Happy shoe year

I love shoes and I have a lot of them but shoe storage is always a problem. I mean, it would be great if my wildest dreams came true and I suddenly discovered a fourth dimension of infinite storage in my current wardrobe but while the boffins are trying to figure out that particular scientific conundrum, I've hit on an interim three-dimensional solution.

I managed to procure for myself (and let's just take a moment there and bask in the beauty that is the word "procure"... Aah. Lovely). As I was saying, I managed to procure for myself - through a measure of charm, guile and elbow grease - one of those rotating card/book holding units that you might find in your local charity shop.

I immediately saw the possibilities: tall and relatively thin, with lots of little holders to hang things off, casters for rolling around and the rotating feature. Would make and excellent shoe tree, I thought to myself. And it does (click images to enlarge).

Neutral territory

In the red corner

All the pretty colours

I've hung all my heeled shoes off it, freeing up shelf space for my flats and boots, and it looks like a real tree with shoes growing of it like leaves. I've even got it colour coded. It's arty and practical. Love it. If I have the time, I might spray paint it gold. Just for fun.

Lost weekend, too

So, Friday shopping. I had a 20 per cent off shopping voucher from New Look burning a hole in my pocket, so I decided to venture to the flagship store after work. First off, it's looking much better in there lately and the wall of shoes was looking mighty comely.

I was tempted by a pair of platform gladiator sandals and some 3-strap Mary Jane's but in the end I plumped for some black suede platform boots. They've got a lovely shape and I like the suede texture but I'm pretty sure those spindly heels will be wrecked in no time and , I know they're lace-ups but I would have appreciated a zip to making wearing them a little less time consuming. Ah well...Also picked up a Giles Deacon purple plaid shirt from the men's section. It's big, soft and flannely. Perfect.

Since I could see its shining sign and open doors from across the road, I also took a look in Primark this foolhardy "quick pop-in" lasted several hours and ended in my buying at least 3 outfits worth of tat.

Stripes and Tartan Belt, Topshop
Boots, New Look
The rest, Primark

Lumber-rock?Boots and plaid shirt, New Look
The rest, Primark

Acceptable in the 80sShoes, Shellys
Bow tie, thrifted
The rest (including preposterous ankle warmers- how old do I think I am??) Primark

De Stijl too

As promised, my other De Stijl outfit. Click on images to enlarge.



Black dress, H&M
Blue, cowl neck jumper, Topshop
White belt, Next
Yellow legwarmers, H&M
Platforms shoes, ALDO,
Red snood, thrifted

Dressing in De Stilj

Oh dear lord, it's almost the weekend again! Why, do I exclaim, you exclaim - in your mind - with a question marks popping off like fireworks behind your eyes? (Yes, feeling rather poetik ovah hia. Join me, hmmm?)

Well, I was going to do a little update on my weekend of Kultcha in lovely Norwich and here we are with a nother weekend approaching. Honestly, I don't know where the time goes, or why there's so little of it.

I spent the weekend with quite a lot of art actually. But I was particularly struck by the Constructed exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Among other works were a few from the Netherlands art movement De Stijl (The Style). I'm not going to bore you with a lecture about De Stijl but if you want to know more about it go here.

I was captivated by the paired down abstracts, the use of geometry and lines and the strict palette of black, white, grey and primary colours yellow, red and blue. It was.... soothing. Apparently, this is supposed to be the desired effect as the De Stijl is supposed to be all about purity and spirituality and wholeness.

Looking at the work, I was struck by how the primary colours lent a playful, childishness to the rigidity lines and of the monotones. It made me think about what it would look like to dress in De Stijl. Monotones, shot through with a bit of colour would be perfect for work and maybe it would have a calming effect on my hectic day. It didn't really but I looked like a Mondrian while I worked my arse off! (Click on images to enlarge).

Grey boat neck dress, Next
Yellow polo neck and stripey cardigan, H&M
Grey beret and red neckwarmer, thrifted
Red shoes, Schuh
Grey tights and black legwarmers, Primark

PS: I've got another outfit that I just haven't had the time to get off the camera, but as soon I can I'll post it.

TO ADD: See the other outfit here

Nowt as queer as folk

Now, you know I'm not a one for outfit posts. This is mainly because when it comes to taking pictures of myself, I am cack-handed at best. This irks me. It irks me a lot. I like being good at what I do. Mediocre sucks.

Still, I thought I'd try the whole folk trend thing out a couple of weeks ago and kinda liked what I came up with. So, while rushing out the door on the way to work, I took a couple of pics. Whaddaya know? They came out relatively okay.
For some reason Russian Babushka dolls immediately came to mind. I guess it had something to do with the red and black colours and the florals. At least the ones I remember playing with and being quite obsessed with as a little girl were that colour.

But seeing as I'm not actaully wearing a scarf round my head (apparently doing so would make me "on trend" methinks it would also make me look like a dork!) I'd guess peasant/gypsy would be more apt.
The lovely Baboohska soft dolls at the top are from Erleperle. Check out her Etsy Shop here.

Dress, thrifted; scarf, Primark; boots, Topshop; black polo-neck, shrug, belt and ring, H&M

Ring, ring

Have you noticed that huge cocktail rings are back in fashion again? This time they are distinctly more solid and masculine looking and I have to admit, I am very drawn to them. But then I am a ring ho' so nothing new there.

Check out these ones at £90 a pop and only to be bought if you're not a faddy shopper.

Or if you're anything like me, check out some passably comparable, cheaper options like these from £10-£7.

Me? I'm raiding my closet because I know I have a whole trove of huge rings in there. But I might have to stop by Dorothy Perkins for one more.

The right trousers

In these money-squeezed times we live in, I find myself increasingly drawn to the idea of shopping my own closet for outfits. Instead of acquiring more stuff, I've taken to looking at what I've already got and fitting it all together in new and interesting ways. I guess you can do that if you have a veritable jumble sale of a wardrobe.

Much as I envy them, it makes me glad in a way that I'm not one of those minimalists with a severely edited capsule wardrobe. It's fun when you can treat your wardrobe like a giant, whimsical dressing up box.

After spending quite a bit of time coveting the new peg-legged trouser shape, I thought that I'd have to alter a pair of wide leg trousers to get that taper. Then I found that I already had the raw materials of what I was looking for: a pair of high paper-bag waisted trousers from H&M which I bought last Autumn.

When I first got them it was for the pleasure of that high waist - which comes to just underneath my bust - and the leg length which looked just right with platform-wedge heels.

Now I'm loving them for the roomy billow and taper of the leg. When I roll up the hems I get instant peg-leg effect, all the better to show of ankle and shoe boots.

With the high waist I can wear them with a crop top - in this case a folded-in batwing dress that has been laying around the 'drobe for eons. Meaning I flash just a strip of belly flesh - which is, ahem, more than enough, believe me.

Even better, I can fold down the waist so it's no longer super high and wear with various tees and tops. Pretty nifty and not a penny spent.

If I ever get fed up with the hem roll, I might consider cutting the legs shorter but for now only cosmetic changes are needed.

Trousers, H&M (throughout); "Cropped" top, H&M; pink belt, thrifted; strappy, patent shoes, Topshop; pink socks, H&M

Showgirl print tee, Primark; Mushroom collared booties, Scorah Patullo; socks, House of Fraser

Grey mesh shirt, thrifted; grey cowl-neck vest, Diesel; patent grey and black pointy shoes, Bershka; socks, as beforeBlack bejwelled fascinator, and black bead choker, H&M; scarf, thrifted; fluffy jumper, thrifted; grey mesh shirt, shoes and socks, as before

A whole lotta hose

Like many fashion bloggers, I have a fascination with hosiery. Socks and tights are, afterall, one of the easiest and cheapest ways to update your wardrobe. Plus, they have the added benefit of keeping your legs warm. Especially if, like me, your more likely to be wearing a dress whatever the weather.

The easiest hosiery to wear is the thick black opaque - goes with anything and makes your legs look endless. But don't discount sheer, coloured, cutout and patterned tights, which are perfect for layering. And -unless you're seriously in the money- forget expensive tights.

You can get a whole load of funky looking tights on the high street for a fraction of the price of a Falkes pair and I regularly trawl my local charity shops for cheap vintage pairs in unusual colours (dusky rose, sheer purple, spotted raspberry...)

Black patterned tights over silver grey tights, both vintage thrifted

Vintage sheer purple tights, layered over Primark grey star print tights

I recently took a trip to Primark and came away with loads of tights at £2 a pop, including a 100 denier black pair and a thick, grey cotton-rich pair - both of which should see me through autumn and winter.

A cutout pair for £1 each, were a great bagain. They put in me in mind (texturally speaking) of that Stella McCartney cutout dress that Gwynnie wore to the Iron Man premiere. I intend to layer them over coloured and patterned tights for some added texture and as an alternative to the already ubiquitous lace.

Cutout tights layered over pink leopard print, both Primark

Cutout tights layered over vintage silver grey vintage tights

Roll up! Roll up!!

So, in the back of mind has been percolating that whole circus/circus freak look. Then came the poke in the eye with the preposterousness (I don't know... is that a word? I think it's a word... 'tis now...) of Topshop's Pierrot hat. Although I quickly forgave this idiocy when I saw their wonderful Wonderland collection - big bows, exagerrated shapes, ringmaster jackets, a bit shiny, a bit showtime, a bit Cabaret... I love all that drama.

It was only a matter of time before I was rooting through my wardrobe looking for a way to make it all mine. This is what I wore to work yesterday (click on images to enlarge):

I almost wore the DIY ruff, but I thought that may be a touch much for work. They are sort of used to me and my whacky dress sense now, but possibly the ruff might have been a accessory too far. I settled on a graphic scarf instead. I wanted a big, stiff, clown bow but, as you can see, it went all floppy on me... Ah, well!

Oh, and those are my favourite boots. I like the way I can change their look with different coloured socks and tights. When I first bought them, I considered them risque and very high - all this was before stripper heels and platforms got trendy - now, they're just ordinary compared to some of the stuff you see.

My hair was a mess, hence the raspberry beret, but I kind of like it anyway.

Pouffy spotted skirt, H&M; layered under pouffy pocket skirt, River Island
Stripey cardigan worn back to front, H&M
Military jacket, designer warehouse sale
Tights and silver stripe socks, H&M
Boots (bought in Chicago a very long time a go)
Beret, French Connection
Scarf, Peacocks

Her dark materials

I love the way that the right accessories make an outfit come together just so. While raiding around in Style Narnia (AKA my wardrobe) looking for some glam goth inspiration, I also came across quite a few little lovelies to go with. Actually, make that, that A LOT. I have boxes full of this stuff.

It's practically all cheap and all from either H&M or Diva at Miss Selfridges - who do the best cheap jewellery on the high street. The little voodoo doll, is a little souvinir from a trip to New York a few years back. It's just there to add atmos, although I am seriously considering turning it into some sort of head piece... Wouldn't that be awesome?

(Click on all images to enlarge)

Chunky rings: green heart, thrifted; rectangular metal, blue stone and snake ring, H&M; red apple ring, Diva at Miss Sellies

Others: Multi strand black bead choker and long length black bead necklace (I usually wear them layered for extra drama), diamante studded bangle, black elbow length glove and fascinator, all H&M!

Brooches: red heart, thrifted and painted; black spider, H&M
Necklaces and neck pieces: Beaded and buttoned, felt neck piece, DIY; chunky crucifix, thrifted and customised with black velvet ribbon; skull pendant, H&M; heart shaped locket, Diva at Miss Sellies, Hematite choker, gift
Bangles and bracelets: purple pearl and stone bracelet, House of Fraser; hand painted black bangle, thrifted

Close up of heart-shaped locket - isn't it gorgeous?

Bow Wow!

You could probably slap a bow on anything these days and I'd instantly find it more appealing. Such is the power of the subliminal bow messaging that I've been receiving all summer. It would go a long way to explaining why I find these lovelies totally irresistible (click on images to enlarge):

Big bow Alice bands and bow shoes, Topshop
PVC bow hair pins, Urban Outfitters
Clip on bow with veil, ASOS

But I have no excuses for my growing collection of "Bowrabilia":Silver Mary Jane, New Look
clip on PVC bows, Topshop
Bow ties, thrifted
Bow belt, thrifted

Or the fact that I have recently made a bow Alice band of my own with not one, but two wonky bows:DIY Alice band

1930s Mannish

I love dressing up. Not just in the dressing to go out kind of way. I actually think of dressing up in a childlike way, like stumbling on your mum's trunk in the attic when you're five and trying all the clothes on. It's fun.

I like costume, the idea of becoming someone different or at least looking different - clothes as something to appear in but also to hide behind.

I have my hair in locks and most of the time I wear it straight but I've been fooling around with ways of changing my appearance via my hair, so I curled it and it came out in a great poodle-curled bob. Which made me think of Marlene Dietrich's hair in the film Blue Angel. Which in turn made me think of her mannish style.

The ever so poised and stylish Ms Dietrich

So for work today, I decided to dress up in an outfit that sort of went with the hairstyle. My main mannish accountrements were the hair, a pair of lace-up shoes and a great blazer that I picked up in a vintage shop in New York. And let me just say, I love that scarf! Best £8 I ever spent. On a scarf.

Vintage Emporio Armani blazer, Uniqlo culottes, H&M body, socks and scarf, New Look silver lace-ups

DIY is it taking so long?

This post by Susie Bubble on Johnny Loves Rosie has just reminded me of all the DIY projects that I've got brewing that I've still not got round to.

Johnny Loves Rosie - if you didn't know - do these quirky, totally DIY-able accessories, which are not exactly expensive but not really that cheap either. Seeing their bows and things just made me itch to get to work on some stuff.

However, between the work life and the social life and the blog life and the life life, I just can't seem to find the time to squeeze in my projects. To recap, I want to:

• Make a ruff and a large corsage out of a child's dress
  
• Make a playsuit out of some African print material that I brought back from my trip home
  
• Make some harem pants out of an old sweatshirt(well, actually it turned out to be a dress but that's another story)
  
• Make some pretty summer skirts out of the material I found at my local-ish charity shop
  
• Do something with my motherload of buttons
  

In addition to these, I want to:

• Make some cute hair accessories from my bits and pieces of ribbon, felt and random other found and habberdashed things
• Make a summer dress - I found the perfect ditsy-print material with yellow, red and green flowers, for £1 during a recent thrifting expedition. It is currently draped around my tailor's dummy in the hall and everytime I see it my palms itch with anticipation.
• Try my hand at transfers - I bought some Dylon product called Image Maker, which apparently transfers pictures onto fabric "in three easy stages"! I simply must try it out. I'm thinking a collage from fash-mag images onto a t-shirt would look totally cool. If anyone's ever used this stuff, I'd really appreciate some tips!

So, anyway, this weekend's already looking like a bust as I've got friends and fam cropping up everywhere but I will get started soon and then you can see the sweet - or possibly rancid - rewards of my labour.

Rewind, refind and reprise

Continuing my trawl into the depths of my wardrobe, courtesy of the neverending unpacking - I "found", this skirt, that I bought on a whim from French Connection a few summers back. I felt it was a bit on the short side and didn't really match anything I owned - that I could find!

However, seeing a this summer looks promising, I'll team it with this loose, khaki jersey dress from American Apparel - another buy that's barely worn (believe me when I say: they are legion). I found it a bit flimsy for wear on it's own outside of a beach and I'm not really into wearing something this loose as a top with jeans. Still, as a combo they go well together. The dress, peeking out below the skirt gives me some modesty "down below" and on top, complements the bright colours of the skirt perfectly. While the skirt hides the visible panty line and adds some colour.

Hey presto! New outfit. I'm going to wear it with my peach, rose-print flats. And thanks to everyone who wrote to say how much they adored the flats, by the way.

The weekend that was - Part 2 Sunday [AKA dressing appropriately for the occasion - a cautionary tale]

Sunday was a beautiful day; the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the sky was blue. I crawled out of bed and thanked God for the relatively mild hangover considering the carnage of the night before. After drinking a much needed vat of coffee and doing a leisurely brunch, the bloke and I decided to get the bikes out and go for a ride around.

This is where things got interesting. Blame it on the weather but for this endeavour I decided it would be wholly appropriate to wear the following:

• cream ditsy print summer dress
  
• vintage denim waistcoat (vest if your American)
  
• black leggings topped off with patterned socks
  
• black leather bomber jacket
  
• cream leather dolly flats
  

It was a cute little summer outfit and on this day, for almost any other undertaking, it would have been fine.

The bike ride was lovely. I loved the wind in my hair and the sun on my face. There was one particularly long, windy, uphilly bit that I had to get off the bike and walk up, huffing like an old steam train and cursing my crappy lungs and general lack of fitness, but for the most part it was great fun. In my mind I was one of those whimsical images of pretty ladies riding bikes in the summer, with baskets at the front. Preferably in Amsterdam.

This is sort of how I wanted to look

In reality, once we hit the forest dirt track nothing that I was wearing was quite up to the sheer amount of mud-splatter. It was everywhere; all up my back and down my legs, covering my pretty socks and miring my pretty shoes.

I ended up looking more like this!

Next time I go bike riding, I'm wearing a nice dark tee, a water-proof, wipe -clean kagool, old jeans and some sturdy boots and definitely no cream coloured anything. Let this be a lesson to you.

Totally gratuitous vid of Bicycle Race by Queen:

The weekend that was -Part 1

The big move - Reasons to be grateful

Finally, the interminable packing, the stress and the madness are over and the bloke and I are happily ensconced in our new home. We're yet to have the internet access sorted and there are boxes everywhere but apart from that it's all pretty darn good.

Despite my constant moaning and wailing and pulling out of hair, moving turned out to be a good thing for these reasons:

1. I found my lovely pair of grey and chocolate platform sandals by Zara. I bought them in the summer then spent most of the rest of the year looking for them. Turned out they were at the bloke's flat all along under a pile of other things that we didn't get round to rooting under. So... bonus, new shoes! I'll post piccies when I can.

2. Also found, the other foot to a paor of over-knee, mid-heeled, black leather boots. Separated when I took one to get the zip fixed. I haven't seen them together for at least 5 years. But they are perfect for height and length and I am so happy to see them. they're like the vintage find of the year. Only, they never were. Vintage, I mean.

3. Plenty of space for all my clothes and shoes and acessories and random stuff. Lot's of storage space, an (almost) walk-in wardrobe (well it a more like a hole in the wall that yo can just about fit two people in if they stood shoulder to shoulder and didn't breath out too much) and an actual wall to wall wardrobe in the bedroom - which I shall sort of be sharing with the bloke, if you call him having 1/4 of the space and me having the other 3/4 sharing. And shelving, I get to put up all my books and knicker-knackers and display my shoes. Whoopee!

So yeah, life is pretty sweet right now. And things will soon be, hopefully, returning to normal blog posts-wise. Again thanks to you all for coming to visit and leaving comments and emailing. You guys rock in awesome ways.

Long time, no see [no news is bad news]

First of all I really must apologise for the appalling lack of posts in the past week (a week! Seven whole days and no posts... Not good at all). Anyway, there are mitigating circumstances; mainly that I am in the throes of frenzied and interminable packing for the big move this weekend. Now I understand why moving is apparently one of the most stressful things you can do in your entire life.

I envy those cool, collected people who manage to make the move with minimum fuss. Sadly, I'm not one of them. I started out initially thinking that I would do a little life laundy and editing of the wardrobe but it's looking increasingly like all I'll be doing is bunging my clothes and shoes in last minute bin bags and taking the lot with me (Ah, the bloke will be pleased).

So, packing has left me no time to muse about clothes - except to obsess on why I have so many!- and no time for things like surfing the net, checking out my favourite blogs and finding new ones or any kind of shopping whatsoever. Today is the first day since last Thursday that I've even glanced at a computer in any meaningful way and I've been trying to catch up with everything.

Boy, I've missed a lot! For instance: the current blog buzz surrounding the Miu Miu double skirted look, as addressed by Michelle and Susie; a rash of tagging culminating in me getting to see the inside of LLG and DRG's handbags and find out why Winona at Daddy Likey is a thinking blogger as well as being hilarious and a little bit mad (and, by the way, why has no-one ever tagged me? Is it something I said? Do I smell of wee? What?!); MaholoFashion blogger awards; and this perfect Betsey Johnson coat on altamira nyc. I think that bum bow will keep a certain WendyB very happy.

Gotta sign off now but big thanks to all who have stuck around and left a comment or two while I've been away. Much appreciated. I will return soon with an all new Outfit of the week and other such items of goodness. And don't forget to have a good ol' root around in the archives. You never know what you might find.

Here's one I made earlier

I really, really loved this beaded silk collar by Day Birger et Mikkelsen. I thought it would look cute on a simple shift LBD but I had to do a double-take at the £140 price tag. I mean, in the end, it's only arts and crafts. Surely they can't be charging that much. I could make it myself, I thought. And so I did.

Here's my effort:

Okay, I'll admit, it's a little wonky (although my first effort, so, you know) and there's less beading. But it does look pretty cool and with materials (I've got plenty of sequins and beads left, by the way) came in at under £25. Add to that, the therapeutic, zen-like effects of beading and I think it was well worth my time and money.

I think it's plenty cool and I'm wearing it to a party tonight with a sequinned shift and shiny tights from H&M. I will also, finally, be wearing these shoes' so I'm gonna be hella shiny. I'm already thinking of my next bib design which will have way more beading. I'll post it when it's finished.

Materials: Black felt, seed beads, applique butterflies, applique flower, sequinned edging, single sequins, diamante buttons, flat buttons, all from John Lewis. Silk tie (found) and arrow pendant (left over from last DIY project).

Topshop's wonder knit

I have to rave about this cowl-neck, buttoned knit top from Topshop because it has aready turned into my autumn staple top and so far I haven't worn it the same way twice.

It doesn't look like much on first viewing. Grey cowl neck, buttons down one side, short, twisted sleeves. It looks like the sort of sub-Vivienne Westwood fare that All Saints seems to have cornered the market on in recent times.

In fact the reason why it caught my eye at all was because the day before I'd been looking at Vogue's shots from Viv's Spring/Summer 08 collection. It brought to mind this image:

I loved the way that she'd taken that knit and made it slouchier and even more impossible by buttoning it up all wrong. I saw those buttons on the Topshop knit and it all came to me.

Since then, I've been experimenting with buttoning the top up in different ways. So far I've got three looks - apart from the one Topshop intended - a pretty off-the-shoulder look, a v-ed cowl (which you can see in the photo if you squint real hard and make a wish - I really suck at the whole taking illustrative photos thing, sorry), and a kind of copy of the mis-buttoned look that Westwood showed.

Pretty cool for £30 worth of top.

My future walk-in wardrobe needs these

Storage. When you hoard as many items of clothing as I do, it becomes a problem. Which is why I am obsessed with finding the right furniture to grace my future walk in wardrobe.

I saw a link to these fabulous graphic art pieces on the Coolhunter.

Just wish I could afford them.

Items from Opus Interiors