On Frocking Up

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Dress: Chi Chi London (via Asos) satin

Sandals: Novo leather lace-up

Clutch: Adorne textured vinyl

Bangle: Gift, vintage wood & beads

Cuff: Trinkit Hunter silver

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"Street Style" fashion blogging seems simple. Effortless, even. All it requires is taking a picture of yourself on any given day, uploading it to the social media device of your choice & waxing lyrical about it for a few paragraphs... Certainly easier than "Editorial" fashion blogging where you employ professional photographers, make-up artists & hairdressers, borrow designer clothing & scout for evocative locations, right? Wrong.

Editorial blogging requires playing a role, creating a character at once removed from reality. The alternative is, well, personal. A real individual, living their day to day life & sharing their wardrobe choices with friends & strangers on a scale that, frankly, can boggle the mind at times. After all, I am in my little corner of Australia, typing away in front of a computer screen while someone half way around the world, whom I've never met, is reading it! I am putting a piece of myself out there to be judged, never knowing what reception will be received.

Let's be honest - as a society we tend to judge people, often erroneously, on their appearance, usually whispering about their physique, haircut, length of skirt, height of heel behind cupped hands. The online world is a heightened version of this, the anonymity afforded emboldens many to post comments flippantly & directly to the individual concerned, as though there are no consequences. And not all comments are constructive, of course - some are nasty, some are downright cruel & meant to wound, some are from a place of jealousy & some are "put downs" delivered under the guise of concerned advice.

I began street style fashion blogging with trepidation despite my obvious love of styling, concerned by the fact that I wasn't a model or photographer & rarely traveled to truly exotic destinations guaranteed to pique interest... then I took a stand for authenticity & personal truth. This is me. This is how I dress on a daily basis. Yes, really. I style all of the outfits myself & own all of the clothing & accessories. Family members & (occasionally) friends take the vast majority of my outfit photographs & I do not retouch them or use special filters. I choose what I consider to the "best" or most flattering of the bunch & upload... that's where it ends.

Even when I was small, I liked to "dress up." Sure, it wasn't always a frock back then (I really loved corduroy overalls as a child of the 1980s) but I had a highly-developed sense of occasion. Some may call it "overdressing" & even say it is "old fashioned," "unrealistic" or "out of touch" to don fancy dresses made from fabrics like silk, satin, French lace or tulle for a day of shopping in the River City, dinner at a little cafe in the suburbs, a trip to the Museum or Art Gallery or matinee performance at the theatre or ballet... 

For me, it is WHO I AM. I truly believe that clothing has the capacity to make people feel a certain way at a certain time... & dressing this way makes me feel like my true self. I have always possessed an overactive imagination & penchant for making the ordinary extraordinary & in this crazy world, that is a trait to be celebrated rather than derided. We are all unique & it is our differences that define us. Often, my dresses are pure whimsy grounded in reality & this is the hallmark of my styling prowess; what differentiates me from those blindly following trends & fads devoid of their personal style. As Coco Chanel once said, "In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different."

This particular outfit is one of my all-time favourites, worn to complete a styling job a few weeks ago. The satin, "prom" style dress from Chi Chi London (through Asos) is spectacular - from the stylised red & black oversized leaf print on the bright white satin background to the scooped back detail, gathered 1950s style fit-to-flare waist & mullet hemline. Such a "dressy" item required edgy accessories for daytime & a pair of black leather lace-up gladiator sandals with stacked heels from Novo & textured, faux snakeskin vinyl envelope clutch from Adorne fitted the bill. Jewellery was kept minimal & sculptural - a vintage black wooden bangle with sequinned beading (gifted by a dear friend) on one arm & a chunky silver "Bird of Prey" cuff from Trinkit Hunter on the other.

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