This year, I’m taking a chance on pants

Happy new year – yes, again! It’s now the Chinese Year of the Horse, although being the bad Asian I am, I actually forgot it was Chinese new year until I was kept awake by fireworks last Thursday night* and grumpily wondered who was making such a racket. I did plan this Chinese-inspired outfit for this post, though! 
 
What I didn’t plan was for it to be so hideously hot AND windy when we were taking these photos. In my mind, this was a glamorous outfit, but the weather had other plans. 
I made these pants using a 1970s pattern and cotton material, both from op shops. Do you remember my embroidered blouse (teamed with pink and the same basket in this post too!)? The shoes are also from an op shop and I made the earrings by adding tassels to some clip-ons from a friend (you can see them here and here too).   

 Apart from wanting to make a dent in my considerably large fabric stash, I made these pants because one of my style resolutions for this year is to stop wearing jeans as a default every time I’m sick of skirts or dresses. The fashion gods must have been listening when I made this vow, and had a word in the op shop fairy’s ear, because in the past few weeks I have found these…

 Fittingly, these pants have an oriental theme too!

They were $5 at the op shop around the corner from the office – proof, if you needed any, that it’s good to take a proper lunch break! 
It’s also good to go on road trips and plan op shop stops. I found these Moschino pants, probably from the ’90s, for $10 at the Uniting Church op shop in Woodend. 

 My friend and I were actually on the way to the Modern Love exhibition in Bendigo, which we enjoyed, but secretly, I think I got a greater thrill from finding these (and my friend probably did too!).

 Super crazy and not the kind of thing I would normally wear, but I knew I would deeply regret it if I didn’t buy them, even though they are a bit loose. Of course now I’m very glad that I did!

 The designer label thing must have made an impression on my subconscious because after putting this outfit together, I realised everything is designer, which, given I own hardly any designer labels, is pretty rare for me.

 My sunglasses are by Dolce & Gabbana from a few years back, T-shirt is old Marc Jacobs that I received as a press novelty gift when I was working in Tokyo, and the shoes are Bally Jeunesse, from the Salvos. Given the money theme of the Monopoly (sorry, Moschinopoly!) print, I chose accessories made from coins – one that I made from a bellydancer’s chain, the other was a gift from a friend who visited Dubai.

Yep, even in designer labels, I can’t resist ethnicking things up a bit!
Speaking of designer labels, after we’d taken these shots, I also found some fabulous fruit-print Gorman pants at another op shop (you might have seen my excited post about them on Instagram or my Facebook page?) but they are a bit big so I will have to alter them before I do a post. I’m sure you’ll like them though!

Psst, how about you, have you made any style resolutions for this year?

*In an effort to keep me awake even more effectively than the fireworks, my boyfriend managed to dislocate his shoulder in his sleep and woke up screaming at 5.30 on Friday morning. A trip to the emergency department wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind for the start of the new year, but I suppose we can all use a bit of drama now and then?! And yes, he’s fine now, thank you for asking 🙂

Category : accessories, Chinese new year, designer labels, op shops, prints, Salvos, vintage, vintage designer fashion