Keeping it real: the girlie birthday lunch outfit

Do you acquire certain friends from particular star signs?

It seems I collect Aquarians and Scorpios. I haven’t done any extensive research into this, short of looking at my calendar around these particular months and seeing it filled with birthday lunches, dinners, drinks, coffees.

And that’s ok. Especially the lunches. I’m a big fan of the long lunch. Yes, I am.

Last Friday it was my girlfriend Nat’s turn. The text invite for her birthday lunch came in the middle of The Great Styling You Website Hack of 2012. I didn’t know at the time if or when my blog would be fixed but I did know that I needed a little top-up of the soul from my girlies.

Much as I would have loved to have kept topping up my champagne glass as well, I was constrained by the school run and the need to catch up on two days of lost work. So I sat on my one glass of champagne, feasted on goat’s cheese and roasted beet salad and talked until the shoulders finally relaxed a little. Style tip: shoulders are not a good look when worn hunched around your ears.

Now, this group of girlies loves to frock up. They are each supremely comfortable in their own style. That text was a signal to get my wardrobe juices flowing. What would I pull out and re-glam for this occasion?

Inspiration was lacking. Sapped by stress.

And then my new Gorman shoes from Style Tread arrived. Oh yes, they did.

I love them in the same measure as my husband hates them. And that’s why you need girlfriends to do lunch with: you need to be able to base a whole outfit around new shoes and have it oohed and ahhed at.

Not booed and bahhed at.

Yes, you do.

Hair: Suite Three | Lipstick: Napoleon Perdis | Dress: Morrison | Jacket: Sussan (ooh, ooh, ooh … Sussan’s now available online too) | Necklace: Riley Burnett | Shoes: Gorman (I actually got mine on special for $164 but that super dooper sale is no longer on, sorry)

Do you love a girlie lunch as much as I do? Do you “collect” girlfriends in different star signs? What do you wear to catch up with your girlfriends? 

PS. Yesterday I wrote a post on Justb. owning up to my the crazy mixed and muddled up name-full identity. You have to read the comments – I’m SO not alone with my mixed bag of names.