Many years ago I unexpectedly met the love of my life. We were set up on a blind date by a mutual dear friend, who thought we should meet. He couldn’t have been more right about the potential chemistry between us. Greg and I have been together since the day we met and that was that. The fairytale continues. 

We got married on 15 Dec, 1996. I was 26 and Greg was 28. Today is our 21st wedding anniversary, and we are blessed to be soulmates and besties.

We were married in the oldest church in Cape Town, South Africa, and had our reception at the President Hotel by the Atlantic Ocean in Sea Point. Cape Town is in the southern hemisphere so it was a Summer wedding. It was blissfully warm and sunny during the day, rainy for part of the afternoon — supposedly good luck for the couple to be — and fably crisp at night in the cool sea air. I have travelled and lived all over the world, and nothing comes close to the exquisite natural beauty of Cape Town. The coastline makes my heart skip a beat every time I see it. It was perfect that we were married in the prettiest city in the world.

I designed my own wedding dress, which I had made by a very talented eighty year old seamstress who didn’t even use a pattern! She took my measurements, looked at my sketches, cut up the fabric, and tacked the gown together for a fitting. It fit remarkably well the first time I wore it. Mine was the last wedding dress she made.

My dress was classic, but not traditional. I knew exactly which silhouette I wanted to wear down the aisle. A-line with long sleeves, tailored, minimal lace, a low back and front, rouleau buttons, and with a very a long train. Covered yet alluring, and with a party at the back. The long train looped onto my finger so that I could walk more easily after the church ceremony. I did not want to wear a veil. I had a pearl necklace made in Hong Kong when I was there for work a couple of months before the wedding, and wore my Mum’s long pearl earrings. I finished off the look with gold disco sandals, pearly white nail polish, and did my own make-up. I had my hair done at a salon, but wasn’t happy with the set. I came home, hopped under the shower and styled my own hair – and was happy. When I told Greg the story later that day, he laughed and said… “typical.”

Greg kept what he and our best man Karl were going to wear a secret until I saw them at the bottom of the aisle. Greg has great taste and I trust him implicitly, so I said, “Surprise me. And wear good shoes.” I loved that he and Karl wore matching nehru shirts. Classic, but not traditional. Perfect.

This is our favourite wedding photo. Minutes after we tied the knot, we walked out of the church to greet our guests, who threw rose petals as confetti. The photographer captured the exact moment that I pulled a face and said to Greg, “I think a rose petal went down the front of my dress!”, which Greg thought that was hilarious.

It was only after our wedding that I realized that my Mum’s wedding dress was similar to mine. I must have been channelling it subconsciously, which makes my heart happy. Mum was 22 when she was married to my Dad in 1963, who was 31. I love this photo where Mum’s beaming from ear to ear with her gigantic smile, Dad’s directing the wedding cake cutting, and a friend is observing the process in fabulous specs.

Our wedding was wonderful and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Our three and half week honeymoon to the United States is one of the best and most memorable times of our lives. We never made it as far north as Seattle at the time, but look where we ended up. We’ve been here for fourteen years and love it.

I’ve dressed many brides, helped friends and family prep for their special day, and been to many weddings – all of which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. When the bride asks me for advice, I say that they needn’t have a traditional wedding nor wear a traditional dress. I suggest they wear something that makes them feel comfortable and attractive, and that they think their partner will like too. Some of the best weddings I’ve been to were pulled together on a shoe string budget and extremely cosy. The day is important, but it’s not the most important day of your life. It’s just another day of celebrating with family and friends. The most important component of the wedding is the love, affection, understanding, mutual respect and happiness that flows between you and your partner. If that’s sorted – the rest is easy.

A plaid shirt (checked or tartan if you’re not in the US) is a modern classic, and fun to wear at any time of year if you like geometric patterns. They make a traditional statement at Christmas time, which is in itself quite festive. They’re casual when brushed, made of flannel, and oversized, but look dressier when they aren’t flannel, and are a little more structured.

I recently bought J.Crew’s Perfect Shirt in Stewart Plaid because it’s dressier and not made of flannel. I love it, and can dress it up and down. I adore that it’s in a classic tartan and has a timeless integrity. I hope to also wear the shirt with the red tartan pants that J.Crew has styled it with. Plaid squared makes me smile.

You can style a plaid shirt in countless ways, and we’ll cover the casual options another time. Here are some fun ways to style a plaid shirt for holiday bashes. Any colour palette is fab. I’ve chosen traditional holiday colours because I’ve used my own plaid shirt as an example, but added in some pink and cream as unexpected accents.

Here are the components.

Plaid Shirt: Choose a plaid shirt, and flannel is fine if it’s in good nick and doesn’t look too grungy. A non-flannel plaid shirt is dressier though. A plaid top that is not a shirt is just as fab, as long as the silhouette works with the bottoms. Tuck, semi-tuck or leave the top out.

Festive Bottoms: NO BLUE JEANS OR LEGGINGS. Think festively with a lace skirt or pair of pants, velvet pants, a sequin skirt, or tulle skirt. Add in a fun pair of dressy shorts. And if you dare, mismatch your plaids by throwing in a pair of plaid pants or skirt — my favourite combination.

Footwear: Make sure the shoes work with the style of the bottoms. Think pumps, ankle strap pumps, loafers, ballet flats, slipper flats, or dressy boots.

Accessories: I like my plaid shirt with a pile of pearls that I wear on the inside of an unbuttoned collar, but feel free to go with bling that is more to your taste. Add sheer hose in barely black, a subtle polka dot, or nude-for-you. Complete the look with a party bag that works with the palette. Add jewellery, headgear, eyewear and watch as desired.

Wear a jacket, wrap or coat over the top to keep warm outside, and Bob’s your uncle. I’m busting out my plaid shirt today.

A new outfit from Daniella Robins of LellaVictoria, whom we introduced to YLF in July 2013.

Daniella continues to be a layering wizard with this Autumn outfit in beautiful shades of brown. She’s layered a white turtleneck under a toffee cashmere sweater with deep V-neck, and has tucked both into a pair of statement culottes. The white echoes the retro swirl pattern on the below-the-knee culottes and adds crispness to the look. Tucking the oversized V-neck sweater tempers its volume. Our blogger then added  a chic dark brown wool maxi gilet for a dressy dramatic effect. Belting the gilet creates structure and emphasizes the waistline. Ankle socks in a third shade of brown and suede block-heeled pumps in an orange-y brown make for a fashion-forward effect. The V-shape vamp on the shoes helps to lengthen the leg line when wearing midi skirts or culottes. A cute cream retro bag and oversized pendant earrings with neutral wood effect finish off the look to perfection.

Your sartorial preferences can be narrow or wide. Typically they evolve over time, but every once in a while they change overnight, just because. The shift isn’t gradual nor easily explainable, but quite strong and emotional. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, your mood, perceptions and feelings about a certain colour, style, fabric, silhouette, or look are different to what they were before.

I sometimes see this type of fast and unexpected sartorial shift in my clients. Recently, a very casual client who liked faded and distressed denim for years went totally off the look. Since most of her denim was heavily distressed, it was a challenge getting dressed for a while.

Another client who liked her signature dark brown hair, decided to go blonde on a whim. It wasn’t planned, yet she felt like a drastic change. As a result, her assortment of black footwear no longer bookended her outfits. She also needed to adjust her cool colour palette to a slightly warmer one this year.

A client with a neutral wardrobe said she would never wear bright colours, until one day she bought a bright magenta top with a matching magenta and orange scarf when we were shopping. That was that. Out of the blue, her feelings about wearing a bright had changed.

And there’s my client who exclusively wore heeled, low-vamped footwear for their leg-lengthening, figure-flattering effect. One day she tried on a pair of flat slip-on oxfords and decided she liked the look. Her perception of high-vamped flat oxfords, sneakers and loafers as unflattering had changed. When she phoned to tell me, we laughed and laughed!

I remember waking up the morning I turned forty and deciding that I preferred gold to silver as a metal. I hadn’t worn gold for decades, but that’s what I was feeling and I couldn’t explain the shift. Almost eight years later and I almost exclusively bat for Team Gold. It took a while to swap out most of my jewellery, hardware and accessories to gold, but it was worth it. I love gold, which works better with my warm skin tone. I hope I don’t wake up on the morning of my 50th birthday and decide that I prefer silver.

Have you experienced any sudden and unexpected sartorial shifts?