Vinnies #NewYearNewStyle Challenge

Since my travels in Asia last year with a limited choice of clothing, I’ve been wondering if I can cull my real-life Melbourne sartorial selection and do the cool “capsule wardrobe” thing. Given my love of textiles and making stuff, talent for nosing out secondhand bargains and lack of talent at getting rid of things, it seems unlikely, but as I’m doing the Vinnies #NewYearNewStyle Challenge, we shall see. The challenge is basically to wear only 10 items over 14 days, and as one of the bloggers taking part, my 10 items all had to be from opshops (that bit was hardly a challenge for me!). After careful consideration and much referring to the weather forecast for the next two weeks (Melbourne weather makes it difficult to choose something to wear in the morning that won’t have you shivering or sweating by the end of the day, let alone work out what might be OK for a fortnight’s time!), here are my 10 items:

1. Navy and white loose cotton-y T-shirt from a Vinnies more than five years ago (actually the first thing I ever wore on this blog!), about $5
2. Cotton long-sleeved knit from the Salvos last year, about $5
3. Dark purple and yellow thick cotton blouse (probably hand made from an African community) $6 at Vinnies Oakleigh last week*
4. Maroon, yellow and white batik button-down T-shirt, $4 from Savers years ago
5. Loose animal-print singlet $3 from Vinnies Ferntree Gully last week*
6. Leather pants, $2 from a church fete in the Dandenongs last Melbourne Cup day. Pointed out to me by my aunt who is also rather good at sniffing out bargains!
7. Beige pants, $1 from BSL years ago
8. Batik skirt (originally pants), $5 from Sacred Heart Mission last year
9. Orange coat/dress, $14.99 from Savers last year
10. Red dress, free from Savers years ago

I’ve done OK for the first four days, at least…

Day 1: off for fish and chips at Docklands after a day working in the office at The Weekly Review, wearing item 10. I bought my sunnies new but my handbag and sandals are both from opshops and I made my earrings and the sash around my waist (from vintage kimono material – I love the ikat pattern and wear it a lot!).

Day 2: after a morning of househunting I headed into the city and scored a free donut at the Dessert Parlour stand at Collins 234 before wandering through the Sustainable Living Festival. It was hot and I’d have preferred to be wearing shorts but I still have a hideously ugly scar on my leg from my running accident so pants it was! Wearing items 1 and 7 accessorised with a fleamarket scarf and earrings, freebie bag from a fashion show with the batik scarf I made recently and shoes from Zomp years ago.

Day 3: Valentine’s Day lunch with lady friends – luckily these pants are slightly loose as we did a lot of eating (mmm.. these donuts!) 🙂

Wearing items 5 and 6 along with opshop shoes, bag from day 2, and a mix of jewellery – secondhand from markets, bought on my travels and cast off from my boss at Vogue Japan.  I felt a bit strange wearing this singlet as it’s not my usual style but I got quite a few compliments so maybe I’ll keep it after all. (That’s one of the great things about opshops… this singlet was only $3 so it was a cheap way to try a style that I wouldn’t normally wear. Thanks Lisa at couturing.com for taking these shots!)

Day 4: I have to admit I was in my crappy trackies for most of the day as I was working from home (ironically, on a fashion story!) but I put on this outfit to walk to the doctor’s (I’ve been having to get the hole in my knee dressed every few days with packing made from seaweed. But let’s not go into that here!).

Wearing items 4 and 8 with secondhand sandals and this fleamarket bag, both from Tokyo.

The weather is meant to get a bit cooler this week so I’m not sure how I’ll go with the items I’ve chosen, but it will give me a chance to get creative with accessories!**

Oh, and seeing as I did get some items from Vinnies last week as part of this challenge, I’ll be donating these things to a Vinnies store in the near future for someone else to enjoy. Except for the cat. I’ll probably keep him.

 

*Vinnies generously gave me a $50 gift card so I bought items 3 and 5 last week, but don’t have time to look for anything else – and with my bulging wardrobe, I decided I didn’t need anything more “new to me” at the moment anyway so the rest of the items are all from my existing wardrobe.

**I’m kind of bending the rules by using so many accessories as technically they are meant to be included in the 10 items selected, but seeing as I often wear more than 10 accessories with even just one outfit, keeping things that minimal simply wasn’t going to happen.