Man's White Shirt

Wearing a man's white shirt is meant to look casual, classic and collected, effortlessly chic and carelessly elegant.

On me, a man's white shirt looks like it was dark when I dressed and I reached for the wrong rack in the wardrobe, and I was probably hung over as well. It doesn't fit. It's crumpled. It's baggy. The collar is too stiff and too high and I'm just swamped. I look like an overweight child. An unstylish overweight child. I'm not a man, and I'm not shaped like a man, and a man's shirt is not going to work for me.

I will stick with a woman’s white shirt. Sure, it may have features usually found on men’s shirts, like a structured collar and French cuffs, but they will be in proportion to the rest of the shirt, and in proportion to me!

It’s a big NO from me to a man’s white shirt.

Mad Money

I found this idea of Nina's fascinating!

You put a 20 or 50 dollar note in your wallet or purse. You tuck it into a spot you don't use, like behind your driver's licence. You leave it there. You kind of even forget about it.

Then, just when you're not looking for it, there it is. The Perfect Thing. That perfectly-distressed classic pair of jeans on the sales rack. That perfect little beaded purse in the vintage store. The perfect Little Black Dress (I can dream!!!). And, of course, this will occur only when you're a bit skint. Mad Money to the rescue! You tweeze that bad boy out of the depths of your purse and the Perfect Thing is yours!

That's the idea, anyway.

So, I keep my Mad Money out of sight and out of mind. I haven't had a chance to use it, yet, but one day...

Luggage

It would seem obvious that if you travel you need luggage.

However, I've tried travelling without luggage. My first adult trip on a big silver bird was made tricky due to having stuff to take, but no luggage to put it in. I recall there was at least one taped-up plastic bag that the check-in staff frowned at. Thankfully I was too excited to really take too much notice of their disapproval. By the end of my trip, I had rationalised and packed more properly, but not before creating a little chaos at the terminals and at our final accommodation and everywhere in between.

In one of those Ironic Twists, now that I have luggage, I can also pack mean. A week of business in an Australian city only requires a carry-on bag, and not stuffed to the brim, either. There's always about 20% free space in my bags. However, I still need a bit of luggage when I travel.

Again, it would seem obvious. However, there is a radical solution to this whole luggage thing, this whole insurance-nightmare, check-in, weight-limited, hazardous material, lug-it-around luggage situation: don't take any.

Travel naked?I can hear little brain cells popping from here. Travel without luggage? Think about it! Unless you need specific items or are going to places which are either very expensive or very underdeveloped, it is certainly an option.

A friend of mine tends to go on holiday with no luggage when travelling to places where shopping is plentiful and goods are cheap. He gets on the plane to Thailand with nothing but a small carry-on bag with his wallet, documents, his phone, a change of undies and a toothbrush. Everything else that he finds he needs, he buys at his destination, and that shopping is part of his holiday experience. When it is time to return home, he gives most of it away, only keeping any small thing he wants to take back. It inspires awe and consternation in equal measure.

I think it is excellent. And, no, I don't think I could travel like that.

Lookbook

Here is something which isn't in Nina's One Hundred, but which I've found to be incredibly useful: a Lookbook!

A lookbook is basically a collection of images for use as inspiration. It can be a thick book bursting at the seams, or a single page, or a spot on the wall you stick pictures on and which constantly changes. It can be as fantastic or as prosaic as you want. It can have pictures of items or outfits you like, or pictures of absolutely anything animal, vegetable or mineral which inspire you. It can be comprised of photos, swatches, and clippings from magazines or gardens. It doesn't matter. I've seen lookbooks with bits of wool, flowers, sticks, stickers, perfume tester cards, all sorts of flotsam and jetsam which pointed the owner in some way to where they wanted to go.

I use a scrapbook for my lookbook, gathering stuff up as it comes along and tearing it out when it loses favour. It's a fairly prosaic sort, comprised of items or outfits which I like the idea or look of, with the occasional comment or note. It's rarely taken literally – what a stylist does for magazine pages is not what is going to work for me on a day-to-day basis. Sometimes, it's just the idea of it, the direction of it, the mood of it, that's important.

If you like to follow trends, it's a great way of filtering and cherry-picking all the information coming at you from magazines, hardcopy and online. You only have in front of you the bits which you really like, and the rest you can ignore.

I've found lookbooks to be so useful, I have a mini “lookbook” I sometimes take to my hairdresser, with a YES page and a NO page. The NO page is primarily full of pictures of round, boofy bobs which hairdressers love to give me, but which I hate (my face is already round and boofy enough). The YES page is primarily full of cuts which I like but which, of course, are impossible for my hair (yes, my hairdresser despairs). But it's the idea, the general intent, which is the important thing. Having both YES and NO pages has been successful so far in avoiding the dreaded pumpkin head result. Worth it.

L. L. Bean Tote

I think what this translates into for an international audience is “large, basic, structured tote”. The kind you put your groceries in. The type some people use as nappy bags. I got a freebie one with a Harpers' Bazaar mag, once, and it gets used every so often, any time I need to carry something of a certain size.

However, I don't think of it specifically as a fashion must-have, although it beats the hell out of those ubiquitous nasty green boxy supermarket bags. Some sort of handy shopping bag is needed, certainly.

The utility bag I'm currently finding indispensable is the Envirosax (http://www.envirosax.com.au/ or http://www.envirosax.com ).

I keep one rolled up in my handbag organiser so I always have a tote with me for unexpected loads or purchases. They weigh nothing, are very compact, look great (I'm particularly liking the Japanese-inspired prints, but how many of these bags do I really need?), are washable, are strong, and large enough to go over my shoulder. And they're pretty :-)

Little White Dress

I’m not too sure about this one. White can be a bit stark, and quite blinding in bright sunlight. And it shows every little mark and crease. Some sort of summery dress is essential, something light and cottony that you can throw on at a moment’s notice for the beach or midday barbecue.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a LWD that could be a summery equivalent of a LBD. I'll let you know if I ever find such a thing. Maybe it's only for people with long, tanned legs?

And if you're going to buy a LWD, you need to make sure that you don't end up looking too bridal, too baptismal, too clinical, too something. With no colour, the cut and the fabric are everything. There might be a few broderie anglaise or otherwise embroidered LWDs out there which might be OK. Tricky.

Little Black Dress

Amanda[…] Why are you dressed like somebody died?
Wednesday: Wait.

--- Addams Family Values

The LBD! Of course! THE wardrobe essential ever since we ditched corsets (what a great day that must been, all those sudden deep breaths and pin-ups asking for their ribs to be re-inserted). Everyone should have at least one LBD in their wardrobe!

Anyway, this is going to be a pretty short blog entry. So much has been said (and is still being said) about the LBD, that I don’t think we need even more information about it. It is THE essential, and I'm wearing one right now while typing this just to make a point (a little Country Road loose wool jersey thing, with long sleeves and a tie at the neck). The key trick is finding the Perfect LBD, if such a beastie even exists. I think it must involve an improbable convergence of timing, sizing, pricing and planetary alignment.

If you don’t have a LBD, hopefully you have something which functions for it – a little brown dress, or a little navy dress or a … well, I just can’t think of what on earth else you’d use, really.

It will take a fashion revolution of a scale not seen since the 1920s to topple the LBD from its throne. Any usurpers out there?