A dress does not an outfit make - part two: selfie your way to success

One thing that really helped me see when my outfits were working and when they weren't was taking selfies. I’d never really been a selfie sort of person until I read an article on XOJane called ‘Dope or Nope? Why Photographing Your Outfit Every Day Will Make You Way More Stylish.’ It talked about how taking a picture of your outfits every day would give you a catalogue of what you’d worn and give you a chance to evaluate what works and what doesn’t (in your own opinion). You can scroll back through your own pictures and discover a long lost necklace, or find inspiration much like I do from the girls in my last post, except this is FROM YOURSELF!

The article ended with an invitation to join in and post a picture of every outfit for a month on Instagram using the hashtag #xostyletrial. I took a deep breath, and started posting. All of the pictures in this post are from the style trial.

I didn’t think it would make much of a difference, but it really did. It was around the time where I was just starting to buy more vintage clothes, so it was the perfect time to work out how to style. It encouraged me to pre-plan my outfits the night before and I found knowing I had to take a selfie before I went to work encouraged me to finish my outfit before I left (rather than grab a dress and a cardigan and run out the door). I learned to be bolder and braver, what worked and what didn’t. And because they knew what I was doing, I got lots of great comments from people who’d read the article.

I can’t remember now if I participated in the challenge for the entire month, but I did trawl the tag on my Instagram just now and could see the improvement in my outfits (and being that it was around the same time of year so the weather’s the same, I also saw a bunch of things that I’m going to dig out this week)! It didn’t matter that I likely dropped out halfway through, the experiment worked on my end.

I know from my stats there’s enough of you reading to participate in a challenge, but because most of you seem to be shy, I’m not sure if there’d be any interest if I started a hashtag month of outfits challenge! I’m keen to do something if you would like to join in, so perhaps add me on Instagram and let me know by a comment here or email to miss_mickey@outlook.com if you would participate if I organised. If you prefer to just silently creep observe from afar, then I’m working on my camera setup at home so that I can give you some #OOTD posts both here and on Instagram.

Jungle Dress

Boy oh boy am I excited to hit the button on this post!

For as long as I've been blogging I've wanted a halfway decent camera and finally, I've got one. Actually, I've had it for a couple of months now, but I've had enough practice to start sharing images with you. My pictures will get better, so bear with me (and definitely pass on any tips). I can't make any promises on regular outfit wrap-ups, but I'll do my best to share with you.

This is a vintage (ish) dress which is actually a hand-me-down from my (little) sister. It comes from Vintage Junkyard and it's one of my favourites for when I haven't pre-planned an outfit. It has an amazing jungle print complete with animals and plants and has lots of muted colours against the purple. Reaching for novelty prints is a good choice when you're pressed for time in the morning. Yes, some prints can be too out there for some workplaces, but dresses like this with more muted colours and subtlety in the print give you lots of options to accessorise quickly and without too much thought, but also look work appropriate.  

 t's surprisingly versatile and I've worn it in the summer with a brown belt and sandals or with navy tights and brown oxfords. But this week I went with a blazer and matched a black belt with my black tights. One thing I did forget to photograph was my shoes, but they're just simple black lace-ups with a chunky heel. 

I don't feel quite right without a brooch when I wear a blazer, so I rummaged around in my pins until I found this fern shape which was my nanna's. It's a nice complement to the plants and trees in the print. I usually wear an elephant necklace my other nan gave me with this dress, but it was lost in the depths of my jewellery box and I was running late, so he stayed home. 

This picture makes me look super washed out (and reminds me that I should put my lipstick on before I take pictures. And that I need to fill in my eyebrows a bit heavier for pictures) but I wanted to show the Mimco headband I'm wearing. My hair was clean (Monday is day one for me) so I ran the straightener over it and added the headband to keep my fringe (which I'm growing) out of my face, but it added a pretty touch, which I think for this outfit, is the difference between looking put together or not. I have a drawer full of hair accessories and think they're pretty essential, with some outfits, to finishing!

So, pretty good for a hand-me-down, hey? Tell me about your favourite hand-me-downs or thrifted finds. Do you have dresses that you always wear with a certain accessory (like my long lost elephant)? And the kicker question: anyone seen anything like this dress before? I'd LOVE to work out how vintage it is (I suspect not very vintage. But I do love it)!