What would Shopping Girl do #1

I decided a week ago when I started this blog, that an advice column would make an excellent regular segment. I had even made up my own question. Except you’ll have wait until next time to find out what I asked me because on Thursday I received a real life request, from Uma. I’m calling her Uma, because she asked to be anonymous. And because she has a short black glossy bob.

“Okay shopping girl. Please please with a cherry on top help me find a leather jacket with cloth sleeves. Preferably black leather with grey sleeves. Rag and Bone did one but I can’t find it. Oh and adorable samples won’t help me as I am not an adorable sample size!
Challenge accepted?
Xxxx”

First of all, Uma, I like your style. But then again you were the first to wear Chanel Vamp polish so it’s hardly surprising. I’m also enjoying pairing black leather and grey fabric this season, and here you are trying to work it into one piece, you fashionista, you.

Because of time / baby / needing to feed family restrictions, I can’t physically trail Westfield looking for your jacket. You will have to accept that this is going to be an online shopping expedition. I also have to tell you, Uma, that I don’t think google has such a fine appreciation of the subtleties of fashion. Google: a black leather jacket with grey sleeves is NOT the same as a grey jacket with black leather sleeves. Not the same thing at all, Google. Seriously.

Now, onto the goods. This is what I have found for you:

20140622-142248.jpg

This is the black jersey sleeve biker, currently on sale at Dorothy Perkins for £30. I can’t do all the work Uma, you’ll have to go onto xe.com and do the maths yourself. But they do ship
internationally. The sale seems to be only 4 days, so hop to it to nab this one.

There’s a great looking option at ASOS, but you’re going to have to take my word for it and check back in a few days due to this:

20140622-143455.jpg
Moving on (I’ve holed myself up in my room with door locked and children roaming freely around the house. I’m on borrowed time here).

In case you’ve got some cash to splash Uma….

20140622-143952.jpg
Barbara Bui contrast sleeve jacket.
It’s reduced by 20% at the moment to just $2078.51!!!! Just think of all the things you can get with the $500 you’ll save. You could get a sleeve of a second jacket, even.

Taking things down a notch or 10 and a little more local, there’s this option at Witchery. The sleeves are black not grey, but I thought it was worth a mention.

20140622-144425.jpg

I hope this helps, Uma.
I’d better go and check what the small people
are up to. They’ve given up beating on my door. I think this is cause for concern.
XOXO Shopping Girl

Home dressing

Today was a big day in the shopping life of Shopping Girl and Working Boy. Our biggest purchase to date, not withstanding the house, arrived. Sofas, chairs, coffee table, ottomans. Until December we had never bought a sofa. When I moved to Sydney, I somehow inherited my friend Vivi’s parents’ old sofas. Once these were trashed by my toddler children we were gifted Working Boy’s parents’ old lounge suite, which had survived in their home as the formal furniture for some 30 years. This lasted under 2 years in our house and then we got their other old sofas, which had mysteriously been left in the house they bought in 1984. Thank G-d we bought a house because these were literally falling apart at the seams when we moved. Along with the totally trashed Freedom dining table (all the veneer scratched off) and the buffet whose glass doors had one by one fallen off and whose jagged glass hinges we covered with a table cloth when guests came over.

Over my badly dressed body were we going to take this shoddy collection into our beautiful new home.

We left all our furniture on the curb of Warners Ave. Yes, yes we organized a collection. No illegal dumping for us. A street first, I think.

Over the summer, we visited all the usual furniture haunts, developing our combined sofa taste. But nothing stood out. And then we arrived at Natuzzi. I am not being paid or swayed to say this: honestly the perfect combination of quality, design, luxurious fabrics and, considering all aforementioned points, a reasonable price point. We bought everything we needed there. I’ve always been under the impression from an interior design perspective that buying almost all your furniture from one store is categorically THE WRONG THING TO DO.

As of 1pm today, it is all sitting in my house now, looking beautiful and smelling so little like small children and SO much like new. Between different styles and materials, I really don’t think it looks like a Natuzzi showroom threw up in our living areas. And quite franky even if it did, having spent hours in the stunning showroom, I really would not mind.

Now comes the fun. All the finishing touches to make it less “showroom” and more “our home”. Someone said to me the other day that if you know how to dress you know how to decorate a house.
Given I have been dressing myself since I was 18 months (true story, ask my mother), but I have never needed to decorate a house until now, I am taking this as gospel (although I don’t follow the gospels so for the sake of accuracy let’s say I’m taking this as Torah) and am shopping for furniture and decor accordingly.

20140617-214051.jpg
I wear my Sass And Bide jacket…..my house will wear these pendant lights I bought for the dining room.

20140617-214248.jpg
If I wear black leather (ASOS Pocket midi skirt)….then so will my chair (from Freedom, actually).

20140617-214429.jpg
I LOVE my Forever New faux fur gilet to bits in winter, so obviously my chair needed a West Elm faux fur of its own.

20140617-214805.jpg
My obsession with grey felt wool fabric runs from Viktoria and Woods top through to brand new Natuzzi living room sofa.

20140617-214957.jpg
Spot the difference. One is my Body dress, one is the fabric of our Natuzzi Lui arm chairs. Love silver foil.

20140617-215151.jpg
I wear my gold Peter Alexander uggs more than I wear pretty much everything in my wardrobe. I’m thinking I need a gold Max Sparrow coffee table too then….

XOXO Shopping Girl