Jumping into January

Actually, thanks to the crazy hot weather, there hasn’t been a whole lot of jumping going on here. It would be more apt to say I’ve slid sweatily and lethargically into the new year, but I couldn’t work out how to make that into a catchy title. Anyway, let’s get to the clothes, which I assume is why you’re here (although it’s possible my dry wit lured you over). Today, it’s all about jumpsuits, although you could be forgiven for thinking it’s about a wedding as I happen to have something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue…

This old thing? It was $8 from an opshop in Rye. It looks like leather and everyone wants to touch it when I wear it (which is a bonus!?) but it’s actually silk that’s been treated with some kind of coating. (The belt was from a different opshop but happens to work quite well with this outfit!)

The “something new” should be next in line but I’ll keep you in suspense. Here’s something borrowed instead – a denim boilersuit by Nevada Duffy which I got to try on while accompanying Estelle on a shoot recently (thanks to Kayla Piccolo for snapping me!).

Something blue? That would be this turquoise beauty that I scored from a former colleague who was about to take it to the opshop. She used to wear it in the ’80s so I thought it was apt to pose with a paste-up of an icon from that era.

And now for something new. A little batik number I whipped up last week.

“What batik? I don’t see any batik!” I hear you say.

Ah, that would be this batik that I bought in Denpasar last year for a few dollars.

I loved the pop art look of this design (which I think depicts Dewi Sri) and so bought two pieces – I seem to remember I had plans to make two cushion covers but then realised I could show them off best by working them into a jumpsuit… like so.

Nearly every item of summer clothing I own is colourful or printed so I thought I’d make something plain black for a change – at the front, anyway. I’d bought some black remnant cotton a while ago and there was just enough for this project. Phew! I made it a bit roomy as I was feeling the effects of the festive season around the waist!!

I used this pattern to roughly get the shape for the front and adapted the back to best display the Dewi Sri’s faces.

The goddesses’ faces get smooshed when I belt the jumpsuit but it’s kind of necessary, otherwise I look like I’m in maternity wear!

As I used cotton, and black is such a forgiving shade, my new jumpsuit is already a firm favourite for super hot days. And I kind of like the fact that the goddesses have my back, literally. Far be it from me to pass up divine styling assistance!