formal

For many, their school formal is one of the most exciting and anticipated events of their schooling life, while for others, they're a bit more of an inconvenience than anything else. However, despite your own views on them, it's guaranteed that as term four of school comes around, the main topic of conversation turns into something formal related. "What are you wearing?" "Who are you taking?" "Who's having pres?" "Who's having afters?" "Can you get your brother to get me some alcohol?" So much hype surrounds the event that when it arrives you realise that it was all a bit of an anti-climax and you're stuck with a dress (in some cases) that you spent lots of money on and that you'll never wear again.

Having been invited to seven formals in my lifetime, certain themes have started to occur in terms of people's approach to what they wear. There are a few key ways in which people go about their formal that once mentioned you'll begin to notice and pinpoint with everyone at your own. These are: The online shopper, the handmade dresser, the vintage lover, the extravagant and elaborate and the subdued spender. 

The online shopper: There's no denying that online shopping is possibly one of the greatest inventions since probably the invention of the wheel in the 4th millennium BC. But as wheels can lose air, online shopping too has its faults especially when shopping for a formal dress. Shops like ASOS, Princess Polly, Nasty Gal and thereformation are the go to shops for formal dresses, and while it's convenient and in some cases cheap. The chances of someone wearing the same dress as you is heightened drastically. The problem with online shopping is that the dresses and shoes are very 'in' at the moment, so your shoes and dress aren't necessarily going to be unique or make you stand out in the way that you'd like. At my year ten formal, someone bought her whole outfit online, off a pretty conventional website and someone wore the exact same dress and the same shoes in a different colour. For my formal this year, I looked for a dress for ages and couldn't find one. So eventually, I just asked my mum to find me a dress online. I've admittedly bought my whole outfit online this year which I'm a little bit concerned about as it was all from Topshop but I tried imagining anyone else in my year wearing the same dress and I can't picture it, so hopefully that's a good sign.

The handmade dresser: I have a lot of respect for the seamstresses amongst us who are talented and committed enough to make not only their own dress, but dresses for their friends as well. There's a few in every year who wear the most stand out dresses that are an absolute reflection on their personality and style. Some, who are unable to sew go to dressmakers to manifest their dream dress into reality, the best dresses I've seen at any formal I've been to have been handmade. But at the same time, often these handmade dresses are so to one's own personal taste that nobody else appreciates it. That's okay though, because in all honesty if you're dressing to fit in with other people's style, you'll end up in an unhappy and unmemorable dress and situation. 

The Vintage lover: There's no denying that vintage dresses are absolutely fantastic, I personally love wearing a vintage dress and knowing that someone else wore this to a similar event, it's like you're wearing a part of history which I find really cool. In fact, there's this vintage dress shop near my house and I went there to find a formal dress with my mum, as well as being whisked away into a dressing room with my own personal dresser whilst being served coffee and tea, I found the most beautiful dress ever and it fit perfectly but it also cost $1000 which nor my mother or I were willing to pay. The people who wear vintage dresses to formal are often the most gutsy and memorable, often going for total vintage vibes, they look elegant and timeless which I adore. For one of the formals I'm going to this year I'll be wearing a handmade dress designed and made for my grandmother which really excites me as I know that nobody else will be wearing the same thing, and that someone who I never got to meet but whom I've heard so much about had really lovely experiences wearing this dress. 

Extravagant and Elaborate: Without fail, this person graces every formal with their $90 makeup from mac, their $180 hair design from an elite hairdresser and their $400 dress with $200 shoes to match. These are the people who have counted down to their formal from when they were five years old and whose parents are living vicariously through them to make up for what they didn't have growing up. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this though, as many people have different priorities but one thing is for certain, money doesn't equate to style and while I've heard of someone wearing an $8000 Versace dress, I'm sure that someone who spent $100 on a dress will look equally as beautiful. The Extravagant and Elaborate formal go-er will be trying to make formal the night of their lives and remember spending what some would consider their life savings on a dress shouldn't be intimidating to those of us without that luxury as it's like when people ask how much you've studied just to brag about the ten hours of maths they did, your two hours was just as effective and got the job done. 

Subdued Spender: The subdued spender is often envied by many, they're the person who managed to pick up a killer dress for a steal. They're the person who watched youtube tutorials for their hair and makeup and it looks professionally done. Some of the best formal looks I've seen have been found for under $200, even cheaper than that for some cases. I'm personally a big fan of this person in the formal situation as rather than spending their savings on a dress they'll wear once, they buy something a bit more versatile and can wear it again and again, which I've not been able to do and regret immensely. I'm trying to be as cheap as possible this year with formals as I'm currently not in the best financial situation so will be doing everything myself, which I'm looking forward to.

Now the above list is a drastic generalisation, I'm not going to say that everyone who attends formals will fit into five handy categories but I like to think that everyone identifies loosely to some of the categories. But most importantly, enjoy your formal, dance lots, laugh lots and be comfortable and confident in what you're wearing. Confidence shines brighter than any outfit would.

Liv xo

Obsession

Over the past few months an overwhelming obsession has built up over all things iridescent, holographic, perspex, white, minimalist and flatform. It's sort of like I've turned into a magpie and suddenly flock to everything shiny, this hasn't been an occurrence necessarily of my own accord either as I have a group of extremely fashionista friends who were tuned into this obsession long before I was. But it has developed and I'm embracing it, blogs like love-aesthetics inspired perspex clutches or cool cut-out perspex panels in jumpers (not my creation but fashionista friend Niamh is right onto that bandwagon). And obviously holographic stuff isn't necessarily a new thing but it's kind of sea-punk and futuristic and has so many good vibes like really, when you look at holographic stuff all you can think of is the future and flying cars but also wearing a pair of holographic flatfoms can spice up ANY outfit.

This brings me to my next point: flatforms. As a pretty tall person I've always struggled with wearing heels as I've always towered over my friends and for a long time, boys. Then for a while I became really self conscious of my height and so slouched and ruined my posture and then missed the vital training years of how to walk in stilettos and it was just a disaster. Thankfully now I love being tall and don't really care of how much taller heels will make me because if you can't work what you've got then whats the point in having it. But you know, obviously not every day is an occasion to wear heels so I've heavily invested in the clog, chunky sandal and flatform bandwagon. Flatforms particularly are so versatile and give you added height without the inconvenience of heels and can be worn casually or to go out, which is why I think everyone should invest in at least two pairs because you need one for summer and probably a chunkier ankle strapped one for winter. Sportsgirl has been the source of my last two pairs and they're insanely comfortable and are the cause of many compliments on a very regular basis. There are so many varying heights on flatforms now too which I really like so you can go for a very statement, almost artistic option or a more subtle option that gives you some nice extra height, and they're so insanely comfortable. Honestly, if you're going to invest in one shoe this summer make sure it's a flatform, seriously.

I was procrastinating so did a funky lil photoshoot

Big Clutch: Target! $20.00

Holographic phone case: Target $15.00

White Chunky Sandal: Jeffrey Campbell, $125.00 (bought from the markets for $70.00)

Perspex clutch: Made by me out of a bag carrying a quilt cover

Holographic Stilettos: Topshop $124.00 (worth every cent)

Other phone case: Sportsgirl $5.00

up close, they're so so beautiful

Someone was wearing these at a Tavi Gevinson talk I went to, so so cool in real life.

Stella McCartney, just look at the perspex.

Liv xo 

the best thing ever: childhood nostalgia

So lately lots of things have been changing around me; I've graduated school and have just turned eighteen, amongst the most stand out of events. But I hate this idea that once you turn eighteen you have to make adult choices and whatever because really I don't want to be an adult, or make adult choices and the only reason I was even looking forward to turning eighteen was at how easy it'd be for me to buy alcohol.

So while in the eyes in the law I'm an adult, in my eyes I'm still quite firmly a child. And, the other day whilst cleaning my room I found a selection of some fantastic accessories from when I was about 7 and it brought back so many childhood memories that I'd forgotten entirely about. Now, my childhood wasn't really stand out in the sense that I never really went overseas or did really cool camps and whatever, but I did have two older brothers. So even though I was born halfway through the 90s I still had very much a 90s childhood, and as a result of that had some very 90s/early 00s outfits and accessories...some of these accessories I found the other day. But also, since the 90s are 'back', I've been able to buy so many things that just take me back to my prime; 1999.

This is what I love about fashion, you can try on a skirt that you wore on your first date and all of the butterflies and awkwardness come flooding back. You can buy a pair of sparkly socks and you're taken back to the school disco in 2001. This has been happening to me more and more recently and I was taken back to my Avril Lavigne punk stage of 2002, my Baby Spice phase of the late 90s and even my Lizzie McGuire phrase of 2004. That's also what I love about the recycling of fashion, at the moment we're in a mix of pretty much every decade before ours and I absolutely love it, I love how I can wear my mum's jeans that she fondly bought in the 70s and she can recount the last time she wore them and what was going on in her life at that time.

There is a problem with this though, I've turned into the worlds biggest clothes hoarder because I keep seeing my mum wearing things in the 70s and getting angry at her because she didn't keep them. Or even seeing photos of me from like 2005 and doing the same??? But even so, just looking back at photos of old outfits are one of my newly found favourite past times, how nice is it looking back at a dress you wore and being flooded with memories? I think it's probably just my way of coping with the impending 'adult choices' that have to be made.

(the fake hair was part of my punk stage)

and here's me in 1999 wearing a cool jumper that is actually radiating!?

5 stars for mum

Liv xo