outfit #4... floaty, summery and comfy

Just got back from london, and was feeling too constrained in my tight around the waist skirt, high neck tee and green v-neck knit... so i changed - mainly so i'd be comfy during my 5 hour shift on box office this afternoon and evening...



so - pale pink gap gathered neckline tank, uttam (bought in oxford covered market) skirt, m&s green metallic ballet pumps and cardie 'borrowed' (with permission lol) from the adc clean but unclaimed laundry pile hehe

i love the cardie - it's kinda granny-ish but in a cute way - with two pearl buttons at the top which don't fasten onto everything - blatantly a product of being used as costume at some point...

i might add a pair of warm socks to my bag to keep my feet warm... and a stash pullover... concessions to comfort over style neccessary when a student :-D

culture shock

walking through king's cross station on my way home from cambridge, it never fails to strike me that every other woman i pass has bags of style... it's not that i think that people in other places have none - i just think it's really concentrated in london... every woman has the concept of importance of a style identity impressed on them every day, just by walking through the city... it never fails to amaze me.

outfit post #3 - gosh, i feel this is going to be a daily thing ;-D

okay, so today i was being quite restrained... for starters - i'm in jeans! very very rare these days... but i am trying to get down to revision and my back hurts so any sense of my usual flightiness and care-free demeanour is kind of banished...

so...



i'm wearing three new t-shirts layered- a dark blue thin cotton v-neck cap sleeve top from gap, a denim blue rib vest from m&s and a grey lace short vest also from m&s... then a cardigan from men's gap, levi jeans and primark silver ballet pumps...

low maintenance low maintenance low maintence... and you know what, i got given the eye by a rather cute guy in this, so maybe i'll do a few similar low maintenance outfits in the weeks ahead - a girl's got to dress to please guys SOMETIMES ya know ;-D - and okay, so it's more low cut than i usually do... no idea why, but my wardrobe seems rather geared Away from revealing my 34E breasts to the world. i guess after so long in a relationship iv forgotten what attracts attention in the first place hehe ;-D

really though, it felt quite nice not to be done to the neck in an asexual tank or all frilly and girly in a flowery but demure dress... hmmmmmmm - food for thought

knitting book goodness...

on a slightly related note to my previous post, while in the charity shop, i also bought two books - one on knitting toys (my first planned projects shall be a brownie doll for my mate's birthday - she's a brownie guider - and a scarecrow and cowboy for the kids of a friend...) and another - quite old - one called 'scandinavian knitwear'. the latter has really very complicated patterns i doubt i'll be able to do for a while... but they're SO GORGEOUS!!!

Take a look at the projects i hope i'll one day be proficient enough to complete... And the toys i'm going to start as soon as i have the yarn!










Again, sorry for the quality of the photos - crap camera and unsteady hand...

outfit post #2

okay, so i had to move rooms in college today, and about half way through the rather hot and sweaty and exhausting activity, i felt an urge to run out to the charity shop nearest to where i live... on getting there, there was a dress hanging on the rail right by the door that was just in, hadn't even been priced yet...

cute as hell laura ashley dress i'm guessing from the mid 90s... the fabric to which the strap buttons were sewn had been ripped, though i quickly repaired the minimal damage... and the straps are ever so slightly too long but otherwise it's perfect.

so here's the outfit i made with it after i had showered to get rid of the remnants of muggy morning and dusty moving-ness... ick!




sorry about the crapness of the photos... i think my camera is on its last legs!

so, am wearing - vintage laura ashley dress (£5.50 - woo!), gerard weber jacket (traid charity shop find - £3!!!), m&s green jumper, m&s green metallic shoes, teal top shop tights... love it. (apart from the flabbiness of pic numero two, but never mind lol).

i will try and post a pic of the dress including the top when i've shortened the straps... i might also see how it looks cut shorter, maybe with petticoats... but not sure yet...

i love this outfit!

outfit post... #1 of many!!!

okay, here goes... my first outfit post.

this was just to sit around revising - thus the crumpled skirt ;-D i love the vibrant colour of the top and the shape of the skirt (which you can't really see in this pic as the top is too long, but it's pleated and poufy at the top)... the bow belt is actually off the skirt which has loops for it, but cos the top is long and baggy it worked to tame that rather than create a lump beneath...



so... the yellow top and the silver ballet pumps are from primark, the skirt (and its belt) are from french connection, the tights are topshop, and the pendant (just seen behind the camera) is a long ago birthday gift from my parents (the one in the crafting #1 post picture on my desk...) - when i went out to walk off the revision blues, i wore a big grey grannie cardie and took my pink patent primark bag... both will undoubtedly show up in posts soon ;-D

looking at the pic, this outfit makes me smile. yellow is so the colour for right now - easter and all that - and while the grey skirt sobers it a little, the bow and the tights and the silver pumps just make me look rather eccentric. not sure if teal rather than purple tights would've worked better, but we shall see another time!

my silver pumps are having rather a moment in my wardrobe - i wear them with everything... you may notice that any time i wear flats on this blog, they'll be primark, because though i am an advocate of spending huge sums on heels which can bloody well hurt if they aren't well made, and can , in fact, be dangerous if so, flats are all bought on the cheap... and primark happens to do them very cheaply and in styles i love! i almost bought another pair in gold and another in mint green but had to restrain myself... kind of regret that... oh well! these are SO useful! and they don't hurt too much (not in a rubbing kind of way, but in a shin splints way... i'm medically not supposed to wear flats to walk in - extremely short achilles tendon - legs go numb after too much walking in flats... oops!)

hope you like! not particularly interesting, but i think fairly representative of 'smart me' style...

sob!

i didn't win the dress i posted about yesterday... sob!

shows me for being lazy and not getting up til midday ;-D

Sacrelige

I own minimal Topshop... I am a fashion pariah...

A London girl who really doesn't like Topshop is a phenomenon one has to go far to find - but here I am. I rarely pop in to my local branch, never go in them while on holiday, and never stop by the HUGE store when I'm on Oxford Street.

Why?

Well...

i) I'm the wrong body type - i have boobs, and an arse, and a relatively skinny middle. They just aren't cut right for me.
ii) i can spot a Totally Topshop (TT) outfit from a mile-away, and steer clear.
iii) for the quality, it's WAY too expensive... the materials are cheap and the cuts and colours are too. sorry, but its usually true

Its not that I have anything against it, it just doesn't work for me. i own a couple of pieces - a puffy denim skirt that i've had for several years and is falling apart but is one of the 'cogs' of my style... (in the pic, paired with urban outfitters cardie, custo barcelona top, primark shoes and street seller footless tights)

then there are the tights... the one thing that I go in topshop for... their coloured tights are a work of genius... the colour is deep, the material comfy, light, breathable, and the price is right... shame they don't do more colours. I currently have purple and teal.
Working on getting the neon orange and green ones, and am constantly on the look out on ebay for the fuschia pink ones from a while back... anyone knows where i can find such items - let me know ;-D

otherwise, i have no topshop. sometimes i wonder if i'm too harsh on it. then i visit and my faith in my faith is restored. it's not for me... even when i find a piece i like (twice in the past year... one silver above the knee skirt, one blue and white patterned hippyish silk dress, one pair of ballooning out suit-fabric,oddly cut waistbanded trousers recently seen on MK Olsen below) - i cannot justify shelling out (£35, £40 and £45 respectively) when on further examination, as much as they strike me the first time, the quality just ruins the thing on closer examination...



if i was around for the kate moss at topshop launch, i might stop by. the dresses look cute, if expensive.




but i doubt i'd buy. the collaborations are just starting to annoy me know and rarely, it seems, live up to expectations... doh!

ah well. maybe one day.

ooooooooh! shoes!

browsing iqons, in a random moment of luck, i stumbled upon these divine shoes!



now they may not go with everything, but the sheer pizazz they would add to an outfit is worth the £39 this independent designer is asking for...

I adore the way the bows are almost like scrunchies, and i really do think they'd be a welcome addition to any woman's wardrobe. the heel height is reasonable too methinks...



if anyone loves the humour and cuteness of these shoes as much as i do - the website is shoe missy... there are several other gems here too - if i was more of a fan of kitten heels, i'd buy myself a pair of the roman holiday flats - alas ;-D - and the dita shoes are rather sexy if slightly more expensive...

have fun!!!

yay or nay on this style?

you may tell from this blog that i love my tv... or at least a few programmes i watch religiously... dr who, csi, csi miami, grey's anatomy.

watching csi miami tonight, i found myself wierdly attracted to this rather flamboyant outfit. it's american preppy smart i guess, and i love it! normally not a fan of pastel colours, but the baby blue, cream and the dark tie really look great! the pic isn't that great, but was the only one i could find on the net...



i think it's the actor's colouring - but the details of this outfit really hit hard. the dark button, the cream pattern on the dark silk... yummy!

a scarf like this is currently on my wishlist!

what do you think?