Remember last week when I posted about the Dressed App? The giveaway is still open for a little while, so get your entries in! Well, I  have a bit of a girl crush on the woman behind the App, Kara. The internet has totally revolutionized our lives in oh so many ways but oh lordy how I love to stalk women and their wardrobes on social media. And Kara’s instagram is my favourite place in the world. All those vintage dresses really take all the stress of the day away in a floaty, chiffon cloud. Ahhh…

Kara is not all gorgeous outfits and clever apps, she is a marine biologist by day too! It’s not easy to dress differently at the best of times but I know that it can be even harder when your work environment expects something different, as you’ll read below. Kara is also an amazing sewist, her precision with pattern matching had me picking my jaw up off the floor! No, really!

I always have so many personal questions I want to ask the bloggers I crush on. I wonder what sort of house they have and what they’re like when no one is looking. What can I say, I’m nosey? I got brave and emailed Kara and we have been having a wonderful time chatting. Isn’t it lovely that two vintage lovers from across the country can connect with each other and then share with you? In fact, we have a few blog we have collaborated on:

The Dressed App Review & Giveaway (here on Ask Sarah)
DIY Whipped Cream with a Cherry Shoes (here on Karas blog, The Dressed Aesthetic)
And an interview with me (here on the The Dressed Aesthetic)

I just know you are going to love her every bit as much as I do, so I have put links to her social media after the interview. I know we both love it if you left some comments or maybe even questions below xxxx

Interview with Kara Shaw, The Dressed Aesthetic

What is your earliest fashion memory?

I think it was watching my mom get ready for a night out. She had this one handbag that sticks out in my mind…it was one of those chain mail mesh bags, made up of hundreds of tiny metal hexagons. I loved to run my fingers across that bag, over and over. There’s just something about the coolness of the surface, the texture of it, how it felt like a liquid and a solid at the same time. Whenever I’m in a vintage store and they have one of those bags, I am drawn to it like a magnet. If only to run my fingers over it and remember.

Are you one of those people who need to touch a garment and see what’s inside?

As a self-proclaimed sewing nerd, the insides are sometimes the best part! There is something about the way vintage garments were constructed – the generous seam allowances, the pinked edges, the care and attention to detail. And the feel of a garment almost helps you connect with it in a way that you can’t otherwise…as if it helps you hear some of her story.

Now, I also do a lot of online shopping – it’s much harder to source vintage in Australia than it was when I lived in the States, so Etsy is my go to. In the case of online shopping, I unfortunately can’t get as up close and personal as I would like. But, I have a few very trustworthy shop owners who are just as nerdy as I am about vintage and who describe their clothes so precisely it’s almost like being able to touch them.

When did you start sewing?

I started sewing back in 2009 when I was living in San Diego. As a lover of vintage, I really wanted to learn how to repair and tailor clothes and potentially get into costume design (I’m a huge theatre nerd). I took a free class at a community college, invested in a Bernina Activa 220 (my pride and joy), and was hooked! In the introductory class, I learned to thread my sewing machine and do the basics, including a straight stitch, reading patterns, and sewing in a zipper, but beyond that it was just practice, practice, practice! Once we moved to Perth, my gorgeous friends bought me 5 sessions with a local sewing teacher (Sandra, who runs Sewanista Fashion Workshops), so I could start drafting my own patterns. I still take classes with Sandra every couple of weeks (when I’m in the country) and have learned more from her than I can say. I absolutely love sewing and the control it gives me over clothes. You can see a few of my favorite sewing projects here and here.

The Dahlia Dress

That dress was inspired by – what else – vintage! I saw a gorgeous vintage dress with the same bodice detail once, but it was miles too small for me. Normally, this would be cause for heartbreak (or the full molestation of the insides to see if there was any chance to letting her out enough to remotely fit me.) But in this case, I was actually able to recreate her and make her fully mine. Now, don’t tell the vintage gods – but I kind of like my version better!

Truthfully, learning to sew and create things has been incredibly empowering. I’m no longer thinking about a dress that Might Have Been, but charging ahead with the things that Very Well Could Be. And there have been many sewing projects that didn’t work out quite as well as I’d hoped, and piles more cluttering my sewing room, but I love that pile of possibility. I love walking into a vintage store and rescuing the beautiful garments of vintage past with a popped seam or a busted zip. I love taking them home and making them sing again. I love the attitude I have towards by body now that I can sew – I no longer stare in the mirror and think about the ways I need to change myself to fit clothing. I think about the way I need to change the clothing to fit me.

What gives you the hard shell, to go out and dress differently?

I think, for me, it was less about having a hard shell and more about giving myself permission to be vulnerable. Wearing what we want and being true to our own aesthetic takes a certain level of courage, but only because we’re showing our true selves to the world and refusing to apologize for it. As we spend a LOT of time apologizing for any aspect of ourselves that isn’t “normal”, this can be a pretty tough habit to break.

It’s not something that is easy for everyone – and it definitely wasn’t something that was always easy for me at first. But, I’ve learned that life is too short to be spending our time cowering behind what is ‘normal’ and saying sorry for what is not. The “abnormal” things about ourselves – the things we bemoan – are the very things that make us fabulous and need no apology. Life is too short for apologies – which is serving to do nothing but diminish our fabulousness. It’s too short to leave those sparkly diamond earrings in the drawer because you’re afraid they might get damaged. It’s too short to wait until you’ve lost ten pounds to celebrate yourself. Wouldn’t is be an absolutely incredible day if you pulled out that quirky dress you felt fabulous in, let those earrings sparkle in the sun, and looked at the body that carries you around and holds your heart and realized that she is so worthy of celebrating – and not someday, but right now?

And it’s that feeling I get that gives me the courage every day to dress the way that makes ME feel amazing, as opposed to the way society dictates I should dress. The way the people around me might dress. The way the gal on the magazine cover might dress. I dress unapologetically – in a way that makes me feel like the best version of myself, which has sort of allowed me to grow into that best version of myself in all aspects of my life. Once you give yourself permission to be fabulous and stop apologizing – you’ll be amazed at where that can take you.

We all want to go out as ourselves but it can be hard. How do you take the negative and positive comments and file them away?

I agree – it can be hard. I’ll be the first to admit it’s very easy to say we should be true to ourselves, but it’s not always easy to put into practice.

Words carry a certain power. Negative comments from our friends, colleagues, partners, families, even strangers – they’re constantly being filed away and can often chip at our confidence when we least expect it.

I have found that when you dress outside of the norm, people often feel that you are somehow ‘public property’ in your oddity, and therefore an object of public opinion. I definitely receive a lot of comments on how I dress – both positive and negative. On the less-than-pleasant side, I’ve been told that I should dress more like a man to succeed in science. I’ve been told I look too pretty to be a scientist (cause apparent if you’re pretty, you can’t also be smart). I’ve been called a skinny B***h on Instagram, told I was flat chested (HA! That one made me laugh. I am a great many things. Flat chested is certainly not one of them), and accused of being incredibly vain.

But I also receive so many compliments. I have women walking up to me in restaurants complimenting my dress, my bag, my shoes. I have women gazing wistfully at my outfit, verbalizing how they wished they could wear something like that (ladies, you can!). I’ve been told that reading my blog and seeing the way I dress has inspired them to go out and wear their dresses more, celebrate their feminine side, and invest in themselves. It has warmed my heart to affect positive change in someone’s life.

But, when it comes to these two extremes, the bottom line is that neither really matters when it comes to how I feel about me. I do not let the negative get me down and I do not rely on the positives for validation. What matters is how I feel in these clothes. The rush I get when I slip them over my head. The twinkle in my husband’s eye when I can see he loves a dress just as much as I do. Truth is, people will always have opinions – some good and some bad. And there’s no way to erase those words that may have been spoken, but there is a way to make a conscious decision that, amidst the babble of opinion about you, your voice should always be the loudest.

When your outfit makes a statement it attracts people. Has that turned into random friendships?

Definitely yes! To understand this story, I first need to confess that I find it really hard to make friends as an adult. Where do you meet new friends, other than at work? (and you know, Instagram). There’s no longer the conveyer belt of new people paraded in front of you as there was in school. As it turns out, friendship-making instantly bears a striking resemblance to dating. So, I am especially grateful as a full-fledged grown-up for my random meet-cute-turned-friendships.

So, one of my favorite meet-cute stories was when I first arrived in Perth. I was completely out of my comfort zone and immediately sought out places where I would feel at home – needless to say, I was a woman seeking vintage stores. I walked into Mo-Mo’s Vintage (I say walked. Really, I flounced. I was wearing a white organza 50’s-inspired dress with embroidered daisies and at least 2 crinolines. One cannot do much besides flounce in that dress). Anyway, I was told that the modern resale was at the front and true vintage was at the back. I made a beeline for the back, and over the course of the next hour or so, got to chatting to the proprietress of the shop. The more we chatted, the more I realized she also went to school to marine science, had a similar nerdy programmer-type partner (en route to getting his PhD), and had a huge passion for vintage. And I had that crazy, giggly how-do-you-make-a-new-friend-as-a-grown-up moment. Was I really going to ask this stranger if she wanted to hang out sometime? The other shop girl watching the two of us in amusement pounced on our shyness and suggested we meet for coffee. Blushing, she gave me her number and I waited three days to text and invite her for coffee (apparently I’m that girl). We met for a coffee, which turned into a bottle and a half of wine over dinner and hours of talking, before it quickly became apparent we were simply meant to be friends, bonded by vintage. After we parted, I felt smugly satisfied, having accomplished the impossible of making a new friend as an adult. True to form, she waited three days to tell me she had a great time.  

I now joke I picked her up in a vintage store. She says no way, she picked me up. (really guys, I SO picked her up!)

And the two friends lived happily ever after….
Tell us five things that describe you on the inside and five that describe you on the outside?

On the outside I would describe myself the way I do whenever anyone asks me to describe my personal style: I call it Vintage Modernism. Fit and Flare for the Dramatic. Floaty. Feminine. Donna Reid meets one of those Bond Girls with an evening gown under her wetsuit.

And every time I tried to describe myself on the inside, I came up with the exact same things.

It took me such a long time for the inside to catch up to the outside; although I still have my moments, perhaps one of my proudest accomplishments is that my outsides finally reflect how I feel inside. I finally feel like the truest version of myself, with a vintage 1950’s Emma Domb ballgown tucked under one arm and a shark tucked under the other, walking side by side with my husband, our furry pawed companions trailing in our wake.

We live in different worlds: work, friends and family. If you could describe each set in an outfit, what would it be?

In a lot of ways, my worlds often collide, but when I thought about what each of those world’s mean independent of each other, I definitely had different pictures come to mind.

Work would be my battlegear. My most put together self. A 1950’s day dress and a snuggly cropped cardigan to hug me when the day is stressful. A wide belt to cinch me in and hold my posture ramrod straight. It would be the click of my stacked heels down the hallway, as I march on to take on the world.

My friends would be cocktails and sundresses, stilettos kicked off, barefoot in the grass. They would be sunshine streaming through gauzy chiffon, daisy chains strewn in my hair. No pretense, laughing till my sides hurt.

My family would be my comfiest sweats that my husband laughs at every time I throw them on and the blue fleece top I always steal every time I visit my sister’s house. It would be wooly socks that smell like the pumpkin spice candles my mom is always burning and hot chocolate, hair up in a bun. The most honest, true form of comfort, with my heels stashed in my bag, ready to dart out into the glittery night.


Coco Chanel was known for her signature scent, what’s yours?

The funny thing is – I’m not a huge fan of perfume! If I ever do reach for a scent, it’s always been Happy by Clinique – fresh and clean and citrus. But, I’m pretty funny about scented anything. I simply like the smell of “clean.” I even take ages picking a body wash because I have to sniff each one in the hopes of finding something absent of all that vanilla, kiwi, freesia, buttercream-cupcake nonsense. I’m not a huge fan of sweet. Or smelling like food. Though I may get kicked out of the woman club for saying this, I can sort of take chocolate or leave it (I know, I KNOW!) But, it’s true. I’m the girl who can eat one cookie. Five M&M’s. Who can pass on dessert. (but put a loaf of garlic bread within 5 blocks of my person and I can kill the whole thing myself).

You have an obvious bent for vintage, what is it like in your home?

My husband is definitely a fan of vintage styling as well, with a modern twist. So our home has its classic elements, but with a retro feel. A lot of our favorite pieces are vintage, some with special meaning. We have an amazing repurposed cabinet that we use to house our liquor and wine, with a lovely collection of lead crystal decanters on top and a working bakelite tube radio. We have a vintage 8-track player that belonged to Mr. Dressed Aesthetic’s grandmother and a gorgeous cream 1970’s sofa that used to sit in my in-laws “fancy living room” (hence the pristine condition). Like my clothing, I love being surrounded by things with a story.

However, make no mistake – although many things in our home definitely maintain their retro sensibilies, given that my husband is a full on tech-whiz, it would be hard pressed to walk into our house and not know you were in the 21st century. As my husband is an iOS programmer, we basically live in iHouse – iMacs, iPhones, iPads, Apple tvs…. Gadgetry abounds!

We have the obligatory guy-sized flat screen tv and one of those magic remotes that can control anything (I swear it can probably do your taxes.) We have all kinds of streaming devices that talk to each other and every game console known to man – including an incredible arcade cabinet that my husband built himself. Hey, want to come over and play Pac Man or Space Invaders??

I guess our home is exactly the way we are – eclectic and completely unapologetic for it’s eccentricities!


What is your fave era of vintage and what influenced that?

I’m a 1950’s gal through and through – I absolutely love the Dior New Look silhouette. I can’t pinpoint an exact influence, except to say that the dresses that make my heart stop are always the full-skirted, cinch-waisted beauties. I own a few wiggle dresses (that I try to wear more of to get out of my comfort zone now and then), but give me a full circle skirt and I’m sold.

You made this amazing app Dressed, to help women get themselves together, so tell us how you got together?

Ahhh the app! Dressed has been a rather incredible adventure for us that went from an idea that is now a reality six years in the making. Mr. Dressed Aesthetic and I are similarly an adventure that’s now nearly 8 years in the making! Honestly, it’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t know each other – he’s my best friend, my confidant, my pickle-jar opener, and is incredibly understanding when it comes to the mounds of vintage that threaten to take over our lives.

How we got together was rather nondescript – in that there was no grand gesture or riding in on a white horse or chasing after me through an airport. We met rather randomly through a mutual friend when I first moved to San Diego. I think what struck me the most was how much we had to talk about – those first few months involved us talking till 4am about everything and nothing. I knew within one week of us dating that we were meant to be – primarily because I wasn’t waiting for anything to change. In every past relationship I’d had, I was always uttering the phrase, “It’ll be perfect when…” When I met him, I was no longer waiting for anything. It was perfectly imperfect just the way it was.

And then after a few years, he wrote me the most amazing app to help me organize my closet – who needs the white horse? If that isn’t my version of Prince Charming, I don’t know what is!

And just one question to say goodbye, now that you are Dressed you think every woman should….

Go forth and be fabulous. And be whatever that fabulous is to you – jeans and converse to taffeta ruffles to the boldest victory rolls you can conceivably rock. Rock it with passion and commitment and unabashed determination. And never, ever apologize for your particular brand of fabulous.