New Favourites

I've been trying to give my wardrobe a much-needed update lately, and despite having bought quite a few things, all I have to show for my efforts are these two pairs of shorts and a massive bill for return postage.  The perils of online shopping. 

Left: Top- Oysho, shorts- Vero Moda, Converse.  Right: shirt- Topshop, shorts- Oysho, boots, Topshop

And, erm, let's just ignore that the lace-trimmed shorts are technically meant to be sleepwear.  They're my current single favourite piece of clothing and I'd happily wear them every day if I could, instead of a solid 2-3 times a week. 

Pink

Essie- Cascade Cool

Pink nails at long last, thanks to the free Essie nail varnish in this month's Elle Greece, and the first tentative signs of spring. 

Folk Spring 2013

Folk isn't a brand I've paid much attention to in the past, though my all-time favourite sandals (which may or may not be unwearable after a recent cat wee incident *sob*) are from their S/S 09 collection.  I did see a lookbook for their first-ever womenswear collection last season, but since then they've sort of fallen off my radar.  I randomly stumbled across their lookbook for their current collection earlier though, and I was instantly smitten.  I love the minimal-but-slighty-quirky clothes, and the perfectly rumpled styling.  The shorts in the second image in particular are calling my name...

Creepers

photo from the Underground blog

Indecisive as I am, I find it nearly impossible to decide on any new purchase, especially one that deviates from my usual style.  So I've been toying with the idea of buying a pair of creepers but can't quite bring myself to order them.  I stumbled on this photo today which may just give me the final push I needed.  I like that this girl's styled them completely differently to how they're normally worn, and makes them the focal point of quite a simple outfit.  I also love her gold bangle worn pushed over the elbow.

Craving: Dungarees

 

Clockwise- Chloe A/W 09, Zara, Topshop, Topshop Unique A/W 12

I'm quite predictable in my fashion obsessions.  I start off admiring something from afar, then slowly becoming obsessed with it and deciding I absolutely need to own the most perfect version I can find.  At the moment, that something is a pair of dungarees.  Admittedly, it's not terribly original, but it's one of those things that have been slowly creeping into my consciousness in the past few months and suddenly there are variations everywhere.  A dressy black pair is something I've actually wanted for a couple of years now- I remember finding a perfect silk pair in Cos, but by that point they were in the sale and there were none left in anything close to my size.  I tried to get them on ebay, but was always outbid, so I eventually gave up on the idea.  Cue Topshop Unique's A/W 12 and the most perfect velvet dungarees ever.  Which were close to £200.  They sold out before I could even begin to rationalise them to myself and I wrote them off as not meant to be.  And then I spotted a nearly identical silk version in a magazine, also from Topshop.  When they eventually turned up online, I ordered them and waited with baited breath for them to arrive.  They didn't fit.  Then Zara came up with something similar, though I was only able to find them in a size medium, which I had to admit looked more clown-like than insouciantly slouchy on me.  Topshop's since churned out a few more versions, both long and short, and I'm currently waiting on a playsuit, and the JW Anderson pinafore dress to arrive - fingers crossed at least one fits and suits me!  Then I can move on to trying to track down the perfect denim version which doesn't make me look like an overgrown child...

Fashion Quarterly winter 2010, Uniform, Lonely Hearts A/W 11

Dungaree inspiration.  Left- Asos Pinterest, Right- can't remember for the life of me

Style Crush- Kate Foley

Every so often, I see someone and want to steal her wardrobe because she gets it so right.  Kate Foley is one of these girls.  She's a buyer at Opening Ceremony and has the most perfect collection of white dresses and quirky platforms.  I used to have a similar, though nowhere near as amazing collection, which for various practical reasons got ebay-ed off, and I moved on to wanting to be all French and minimal and chic, a look I will never fully be able to pull off as I refuse to do things like not leave the house with wet hair, or resist the temptation of jewellery in the shape of small animals.  But now I want to embrace my penchant for girly, floaty dresses and chunky shoes and buy a pair of dungarees to pair with heels.  And get a job as a buyer for an amazing, world-renowned boutique.  Hmm...

All photos from fuckyeskatefoley.tumblr.com

P.S. How amazing is the delicate gold ring/pastel nail varnish/tattoo combination?  I'm always scared of looking a bit twee, and I love anything that adds a bit of badass-ness to the ultra girly. 

Outfits...

Sticking with posting my outfits, if only to give myself a kick up the bum to pay more attention to what I wear- judging from this lot, I need to start accessorising again. I got bored of my standard mess of bracelets, but I've not found anything to replace them with, so I've just stopped wearing any jewellery at all...

Clockwise from top left- jumper Topshop, shorts- Primark, boots- Beau Coops.  dress and boots- Topshop, jumper- Topshop Boutique, trousers- Zara, shoes Kurt Geiger, jumper- Topshop, skirt JW Anderson x Topshop, shoes- Kurt Geiger

Also, I really ought to shop somewhere other than Topshop.  *sigh*

New Shoes

The first of my sale spoils finally arrived today, in the form of these:

The vintage filter is to make them look edgy and cool, rather than Essex.

It's been nearly a decade since the last time I wore kitten heels, and I had consigned them to the dustbin of early noughties fashion mistakes, but these convinced me to give them another try.  The colour and smoking slipper-ish front make them a bit more interesting than the standard, low-heel court, plus, I've obviously been brainwashed by the constant presence of white shoes in editorials, on fashion blogs, on the catwalk, etc.  I blame Phoebe Philo- she first made low-heeled white court shoes covetable in pre-fall '11.

And, after randomly finding this photo with the shoes from that collection, I may have ordered a similar(ish) dress from the Topshop sale with the idea of copying this look.  Just need to learn to backcomb my hair now...

WANT

Lately all of my shoes have been feeling completely wrong.  I've been wearing ankle boots in the winter, ballet pumps in the spring/autumn and sandals in the summer for far too long and I want something new and different. I've even been craving variations of the court shoe, which I've not worn since sometime around 2005. I may have been slightly influenced by these:

Valentino A/W 2012 from vogue.co.uk

 They're perfect.  Heels without being the spindly-heel-with-chunky-platform variety that I can no longer stand the sight of, but high enough to escape being classified as kitten heels, and their middle-aged King's Road connotations.  They would go with literally every single thing I own.  And in addition to being hard to track down, they were also ridiculously out of reach in the face of my meagre funds.  And the high street, for once, failed to come up with a decent copy.  Until now.  

Kurt Geiger Ella

I'd prefer if they were black suede (I only seem to wear black shoes in suede form, though I would make an exception for the patent version of the Valentinos, obvs) but I could learn to love the white for spring.  Or winter with black opaques.  Or trousers.  Or bare legs, should I be feeling brave.  I *heart* them.  And hopefully they will at some point be mine.  Buy them here.

Lately I've been wearing...

Though I didn't particularly intend for this to be a personal style blog exactly, I've recently decided to get back into the habit of photographing my outfits*, more for me to see what works and what doesn't than to show them off to the world, but I thought they'd be a good introduction to me and my style.  I'm at a point of being quite bored of my rather limited wardrobe, so I'm trying to work out new combinations, and generally buy things that aren't exactly like everything else I own, something I've been guilty of this past year or so.

top-Cos, trousers- Topshop Boutique, shoes- Repetto

Jumper- ancient Topshop, trousers- Zara, shoes- Puma

dress- Oysho nightie, jumper- ancient Zara

*I used to very diligently photograph what I was wearing every day for a few years on mystylediary circa 2005-ish. 

Currently obsessing over...

Chalky pastel nail varnish- this year I seem to have skipped over my craving for vampy, dark winter colours and gone straight for the pastels.  The below are all I want to wear at the moment:

Left to right: Barry M Mint Green, Korres Sky Blue, Ciel Glacial and Milky White, Seventeen no. 271

Craving a candyfloss pink to add to the collection, and I think this Butter London one might be perfect:

butter LONDON nail varnish in Teddy Girl, image from lookfantastic.co.uk

Would love a pale yellow as well, but no such thing seems to exist (nail varnish fairies, if you're reading, make it happen!)