Cardigans and colour...your new best friends

OK, so this is not the I love Sussan #5 finale – I am going to save that for another day because the blouse I plan to feature in that particular ensem. is hiding out and waiting for a wash. No, this is an extra special Sussan bonus that magically transformed my usual hurried gait into a saltry strut about town. The jeans were featured in the Weekend in Paris catalogue (most of which is currently on sale people, so don’t delay) and the cardigan from its follow up, The Great Escape. The cami, whilst a personal favourite is from Country Roads’ autumn 2009 collection AND can be had at 40 per cent of the lowest marked price from your nearest DFO. Check out the cuff – it’s actually a skinny belt that I’ve hoarded for years, looped around my ridiculously skinny wrist several times; an idea that came courtesy of Gok Wan’s Fashion Fix. Love that man! Yay Gok! I wore this gorgy outfit to a barbecue recently and hit the “I feel fabulous” jackpot, and it was all due not to the most perfect jeans on the planet but to colour and more specifically cardigan colour.

Yes, people my friend the wonderful Mel and I followed the example set by the fabulous Sarah and her gorgeous pal Jess and enrolled in the CAE’s colour course for the ride of our wardrobe life. For four fabulous hours we embarked on a journey of colour history and philosophy. Together with eight other gorgeous fashionistas-in-training we learned about signature colours, talked about feelings and discussed and mused over reflection and harmony. We were shown a montage of colours and asked which one we could smell – yes smell...for me it was the soft metal and stone...calm colours, zen colours, quite clearly I-need-to-calm-the-heck-down-and-find-some-peace-from-buying-all-this-black-kind-of-colours. Then one by one we stepped up to the mirror, anxious in anticipation, giggling with excitement and somewhat embarrassed because we were mostly all wearing black, except Mel, she looked fabulous in choccie brown and beiges, as we learned what colour to wear, and what colours to not!

Now, I am a deep dusty warm ...oooh! Doesn’t that sound fab? I suit autumn colours...you know oranges (of which I have none); forrest greens (also of which I have none); brown and pink burgundies (nope); and lovely tomato reds (huh?). I least suit navy (whoops, country road jumper dress!), dark grey (oh oh, trench coat), pale rose pink (doh) and black (know it, but lately can’t stop buying it!). It was ever so exciting and motivated me to nip home, drag the new bright red three-quarter sleeve, double breasted jacket I had just picked up from the great WIP catalogue and take it back. You heard me, take it back and I am oh so glad because in its place I picked up this the most scrumptious cardi ever churned off a Sussan production line. Just look at it, isn’t it gorgeous – three quarter puffed sleevess and drape front that hits the sweet spots in all the right places. But even more important, it’s bang on colour and my freckles love me for it. Yours will too.

Check it out: Reside in Melbourne and want to follow in our stylish, mistake free-from-now-on footsteps then log on to www.cae.edu.au and search colour coordination in fashion (course code DNS22302). The next course in on Saturday, 22 May from 11am – 3.00pm, and cost is $99 per person. Trust me; you’ll make that back on the same day!

But don’t stop there: Sounds a little bit like "but wait there’s more, a set of steak knives" really doesn’t it! Anyway, for an extra $150 you can follow up with a personal session where the lovely Angela will identify your signature colour, advise you of the right make-up colours for day and night, accents and hair colours. AND you get your very own key-tags complete with all your very best colours that will have heads turning toward your direction at 100 feet. I’ve got my session this weekend, so I’ll let you know how it goes. Cost is $150...oh thank you Dr Love...happy birthday to me.

Strutting my stuff to the "I love Sussan" song

What do you get when you cross a pencil style tulip-skirt with flesh-coloured fishnets (with back seam) and black patent heels? One hot mamma who is strutting her stuff to the “I love Sussan” song. Check it out, this is my ILS outfit # 4 and it’s smokin’... Yeow! So before I begin, I must tell you that I am still partially affected by the great hard-drive debacle, but determined to shop on so I brought the skirt on Monday from my local. I nipped in for a quick squiz on route to the supermarket and nipped out again with a new acquisition at 20 per cent off the lowest marked price. Even mummy fox, the original shopping queen was impressed at my ‘look what I found on sale when I was looking to buy bananas" prowess. Even better, this little baby only cost me $39.95 and it was worth every double point. What I love about it is its take on last season’s hottest must have - the tulip skirt...you know the one? Rather short and balloons out from the waist then nips in at the hem. Absolutely adorable for the slender Gen Ys, but leaning toward the ridiculous on those of us with decent child bearing hips on the downward slide to forty! The dynamic designers behind the scenes at big Sue’s have created this spectacular variation for the more mature fashion connoisseur like little old’ moi. This particular number has a wide yoke with a zip feature and dips to a point above the left hip, which breaks up the wide expanse of colour, thus making those of us with the hot mamma moniker even hotter. Front pleats and faux front wrap create the tulip look but keep the puff to a minimum around problem thighs. I teamed the skirt with a fitted latte coloured singlet to make the most of the knock-em dead-eat your heart our Marilyn Monroe hour-glass figure (don’t forget the magic knickers) and long sleeve, long line cardigan to ward off the wind. Love this cardi! So soft and fabulous and only cost me $30 courtesy of yet another $50 VIP voucher. OMG, I love double points. Keeping up with the neutral theme, I added new wooden beads - $4, thank you very much Diva and gold hoop ear-rings. Va va voom fashionistas...why don’t you try the look.

Check it out:
Sussan skirt reduced to $39.95 on a 20 per cent of lowest marked price sale
Sussan singlet, full price at $24.95 purchased over 12 months ago
Sussan cardigan from the new collection, $30 after the $50 VIP voucher
Fishnet stockings with back seam, $5 from a Myer 50 per cent of lowest marked price sale
Black patent wedge heel, Wittner reduced to $30 two years ago
Dive wooden beads, $4
Ear-rings, can’t remember-had them for years, but they were under $10.00.
Total cost under $143.90

I love Sussan outfit no. 3...my hard-drive died...how rude!

Hi kids. It’s been a long time between Sussan outfits hasn’t it, and I have only this to offer as an excuse...my hard-drive died...eep! Can you feel my pain? It was terrible. I had so many fantastic fashion secrets and memorable shopping moments to share with you – oh my gawd, where to start...and no way to share them; a fashionista’s worst nightmare. Seriously, even trying to do justice to this magnificent little outfit up against ugly green carpet pales in comparison. I was so perturbed; I nearly threw out three pairs of perfectly fabulous shoes in frustration! Thankfully they survived to tell the tale, and so did I...so let’s get started...

Let me introduce you to the belated, but official I love Sussan outfit number 3! Isn’t it gorgeous? I will admit that it really was hard to do it justice on the carpet because of the shape and texture of the fabrice, but the lady who ran up the street to ask me where I got my shoes – Wittner, where else! – thought it was fabulous and quite frankly so do I, so you might just have to take my word for it. I wore this to work on casual Friday two weeks ago. As a rule of thumb, I would not normally team floating fabric up top with billowing fabric down the bottom. It is the quickest and easiest way to lose our shape particularly when we pack some killer curves. The cinch belt would usually be our best friend in this situation, but it was a stinking hot day and the thought of three inch elastic glued to my rip-cage was a kin to having a quick dip in a hot pot of boiling clag. Ew! Lucky for me, this particular trapeze blouse has a natural empire cut to its shape via the slim fit across the bodice and front yoke. By tying this gorgeous silk scarf into a big bow around my neck and drawing attention upward, I salvaged the hour-glass silhouette underneath. Don’t you love it?. ..Sussan scarves are so under –rated. Now the trousers – harem inspired pedal pushers, were purchased from my back-up Sussan store just prior to Christmas. I must admit, I did exactly what my wonderful friend Mel’s DH warned against! I brought the price not the item. They had been reduced from something ridiculous to $30 and out of principal I had to have them. Of course it didn’t matter than I had not long earlier purchased a similar pair of charcoal silk duds from Country Road, or that ¾ tapered trousers with front pleats are an absolute no-no for anyone with a bum, tum and thighs...they just make everything look bigger, except your legs, which in this case look shorter!...they were $30 dollars for goodness sake! While the length of the top did an exceptional job at hiding the front pleats, to make them really work I pulled the bottom hem to just under my knees to elongate my legs and circumvent the tapered effect which really would have made my bum look like that launching pad for the 747 I spoke of in my welcome. I added my absolutely spectacular Wittner platforms – the very ones that had a complete stranger sprinting up the street and I’m thinking of having bronzed when they can no longer be worn, threw on a couple of favourite little bangles and grabbed the failsafe pewter handbag by Guess. Really, how can you not love Sussan??? Check it out...

Sussan cotton trapeze blouse, reduced to $29.95 and paid for via a $50 VIP voucher (Free)
Sussan harem inspired pedal-pushers, reduced to $30.00 during a 20 per cent off the lowest marked price sale
Sussan silk scarf, reduced to $14.95 during a 50 per cent off the lowest marked price sale
Orange plastic bangle from Diva, $5
Black wooden bangle from Bardot, $5
Wittner platforms, $40 from DFO outlet
Guess handbag, Christmas present from Dr Love
Total price: $95

Check it out: Following on from Sussan’s oh-so magnificent Weekend in Paris catalogue, Sister Sue’s “The Great Escape” does not disappoint. This convenient hand-bag sized little booklet will have you nipping down to your local during your lunch break just so you can nab yourself some luxurious knits in scrumptious neutrals, stunning salmon, brick and dark plums! Yummy. Check out the look on pg 3. I’ve just scooped up a ¾ length sleeve cardi in this exact shade and am going back for the scarf. The streets of Paris by day and French country-side by night...I want that bag on p4. Its double points for all your Sussan VIPs...don’t delay...your next $50 voucher is only a cardigan or two away.