How to Pack for a Summer in Europe...and Still Feel Fashionable

Packing for a summer in Europe for a 20 something female traveller requires strategic planning. Wardrobe choices in a 55L backpack have to be limited. This means that items of clothing have to do double duty. Dresses have to be able to go beach cover up in Mykonos to being dance-floor appropriate by sundown. 


1. Pack your backpack twice


The first time you pack your backpack is to gauge how heavy it is. Note down the weight. On the second pack, aim to get rid of multiple items and slice away some extra kilos from your backpack. Be ruthless. I had to say farewell to my beloved maxi dress...


2. Pack one classic LBD


If you only bring one dress, make sure it's black. In this case my Little Black Dress can go from smart casual dinner to job interview in London. For others having one classic LBD in your wardrobe helps you feel fashionable in case you're invited to dinner with Carla Bruni. Ensure this LBD is lightweight and easy to wash, preferable of jersey-type material.


3. Separate your clothes by using packing cubes or bags


I bought some great plastic bags from the $2 shop (of all places!) that divides my clothes. At the same time I can use these for keeping my dirty clothes separate or for storing wet bathers.


4. Use a toiletry/cosmetics bag with separate see through compartments


I picked up a Revlon bag with three separate compartments which makes for easy packing. I used mine as a makeup and jewellery holder. The best thing about it is that you can easily see what's inside. To hold necklaces and earrings I've reused the little bags you get from jewellery stores so nothing gets tangled up.


5. Don't forget your chargers!


Of all the things that are easily replaceable, chargers always seem to be the most expensive. Check your chargers and if there's room pack them in your carry on. If your laptop runs out of battery in transit you should be able to find a power outlet in the airport...I saw someone waiting in line to board their flight to Singapore with their iPod stuck into the wall.


I'm about to head on the road, so my future blog posts will soon be straight from Europe. 

Lipstick on a Mac

I love Chemist Warehouse because you can get a brand new lippy for only $12.

Maybelline Hooked On Pink - coloursensational line.

J'aime le rouge à lèvres rose!

Things sound sexier in French. Now if only my beginner French wasn't so reliant on using Babel Fish...

Self Inflicted Shopping Ban

In an effort to save money for travelling I have not bought any clothes or un-needed items. So no impulse purchases, no cheap-thrills tops or dresses or accessories. It's easier than you would think. My last buy was this dress from French Connection - on sale, at least!

You know when you're serious about saving though when even VG or Supre cannot tempt you...

Nevertheless whilst the shops aren't producing many items to covet, ASOS always gives me a quick screen-shop fix. It's still too warm to lust after winter items so at least ASOS has SS10 trends at hand.

ASOS Abstract Feather Print One Shoulder Dress

Material Girl

My mother unearthed some vintage gems from her closet which was perfect for my 80s inspired outfit to a recent birthday party. Gold lurex top, Glomesh handbag, huge clip on earrings, ghetto gold bracelet and a rather new Alannah Hill bow necklace. The high waisted denim skirt is from Sportsgirl. If I didn't wear the legwarmers it could even be a normal Saturday night outfit. Minus the clip ons.

The Damage Has Been Done

Happy New Year! In 2010 I will try to spend wisely on investment pieces and I truly believe that I started this early with Boxing Day sales.

Behold, the Nine West gladiator sandals I fell in love with in my must have items for a Bali getaway post. These Roman sandals were reduced by 50% to $49.50.



I have been constantly on the lookout for a new evening clutch. Recently I was debating over this Oroton clutch. It's cute but required a lot of "hand-holding". The clutch is a very particular item in any female wardrobe. It needs to be large enough to fit your phone, keys and lipgloss without looking like you're lugging around a brick.

However when I visited Gucci I soon discovered another 50% sale on selected items. The Gucci Borsa clutch is perfect size with a very handy wristlet. Its subtle enough to go with any evening outfit, without being overbearing. I selected the dark blue over the musty pink, simply for its classic look. The gorgeous English salesgirl advised me that the interwoven GG signia is comprised of sapphire and virtually unbreakable. I won't be testing that out with a hammer anytime soon though...





Kookai's basics were also vastly reduced and you can never go wrong with a few more singlets to easily amp up your summer wardrobe or even your Big Day Out outfit (which is still a work in progress).

Wish I had these items in my suitcase for Bali

1. French Connection kaftan

2. Ninewest Maizen gladiator sandals

3. Jeepers Peepers Black Grace sunglasses

4. French Connection exclusive to ASOS bandeau bikini

5. One Teaspoon tie dye oversized beach bag

6. Mink Pink denim shorts

7. House of Baulch Caramel Bow choker

8. B Store Straw Fedora hat

9. Nookie Beach Easy Street Jumpsuit


Packing for a short getaway can be incredibly difficult. Do I take one bikini and a monokini or two bikinis? It's tough. If I had all the above items in my bag it's all I'd need for my Balinese Birthday.

I'm trying not to overplan my trip but on my must do list is:

A Balinese Massage at a Day Spa

Watch sunset with a cocktail

Visit Ubud

Go shopping in Seminyak

See Uluwata and/or Tanah Lot

Turn 24 =)

Summer Staples

Heatwaves are striking all the capital cities except for Perth. Though the sun's out and there's only a slight chill to the seabreeze, I'm still apprehensive about going for a swim in the ocean when it's only 25 degrees. Whilst waiting for hotter temperatures before I brave a bikini and the beach, I'll stick to summer dressing, which is always light and breezy.

My summer wardrobe staples are consisting of:

1. New shoes - what's in the box?



2. Bronze gladiator style stilettos. Charles and Keith $53.00



3. A pretty peplum dress for evening cocktails. Valleygirl dress $29.95



4. A playsuit for looking chic at a summer music festival. ASOS Boned Playsuit 40.00 GBP



5. OPI nail polish - Teeny Bikinis South Beach Collection $24.95

Fillies on the Field

Dress: Body & Soul
Belt: Target
Sunnies: Ray Ban


My late godfather used to call me a filly. A filly is a young female horse too young to be called a mare. That's a piece of trivia for the million dollar question.

Recently I went to Ascot with my visiting relatives for a day at the races. This can only equate to the triple Fs - Fillies, Fascinators and Food.

The buffet at the Terrace Restaurant was pretty good - a fine selection of roasts, salads, sushi, vegetarian lasagna! I did appreciate the lovely desserts comprising of fruit tarts, eclairs, poppy seed cake, swiss rolls and heavenly brownies. Yes, I remember more items on the dessert buffet because I think I ate more of those...

My horse in Race 5 My Cherie did pretty well, I only pick them according to their names and after consulting the cheat book. Hardly a winning combination but my aunt did win $95 from a $2 bet. Oh if only gambling had a high return like fashion.

Alas I like my investments where I can see it - hanging in my closet.

It's Spring

Spring means floral dresses, red Mac lipstick, sky high wedges and lots of sunshine.

Just what the doctor ordered.

Dress: Claude d Alban
Sunnies: Rayban
Shoes: Chinese laundry

(Mind Ruski's bowl in the background, it does match my shoes though!)

Big shoes to fill

This summer heels are higher, strappier and more spikier than ever. In all the shops, sandals are a blazing force of colour from hot pinks to turquoise blues and even rainbow coloured, like these from Nine West.



I am still feeling inspired by the two B's - Barbie and Blair Waldorf.

The below Christian Louboutin's were especially created for Barbie's 50th birthday.



Even prettier in pink are the Paquita 120 sandals, the same ones recently worn by Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl.





They are a bit of my price range, retailing for 457 pounds.

More affordable and still very pretty in pink are the Charles and Keith heels below.



Statement shoes like these are best offset with a different coloured outfit to avoid the Elle Woods in Legally Blonde look!

Blair Waldorf's College Wardrobe

I love Gossip Girl. Everything is just drama and more drama with back-stabbing characters with perfect skin. Lately my own life has been feeling like a GG episode, so I can't help but wish I at least had the wardrobe to fit with the soap opera lifestyle.

I've always admired Blair Waldorf's style for her elegant, timeless classic chic look. She can go from demure to minx in one outfit change in one day.

Her college wardrobe still has the odd headband - even though Dan's declared "lose the headbands, its college!" to Blair in the latest episode of season 3 "The Freshman" - but she holds together a strong, streamlined polished look even though she's surrounded by student hippies/greenies/poets at NYU.

I love the below striped blue and white dress she wears in the last scene with the hot pink stilettos.





It's very similar to a French Connection dress that I've been eyeing, but not exactly the same. Apparently the above is a Co-operative Designs dress...now if only I could find one!

Stylist Eric Daman chats about his inspiration for Blair's wardrobe below. Who says fashion isn't an art?

Fashionable Fridays

Fashion Friday's are held each month at the Parmelia Hilton's Globe restaurant. This month Manning Cartell was the featured designer at the fashionable lunch which was part of the Perth Fashion Festival.

With a glass of Moet & Chandon and a scrumptious barramundi fillet for our mains, we watched the models show off the latest from the summer collection. I loved the dress with the zip ruffles skirt - not very practical though to sit down on!

The collection was full of bright patterns, a gorgeous flowing maxi dress, sizzling short mini dresses and asymmetrical cut jackets.

A highlight though was my goodie bag which contained a MAC mascara, L'oreal hair mousse, an in-season pass to 500 Days of Summer and a $10 Myer voucher amongst other things.





Dress: French Connection
Necklace: Tiffany
Shoes: Sachi (not in the photo but I do love them!)

Cheap Thrills

Little known fact about me , I used to work at Valleygirl in my final year of uni. I saw hundreds of clothes being put on the racks, tried on and sold. I would be privy to change room secrets, giving advice to teenage girls, mothers, the occasional grandmother. Honesty is the best policy, so yes you can justify buying a $30 dress that you'll only wear once.

Years later, Valleygirl still gives me cheap thrills. Yes, it's a chain store which means that you can never guarantee that there won't be another five girls wearing the same dress as you. However, you can mix and match and buy a complete outfit for under $100.





Like a bodycon black mini with a silver zippered back. This $29.95 dress is tight-fitting, so breathe in!



Uber cute cropped jackets for only $59.95. Great for tran-seasonal wear when spring finally arrives.





For what I like to call the Boyfriend Shirt look, this shirt is on sale for $24.95. Perfect with black leggings and flat boots.

Tres cheap chic!

ASOS Bargain Hunting

It's July! This year is flying by and I'm not even sure how I feel about it.

I'm eagerly awaiting my very first ASOS order - all items are on sale and postage was only 3.95 pounds. I stalk items on ASOS a lot. It's a bit of a problem. But I've finally put an actual order through!



ASOS Bandage Skirt, 13.50 GBP
This skirt is hot and would look amazing with my black ankle boots!



ASOS Pink Button Knit Top, 7.50 GBP
I think this is a great work top, a pink top is always good to throw on when you feel like a mood lifter on an otherwise uninspired Tuesday morning.



French Connection One Shoulder Ruffle Jersey Dress, 33.00 GBP
I've had my eye on this number for awhile, so glad it's on sale! It's a very flattering dress that works well on any body shape or size, easily dressed up for night or with a jacket or cardy for daytime wear.

So exciting...especially since I haven't ordered anything online in what seems like forever!

Ladies who lunch in leopard print

Sometimes I wake up on Saturday morning and feel like the weekend holds so much potential. It's the feeling of absolute carefree, unstressed weekend wonderfulness that I would simply like to bottle up.

After a spot of shopping, I had a lovely lunch at the Subiaco Hotel on Saturday. I've only ever been there for drinks and never for a proper meal.

I ordered the squid fritters with ginger wine, mushrooms, spring onions and sweet potato and had the NV thorn clark SA sparkling. For dessert I shared a sticky date pudding with caramel sauce and ice-cream. It was divine!

The servings are fairly small though, as I only ordered an entree, I could have fitted in a main but I wanted to save room for dessert. Yes, I'm rather bad like that.

Nevertheless the Subi has great service and a relaxed and pleasant ambience. It's a nice place for a formal occasion or for a whimsical lunch for people watching and gossiping.

The only annoying thing was that I saw someone wearing the same leopard print top as me. Is it a compliment or a fashion disaster? Oh well, at least I had a cardy on.



Top: Valleygirl
Cardigan: Giordano from Kyoto, Japan
Leggings: Voodoo
Bag: Gucci

Cheap & Chic

My workmate called me into her office yesterday for a secret meeting. She smiled cheekily at me, and with a flick of her blonde hair, stealthily pulled out a shopping bag from under her desk.

"I just had to show you my lunchtime buys!" she gushed.

Spread out across her table she shows me a gorgeous checked blue skirt with heart shaped buttons, a black miniskirt, half a dozen kitsch stud earrings, knee high socks and low heeled patent shoes.

"It's all from the little Japanese shop on Barrack Street, Chic & Chic."

Chic & Chic is one of the stores you've probably passed by on Barrack Street but probably wouldn't look twice at. It's garishly pink, has a haphazard arrangement of fashion items and is in a rather odd location away from the main shopping malls. Who knew it was such a treasure trove of cutesy outfits and colourful accessories? Well, who else besides my workmate?







Chic & Chic has an online store and is at 115 Barrack St, Perth.

It has lots of potential!

All images courtesy Chic & Chic.

What's Up Pussycat?

I'd like to say that the Pussycat Dolls and Lady Gaga Perth concert at Burswood Dome was absolutely mindblowing, but it was just short of being awesome. Yes, they had fantastic costumes, the music was great and their dance moves were very sexy but the concert lacked a certain "special something".

Jules and I had a tactical plan of getting as close to the front as possible and along the way we made some new LG and PCD friends. The crowd was very young (or I must be getting old!) and a lot of the girls had kitty cat ears that they'd bought from the merchandise stand. I don't want to dwell on how much they probably cost.

Lady Gaga is an intriguing character. It's easy to write her off as an overly manufactured pop sensationalist who is riding out her 15 minutes of popularity. Is she male or female? What does she look like under her hair and makeup? Does she control her image or is it a complete fabrication? Lady Gaga comes across as a singing robot, particularly in the video clips accompanying her concert, she has a postmodern persona that doesn't come across as being human.



Despite her crazy outfits and nude bodysuits, LG has an impressive voice. She played a short set of about six songs. The best part was when she played the piano and broke down Poker Face leaving the audience guessing as to what song she was actually performing.

Pussycat Dolls came onstage in a blaze with their corsets, stilettos and big hair. PCD is an all girl group where what you see on You Tube is pretty much what you get. They played a "by the book" concert and I felt like, despite all the booty-shaking and shimmying, Nicole Sherzinger lacked the stage presence that I expected from an international performer. She needed to do a couple of ballads where the music shined through rather than all the glitz. After all LG did it, so Nicole should've been able to as well.





Nevertheless my favourite songs like Hush Hush, Don't Cha, Buttons didn't disappoint. The best song of the set was definitely Jai Ho which led to a lot of Bollywood dancing on my part. For some reason it didn't rev the audience as much as one would've thought...

The next gig I go to will have to be a nice, cozy initimate performance where I don't feel like just another ticketholder.

I did end up making a DOLL tank top. All up it only cost me $12!

Leather - a Good Girl's Fashion Ammunition

Sometimes a Good Girl needs an outfit that makes her feel rebellious. An outfit that lets her bad girl alter ego come out to play. Leather, and great quality pleather, makes a girl feel tough, confident and in control.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I've been searching for a scarf to team with my Piper Lane Bomber Jacket. I'm in love with my jacket and, since the weather in Perth has finally begun to act like winter, I've been wearing it all weekend. Although I'm a size 6-8, this is a size 10 to give me some extra space for layering.



Zipped up!



Recently my mother dug deep into the back realms of her closet and presented me with this leather skirt. She has never worn it! It still has a tag attached. I love the texture and colour of the Atelier high-waisted skirt. It would look amazing with a pair of black boots and fishnets.



I'd love a cropped leather jacket or a more fitted one as well though, like Rihanna's Gucci leather jacket...it's bananas!



So I'm thinking with all this leather I just need to jump on a motorbike and be a good girl gone baaaaad. Or at least singing and dancing at Pussycat Dolls concert on Saturday night.

Listening to: Bad Influence by Pink