Tag Archives: fashion

what do eyebrows… toilets… people… and fashion have in common ?

30 Dec

I have to say …not much !!! except that they have each seemed to feature in my life on a regular basis over this past year.

So following a special request, and before ‘the-year-of-the-blog’ draws to a close, I’m happy to say that this piece of observational trivia touches on all of the above.

BUT… first I must  again comment that I’ve lost a day …24hours of my life vanished. Never to be seen again. So if you notice that we skipped from 28th Dec to 30th Dec …blame the International Dateline (and the fact that Australia is so far away from the rest of the world).

Now, as I have mentioned earlier…plane travel is a great time for people watching.  I mean what else are you going to do while strapped in that seat? (other than eat ‘less-than-great-food’, sleep… and watch movies). The people surrounding you can be a great source of amusement and entertainment …or a complete pain in the bum….But whichever way they go, they provides great fodder for the astute observer. Take for example or my neighbour who, despite establishing very early in the journey that I had no voice, so conversation was impossible ….insisted on asking me endless questions (prefaced with …‘Oh I know it’s hard for you to answer…BUT … what can you tell me about ….insert X,Y,Z …..for the next 15 hours)
P1010620 (2)Or, consider the super-sized gent squeezed between the armrests and looking extraordinarily uncomfortable (not to mention his next door neighbour) …or the four legged pooch who lays still @ his owners feet all the way from New York to LA ( I wonder what party drugs HE was on?)….the gorgeous young woman who ‘slipped into something more comfortable’ and travelled most of 15 hour leg of the journey in her skimpy PJ’s …the list is endless and the entertainment value priceless.

Then there is the morning ‘freshen-up’ ….Daylight arrives, people rouse from their drug induced slumber and begin to queue for the loo. There they are, all waiting to brush the fungus from their gaping mouths and prepare for ‘de-planing’ (yep that’s a word according to our flight steward), so the time taken in the super cosy cubicle is longer than any other visit throughout the flight… but that’s OK because we all want to look our best when we emerge from the airport, back on home soil… don’t we?

However, when my turn comes…to my shock and horror, I enter this slightly-warmer-than-is-comfortable space, to discover the residue of many travellers. Hand towels and loo paper strewn, water splashed all over the cupboard top and worst of all, a sink full of toothpaste spittle. Eeek !! True to my style, I can’t bear to leave it how I find it (after all…god forbid… the next person in the queue  might think I’M responsible …) …so I set about the ‘housework’ so that I can leave with my head held high.

That job done, it’s time to clean myself up. One look in the mirror tells me that 27hrs of travel was not the best for putting ‘the best face forward’ so a full re-do was desperately needed. BUT alas, when I get to the ….(you guessed it….) eyebrows, I had no colouring-in pencil or brush for a touch up. Arrrgggh !!!eyebrows

Always one to improvise, I reached for my mascara,  figuring that a hint of that would do the job …That was, UNTIL… we hit some turbulence  and my ‘hint’ became a solid swipe, and the colour turned out to blue-black rather than brown !!! …ooops, I suddenly look like ‘a horror movie right there on the TV’. 

So, after a few minutes of scrubbing, I emerged  sporting my black eyes (not QUITE what I had in mind to be ready to greet the world)  … BUT… the housework was done ….and appearances where kept up …in part at least!!

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what’s in a number?

17 Dec

I’m inspired……while I have never wanted my age to define the way I think …look …or act….tonight I was reassured that fashion has no age limit.

My advice to 50something (or 60,70,80 or whatever something) friends everywhere is…do yourselves a favor and take a peek at the Advanced Style women …. I promise you will love them too.

Here’s looking at you

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what the ‘denier’ does this mean ???

14 Dec

So … talking about the meaning of measurements (as we were some time ago) … today I found myself considering  the meaning of ‘denier’ … who would have thought, choosing a pair of tights would be so tricky ????

Today, as I got dressed to go out into the snow , I was faced with the decision of which which tights to wear … 15 denier, 40 denier or two pairs of 15 (does that make 30 ?) ….or even 300denier….. why is it so tricky ?

I want cover, but not too thick, sheerness but not too see through…. warmth but not too heavy ….what the hell does this denier mean ? ….. It’s way too hard, so I opted for the easy solution…… does it look and feel ok?

Who cares about tensile strength? or a single strand of silk (which is apparently one denier equal in weight to 124 of an ounce of yarn). The term microdenier is used to describe filaments that weigh less than one gram per 9000 meters….so what does this have to do with my tights????

Truth is …all I really want @ 50 something is warm and comfy…..

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it’s all in the foundation work

8 Oct

Some of you will recall my recent ramblings about trying to buy a ball gown … and finally nabbing a bargain (despite the cow in one of the  stores)… anyway the much anticipated  event is happening on Saturday.

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I’m happy with my dress and have all my accessories sorted … now all that is left is to figure what goes below the surface. It’s a tricky business to get the right amount of support without creating unnecessary ooze lines… so it’s a work in progress, but I’m on the winning side …just going to need a fair bit of magic tape to hold everything in place while we ‘trip the light fantastic’  ….

Or then, there is always this pretend G Strip option (pictured)…but why bother?? LOL

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saved by the frumpy fashionista…

29 Sep

For those of you who follow my daily mumblings … I have an update on last weeks formal dress shopping fiasco…  Hey Sister Where is the love ?

Having ditched the idea of ever gracing that store again with my wallet, I stumbled across a strange little unassuming shop in my speedy lunch-break today, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of gorgeous garments on sale.

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I was even more amazed to discover that I loved four of them and after a Superman style change-room effort, I could have purchased any one of three. With the help and attention of the gorgeous young store assistant (as opposed to the frumpy, middle aged cow last week), and two other customers who couldn’t help but get involved in all the fun of formal fashion fitting…. I finally settled on one dress … 20minutes total!

Having found a perfect frock, and feeling like I had already ‘won’ … I was blown away to discover that it was on a ‘super discount’ list….leaving my plenty of room to accessorise, accessorise, accessorise !!

So… to last week’s “50something frumpy, wanna-be-fashionista” I say thank you … I won !!

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the war has begun…

24 Sep

backfatI haven’t met a 50something woman yet, who is completely content with her body…probably any age really…but by our middle years many of us us feeling generally more comfortable in our skin, however we still have our pet hates… and mine is BACKFAT.

Even when I was a young and much more trim version of myself… I would look at older women and hope that those handles would never appear on my back. Not that I necessarily thought that the women were fat but I really didn’t want those extra rolls off my own… thank you very much.

But along with maturity (and less elastin) my worst fears began to come true.

Now, I can cope with the thicker waistline, heavier thighs, bigger boobs and belly, but I can’t stand BACKFAT ! (even the word makes me squirm)… so you can imagine my horror as I saw the ‘back-bra – bulge’ begin to blossom.

However life is not over yet and the war on backfat has just begun….and it seems like I might just be winning.

Backfat is the enemy and must be eradicated!!! I’m 50something but not dead yet !!!

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fabulous fashion for fifty-somethings…

9 Sep

As I dresses for work, I stopped to reflect on my ‘look’ for the day…and I chuckled.

There I was feeling great, in my army style khaki boots with my string of pseudo-pearls draped around my neck, and I had a sudden flash of “Aunty Jack”.

Gone are the days that 50Something means twin-sets and pearls (with pleated shirts and sensible heels) – today’s modern mid-lifer can do whatever she wants  …and she will !!

I’m 50Something but not dead yet !

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if a bargain seems to good to be true …it probably is…

3 Sep

Some good things come to an end all too soon.

shoes 2Like many women I harbour a passion for shoes, and a few weeks back I bagged myself a real bargain.  I came across the perfect ankle boots…they slipped on like a glove and felt as soft as slippers to wear… AND they were half price.

B_A_R_G_A_I_N !!  

So much so that I actually went back the following day to try and buy a second pair to have in reserve for when they wore out….but clearly others felt the same way and snapped them all up. Thank goodness I only ended up with on pair.

Having enjoyed the comfort for the past 4 weeks … (and smiled every-time I thought of the price)… they have now stretched so much that  I’m almost slipping out of them.. and one has developed an embarrassing ‘pfft’ sound with ever second step.

clip…’pfft’…clip…’pfft’…clip…’pfft’ ..shoes

I sound like a farting draft horse, and look like a duck as I waddle to keep them on. The funny thing is that they seem to have ‘let go’ all of a sudden, yet there is no sign of damage or fault that would justify me trying to return them ( I thought about it).

Lesson learned …. if a bargain seems to good to be true …. it probably is.

Damn, it looks like I better go shopping for some new ones !!

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that line in the sand ….

16 Aug

We all have one …. You know, that ‘line in the sand’ that tells us what we think is acceptable, and what is just that ‘bit too far’. While I’m all for self expression, and daring to be a little different… today I saw something, that for me, just crept over that line.

old ladyYou see, I was sitting in a cafe and I noticed this very anglo elderly woman (high end 70’s by my calculations). She was seated with her side to me, but I noticed that she was wearing leopard print lycra tights. I had a little internal giggle and thought to myself ‘good on you’ ….I guess.

BUT when she turned I noticed that she had her nose pierced !! There she was sipping herold lady 2 latte with two sleepers sitting side by side in one very wrinkly nostril…and  I almost choked on my coffee.

I was reminded of the saucepan advert with the elderly woman sporting a tattoo on her arm ~ referring to ‘not-so-good’ decisions….. BUT piercings are so easily  removed (if you want to).. so my guess is that she was perfectly content with her look… again ‘good on her’.

I wonder what her grandchildren think ??….and does it even matter??… I guess!

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canine couture…

12 Aug


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Just when I thought I had seen it all when it comes to doggy haute couture

Coming home in the dark tonight, I turned the corner to see 2 men walking their dogs. All 4 ‘walkers’  were sporting high vis vests, complete with reflector strips. … and topped off by the miners lamps  on their heads.

As these four bobbing heads walked toward me shooting forth a blinding beam of brilliant white light….I couldn’t help but wonder what the poor pooches thought about their unusual fashion statement  ? Functional ? – perhaps ….. Glamorous ? – definitely not.

 

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Surry Hills, Sydney