Tag: what i wore today

Outfits, Uncategorized

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, 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.

Style, Style Notes

The new office style

by s.a.bLeave a Comment on The new office style

I have to say, this whole working from home situation has created a conundrum for me. You see, most days, my usual getting ready routine in the morning involves getting dressed from the shoes up… and most office days, that means high heels, the more fabulous the better. Now, with most of us non essential workers (yes I also feel very valuable thanks to this term…) working from home, high heels are suddenly redundant, much to my chagrin, and in fact I feel a little odd even putting on shoes to walk to my desk, turn on my laptop, and start what usually looks like a never-ending symphony of video calls.

I know, there are some hardcore fashionistas out there who work from home with their 120mm Loubies on and I applaud them; there is also the other end of the spectrum, with the club of pyjama all-day lovers, and actually the other day I was on a video call where someone forgot to put a top on and yet hadn’t realised their camera was on (at least I hope they hadn’t realised). Let’s not judge…

Still, in these strange times where your bed is metres away from your desk, when your children’s headmaster is also your husband, and the school’s recess time with all its squeals often coincides with that big deal conference call about how this funding structure or that guarantee scheme will save the world’s economy, it’s fair to say office style has taken a whole new meaning. Also, why do most people insist on video calls? What is the appeal of a poor resolution image that is badly-lit and weakens the connection? And whilst we’re here, why can’t video call apps have a filter that smooths out wrinkles and exasperated facial expressions….? Dear Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Skype creators, food for thought. Until then, I’ll use a combination of my desk lamp and my selfie light to create the illusion of a glow, and the minute non essential goods are available to buy again in South Africa I’m ordering one of those ring lights used by make-up artists. If you’re going to spend your day on a video call, why not look good.

Anyways I digress. You’ll find I do that a lot. We’re talking style, specifically home office style. Getting ready in the morning is still very much a pleasure for me. With the aforementioned video calls in mind, I now start my outfits from the top down. I usually opt for a light top, because that makes a nicer frame for my face on video. I have loads of open embroidery blouses in whites and creams, most of them from Zara, and they are getting use a lot. When I have a very serious meeting ahead, I usually opt for a classic button down, like the one in the photos above, which is Misha Noonoo’s Husband Shirt. Without knowing, one could guess that my bottoms are just joggers, but to date I have not gone there yet; then again we’re only on week four of this lockdown, ask me again in a few weeks and I may be a completely different person. For now, I usually go for jeans (no, I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone, but it helps to make sure they still fit from time to time, what with the fridge and pantry so close to my office) or paperbag carrot trousers, they are my favourite cut at the moment and I love the ease of the knotted belt.

What I miss the most in this new office style is accessories… Picture this: me packing my wallet, mobile phone, make-up goodies etc into my favourite Chanel jumbo, only to walk down the corridor to my home office, how silly would that be? How about me wearing some serious heels, only to take them out as I fold my legs under my to sit more comfortably through virtual meeting number five… I mostly wear flat espadrilles, sometimes a wedge if I’m feeling particularly committed to the stylish cause, but yes, I miss my accessories. Sometimes when it’s a bit chilly, I wear one of my CSGMs, and seeing as we’re going into Autumn and Winter here, with a bit of luck that will be everyday. Until then… let’s just say my home office style is quite basic.

With love, S.