London Fashion Week outfit Day 2

My day 2 of London Fashion Week was spent at the newly-opened Westfield Stratford City. The new shopping centre opened on Tuesday, with 200,000 vistors on its first day. And that's mid-week. Can you imagine how many were there on Saturday? My advice, when trying to imagine that figure, is- don't. It was pretty overwhelming. I kept having what basically were 'hot flushes' because of the crowd and heat, where I needed to sit down somewhere air-cond for 5 mins and have something to drink.

The following photo was taken after the Look Show (more posts to come on that later this week), in the VIP area, where we went to collect our bags. The area was empty apart from a few people at the bar. It was quite funny really- just an hour ago it had been full of people drinking M&S pink champers and now it was empty.





Matt and I seated, waiting for the show to start. Matt is wearing Levi jeans, M&S shoes and a Clothing at Tesco shirt. You can spot our M&S pink champers (with a pink straw no less). I put my straw in and it immediately bubbled over, creating a wet patch on the floor (oh dear). It turned out if I took the straw out it immediately stopped overflowing. How curious!



This is us with our goody bags. There was some very generous products in it from various brands- I'll be revealing all in my upcoming posts. :) I hope you like these 'teaser' photos - I'm spreading my photos out over the week as in only two days we took over 2,000 photos(!)

Dress Your Best 2011

The lovely ladies over at academichic are hosting another great project this year. Dress your best is a way of owning and celebrating your favourite body parts. As has been pointed out, discussing your worst body parts has sadly become a part of female bonding (as seen in Mean Girls). Celebrating your favourite parts seems to have become limited to your bum (Beyonce, Rihanna) or your boobs (Katy Perry, Niki Minaj). It's much harder to think of other body parts that we love that aren't sold to us as valid because they are sexual, whether they be our height, back, legs, eyes, hair, nose, ankles or wrists. If you want to check out more on Dress Your Best, you can do so here.



Skirt: Gap
Vest: H&M
Necklace: Next
Sports bra: Peacocks

This is one of my favourite casual outfits for studying in in the summer. The staying power of this skirt is pretty amazing, it's lined, and I bought it from Gap 10 years ago (seriously!) I have poleroids of me at 12 years old wearing this in Italy with a denim jacket and my hair in 'the Rachel'. I dressed pretty differently to most 12 year olds then.

This vest is also one of my recommendations, the girls in my family have a lot of vests from H&M. This one is lined at the top so I can wear it with my sports bra and still have good support and shape. In this outfit I'm dressing my best for my curves and arms.



1.
Shirt, skirt: New Look
Tights: Primark
Necklace: Next

2.
Jumper: Primark
Dress: my987wardrobe
Tights: Peacocks
Lipstick: Victoria Jackson

In this first outfit I'm dressing my best for my height and features. I'm petite, and for me that's not just about height. I'm about 5'4 so I'm at the top end of petite and I can buy pretty much everything from heigh street stores apart from trousers occasionally. But my features are very petite, so most of the style 'rules' for petites work for me, one of them being to tuck shirts in. I used to think this emphasised my hips, but I think this can be avoided by the cut of the skirt/pants.

The second outfit I built around the tights. It was also a cold day and I wanted layers without being too boring. The dress is one I won from a blogger giveaway with my987wardrobe (although I lost the link to the blog as it was so long ago, sorry!). It's really comfy and work appropriate. I love the neckline. The only downside is that it's hand wash only. This outfit is something I can imagine Phoebe from Friends wearing. I also want to apologise for the mess; I took these photos mid-move, can you tell? :p

Coventry Cathedral: The City of Peace and Reconciliation

Velvet blazer: vintage
Playsuit and necklace: Camden market
Tights and brogues: Primark

Last week I did a little sightseeing in Coventry, UK, the town I've lived near for over 10 years. I thought as well as doing an outfit post I would write a bit about the history of Coventry, as it has a tragic but powerful history.





Coventry is a really important town in the UK's history of World War II. It was devastatingly bombed in 1940 and most of the city centre was destroyed, notably the Cathedral.

The cathedral was rebuilt after the war with the help from ordinary German people who came to Coventry as part of the city twinning with Dresden, a city in Germany that got equally devestated in the war. Part of the old cathedral is still left, but the only part intact is the tower, which has its original extremely thin spiral staircase.


^The reflection of my mum & I in the stained glass, the old cathedral behind us, the new in front of us.

The new cathedral was built directly next to the old one, so the history of the town will always be a permanent feature. The new cathedral is beautiful, with a huge stainglass window and a magnificent sculpture by Jacob Epstein (below).



I hope you enjoyed this post, and if you ever visit Coventry, don't miss out on visiting the cathedral. :)

Outfit of the day: Flying a kite

It's been really windy recently so I went out with the boyfriend for some kite flying. To be honest, he did much of the flying and I took photos played with the new camera.


Rings: Primark, Topshop





Shirt, tights: Primark, Shorts: Topshop, Shoes: Tesco
I think this outfit might be better with a belt? Although I'm not sure what colour or whether it should be wide or skinny. I'm thinking of one that clasps in the centre.

I should say that at the moment I'm still getting used to our new (SLR!) camera and so obviously my shots aren't brilliant yet. But they're getting better, and I have some beautiful ones from London and more from Sheffield to show you soon. :)

Outfit of the day

My boyfriend and I went down to a lake near us to test out our new camera that we bought together. It was a beautiful day and I ended up wearing slightly inappropriate clothing. I find I end up doing that a lot when staying with my boyfriend- not wanting to go home, I usually try to make do with what I have. Having said that, though, by scouring his closet I have found some great finds, including a pair of high-waisted flared jeans which look great with this seasons' crochet.







I just recently bought this dress in Primark. It was a bargain at £5 but I was a bit too energetic with my arm waving and snapped the shoulder strap right off! Need to get the sewing kit out. These shoes are new, I've been searching for the perfect summer sandal and this fit the bill about 90%, which at a budget price, is good enough for me!





Dress, tights, sunglasses: Primark, shoes: Tesco, Jacket: TJHughes

Changing Room Subterfuge

First things first: how cute is this vest!! It's from Primark. I'm not even a dog person but he won me over. I think it's the eyes and the hipster glasses and hat.


Beige dress from H&M. It was nice on the side but quite hideous from the front, unfortunately (you've gotta be honest with yourself ).


Denim zip dress from H&M. I love this dress! I bought it with my Look show discount. (I shouldn't have been spending money at all, but it was too lovely, and selling out fast.) And it had pockets!


Animal Peter Pan Dress from Peacocks. Really cute with the headband and plait, but made me look a bit chunky around the waist, strangely. I always wonder what the other people in the changing room+ assistants think when they hear the click of my phone camera.

I also want to say hello to all the new followers recently! And if you haven't checked out my giveaway, you can enter here. The closing date is the 31 March. :)

Spring/ Summer workwear

Workwear always gets me really excited. I think because I don't have to wear it everyday, it feels like dressing up and of course that's always fun! I'm excited about all the spring colours coming out- it can feel silly to wear a pale pink lace dress in November, so roll on the hot weather, I say! I've chosen my pick of the best in workwear/smart casual (you wouldn't want to wear most of these if you were meeting Alan Sugar tho!) I love these picks, they tick a number of trend boxes (brights, red, lace, pastel, sheer). I think the great thing about most these pieces is that they can be dressed up or down, so you can double them up for shopping or a spring picnic.


Monsoon


Primark


Miu Miu




River Island


River Island again


Primark


Dorothy Perkins


Whistles


Zara

In other news:
1. Model Agency is on tonight. I'm enjoying it, but I find the ad breaks insanely irritating. It feels like it's only just got going and then an ad break. I think this is the risk with reality shows.
2. I'm seriously loving New Look atm. They have some gorgeous swimwear and a fab sale.
3. You've probably seen this already today, but it's such a good deal I thought I would let you guys know if you haven't seen: Groupon are running an ASOS deal, you buy a £20 ASOS voucher for £20 here. What's not to love?
4. Thank you everyone who has entered my giveaway so far! It's lovely to see so many entries! :) If you haven't checked it out yet, you can enter here.