Every January I look over my posts for the year and decide which ones I like best. It’s always a tough decision knowing whether or not to rank them based on how many views they have or how much I personally like them. At first glance, it might seem like choosing my most popular posts based on how many views they get would put an end to it, but my blog views have grown so much in the past 12 months that comparing posts from December to posts in January would mean that the most mediocre December post would have more views than some of my favourite outfits from earlier in the year. Sometimes, a picture from a post will go viral on Pinterest, making its views sky rocket. This means that outfits I think might be better are overshadowed by a post simply because it has had greater reach. So for this year, I decided I would instead rank them in order my own on preference.
If you’re interested in seeing how much my style has grown in the last few years, check out the best of 2015 or 2014. There’s a theme with straw boaters that I’ve always had, I see.
Click the image titles to visit the blog post.
13. Blush Pink and Burnt Orange
Top: Dangerfield (sold out)
Earrings: c/o The Peach Box
Hat: Etsy (sold out) – favourite the seller or check out all the Etsy hats I love here.
Skirt: Modcloth (sold out) – similar
Bag: vintage from Beleza Vintage Instagram
Shoes: old favourites – similar
Pics: Goldfields Girl
This outfit was a testament to my desire to make things clash. I remember standing in my wardrobe looking at the cardigan thinking, what would be the most striking with that. When I saw the orange skirt, I thought for a moment and then decided to give it a go. The outfit, as darling as it is, is styled using items that are impossible to find. The cardigan has long since sold out but people ask to buy it off me regularly. The hat is sold out but there are similar ones available on Etsy. I’ve had the skirt for years and the shoes I’ve had for at least 15 years. I feel a little guilty when I style something like this because it means people can’t buy an item if they love it.
12. So Frenchy So Chic 2016
Hat: vintage Laura Ashley via Etsy
Dress: Nishe
Shoes: Forever New (Check out their full range of shoes at www.forevernew.com.au/shoes)
Bag: Review Australia
Location: So Frenchy So Chic – Melbourne
Photos: Goldfields Girl
This is one of my favourite events of the year and it’s about to happen again (this Sunday). Deciding what to wear is agony. The first year we went rain was forecast and I dressed really badly. I made up for it in 2016 with this particular outfit. So Frenchy is one of the greatest music festivals in existence and I can’t wait to show you what I’m wearing this year.
11. Flower Crown at the Beach
Blouse: Book of Deer from Modcloth
Shoes: BAIT Footwear via Modcloth
Photos: Goldfields Girl
This post was a collaboration with Lark to showcase some of their beautiful clothing range, including dresses and skirts from Aussie brand Lazybones. It was the first of my Flower Crown Friday series (something I’m hoping to do more of in 2017) and it was also a sentimental remembering of a family still grieving a son and a brother. These photos always seem to fill me with the same sense of calm I get burying my feet in warm sand.
10. Mint Stripes
Bathing suit: Modcloth
Hat: David Jones
Shoes: BAIT Footwear via Modcloth
Skirt: Review Australia.
Photos: Goldfields Girl
2016 was the first year that I had the guts to post in swimwear. It was something I debated, not just because of feeling a bit ‘meh’ about my body, but because once there are swimwear photos of you on the internet, there’s no taking that back. My family did a beach trip and I took a billion sets of swimmers. This particular set I love to bits and I was really proud of the whole look.
9. Tin Roof
Earrings: c/o The Peach Box
Cardigan: c/o Review Australia (you’ll need their app to get your own)
Skirt: Review Australia
Shoes: Sandler
Location: The Tin Roof
Photos: The Goldfields Girl
This one had to be included because the image ended up becoming the illustration by Lyn and I that is featured in my blog header. The embroidered cardigan that was a surprise gift from Review Australia. The Vespa. The pizza I smashed as soon as we walked out.
8. Gatsby Pool Party
Swimwear: Bikiniboo on Etsy
Shoes: Siren (sold out) similar
Scarf: Glassons
Hat: Modcloth
Trousers: Glassons
Pics: Goldfields Girl
Location: Mooramong Homestead
This is one of those ones that I have stress problems trying to decide what to wear. Fortunately, this event was the first one of its kind (there’s another this year) so I didn’t have wonderful outfits from previous years to put pressure on me. I identified a style quickly and slowly pieced together a look that I was proud of. This is one of the outfits that I come across occasionally on Pinterest. I love reading the comments people make when they Pin them. This one, in particular, has been pinned with the caption: ‘note to self, always be the baddest bitch at the pool party.’ This became a running joke with my old housemate (the awesome drummer from The Second Sex) and we would ofter christen our small life wins with the declaration ‘who’s the baddest bitch?’
7. The Long Room
Photographer: Nigel Stevens Photography
Dress: ASOS
Shoes: Modcloth
Location: The Long Room
It’s rare that I collaborate with other photographers than my solid duo of mum and Goldfields Girl. I’ve trained them up in what I like, they know how I communicate, they’re easy to rope into photos on the fly. One photographer that contacted me through my blog that I’ve worked with several times is Nigel Stevens. Nige is really responsive to direction, but this year I felt I finally learned how to capitalise on his style. I was asked to attend the opening of The Long Room and Nige had been asking me about another shoot for a while so I asked him and he was keen. The style was so different to my usual imagery but it was absolutely, magnificently perfect for the outfit, the room and to bring another element to my blog. Two fun facts about this shoot: I had a bad cold sore and the outfit was inspired by a James Bond character I’ve been writing a novel-length fan fiction for a friend.
6. Heritage Weekend Steam Train
Hat: vintage
Earrings: c/o The Peach Box
Top: can’t recall. Similar.
Trousers: Glassons
Location: Ballarat Railway Station with Steamrail Victoria on Ballarat Heritage Weekend
Photos/shoot assistant: My mum
Every year my Heritage Weekend is marked by a shoot at the steam train. I’ve done 3 of them so far. It’s one of those shoots where I feel an immense amount of pressure about what I’m going to wear. This last year was amplified because the previous year’s photo was featured in a heap of publicity for the weekend, including on life-sized boxes all through the city. Last year I didn’t rank them but it also made the cut of my top posts. It holds my most popular Pinterest image, ever. Now with all that pressure, I agonised over how to match it. The outfit has had a hat every year without fail. Eventually, I settled for something very different, a bit little 1940s, a little bit 1950s and more casual. After all that, I was super happy with the result.
5. Blue and White
Dress: c/o Review Australia
Shoes: Zulily
Scarf: vintage Oroton
Hat: vintage Laura Ashley via Etsy
Photos: Goldfields Girl
When we took these photos it was spring, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell. I find that when we do shoots where I have to pretend to be warm, after a while my skin seems to lose all feeling and I just sort of roll with it. It won’t be until we get back to the car or something that I’ll realise I have practically no movement in my fingers. This one was a collaboration with Review Australia and it gave me that chance to show off the amazing Botanic Gardens.
4. Yellow and Blue at Vegas and Rose
Top: Dangerfield
Earrings: c/o The Peach Box
Shirt: Review Australia
Skirt: Modcloth
Shoes: Chelsea Crew via Zulily
Hat: vintage Laura Ashley from Etsy
Photos: Goldfields Girl
Location: Vegas and Rose
Hot damn! This post was a bit nuts on Instagram. It was topped only by my number one outfit on this list. I think it’s the combination of the contrast between the yellow and blue and that darling straw boater. Not only that, it was at one of my favourite breakfast/lunch spots. I often use this venue to meet with people wanting to discuss ideas for blog collaborations or to hang out with friends. On a side note, I get lots of comments on these shoes, but I actually don’t like them. I’m thinking of selling them shortly. Maybe.
Hat: Portmans
Dress: Portmans
Towel: Cotton On
Photos: Goldfields Girl
I’m probably always a little biased with posts that I’m happy with from later in the year. That being said, every time I do a post I get better at it so it’s no wonder I look on the more recent ones so happily. Light is the thing I think about most when I do a blog post. There’s an outfit that I haven’t included in this series because the light was atrocious, irrespective of how wonderful the outfit was. I try to use light, framing, location and activity to translate the emotion I get from the clothes. I think about what they inspire in me and I often use that to guide my imagination to come up with ideas of how to style it. I also like to think about places that are unique to me and my life experiences. This shoot was a combination of me trying to capture that picnic vibe but it also got nostalgic as I partnered that with my love of local lakes.
2. Swinging
Top: Chicwish
Skirt: Chicwish
Shoes: Modcloth
Photos: Goldfields Girl
This post was one of the ones that I had in mind for a while. On Pinterest, I collect combinations of fabrics and prints and colours and I file those visual impacts I like away in my mind and I think about how I can incorporate them into a blog post. This was one of those times. I knew what skirt I was going to style and I got this top but it was intended for a different outfit that I haven’t accomplished yet (that will require some sewing). We then had very little idea of where to style it, so I decided instead on thinking about what I was doing in the post. These photos were the result.
1. Black and Gold
Bike: Lekker
Helmet: Yakkay c/o Bike Pretty
Top: ASOS
Skirt: ASOS
Shoes: Modcloth (sold out) similar
Photos: Goldfields Girl
This post was a final collaboration with the team at Bike Pretty showcasing their amazing helmets. I’d been mulling over this outfit for some time and I’d gradually acquired all the pieces I needed to pull it off. I was really happy with the result, but then when I shared it on Instagram it went crazy, becoming my most like photo ever. In fact, it features 3 times in my top 9 images of 2016 in Instagram. It’s always really fulfilling when you have a level of satisfaction or affection for something and that aligns with what others are feeling.
I hope you have enjoyed this year’s Best Of list. Please let me know if I left off one that you loved!
– L
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