Yep, I’ve got a few clothes (that's not even all of them).
I live in Queensland, which means that 90% of what’s in my wardrobe is more suited to summer. With the exception of maybe four long sleeve dresses.
We have about… a month of cold weather, if that, every year. Which means I manage to get by with cardigans over dresses, stockings or tights underneath and when it’s really cold (this week it’s been properly cold for Queensland), I wear a plain black long sleeve shirt under my dresses (usually hidden by the cardigan). My normal, everyday work outfits range between a sort of toned-down version of pinup me, or more conservative vintage girl.
Today’s outfit is my case in point:
But last week, I headed down to Tasmania to visit my family. For those of you not Down Under, Tasmania is cold. It’s very cold.
My other dilemma is I went for five days and decided to only take carry-on luggage. This means I need to plan my outfits very carefully around one pair of shoes, one coat, and as little outerwear (scarf, hat) as possible.
When I was planning my outfits, there was a temptation to spend the whole week in leggings. But as much as I love all my Black Milk leggings, I don’t have a hell of a lot to go with them for the colder weather (I have a lot of cute t-shirts and cardies that I pair with them, but when it comes to layering…).
So I tempered my packing with two pairs of legs (navy matte and my favourite yellow tartan), and then I went for layers. I tried everything on beforehand to make sure they'd go with my Docs (but what doesn't go with Docs, really?) and set them out on my bed in outfits so I could be sure I had enough stockings, singlets and socks to go with each and then rolled them into my case. I picked dresses with thick, flared material. Even though I only folded my dresses in half at the very top of my case, there was still a good chance they'd get crumpled, so by picking the thicker material, it meant they could crumple a bit without me needing to iron at the other end.
Here's what I wore:
You can't see it in this picture, but I wore a nice warm wool skirt from Retrospect'd with a long sleeve black shirt, my Collectif cardigan, stockings and boots on my first full day in Tassie. Here, I'm dressed to go out for lunch on what was a cold, windy, wet day and have my grey pea-coat, red scarf and red hat on to brave the cold!
I've had a kind of love/hate relationship with this gingham Jenny dress from Pinup Girl Clothing since I picked it up. On the one hand, I'm super in love with the pattern, especially since it's a big gingham, as opposed to many of my other gingham dresses. But it's a perfect dress for travelling because it's a heavy, gathered fabric that doesn't really crease in a suitcase. I wore it with black stockings, my Docs and my Collectif Clothing black swallow cardigan. When I was outside, I had my grey pea-coat over the top and a scarf.
I have never had anything but love for this Bernie Dexter Osterly dress in Winter Wonderland print. I know it's a very Christmassy print, but it's technically Christmas in July time here! Again, I wore it with black tights and Docs (and a coat outside), but this time I wore a black undershirt for extra warmth and a purple jumper over the top.
The conclusion is that layering worked and I was happily very warm and comfortable the whole time and still looked retro. I got a few funny looks walking down the street in my lovely Bernie Dexter dress but when I went to visit Ms Katt, she said it happens a lot in Hobart!
You can't see it in this picture, but I wore a nice warm wool skirt from Retrospect'd with a long sleeve black shirt, my Collectif cardigan, stockings and boots on my first full day in Tassie. Here, I'm dressed to go out for lunch on what was a cold, windy, wet day and have my grey pea-coat, red scarf and red hat on to brave the cold!
I've had a kind of love/hate relationship with this gingham Jenny dress from Pinup Girl Clothing since I picked it up. On the one hand, I'm super in love with the pattern, especially since it's a big gingham, as opposed to many of my other gingham dresses. But it's a perfect dress for travelling because it's a heavy, gathered fabric that doesn't really crease in a suitcase. I wore it with black stockings, my Docs and my Collectif Clothing black swallow cardigan. When I was outside, I had my grey pea-coat over the top and a scarf.
I have never had anything but love for this Bernie Dexter Osterly dress in Winter Wonderland print. I know it's a very Christmassy print, but it's technically Christmas in July time here! Again, I wore it with black tights and Docs (and a coat outside), but this time I wore a black undershirt for extra warmth and a purple jumper over the top.
The conclusion is that layering worked and I was happily very warm and comfortable the whole time and still looked retro. I got a few funny looks walking down the street in my lovely Bernie Dexter dress but when I went to visit Ms Katt, she said it happens a lot in Hobart!
