ditto

Do you keep buying the same item of clothing over and over? I do. Sometimes intentionally, but often unintentionally. I get it home and think, hmmm, I've bought that before.

Pictured is the black turtleneck I bought from Saba recently with birthday money (under the cardi). I seem to always have a black turtleneck on the go. And then there are the other colour turtlenecks....I also have a thing for cardis, especially grey ones ("what? another cardi???" is a frequent refrain of Bhaer's). Talking about which, that cardi in the picture is quite nice...

Very high back heels, black knee high boots also figure in my repertoire. I like to think of it as refining my style ;)

If your name is Max...

...you need this shirt

Helvetica

Anyone else watch the doco on the font Helvetica? I'm watching more and more docos as I get older and so seem to be turning into my parents. I shudder to think what the next step is.

Anyway back on topic. This was very interesting, to think how font choices change our experience of the world. Helvetica is a widely used font, used by both corporations (American Airlines for instance) and government (New York subway one example) and so therefore can paradoxically have either a consumerist or socialist feel to it! The header of my blog is a font that I would call a descendent of Helvetica. Arial is a well known helvetica look alike - I have typed this post in Arial.

It has been enjoying a renaissance lately (it turned 50 last year), but my prediction is it is getting towards the end of this current cycle of coolness and more ornamental fonts will have cache again.

I like it, it is pleasingly balanced and neutral. But a bit too ubiquitous?

Anyone want to admit to fonty nerdiness and tell me their fave font?

what are we teaching our boys about masculinity?

There has been a lot in the media about the sexualisation of little girl's clothing. I haven't really had to deal with this, having boys, but I have had to deal with a related problem with boy clothing.

Boy's fashion, especially after say age 2, is based around a notion of masculinity as rough, tough, aggressive and transgressive. This is a problem when buying for Sparky, as he (and I have no problem with this) doesn't like anything scary looking. This rules out anything piratical, or any but the cutest monsters, or any skull and cross bones. You would be surprised how little this leaves. The other day I was buying him winter Pjs from cotton on, and had terrible difficulty choosing which ones to buy, as almost every pattern broke one of his rules or my rules. You see, I also have rules on his clothing: nothing that makes out he is a little soldier - camo, guns etc. And nothing that makes out he is a rotten difficult child. These 2 categories, added to those Sparky doesn't like - which I have issues with as well for a 3 year old - leave very little. You would be surprised how many slogan tees for boys have a slogan which denigrates the wearer. My sons aren't little brats/monsters/troublemakers - well, mostly not;) - and I certainly don't want to tell them so on their clothing. I don't think it is OK for my boys to be aggressive or social nuisances. I have noticed that very often parents do seem to think aggression in their boys is something to be secretly proud of.

I think this is the other side of the coin of the sexualised girl's fashion. Both trends paint a very narrowly defined idea of gender which I think goes against values you would want to instil in a child of any gender. What happened to the clothing I remember as a child? it seemed to be more kid like and less genderised. I pity the mums of girls stuck with the pink and more pink.

So, anyway, Sparky wears a lot of stripes, checks and plain clothing. Which is nice and tasteful anyway. The picture, by the way, is of the lovely kid's fashion by seed - which seems to avoid a lot of the issues I am talking about.

oscar and cate

She may not have won an oscar this year .. but she is my pick for best dressed. And pregnant too - I just look like a round ball by that stage of my pregnancies (hmm being borderline 5 foot has something to do with it). Ok, I am a major Cate fan. If I could choose who I looked like, Cate would be the one. And if I could choose whose wardrobe I raided, Cate again.

Clothes- bargains

Well, my last fashion post took off in an unexpected direction – I was just amusing myself really, but it seemed to be a starting point for readers to share where they got good bargains – so look here is a post to do that! Please respond with your own good ideas. Here is what I have found:

Kids clothes:
Cotton on kids have regular sales (almost continually! I just stop in everytime I’m near one) which are much reduced (I often find tops for $5 on sale there which are pretty good quality – they seem to hold up pretty well). They are a plainer style than say pumpkin patch, but I like that. Really comfy pjs too. For stores see: http://www.cottonon.com.au/stores.php?kids_state=NSW.

Ebay – I buy a lot of Sparky’s clothes through ebay – I find that buying the more expensive brands second hand works well, as often people saved these for good and they are hardly worn. Particularly found great bargains on 100% wool jumpers for some reason, pehraps because people buy sloppy joes - but I just love knits on kids. You can buy bulk lots too and save on postage – good for play clothes. If you are worried about ebay, I can give some of my tips for using it....

Sales generally. I love it that they are still too young to care about choosing clothes really, so I can buy clothes a year ahead in the sales and put them aside.

My clothes
Outlets such as DFO - are good for things year round on sale (thanks Prue for mentioning this one in your comment – I use it too!) .

I’m signed up to the websites of my fave brands (witchery, kookai, cue, country road to name a few) so that I get informed when a sale is happening. Also, being on these lists often means they send you special offers or vouchers. And signing to these lists is free. You might not share my tastes, but check out your faves online and register for them. For example, I’m not a Colorado wearer usually, but many of you are – if you want you can sign up at http://www.colorado.com.au/home/default.asp#/home .

Partially because I was pregnant last summer, and 2 summers before that was carrying post baby weight, I have hardly any summer clothes – and t-shirts seem to be particularly rare in my wardrobe – but my lifestyle demands lots of tees! I have discovered 2 online places to get tees that I am thinking of trying out (I have bought one as a gift so far!). They aren’t rock bottom prices, but good prices for good quality.

Threadless tees – this is an interesting site where people compete to get their design or slogan on a tee – they choose a few every week based on votes and print limited editions (I am addicted to scoring designs). So these tees don’t look like ones you get just anywhere. Designs vary from witty to beautiful. But they don’t cost too much – I got one for a gift for $25 (which included shipping from US, I think even cheaper if buy multiple). If you prefer plain, the women’s ones for threadless are printed on tees by American Apparel (aussie website for this American company is http://store.americanapparel.com.au/ - cost per tee around $30). According to reputation the fabric they use is wonderful quality – and my sister-in-law backs this up. They have tonnes of different styles all available in a much wider selection of colours than in the shops.

* the picture is a threadless tee I want reprinted -called sailing the high trees.

So - what about you? what are your bargain hunting secrets?

What mums can wear this spring (shoes)

I spend way too much time thinking about fashion – I justify it by categorising it as my hobby I use to relax, just as someone else might be into scrapbooking! Well just decided to justify it a bit more by using all my time spent thinking about this to summarise for you what will work from this season’s fashion for mums like me, that need clothes for hanging round at home with the kids, making dashes to the shops, visiting friends, doing some part time work, and occasionally getting out in the evening (and realising you have nothing to wear). And don’t want to speand lots of money.

So I will do an occasional blog on this – today it’s shoes for spring:

Ballet flats - These have been around for a while now, but long may they stay in fashion. These are wonderful – I live in my current black pair. They are flat – lets face it as much as a hobbit like me feels the need for heels, they just don’t cut it when you are looking after kids. They slip on and off – I keep mine next to the door, as I’m often needing to just dash out. They are comfy. They can be dressed up or down, and go with almost anything. Currently fashionable – and always hepburnesque!

I have a black patent pair at the moment – patent is very in – and they have seen lots of wear – but I got them for 40 dollars and 6 months later after very frequent wear the patent is peeling off. So this might be an item worth spending a bit more on. I also have a pair of colourful cherry ripe keds – they make me feel happy but don’t go with lots of stuff.

What will I get next? Silver ones. Metallics are a trend this season, and I reckon they will have that go with most things vibe black does, but have a lovely summery look to them. I am also craving a jewel embellished pair , but not so sure these will be as all purpose.

Sandals . Again, flat. Comfy, Great for warmer days. More elegant than a thong. I’m assuming you already have a pair of thongs! Keep wearing them – not that in this year, so buy new sandals instead. I have some metallically blue and also black havianas given to me by lovely people, and very handy they are. So anyway, go the sandal this year - unlike a thong, they can be dressed up or down.

Beware: all sandals are not created equal. A sandal can be a thing of resort like elegance or orthopaedic ugliness. I have put some photos in of the type of thing I am thinking of:
Now, I don’t want to encourage consumerism so in terms of spring shoes, that’s it. That should do you. One or both of those. Approaching summer, you might feel like a new pair of dressy shoes for the party season – so we will talk about those then.

* all shoes pictured are from witchery - see www.witchery.com.au

the very trivial but mind consuming things I think about

anyone else noticed that very frequently on clothing items with 2 colours and stripes, these stripes tend to be around 3/4 cm wide - it's like an unofficial stripe standard. I noticed this today for the umpteenth time as my bub and I were both wearing stripes of the same width. There must be something behind it - is it related to the traditional french jersey? or naval uniforms? and why that width? I might go google it....

jean seberg - new style icon

I just bought some sass and bide jeans - called the jean seberg. cropped, skinny and grey. I looked up images of jean seberg when I got home, as I had a vague idea of what she looked like, but here she is, and basically thats my hairdo! thats kinda what I want to look like - I look a very little like this, but add in a few years, fatigue, no makeup, hair grown out somewhat as don't go to the hairdresser every week, no ironing of shirts...