An Evening with Grazia

Zara dress and jacket, Carvela at Kurt Geiger shoes, Longchamp bag, Urban Outfitters belt

Last night I went to a very interesting talk at Harvey Nichols with Fiona McIntosh, the founder of Grazia Magazine. It was a great insight into her wealth of knowledge as well as how she got into the industry and worked her way up to the position she is currently in. The event took place at Harvey Nichols in Manchester which was the perfect backdrop to the evening - being surrounded by an array of beautiful clothes and interesting industry insiders certainly makes for a fun few hours. 

I wore my floral Zara dress that I actually bought last summer but I love it so much that it's definitely going to be making plenty more appearances this summer too. It's still quite early in the year for floral dresses such as this, so I would definitely advise that you grunge it up a bit with darker colours, heavier fabrics or contrasting textures. 

Flat Attack!

Whenever the warmer months start to dwell upon us, my style instantly becomes more casual. I don't know what it is about summer, but dressing up always seems less important. Through winter, there's nothing I love more than a good day heel for a boost of outfit confidence but, come summer, I'm all about flats. I adore the girlish charm of a floral mini dress with ankle socks and brogues or vintage denim cutoffs with a brightly coloured ballet pump. With the right style (pointed toes always make your legs look thinner than rounded toes) and a well chosen colour or print, these shoes really can be outfit completers. 

There's plenty of choice this season and I've scouted around to find the best buys from the low end of the high street to something that will provide more quality and longevity. It's important to keep your shoes interesting, whether that be style, texture or shape, so as not to blend into the sea of flat, black shoes out there and to also give your outfit a touch of pizzazz. I'm coveting all these looks (below) and I'm going to find it relatively challenging to pick my shoe of the season, although I think the pair currently at the top of my wish list are the Zara woven pumps. Find a style that works for you and I promise you, you won't want to take them off your feet once over the next five months.

1. Jack Wills

2. French Sole

3. New Look

4. Topshop

5. Carven

6. Zara

7. Pretty Ballerinas 

My spring/summer Essentials

My first post for the Freemans Blog is now online and available to read here. Check it out for your spring/summer essentials guide. 

Muted Tones

 Zara blouse and bag, Topshop jeans, American Apparel cape, Carvela at Kurt Geiger booties

Apologies for the lack of outfit posts of late. I've been suffering from a rather severe case of 'fashion flu' and thought the fewer people to see my red nose, the better.

Recently, I've been talking and thinking rather a lot about the transition into spring and what that means for our wardrobes. I feel as if I need to take my own advice; going on about the importance of colour at this time of year when alas, I appear to still be focusing my wardrobe around a neutral colour palette. However, I do feel that I've taken one step in the right direction because at least I'm not wearing anything black, for once. 

Asos Wish List

I don't know if you're anything like me (I've got a feeling you all are), but I love creating a virtual wardrobe through Asos - and most of the time, it's a fantasy wardrobe too. I'm sure you're all aware of their 'saved items' device on the website; it's such a great tool to build up ideas for the coming seasons and allows you to gauge all the different items you want. The great thing is that it doesn't even matter if you don't want to buy that particular item, you can just keep it in your saved items to remind you that you want to find something similar to complete each seasons wardrobe. 

Asos is basically a nightly obsession for me; their daily new items allows for constant variation and there is such an eclectic mix of styles and brands within the site that there is always something new to find. I noticed yesterday that my saved items has really built up over the last few weeks to quite a collection of clothes and accessories that I would just love to incorporate into my spring/summer wardrobe. Love is the operative word in the previous sentence as it's totally illogical that I actually buy all, if any, of this because a) my sad little budget can't afford it and b) even if it could, the next three months of my life are based around 1) dissertation, 2) revising for my finals and 3) finding a job. Although, making a good first impression on all of those job interviews is crucial, so maybe I can find some justification there. 

Anyway, I feel I'm going a little off topic here, although you're probably all used to that by now... The point I was trying to make, I think - and I write this as the sun is glaring and there isn't a cloud in the sky - is that now is the time to start thinking about making the transition to your spring/summer wardrobe. Looking at my lovely virtual wardrobe, and outside my bedroom window, I have realised that spring really is coming around rather quickly this year. Such a rarity as this is, I have decided to embrace the seasons and haven't worn ANY black for the last two days - and yes, I am being sarcastic that this resembles any kind of an achievement, but I personally do find it quite pleasing as this winter I do seem to have buried myself into rather a large rut of wearing said colour, even more so than usual. So, embrace the weather and your new wardrobe as I've got a feeling it won't be around for long. 

Boy

Alice Dellal stars in this fabulous Chanel mini film for the new Chanel 'Boy' Bag (video titled My New Friend 'Boy'). Maybe we should all take a moment to longingly dream about how wonderful our lives could be if we lived in a beautiful apartment in Paris, and wore Chanel ALL of the time. Oh, how perfectly divine it would be.

A Weekend Away

This weekend was my cousin's Hen Weekend and my family and I took a little trip to the forest for an seriously relaxing spa weekend! There we certainly no 'L' plates involved but plenty of relaxation and fun. Unfortunately, this post isn't quite what I imagined it would be as I was having such a good time I basically forgot to take photos to document everything, so I'm afraid this is just a snippet of what we got upto and what I wore.

Friday morning and I'm up early to catch my train back home to Nottingham. No-one is up yet so I've had to take this myself. I decided to go for my cape again as the sun is shining and I just need something light to keep warm in the early morning chill. I'm only away for four days but I've never mastered the art of packing light.

We arrived at the forest only to be greeted by two very large swans who are surprisingly tame. No piccies I'm afraid but we had a fabulous villa complete with our very own sauna, steam room and outdoor hot tub.

A close up of my hooded cape with the forest in the background.

We spend a relaxing day at the pool and in the spa where they have an amazing selection of different steam rooms and saunas; seriously relaxing and I fell asleep on the water beds. In the evening we have a PJ dinner as the main hen weekend celebration. The table has been decorated with lovely silver streamers and individual  photos of the bride to be with her hens.

Lovely party favours curtesty of the bride.

In my blue PJ's kitted out with stripey socks and hoody!

The last day and we go on a treasure hunt with the bride who has to find various nik naks taken from around her house. The weather is miserable so we wrap up warm in our waterproof coats.

Finally, some interesting shaped lighting taken in the restaurant at the country club - great inspiration for any of you involved in interiors.

I had such a fab weekend...I'm sorry this post isn't quite what I had promised, but I guess the lack of photos is a sign of a great weekend away!

The Cape

Jack Wills shirt, Zara skirt and bag, American Apparel cape, Asos brogues

Just a quick one tonight as I'm going away in the morning for a long weekend and I've got about a billion things to do before then, including deciding what to wear! Today has been a super nice day, the sun has been shining in all it's glory; I seriously wish I'd thought to wear my sunnies. I bought this American Apparel cape over the weekend and it's the perfect addition to my wardrobe. I've been needing a navy jacket/coat for some time now and this fits into my wardrobe perfectly. Today I've kept my look simple and casual as I've got that end of the week feeling. I'll be back next week hopefully with plenty of photos so I can put together a little diary of everything I got up to. Have a great weekend everyone, Bon Voyage! 

Freemans Writing Competition

Topshop dress and belt, Zara leather jacket

I have some exciting news for all of you, which is a great way to start off a new month. Back in October last year I entered the Freemans Student Writing Competition and then in December, found out I'd won! It's so exciting as not only am I now the proud owner of an iPad2, the competition has lead to some great exposure to both my blog and my writing. The winning entry is up on the Freemans Blog, which you can visit here. It would be great if you could all check it out and let me know what you think. Winning the competition also lead to StArt Magazine getting in touch to do an interview with me about the competition, which you can also read here. They're a really interesting and innovative online magazine focusing around students in the arts, and they've got some great stuff on the website that you should be sure to check out too. I've also got a few articles lined up to write for the Freeman's blog, and I'll be sure to keep you posted as and when they're available. 

February

Dahlia

A little inspo to take away with you this February. I feel as if spring is right around the corner now; the air is crisper, the days longer and sunnier and the snowdrops and daffodils are starting to bloom. I love this time of year, its so fresh and allows me to cast a whole new eye over my wardrobe. I  need to start getting out of my black and navy rut I seem to have delved into over the winter and I am looking forward to bringing out some pastel shades in all aspects of my wardrobe. Take inspiration from the eclectic and soft shades of macaroons, sorbets and flowers to give your wardrobe a lighter lift and incorporate these colours not only in to your clothing but your accessories and your make-up too. Opt for lighter weight fabrics with prints or embellishments to fully take you through the transition from winter to spring. 

Atlantic-pacific

Cupcakesandcashmere

late-afternoon

late-afternoon

makingmagique

makingmagique

makingmagique

makingmagique

suchaheavyjewel

suchaheavyjewel

Brogue

My new Asos shoes arrived in the post at the weekend (find them here). I LOVE brogues and they're definitely one of my favourite shoes styles, so when I came across these little beauties that successfully combined a sharp masculine edge with a softer more feminine texture and laces, I just had to snap them up. Wear them now with thick black tights, playsuit and fur gilet and with bare legs and denim cutoffs come summer for the ultimate laidback chic.

Feeling Floral

 Asos dress, Carvella at Kurt Geiger booties

Last night the girls and I hit the town for a much needed cocktail or two. We went to this great speakeasy inspired bar in Manchester's Northern Quarter, Black Dog Ballroom. We had such fun and I decided to go for a girly meets boho look for the occassion. So I put on my best dancing booties and my floral asos dress and blinged it all up a bit with my favourite orange and diamante cocktail ring which was a gift from a very dear friend. 

This dress is great when you're feeling in the summer spirit as I was yesterday. The sun had been shining all day in Manchester (a rarity, I assure you) and the breeze was warm. I felt like wearing something fun and flirty and definitely some much needed colour. I also adore the full skirt of this dress and it's great for spinning (as demonstrated below), not that life calls for that sort of thing much! Have a lovely weekend everyone...

Fake Leather!

H&M jumper and bag, Topshop jeans and pumps, Zara jacket, Accessorize necklace, DKNY watch

Today is a very casual look and for days like today I love a grey jumper. Literally a must have for every girls wardrobe, it's so simple and easy but looks so good, especially when accessorised. Today I've teamed mine with my (fake) leather jacket and my (fake) leather H&M bag. This bag is amazing; I got it when I worked at H&M and it looks and feels absolutely like real leather. In fact I was quite surprised when I found out it wasn't. I must confess, I'm one of those who think there's nothing like the real  deal but sometimes, when your budget won't quite stretch far enough, you can find some really good buys on the high street that really do look like the real thing. It seriously oversized too, which is great for people like me who feel the need to carry every unnecessary item they can think of in their handbags!

Vita Sackville-West

 suchaheavyjewel.tumblr

"Be wicked, be brave, be drunk, be reckless, be dissolute, be despotic, be an anarchist...

be anything you like, but for pity's sake be it to the top of your bent. 

Live - live fully, live passionately, live disastrously".

                                                                                                              Vita Sackville-West 

Mary Katrantzou

This morning we saw the A/W 12 collection of emerging designer Mary Katrantzou, and what a collection it was. Beautiful prints on fabulously sculpted dresses was the order of the day however, my favourite designs were these three free flowing beauties. I absolutely adore the way Katrantzou has successful combined sharp tailoring with a soft, flowing ethereal feel all within the same dress. And the prints, oh the prints! Too die for! Literally... I would like nothing more in life than to put on one of these divine creations and float around a fabulous party, swishing from person to person with my layers of Katrantzou printed fabric. 

With successful collections for Topshop under her belt and an upcoming collaboration with Longchamp I sincerely hope that Katrantzou is then able to take her label and turn it into the worldwide fashion house it deserves to be. I am so excited for all this new designer has to offer and I can say wholeheartedly that I am so, SO in love with this collection, it may even be my favourite from fashion month so far.

Images sourced from Style.com

LFW Street Style

Don't get me wrong, I love fashion month. I adore seeing all the new collections, the new trends and collating a wealth of inspiration for the coming seasons.But for me, a least for the time being, the catwalk shows are just a bit of a dream and so I also seriously love to find some more 'real' inspiration from the street style snaps too. My favourites are always from London, which is where these handpicked photos are from. Us British girls definitely know a thing about style and how to make everything individual. I think we have a definite sense of adventure when it comes to our wardrobes, and we're usually pretty daring to try everything at least once. And it's not just us, I think we have the same effect on the girls across the pond, cue Olivia Palermo (see video below!). 

The thing I love most about these outfits is the stylish simplicity of it all. Key pieces of tailoring and wardrobe staples in muted tones and textured fabrics all brightened up with one a kind accessories or individual prints. It's all so understated yet so cool. I'm also totally crushing on the leopard prints booties below, any free time I have not looking at the shows this week will be spent looking for a similar pair!

Mulberry

Day three of LFW is now coming to a close and, so far, I think it's safe to say we can be proud of all that is British and British fashion. Today we saw girls gliding down the catwalk at Mulberry, handbags in tow and even a dog by the side of one rather leggy brunette. The collection focused around texture; let's not forget that these are the A/W collections, and with it's strong heritage, outerwear was the main focus for the collection. There was a variety of different fabrics and plenty that you'd want to get your hands into, or on, which is more probable. With fur, lace and textured knits being the order of the day, those who are lucky enough to say they will be buying from this line with certainly be stylishly warm this winter. Later on in the collection saw sculpted dresses with pops of bright orange, bringing the subtle greys and blacks to life. 

Another great success for Mulberry, one of my favourite labels. Tomorrow brings with it Christopher Kane, Erdem and Burberry Prosum and I'm very excited to see what they all have to offer!

Images sourced from Style.com