White stilettos (am I mad?) and LK Bennett

I saw a picture of Alexandra Shulman (UK Vogue Editor) wearing some today and they looked quite 'fresh' and nice.

I guess this means they are the shoe-trend du jour. I am unsure how long this fad might linger, so have no immediate plans to purchase any - but one to ponder I think.

In other buying, I have a bit of a 'thing' going on at LK Bennett recently. Mainly because the staff at my local branch are so genuinely nice and helpful.

I bought a trench coloured trench coat, and some navy blue wedge sandals (both reduced in 'spring reductions').  I've already worn the trench coat several times and I suspect it will continue to be a frequently worn item, as the prevailing weather around me is 'damp'.

Seriously though, aside from the weather, I really like this coat. It has a nice feel to the fabric, is quite substantial, so is warm/ practical as well as looking good. The shape is also good for me (5 ft 5 hourglass) which is great as I can struggle with coats in the waist area - with the waist not sitting at quite the right place. So if you are a mid height curvy girl I urge you to try it. I think it's a good investment purchase.


The sandals probably won't get so much wear as (a) my legs and toes need to be brought out of winter hibernation and (b) it still IS winter in these parts.  A purchase of hope over experience I feel!  However, like the coat I really liked them and the trip to purchase was a return visit, having pondered for a while. I like the wedge height - high but not ridiculously so, and the fact that they don't have that weird platform sole you often see nowadays (which is a not a personal favourite of mine!)

Photos of me wearing stuff to follow - but my house is full of ground up plaster / brick and general building grime at the moment - it's a challenge to find a decent environment for a photo - let alone a non dust covered mirror!

Half an hour in Covent Garden.

And just time for a quick scout in M&S and Zara.

This green lace skirt caught my eye, which in theory (mine at least) shouldn't work, but I liked it. (Excuse me trying over jeans, short of time, hot and bothered and I figured if it looked good that way it should look ok normally.)

Also spotted in Zara - a fine knit (linen) slouchy top layer (hesitate to call it a pullover) - more of a cobwebby outer layer. I often feel under dressed in vest tops and the like - so it would be useful for me, but the boring practical side of me won on this occasion and as the item on the rail was already snagged, I fear it would look trashed within a few hours of wearing. Cute though.

The M&S Autograph collection looked interesting as well - some nice straight leg jeans, a denim pencil shaped skirt, a printed dress and linen shirt would all slot well into my wardrobe and will hopefully be investigated in more detail on the coming days!

Well, hello...!

Short and sweet this will be. I will attempt to make up for lost time properly some other time.

It occurred to me the other week that I was becoming a tad scruffy. There is a fine line between casual / comfortable and scruffy, and as my house is currnetly full of dust from building work, the gavel fell on the side of scruffy.

In mitigation, I felt I needed a pencil skirt.

I bought this from LK Bennett (Cissy skirt - in sale)

I also bought a belt which will work with the skirt and also over the beloved jeggings for scruffy comfortable days. Link to belt - but I bought red not blue and mine was in sale so cost less.

Hope you are all well. I will look forward to catching up with others' posts later.

Jeans shopping

Some shopping pictures to share today - together with related tales (of woe mainly!)

Sorry I haven't been posting much recently, life has been hectic. However a day shopping today has gone some way towards redressing the balance.

I decided I would like a new pair of jeans. Preferably a darkish 'dirty' denim pair, identical in shape and fit, to the black Topshop Jamie jeans I already own. Naturally, such a thing was not to be found in Topshop, so needs must... I diversified the search. My travels (which were time limited by school pick-up sadly, the only time I am time disciplined) took me to Gap and John Lewis.

An 'ok' pair in Gap - couldn't find any style name / design / anything to tell me what they were (as opposed to the piles of other styles available - helpful - not!)  But here is a picture. At the time I thought they were just 'ok' but not worth £44.99 or similar - especially when 99% of the other stock seemed to be priced at £39.99.

(Excuse the muffin on view! Must point out top was lifted to see how they fit... I didn't sport this look all day!) 

I then tried on Levi demi curve in John Lewis which I thought looked OK at the time - but reviewing the photos below they look not so good I fear!

Colour is just too.... blue :-(

Look like the man in the post office queue the other day who was sporting his new jeans still with the '£5 value' sticker on upside down... (and no I didn't have the heart to tell him :-0 )

Next some '7 for all mankind' - mid rise straight leg I think - though I had almost had enough by then trying to keep track of everything.  They were nice (naturally, at £160) and I know they are great jeans as I have another pair in boot-cut...but I wasn't in the mood for spending that today - especially as I am such a short-arsed creature I would have to cut off about 15%!  They only seemed to have 34in length in stock. Liked the colour and the detailing though.

This sorry tale of how not to (plan and) shop ends with the purchase of a pair of Baxters in Topshop, mainly because I was darned if I was going to spend 2 hours trawling shops getting extremely hot and bothered dressing and undressing, and come home empty handed. I am uncertain whether they are keepers though - even though the detailing is nice, they don't fit as well as the Jamie on me, and I'm not sure about the colour which is quite a muted greyish denim..... what do you think?

Dodgy lighting alert....(apologies: was at home by this point)

PS - for anyone who is interested, wardrobe clear-out still in progress, am madly e-baying...hence sparseness of blogging... it's a pain but have raised a nice bit of cash :-)

Clutter busting

My wardrobe tidying exercise is progressing. Slowly.  I sometimes have a hard job letting go of stuff I no longer wear, and coping with the 'what if' or 'just in case' scenario.

I found  a good blog today which I intend to explore further, but a few of the posts I read certainly struck a chord with me and buoyed up by that, I intend to be ruthless.  

See here: http://orgjunkie.com/2012/05/how-to-combat-clutter-excuses.html 

I have been quite ruthless, for me, today. I spent a good couple of hours listing stuff on ebay, and I only took one thing off again. (Normal practice for me: I 'talk it up' and then make it sound so good I wonder why I am selling it.)  I've probably told you I'm indecisive... better not mention I sometimes wonder if I know my own mind?!

In other progress, I bought some lavender sachets and hanging cedar things from Lakeland. These will be very nice once I have a cleared out, organised space in which to hang them :-)  Some may say 'procrastination'; I say 'forward planning / motivation'. 

A quick outfit pic from yesterday. It was 'minding the parents' day so I threw on some old things (well the top half is/are, more of the bottom half later...) and was pleased with the ancient Jigsaw cardigan I discovered. See - there is a reason why I hang onto stuff..... sometimes.

I decided to buy both the River Island jeggings and the Topshop Jamie skinny jeans from my post the other day, mainly because I am useless at deciding. But also because they both felt really good. Even 5 year old agreed with me on that point, but then - he is apt to say anything if he thinks it will get him nearer M&S and the obligatory 'Percy Pig' sweets (treat for schlepping around very boring shops with Mummy).  

I wore the jeggings yesterday, and again today, though I did have an alarming super-muffin moment this evening. Just in the nick of time as well, I was about to tuck into a large pizza.  We'll gloss over that  however, and declare the jeggings a success anyway. 

My new rule of thumb - if you want to wear something straight away / keep wearing it, that's a good sign.

Toast knitted tunic
Navy blue Jigsaw silk / angora cardigan (v old)
River Island navy blue 'Molly' jeggings (new)
Topshop boots (old)

Pea green and paisley..

...the two trousers I'm blogging about today :-)

First up - the Zara 'pea green' trousers I bought last August in the sale. Worn again today for the first time since late last summer as I had a feeling that the day might be quite springlike and it seemed appropriate to go with a 'green' theme. Springlike mood quickly dashed on exiting the house and having to scrape ice off of the car... >:-(

Zara green trousers

White Company navy short sleeved sweater

Zara navy t shirt

Joules blue / beige / green print silk scarf

Mulberry Maggie jade green bag

Looking at the above photo again, they look a bit baggy and (vom) 'boyfriend' like for my liking. This is because I have lost weight since last summer, which is good, but if I look like I'm sporting the boyfriend style, of which sadly I am not a fan (not yet anyway, she says, leaving room for a future volte face), I may have to attack the doughnuts.  I hails from Summerzet and we are slow to 'get' these modern new fangled ideas.

Next as promised, a picture of the Zara navy paisley print trousers I bought the other day in Covent Garden ( a whole week ago in fact...)

I really love these. The fit is perfect for me, and strangely, although I am far from tall, I always find the length of Zara trousers is perfect for me, but I have heard many people bemoan the fact that Zara jeans are too long...?!  They also have a really nice close fitting shape to the leg.

True to form in my photo you can discern neither colour nor print - so I've included a close up below to show the print - which makes it look lighter and more washed out than it is*...but hopefully you get the general idea.
[*Will I ever take a decent photo...? (bangs head in despair!) ]

I managed to sneak a quick trip to the shops today, in the guise of giving 5 year old son a 'ride on the {park and ride} bus - which he loves. Didn't have a lot of time - or frankly, with a 5 year old in tow, inclination - but managed to check out two pairs of jeans.

• I am in the market for a new black pair and tried the Topshop high waisted Jaime skinny jeans in black which were a nice fit and good thick but soft denim.

• Then went to River Island to investigate the good old 'Molly' jeggings, and found a navy pair which were equally soft and well fitting (thinner fabric though, which may sag??)  What to do?

Bought neither today (amazing willpower) as I have a 'window' tomorrow in which I could return, so I thought I'd sleep on it.

--> Any thoughts, experiences or advice on either welcomed!

Wish me luck, I'm going in

...into the decidedly non-minimal area that is my wardrobe, that is.

I have decided once and for all to separate the wheat from the chaff. A radical approach will be employed - i.e. emptying everything out and only replacing the items I actually want. Simple really! In theory. In practice I'll probably still be submerged come Easter.

When it comes the the freestanding chests of drawers it (my simple plan) got complicated:  remove the whole piece of furniture, then the contents, then replace contents and furniture, or keep the furniture and tip out the contents, thereby messing up the shrine that will (haha) be my wardrobe come tomorrow... or some halfway house / combination? Here my weary brain got frazzled and I fell asleep (late last night when I was planning this task, as you do...)

A quick picture of what I have been wearing today, naturally just about to change into skank outfit (aka leggings) for the big chuck out.

Boden midi skirt

Primark grey vest

Zara loose cardigan

White Company reversible snood

Primark faux suede wedge boots