I have a GIRL CRUSH...

I have a huge girl crush on Kate Bosworth. I love her. A lot. I love her laid back, relaxed style and I do love her hair too. I also like that she repeats a bit of her clothing and clearly has her favourite items she wears again and again - just like a normal person. Case in point is the suede ankle boots she wears in 4 of the photos above. I actually just purchased a similar pair from big w. Here is how I plan to wear them - Kate Bosworth style:

I'd pair my new boots with denim shorts and a slouchy top/jumper (it's a bit hot for jumpers at the moment here); a plain top, pretty skirt and bright necklace or with a simple black mid length dress. I'd probably wear a bright red lip to jazz things up a bit and some bright bracelets if I was feeling like it needed a bit more oomph (this would depend on my mood). I'd also pair it with a tan messenger bag or my current bag (I did a DIY for it). 

Do you have a girl crush at the moment? I have a number of them, and one massive boy crush, but that's a blog post for another day. 

tara louise. 

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DIY: Studded Bag

This DIY is such a simple one. I had a bag which I found in Kmart for $10 but it needed jazzing up a bit, so I grabbed some studs (these can be found in bead shops or craft stores. I got mine from here) and one by one while watching TV fixed them to the bag. I found the easiest way to do this was to pierce the stud through the leather/fabric a few at a time. If you happen to pierce the lining, then pull the lining away from the stud, then with some pliers, fold the spikes inwards. I did a couple of google searches on the correct way to do this and some said to fold the prongs outwards - I highly disagree. I would have no fingers left if I'd done it this way. I vote for folding the prongs in. Work your way around the bag, adding studs where necessary. For my bag, I bought 50 studs but only used about 30. And that's pretty much it. Super Simple and a way to pass the time while watching mindless TV that you don't have to think about or concentrate on. 

tara louise. 

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Work Style

This is what I've been hanging out at work in...

as you can see I'm clearly steering away from the norm of how blogger photos of fashion are supposed to go. you know with a nice background, beautiful natural lighting, designer clothes (usually given to them for free), an accessory - like a handbag or something, a coy look over the shoulder. 

I'm taking on my own style of blogging photography and styling photos. 

I was also pretty bored at work where these were all taken. 

So the ones above are the "normal" shots and the ones below are the silly shenanigans ones. I tend to do a couple of simple normal ones and get a bit crazier and nuttier as I carry on. 

I think they are more fun. 

You can just see my clothes less. 

And you can tell it was quiet, as I had my husband take these photos in our reception area. 

I must have looked quite the fool to anyone walking past. 

Fool to some. Fun girl to others. maybe!

tara louise.

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what i wore to work...

the past couple of weeks, i've apparently been running on a few key looks:

as you can probably see, i tend to find one thing that works and keep going with it!

i might recreate some of these looks again this week. 

i'm needing outfits that require layers - it's freezing when i go to work, cold inside the office and hot outside by 1pm, then freezing by the time i get home. it's like living in melbourne. ridiculous.

i do like the weather at this time of year though. cool some days and deliciously and suprisingly hot the next. 

can you also tell i'm steering away from the professional sultry modely looks most bloggers take when showcasing their wardrobes. i'm heading towards lots of pouting, silly looks and funny posing.

makes for a more interesting shot i think. hahaha. 

makes me feel less like a dork too - i'm no model so won't try to be!

enough said.

tara louise. 

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2012 A/W collection

A super dooper quick post before I rush off to work this morning.

I really want to share my inspiration mood board thingy for my collection this Autumn/Winter for tara louise designs. .  I'm loving how unwintery it is - i'm clearly not ready for the colder months am i!? and well, when that's the case, why not brighten up cold wintery days with neons, pom poms, polka dots and geo prints.

bring on winter i say! 

bring it on.

tara louise. 

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What I wore to work...

It's been a little while since I have put up a what i wore to work post, so i have a few shots to share with you:


(and as you can see it was still warm when i started taking them!)

on high rotation are my black t-bar flats from amsterdam, my new browny taupy coloured dress from next and well anything else i got overseas! 

i'm pulling out the winter clothes + coats now and trying to work them in different ways to last year. 

tara louise. 

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UK + Europe bound

I'm pretty excited (+ well stressed out) that the husband and I are off to travel around the UK and Europe for a month on Sunday. Apart from doing all the normal things you do when you get ready to travel - book flights, accommodation, research dairy free/vegan cafes in the places we're going (you know, because we all do this) - one of the other things that takes up a large majority of my organisation and time is spent on deciding what to take to wear.

I'm a fairly light traveller (on the way over anyway) and am getting better at this as i get older and travel more. This time I'm taking a suitcase (I've travelled with a backpack most times over the past few years) and a husband who is the opposite of a light packer (why wouldn't he need to take 32 shirts for a month long stay in brazil where he barely wears a shirt? true story - i had to pack his backpack at the end for him and counted them - and made him leave about half there for his cousins). I've been researching winter styling, winter/spring trends and have stumbled across one or two travelling lightly tips on pinterest.

I found this on travelista on how to pack lightly and mix and match outfits.

Source: travelista.com via Tara on Pinterest

I've tried to base my suitcase packing on this model. As it is rather cold in the UK + Europe at the moment I'll be taking a lot more long sleeved options and things to layer. 


Some of my inspiration pictures:

And so following these bits of style inspiration, I pulled together a virtual packing list on polyvore. Her'es what I plan on taking + a bit more. I don't have all these exact outfits, but have picked them based on similarities to what I have in my own wardrobe. 

2. Dresses Shoes Accessories by taralouise featuring flat shoes

So as I said I'll be taking more than what I have here. At the moment I have oodles sitting on top of my suitcase and have to edit lots of pieces. I am aiming on taking about a half a suitcase over and filling up the rest of mine and husbands suitcase with goodies from topshop, h+m, zara, primark and oh so many other amazing shops.


how do you plan your wardrobe for travelling??

tara louise. 

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What I wore to work

A few silly poses and one where you can tell I've well and truly had enough sums up my week pretty well.

I had a 4 day week this past week which was nice, but then had a shocker Friday arvo. My Facebook status went something like this - I believe we should shut up shop at 2pm on Fridays because the sh*t hits the fan from then onwards.

Are your Friday arvos at work like this? I hate Friday arvos. They suck big time.

Hope your working week ended a nicer note than mine. I turned mine around with an hours Zumba and a bit of tv and some blogs. How do you turn around crappy days?

Tara Louise.

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What I wore to work

Been super busy and losing track a bit. Not having my computer is also screwing around with me.

So here's a couple of photos of what i wore this week and last week:

stripes have featured heavily and so have heels - i wore heels 3 times this week! unheard of for me...i felt it at zumba too. 

i've worn all these things before - i just try and mix it all up a bit. as much as i can anyway!

tara louise. 

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What I wore...to work

A little bit late with this post. Oops! So this is what i've been wading around water in this week (it's rained a bit this week on the Gold Coast).

The first look is in more detail below. In the second shot I was soaking wet pretty much all day long! It rained constantly (like torrentially) for a few days with a lovely break for Australia Day. The second look was about the 5th for the morning. I stayed in this, but ditched the tights before too long. This last look I pulled out my Christmas pressie of a neon bag. I love it to bits (it's Colette). I wore thongs all day because it was still raining.

Before all the rain started, on Monday, it was my mother in laws birthday. We went bowling after work and had Salsa's mexican (with the most delish mango margeritas - husbands and my favourite at the moment). I didn't have time to change my whole outfit, so went from work to play in about 5mins.

lucas (my step son) jumped into the first pic, then husband jumped into the second - as you can see.

just a simple change of shoes transformed the outfit nicely i think.

tara louise.

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Old School: Does my bum look big in this?

At the risk of sounding all nanna and old, I am going to continue with this post.

For a while now - about a year - it has been "trendy" apparently to have your bottom hanging out the bottom of your shorts/skirt/dress. I remember reading the ed's letter in the shop till you drop mag last year and she raised this same issue. but from memory back then it was only if a girl bent over could you see her hoo-ha or her bum. now, there are bums everywhere.

i present these photos as evidence in case you haven't noticed it yourself... or you know the girls in your town still have a bit of dignity.

i was going to conduct this research at one of the shopping centres here on the gold coast, but ran out of time over the weekend, so conducted it at Big Day Out yesterday - knowing full well I would get plenty of 'bum shots'.  So i walked around yesterday for the first 10 minutes of my day and felt like a sleezy dude taking pics of girls bums - but it was all in the name of fashion.

I've been thinking about doing a post on this issue for awhile now, but it was a scene I noticed during the week that made me commit and forge on with the idea.

Storytime:  I was sitting at my desk during the week and often watch people getting in or out of their cars to either go to the beach or the cafe next door. Well this lady is near her car with a pair of green ruffly shorts (like the red pair sported above). Her arse didnt appear to be massive, but the frills were sticking up and well her whole arse was hanging out the bottom of these shorts. They were a glorified pair of undies. Worse yet, her shorts were so short, you could see her undies. My friends, those shorts were too short.

I have a few questions to ask these girls:

•  Can you not feel your arse hanging out the bottom of your shorts?
• Do you realise your arse is hanging out the bottom of your shorts?
• Do you really think it looks good? Even with the best bum in the world?

I actually felt like going up to some of them and saying, "Hi, I just thought someone should tell you that your bottom is showing in those shorts."      My pleasure!

I'm by no means a frump or a fuddy duddy and love a pair of short shorts as much as the next person, but i really think the new questions needs to be asked:
"Does my bum hang out the bottom of this?"

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

tara louise.

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What I wore to work...

so this is what i've been wearing this week...

i've just realised too that i've worn the same necklace 3 times this week - i do like it :)

i'm pooped after a busy week at work and well i'm watching Kim + Kortney Take New York right at this minute, so a super short post it is!

tara louise.

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what i wore to work..

it's been pretty damn hot here the past week - which has been great! here's a bit of what i've been wearing to work the past week or so. smart casual.

neutrals and the pink skirt were in high rotation - as were cool singlets and sheer tops.

i feel like i am always wearing the same things to work, but looking at these photos, i've hardly repeated anything. strange!

tara louise.

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what i wore...to work

this is what i wore last week to work. the last 2 looks are new dresses and nice and cool for summer.

i'm starting to see a pattern emerge where my head is tilted to the side with the same glazed over look in my face in most of these shots. did i ever say i was a model though? no i did not.

i think this look is a result of the photos being taken at the end of the day, as i'm just about to walk through the door...i've usually had enough by this time and just want to get into my pyjamas and sit on my couch.

my husband is beginning to think he is the greatest photographer around though.

tara louise.

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It's been 10 years already...

Saturday night was my 10yr high school reunion. We thought it was more like a schoolies reunion though seeing as it was also the first night of schoolies. we were asked to dress semi formal and while i didn't put too much effort into my outfit, i had narrowed my options down to two:

after careful consideration and talks with my stylist (aka my husband), we decided on the blue dress.

oh i also popped all my goodies into a vintage bag found at the back of mum's cupboard one day.

so yes. i finished high school 10 whole years ago.

we all found it incredibly bizarre that we were all there and that we all pretty much looked the same -just a bit older.

about 90% of us aren't doing what we thought we'd be doing when we left school.

most of us who went to uni aren't working in our professional field due to the lack of jobs.

none of us feel like adults. at all.

we couldn't believe that most of us don't see anyone from school anymore. even bumping into them around the shops.

we can't believe how fast the past 10 years have gone.

out of 300 or so graduating students, 45 or so turned up. we thought that was a poor effort.

and even with facebook, we still had things to talk about! amazing.

we'll see if we have a 20yr reunion. that would be even weirder!

tara louise.

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what i wore to...work (last week!)

this is what i wore to work last week. the weather was hot, so i dressed much more casually than normal:

i'd also had a shop in kmart (one of my fave shops at the moment for bargain clothes!) last weekend and bought some new shoes (check out the peep toes) and a couple of stripey tops (because well i can't get enough stripes - ever).

tara louise.

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what i wore...to work (last week)

i only had a couple of interesting outfits that i liked last week......the rest were fairly basic. although my favourite was the one i wore friday, which i didn''t take a photo of, but was the comfiest and looked rather nice i though! will probably wear it again this week, so will take a photo next time!

i mentioned last week i work in real estate...hence the random houses :)

tara louise.

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What I've been wearing: to work

I get so bored wearing the same old boring clothes to work. I am forever on pinterest looking for interesting work wear that is still corporate enough to not look out of place.

Here is some of what I've been wearing the past weeks:

oh, and i work in real estate - hence the clipboard and the empty room with pink carpet.

and i am lucky enough to work across the road from the beach...this also means the sea breeze is usually cold, so i am still wearing blazers now and have a thousand layers on during winter and i will be boiling hot during summer.....oh and we have no air con/heating :)

but i'm not complaining!

what do you have to wear to work??

tara louise.

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free dress for a whole month

Back in this post before i went away, i mentioned how excited i was to not have to wear office clothes for a whole month! i drove my mum nuts changing my outfit too many times apparently before we left the house. but i loved every minute of my free dress month. i also loved being able to wear most of what my sister couldnt fit into.

here are a few of my fave looks:

and so those are it.

stupid faces, blurry photos and all!

i don't by any means think i can put together an amazing outfit, but i had fun playing dress ups.

tara louise.

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Pollydolly: artist

it's been so long since i've done a polly dolly post.

this week's theme was: artist

the first look is basic but i love those red velvet shorts. the stripey tee and yellow short combo with sparkly nike high tops. love those kicks! and then a pretty yellow shirt with colourful maxi and sweet flats. team all or any of these looks with a hat, aviators, house of harlow necklace, red lippy and a pretty bag.

something a bit alternative but still polished and pulled together for my artist look.

tara louise.

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