A week in work outfits with Sydney musician Lola Scott

Words by Maggie Zhou and Izzy Wight

“Thanks, it’s thrifted.”

Working in a creative role, knowing how to dress for the day can be difficult. Instead of having a set uniform of crisp white shirts and tailored black pants (as much as I love both), an ever-changing schedule means every morning requires a set of questions. Am I running around, or just sitting at my desk? Do I need to dress specifically for a project? And most importantly, will I be in the background of someone’s TikTok?

Sydney musician Lola Scott’s work week doesn’t involve commuting to an office or painful water cooler chats. Instead, the singer and multi-instrumentalist spends her time touring around Australia, attending PR parties and sorting through press shots. Of course, it’s not all glitz and glam and soundchecks. This week, ahead of the launch of her new single, ‘High School Drama,’ Lola also spent time “girlboss[ing] life admin” and soaking up the sun in her local dog park.

The word ‘thrift’ is mentioned 17 times by Lola, a record for any Fashion Journal week in work outfits article. As you’ll soon see, she has “recently revived [her] obsession with thrifting”. Prioritising secondhand clothing, alongside repurposing items (like a shirt fashioned from a sheer scarf or a diamonte badge being used to hitch up a skirt), Lola is living the slow fashion rockstar life. Read on to hear her recount her week and all the outfits she wore.

My ‘fit for a show at Wollongong’s UOW Bar supporting Teenage Dads. On this day I’m wearing my friend Liv’s tartan mini skirt (she thrifted without trying it on so it ended up with me), a thrifted black graphic tee layered with a red long sleeve, a matching red belt I thrifted, a dark denim jacket (also thrifted), knee high olive green socks and scrappy black heels.

Pretty much my whole outfit is thrifted – I live right across the road from a kind of secret thrift shop that has the best selection of secondhand clothes. It’s in the middle of nowhere and not many people know about it; selfishly I hope it stays that way forever!

I like to have a clear day if I can before shows. I run through the set and check my guitars are in the right tuning and not something random I’ve changed it to whilst writing. I try to have a gear list to follow so I’m not going to forget any bits and bobs. I went to pick up my guitarist Ryan and my drummer Daphnie before the show. I changed into cargo pants for soundcheck and then felt way too comfy. I ran out of time between soundcheck and setting up merch, so I stayed in cargo pants and skate shoes.

Today I’m wearing a thrifted dress under a Deus Ex Machina T-shirt, a OneTeaspoon coat, an assortment of thrifted badges, thifted dark brown boots, [a] thrifted brown patchwork bag, [and a] thrifted necklace with black pendant. I’ve recently revived my obsession with thrifting.

There’s a great kilo section at Uturn in Punchbowl (no gatekeeping here). It feels like treasure hunting digging through the crates. I also love that you have to buy new ‘fits frequently and have an ever-changing wardrobe without feeling like you’re adding to the landfill.

We walked Ella (my aunty’s dog I’m looking after) to the park to journal. [I’m] getting ready for the release of my next single ‘High School Drama’ which at the time was out in a week, but is out now! The optimism that came with choosing boots to walk the dog wore off quickly and you can see my comfort version of this outfit that I wore whilst journaling in the park.

I had a minor spiral questioning who and what I wanted to look like as an artist, and whether being styled and having my hair and makeup done by a bunch of different people had felt genuine to me. I had to pick final press shots for the release and I was losing my mind from looking through hundreds of photos of myself from the shoot.

They turned out super sick in the end but it was a new experience for me seeing myself like that. During the spiral, I went to the dog park with Ella and my friend Ukiyo and his dog Arlo. We took some Polaroids which made me feel like I had control over my look but of course, they were a lot shitter than the photoshoot with amazing collaborators.

Then it was time to get ready for one of the biggest shows on the Teenage Dad’s tour. Look three is technically on the same day [as look two], but the look switched up dramatically. For the Liberty Hall show I made my shirt out of a sheer scarf borrowed from my housemate that I safety pinned together.

[I] paired it with a long pendant necklace doubled over to make it a choker, and a black knit bolero gifted from my pal Jenny. On the bottom, I wore a pair of thrifted knee-high boots and my favourite tartan maxi that I was later told is part of my cartoon character look cause I wear it so much. I customised the skirt to sit higher with a blue and silver diamonte badge.

After the show we dropped into Maccas for a feed and I wore my favourite metal-looking sweater that I got from Glebe Markets years ago (because comfort is key), and a red croc Guess bag I also found at Glebe Markets years ago.

Today I’m wearing Adidas tracksuit pants, platform Converses, a white Glassons corset, [and] a scarf [I] handknit. I spent the morning with my besties at my favourite cafe lying in the sun. I [was going to an Adidas party and] planned on wearing this white corset but actually ended up wearing a tight white tee because it was comfier.

I paired the look with an ex-boyfriend’s sweater and kept that big baggy sweater on most of the night as we sat out on the balcony at The Abercrombie. It was great to have a Saturday to catch up with friends and just soak in the sun after a bunch of show-filled weekends.

Today I’m wearing thrifted red and navy blue board shorts, football socks, thrifted brown boots, [a] red Betty Boop singlet, [a] thrifted black crossover knit and [a] thrifted handbag. This is my favourite because I love the combo of fancy and super casual. It feels like a clash but I love that you could wear it casually chilling in the park and then wear it going out at night too.

Today we girlbossed life admin and had a picnic in the sun getting everything ready as we got closer to [the] release day [of my single]. I spent most of the day on my laptop prepping and making sure everything was ready to go.

You can follow Lola for more here.

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