Have you ever looked at a Pinterest board or one of those “how-to” cooking tutorial videos on Facebook and wonder, “How do they make this look so easy?” If I try to make a decorative candle holder, the house burns down. Every time.

I get the same feeling when I read blogs about lifestyle or fashion. It’s like everyone has a few spare potted plants on reserve for when they need the perfect photo of an open notebook with a blank page. Or for some reason, make-up is always paired with fuzzy purple pillows. Or someone slaps together a nice outfit and goes for an autumn walk and takes model-like photos in public and doesn’t feel awkward about it. How?

I was asked to review a new piece of multi-functional clothing from Hipknoties — a convertible piece of fabric that can be worn as a dress, shirt, scarf, wrap, etc. I get excited about these things because I LOVE clothes. Shopping is a secret thrill of mine.

But for someone who loves shopping I am absurdly bad at being a fashionista. Things that are common sense to others are just absolutely bonkers for me. Braiding my hair. Painting my nails. Shaving my legs. Are you kidding me? For my first two years of university I literally wouldn’t step out on the weekends without my friends Leila and Joanne putting together my outfit, doing my hair, and applying my make-up.

(They’re proud of me now. They see me wearing some mascara and they’re like, I did this. I made you.)

Living in Berlin gives me a bit more flexibility in being a dirtbag. It’s cool to wear various shades of black. I don’t have to brush my hair! Hell, I only wash my hair once a week now. And then I’ll sit around wondering why German boys aren’t interested in me.

I digress.

My lovely Hipknoties showed up in the mail awhile back but I hadn’t had much of a chance to use it until now. It’s cold here. Plus, it’s a bit dressy. But last night I had some UK friends visiting, and so I decided then was the perfect time to try it out.

I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.

I watched the video first.

The stunning model pulls off these things so effortlessly, I’m all like, yeah I can do this. However, she’s a wizard. I don’t realize this for some time.

We start out easy enough — scarves and shawls!

So I set up my tripod and my camera and I put on some make-up since I’ll be joining the Brits later for drinks, and I’m feeling pretty good about nailing this whole lifestyle blog thing.

I failed miserably. I’m only good at computery word typing thingies, remember?

Is now a good time to tell you I’m wearing sweatpants?

THANK GOD there’s a user manual, with written instruction. And once I start playing around with my Hipknoties, I’m actually impressed by how good this looks on me. I actually manage to follow along with the instructions to create a few pretty kickass outfits for a Saturday night. I’m proud of myself for being able to do something with my hands.

If only I could get a damned shot that isn’t blurry.

Hipknoties can be worn 30 different ways. Basically, you have creative license with your clothes. You’d fare a lot better if you just wandered over to the site yourself to see the specifics, because my camera prowess is entirely lacking.

(For sure my favourite style.)

Thoroughly fed up with my stupid camera and my stupid face, I wrapped up my pathetic photo shoot at midnight and cancelled plans with the Brits in favour of sitting on the couch in my Hipknoties eating Nutella from a jar while watching Trainwreck.

Best Saturday ever.

(Once again, this blog post contains an affiliate link, so if you buy anything I’ll get a small cut — at no extra cost to you.)