After all that faffing about with my wardrobe and fashion advice last week, for some reason the list of must-have bags in one of the Trinny & Suzanna books stuck in my head. I can’t recall exactly how it goes, but it included a brown day bag, a black day bag, a nice going out bag big enough to carry all essentials, a big tote, a smaller evening clutch or three to match your dresses, and a teeny tiny bag you can wear while dancing.

I’ve always had one go-everywhere bag (usually black) that I wear until it falls apart, too many totes and a handful of little evening bags that mostly don’t get used. So was there any reason to change?

There’s sense in having a second not-black bag, especially as I wear lighter colours in summer. Currently I’m using a brown satchel I bought at the Camberwell Market in summer, and a black day bag for winter. Thanks to a bag insert it’s an easy thing to switch over. So all set there. (Until one breaks.)

I have a nicer bag – my Jubly Umph anatomical heart bag – that I can use for going out, which the bag insert also fits.

Totes I have plenty of. Free totes attach themselves to me all the time. I have my favourites and I’m already in the habit of passing anything I don’t love to people who’ll like them better, or to the op shop.

So when it comes to big bags, I’m sorted. When it comes to small ones, however, things are a bit dire. I often can’t find a suitable evening bag despite having plenty of them. I have bags that I was given, inherited, bought and made, but most of them don’t work for me. Why not? Well, there are a couple I just don’t like and the rest are too casual. The former are off to the op shop, and the latter…

Basket Bag:
Yeeeeaaaars ago a friend bought a fabulous and rather expensive bag that I admired. The ex took note then bought me this cheaper but impractically small version. I can barely get my wallet in it. Which would be fine if I used it as an evening bag, but the colour doesn’t go with anything I’m likely to wear of an evening.

I had regretfully put this in the op shop pile, but then I had an idea. Recently I spruced up some old suede boots with some leather dye, so I decided to try it on the bag. It worked:

Finally, after 20 or so years, I think I will get some use out of this bag.

The Teeny Tiny Dancing Bag:
Small enough to wear on the dance floor, large enough for a hotel room key, credit card and lipstick. I recently refashioned it to match a particular skirt, which is limiting it’s usefulness.

That’s better:

Cross Stitch Bag:
Given to me by a friend years ago after she went holidaying in Bali or Thailand. A bit casual for evening, though. So I added a beaded fringe and some beading along the tip, which took a while but was worth the trouble. Now it will suit a party or a show (though not the opera!):

The Green Bag
Woven as a backup for a bag swap, in case the one I really wanted to make failed (it didn’t).

I’d never liked the handles being brown, though I was surprised to find I loved that they were big loops and clacked together in a satisfying way when hooked over my arm. Well, that was easily fixed:

Actually, I think the handles being bigger suits the bag better, too.

The Knitting Bags
These have now found their way into the evening bag collection.

I bought the green one intending to carry sock projects in it but it proved too small. Turns out it matches a top I have perfectly. The pyramid bag is an old favourite. It’s nice to know I’ll still get use out of both.

I’m really happy with how this bag cull worked out. I like the bags I have now. And instead of feeling like I need to buy a whole lot of bags, I can see there’s only one kind I do need to buy, to go with the more formal dresses: a simple black clutch.

Last week I decided it was time to clean out the linen press. (Old fashioned term for a cupboard you keep sheets & towels in.) I had ours made extra big so I could store the craft materials overflow and those things you never plan storage for, like boxes of ornaments. After all, you can never have too much storage.

By the time I was done, I had filled two big garbage bags and half the dining table covered in things for the op shop. Half of the latter was clothes for alteration/refashion. While I can sew, it’s not something I love and I’d rather be spending craft time doing something that excites me. Yet that wasn’t the main reason I gave up on these projects. When I ask myself why these clothes ended up in the pile it was because:

1) I didn’t want to let go of old favourites just because they didn’t fit any more
2) I’d bought something that turned out to be a dud

Both reasons pointed to the real problem: my body shape has changed in the last few years, and I haven’t a clue how to dress it.

I used to be a classic pear. Dressing a pear isn’t too hard. Balancing proportions is all about creating illusions. People notice the top half of a person more than a bottom half, so half of the work is done already. You just need to pick slimming skirts and pants in dark colours, then you’re free to have fun with tops.

But I’m not a pear any more. I’ve got bigger over all, but mostly around the bust. Going from a 10 to a 12 in my 30s and a B cup to a C didn’t make a huge difference in the clothing I wore. I filled out my clothes a bit more, but didn’t have to change many shopping habits. It was the shift from size 12 to 14 and C cup to D in my 40s that made the biggest difference. It meant some styles no longer suited me and it’s taken a while (and some awful photos) for me to spot which ones.

I’ve also realised that a lot of clothing available in size 14 isn’t very well designed for the body shape it is supposed to fit on. Last year I ordered this cute vintage style dress from ModCloth. It looks lovely on the site – the waistband clearly sits at the dress model’s waist and the specifications put the length a little above the knee. The design should have scaled up to a size 14 perfectly well, but whoever did the sizing must have assumed it was for a short size 10 who’d put on weight, and only enlarged it sideways. The waistband is up under my boobs and the hem is too high. Maybe I would have noticed this if I’d tried it on at a shop instead of online, but to tell the truth, I didn’t twig how bad it looked until I saw photos of me at the wedding I wore it to.

Clearly I need to reeducate myself. So I dragged out my old Trinny & Suzanna books. Using their guidelines, I worked out that I’ve turned into a Vase. Unfortunately, the advice for each body shape runs to only a few pages, so after taking some notes I went looking on the internet for more advice. I found a great little blog called youlookfab.com.

There are only five body types dealt with, but they recommend you poach some advice from other types as regards specific physical features. I most closely fit the ‘Hot Hourglass’ shape.

Between the T&S book and this site I spotted some mistakes I’d been making. Like:

“Empire cuts are hard to wear with a fuller bust because they aren’t cut long enough from shoulder to under bust point.”

Now I understand why they never live up to their promise. Well, other than the fact that they make me look pregnant.

“…voluminous silhouettes look wide from the side even when they are cut well.”

Aha! That’s why the silver bat wing top I bought looks terrible. Drapey material will hang off protruding bits, making those bits more obvious and everything below it appear the same width. Basically, it makes my entire body torso as wide as my boobs.

Most of the tips simply articulated what I’d already begun to notice. Like how the skirts I own that are shorter than just above the knee are no longer flattering. How do bigger frontal features on a woman make a skirt look different? Balance and proportion, dahling. Lots of fabric up top and less on the bottom makes a gal look top-heavy.

Which is why high necklines aren’t working for me as well, because a bigger bust means there’s acres of fabric between the chin and waist. Which is another problem with that ModCloth dress.

After this, I didn’t feel so bad about culling old faves from my wardrobe. They don’t work for me not just because I’ve put on a little weight, but because I have a new, curvier body shape. And perhaps I’ll have a bit more confidence about dressing it now.

Anybody wanna buy that ModCloth horseshoe dress?