Archive for April 2013

Home Archive for April 2013

Right - more of this dress malarkey. And whilst perusing a million dresses, I realised that there were just too many to choose from and I needed to do some correlating of sorts. First and foremost we have the floral numbers.

Now I don't normally do a flowery dress. Maybe I have dress overload. Maybe it's that I'm having a dress renaissance with my new found determination to wear dresses this S/S. Or maybe it's just that there are so darn lovely print dresses out there.

The great thing about a floral dress is that actually it sings on it's own. There's no need for a large necklace or detailed accessories - a plain bag (which I have, check), plain shoes (again which I have in either black or nude, check) and you're away. So minimal outlay for the day. Unless of course you need justification to purchase more shoes or bags or jewellery and just holler.

I'm also adamant that I shall be wearing mine more as well. (all those dresses that I don't actually own yet) Dinner, during the day for a fancy lunch (clearly I will have to be booking some of these in so I can get wear out of the plethora of dresses I would like to be purchasing. Which is handy.) and any number of evenings out.

So starting with a couple of randoms, which, last night seemed like a good idea after a couple of glasses of wine. I was fired up to get dressed up. In the cold light of the morning, I'm retreating under my skinny jean shaped rock and these seem just ever so slightly too grown up for me. Having said that, I love the shape of them and the prints are gorgeous (even if I may secretly prefer some of them chez moi on a napkin)

LK Bennett Teos Floral dress £145 Actually this is a great shape and I love the shades of the print. Perfect with a pair of nude heels or you could pick out a pink or yellow and really make a statement of it. With black heels this would be a great evening dress as well. (see, I've almost persuaded myself that I have to try it now...)

Alexon Floral Printed Dress - £125 Good lord, how much wine did I have last night? Alexon? Having said that, this again is a really flattering shape - the pleating over the front would hide a multitude of sins and the colours are so summery. Again, whilst being rather mainstream, with a bling pair of shoes this would look fab. I think the print reminded me of a VW pattern... (runs and checks alcohol percentage of the wine she was drinking)

Kaliko Rosalyn Pleated print dress - £90.00 Love the colours of this dress - the most ideal dress for a wedding guest. Just gorgeous.

Whistles Victoria Floral Dress Here we are very much back in my comfort zone, despite the brightness of the colours. This, I think is actually a navy background to it, so I'd probably have to splash out on a pair of navy shoes. What a shame.

Whistles Bella tropical print dress - £155 Whilst this isn't the most high summer of dresses - for the Spring (ie this weekend when the weather is going to revert to being single digits again. Pooo) it's perfect for those chillier nights of which we unfortunately have many. Also a great dress to take you through to Autumn. (that's assuming we ever get a summer in the middle when it's too warm to wear it . One can dream.....)

Damsel in A Dress April Dress (currently £126.75 as on price match) This is a great longer length and would look amazing with white shoes. Specifically some fabulous white shoes that I have my eye on. Please tell me I'm not the only one who very occasionally buys something to justify another purchase? Sounds utterly bonkers but it works.

Great Plains Orchid shift dress - £95 but now only £57 at House Of Fraser Slightly less fitted, more of a tunic shift shape - I fear it may be rather short for the Gulliver-esque amongst us. However this is definitely one of the most wearable floral dresses that I came across. I don't think there's any reason why this couldn't be worn on a daily basis with some flat sandals.

Same dress in a different colourway but unfortunately still at full price at Coggles. However if you think you'd get a lot of wear out of it, I think it's a great price.

Pied a Terre Printed Cocoon dress - £62.50 Ditto to all of the above. This is half price at the moment. I am completely in love with this dress and shall be ordering it and praying it covers my lady bits when I bend over.

Julie Brandt Coriander Printed dress from Atterley Road £175 This I think is stunning. I love the simplicity of it, the androgynous shirt style to it, the colours of the blue and the William Morris style print. The only reason why I wouldn't order it is again as I think it's just going to be too short. Oh but I do love it so. For during the day as well with little ankle boots..... hmmmmm

Warehouse Sleeveless Floral Print Wrap side dress - now £28 with the promotion at House of Fraser. Staying on the navy theme, this is fabulously cheap and cheerful number. Looks much better and more expensive actually on.

Paul by Paul Smith from Coggles £195 I'm starting to get slightly dejected at my liking all the expensive ones a lot more than anything that's more reasonably priced (hence I shall be ordering the Pied a Terre one and offering up prayers to the gods of decency) Fortunately I'm looking for something more formal and whilst this would definitely fit into the newly created "day dress" hole in my wardrobe, at £195, it's much too expensive to fit. Gorgeous.

PLEASE please please can someone buy this dress so I can live vicariously through them. I would wear this dress till it was threadbare - I would eat sleep and dream in this dress (which actually makes it quite good value cost per wear if you put it like that... hmmmm)

Vivienne Westwood Anglomania Eight Dress £584.99

Hoss Intropia Yellow Floral Lace Dress £219.95 Slightly left field here but this again is a perfect dress to go to a wedding. Any of my friends fancy getting married again? I know a great place in Italy that we could all go to?! This would be completely ideal. Love.

And here we have photos from yesterday. I had forgotten to put my necklace on actually so before we went out for the day, I bombed back into the house (which is literally across the road from these pics - how lucky are we?!) and got my Alex Monroe Bee necklace. Completely naked without it.

White silk loose boxy top - Zara (another new holiday purchase...)

Dad Boyfriend jeans - Current Elliott

Tan leather belt - Primark

Dove grey leather sneakers - Gap

Grey Cherelle Cross body bag - Whistles

I am still up to my eyes in dress research so will be back later or tomorrow with more. Never let it be said that I don't take an outfit seriously.....

...in how not to pack.

Now obviously I'm starting with a whole host of disclaimers as to why I'm so totally and utterly pants at it. The main one being that for the purposes of this packing occasion, we were heading to the British seaside. Where, as we all know, one day it could be snowing, the next it could be 21degrees and we all get a sunburnt nose (that'll be today then except it's a sunburnt baldy head in The Husband's case. Oops)

I do think it's pretty darn difficult packing for all seasons (when you're not allowed to take a separate car load with your clothes and accessories in). There is also that voice of dissent (that I clearly ignore) that questions whether there is any reason to really care what you look like when you're just hanging out with the kids. Well primarily I don't have a whole host of other more casual clothes that I could wear, it takes as long to put on a pair of jeans, top, necklace/scarf and jacket that matches as it does dragging on anything else random and more importantly, I would feel like crud. And this is my holiday and I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to feel and look like me. Which I hope is not crud.

My other disclaimer as to why I've made such a dog's dinner of this, is that the holiday was all very last min anyway. The Husband is moving jobs and after nearly 9 months notice was told he could go a month early. Hurrah! But he realistically can't take any proper hols for the first 6 months of the new job and so the week between jobs was all he could take. (yes those school summer holidays are looking mighty long already...) School were great about it. Marvellous. Booked. And then on the Tuesday night of last week unfortunately his lovely. lovely granny (at the grand old age of 99!) passed away. In Ireland. Which meant that of course the funeral was in a matter of days and so the poor chap and his four sisters had to fly to Ireland on Friday morning, leaving me to pack, load and unload the car, drive here and spend the first 3 days on my own with the kids. Which was interesting, considering we've only just finished the Easter holidays where they were at home 24/7. Dear. God. To say I have a new found respect for single parents is a complete understatement. There should be shrines where we can worship you at. Hats off to you all.

So packing was a rather frantic, throw it all in, kind of an affair.

Actually thinking about it - I've underestimated myself slightly. If we were discussing packing for a 2 week, maybe even a month holiday, I would be applauding myself from the rooftops. Unfortunately I am here for a week.

Here is a pic of the guilty offering. I should probably have "Never knowingly underpacked" on my gravestone.

Actually there is method in my madness.

I always start with how I think the weather is going to be (I never EVER get it right - who could have predicted 22 degrees for tomorrow. Doh) But it's better to be too hot than too cold. Nothing more miserable than wandering along the beach getting frostbite on your exposed areas.

I'd anticipated perhaps warm, more likely slightly chilly but hopefully not too hot or too cold.

And everything has to be wearable with something else that I've bought. There clearly is no reason for this - lots of people pack "outfits". I do pack outfits but each outfit has to be able to be worn with at least three other options. Reason behind this - I have been away so so many times with a suitcase full of specific outfits and either a) I don't feel like wearing them once I get there b) I'm not sure what we're going to exactly be doing and so what's going to be appropriate and c) that blasted weather issue again.

So everything I take can be worn either with sneakers (check me out - I'm so getting with the programme) or boots (I hadn't anticipated needing sandals - and to be fair it's not "that" hot!) , with a scarf or a necklace (I have to do one or the other - or earrings but I restrict myself to just the two for the sake of packing. Be impressed with my restraint - I didn't have room for earrings.) and with or without a jacket. I stick to trousers - but do have a variety of options - what we do on hols is much more trouser appropriate even if I were to be a super skirty sort of person.

As you can see from above pic - complete overkill. But it all does fit into one bag, we drive and so why the chuffing hell not?

Here's what I've bought - all of which is interchangeable depending on what I feel like wearing, the weather and what we're doing.

9 thin longsleeved tops and blouses

3 bretons (one blue one maroon one grey)
2 neutral fine knit longsleeved tops
Navy sweatshirt
Yellow floral blouse
Blue and red floral blouse
Silk printed tunic

2 oversized tops - one linen, one silk.

5 thin strap neutral vests

1 short sleeved jersey white tee

3 jackets

cream quilted biker jacket
floral quilted biker jacket
navy blazer

6 scarfs

grey jersey
royal blue jersey
leopard print scarf
off white, black and red linen
fabulous finches in owl brown
apricot with neutal tassels

6 pairs of trousers

Boyfriend jeans
straight leg jeans
distressed skinny jeans
white skinny jeans
pear drop skinny jeans
grey jersey harems

5 pairs of shoes

gold ankle boots
gold leather sneakers
dove grey leather sneakers
black peep toe sandal shoe boots
gunmetal hi tops

5 necklaces

2 statement bib style necklaces
1 long statement pendant necklace
1 gold bee necklace
1 gold pine cones necklace
1 gold leaf short necklace on black chain

1 grey cross body leather handbag.

Yes it sounds complete overkill. (which should officially read as Is overkill) But there probably will only be a couple of tops I don't wear. And some of the scarves as we've been so lucky with the weather (otherwise, I would have worn all of these and would have been beyond grateful for them, ditto the boots)

And finally, for me the most important thing that I buy every holiday (there may be some new purchases that I've snuck in for this week apart from the last min sneaker buys.....) is new perfume. For me, the best thing for evoking memories is a scent which reminds me of a specific holiday. Sometimes it's not always new new, it may be one I haven't worn for years, but I always time the purchase of a new perfume with a holiday.

This time, I chose one that's been around for ages and I've meant to buy but never got round to - Jo Malone French Lime Blossom. I will honestly say that it's been years since I have loved a fragrance this much. It was a total treat to myself and I don't regret it for a minute. The kids love it, The Husband loves it, it's just perfect. A light, not overly sweet or pungent floral fragrance. I won't even attempt to go into any more detail as I am no beauty expert, but suffice to say this is one I shall be buying again and again. I can't recommend it highly enough. A modern floral that manages to have a classical edge.

So rounding up with what I've been sporting the last couple of days - all from the above pile clearly!

Wine and off white breton - Massimo Dutti

Grey jersey harems - Toast

Cream quilted biker jacket - Zara

Off white, black and red embroidered linen scarf - Zara (a cheeky new purchase)

Grey cross body Cherelle bag - Whisltes

Gun metal grey Virgin hi tops - Ash

Right, now the below is an example of how I'm a moron (and negates all my vaguely good points that I said above. Cretin that I am). I don't love this outfit. But it sometimes take seeing something in print to realise that it's not a good idea. The jeans and the blouse together are just way too twee for my personal liking. This would have been a boatload better had I paired it with either the grey and off white striped top and the pear drop jeans (and grey jersey scarf) or the blouse and faded jeans (either straight or skinny - both of which of course I have here. Duh). I also think it would perhaps work better as is with the gold boots but we went on a very long walk and then crabbing and gold boots would have been a bad idea)

Floral blouse - Forever 21

Pear drop skinny jeans - Boden

Cream quilted jacket - Zara

Dove grey leather sneakers - Gap

Apricot tassel scarf - Mint Velvet

Grey cross body Cherelle bag - Whistles

Much much happier with this outfit today.

Navy and white breton - H&M

Straight legs rolled up - Zara

Navy blazer - Zara

Pegasus necklace - Stella & Dot

Gold leather sneakers - Gap

Cross body grey Cherelle bag - Whistles

An alteration of the outfit for later in the day when I took the kids down to the beach. Removed jacket and added sweatshirt and scarf. And flask of hot coffee as it had gone from being balmy to rather chilly.

Outfit as above but jacket changed for

Navy sweatshirt - Zara

Royal blue jersey scarf - & Other Stories

Clearly you wouldn't know it was on the chilly side from this outtake pic where I've been photobombed by my 6 year old. Yes, that tiny white swimsuit clad skinny figure in the background. This was taken at 6pm and it wasn't remotely as warm as it looks (to be fair I don't even think it looks that warm!)

So a different one from me today which has probably been about as useful as a chocolate teapot. But I had been asked and am more than happy to share my ineptitude at any given moment.

Working on some more dress blogs - the sun has been a start reminder that I am on a mission to free my legs this summer.

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine, we are having an absolute ball - family now all present and correct (my liver on the other hand.....)

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