Silly Little Outfits To Boost Serotonin For Sad Office Days Vol.6
Dressing for peak cum tree season and becoming an accidental supermarket fashion icon in Barcelona.
Ahh. The pear trees have blossomed, leaving the scent of jizz lingering in the air. Magpies are swooping small children. There was a mandated public holiday for football finals. Know what that means? Spring has officially sprung in Melbourne.
So, here’s how I’ve been dressing. Oh yeah, I finally got a new phone. I’ve always claimed to be hotter IRL, but it’s actually amazing what a better camera can do for your digital self-esteem. You’re not unphotogenic, you just have an old iPhone.
1. Allover Black and Breezy
Starting things off how I like it - wearing black. My linen top, from the Melbourne label Alpha 60, was a pre-London era purchase, so I would have gotten it in 2016 or earlier. It’s a great multi-wear piece, with long, thick straps that tie at the back or front or can be left floating down at the side if I want to build a more avant-grade outfit. There’s a similar back-tie style at COS, but it doesn’t have the same strap capacity, so it's not as fun. Sorry.
I bought my Issey Miyake Pleats Please pants in Paris in 2017. I’d been backpacking around Europe with only bikinis and T-shirts for several months and was about to do some job interviews in London. Upon reflection, I wish I’d bought the longer version, but I did wear them to every single interview, including the job I got and still have, so I guess they’ve always bought me luck. Even if I did throw up on them in an Uber once.
I like to wear chunky, stompy shoes with a simple outfit, so I opted for these Ganni ones, which were a little pandemic treatie to myself. I found the straw bag second-hand on Depop as I couldn’t justify buying the Bottega Veneta one below and I whacked on a blue square scarf from Sézane for a little color. The scarf was a gift with purchase though I’ve seen some have sold for nearly $50 on Vestiaire which is wild.
2. Structured Minimalism and $5 Tacos
This was probably the first nice Spring day of the year, so after work, we went to get $5 tacos at Hotel Jesus in Collingwood. I wore one of my favorite Depop finds, this St. Agni tunic top. I love the shape, length, slit up the sides, and color - it looks white in pictures, but in reality, it's more this delicious, almost-buttermilk shade.
I usually layer it over jeans or tailored trousers, but as it was so warm, I went with this silk skirt from RIXO instead. I picked it up during London’s 2022 heat wave and it's usually all I wear in summer when I’m feeling lazy and don’t mind being a bit basic, though the St. Angni top has the power to elevate everything. The teardrop earrings are my go-to’s from Sabi The Label (repping more Melbourne brands), and the shoes are the Saint Laurent Tribute sandals second-hand from Goodbyes.
3. This T-Shirt Has a Cat
I’ve finally finished altering those stupid Zara trouser-skirt hybrids that I have been banging on about all year. Expect to see me wearing them in just about every Silly Little Outfit volume going forward, probably out of sheer spite. The Ganni cat T-shirt is also from Depop, which I bought without a lot of thought. I like cats, I like red. End of story.
After putting the top and trousers on, I automatically thought it would look fun with red pointed-toe shoes, which I don’t own. I’m also swearing off buying anything new or second-hand until I go to Japan in a few weeks, so I went with my Prada loafers instead and added my Bottega Jodie to add in some more red. There is just something so fun about not matching your shoes to your bag, which can be hard to do when you’re so reliant on black.
4. Choc-Banana Color Palette
Apart from black on black on black, my current favorite color combination is dressing like a chocolate banana Chupa Chup. To achieve this, I ticked off some bits from last volume’s shopping list - a trench coat and brown trainers, both pre-loved from Depop (though no more shopping til Japan - promise).
I was originally going to get this gorgeous pistachio-colored trench (look at those flared sleeves!) from By Malene Birger that someone was selling, but I snoozed and losed. I ended up settling for a cheaper H&M one that satisfied all my trench requirements, but I’m so bloody useless that I’ve ended up losing one of the arm straps. Trench Coat Gate is upon us.
The Phisique du role checkered trousers have made an appearance once again, worn with a Pixies T-shirt from their Melbourne show in 2022. Unfortunately, every time I put it on, the memory of the gig is always trumped by the time I wore it to a work retreat, and a few men had the audacity to ask me if I even knew who the band was. Gross.
5. Just Hot Girl Shit
I’ve been wearing the Phoebe Philo Chloé trousers several times, for work and just to faff about in, and I gotta say again how much I love remote working from office spaces as you can’t get dress-coded. There is no HR to tell me that subtle ass cutouts (well, to be fair, hip cutouts) are distracting.
Even if there were, these pants would be the least of WeWork’s distractions, with people shooting pool and ignoring the private phone booths to hold Zoom calls in common spaces at full volume. Not to mention turning on the beer taps at 3pm.
Anyway, I wanted to feel hot for a dinner after work at Trattoria Emilia and then drinks at Bijou, so I went for all the greatest hits. The Chloé pants, a Vivienne Westwood top, again from Depop (I swear, this is not sponsored), Tabi boots, and Prada Cleo bag.
6. Could I Be A Miu Miu Girl?
Only the sunglasses are Miu Miu here, but after studying the Spring 2025 runway intently, I thought I’d tie my Dries Van Noten sweater around me to try and emulate the styling of the show. Were the openinging on those sweaters just really stretchy, or were the girls just super thin? I wasn’t willing to cram my upper body into the neck hole, so I just kind of tied it around my boobs. Now, I have not been blessed with heavy naturals by any stretch, but I was menstruating that week, so they were bigger and more tender than usual, making sweater wrapping not as effortless as expected.
I’d just filmed a webinar in which we discussed the characteristics romanticized by the Miu Miu Girl. We brought up that the Miu Miu Girl is comfortable eating alone with a book or that she favors analog technology. However, this simple act of tying a sweater around my body reminded me that her allure really lies within thinness above all else. Anyway, I knotted the sweater on top of a Loewe tank top and a beautiful buttery leather Oroton skirt (second-hand, Goodbyes) and had a coffee alone, pondering a deeper examination into the Miu Miu Girl for another time.
7 & 8. Ballerina Flat Trial and Error
Have you ever planned an entire outfit with the intention to try and make just one piece work? That was the case here. I’ve had these Chloé ballet flats for, I’d say, a decade. In another life, I worked in footwear buying and product development and they were a sample purchased. The majority of designer samples were bought in size 40, so models could wear them for press if we ordered the line for stores, but the Chloé’s were a 37 - my size. Eventually, they wound up in the silent auctions we held for samples, which I could never get anything from because the majority of merch (at least the good shit) was too big for my feet.
I was involved in a bidding war with another woman who wanted them for her daughter, and she eventually went higher than I was willing to go. The next day, she tracked me down at the printer and said that her daughter hated them and only wanted to wear Stan Smiths (this being the height of the 2010s, of course) and I could have them for my original asking price.
While fate seemed to smile upon me that day, I can’t say they’ve had a lot of wear over the years. They’re metallic ballet flats, which have never been my thing. I think just after all those years of seeing the size 40 Alexander McQueen and Balmain boots that I had meticulously organized and sent to photographers being snapped up for a bargain price by my colleagues I just wanted something for my troubles.
Still, I try and work them into outfits where I can. I tried to emulate an off-duty ballerina vibe with my silk By Malene Birger pants that were handed down to me from a colleague and a Reformation sweetheart neckline top that I only really wear if I’m having an ugly day and want my collarbones on display (can we agree that the quality of Ref basics suck?). The chocolate brown croc-embossed crossbody bag is from Nanushka and was a present to myself when I got my new job after falling in love with their showroom in Budapest. I still wasn’t into it with the shoes, so I chucked on my Acne Studios leather jacket to feel more “me” and called it a day. I’m not 100% pleased with the result and still don’t know what to do about these damn shoes.
9. Work To Weekend Martinis Transition
My pre-loved Réalisation Par dress got some love working from home and then again at a garden party which is such a novelty for apartment dwellers. It was a stunning day and I was lapping up the sun outside in my dress and sandals, wondering if I should have gone with short sleeves. Then the weather turned in the evening and I borrowed a marshmallow-y puffer jacket as we all ventured into the kitchen to mix martinis. Joel ended up purchasing one of the host’s jackets, so it was a great day for clothes swapping all round.
The Aneto Shopping Bag
Honestly, I’ve been pretty unwell lately, so not much has been going on. However, an exciting and bizarre tidbit of news. A host of Radio Primavera Sound in Barcelona reached out about me styling the Aneto shopping bag in the last volume of Silly Little Outfits, which inspired a podcast episode. Sorry, did I just become an influencer?
I don’t speak Catalan, so I am not quite sure what is being said - if anyone can translate, that would be wonderful! The post was also shared by Aneto, so in hindsight, I should have tried to organize some free broth or something as I am incredibly low in iron right now. Anyway, next time you do a grocery shop in Barcelona, know that you are in proximity to the next affordable It bag.
Oh yeah and cat. It’s his time to shine. Spooky season and whatnot.
they plant the cum tress on every college campus in America it is truly vile (but beautiful)
that vivienne westwood top!!!!