Dressing like a big kid

No one should take themselves so seriously
With many years ahead to fall in line

'What's my age again?' Blink 182

Happy Halloween!

Sometimes you just have to embrace the spirit of the season and embrace the kid within:

H&M childrens jumper (Boys 12-14 years) Topshop shorts and Converse via ebay, Gok Wan for Specsaver glasses

Not sure what the real adults of the world made of my childish dressing, literally. My worry when wearing this jumper (sadly it doesn't come out more than a few times a year) is that I will actually bump into a child rocking this jumper as it should be worn, with about 10 years shaved off it's age.

My erratic blogging will all become very clear soon. In the meantime, what's Halloween without a bit of Thriller in all it's full-length glory... enjoy!

KD x

A weekend's worth of outfits... and then some

Now it's not quite clear
But I wonder what shenanigans brought me here

'Cash and Carry Me Home' Ghost Poet 

What have I been wearing? Clothes. Yes. But what exactly have I been wearing? I try and take a snap of my outfit whenever I can once the weekend comes around even if I don't post it on here, so here's a selection of what I've been saving or has been backing up my phone more importantly...

Dressed down for daytime:

Topshop dip back vest, Miss Selfridge body chain, Oasis leather jacket, Converse via ebay

Topman MTV jumper, Topshop flag shorts and Converse via ebay, H&M necklace

 

Oasis jeans and Zara shoes via ebay, Topshop tank, Oasis leather jacket, New Look headscarf

Friday night dinner with the girls:

Necklace, trousers and silk front chiffon back tee H&M, Dorothy Perkins yellow belt and Zara flats via ebay

(Too many) Drinks and dancing:

Playboy tee, Topshop shorts and shoe boots (just seen) via ebay, River Island belt, New Look earrings, H&M necklace, charity shop watch and various jewellery H&M, New Look, Topshop and Matalan

Topshop star body, charity shop belt, New Look patent heels, American Apparel disco pants via ebay, various rings, earrings, bracelets and anklets charity shop, H&M, New Look, Topshop, Matalan, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge

So I gave in to the lure of the disco pants. After being a trouser-phobe for so long things seemed to have gone full circle and I have now embraced even the trickiest of trouser trends. Bright coloured denim? Cropped, tailored and floral? Gold, shiny and skin-tight?  Yep, I'm ticking all those boxes. I guess I am now a fully fledged trouser wearer. So what's next? One thing I know is, I draw a definite line at leggings... that's a whole entire phobia in itself. People, please. They are not a substitute for real trousers. 

I'll stop before I go on a fashion rant!

KDx

Every day is like a battle

Wookie "Battle" ft.Lain Grey

What to wear on a pub crawl? Think practical, think easy, and think about how many times you are going to have to go pee, all important logistics to consider when getting dressed I find. Knowing me, and I do by now, quite well, the uncontrollable urge to gambol (that's a forward roll for anyone outside of the Midlands) at any given opportunity is always high on the agenda. 

So here's what I went for:

Levi's cut offs and Converse via ebay, charity shop belt, New Look vest, Topshop bra, various jewellery bits Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Topshop and H&M

On my shopping list are a pair of low Converse All Stars, seeing as they are the comfiest shoes I own, and they slowly being incorporated into almost every outfit, I think they'll even make their way over to Ibiza with me when I go. (Just over 3 weeks now!) In the meantime I have resorted to folding down my high tops.

Undoubtedly the most impressive part of my outfit were my nails, inspired by Fruit Salad sweets, from left to right: Rimmel Lasting Finish 025 'Strawberry Fizz', YCC Nail Enamel 103, Barry M 309 'Strawberry Ice Cream', Collection 2000 232 'Pink Passion', No.7 250 'Me!Me!Me!', Rimmel Lasting Finish 060 'Hot & Spicy', Collection 2000 43 'Fruit Salad', Rimmel Lasting Finish 705 'Tangy Tangerine', Collection 2000 28 'Hip Hip', and No.7 241 'Cheeky Chops'.

Apologies for my blogging being a little sporadic this week but there's been some big changes at work along with 3 events. It's not the busyness necessarily that's been keeping me away from blogging, moreso the tiredness... Hopefully my routine will return and with it a mid-week post! Until then.

KDx

Take me out to the crowd

Frank Sinatra "Take me out to the ball game" Ft. Gene Kelly

The varsity jacket has been one of those creeping trends. Alexander Wang showed them in his Spring/Summer collection in 2010 and it kind of missed the masses the first time it surfaced on the market around 2011. The stores stocked them, they subsequently went into the sale; a trend to be filed away under 'fail' perhaps. However, it would seem as though sometimes fashion can sometimes get it wrong and they quite simply missed the mark and got their timings awry. Fast forward a year or so and it seems to be that their popularity is gathering pace as a streetstyle trend, having spotted numerous ladies choosing to wear their varsity jackets as a casual throw over, or to add some edge to a more formal outfit. The sportswear trend has been evident in a number of the Spring/Summer 2012 collections amongst the likes of Rag & Bone, Isabel Marant (who of course is also responsible for everyone wanting to wear concealed wedge trainers. If you had have said that before I am sure I wouldn't have been the only person who had flashbacks of this awful trainer-heel hybrid catastrophe) and our very own Stella McCartney, which is no surprise seeing as she has designed the official Team GB Olympic kit; which I feel is another coincidental factor in the rise in popularity of the varsity jacket, you cannot escape the pull of the Olympics!

Photos via Telegraph online and Vanessa Jackman

From models looking casual after shows, to bloggers visiting shows and Liv Tyler quite simply looking hot, the varisty jacket works on all occasions. Less formal than a blazer, but moreso than a hoody, the varsity jacket offers a spring jacket alternative to the leather jackets of winter and the plethora of denim jackets this time of year.

Topshop varsity jacket, Levi's vintage skirt, Converse all via ebay, H&M vest and Topshop belt

Jacket as before, Levi's cut off shorts (jeans brought from ebay) Urban Outfitters t-shirt and New Look studded loafers

Here are my varsity jacket outfits two-ways. Both pretty dressed down outfits, so I would like to experiment with a more dressed up look, maybe a pencil skirt and pointed court, or my H&M floral trousers as seen here. Those of you that haven't got to grips with the joys of ebay, you must! This cost me 99p with £4 postage. If that can't convert you then I can't think of many more persuasive sells!

KDx

There’s someone here who laughs too hard at everything

Miike Snow “Paddling Out”

As promised, usual service has resumed.

Oasis leather jacket, New Look midi jersey vest dress, River Island belt, Miss Selfridge gold knot necklace, Converse via ebay, unknown headscarf, Disney Couture rings, charity shop bracelet (just seen) and Accessorize flowers.

Awkward lengths. This dress is not quite maxi, not quite midi, but I quite like the easy wear-ability of it despite it’s none descript length. Admittedly I hoped it would be a little more figure skimming on the bottom half, but I guess for a £6 sale buy brought without trying it on it fairs pretty well.  The picture doesn’t really show the colour up, but it’s a really nice charcoal grey marl. I am not normally a fan of New Look, whilst I think it does what it does well; I find it quite an overwhelming place to shop in, jack-of-all-trades perhaps? Everyone waxes lyrical about their shoes, but for me their saving grace is their underwear. It fits! Despite this fact I found myself looming over their sale section on the internet and was surprised to find things that I actually wanted enough to buy, not like those items you ‘covet’ but know full well will never make it out of the shop, let alone get in to the changing rooms. (Yes I am still wangling with the trouser issue/phobia/irrationality!) 

So surprisingly I am championing New Look. I was also after some luxe looking running shorts, that will never see me run for anything, but I got these, another bargain at £6, the gold zip detailing is a really nice touch, not sure how I am going to style them, they might have to wait for the warmer weather to be worn with a lightweight racer back vest, I  opted for this one and brightly coloured lacey bra? But I can't stop there. On an actual shopping trip, I faced my fear of the shop and came away with 4 other basic tops and 2 ruched front bandeaus... Now if that doesn't make me a convert nothing will!

Are there any shops that you used to avoid but have recently been drawn towards? 

KDx

Where you been hiding lately, where you been hiding from the news?

Ben Howard "The Wolves"

Here's what I got up to the rest of the weekend. So as not to overload you with too much food related content in one go, you've had ample time to digest the first post (yep, pun intended), I'll continue. I have unintentionally given up alcohol for Lent, by this I mean I haven't had a drop since Lent began. My weekend was uncharacteristically quiet and devoid of any hard liquor. If I will stick to this accidental alcohol fast, only time will tell, which ultimately hangs in the balance once the weekend arrives. But the lack of alcohol has by no means meant a lack of indulgence, I have simply replaced drinking with eating, and a lot of it!


Saturday night, the bestest and I cooked a veritable feast!

To start we had herb poached egg, roasted asparagus and smocked salmon inspired by Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Great Britain", followed by Moroccan chicken, lemon and courgette couscous, loosely following this recipe and this recipe, finishing with cinnamon baked pears inspired by this recipe, but we skipped on the sugar  and ameretti in replacement of chocolate Philadelphia, as gross as that sounds it's like the best chocolate cheesecake topping ever!

The real high point of the weekend though was the glimpse of sunshine!! It might not have stayed out long, and it might not have been that warm, but there was actual sunshine! I would like to think that this may be the long awaited signal of British Spring time? Those of you that follow me on Twitter will know that I fully embraced this fact and threw caution to the wind, along with my old faithful 60 denier tights and downgraded to 40s. Yes, I made the transition, and I urge you all to join in too!

H&M black maxi, charity shop St.Michael black and gold belt, Miss Selfridge coral multi-bead necklace

Pink Converse via ebay with H&M Kids pink ankle frill socks

This is actually what I wore Sunday to enjoy the last of the sun, as it was inevitably short lived. I also wore my Oasis leather jacket with this outfit, sunny it might have been but official maxi dress weather it was not. Being an all black outfit and not wanting to look like death walking, I livened my outfit with my baby pink Cons and matching frill ankle socks and a bright necklace, it's a great way to wear a normally Summer associated maxi dress in Spring. How do you ease yourself out of your winter wardrobes?

KDx