Milla Fox; on my soap box. No more neutrals.

Despite the fact that I am supposed to be reverse saving in preparation for the family holiday to the UK, I have been perusing my local fashion outlets of choice and am absolutely appalled and disgusted over the recent lack of colour in many main-stream retail chains. Actually, I was having this same conversation with the most amazing Angela Vrettas – founder and owner of Scent of Life and colour consultant extraordinaire - just the other day and one that I have repeatedly with my wonderful friend Mel as we lament over the fabulous colour choices offered from our new favourite on-line fashion store, Anthropologie as seen here. It seems as though that someone, somewhere decided that as soon as winter sets in no other colour combination other than black, grey, white, beige and muted variations of whatever colour designers choose to ‘pop’ should be found. Well to be perfectly honest, I’d rather grind rocks with my teeth than blend, lifelessly into the background! The neutral-only notion that dictates what we shall wear and when – Melbourne is particularly notorious for this crime - first came to my attention a good 18 months ago. My fabulous and most excellent cousin Glenda was in town and looking for a new handbag for the up-coming winter season. Despite carrying a perfectly fine black bag over her left shoulder, she immediately began to discard anything with a hint of colour and instead concentrated on anything in shades of tar! Eventually she held up said black bag and asked me what I thought. I thought, I told her, it looked like a black bag. Why did she need another black bag? Why not a red bag, or a blue bag? Because she told me, it was winter, she needed a black bag! Now, we all know that I have nothing against black... I have quite a few pieces of black in my wardrobe – remember the Cue suit. Nor do I have anything against any other neutral. Neutrals are important and everyone should have some because after all, we do not what to look like a circus clown do we? But neutrals should not be the only colour option on offer (are you listening Jacqui E? Witchery?) and excuse me for saying so but a ‘pop’ of colour does not count. I don’t want a ‘pop’ of colour, I want to choose from a whole freakin’ rainbow!

By denying us a variety of colour options, fashion houses no matter how main-stream and budget friendly should not dictate what colour they think is appropriate during any season of the year. Nor should we allow them to turn us into little beige, white, black and grey clones of each other. Colour promotes individuality and adds light to an otherwise sombre winter day. Trust me. If you’ve caught the train into the city during the week, you will know what I am talking about. Sadly, the expectation that we will conform to the neutral hue of the season is not limited to the weather. There are also those who believe that your greatest chance to secure your job of choice is to throw on a neutral and blend into the background. But really, who said we had to wear a black suit and white shirt to an interview? Add a white towel over your arm and you might as well bring your prospective employers the cheque. Why not a well fitted, well presented dress in magenta or green? Or, satin shirt with billowing neck tie in a rich plum? Surely my personality, capability and experiences are best complemented by my ability to put together a professional yet glamorous outfit that screams confidence and self-belief in a colour other than a sunless sky?

In thinking about this issue I remembered a branding exercise I coordinated last year on behalf of women in local government. I asked 250 women who worked in the sector how they would dress local government if local government was a woman. The majority of answers were sadly unsurprising - shades of neutral, mostly black and navy with the odd ‘pop’ of colour for the more ambitious. Sound familiar Country Road? So, the next time you reach for that black winter dress or grey suit with white shirt ask yourself this...are you really trying to blend into the back ground because some said you should or are you stuck in pattern of comfort and convenience because the store you are in actually gives you no other choice?

Milla's Hot Tip: Ok, so despite our frustrations over the abundance of non-colours on offer, the vast majority of us continue to shop main-stream retail chains because we are over-committed, always in a hurry and sometimes have one or two little people hanging off our skinny jeans who are one more store away from throwing a monumental tantrum. But that still doesn’t mean you should compromise your potential or bow to the design whim of your most convenient style house. Once you work out what colours bring out your most fabulous facial features, the world is your oyster. Just as long as you can find the bloody thing. Here are a few stores that I’ve visited lately that offer a plethora of colour choice to start you on your way. Please feel free to add others, and in the meantime enjoy a colourful taste of what could be courtesy of Anthropologie.

Diana Ferrari
ReviewCharlie Brown
Espirit
Sportsgirl (if you are under 35)
Retail chain clearance stores(multiple season discards make for many colour options!)

What to do in a wardrobe crisis

My wonderful friend Mel is having a wardrobe crisis, and as someone who has suffered a number of such crises over the years my own wardrobe bleeds in sympathy. Any sufferer will tell you that a wardrobe crisis is no laughing matter. Dr Love! It can turn even the most creative and stylish of us into a sobbing, heaving mess on the bedroom floor with our body image hovering somewhere near our suddenly over-large ankles. Nothing fits! Everything looks old, worn and so last season. Even our skin has morphed into a canvas of dry, cracked and peeling paint and as for our hair. Well...paper bag anyone? Shopping loses its glossy appeal. We can’t find anything we like. Everything we try on makes our arms look like tree trunks from the Enchanted Forest, only without the fairies and no matter what we do, we still look as though we swallowed our grandmother’s feather bed...ah the memories.

Lucky for Mel, I knew exactly what to do. I had been on that very brink only a few months before and managed to bring myself back from beyond without so much as a single kleenix. The solution was simple. It was time for Mel to bid farewell to her nearest and dearest, and find herself some new stores in which to shop. You see, as humans we are creatures of comfort and by comfort I don’t mean a big, soft cosy couch. I mean, we seek situations, people and places that make us feel safe and comfortable and without realising it, our lives become repetition. For the vast majority of us, we will shop in the same stores, and seek the same look because it makes us feel safe and in some situations, accepted. Our favoured stores and much loved jeans rarely let us down. We have always found what we’ve wanted, or at the very least an acceptable compromise and in turn we’ve been able to go about our business without detriment or drama. For the most part we resist change for any number of self-justifiable reasons - how many times have you got up in the morning determined to wear a dress only to find yourself walking out the door in your trusty denims because nothing else fits?? Then one day without realising it your whole world explodes. It’s a little bit like the time you ate nothing but toasted cheese sandwiches for breakfast for five months, then in the sixth months you burst into tears at the slightest smell of a bit of cheddar because your body craved something else. Same principle. For me, the turning point was the day I had my colours done. All of my favourite stores – Sussan, Witchery, Country Road, Jacqui E...need I go on were full of blacks, greys and white and the odd pop of whatever colour was hot off the runway that season. It occured to me then I needed to change not only the way I shopped, but where I shopped otherwise I would condemn myself to a life of neutral compromise. So I began to look for colour first and then shape and style and suddenly a whole new and glorious world of fashion appeared before me; a world that I now will share with my wonderful friend Mel.

As I text her back to sooth her fashion fears, I was reminded of a great story I once heard (and now paraphrase) about a man who fell down a hole in the middle of the street. He called out for people to help him, but no-one came. Then one day another man appeared at the edge of the hole and asked the first man what had happened. “I fell down the hole,” the first man said. “Can you help me get out?” “Certainly,” said the second man and jumped into the hole. “What are you doing?” said the first man in panic, “now both of us are stuck down the hole.” “Yes,” said the first man, “but I’ve been here before, and I know the way out.”

So Mel, when are we going shopping?

Milla’s hot tips:Ok, so you get the whole new-store-old-store concept but your budget doesn’t allow for a generous or short-term shopping spree. What do you do? Simple...you grab yourself a friendly style queen in training and shop your own wardrobe. You will be amazed at the number of new en sems you can create with a new pair of eyes. Make sure your SQIT (style queen in training, don’t you just love it) is someone you can trust to be honest. You need someone that will help you decide what goes with what and what looks best for your body shape. If in doubt, immerse yourselves with a couple of fashion mags and set about recreating some of your favoured looks. While you are at it, grab a pen and start to make a list of items you would like to buy to complement your new wardrobe then next time you are out, look for that item – colour and shape...you might be surprised where you end up. If you are still not sure about colour, experiment. You'll soon work it out...

I really need to go shopping

There I was, lying in bed last night contemplating the smallest wardrobe in the world when I turned to DH and said “you know, I really do need to go shopping!” I could almost hear his eyes rotate in his head and a deep sigh...or was it a moan?...emanated from his lips. Ok, sure he’s heard it all before. But seriously, I meant it this time. It had come to my attention that a good number of my clothes ceased to fit over the post-baby E cups. Yet, I continued to keep them in rotation when all they really did was mock me every time I attempted to embark on my next big fashion experience. So, armed with what I considered to be a guilt-free budget...I brought that jacket from Cue like I thought I might...and ripping excuse to drive across town to Chaddy – a friend is getting married and in need of a present, I loaded BB2 in the car and shot off to my destination with excitement running through my veins. I make no secret of the fact that I love Chaddy. It was my home away from home when I first moved to Melbourne all those years ago. I was still somewhat of a style disaster back then. All the best intentions but seriously no idea beyond big W. Thank god things have changed. After I had completed the very important chore of choosing something fabulous from the bridal registry and arranging delivery, I hit the shops. Or more importantly, shop – Myer. It's actually a bit dangerous to turn left out of David Jones because that leads you into the new high-end extension and when you are a limited resource fashion addict like myself, walking past Prada is a bit like eating a toasted cheese sandwich when you are lactose intolerant.

Anyway, I do like a good Myer. They stock all the right budget conscious-yet fabulously stylish brands in the comfort of the same venue - I’m a little bit lazy like that, and they also have the best "50 per cent off the lowest marked price" sales in the world...how else do you think I got those gorgeous Mark Jacob heels for $125 reduced from $560 several years ago. Which, reminds me I spied the same pair on eBay recently for $30 and it just about broke my heart...I love my Marc Jacobs and have just paid $50 to have them re-soled! It was just my luck that they had said sale on now. Jackpot! A little over an hour and several scary hyena altercations later...what is with women and a sale? I emerged victorious with four fabulous tops from Cooper St, Piper, Country Road and Basque – none of which was priced over $37.50, to rejuvenate my poor tired little wardrobe. The most glamorous of the haul is without a doubt a steel blue satin empire top with three-quarter sleeves and front detail. It is cut to perfection. It’s pictured above with my Mark Jacob shoes, which I threw in to show off. I really didn’t think my complexion could support the colour, but apparently it can. I’d barely got it on before I’d made up my mind that I had to have it. It was reduced to $37.50 from $129.00. I'll post piccies of the other items over the next few days. I'm a little bit tired now and poor forgotten DH really wants me to go and sit on our brand new chaise lounge that was delivered today, which incidentally perfectly matches the new Cooper St blouse. I know, what a week.

Check it out: My wonderful friend Mel's DH was quoted as saying recently "are you buying the item, or buying the price?" and when it comes to a sale, he's got a very good point. When buying any item of clothing during a "50 per cent off the lowest marked price" sale - or any sale for the that matter, the same shopping rules should apply to full-priced items...know your shape, recognise what colours work for you, and don't buy it if you already have twenty of the same in your wardrobe. It might be a bargain at the time, but if its sitting in your wardrobe gathering dust alongside twenty other bargains you never wear because they are all wrong for you, its a lot of money down the train that could be better spent on pair of Bettina Liano or two!

I found the perfect outfit...and didn't buy it!

Have you ever accidentally stumbled across the most perfect outfit you have ever seen and had no means of buying it? No, well welcome to my world. There I was, innocently checking out the new autumn range at Country Road and trying to decide how best to spend the $30 gift voucher I had received from my friends at CR for being such a valued and loyal customer. I had debated my options on the drive to my local shopping centre, and had decided that I would invest my hard-earned bonus on a new pair of skinny jeans. I would save my Bettina Liano experience for a pair of curvy fit bootlegs, which when you think about made sense. Why invest $249 on a pair of denims if they aren’t absolutely perfect and with my thighs, it’s really bootleg or bust for that amount of money. After finding nothing I really liked or that would fit these curves in the country road store – really CR Maribyrnong, how many people do you know that actually wear a size 6? I ventured into Myers and immediately picked up two pairs of suitable skinnies priced at a reasonable $99 – a simple, plain dark denim and a pair of black wet-looks. It just so happens that in order to get from the CR section to the fitting-room, I was forced to by-pass Cue and the 70% off discount rack - remind me to tell you about my love affair with Cue another day – where I grabbed, out of interest you understand a couple of frocks for under $100.00. Bargain. Saving the dresses I had no intention of buying to last, I shimmied into the jeans. To my surprise the wet-look number looked fabulous. Well, as fabulous as a pair of skinny jeans on a person with chicken legs looks can look...it’s all in the shoes and length of top you choose to wear with it really, and I do have to admit, I was rather chuffed...I really didn’t like the plain dark denims...they were a few weaves away from resembling a pair of faux denim leggings, which in my world should be outlawed. Anyway, I realised that I was running a tad late and needed to pop into Woolies to do a spot of grocery shopping so I threw on the first of the frocks over the top of the jeans to save time. It was a pale blue asymmetrical taffeta number. Gorgeous but no go over the E cups, so I reached for the cream strapless tulip dress with black trim and Oh My God, booty-licious! The gorgeousness of the whole on-som hit me in the head like a fisbee...I was half-way to my next girl’s night out in that outfit! Even with ballet flats it was fabulous, so imagination how glamorous I would look when I added a pair of patent black heels. Hubba, hubba! There was no question about it, I had to have it. Just as long as I could put it on lay-by and use my voucher as the deposit – I’d spied a pair of skinny tuxedo trousers at the Cue store earlier reduced from $209 to $62 and had already ear-marked them for my purchase en-route to Woolies. But, there was a problem...Myer don’t lay-by heavily reduced sale items for Cue, and no, I could not use my voucher as a deposit. It was clearly written in the fine print. Noooooo............So I reluctantly returned my two items to their racks and walked sadly to Cue, heeding the valuable lesson I had just learned. Never voluntarily give your credit card to your DH...it just doesn’t end well!

HOT TIP! You can find the most amazing outfits that will knock everyone over with your gorgeousness even without looking for it...even in your wardrobe! Ah hah...so the next time you find yourself in the same position as me, why not go home and try and find something similar in your wardrobe. Unfortunately for me, the only dress that would have worked – a gorgeous aqua blue, long sleeve shift doesn’t fit over the post baby boobs, but I did rediscover this gorgeous royal blue frock from Cue that I haven’t worn in three years. It's pictured above with my mum's vintage crystal brooch and sexy slingbacks from Wittner. Isn't it fab!' It too is a bit snug up top, but looks gorgeous on, and will make a fabulous work alternative.

CHECK IT OUT! I’m going back to Myer this weekend and if that dress is still there...I’m buying it! Or, the tailored tuxedo jacket from Cue reduced from $350 to $90. I haven’t made up my mind yet.

Casual Friday: What I'm going to wear

Three whole days since my last post, can you believe it? I wouldn’t blame you for thinking I’ve been stuck in some change-room somewhere, but alas it was nothing quite so spectacular. I’ve been a busy actually – back at work, playing with the kids, Australia Day celebrations etc etc etc. BB2 has also decided that waking up and partying at five am is the way to go, whilst BB1 thinks bed-time isn’t as much fun as it used to be. Plus, I’m also still recovering from my first attempt at catching public transport to work. Ok, so I got my tram stop completely wrong, and then missed a couple...and the trains were late as I attempted to find my way home, but at least I looked good. Thank you Jacqui E shift dress, Cue blouse and shoes by Wittner. Pity, I was too tired to write about it!! Anyway, I’m back and tomorrow is casual Friday, so you know what that means...time to glam it up! This week’s outfit started off as a return to tradition with my all-time favourite DKNY skinny jeans. But to be perfectly honest I’m a little bit obsessed with Bettino Liano and am sadly disappointed in my old favourites. My $14.95 skinny pants from Witchery (reduced from $160 remember), which can also be unzipped to magically become bootlegs, are a fab alternative, and teamed with my new flutter sleeve tee by Roxy purchased today for $27.95, look super sensational. I’ve added my new Wittner t-bars for a bit of height (although the ballet flats will do for the rush from train to coffee to tram), the pewter Guess bag DH gave me two Christmases ago, and added Chanel inspired pearls for a bit of glam. For a bit of warmth I’ll either add a chocolate coloured blazer by Diana Ferrari, or my peach thigh length cardi by Country Road. The tee, as a summer garment is pretty thin and a little transparent so I’ve topped it off with some magic knee to bust knickers underneath. Don’t you love it? Let’s check it out...

Trousers from Witchery $14.95
Roxy tee $27.95
Wittner platforms $40.00
Pearls $5 from a Diva sale
Magic knickers from Kmart $17.99
Total cost (without the warmth) $105.89

CHECK IT OUT: A few years ago I brought my first Roxy tee from Surf Attack, a teeny tiny surf shop located on the ground floor at Altona Gate. I loved everything about it...the colour (yoghurt), the cut (empire) and the fabric. I literally wore it to death. Twice a year, I make it a point to visit this fabulous little establishment to pick myself up a new tee at 40-50 per cent off the marked price, and I just love my newest edition. Those flutter sleeve will make anyone’s burgeoning bingo arms look fantastic.

Not so casual Friday (at a bargain)

Back to work last week after being gloriously sidelined with BB2, and Friday was my first official ‘casual Friday’ in seven months. The pressure was on. Not only did I have to adhere to the traditional definition of the alternate work attire, but I had to do with style, grace and glamour. Yes, beautiful people gone are the days when I simply done a pair of well worn jeans and t-shirt. No, I made a promise to myself that I would skip convention and glam it up when it came to work. So, after a seriously mean foray into the smallest wardrobe in the world, I came up with a truly gorgeous outfit consisting of a gold, red and grey batwing silk blouse from Sussans, high waisted flares from Country Road, patent caramel brown peep toe wedges from Wittner, Guess handbag from Macys in LA and bling ring from Diva. And, true to my style, it was all bought for a bargin. Check it out...

Silk blouse, reduced from $109 to $29.95 during the post chrissie sales '09;
Jeans , $14.95 from the country road outlet at DFO South Wharf;
Wedges, reduced from $169.95 to $30 courtesy of a Wittner clearance sale over 12 months ago;
Handbag, purchased in LA for $95.00 at an exchange rate of $A0.93;
Bling ring, $14.95 during a Diva 2-for-1-sale;
Grand total $184.85

Why not post a comment and tell me what you think?