Day 29 Frocktober: Just Get Frocked with Pip Macdonald

Frocks and I have a tempestuous relationship. 

Flashback to my teens and I was one of the girls-just-want-to-be-boys riding the half pipe, never caught dead in a dress. Gradually throughout my late teens I conceded defeat on Christmas Day and begrudgingly agreed to frock up. This tradition continues. I will still always wear a dress on Christmas Day. Behold last Christmas I wore a dress which I admit I have never worn again. It was purchased from a little boutique in South Melbourne called Teresa Frock Salon. It was an impulse buy to mark my first Christmas Day as a mum. Weird, but maybe, akin to a wedding dress, I’ve never wanted to wear it again. Often though with items of clothing that live in my wardrobe I whip them out a few years later and decide I like them again. So possibly there’s life in this old girl yet.

Nowadays I’m all about practical and comfortable given I tend to do the toddler fandango before and after work. I need to be able to race about the house playing hide and seek whilst secretly using my ‘seek’ time to pack my work bag and make my lunch. I often say my figure resembles that of a brick shithouse – solid, sturdy, does the job. Hence a floaty floral dress will never suffice. Nor will one of those flare at the hip numbers that only suit ladies with slim tall pins. My dresses are all about pairing with undergarments in the winter and transforming into a short sleeved dress for summer. If I can wear them to work then it’s a done deal. I’m lucky nowadays that I no longer work in a strictly corporate environment and have some flex in the wardrobe department. I do tend to like to keep ‘fun’ dresses to my weekends so they don’t remind me of work, however the lines have blurred somewhat now I have a little leeway to be creative with my choice of work attire.

So this is a dress I’ve worn quite a few times into the office, as well as on warmer weekends without the long sleeve top underneath. It too was a random purchase when rifling through a closing-down felt shop in South Melbourne called Colours of Australia. I was actually stocking up on newborn gifts when I spotted random dresses hanging on their rack that were marked down half price. Despite not necessarily being drawn to figure hugging items I decided the patterns would draw a little attention away from the curves plus I could always throw a jacket over it if I found it too revealing. Turns out I don’t think it’s too risky thanks to the cotton material and I layer it so it just looks a bit like a patchwork quilt rather than any particular fashion statement. 

I’m still not completely confident striding around in a dress, though I am getting used to wearing one to work every few days though prefer skirt and top. All I know is that I’m beginning to realise that jeans and pants are not always a short girl’s best friend and a frock that suits the figure is sometimes a more flattering option when the colours work too. So all hail the month of Frocktober and Claire’s fabulous challenge in aid of Ovarian Cancer which I’ve been learning a lot about thanks to her little tidbits at the end of each post. I certainly could not wear a dress every day of the month but thanks to Claire I convinced my work mate to take some quick cheeky shots in the park between random Melbourne downpours in one otherwise uneventful lunch hour.

I blog when I can, but tend to hangout a bit more regularly on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks for having me over to play lovely Claire. x