Sunny Side Up!

Today I am sharing the items I am adding to my year-round basic wardrobe for the month of March.  I am working through my clothing to see which items will stay and be added to my four seasonal boxes, of which I will "shop" from every time I want to change things up in my wardrobe. For the next while I will be creating monthly capsule wardrobes that include my year-round basics and different additions each month. I am starting this project a bit late but it will go on until I have fully curated a wardrobe that represents my colour palette  and also my three style words: Mellow, Fine and Gaiety. These style words represent how I want to feel when I get dressed...comfortable, polished and fun!! Now, let's see what I am adding for my March Capsule: The Clothing items include:  Camouflage Dress Olive Leggings Chambray Button-down Shirt Kelly Green Button-down Shirt Striped Tank-top Floral Top Green Patterned T-shirt Navy and Grey Baseball T-shirt For Shoes I have: Black Wedge-...

 In 2022 I decided to go on a No-Buy for all of 2023 for makeup, clothes, jewelry and skincare. For clothing and skincare, it is a replacements only no-buy (RONB) and for makeup and jewelry, it is an absolute no-buy. As we have been planning to get our closets redesigned by California Closets this year, it became clear to me that I have wayyyyyy too many garments of clothing and pieces of jewelry. I already knew I had way too much makeup, but because it took up less space it didn't occur to me to worry about it...until now.  In past declutters, I rashly gave away a lot of clothes and makeup which triggered me to accumulate even more...so this time when I declutter, I will do it slowly and make sure I will not miss what I am decluttering. And at the same time, I decided to not purchase any makeup or jewelry this year and only buy replacements for clothing (because white things...and underwear) and skincare. So far I have done well in January. I have not purchased anything that ...

 Today I am sharing my 10 Piece Year-Round Basics Capsule Wardrobe.  To be clear, these are not the only things I wear all year, I do add other pieces to wear as well. This year, because I had my colour analysis done, I am going to create monthly capsules around my basics to get some final wear on some items that do not fit into my colour palette. Two weeks ago I did a post about getting my colours done and you can click the link above to read that post and see what my palette is. Now to show what my basic year-round wardrobe consists of. Tops: 1. Black Hi-Low Sweater (old favourite): The back hem is lower than the front and is a nice light sweater great for layering. 2. White Button-down Shirt from Shezia: A boxier fit which is what I prefer to fitted options. 3. Black T-shirt from Buttercream Clothing, a Canadian slow-fashion brand: A simple, boxy fit top with a boatneck style "collar". 4. White V-neck T-shirt from Old Navy: not much needs to be said about this one. 5. Blac...

For my birthday this past year I asked my husband to get me a colour consultation with a lady I have followed on YouTube for over four years.  Image courtesy of @useless_dk on Instagram Her name is Signe Hansen of www.uselesswardrobe.dk   and she is a certified stylist and colour consultant. Because I had already been following and corresponding with her in the past, I wanted to support her and get my colour consultation with her. I did have to do it virtually over Zoom because she lives in Denmark! You are probably familiar with "Colour Me Beautiful" colour draping services. However, it has really evolved over the years. I first heard about it in the 1980's when it used to divide each of us into different colour seasons based on our skin tone, hair and eye colour. Now it is more nuanced and there are more groupings that are more based on tones, shades and saturation of colour than just the four seasons. I sent Signe pictures of me in natural light, both with and without ...

So now that we are in the Autumn season, I thought I would share the last look from this series: My White Blazer from Ricki's Here is the same white blazer from Ricki's that I featured in the last four posts of this kind. The outfit pictured below is from the "The Lucky Guide to Mastering Any Style" by Kim France and Andrea Linett. I do not have any of these items. So of course I improvised: I wore my black t-shirt maxi-dress from Emerallda; The White Blazer adds the colour blocking effect that the original dress has. Instead of the short booties, I went with my tall black boots from Payless. For the clutch purse, I went with my knock-off Bottega Venetta Pouch purse from Ewelyni. Of all the outfits featured in this series, this was my least favourite outfit articulation. However, I would wear this out for a date with my husband, but not a formal event.  In future posts I plan to share my seasonal capsule wardrobes at the beginning of each season, and share what I wore...

I am doing a 30 wears challenge where I wear items from my Fall 2022 Capsule Wardrobe 30 times before I decide whether to keep, pass along or toss each item. Now, in order for me to actually toss an item, it has to be beyond redemption...meaning there is no way to up-cycle the item into a new item. Without further ado, let's see what is in my Fall Capsule Wardrobe shall we? It consists of 20 items not including jewelry or scarves. However I do show them so you can see how I am adding some flair to my outfits. Tops include:  White button-down shirt from Shezia Maroon and Leopard pocketed T-shirt from Shein Black rib-knit tank top from Frank & Oak Sequinned Calvin Klein sleeveless shell bought secondhand from Tipsy Palm, a local consignment store. Black and White T-shirts purchased at Dollarama Bottoms include: Trouser-cut, wide-legged Jeans from Banana republic Leopard Leggings from So Cozy Black Trousers from Ricki's  Black Jeggings from Old Navy Black Leggings from Costco...

 We are now into the summer season and this jacket is good for those cooler summer days: "The Lucky Guide to Mastering Any Style" by Kim France and Andrea Linett shares many iconic style aesthetics.  The above image is from the chapter on Euro Chic Style, page 27 which illustrates four seasonal ways to wear a Chanel Tweed Jacket. I don't have the Chanel jacket but I do have my white blazer (above image). This is the Summer option. Below is my take on the look: The Blazer is from Ricki's, the skirt and floral top are both from Ardene, and the mules are from Nisolo. All are from my closet and therefore, no longer available. So far this is my favourite outfit out of the three I have shared so far ( Winter / Spring ). Which one is your favourite?

In today's post I want to show how basic hand sewing skills saved two of my sweaters from being thrown out. If you don't know how to sew, you can find videos on YouTube that show you basic stitching techniques that can help you to prolong the life of your clothes!! I had a couple of small holes in a couple of my sweaters that I fixed with just a needle, thread and simple sewing stitches. One of them is a grey sweater that had a small hole in the sleeve where the cuff attached:  The second sweater is a glittery gold shell (sleeveless) that had a small hole in the collar. Using the same stitch I used to mend the grey sweater, I was able to quickly mend this small hole: With the most basic of sewing skills, you too can prolong the life of your favourite clothes. Do you have any clothes you would like to mend?

  Image Courtesy of Sustainable Fashion Forum on Instagram In a previous post I discussed Fast Fashion . Now let's talk about it's opposite, Slow Fashion. According to the Sustainable Fashion Forum,  it consists of: "Multiple approaches to ethically consuming fashion such as buying second hand, vintage or thrifting, buying ethically made and/or locally made garments, buying fewer high-quality items, upcycling, DIYing fashion and rejecting mass-produced fast fashion." As much as Fast Fashion is mainly a business model, Slow Fashion is truly a mindset and a movement. What if you can't afford higher priced quality items and do not like the idea of wearing clothes worn by other people? You can buy the best quality you can afford, and take care of it for as long as possible.  Some people cannot afford to pay higher prices for clothes and out of necessity purchase from companies considered to be Fast Fashion retailers. There are others, namely social media influencers, ...