Black and Navy

A controversial combination. Some people wouldn't wear black and navy blue together, but I have no such qualms. This due mainly, or wholly actually, because I don't yet  (although probably need one) have a navy blue - or any other colour come to that - maxi dress in my life. So needs must - and I balanced it all out by letting another colour show in between.

I wore my Primark silver leaves necklace today in honour of the onset of autumn :-)

Shoes were my LK Bennett Milos T bar wedges - these are still in stock online - they have gone into the sale and are now greatly reduced. A classic shape I think.

 Navy blue jersey biker jacket - from the White Company

Black Maxi dress from Warehouse - similar here from Asos

Milos T bar sandal - LK Bennett sale

Navy and black theme extending to navy sandals and black toes...

What is your opinion on navy and black together - do you think it can work?

A hole in my wardrobe

I mean - how CAN it have happened?

After all my purchasing and browsing and fiddling over the years, it took a radical wardrobe 'declutter' to discover that one of my absolute essentials is a black skirt. Not just any black skirt mind you: I have some too short, some too long, some too large (although none too small, oddly?!), some too buttoned, some too bunchy...I won't bore you, the list goes on.

No - what I needed was something really minimal, simple, stretchy and 'flat'.  I have plenty going on around the waistline already thank you very much - I don't need bulging zips and sticky outy button tabs adding to my woes.

Now I may have said it many times before - but I'll say it again - this blog is a learning curve for me. Don't come here expecting any answers - or, if you do, be prepared to wait a long time while I muddle through stuff and the penny eventually drops!

However....if you also have come to the conclusion that a simple black skirt is what you need to fill your wardrobe hole (a kind of 'skirt shaped alternative to black trousers' I guess) then you may have come to the right place. I give you this:

Whistles Jersey skirt - £45 (John Lewis)
More sizes available here - Whistles online

It's a jersey skirt from Whistles - called the 'tube skirt'. It simply slips on, no zips or buttons. It is just above knee length on me - although they do a longer version, which the jury is still out on... (for me, but could be practical come the colder weather) - see below:

Longer version of Whistles skirt (£55) at John Lewis

or Whistles online

The short version (which I bought) is £45, which naturally equals a saving of £80 rather than any actual expenditure as such - as by buying this I avoided the pleated offering from Jigsaw (post the other day) which rang in at £125. Simples :-)

Here I am yesterday in London at the top of the 'View from the Shard'. Our school is not back yet so we had a final 'day out' day. Boy - what a day it was. I do not intend to repeat rush hour tube travel and small child combo anytime soon.  (By the way, note how even at the top of the Shard my photos - or rather the helpful assistant's photos - are still dismal. It is clearly a case of blaming the tools and my phone is not up to the job.)

Jacket - navy jersey 'biker' style from The White Company

Top - short sleeved breton - H&M

Skirt - navy pencil skirt - Tesco (similar here)

Shoes - tan TODS-a-likes from Russell & Bromley (old)

Bag - Longchamp - available from Selfridges

Necklace - SchoolGateStyle shop

The torture of having to pass by the majority of shops just begging me to go in! The shoes - oh the shoes - that had to be ignored.  And the lego that had to be played with. Oh yes: Selfridges have a very nice little lego play station. Which, oddly enough, I somehow wasn't aware of until yesterday. If it came with fully paid up and vetted Norland nannies I may have been sorely tempted to leave in situ... but it didn't and I am not THAT bad a mother.... (I think! But the temptation was strong.)

The Shard was amazing - and I would highly recommend it. It was so well run and (shock horror...I am so cynical and old with low expectations) had such friendly and efficient staff.  

Loved the 'open-ness' - wow!

Simply amazing views.... and so peaceful - the noises are so far away.

Short story

Or Shorts Story actually, that was the name.

Mentally filed away for later use.

If (like many a time I suspect) you wonder what on earth this woman is wittering on about - it's this:

OPI Shorts Story - available here from John Lewis 

(click on the 5th colour swatch, 2nd row!)

Pink - yes.
Sickly - possibly.
On my wish list - (for some unfathomable reason) - yes.

Pink suits me, I do believe. In the light of 2 x pink lipsticks and a Bobbi Brown 'pale pink' blusher, I'm hoping so anyway!


Other items on my wish list:

Jigsaw pleated skirt

Jigsaw red pom pom scarf

Whistles 'ovoid spot' scarf

Pure collection V neck boyfriend sweater 

I also have in my sights:

• Pink tweed Jigsaw skirt (there I was I hoping Jigsaw were 'finding their way' again... but no picture on website!)
• Orla Kiely pink(see the worrying trend?) and blue scarf - no picture anywhere - but it's in John  Lewis. Helpful (not).

The White Company autumn catalogue had arrived; nothing immediately grabbed me. There was nothing offensive, but just a rehash of last winter (most of which already seem to have bought!)

Having said that, I may make an exception for this maxi skirt:

White Company Jersey Maxi Skirt

A couple of recent outfit pictures below. Excuse the general carnage which surrounds me. I've momentarily lost the wherewithal and time to do anything about it.

Still surviving on a 10 (ok maybe 15) item wardrobe. (Not including accessories!)

Breton shrt sleeved top - H&M

Black capri trousers - Sainsbury's

White jersey 'biker' style cardigan - Florence & Fred (Tesco) <-- thanks to Sue at Susie So So for that tip :-)

Bag - Mulberry Bayswater

Shoes - Russell and Bromley (old)

Shirt - Musto (don't ask) (How did it survive the cull..? Double don't ask!)

Jumper - Joules (similar here)

Trousers - Sainsbury's as above

Bag & Shoes - Mulberry & Russell & Bromley as above

A shadow of my former self

Due to various matters outside the happy world of fashion, style and blogging, I am feeling rather under the weather. Let's just say tears have been shed over matters of the heart, and this is not the first Christmas I will remember with sadness. And I was feeling so positive and happy a few weeks ago.  Such is life, I am a big girl and will keep plodding on.

As to matters bloggy, today I wore a Helmut Lang beige / taupe (that old favourite, with me in good times and bad!) dress, with a black Gap t shirt underneath, my long White Company pendant and Aquitalia ankle boots from Russell and Bromley.

When I went out I added a Mulberry peplum jacket and a White Company tassell scarf.

Accessorised today (together with puffy eyes) with the Sainsbury's Zara-esque tote bag.

I hope everyone else is happy and well.

I wonder sometimes why my life has to be lived at such intensities of joy and sadness. Maybe it would be boring any other way....??!!

Assorted daily wear

It's been a bit quiet on the blogging front for me - apologies. It's been a bit hectic here and I barely managed to take a photo each day - but take it I did (dubious quality I'm afraid but hope you get the general idea...)

I must say thank you to Kat from Does my bum look 40 for her tip about Sainsbury's. I liked the 25% off and the spanx type slip she blogged about the other day - couldn't find that but did get the Gok dress and also a rather fab plaited handle shopper.  Dress worked out at £33 something (with the 25% off) and bag about £11 I think. Sorry for my vague pricing - I make a habit of it!!!  Both bargains anyway and the whole shop evened out OK give or take a chicken or two.

Here comes a medley of outfits from the past week:

White Company grey heart print scarf
H&M biker style black felt jacket
Black Gok dress from Sainsbury's
Black Sainsbury's bag

Close up of the Sainsbury's bag

White Company stepped hem sweater
Pure collection snood
Coated jeggings
White Company long pendant
Mulberry Roxanne bag

Crumpet navy feather print scarf
New Look jersey blazer
Primark navy skinny jeans
Primark wedge boots

Pure collection snood
White company grey cashmere tunic
Gap Body long sleeved t shirt
Coated jeggings
Russell & Bromley / Aquitalia ankle boots

Will try to do better next week - but can't imagine how.. Christmas officially seems to 'have started' and I am running out of days to shop / post / fit in all the requisite social engagements - December diary is looking scarily choc-a-bloc already!!

Weekend wear

I have a confession. I kept the White Company 'fluttery sleeve' sweater (or whatever other awful name it had).

It feels nice - be gentle with me!  I also feel that the fluttery sleeves help to balance out a wider pear shaped lower half(?).  Because it is short sleeved, I layered it over a basic black long sleeved Gap 'Body' t shirt.

I wore it today with my new coated 'jeggings' (help! - my wardrobe is turning into a showcase of badly named items...)  Not that you can see the coating sadly, but refer to my earlier post here (Third pic up from bottom) for better shot.

Also worn was my White Company grey heart print scarf and the long suffering Primark black lace-up wedge boots.

Yes I know, it all looks black... sigh. Promise will use a public changing room for the next pic!

I have a beauty buy to report on also. These shadow liners from Boots No 7 range are rather fab. Especially given the time of year and the fact that there may be a smidge more socialising to be done than normally occurs in my mundane existence!

I bought one of each as couldn't decide.  However, it was a triple points weekend - and if you bought one you got one half price (or something) so it seemed a good deal.

I especially like the grey one as it has sparkles in. :-)  Me. Sparkles. Fairy lights. Sad!

The prettiest things

Oh, I am a sucker for pretty things at the moment!

Continuing my quest for all things Christmassy led me to Poundland (the tackier the better where baubles are concerned I say! Although they were surprisingly nice).  While there I found some oh-so-cute little fairly lights to adorn my screen, pictures, desk, kitchen.... you name it, they would be perfect anywhere. And at £1 a pop?!!  (Last year I almost bought some on Amazon for about £9 and I thought THAT was good!)  I am planning to stock up - and at that price will be having 10 times as many as planned last year  - for same outlay :-)

Here they are (with apologies for the crumpled quilt cover in the 2nd photo....oh dear,  ironing is strictly on a 'needs must' basis nowadays....)

I also must share some fab earrings I found in M&S the other day.

They are (again, blush!) M&S Woman and silver plated.  £6.50. Look really good I think. I don't normally wear hoops but I do like these, and they look better in real life!  (My photography skills - or lack of! again.)

I saw a lady wearing some like it (may have been the same model) on the bus from the park and ride the other day (unlikely source of inspiration I know...) and admired them.  Lo and behold M&S came up trumps again.

Finally a tutorial for the 'long' snood - which admittedly requires a bit more fiddling than comes naturally to one such as me, so there are are a few more steps (only a few) than the the 3-step 'bung on head' approach I employed before. For your amusement here goes:

Snood in question is the reversible stripe snood from the White Company (tres toasty). Worn with White Company navy 'diamond insert' jersey dress (tres flattering).  Have a bit of a thing going on with White Company at moment. So much so that I've just received a £10 gift voucher!  (Then again, probably so has everyone else on their mailing list - times are hard!!)

Notes from a shopping excursion (with snood 'tutorial')

I ended up in the city today, the plan was to have a coffee, a croissant and buy candles.

The reality was have a coffee (way hey!), a cheese scone, but no candles......

.......er but instead buy several scarves, a jacket, 3 jumpers and a necklace.  Must try harder.  In my defence I won't keep everything, I like to try it on at home before finally deciding.

Although on that note, I have a treat for you.....drum roll - decent photos!! (Well, decent-ish for me, i.e. you can just about make out the colours of the garments!)

I decided to have a little experimenting with changing room photography, the results as you'll see below, are variable. Some (changing rooms) are so dimly lit and garishly decorated you could be forgiven for thinking you were in a house of ill repute.

Whilst in one, and disrobed from the snood, it seemed a good opportunity to do the snood 'tutorial'. It's not really a tutorial. I lack finesse in many areas, and bunging a snood over my head is sadly one of them.  If it ends up looking half decent this is due either to the ingenuity of the designer or some stroke of fortune not associated with my dressing skills.

So - what do you want first - the decent photos or the snood tutorial?

Let's go with the snood - to give everyone a good laugh.

Step 1 - put snood on top of head

Step 2 - pull down over head and face - (excuse shaky photo - literally taken blind!)

Step 3 - pull down to neck and hope it looks half decent - yep that'll do. Fiddling never improves matters (in my experience). 

In no particular order a selection of photos from the day - some items were bought, some not...

New Look biker style gilet - (not bought)

White Company flutter sleeve sweater - bought but will be going back - (what was I thinking?!)

Per Una coat - not bought but liked the look of it

New Look crystal scarf - bought but then hastily returned - the crystals turned out to be skulls (which I hate!!)

M&S Limited Collection trousers - looked OK on the hanger NOT BOUGHT - good grief!!

New Look sweater with crystal decoration - looked OK on the hanger. On? Er... I think not - looks like someone's sneezed over me

River Island Molly Coated Jeggings - not bought - refuse to pay £40 for one season wonder

H&M jacket - like - bought

New Look leopard print sweater - not bought, but hmmmm, may re-visit.

So - what do you think... did I make the right choices?!

How to look like a sack of spuds

My new cashmere poncho arrived from White Company today, to much glee.

Sadly I was rather underwhelmed when I unwrapped it, for the tissue and the poncho were both very crumpled and looked as if it had come to me straight from the hands of another customer who had returned it with none too much care in the wrapping.  Frankly for £112 I expected better.

Moving onto the trying on session...
Pros:  warm, soft and covers a multitude of sins. 
Cons: possibly also equal boring and shapeless (not to mention, amongst my colour palette, beige is fast becoming ubiquitous).  

Soft as a baby's bum however, and no doubt will be very cosy.  So far so good on the practicality front. I am not 100% convinced that it doesn't make me look like I've gained 10lb overnight however.

Maybe I just need to get used to the loose cape-like look.  Or exchange for a smaller (and hopefully better packed) version...?

At least beige doesn't look black when I take the picture...

Worn with:

 Zara jeans and Primark wedge boots (not that these show up of course!!)

Plus White Company star scarf in picture 1 and Pure Collection ribbed cashmere snood in picture 2.

Several shades of navy

My day off today didn't go exactly according to plan (not in a bad way, just different).

Due to the weather I abandoned my plan to go to the nearest city for a bit of soggy retail therapy at the White Company, and headed even further into the rural hinterland instead.

Admittedly this little excursion did not net me any candles (or croissants actually) but did get a lovely lunch and reminder of what a beautiful part of the country we are lucky enough to live in.

Also got to spend some time with OH - which is a rarity as we both work irregular hours. We are like the proverbial ships passing in the night most of the time!

Lunch at The Red Lion.

When it looks this pretty, even I like the snow!

Today it was back to navy and neutrals, and I apologise for the photo which is another of my classic 'no matter what she's wearing it looks black' efforts....  Jacket and trousers actually navy.  (I've tried to enhance it with my picture software, but think I probably made it worse!)

Navy jersey blazer from New Look

Navy long line sweater from H&M

Navy skinny trousers from Primark

Boots from Primark (love these - and so comfortable)

Tassel scarf from The White Company 

(Code OCD20 for 20% off and free P&P at The White Company)