*guest post written by Claire Hastings
Ever since I was a little girl, I loved dressing up. I loved how I looked when I put on my mother’s heels and dress, and until this day fashion remains one of the greatest loves in my life. It inspires me to know what you can do with fashion, and how easy it is to show to the world what you like and love through your own personal style. My favourite thing to do in my spare time is coming up with new outfit ideas, and I find inspiration everywhere because Aussie girls are incredibly creative and have a great sense of fashion. Here are a few characteristics of what I see as genuine Aussie fashion style.
They rock the casual
You know you’re a fashion goddess when you’re able to dress up and go to the beach in the afternoon, and yet show up in a club or a party afterwards still looking flawless. Aussie girls have mastered the fine art of adjusting their style to the beach as well as to fashion week. Beautiful, flowy pieces which accentuate your legs and yet hide your bikini underneath are stylish as well as handy, and girls look just perfect wearing them.
When you simply cannot resist
It’s devastating actually, to know that the holy grails of fashion: New York, Paris, Milan, are all on the other side of the globe. Oh why is the world so unjust? It’s difficult to keep up with the hottest fashion trends when all celebrities and stylish girls wear the hottest fall/winter collections and it’s spring in Australia. I’ve noticed, however, that some girls simply can’t resist and wear coats even if it’s not so cold. Kim K and her all-black with beige coat have made it so popular that Aussie girls would rather endure the heat for a couple of hours than lose the chance to be fashionable.
They are not afraid to be tough
What I love most about us girls is the fact that we’re not hiding who we are. We love dressing up in cute little outfits and look like princesses, wearing girly formal dresses or elegant playsuits and high heels, but we also love edgy pieces who are incredibly stylish, and we are not afraid to add one or two to the mix. Lovely skinny jeans, pointy stiletto heels, vintage Harley Davidson tee, and bold red lipstick make a girl look like a tough biker chick, yet no one would dare question her gentleness or fail to notice her femininity. I simply cannot resist and usually wear a leather jacket when I’m in biker-chick mood, even if it means that I will be hot (remember what I said about enduring heat for a just cause).
They are not tan-obsessed
People may think that Aussie girls are like California girls because we live in a country with so much sun, heat, and such lovely beaches that we probably spend hours getting tanned. However, that’s not the case. We love hanging out at the beach and surfing, but we are far from those tan-obsessed California girls. We love to protect our skin from the sun because we know how bad it can be and how much it can hurt us. This is one of the reasons why my favourite accessories are hats – baseball hats, straw hats, floppy hats, fedoras… You name it, chances are I have it in my closet somewhere.
I love noticing just how many Aussie girls are wearing something that I too would wear, or I did wear at one point, and this lovely genuine Aussie style inspires me and makes me happy. I believe that fashion can change us, and that our own personal style should be unique. This is not impossible to achieve if you are brave enough to improvise and express your own creativity the best ways possible. Sometimes the most ‘impossible’ outfits can make you into a style queen.
XO
XO,
