she's addicted to clothes

Oh look, colour! And look at the (relatively) high-waisted trousers, with the pleats and the wide legs and all that stuff I swore didn’t suit me. Turns out I just needed the right pair of trousers to feel confident and not hideous. I’m pretty sure the fabric and very high quality construction is going a long way towards making them work for me, and trust me, they look much better in motion than they did in this photograph. Gloomy conditions (the weather today was gross — warm enough, but muggy and grey) make not-great photographs.

Anyway, after a long morning in the garden, putting in my vegetables and doing a lot of weeding, pants seemed like the thing, and so they were. Also, I have some kind of rash on my calves, and no way in hell was I going to bare my legs when they’re looking like that. (I’m pretty sure it’s nothing serious; just kind of red and itchy, but unsightly.)

Details:

Necklace: Vintage, thrifted, remixed. I have no idea who manufactured this, but it’s very good quality old costume jewellery.

Cardigan: Boden, thrifted. This colour seems to be a collision of red and pink. The best I can come up with is calling it “watermelon-coloured.”

Tank: Gap. This is on the pink end of coral. 

Belt: Betsey Johnson, remixed. I truly have no shame about mixing shades of pink and red, and actively enjoy doing so, so when I was looking for a belt, this seemed to be a natural (for me) choice.

Trousers: Ralph Lauren. The reason I took a flier (albeit, a delayed one, I’ve had these for months and only wore them for the first time today) on this trouser silhouette, in spite of my misgivings, is because these are both made of raw silk and were knocked down to like £12 at TK Maxx. I love my natural fibres, and raw silk is high on the list. Beautiful drape, surprisingly resistant to creasing, and holy cow, this is the higher end of RL’s ready-to-wear, and it shows in the phenomenally good construction. Not in a million years would I have bought these at full retail, so I am delighted to have found them. I also really love the vintage feel of the cut, right down to the cuffed hems. (Which are long enough, and that almost never happens with cuffed hems on me.)

Sandals: Hush Puppies, remixed. In addition to my legs being blighted with the crud at the moment, I also have a couple of wicked blisters, so alas, the shoes let this outfit down a bit. I will definitely be remixing with brogues and a more general menswear feel overall, one of these days.

Brilliant white Lagenlook? Highly visible, and thus, I am hooking up with Visible Monday, for the first time in several very busy weeks. I’ve missed blogging regularly, but whoa, I’ve been highly active, and am sort of hoping that I’ll be able to settle into a more relaxed summer routine.

Today’s warm and muggy conditions seemed ideal for one of my favourite fabrics — linen. I’m not at all bothered by creasing, so my love is without caveats. This is all pretty new stuff I’m wearing, so it hasn’t had time (and a sufficient number of trips through the washer) to acquire that glorious softness that much-worn linen acquires. 

This is a go at a different silhouette for me, in which it’s all volume and drape, with nothing fitted to balance it. Outside of pyjamas, I can’t recall ever wearing a long, full top over wide-legged trousers, or if I have, it’s been so long it’s not coming to mind. The linen cardigan is looking a little blocky and weird in the photo, but it draped beautifully in motion, and overall, the volume + white actually didn’t make me look like a ship under sail.

I am definitely buying a pair of these drawstring-waist linen trousers in black as well. They have pork chop pockets, which I really kind of dislike, but covered with a tunic, that’s not a problem. In short, I liked this silhouette so much more than I thought I would (on me; I generally admire it on others). It did not make me feel frumpy, or as if I were trying to conceal anything; I just felt surprisingly chic and elegant in it. Win!

Details:

Linen cardigan: Debenhams. It’s showing badly here, but it’s basically brilliant white like the rest of the outfit. I think probably the fact that it’s knit, and not woven is causing it to look slightly on the cream side.

Dress: The Linen Company. This is definitely a dress, and could be worn as such, and almost certainly will. I opened the top three buttons when it became obvious that harsh sunlight wasn’t in the cards for today. The little bit of skin exposure actually was a good idea, in the end.

Linen trousers: Marks & Spencer.

Sandals: Faith, remixed.

I sort of accidentally came up with an outfit I really liked a lot yesterday, and, honestly, I did it on the fly, just grabbing a couple of things I hadn’t worn yet, when I realised that, yeah, actually, they’d probably work together well. And then I put on tights and boots, and it was good to go.

It was a tremendously busy day and we had my father-in-law over to dinner in the evening, so I didn’t get a chance to post it last night. Dinner was fab; we’re really (at last!) coming into the time of year when the best produce is available, and I took advantage of it by making an asparagus and pea risotto, with insalata caprese for a starter, and fruit for dessert. Our particular region of the UK is where some of the best asparagus is grown, so this time of year, we eat a whole lot of it. The tomatoes and strawberries were local as well, and let me tell you, it’s an absolute JOY to buy those and know they haven’t been bruised in long-distance shipping. These fine folks have a pop-up shop in Liverpool at the moment, and often stock these equally fine folks’ deli, and long in coming though it’s been, it was worth the wait. (Linking for love, as always, of course!)

And now it’s time to make breakfast, and get out the door to go to the garden centre. Have a great weekend!

Details:

Asymmetrical cardigan: All Saints, thrifted. Oh, how I gloat when I thrift mint condition All Saints, and end up paying like 10% or less of the original retail price.

Pendant: Pilgrim. This is one of those wonderful pendants that has a soldered placement on its chain, and thus, I am not always having to move the clasp back into place. It’s dumb, but much like my thing for button flies, it’s just one of those details I always like.

Dress: H&M. I’ve had this for ages, but it’s been TOO DAMN COLD to wear it until now.

Tights: M&S, remixed.

Boots: Deichmann, remixed.

Yes, I’m back on the sartorial gloom sauce, and becoming ever more convinced that my immediate future is largely monochromatic. Maybe more nice weather will get me into some bright colours, but really, I do love my black and grey and white.

What I don’t like is how busy I’ve been lately. Hoping for warm weather and a bit of a slowdown real soon now. In the meantime, the details:

Necklace: Pilgrim, remixed.

Jackety thing: I have no idea. This is some Italian company with an overly squiggly font on their label, thus rendering it undecipherable to me. Lots of drapey neutral stuff from them turning up in TK Maxx, and I’ve been scooping it up. That said, this thing is at least a couple of sizes too big, but as I’ve noted before, one of the real joys of wearing deliberately oversized clothes is that they’re, well, OVERsized, so you can get away with going up a size or two if your own size isn’t available. Also, can layer over much thicker things than the tank I’m wearing with it.

Tank: Gap, remixed.

Skirt: New Look, remixed. This was one of the heavy hitters in last summer’s lineup, and I’m hoping to squeeze another season out of this cheapo maxi.

Sandals: Born, remixed.

This is from yesterday, which I didn’t have time to post. I pulled the first few spring/summer items out of storage, and predictably enough, the weather went to shit today. Mercifully, it was at least not cold, merely overcast and periodically rainy.

Yesterday, though, it was lovely! And I did a slight remix of one of my favourite outfits from last year, swapping out only the handbag and shoes, and changing the accessories. I liked it as well this time around.

Anyway, I’m carrying on with the seasonal switch-over, and having a huge cull at the same time, even if the weather is unsettled. My roses are starting to bloom, and that’s summertime, as far as I’m concerned.

Details:

Coat: Wallis, thrifted, remixed. I love this, and plan on wearing it with a sheath dress at some point this summer.

Boat neck tee: Dorothy Perkins, remixed.

Necklace: Shared Earth, Fair Trade shop in Liverpool. The links are silver, grey, and black.

Belt: Gap, remixed.

Pants: Esprit, thrifted, remixed. One of my favourite pairs of pants last summer, I was a bit alarmed to find they’re slightly too big this year, although not at all unwearable. It’s mostly just annoying to have to keep hitching them up.

Bag: John Lewis, remixed. I wanted a big splash of colour, and I got one.

Shoes: The faithful old black leather flats, remixed. I did find a new pair of good black leather flats just today, but they’re not pointy-toed pumps like these. They’ll do just fine in place of these in most circumstances, and they’re much more supportive, but I’m not going to be able to retire these knackered old flats quite yet.

The gorgeous sunshine continues, and maxi dress season is definitely upon us. I wore them all the time last summer, and I can see no reason (barring yet another return to cold weather, which, hey, will happen at some point) to change that trend this year. I went with the crocheted jumper in lieu of a jacket because I could! It was kind of stupidly exciting, although I miss having pockets. They really could be more generous with the pockets in women’s clothing, you know.

Anyway, a typical mad Thursday, so I’m just going to leave this here, after thanking you all for reassuring me that I wasn’t coming across as snarking on the strawberry-rhubarb crisp-lovers. (I’ve been on a total rhubarb kick lately, and am strongly considering planting some in the garden, that’s how much I love the stuff.) I’ll be playing catch-up over the weekend, and settling in for a good long blog-reading binge. :)

Details:

Jumper: Thrifted, no tags. I would not call this colour mint, because Gracey hates mint. I would call this colour “celery.” I’m really fond of loose-knit, or crocheted jumpers in the summer, because they give some protection from the sun, but let me feel the sun and breeze on my skin.

Abalone and silver pendant: Gifted by my late mother-in-law, and this is actually the first time I can ever recall wearing it. It’s quite pretty, and I’m not sure what took me so long. She bought it on one of their cruises, I think maybe in Greece? I do tend to forget about some of my silver pieces, because I keep them stashed away where they won’t tarnish.

Maxi dress: H&M, remixed. This is from last year, and still holding up well. I am rapidly reaching the point where the only reason I’ll set foot in some of the more egregious fast fashion places is to look at the mannequins (does anybody else do that for inspiration, or is it just my particular weirdness?) but I have a hard time regretting buying this dress, because it’s just such a useful piece.

Silver cuff: I have no idea where I got this, I’ve had it for so long.

Sandals: Birkenstock. They’re in the shadows, but they’re a similar shade of green to the jumper.

So there was a bank holiday weekend, with a barbeque, for sixteen guests, then I got this hellishly awful cold which laid me out for a good week, and then the weather abruptly got gorgeous, is currently staying that way, and there was shit to get done in the garden. So that’s where I’ve been, and my attire, aside from the really cute outfit I was planning on wearing to the barbeque and which had to be ditched because YAY RAIN ON THE BANK HOLIDAY, has been mostly novelty print pyjama bottoms (Aristocats!), oversized jumpers with kleenex stuffed up the sleeves, and then jeans or shorts with ground-in garden dirt. Sexy!

Also, did you know it’s possible for sixteen people to consume almost all of two (2) roaster pans full of strawberry-rhubarb crisp, and approximately 4 litres of custard? I make a good crisp, and great custard, but holy cow, I thought my husband was joking when he told me to account for seconds and thirds, and apparently, in one case, fourths. So one roaster pan would’ve technically been enough, but eh, I can’t bear the thought of somebody walking away from my table still wanting more of something, so no regrets there.

Anyway, about my outfit here. I am wearing wide-leg, high-waist pants, and I did not die or hate the way I looked. I love, love, love the look of pants like these, but my usual fit problems (negligible hips and ass, skinny thighs), make them very hard to find. These I thrifted, so as my favourite way to explore a trend is via the charity shop route, I’m pretty happy with how it worked out. The right high waistband, I think, actually has the effect of visually elongating my legs without making me look like a drinking straw wrapped in a handkerchief. I mean, my legs are long anyway, being as tall as I am, but I do have that long waist as well, so high waists are always going to be a challenge for me, falling in exactly the least-flattering place all too often.

Nice to be back, and mostly over the cold, and oh, so very glad to have some decent weather. I’m also looking forward to hitting up my usual style blog haunts, and saying hello!

Details:

Necklace: Pilgrim. Oh god, I am loving this company’s jewellery so much; I am evidently undergoing a style shift when it comes to a lot of my bling, and this stuff is exactly what I want to be wearing right now.

Blazer: Gap, remixed. I think this looks OK, although this outfit is way too tame, in many ways, for my resurgent aging rocker chick sense of self, but I am starting to conclude I just don’t like (most) blazers. I get seduced by how fantastic they look on other people, and tell myself they’re so! practical! and infinitely remixable and all that, but in the end, I usually hate them when I get them on, and it’s going to be a VERY special blazer indeed to make it past me in the future. This one I’ll keep, because, hey, a decent fitted black blazer is actually one of those classics it’s good for me to have around, even if it goes unworn most of the time. Most of the others are leaving.

Tee: H&M, remixed. I wear this a lot; it layers really well.

Pants: Monsoon, thrifted. Like! Now let’s see if I remix them, or they languish.

Bag: M&S Autograph, remixed. 

Clogs: Uggs. How did I not know that Uggs makes more than those hideous boots that I swear to you, I see people wearing in the height of summer ALL THE TIME? And, furthermore, they extend some of their shoes into jumbo foot sizes? I made this delightful discovery the last time I went to the local-ish outlet mall, and saw actual cute shoes in the window of the Uggs outlet, and went in for a look. This happened just at the time when I’d been forlornly searching for ages for cute clogs in the aforementioned jumbo sizes, and then whammo! Found. I am very, very impressed with the quality of workmanship, as well. Solid kit.

I haven’t been posting, because I’ve been trying to come to terms with a tragic haircut. Apparently my request for a trim, accompanied by a photograph of a woman with long blonde hair, with long layers, similar to mine, and an expressed wish to carry on working the damage from my previous tragic haircut (the great bangs/fringe experiment of ‘11) translated to “chop off a shitload of hair, and return the bangs/fringe to an incredibly awkward length,” in her mind.

I’d wanted to get away from using the hot rollers so much, and eventually, oh happy day, get back to the plain ol’ long/straight style I’ve had for most of my life, but alas, it’s going to be a while, and I’ll probably be straight back into the heat styling abuse until time remedies the current unhappy situation.

Also, WHEN is any hairstylist going to finally take me seriously when I tell him or her that no, your hair serum is NOT going to be the one that miraculously fails to make my hair limp?

OK, I’ve vented now. Here’s the details:

Tee: Gap. This is the smaller of the two otherwise-identical shirts, and I really am glad I went out and bought multiples on this one.

Necklaces: Various, remixed.

Belt: Next, thrifted, remixed.

Skirt: Gap, remixed. Oh, so remixed. I’m pretty sure this is my most frequently worn skirt ever. Still going strong!

Tights: John Lewis. I’m giving these a whirl, because my beloved 100-denier velvet touch opaques from M&S are currently out of stock in my size, at both my local-ish M&S locations. They’re OK, but I don’t like them nearly as much. I think the M&S ones are my One True Opaque Black Tights.

Shoes: Remixed. I can’t help it! I love these! So pain-free!