OoTD No. 3 – Starring the Whipper Snipper

Going through my old blog posts, this is my first OoTD since… August?! Shit, really? This year has gone outrageously fast.

This is my first summer outfit post, as well as my first time showing you a glimpse of Work Frances.

On Friday, I went out with the in-laws for the Boyfriend’s birthday dinner (The Light Brigade Bistro in Paddington – highly recommended). I came straight from work, hence the black jersey, though my not-terribly-corporate office does Casual Friday, hence the short hemline and the sandals.

The Boyfriend took these pictures and insisted we use that most overlooked of props, the whipper snipper.

What? There's heaps of unkempt grass edges by the pool.

She works hard for the money... so hard for it honey...

Dress: Country Road (I had it shortened – it looked a bit like a nun’s outfit when I bought it)
Necklace: Dinosaur Designs
Watch: Nu + Nan
Bracelet: Mimco
Sandals: Nu + Nan
Nail polish: Molly by Bloom
Whipper snipper: Poulan PRO

Seen in… Sydney

Thanks to blogs like The Manfattan Project and Curvy Street Style on Saks in the City, I’ve been noticing more and more how many well dressed fat women there are walking around. So I am officially hitching myself to the Street Fashion Bandwagon with my new feature, Seen In…

Giddy up!

Imogene, Sydney CBD

Corporate wear can be so frightfully dull, but I saw Imogene’s sweet blouse and suit combo from about 20m away. (Then I raced over to her and nervously babbled about taking her picture for my blog. She was nice about the whole thing, which was quite good of her, so extra points for Imogene.)

My new favourite website

Allen, Bedford Ave. (photo by Greg Speck)

Everyone should check out The Manfattan Project post-haste.

In the words of the moderator:

[The Manfattan Project is a] collection of photographs of stylish everyday people in New York City. These people are beautiful, they are well-dressed, they are confident. They are also, without apologies or contradictions, FAT.

Hana Malia, Union Square Farmer’s Market

I never realised how rarely I see the everyday street fashion of fat people until this site came along.

Jess, FIT.

Well, go on then. Clickety click your way over there.

OoTD No. 2 – Sneaker Freaker

I’m getting the hang of this OoTD thing!

Since y’all reacted so well to my shoe collection in my last OoTD, I decided to wear my most fabulous pair of sneakers out:

I need a haircut.

I wore this out yesterday. Mr Frances and I went to Saturday in Design; an annual trade event for Australia’s design sector, which takes place on alternate years in Sydney and Melbourne. It involves Australia’s best designer furniture, finishes, fixtures and lighting showrooms all over Sydney displaying their wares for architects, designers, students and members of the public. Mr Frances is an industrial designer, whereas I just go along for the free booze and canapes – Living Edge put on a particularly good spread, with Chandon wine, Little Creatures beer (I love their Bright Ale) and the most amazing Thai food from longrain.

It’s our anniversary today – 5 years! – so Mr Frances and I also went out to dinner at Doma Bohemian Beer Cafe afterwards. Doma serves Czech/Slovak food (read: meat and stodge) and have a great range of Czech, German and Belgian beers – I recommend the schnitzel (chicken or pork, both were fantastic), the huge apple strudel and the Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen (a German cloudy wheat beer). Do not go there on anything more than an empty stomach; the Czechs will break you with their serving sizes.

These came with white laces, but I changed 'em for some blue ones I had lying around. Because they weren't colourful enough already.

I’d never worn these sneakers out before and, after walking around in them all day, I’ve realised that they’re not the most comfortable kicks in the world. All those multicoloured panels are separate layers of leather and they have plastic around some of the eyelets, making them extremely stiff. Lucky they look so good, or else I’d never wear them again.

You can't tell in this photo, but this ring has been polished to a mirror finish. Perfect for someone as vain as me.

Tshirt (that is on the brink of being too small) : Huffer
Straight leg jeans : Just Jeans
Sneakers : Nike Air Tech Challenge Hybrid from Espionage
Lego necklace : O.A.W on etsy
Titanium ring : titaniumknights on etsy

My Very First OoTD

I’m jumping on the Outfit of the Day (OoTD) bandwagon! Hopefully this post will be the first of many (read: hopefully I can be arsed to keep this up).

Before anything else, I think I should introduce you to my style to give you a bit of context or something. My style has two very distinct and completely separate settings: casual and work.

Casual Frances is a mix of street, 80s and hip hop. I live in my denim (dark rinse jeans and shorts) and I wear a lot of bright men’s graphic tees; most of which get turned into singlets by my alterationist. I never ever wear heels; the most feminine my shoes get are ballet flats. What I love more than anything is my ever-growing collection of kicks:

My babies!

Work Frances is restricted by the sartorial expectations of the public sector (yep, I’m a government monkey). Most days I’m wearing some kind of black jersey dress and I keep things interesting with accessories: brightly coloured tights, kitsch brooches and chunky colourful resin jewellery.

Both Casual and Work Frances like to wear things that are bright, kitsch and eye-catching because both are great big show ponies who like attention. Both are no good at dressing for winter.

It’s surprisingly difficult putting my style into words; hopefully it will all emerge through my OoTDs.

Speaking of, here is what I wore to my mate’s farewell last weekend:

Nope, I've no idea what I'm doing with that left elbow either.

Oversized tshirt : Sportsgirl
Yellow bra (which is super duper visible because of the flash on my camera) : Mossimo
Leggings : Beth Ditto at Evans
Ballet flats : Witchery
Resin bangle : Dinosaur Designs – my favourite accessories brand of all time
Robot necklace : Electric Monkeys, Bondi Beach