Beautiful Suiting

Having just been promoted at work, I've got quite into Power Dressing... Having never been a fan of black, I'm now in love with it for its air of professional cool and power.

This new M&S dress is my new favourite... Flattering, appropriate, and washable! The holy grail of work dresses!

Though I am now partial to a bit of black, you can't do without colour... And what is more Colourful than a berry red wool suit?!?!

The skirt especially is easy to wear, warm and incredibly nice on. The wool doesn't crease, and the lining doesn't get staticky with opaques!

And the footwear?

How about some gorgeous black suede heels, with cute triangular straps?

I'm such a twenty-something middle-ager, but I'm ADORING M&S this season! =D =D =D 

Xxxc

If only I was older and wiser...

I'd maybe be able to act on some of my fantasy wishlists!

Today, I've been yearning for Jonathon Saunders' acid brights, up now on Net-A-Porter.

Quite bright, I must admit... But I feel that it would be suitable for the spring days ahead!

(Jonathon Saunders dress, Crumpet cardigan, Proenza Schouler bag, Aurelie Biderman bracelet, Marc by Marc Jacobs bracelet, Lanvin brooch, Lanvin ballet pumps)

Ah to be able to afford even just one of these cute things!

Xxxc

Shades of Grey

So, I've always been a fan of grey... I have grey jeans, grey cashmere jumpers, grey socks, grey coats, but NOT ENOUGH GREY DRESSES!!! (Or shoes.)

Oh YMC Button Up Smock Dress, where have you beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen all my life?!?!?!



Probably worn with these Finsk Wooden Wedge Ankle Boots...


And how cute are these little Paul Smith Jackie shoes??? Got to love the pop of orange! I own so few flat shoes, due to a shin splint / ankle problem that confines me to heels (Oh woe!) but I think I could make an exception for these in Fantasy-Shopping-Land!



Definitely the thing to wear with this awesome See By Chloe little jersey piece! (Okay, Admission Time: my other grey dress is my corset print SBC dress featured here... Oops! =D)



Seriously... I want a donkey.

from inkyfool.blogspot

Night night!

Xxxc

Suuuuuuuuunshine on a rainy day!!!

So last weekend was a London one, as I mentioned in my last post. (Gosh, almost a week ago. Oops!)

Of course, I had to see T-B and his lovely missus. They had just got back from Mexico, and apparently had a craving for burgers. So we headed from Sarf Laahndan to Soho for lunch! (I would like to point out that, due to gluten / dairy / potato issues I had a squash and goats cheese salad... Nomnomnom. They had biiiiiiig burgers though...) And of course, we did photoshoot-ness. YAY!!!

- Moi in the burger joint...

- Sheltering from the London-rain under a rather dysfunctional umbrella...

- Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiindy!!!

- Giggle. Standard.

- Ooooh, and look at this lovely necklace that Becks has... It's from Mixco on Etsy. IWANTONE!!! :

And how awesome are the elephants appearing around London at the moment?! Street art for a charitable cause? WIN! I love this one in Covent Garden...

It was a lovely day, despite the rain... Home is such a sanctuary for me. London makes my heart beat faster and calms me down all at once. Yay for graduating and moving back! (Well, ish... More to come on that conundrum.)

Anyhooooo... In this photoshoot, I was wearing a vintage floral dress from Etsy (putonthatdress), vintage yellow slouchy cardigan also from Etsy (joyelizabethG), a vintage white leather bag (from Topshop's Peekaboo vintage concession), Jonathon Aston white lace tights, black Converse and a fabric and button brooch I made myself... Oh, and the watch is a Lego Star Wars one with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo lego men on (- now sold out but they have some cool new ones in... I quite like the C 3PO one). Hehe! Funsies.

Hmmmmm. Quite sleepy now, and I haven't finished my dinner yet, so I should probably get to that before boy grumps because I haven't eaten all the yummy food he made me... Night all!

Xxxc

Floating awaaaaaay...

Does anyone else rather love Noa Noa? I think I've posted before about how much I love their catalogues every season, and this is no exception. Lots of yummy sherbert orange, aubergine purple and grass green...

The website is singularly unhelpful in providing me with many pictures of the pieces I found in store today, but these two beauties are indicative of the rest of the collection. Yum! Not many shops on the internet either, but I am rather in love with this skirt:

Also, I've been spending waaaaaaaaaay too much time on Etsy lately, and here are a few of my "if only I were a different size" picks...

OH GOOD GOD HOW BEAUTIFUL IS THIS DRESS?!?!?! And it comes with a fluttery matching shrug... Oh darn silly large breasts!!!!!

(The measurements are 35", 28", free hips in case you're interested!)

If it were still winter and if I had any room for more coats in more wardrobe, I would be first in line for this gorgeous wool cape coat...

Ooooh! This dress is one of those things that I should hate, because it reminds me a little of Carry On Nurse, but that I actually love, because it reminds me a little of Carry On Nurse... And all of those vintage Mills and Boon about Doctors and Nurses I consumed as a teenager!!!

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! This little jumper is so cute and unusual! Me being so darn clumsy, I'd probably drop tomato or something down it in a second, but... IWANNIT!!!

And these are just some of the bits I can't countenance buying due to fit... There are so so so so so many more in my favourites, waiting to be reperused and agonised over!

Hope everyone's enjoying their Tuesday evening. Boy is cooking me-friendly pasta with tomato, bacon, goats cheese and mushroom. I am hungry. This is awesome.

Xxxc

Exams over... At last

Well, the last exams I'm going to take in this place are over... Management Studies has the awesome feature of seriously early exams that means that we lost our Easter vac, but can enjoy all of what the approaching summer has to offer! I do have a project to do, but it's nowhere near as stressful and much more structured than the impending doom of exams encroaching upon one's happiness and health!

So... I am going to try and return to the blogosphere. Slowly, softly, perhaps, but freedom awaits in a few months with graduation, and as I'm still unsure what the future holds, I might manage to reinject some life into this little side project of mine. I do miss it when I drop off the face of the earth for months at a time, and since I will be rejoining T-B in London-town in July, we might even get the occassional photoshoot done!

Anyway, what brings me to the computer today? It's another installment of the fab Aussie Angel initiative. I am, as ever, slow on the uptake. Claire posted about it a while back, and I'm proud to have my little "Luscious Long Tribe" pack which arrived at college today.

The wonderful people at Aussie have sent me a Welcome Pack for "surviving until your Tribe party" - in July, and when I'm supposed to be in France, but that may not happen, so I'm keeping an open mind!

They have been so generous and sent some of their lovely, yummy Luscious Long shampoo and conditioner, a mini brush, a compact mirror, some badges to display my allegiance and some chocolate... I have to admit that the chocolate will be going to The Boy, as my body hates me and does not allow the consumption of dairy. The Boy will likely be very pleased...

Awesome huh!

In other news, I went shopping for the first time in yonks today. After almost giving into a tapestry bag covered in cats in Ark Vintage in Cambridge city centre, and trying to decide whether I should buy oversized stripy shorts from Joules (- my new shop crush... All those pretty candy colours! All that outdoorsy blowsiness! YUM!), I wandered into Karen Millen. Now, I don't have much occassion to wear what they do best - gorgeous luxe night-out wear - but I have to admit, they have upped the ante from what I remember from the last time I seriously browsed in there, as a teenager... Searching for hot house party outfits, out for the afternoon with my mum, shopping on the King's Road. I seem to remember coming out of there with an outfit involving an orange crochet shell encrusted halter top... Strange memories. Sigh. Nostalgia.

Anyway. Browsing in there today was rather fun. And I have to admit to falling for a dress... A £165 dress. GULP! As a girl who shops either vintage or designer sample sales, I get a bit cranky shelling out almost two hundred quid for glorified high street. But that's the snob in me. (Please don't hate me! I just have an issue with our hardcore, wear-it-once, who gives a shit about quality, consumer culture...) But here I must admit I can see where the money is going. Ish.

The embroidery is awesome and it has the most darling bow at the back... Sigh. If only I had the money, or the event to wear it to!

Right. That's all for now folks... Xxxc

All Dressed Up With Nowhere To Go?

So today, I have managed a two hour bar shift at the theatre, and an epic queue in Borders, and not much else... Post-term lethargic FUG-time. Joys.

But to cheer me up was a dress I'd been sent by the lovely people at Covert Candy, a great site dedicated to both vintage shopping and swapping! It revolves around a "credit-based system" where if someone wants an item of clothing you no longer need, you can send it to them in return for credits you can then spend on someone else's lovely stuff! They also have a section of the site dedicated to a small, but well selected Vintage Emporium run by the site owners, and there, sitting in the Clearance section, was this adorable dress. It has such a cute print and perfect colours... It's definitely about to enter my day dress collection!

Ok, so it's not remotely wintery, but WHO CARES?!

My room is lacking in any accoutrements with which to dress up this little number, as I'm halfway through moving out, and have no high heels due to a bottom-of-the-foot injury a few weeks ago. Thus the outfit photos with bare feet or Converse!

This was my attempt to play with the length... Thoughts?

So, I should really be packing... Instead I was just distracted by boy, then started watching Angel, then started organising holiday theatre... Might leave Cam by 1am. Maybe. Oops!

Night guys! London tomorrow! Woop!

Xxxc

Artistic Leanings

Yes, I'm still a very peripatetic blogger... Dropping in now and then, scattering whimsical thoughts in my wake! ;-)

Lots has happened lately; lots of ups, a few downs, but at the end of the day, I appear to be Very Happy. Right Now. Which is what matters!

I have just waved goodbye to the wonderful Claire of The View From Here, who was up visiting for the weekend post-her law exams!

Awesome times.

We baked.

We went to jazz.

We wandered.

We had coffee.

We talked boys.

We talked clothes.

We watched Star Wars.

We dressed up as Bears.

It was excellent!

In other news, I also have a dress to (very belatedly) review... The lovely Ceri from Blue Inc sent me this hot little number:

(Wearing: Blue Inc. dress, Eley Kishimoto shoes, M&S cardigan, ToyWatch.)

I absolutely ADORE the painterly pattern, and considering it's only £19.99, it's really well made and a good length for going out - though I will be wearing it with thick black tights!!!! (I just didn't have any to hand at the time, and thus we get my awesomely large and white thighs on show... SORRY!!! ;0D)

I would say that the top bit has a tendency to fall down, but that may be because my boobs are a little large so fall out at every opportunity. A bit of tit tape or the sewing in of straps or a strapless bra will easily solve the problem!

Hopefully I'll be going out a few times in the upcoming weeks, and this dress is a perfect addition to my party outfits!

Right... I must be off. Tonnes of admin to do and parentals turning up in about half an hour. Woop!

More soon. Xxxc

Dumdumdeeedum... Skipping Along to Another LFW Show!!!

Short post this evening... Might be something to do with the huge lack of sleep I've been living on lately ( - I'm a massive insomniac - ) and also work being really quite hectic at the mo. Oh, and the lovely, and slightly expensive, very merry evening out I've had. Sigh.

Anyhoo... As you may have noticed if you read the lovely Claire's blog, The View From Here, we went to another fashion show on Monday evening.

Claire - Glam as ever...

Moi straight from work... I look like a small child hehe. (Take note of the velvet hair scrunchie... I am newly obsessed!!!) Wearing: vintage Escada wine silk shirt, Luella bag, Cheap Monday self-studded jeans, M&S sandals, Boots bordeaux velvet hair scrunchy.

It was the Maaike Mekking show at CAMP near Old Street - very East London, very too-cool-fash-un... Claire and I had a great time commenting incessantly on everyone's ensembles, and yumyumyumming at the red velvet cakes that were on offer. (Not so much at the wine though...)

The show, which annoyingly started almost an hour late, did present some rather cool clothes, the stand-out ones of which I attempted to get good photos of in poorly lit conditions on a poor camera. Like Claire, I felt that a lot of the clothes were let down by some rather shoddy modelling. If you're going to have non-professional models, then at least brief them on how to walk, the speed at which they should go, and that they should STOP at the end of the runway. I missed some photo ops on my favourite pieces because a couple of the girls moved far too fast and didn't even pause for breath at the end of the white carpet... Sigh.

However, I did appreciate several elements of this collection. Aside from the cupcakes, I rather liked the oriental details, the cut outs and the subtle definition of the girls' silhouettes behind both structured and loose clothes. The show was simple, but by having them walk against a wall, the shadows emphasised the free-flowing movement which made several of the pieces rather interesting. Saying that, one of my favourite pieces was a rather stiff white dress, so maybe I should just shush! ;-D

This floaty pleated trouser and white top with bra-as-outerwear thing going on was rather special and I was sad not to get a better shot... I think the collection, with it's muted but striking pallette and hints of lovely pattern-creativity was overall good. I'm not sure I enjoyed it as much as Saturday as the crowd was a bit too hip for little ol' me, and the lighting and models - annoying, niggling details - really put me off.

Adore this dress... Great brocade-esque details.

Scary China Doll look... Love the shirt though!

But maybe the cupcakes and the white dress, cute white shirt and pleated trousers may have been worth the adventure into East-London-Land for me...

Night All!

Xxxc

I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down...

So I come home for the summer, and have to move out again in the space of two weeks...

Hmmmmm. Not ideal. Basically, our entire house is being rebuilt around us over the course of 5 months for reasons far too dull to go into, and all furniture / books / clothes etc that we don't use on a regular basis has to either be chucked or put into storage! Of course this was the plan, until my roof sprung a second leak, waking me up at 4am during the other morning's thunder storm... So now I am moving out, and into my old maths tutor's house ( - she's also one of my mum's best mates - ) for a while... Of course, this would be fine if my room wasn't Stuffed With Stuff, and we had more than 24 hours to do it.

Thus, all of this is why I might be a little lax on my posting every day rule for a while, but I'll do my best!

Anyway, life chat over with...

And onto some of the promised (for weeks) photos...

This post is dedicated to the finalists garden party, given by the Master of College in his gardens... Think Pimms and reminiscences and commiserations about how screwed we all are with the current economic climate haha. It was great fun actually, and I'm afraid it's a dress you've seen before ;-D - This wasn't a photoshoot in athe usual style, as obviously, T-B was taking photos of the event, not just me and my crazy outfits, but there were quite a few nice photos anyway!

- Oh yes, I'm just so serious... (And the old dude in the background is "The Master". Lovely guy.)

- Me sticking my tongue out in photos may be replacing the ubiquitous twirling ;-D

- How kwl is her dress?!?!

- The amazingly comfy, if slightly out of focus shoes, which cost me £15 quid in M&S and I wear ALL THE TIME! (Either those or the same ones in black which I also have :-D) - Oh, and evidence, that I don't iron my clothes hehe!

- The only full length shot... How serious do I look? ;-D


The outfit, elements of which have all been used before, was: Vintage handmade dress, M&S sandals, GAP shell pink cardigan and Vintage tooled leather bag, with my ToyWatch and BarryM purple nail polish.


So there you have it... Garden partay numero uno. Sorry it's taken me so long to post... I really do love this dress...


I'd had such a rushed morning before this, having overslept into a breakfast meeting, so I had to rush out in jeans and t-shirt and no make-up, knowing full well I had two garden parties later. Of course, I was late to both... And looked rather the ghost having just shoved on the first make up I could find, i.e. my going-out-foundation, and no blusher... (as I'd left it in T-B's kitchen cupboard. Don't ask!)

It seems weird to think that I've been gone from Cam for 2 weeks... It's also amazing how much one changes on starting work and settling back into big-city life. I'm much more routine-ised, and my style's subtly shifted; probably partly due to the environment I'm working in, but also because of how I'm feeling I guess... Up until yesterday, I had no idea what was going to happen when I've finished my internship in October. I was basically still waiting on an official decision from Cambridge's Business School as to whether I had been accepted onto their Management programme for 4th year. If not, I would have to get on applying for more internships and jobs in fashion PR and Marketing which is probably the career direction I'm going in...


And yesterday, the crisp white letter headed Judge Business School, University of Cambridge came in the post... And I've been accepted! So back to the 'Bridge in October. I am really excited, though I was quite ready to get on with "real" life... Scary eh!


Right. As usual this was supposed to be a short post, so I must be off!


Xxxc