Silly Little Outfits To Boost Serotonin For Sad Office Days Vol.8
Quintessential Marni girl or your dad at a bbq?
Inspiration has been very hard to come by lately. Writing has been hard. Doing anything has been hard. After feeling a bit buzzy after my iron infusion, I’m now more tired than ever. The pill my doctor recommended made me a weepy psycho mess, so I switched to the one I used to take before I moved back to Australia, where the NHS isn’t there to cover the costs. Ahhh, the “lucky country”, paying an arm and a leg for birth control.
My body decided to take the ultimate piss and give me two painful periods in the space of a month. The cat seems to have noticed I’m a bit off too. We worked out he only seems to bring in live birds when Joel is out of the house and my mood is in the toilet. His way of providing for me, I guess.
So it goes, I still have to get dressed. Here’s what I’ve been wearing.
With the exception of my newfound love for pickle brine and burgundy wine, it’s been a slow month for the 75 Hard Style Challenge. However, as outlined in the guidelines, the days don’t need to be consecutive, which is good news as a scorching summer blazes on in Melbourne.
Because of the heat, the item in my wardrobe that’s working the hardest is this green satin slip dress that I picked up in a random boutique in Seville back in 2019. I can’t believe I actually used to wear this to the office on hot days and once to a summer wedding. It’s now my house dress, nap dress, errands within a ten-minute radius dress, and writing dress, so not quite a demotion when it’s getting more use than anything else right now.
What I’ve been wearing
When I’m not rotting away in front of the air conditioner, I’ve managed to pull some lewks together. Unsurprisingly, going over my recent outfits, I feel more connected to the ones worn on cooler days, which also qualify for re-wearing. Let’s start there.
When the weather dropped considerably one evening, I was excited to give my bambi print coat some action. I wore it with some other purchases from my Japan trip - the HeRIN.CYE Cocoon Jeans and Remme black flats. We actually went out for Japanese food, so I guess I was dressing to relive my time flitting about Tokyo, instead of sulking around Melbourne.
There was a very short window of time where I felt I could wear a leather jacket without melting, which I, of course, latched on to. As I was gushing with blood at the time, I wanted to wear something oversized, layered and super comfy. Now, I am not a hat person, but something I want to get out of the 75 Hard Style Challenge is playing around with more accessories. I was also well overdue for a haircut, so I was sporting some pretty unruly bangs. I tried a few options to pin them back, putting my elusive forehead on display, though this created more problems than it solved.
First, I experimented with the hair scarf + baseball cap combo (yes, I’m aware I called this out as part of SS24’s cool girl starter pack of products you're seeing all over your feed labeled as "personal style,” but let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good story). Though I wasn’t sure where my ears should go - in or out of scarf?
Then I tried just the triangle scarf but became riddled with anxiety. Did I always get hormonal spots here? Is my forehead a drastically different color from the rest of my face from nearly 20 years without sunlight? While my doctor said it was pointless to get Botox in my forehead with bangs, was she wrong, and should I have injected there? You get it, classic forehead hangups.
In the end, I went with just the “My Teeth Are Okay Are Yours?” cap (it’s so fucking stupid I love it), and changed shoes. I still have a lot to learn about hair and head accessories, but I do know that much like I don’t enjoy matching handbags with shoes; I’m not into matching hats and footwear. Overall, I am happy with the final look, but I’d love to hear from people who have bangs and wear hats, headscarves, etc. HOW?!
The next outfit for in-betweenie weather begs the question - quintessential Marni girl or your dad at a BBQ? My quest to embrace more color continued with this second-hand Marni shirt that I bought last year for a (successful) job interview. As soon as I started getting ready, I was feeling the dad vibes so I leaned in and added the croc-embossed crossbody bag that I got from Nanushka in 2018, which doesn’t get a lot of wear anymore. After playing around with half and full tucking for the shirt, I decided to go breezy and let it all hang out, something I’m becoming more partial to after years of “millennial tucking.” I wore this outfit to lunch at Ophelia to meet my beautiful friend Georgie who was visiting from London.
These were the outfits that brought me joy. Now for the ones that I didn’t love as much, which seemed to align with the days when my period was super heavy and the weather reached over 32 degrees.
I think what primarily irks me about dressing for summer is that I’m a pants girl and I don’t like having my legs exposed unless I’m wearing heels. Wearing pants in summer can be done - I really love pajama dressing and have been lusting after these striped pants from Donni for the longest time, though sadly, they’re out of my price range, and I’m trying not to buy anything new for a bit.
Working with what’s already in my closet, my silk By Malene Birger trousers are a staple, and I wear them with just about everything (they’re a hand-me-down from a colleague in 2018 if you missed previous introductions). I got the grey pinstripe blazer from a charity shop in Dublin a few years ago, which is so soft and light it feels practically like a T-shirt. Not the most exciting look all up - I’m just trying to be as comfortable as possible.
And finally, the outfit that sucked the hardest. It got to 34 degrees when I wore this. Again, comfort was the primary factor. Individually I like all these pieces - the Acne denim vest I purchased second-hand from Japan back in 2009 and the balloon skirt, also from Japan but last year. Both have gotten loads of wear. However, together they’re just not me. I dunno, the heat must have fried my good senses.
What Else
Films - Nosferatu. A review I’ve seen from many has been the John Waters quote, “If you come out of a movie and the first thing you say is, 'The cinematography was beautiful,' it's a bad movie.” I also thought the cinematography was beautiful.
Books - Didion and Babitz by Lili Anolik. While the blurb says the author uses Eve Babitz’s letters “as the key to unlocking the mighty and mysterious Didion,” this book did nothing of the sort. It was more of a rambling profession of love to Babitz, who I haven’t read that much of in comparison to Joan Didion. While it did inspire me to seek out more of her work, I found Anolik’s writing style a bit of a chore.
Substacks - I’m obsessed with Art Directors on this platform - it’s a role that overlaps with a lot of what I do, but I don’t know too much about the industry. In the spirit of ins & outs season, I really enjoyed 2025 Ins- and Outs According to the Creative Substack Community by
, which provided some great insight into how some of my favorite creatives think as well as opened me up to some amazing new accounts to follow. If you’re reading this and you’re an Art Director on Substack, please link your account, I’d love to read your stuff!For shits and gigs - My sister encouraged me to do my ancestry DNA test. I uncovered absolutely nothing surprising, but you also get a list of traits handed down from either one or two parents. My traits were most likely to have wet earwax and a unibrow from both so thanks Mum and Dad, I guess?
Oh yeah, as I hinted, I’ll be starting a new job shortly. This is probably contributing to why I am feeling so creatively flat, as there is nothing inspirational about working your notice period. I’m anticipating a turnaround, a time for a great undoing. New job equals more Silly Little Outfits as there will be more office days. While they hopefully won’t be sad, it’s too late now. I’m not changing the name.
Another oh yeah - cat. Please stop bringing me birds.
every time I wear a baseball cap I think everyone in the room can tell I don’t usually wear hats, but alas to me you look like you wear hats with abandon! it’s all in our heads!
these are soooo good omg thank you for this boost of joy dressing in the dead of winter!!