Category: Outfits

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Paperbag trousers… ready for the new season

by s.a.b4 Comments on Paperbag trousers… ready for the new season

I know it has been a while since my last post but between a new role at work and my commitments to my little family it’s been a little busy. Just a couple of months ago we were down by the coast for a last peek of Summer during the children’s half term holidays, and the weeks flew by and before I knew it, Autumn and its beautiful colours is here. I owe you all a few posts on some of the recent trips we made recently, I promise I will get to it, but today it’s an OOTD post. Time to don my knits and brace myself for the weeks when the glass wall in my home office will mean it gets a little chillier than comfortable.

Recently I have fallen head over heels in love with Lezanne Viviers, the designer behind Viviers Studio and the most dreamy pieces of clothing, mixing impossibly couture details, impeccable tailoring and a creativity not often found away from Paris Fashion Week… I found her totally by luck by going down my Instagram feed rabbit hole, and a few months later Lezanne and her team of incredibly talented tailors have made me a few beautiful pieces, all made to measure, including this fantastic pair of paperbag trousers. I fell in love with the structured look and oversized legs, and who cares if even my highest platforms disappear underneath, I adore the look. Although they are made of denim, the look ends up being very couture and fun but grown-up, if that makes sense.

Another current obsession of mine is puff sleeves. I can’t get enough of them, in dresses, blouses and this cool square neck knit. I like the 1970s vibe and how it makes my shoulders balance out the whole silhouette. It makes for fun MTeams looks as well, of course… Looking at my arms in the photos though I wonder if I shouldn’t have sized down. Perhaps a slightly warmer wash than advised will fix this.

I did give my Bronze B a little outing for the photos only… these days I barely need a bag to go to my “office”… Perhaps one day I will get back to putting full outfits together for work meetings, meanwhile, accessorizing for blog posts is all I got. How about you? How is the working from home situation going for you? Have you recovered from the loungewear everyday phase?

With love, S.

Outfits, Uncategorized

Summer… here to stay

by s.a.b3 Comments on Summer… here to stay

Summer in South Africa is usually a long, sweltering affair that starts around early October, and lingers all the way until the very end of March. In Johannesburg it gets particularly hot and stuffy most days, with sometimes a welcome relief storm in the late afternoon… This week we’ve not had much rain, maybe later today or tomorrow. I cannot wait.

Someone asked me earlier if I missed working in the office, and I candidly replied that no, I mostly missed the aircon at the moment (cue slightly shocked gasps)… That is not entirely true, as I miss the personal interaction with many of my colleagues that a MTeams screen can’t really convey, but it seems I’ve gotten used to it by now. One thing I do not miss at all (besides menial time-wasting office politics, I did not like those in London and still don’t in Johannesburg) is having to dress formally and wear high heels during the warmer months. In fact I wonder if I’ll ever be able to go back to heels over three inches!

These days I’m spending my days in long floaty dresses, like this beauty Merwe Mode made in this colour just for me. I am in love with the light fabric, the tiers, and of course it twirls beautifully, not that a serious grown-up like me ever twirls, no… What I love about maxi dresses is they look best with flats, and in the last seven months I’ve worn mostly flats; sometimes I fancy it up by wearing my Coco slingbacks or my Orans but usually it’s some version of the ones you see here… The bad news is all my pretty heels are languishing in my closet, and I’m not sure my feet will ever want to wear them again.

Although I do dress casually most days I try to fancy things up a little with accessories, like my Gucci Horsebit 1955 bag, which I wear with the strap fully extended, and a couple of glitzy Chanel necklaces… Let me reassure you, the necklaces were out by the minute I sat down for my first Teams meeting of the morning, and the bag is languishing until it’s time to log out for the day and go get my nails done (it’s time: I’ve had the same mani for three weeks, some nails have started to peel).

How about you? How is your style evolving this year? Anyone still wearing heels? If yes, where!?

With love, S.

Outfits

Safari stylish in Madikwe

by s.a.b1 Comment on Safari stylish in Madikwe

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about what I usually recommend packing for an African safari, and I had planned to do an outfit post to go with it, but then I was enjoying myself so much during our return visit to Morukuru I forgot to do proper outfit photos… and when we got back life and work got in the way so I’m only now remembering to post. It’s lucky I had a few photos for one of our coffee breaks that I wanted for an Instagram post, as they also work for this post.

This outfit is exactly how I like to dress for a morning game drive. It’s usually quite chilly in the early morning when we go out, even in late Spring, but it also gets warm around 9:30AM, and layering is my preferred option to be comfortable from start to finish. The dress here is my bottom layer, it’s made of a super light parachute-like fabric, and has buttons all the way to the bottom meaning I could also wear it open form the waist down over jodhpurs for colder weather.

I topped it off with my favourite camo shacket (this is at least eight years old by now…), which is worn down and comfortable and has deep pockets for kids snacks, my phone, lip balm etc. As a middle layer I’m wearing a jumper cum cape knit with an asymmetric hem: it is sleeveless so works well under the thinnest outerwear unlike chunkier knits and doesn’t keep me too warm. I do love the modern look of it though, it’s a lot of fun.

I could have added a shawl for extra warmth but the week-end we were in Madikwe in late September had pretty mild temperatures. Still, you can see I’m a lover of accessories as I’m wearing a croc CDC bracelet from Hermès, plenty of little chain bracelets, and, more practically speaking, a wide brim hat and my new pair of Zara desert boots. The strap on my Sony Alpha is by South African maker Lunar Straps and perfectly matches the landscape.

I love this photo of Little Madame and me on the dead branch… alas you can’t see that she is wearing her own number one accessory: a leopard headband with little ears, but it’s on my Insta feed, go have a look, it’s adorable. There you have it, I think you’d agree I am looking both reasonably stylish and super comfortable.

With love, S.

Outfits, Uncategorized

Still in Winter but yearning for Spring

by s.a.b1 Comment on Still in Winter but yearning for Spring

Here we are… still in lockdown but with harder restrictions than a week ago, and still very much in Winter: a bitter wind has joined the frozen temperatures meaning my habit of wearing bare legs with skirts and dresses even during the cold months will have to wait a little more. In truth, I’m getting a little bored of my usual working from home attire, especially as it means I’ve not worn any of my more formal clothes… That said, this week I received a few jackets I had ordered in London, and then my lovely seamstress delivered a few of my new pieces, including a copy of my favourite tiered dress in a more wintry fabric. And suddenly I was able to find my outfit mojo again.

First, a word on my jacket, by MiaGiacca… It is all 100% handmade by the beautiful Maja, who one day decided to eschew fast fashion and create beautiful pieces that look elegant and timeless no matter what you match them with. We exchanged a few messages on Instagram after I found her and agreed on the tweed, cut and chain trim (also handmade…) and after a few weeks my gorgeous jacket was delivered in London, waiting to be redispatched to me here… The jacket is not only gorgeous it’s also super light and exactly at my measurements, meaning the fit is perfect. I will be coming back to Maja for more and in the meanwhile I think it could be fun to do a post of how I can style it in more or less formal ways…

The dress is a replica of one of my absolute favourite white dresses (I realised by digging it out to take it to my seamstress to copy that I do own quite a few white dresses) in a lightweight checked fabric I found in one of my recent outings to the fabric store… The shape is oversized with exaggerated tiers, something I love as it feels very modern and unstuffy. Lightweight fabrics are perfect for South African winters because you can layer them and not feel too warm in the midday sun.

If you ever want to elevate a casual look, do it with accessories. That is why I love shoes and bags so much. With a tote and a pair of Stan Smiths this would be a perfect relaxed outfit, here I added a pair of my favourite slingbacks (they truly are my favourites: they are comfortable and chic, and in my view when you find a pair of shoes you love so much it’s totally justified to have them in various colour combinations…) and my beautiful little Coco Handle, both by Chanel.

There you have it… a look that wants to be for Spring but works for the freezing temperatures we’ve been having of late. I hope you like it.

With love, S.

Outfits

Wintry tones and cozy knits

by s.a.bLeave a Comment on Wintry tones and cozy knits

How is everyone keeping with lockdown day… what is it now? 93? It’s been a while since my last outfit post… mainly because I’ve not been bothered much with putting together any interesting outfits but also because I’ve been working like a maniac and there has been little time to post. In the meanwhile, Winter has most definitely arrived here in South Africa, and if yesterday is anything to go by, it’s going to be a cold and miserable one… Most days are spent at my home office desk, sitting through various video meetings and progressively getting more frozen, so I’m mighty glad I never acted upon my idea to just leave all my warm knits in Europe…

I’ve been wearing a variation of today’s outfit most days in the last week, although I rarely put on shoes, it’s mainly slippers and Birkenstocks at the moment… And who can blame me, when there’s nowhere else to go but my home office? It’s usually a cashmere knit as a top, jeans (how skinny or loose depends on how tired I feel in the morning, as well as whether I had a little bit or a lot of bread the day before…), and slippers… So when I put together today’s outfit it seemed a little more photo worthy than normal, and here we are.

The top here is not a top by the way, it’s a cashmere mix dress by McQ, and I’ve had it for more than five years… Remember what you read about designer pieces being investment pieces etc.? All true. I wear this dress every single Winter: it’s super warm, with a tiered detail, and usually falls to just above my knees. Here I lifted up the bottom part, hooked it up with three little safety pins that hide in the folds, and there you have it, fun sweater look with a dropped waist detail.

I added some black skinnies with a lot of stretch (what would lockdown life been if someone hadn’t invented elastane, I wonder?) and that made my outfit. Then I remembered I hadn’t taken my Hermès Kelly 32 out for a little tour of the house in a bit, so I brought her out: funny how she still has a twilly on, usually I don’t bother with twillies around handles, except if it’s the height of Summer and I’m going for long day of meetings, they avoid any moisture from my hands to transfer onto the leather.

I added a cashmere and silk shawl: this one is another one that I got from the men’s side at H, some seasons I don’t like any of the designs they have on the women’s side, so I cross over… and I share it with Hubby Dearest. Not only does it have a gorgeous grey blue colourway, but the design has loads of stars and sketch-like drawings, which I love.

Ok. Before I go, I need to leave you with a word on these boots. Chanel has been making a version of these in the last couple of years, but each time I’ve tried the leather version it felt horribly stiff and gave me visions of painful afternoons ahead, and let me not tell you how much I hate the version with the patent tips… but this pair, in the softest possible suede, in a go with everything grey, was just perfect, and it was waiting for me at the Heathrow shop on one of my stop-overs, with the nice duty-free discount as well. I am obsessed with them. By the way, anyone else missing jet-shopping at the moment? I know I do…

With love, S.

Outfits, Uncategorized

Working from home day 72 (I think)

by s.a.bLeave a Comment on Working from home day 72 (I think)

Working from home is apparently going to be my new normal for a while still… Why else would my office management colleagues have recommended I order a bigger screen for my desk and made it possible for those interested to pick up their office chairs? I love my home office chair, it’s so beautiful, grey felt over light wood legs with a 1960s feel, there is not a chance I decide to bring the monstrosity that I have at work here… Still, I did get the bigger screen and even a proper keyboard. So now my home office is a little less pretty, but a lot more functional.

However, I am slowly relenting in the outfit stakes… Don’t let these photos fool you, this outfit feels almost as comfortable as if I’d stayed in my workout leggings and sweatshirt. And I think I am slowly finding my happy medium when it comes to dressing to work from home. And it seems a lot of it relies on long-line cardis.

I have decided long-line cardis are going to be my isolation staple, especially now that we are moving firmly into Winter here in Johannesburg. It’s basically like wearing a dressing gown, isn’t it? This one is in the softest traceable merino, and it’s from Country Road at Woolworths (I am not a snob when it comes to basics like this and I see Woolies as the SA equivalent to M&S), I love the paired-down chic look of it and the versatility. Sizing is quite generous, I’m wearing a small.

But the real ace in today’s outfit has got to be the jeans: we all love a flared cut, especially if you’re short and somewhat curvy like me… these jeans are the only thing that is going to make my legs look long-ish in real life (for everything else there are filters, thankfully), and of course the super dark wash does help. And what’s amazing? For some reason I managed to find the one model that has a high waist, all mamas out there will know why this is fantastic, and has just as much stretch as a pair of leggings, so everything stays nicely smoothed in. So they really are leggings disguised as jeans. They’re from Sissy Boy.

I did add my latest pair of Céline sandals for the picture, the Manon wedges (please excuse the lack of pedicure, lockdown oblige)… again it helps with the overall impression of length, although now I’m looking at the images I’m not entirely sure the light tan goes too well with the rest of the outfit. Too late now. And in any case that was just for the photo, if you want to know what footwear I’m really wearing, head out to my Insta stories and have a laugh.

With love, S.

Outfits

All dressed up and nowhere to go

by s.a.b1 Comment on All dressed up and nowhere to go

In today’s news, it seems I have become that woman in Johannesburg who visits her wardrobe to pull up an outfit, only to walk up to the garage door and coax Hubby Dearest into taking modelling pictures. Am I a model? No. Am I selling any of the pieces I’m wearing? No. I am just another bored fashionista in lockdown, dying to wear some beautiful things and go out… Oh well. For today the garage door will do.

I’ve been scrolling a lot of fashion news feeds recently (another side effect of 2020, the year of isolation), and it seems shackets are the piece of the season. It’s hilarious because I’ve owned plenty of shackets for years, like this camo one from Pull & Bear, but apparently they seem to be having a moment.

What is a shacket? A shacket is quite simply, a shirt and a jacket in one. Think of it as having a classic shirt silhouette with buttoned pockets (usually at the chest but not necessarily, god knows I for one don’t need more attention drawn to that part of my anatomy…) and a buttoned front. The material is usually wool, felt, or strong twill so you can quite easily wear it as a jacket. Needless to say, whilst we’re well into Autumn here, there is still no need for the wool ones. Maybe in July, when we hit week 14 of the lockdown and I’m posing by the treehouse… I may even try a lumberjack look for some fun, watch this space. 

You can wear shackets over dresses, jeans, on safari, out and about for brunch, or, like me, working from home over my most comfortable pair of khaki culottes (basically these culottes are a somewhat elegant way of wearing elasticated-waist trousers with absolutely no tug anywhere around the leg seeing as they are super roomy…) I accessorized for the photo with my Zara kitten heels and my Chanel small classic bag from the Paris Cuba collection, which I promise myself I will wear more when they let me out.

There you have it, another isolation outfit… still not wearing the PJs but perhaps next week as I ordered two beautiful ones in Liberty prints from my lovely seamstress, and they would look amazing with pink sandals…

With love, S.

Outfits

Sailor stripes and kitten heels

by s.a.b7 Comments on Sailor stripes and kitten heels

As South Africa moves slowly into Autumn, it’s still very much the same routine day in day out, with mornings and afternoons filled with video calls and emails demanding urgent attention (everything is suddenly urgent), but yes, we continue to work from home here.

I am still resisting the idea of spending my days in PJs; instead I’ve gone the opposite way and go visit my very redundant accessories in the morning, at least to try a bag or two or see how heels feel these days. Not very comfortable, I’ll admit, but so so pretty. Also, notice how I took these pictures by my Globe-Trotter wheelies, if that’s not a subconscious attempt to get closer to travelling again, I don’t know what is…

Today didn’t feel like a jeans kind of day, it might have something to do with all the delicious tarts and homemade bread we’ve been baking lately, although I’m pretending it’s just because I am a little tired today, so instead I am wearing cargo trousers that have a very nice drawstring waist, which means they can be let out or in as needed. I originally bought these trousers from Theory for travel days, however with the tapered cut and lightweight fabric they are perfect for transitional weather, and yes they are incredibly comfortable. Drawstring trousers are also a great idea for post-preggo waists that are finding their way back to their normal selves (I haven’t been pregnant in a good few years but we can still pretend my waist is working its way back to what it was ten years ago can’t we?)…

I adore big sailor stripe jumpers, and this one with the gold tone buttons on the shoulder is one of my favourites; it’s from Court & Rowe. I have a similar one with blue stripes on cream but find this one is more flattering as the darker colour is more predominant (and the shape is quite forgiving, isn’t it…). This is the kind of jumper that looks amazing with jeans and Stan Smiths, but it also gets dressed up easily: sometimes I wear it with a white button down underneath and some cigarette trousers.

And, just because it was the morning and I wanted to play with some accessories, I pulled a pair of Manolo Blahnik slingbacks from my closet (the kitten heels are easy enough but my feet are most definitely resisting closed shoes, especially the pointed toe kind) and a Céline classic box. It’s important that they feel the love as well even though we’ve got nowhere to go, right?

With love, S.

Outfits

Working from home… again

by s.a.b2 Comments on Working from home… again

It’s getting colder here in Johannesburg… and I’m starting to sympathise with that colleague of mine who was confessing with glee that she was very happy to work all day in her PJs (see, I told you I’d slowly get there, I’m not quite there yet, but soon, I’m sure), especially as I just heard our office would remain closed for another four weeks at the least… That’s a lot of home-based work outfits for me to pull together.

I found this knitted dress during last week-end’s closet clear-out, it was hiding under some (many) jumpers… It’s from Mango, which pretends it delivers in South Africa: in reality it still ships your orders from Spain and you get wacked with a major duty invoice if you’re not careful, I learned the hard way…

I’ve been wearing trousers most days since lockdown so this is a nice change. In all honesty this feels very close to wearing PJs at work… After all the knit texture is super comfortable, very unlike the more structured shapes I often wear in the office, and this outfit took exactly five seconds to pull together. I am however wearing Spanx-like undies, for obvious reasons (try wearing knit fabrics over lacy lingerie and get back to me), does that redeem me?

I did make an effort with the accessories (pretty much like my colleague of the PJs: she puts a nice necklace on top of a sweatshirt and there you have it, dressed) with my favourite Hermès CSGM, a design called A Cheval Sur Mon Carré (it’s over ten years old, is at the top of many H fan’s grail list, and yet I scored in a sale!), a few fun pearl earrings from Samira 13, and my favourite Chanel slingbacks, which would need to be replaced at this point after three years of traipsing the streets of many cities the world over, if only Chanel would re-issue this very classic grey flannel combo instead of issuing some pretty garish colourways…

Watch this space, at this rate it’s very probably I’ll soon be wearing something very casual indeed to get me through my daily video call marathons, and when I do, I’ll be sure to document it.

With love, S.

Outfits

Soft tailored office look

by s.a.b2 Comments on Soft tailored office look

I’m not going to berate you with some woke speech about how it’s important to keep a routine, get out of your PJs in the morning etc etc. There are loads of articles the world over on that, each one more patronising than the other. In my case, I function by tricking myself: I trick myself into getting up to go work out by picturing the walrus I will look like in three months if I don’t, then once I’m done with my morning session, all sweaty and red, nothing feels better than a shower, getting my hair dried (yes, short hair also looks better when blow dried, it’s not just long hair apparently…), and, seeing as I can’t realistically go back into PJs at this point, before I know it i’m picking an outfit for the long day of home-based work ahead.

That being said, even in my normal office days, I’m not a great fan of super structured pieces, I like to be able to breathe and move. I always prefer softer tailoring, and these trousers are perfect. I picked the striped cotton and linen mix myself from the fabric store and had my fantastic seamstress Nicole make them for me, and a couple of other fabrics: the high wast with the pleats at the front hides a multitude of sins (like that little tummy that is sure to grow from that special relationship I’m in with mini almond ice cream lollies from Woollies). The trousers are cut perfectly for me, with a hem just by the ankle as I like to show off my shoes (when I do wear shoes, and yes today I’m wearing pretty cute ones by Charlotte Olympia).

I’l confess I only took out the Céline box for show, but as I told you I miss my accessories, so here goes. This almond green hue is truly gorgeous, and it’s still warm enough for a beige and light green look no?

Before I go, one word on knit jackets, like the one I’m wearing today: this one has a gold thread knit detail and zips on the sides that give it a luxe feel but the knit fabric keeps it all on the right side of comfortable so this type of piece is ideal for those video calls where you want to look a little presentable but not feel too stuffy (what you wear as a bottom is your choice, but if you do opt for joggers or, dare I say it, underwear, don’t get up whilst the camera is on…) As it gets chilly in the early mornings and afternoons this is perfect for now. It’s by Maje by the way (so is the top underneath with the cute cap sleeve detail), but I’ve had it at least eight years, so not current seasons, although the brand does this type of model in most collections.

Lots of love, S.