19. Dressing up - presenting yourself: Part 1

I’ve realized that the way I dress portrays my character and who I truly am, and since I’m no longer at school and working, I must be dressed in clothes wherever I am: work, church, or generally when I’m out. I no longer have the option to wear uniform.

It was easy to not pay attention to what I wear or how I wear when I was at school: in crèche, grandma took care of that; in primary school and high school we wore uniform for most of that period. Then university came, and I had to always have an outfit for every single day that I was attending lectures…well, not necessarily an outfit, but I just had to have clothes on and couldn’t depend on wearing the same thing - uniform.

I love clothes – absolutely love them! I love dressing up, and I like to keep it as simple as possible. I’m forced to wear clothes - there’s no option to wear uniform, which is great, but also quite costly.

It’s not just the clothes that portray me - it’s also how I wear them, the type of clothes I choose and the size.

Here are a few outfits I've tried – and these are all outfits tried for work:

P.S: My work environment is not formal, hence the way I'm dressed.

This is a mix of old and new clothes: I bought the pumps at Pick ‘n Pay Clothing for about R60 (and trust me, since it’s PnP, they are of good quality as cheap as they are). I bought the pants for about R150 at a Chinese shop on Fish Hoek main road – not so much of great quality. In fact, it’s losing colour, but at least I wore it about 6 or 7 times. Definitely learnt a lesson there.

I bought the shirt about 2 years ago at Jet for about R110. My mother bought the blanket-looking attire for me at Edgars about 2 years ago as well – I chose it. And the bag I bought on sale at the online organic store I work for, Faithful-to-nature, for about R280.

The bag is the most expensive item, but the reason I bought it was not for dressing up but for convenience of when I sleep over at mom’s place or visit my father when he is in town over the weekend or over a short period. Either way, the bag was a great accessory to add onto the outfit.

I bought the top from an office colleague of mine who sold her old clothes. I got this for R20. I got the skirt at Mr Price for about R120  if I’m not mistaken. Again, I wear the pumps. See, I chose white pumps because I know they go with everything, no matter what I wear. The danger, though, is wearing the pumps so much that they become old, which is what has actually happened (lol). It doesn’t show yet, but at least I managed to get a few more shoes to avoid wearing the pumps too much, and also because they are almost worn out.

Ok, the only thing I bought here are the pumps and the bag. Everything else I did not buy myself – lucky fish aren’t I?! (Lol). My stepmother bought the shirt at Zara. The white vest underneath and the jeans were bought at Woolworths by my ever so generous uncle’s wife. Jeans can be worn with just about anything! It doesn’t matter the colour, as long you got the top/blouse/vest/shirt you will wear it with, and the shoes.

I bought the bag at Mr Price for about R100 if not a little more.

Here, I’m wearing that same shirt I got at Jet, but wearing it with a jersey that my mom bought for me at Woolworths while I was at university – that was probably about 5 years ago. Again, my stepmom bought the pants for me at Zara.

Here, I’m wearing the same shirt and jeans as before, same pumps, but with an old jersey that I bought while I was at university over 5 years ago. I don’t even remember where I bought it or for how much, but it did the trick. Oh, and the hairdo was done for R180 at a salon on Fish Hoek main road (lol).

Ok, there are more new things here – these items I got practically a week ago, except for the Jet shirt, and the bag which I bought for R150 at a shop in Fish hoek once again. The black jeans I got for about R180 - big mistake I made too, because the quality is actually poor. My mother bought the shoes at Woolworths for about R150 if I'm not mistaken. She also bought the jacket at Cotton on...for a discounted price of...R540...ya, pretty pricey, but looking on the positive side, we're getting closer to winter: I can wear this jacket with my polo-necks, whatever pants, with boots - see? It's a great investment :P (lol)

Here, I’m wearing the white vest again with the blanket-looking jersey, the blue jeans and the white pumps of course.

Here, it’s the shirt I bought from the office colleague for about R40. I’m wearing it with the blue jeans and these shoes, which I bought for less than R150, I believe, at Zeal.













And yes, I wear dresses, too. I absolutely love long dresses - I've got quite a number of them.I bought this dress at Ackermans. It was probably less than R200. The jersey is the same one that mom bought at Woolworths. And of course, the almost worn-out white pumps (lol).

This is another dress, but it’s tight-fitting and shorter – until just above the knees. I got it at Jay-Jays while I was still at university. The jacket was borrowed to me by a cousin :P, and yes I had the white pumps on.

Well, I trust you enjoyed that. I hope you gained something as well. One thing I hope you gained, though, is how much you can actually look good without spending too much. It’s also important to feel good and be comfortable in what you wear. The next part of this blog post will focus more on how I wear outside work: that’s at church and when I’m out. 

Until the next blog :)