Tips for Designer Living: Fashion, Home, Cleaning and staying Beautiful for City and Country women.

Jo Buckley is a mother, photographer, manager, musician and fashion lover. Changing a nappy or cleaning house while donning a catwalk look has never been so easy. You can  feel your best every day with her lifestyle tips.

Having the best of both worlds is difficult, you want to clean the house but you also want to look good while doing it but you don't want to ruin your clothes. So what should you wear for the day to day or the limited time you are at home cleaning ? If you are lucky enough to have a full-time cook and cleaner then this post probably wont relate to you in any manner, but if you do any of such yourself you may be wondering how you can look your best whilst encumbering the least gratifying of lifestyle days. You can make it wonderful in many ways (other tips coming related to time monopolization) and you can look and feel wonderful whilst doing it regardless of if you have children tearing at your apron strings or not. Speaking of aprons lets be clear, in no way will an apron protect your designer clothing from children coming up behind you with grubby hands or sweeping past the debris of water left on the outside of the sink laden with the stain from cacau chia cakes but it will assist in protecting the RIGHT kind of clothing that works for both rushing around at home, work and the unexpected race to the shops. Today we are only talking about the clothing to wear while we incorporate cleaning days here so lets be clear. Start the day right.

Step 1: Get the face and hair right first:
It might sound obvious but getting your face and hair right is the first step to feeling amazing. Scenario: You get up and braless, you begin the day in your pjamas with no attention to your face and hair, you have no plan to go out but suddenly at 10am after the kids have gone to school or your just about to sip your 2nd or third tea or coffee, there is a knock at the door. The last thing you want to do is answer it with your face void of anything including your cleaning and moisturizing regime! SO the first step upon rising is to attend to your teeth and face! If you don't plan on leaving the house but want to be presentable for emergencies BB cream after cleansing and moisturizing will do. If you are planning on leaving the house I would recommend your full face of makeup and the cleaning of ones teeth. Brush hair to remove dust- if you are like me and live in an extremely dusty rural area or have hair fall it is very important to attend the hair. You dont want your locks sweeping accross a dirty oven as you scrub should you be fortunate enough to be able to wear long hair so pop it up in a bun or pony that you would be happy to have people see you in should you be in that situation.

Step 2 The attire:
The track suit- the track suit is completely out of the question regardless of its fabric, velour makes it no more appealing than nylon or pilling polyester and lets face it, your bum does not look that great in track pants anyway.
The fitness gear- are you really working out today? If you are truly doing a work out do you really want people to see you at the shops in your Lorna Janes knowing you've been working up a full sweat? YUK! It must be realized that when people see you in your sweats thats exactly what they think, SWEAT, totally unappealing! If you are incorporating a workout into your day take a change of clothes please. Now-Back to cleaning the house! If you clean the house in your dark sweats they will get dust on them, this would eradicate the wearing of fitness clothes for this task.
High Fashion:
Sweeping designer over shirts and skirts- if you are cleaning the house you don't want to be wearing anything flowing or anything that can brush past dusty items. Also ask yourself, am I using BLEACH? Will I be using it in the form of a spray? Could a gust of wind pass through the window and some get onto my clothes? If you are using bleach there is no way around it, protective over clothing is a must. Be afraid of bleach, be very afraid it is extremely damaging to your black Alexander Wang tshirt, your Victoria Beckham jeans from 10 years ago and especially your new Cooper Street gown. So what to wear if using bleach?- White pants or white jeans, white tshirt or a protective jumpsuit to go over clothing available in the painting section at Bunnings.  If you are not intending on using bleach the best cleaning outfit that is also suitable for running around in and receiving unexpected visitors also rugged hard wearing but where one may also don the runway look  is....
Jeans! Jeans can be made to look elegant believe it or not. It really depends what kind of accessories you are also wearing and what top you team it with. Starting from the feet up:
Flats: Any type of flat or sandal, boot or sneaker works the jeans to look runway ready, of course heels and cleaning wont match but if your rushing about to the shops for bread the flat works best. Quilted Guess, Corelle slipper or Diana Ferari the list goes on there is no end to the designer but low budget flat that can be worn whilst cleaning and racing to the shops. (needless to say, sneakers and runners that are raggedy or dirty are out as is any type of ugg boot).
Jeans: I wear standard Jeans west, Just Jeans or Guess Jeans. I wouldn't wear Religion simply for the risk of injury however if not using bleach you can feel pretty safe in any jeans. I don't wear my Jag soft pants or Tokito pants because they may tear, we are cleaning we need tough rugged fabrics.
The Top: Obviously a long sleeved silk blouse is not what we are to be wearing while cleaning and to achieve the runway look a football jersey wont do either. Layered tshirt material tops are totally acceptable. A long singlet with an Alexander Wang singlet over the top or any other designer top over the top is desirable. See photos..
Earrings: head and working our way down, Studded earrings large or small can do wonders for your look add in a short chain or choker and you are looking your best for the cleaning chores!