Channelling Monochromatic Miranda...I can do that.

Back from Sydney and really not sure what I was worried about...my wardrobe came together on the day as I knew it would courtesy of the burgundy DF dress I forgot I was picking up from my local dry-cleaners on the Wednesday before take-off. If I had just sat back, stayed calm and trusted in my SATC 2 almanac, which has never let me down, I could have saved myself the wardrobe massacre of the previous day. Silly me. I was hoping to post whilst I was away, but alas, my fabulous room at the Sydney Marriott at Circular Quay was not used for anything but sleeping, showering and dressing such was the bulging agenda over the two days I was interstate. And as for worrying about whether my idea of corporate was corporate enough for the corporate world, I shouldn’t have bothered...I found out pretty quick that a little injection of colour, even in Sydney, went a long way in a familiar sea of black!

So this is my dress. Isn’t it adorable? I know my wonderful friend Mel will concur because she has one exactly the same. This means of course, we need to ring each other before we arrange to catch up on the train, just in case people think we are indulging in a little bit of ‘single white female.’ Originally I had placed it on lay-by at Diana Ferrari when it was on sale for a very reasonable $69.95 (50 per cent off the recommended retail price) but managed to pick it up for a ridiculous $49.00 courtesy of an additional 30 per cent off sale items. Usually once you have put an item on layby, additional reductions don’t apply, but if you don’t ask, you don’t get and let’s face it...I had been there numerous times over the previous couple of weeks and dragged a couple of very valuable buyers along for the ride. I had developed relationships! Anyway, I fell in love with this frock at first sight, partly because of the colour – not exactly in my colour spectrum but pretty close and partly because it had my name written all over it. I’m not kidding, you put an empire waist on top of a knee length pencil skirt and add a bishop sleeve and you’ve got yourself a sale! A bishop sleeve by the way (courtesy of Wikipedia) is a long sleeve that is fuller at the bottom than the top and gathered at the wrist by a cuff. I will admit that I was a little unsure about the frill despite being a sucker for a key-hole button feature at the neck and back tie. There have been many instances in the past where frills and E-cups have been a complete disaster despite my best intentions and had I not taken the time to try on this fabulous frock, I would have missed out on something quite special.  My E-cups love it!

To complete the look, I added a pair of egg plant Leona Edmiston stockings with detail – also brought on sale, and to-die-for metallic Wittner heels I picked up for a bargain at $50.  Seriously, why do I not do bargain for a living??

As far as jewellery went, I kept it very simple. These are the triple-strand beads I rescued from the Mother Fox garage sale I have mentioned previously. They are more closely aligned to my colour wheel, which was a spectacular way of making a colour that was not quite right, more attractive to my skin tone. You can just imagine my horror when I discovered they were bound for a 50 cent box, can’t you? Really woman, what were you thinking!!! My bling-ring was another Diva purchase and a good contrast to the mix of burgundy and purple, and my ear-rings, which are not photographed because they are a tad small and the close up was scary, were a delicate vintage creation in black chrome I picked up from Noni B...yes, Noni B...don’t knock it...it’s not what it was 10 years ago...for 50 per cent off the lowest marked price, which means I paid about $4.95.

I decided, in wearing this dress that I would channel Cynthia Nixon from SATC 2. I been so absorbed in replicating SJP for the sake of illustrating the benefits of shopping your own wardrobe, I almost forgot how much I adored the costumes that adorned the monochromatic Miranda - except the halter-pant suit because that was just nasty.  It is really not worth launching into a how-to on this outfit, because my check-list would really only consist of the following:

Knee length dress in one colour – Yes, and its burgundy, what luck.

High-heeled shoes in variation of one dress colour – Yes. Again, luck; and

Accessories to match – yes, yes and yes.

Doesn’t really get simpler than that!

Oh yes and this is my favourite tea-cup.  It fitted into the well matched colour scheme, I thought I would add it the post.  Just for fun.

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