Friendly Fashion Features - Pastels, Prints and Pretty Florals with Tara

Floral Playsuit - Dragonberry

Meet Tara, one of my best friends to be made outside of high school. We met on the first day of our first class at university and have been friends ever since. Since then I have watched her style grow to reflect her personality. When I asked her during this shoot, she said she likes to think her of style as a hazy "combination of pastel girly colours and slight punk influences." She has a real preference for clothes that are simple and hassle free. You'll notice the "easy to wear" quality that all of the garments featured offer - especially the playsuit and basic cotton tees. 

Ella Character Tee-Shirt - Wildfox 

Dreams Unwind Skirt by The Hiding Tree - from Princess Polly, Long Tee Dress Rainbow Chain Print top - from Fairground Online

eBay is definitely her favourite place to source a great bargain and anything under $50 is hard to avoid. If something is particularly amazing she will, however, dish out the funds for a super statement piece. Examples of extravagance in this collection include The Hiding Tree's The Rumours dress, the ever popular Jeffrey Campbell Litas, and the silver neck cuff from Mombassa. I know, first hand, her determination to attain those amazing pieces. If she wants it, she will have it. 

The Rumours dress by The Hiding Tree - from Princess Polly

Silver Neck Cuff - from Mombassa

Black Cuff - from Thailand, Tatto-esque plastic cuffs - 1990s Childhood

She claims her favourite lipstick to be a classic staple red as it "makes her eyes bigger." I can say though, as her good friend, that she has a collection of groovy pastel Lime Crime lipsticks which all look amazing on her skin tone. 

"Glamour" Lipstick - from Lime Crime

Glitter Jellies with Heel by Juju - from BankFashion, Frill Socks - from Miss Shop

You'll notice her jelly sandals have a heel on them. Fairly uncommon, especially in Australia (where retailers caught onto the phase rather late), Tara says these are something she gets comments on from strangers quite a bit. That and particularly statement dresses like The Rumours dress from The Hiding Tree - which is fair enough considering its price tag. 

Jeffrey Campbell Lita with Black Wooden Heel in Blue Distressed Leather - eBay

The pretty pastel side of Tara's style and her adoration for an abundance of colour is blindingly obvious. However, it's the small notions that adorn her wrists and more subtle sections of her outfits that bring across her punk influences. For a period of time, her hair colour went from bright blonde to pink, teal, green and purple. It's all back to her natural brunette colour now but those bright, slightly rebellious, tendencies are still present in her style. 

It is the combination of these opposing themes and unwillingness to waver on the style she desires that make Tara who she is. If she doesn't adore it 100%, it won't be bought and it won't be worn. And I think that's a really great lesson for us to all learn in fashion. If you aren't devoted to a piece, do you really need it? Wait until you find those garments you really can't live without and ache over for long enough to convince yourself it's worthy. 

I hope you've enjoyed the first instalment of Friendly Fashion Features. If you didn't see my sneaky post before this, click here to see an explanation of what I'm on about. 

Erin xx