it appropriately.

Case in point, this simple dress from Cos that I bought few years ago to wear primarily to the office but ended up wearing it to dinner and a theatre performance by dressing it up with court shoes, sparkly necklace and an evening handbag.  

Luckily, due to its simple style and solid colour, it could easily be transformed into a comfortable casual dress which you wear to a weekend lunch and a leisurely walk along the beachfront.  

I just swap my heels for a pair of sneakers, ditch the fancy handbag and accessories, put on a biker jacket and voila.  Transformation is complete.

Outfit details:  dress - COS (worn here), sneakers - Converse Chuck Taylor, biker jacket - Sandro (worn previously here), ring - Bondi Markets, sunglasses - Valley "A Dead Coffin Club".

Was your weekend good?  What did you do?

Stay safe

Anna

xoxo

MY NEW SKY PRINTED MAXI DRESS BY REISS

Hello lovelies, how are you all?

I cannot speak for the rest of the world but here in Australia maxi dresses are having their moment and I am loving it.  The great thing about the maxi dress is that there are no rules on how long, how fitted or floaty it has to be as long as you find your perfect fit and are looking gorgeous in it.  Same applies to the colour choice: it could be a solid colour or a lovely print, in soft or bold colours – everything is left to your personal sense of style, colour and shape.

I have a couple of maxi dresses in my closet but they were purchased a few years back and I was on the lookout for a fresh new one.  Since the demise of the economy due to the latest pandemic, the shops have been having perpetual sales and while it is a disturbing sign of the havoc that this virus has wrecked our economy, there is nothing wrong in taking advantage to re-fresh our wardrobes and save some money in the process. 

Case in point, the wrap-around dress I am wearing today.  Soon after the department stores re-opened their doors, I summoned up my courage and ventured into the shopping centre to have a look around.  Every store advertised sales and promised massive discounts and attracted by that, I stepped inside the Reiss store.  Under normal circumstances, as much as I admire their clothes, I don't shop there simply because I find that the prices are rather high for my liking but now with the prices drastically slashed down, it was worth a look. 

Everything in the store was heavily discounted including this dress which I liked the minute I saw it.  I have always loved wrap-around dresses and this one in a fresh neutral colour with an unusual geometric print that vaguely reminded me of the birch trees (berezka) of my old country, caught my attention.  Since the dresses that I currently wear are very colourful, I figured that a dress in softer calmer tones would bring a breath of fresh air.  After all, there comes a time when you want to wear a dress that does not look like your flower bed 😉. 

I must admit that the creators of Reiss clothing have every reason to ask a high price for their garments:  every dress, blouse or skirt looks extremely elegant yet modern, the fabric is of the best quality and most of all, on closer inspection you cannot help but admire the level of the dressmaker's craftsmanship.  

The dress fitted me perfectly, it was very well constructed down to a small, invisible button on the front panel that prevents the dress from gaping around the chest.  The applied discount made it very affordable so I couldn't find any reason why I shouldn't buy it and so I did👍. 

When I checked it on Reiss official web-site, the model was wearing black high heel tall boots which is quite unusual styling choice for Australians.  Anyway, I liked the way it looked so I decided to replicate it.   

I am carrying my old Bvlgari bag and wearing earrings that were custom made for me by a very talented friend of mine.

Until then,

Anna

xoxo

 

GREY COAT, PRINT PANTS, PATENT SHOES

Hello dear friends, hope you are keeping well.

It is a known fact that that I love bright strong colours and wear them quite often, however today I went the other way and dressed myself from head to toe in a mix of black and grey colours, with the eye catching vermilion colour wall behind me is the only evidence to the contrary.

I am wearing a coat that was a hand-me down from my older daughter, Michelle, who bought it during her European holidays few years ago from Cos well before this popular brand landed on our shores.  She really liked it then but has grown bored of it so she offered it to me and I gladly accepted.  I was thinking of buying a new coat anyway so in a sense she did me a favour saving my time and money👍.  The coat was in perfect condition ,  Michelle even dry-cleaned it before handing it to its new owner.

I am wearing he pants from Maison Scotch .  They have been in my closet for quite some time and reason that you didn’t see me wearing them lately was because in the last year or two I gained some weight and, despite my strong dedication to fitness, wasn’t able to shake it off.  It was during the lock-down, believe or not, that I proposed to my husband to try and lose some weights.  

Before COVID we used quite often to go for lunch or dinner and indulge ourselves in wines, desserts, cheeses, burgers with chips, etc – all these yummy foods that are responsible for extra kilos.  Now with the restaurants closed, we saw it as an opportunity to eat less and not drink at all.  And I must say, it wasn’t that hard.  We can see the result and I feel better, lighter and happier 🙋. 

Every time I mention to someone that we haven’t touched wine or eaten anything unhealthy in the last couple of months, I get similar reactions from people like some call us mad, some said that they feel pity for us and only a handful of my closest friends and family who noticed the difference understood that for me that being able to get my body back is more satisfying than a piece of cake or a glass of wine. 

Anyway, it is our anniversary coming up a couple of weeks so we will celebrate it by rewarding ourselves by eating and drinking with gusto 😋

I am wearing:  coat from Cos, pants from Scotch and Soda, shoes from Neutralizer, handbag - Furla, sunglasses -  Valley

Until then,

Anna

xoxo