Yesterday I posted about the benefits of taking daily outfit photos. I’ve been looking through my old ones (they are here if you’re interested), & thought I would sum a few up.

Daily Outfit, 1st December 2005.

I really liked this outfit when I put it on, & it looks good even in retrospect. I was working at a big telecommunications company at the time, & it was beyond boring, but they had a lax dress code & I really enjoyed getting ready in the morning. I also had a great haircut (miss that colour a lot sometimes).

“Mary is my homegirl” t-shirt. $20 — obviously not the one from Teenage Millionaire, but pretty damn close, & who cares? The neckline on this looked stuffy on me (I don’t like close-fitting round-neck t-shirts), so I grabbed a pair of scissors & hacked at the neckline until it was more square. I like it better this way.

Sass & Bide jeans — the most flattering pair of jeans I have ever owned in my life. Sass & Bide is an Australian brand which was super-cool about a year ago. I think of these as my secret weapon, because I feel amazing in them. The wash is dark ink blue with slight distressing — super-fitted across my butt & thighs, & then flared at the bottom, which, to a girl like me with a height complex (I’m not that short but goddamnit, I shouldn’t have started smoking so young) & who thinks her thighs are a disproportional size to the rest of her, is a gift from the universe. They were about $400 but worth every penny. No, really.

Wedges. Cheap, about $100. They have a Chinese print across the toes, which I really like — adds a bit of interest, but the actual wedge part is woven & the soles are plastic. They have been worn to death & now look like it. I need to buy a replacement pair but I find it hard to find any I like!

Dress from Supre, a chain store across Australasia which specialises in tube-tops for 5 year olds. Staff are all about 17 years old & tanned with three tons of make-up. Suffice to say, if you’re not feeling so hot about yourself, going into one of these stores can make you feel quite nauseous — & I haven’t even mentioned the horrendous, thundering music they play. The dress was probably $40 & I loved it when I tried it on. It has a bizarre blue/green retro print, sleeves that stop above the elbow (very slimming) & pointy collar. Unfortunately, it was about 5 centimetres too short for me to feel good in it. When I wear dresses over trousers, it is primarily because I want to cover my thighs. Even in my secret weapon jeans & in super-high wedges, I felt chubby in this — because it kept riding up! It ruined the outfit because I was always pulling it down. Eventually, after months of staring wistfully at it hanging in my wardrobe, wishing it was just a bit longer, I got rid of it for the sake of my mental health.

Daily Outfit, 30th October 2006.

I love the way this looks so much. Unfortunately now that my hair is pink & I am without the boots, it needs to be worn differently. This is a more recent take on the dress.

Knee-length turquoise striped button-down waitress-style dress. I bought this from the Recycle Boutique in Auckland, New Zealand for about $16. It’s a little wide in the waist to be totally fitted, but this gives it the added bonus of doubling as a coat over other things if I want.

Accessories: green stone necklace, bracelets in turquoise, electric blue + one in white w/ black polka-dots. I thought the bracelets were especially good with it because they’re so over-the-top, plasticky & ridiculous that it would prove I didn’t take myself too seriously.

Turquoise fishnets.

Turquoise cowboy boots. I loved these boots to death. Eventually the toes got so scuffed they were beyond redemption. The tops were all loose & slouchy so they looked fantastic with stockings. They were also exceptionally comfortable. Boo, I miss you, cowboy boots!

Daily Outfit, 17th October 2006.

One of my favourite outfits of all time. I got constant compliments on this outfit all day. It looks simple but the colour story carries through: the pink of my hair & the ribbon around my neck are the same, & there is blue in the shirt, trousers (they are dark slate blue with a teeny-tiny grey pattern) & shoes.

Shirt was bought from a second-hand store in Seattle. I didn’t try it on before I bought it — gasp! — which was silly, but it was obviously meant to be, as it fits perfectly. I bought it because the ruffle on the front reminded me of photos of my mother (my style icon) in the 70s & I wondered if I could make the look work too.

Trousers from Workshop — I loved them so much I bought two pairs. The other is light blue & I don’t wear them as much, but gee, I sure love ’em. One thing: when I bought them I made the mistake of not walking around the store in them. When I tried them on at home, I noticed they slipped down & bunched up around my legs when I walked anywhere; very unflattering. Thankfully it was a crisis easily averted with the addition of a belt. Lesson learned.

Shoes from Patricia Field in Soho. Just like the aforementioned pants, I loved them so much I bought two pairs. Funnily, the other pair is pink & I don’t wear them as much, either. (I found out the other day that Jeffree Star has them too.)

Salvador Dali button. I wear my husband on my bosom. Oh yes.