When did I stop wearing dresses?

When did I stop wearing dresses? If you live in NSW or VIC and read my column in Sunday Life mag, you may have noticed a new photo appeared alongside it this weekend. It’s the first time I’ve done new shots for my column in over a year.

Last July, Sunday Life’s art director Aleks Beare oversaw a half day shoot where I was photographed in five different outfits to roll out over the year. Except they only used four of the shots because the fifth was too casual. More about that in a moment.
Anyway, it’s a weird thing being photographed when you’re not a model or an actress who pretends to be someone else for her day job.

And when the photo is going alongside a first-person opinion column, the link between words and how you’re portrayed is even more relevant.

Poor Sunday Life. They keep trying to balance the image they want to portray for their magazine (polished) with the image I’m rusted onto (casual).

There are worse problems than arguing with a stylist about what clothes you’re going to wear and how high your heels should be. I get that. So this year I surrendered to the process and enjoyed it far more.

Last year, when we did the shoot, I was in a different, more fragile headspace. I had just finished breastfeeding and I was about to launch my book. I felt a million miles away from glamour or heels or even make-up. I was paranoid about looking ‘fake’ in someone else’s clothes and anxious that I didn’t want to make anyone else feel bad about themselves on a Sunday morning by looking at a photo of me after 2 hours of hair and make-up, professional lighting and styling. In other words, NOT how I look on a Sunday morning or any other day of the week.

[to those who say: then why don’t you just be photographed au natural in your jeans and bare feet, well, it’s not my magazine. I am employed by Sunday Life as a contributor so the decisions about the kinds of shots they want are theirs. And I’m happy about that, lord knows I have to make enough decisions around here. I adore taking direction from people I trust and admire.  And there’s nothing WRONG with a bit of fluff and a pretty frock and brushing your hair. And yes, I always ask not to be air-brushed.]

WHERE WAS I?

Dresses. So this year, my baby is 2 and my breasts have resumed wind sock status and I decided to relinquish a bit of control to the stylist and art director and do what I was told. And the result was….dresses! I used to wear a lot of dresses when I worked in an office. Ginger and Smart dresses mostly. Some Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dresses. And lots of chainstore.

Then when I was pregnant and breastfeeding, I wore lots of floaty dresses from Tree Of Life. And then….pants. Jeans and trackies and harem pants and cargos. No skirts. No dresses. Nada.

So it was with some trepidation that I climbed into the frocks (with my Spanx and Nancy Ganz underneath, helpfully provided by the stylist, supplemented with my own impressive collection) and clambered into the heels for the five shots. Or was it four? I can’t remember because for each outfit, I had to pose in 4 different positions and after a while, my eyes began to cross.

It only occurred to me to make this video halfway through the shoot so that’s why there are no ‘before’ shots. Needless to say, it is not my natural state.

The green dress I’m wearing is by Scanlan and Theodore (so is the black one) and I would NEVER have thought of picking it off a rack. Or wearing it with a belt. The shoes were mine (Witchery) but the shoes I’m wearing in future shots are most definitely not mine – they’re YSL and Balenciaga and amazing.

Are you a dress person? Has your fashion style changed as you’ve got older?