It’s winter and we all know that feeling. A serious case of the CBFs followed by being late and reaching for the easiest thing in your wardrobe. Usually black, am I right? Well at least I know this because it’s my way of life. That was until I had a moment of insanity while packing to move to Auckland. I refused to include anything black (except jeans of course because I’m not THAT crazy) and away I went. This might seem a little dramatic but trust me: I am literally the laziest dresser on the daily. Fast forward two months and I’m not doing so bad without my black clothes.
So after ditching my guilty habit what did I learn? Well for one, it takes just as much muscle to grab a checked blazer as it does for a black jacket. Jokes aside, I realised how much colour can affect the way you feel. Take this beautiful red wrap Zimmermann dress for example. I got so many compliments both in the day time while shooting this post, and the night I wore it out. Obviously a mood booster. I think people almost expect you to stick to dark colours in winter so it’s an easy way to show (or fake) that you tried. Wearing a bright colour like this red gives you a fake sense of confidence too because it’s hard to miss. You kind of have to expect that it will literally turn heads. Definitely not for the faint hearted. Plus, wearing flashy boots AKA these babies from Beau Coops scream “I know what I’m doing (I think)”.
My favourite lesson learnt from wearing this piece though is that people are too busy looking at your dress to notice how tired you are. I mean, when we shot these I was 24 hours deep into a hangover from hell. You couldn’t tell could you? See. Considering I usually am lying in bed with Ubereats and Netflix I thought it was a pretty big achievement to look like a normal functioning human. Although at 9am on a Sunday this could also pass as a walk of shame number, haha. Either way, I managed to ditch some on the winter woes and bring a little colour back into the day – so to speak.
This dress is basically sold out everywhere now so I put together a collection of my favourite bright coloured pieces of the moment. If you don’t have a mild winter like we do here I’ve even included some bright coloured coats just for you. They are my actual favourite thing right now because I stick to neutrals pretty much everywhere else. I might have ditched the black for now but I’m never not minimal. Oh well, one step at a time.
Dress – Zimmermann via The Borrowed Collective
Boots – Beau Coops
Earrings – Luv AJ
Photos By Caitlin Drader
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