she's addicted to clothes

I have this little problem...

  • 11th July
    2012
  • 11
Red is definitely one of my happy colours. I thrifted this linen dress about a week ago. Normally, I much prefer non-abstract florals, but I loved this dress instantly, and was delighted to find it was not only my usual size, but a LONG in my usual size. I went with the denim jacket to toughen up and de-prissify this dress; with a cardigan, it’d be verging on too sweet for my tastes. Also, in spite of the bright sunshine, it was pretty crisp out there (in JULY, people!) and I needed the warmth. My upper body is much more sensitive to cold than my legs, so the bare legs and open shoes weren’t a problem. Anyway, I’ve been desperate to wear summer dresses, even though we’re apparently not going to have a proper summer at all, so chilly breeze or not, I was definitely not missing an opportunity to take advantage of what at least looked like a summer day. Details: Denim Jacket: Gap, thrifted, remixed yet again. I was going to go with one of my boxier cropped denim jackets, but since my dress was without pockets, I knew I’d need the awesome inner pockets on this awesome jacket for my iPhone. Jewelery: Mostly pearls, all inherited or gifted. Dress: Marks & Spencer, thrifted. I know a lot of people hate linen for its tendency to wrinkle, but it’s one of my favourite fibres, so I don’t mind. This dress didn’t crease much at all, actually, and I suspect that’s because it’s a pretty heavy weave, and a strongly structured silhouette. Bag: John Lewis, remixed. Espadrilles: Evans. Evans is one of the very few high street retailers that actually carries women’s shoes in sizes up to a UK10, so I do check them out come clearance time. Like practically everything else Evans does, most of their shoes are constructed from man-made fibres, which is sort of enraging, because honest to god, as a former fat chick, the ubiquity of shitty polyester was the bane of my existence, and I know perfectly well I was not alone in feeling that way. If you get lucky, though, you may find real leather in there, so large-footed ladies, take note. It can happen.

Red is definitely one of my happy colours. I thrifted this linen dress about a week ago. Normally, I much prefer non-abstract florals, but I loved this dress instantly, and was delighted to find it was not only my usual size, but a LONG in my usual size.

I went with the denim jacket to toughen up and de-prissify this dress; with a cardigan, it’d be verging on too sweet for my tastes. Also, in spite of the bright sunshine, it was pretty crisp out there (in JULY, people!) and I needed the warmth. My upper body is much more sensitive to cold than my legs, so the bare legs and open shoes weren’t a problem. Anyway, I’ve been desperate to wear summer dresses, even though we’re apparently not going to have a proper summer at all, so chilly breeze or not, I was definitely not missing an opportunity to take advantage of what at least looked like a summer day.

Details:

Denim Jacket: Gap, thrifted, remixed yet again. I was going to go with one of my boxier cropped denim jackets, but since my dress was without pockets, I knew I’d need the awesome inner pockets on this awesome jacket for my iPhone.

Jewelery: Mostly pearls, all inherited or gifted.

Dress: Marks & Spencer, thrifted. I know a lot of people hate linen for its tendency to wrinkle, but it’s one of my favourite fibres, so I don’t mind. This dress didn’t crease much at all, actually, and I suspect that’s because it’s a pretty heavy weave, and a strongly structured silhouette.

Bag: John Lewis, remixed.

Espadrilles: Evans. Evans is one of the very few high street retailers that actually carries women’s shoes in sizes up to a UK10, so I do check them out come clearance time. Like practically everything else Evans does, most of their shoes are constructed from man-made fibres, which is sort of enraging, because honest to god, as a former fat chick, the ubiquity of shitty polyester was the bane of my existence, and I know perfectly well I was not alone in feeling that way. If you get lucky, though, you may find real leather in there, so large-footed ladies, take note. It can happen.

  • 30th January
    2012
  • 30
Another Visible Monday, courtesy of Patti at Not Dead Yet Style, and I am so happy with this outfit. I am not even done with this outfit yet, in terms of coming up with a complete styling, but what I’ve got so far makes me ecstatic. This woman you’re seeing right here in this outfit? This is me. I think I’m onto something here, in terms of nailing down my personal style, and the way this thing came together makes me pretty confident in saying that. It began with some absent-minded window shopping at H&M. I was killing a little time, with no intention at all of buying anything, when I saw the peacoat. It’s wool, it’s well-made, and they’d knocked it down to £10 on clearance. I have been watching the thrifts for a peacoat for some time now, and frankly, I’d be shocked if I’d found one that cheap. Admittedly, this is H&M, and that’s not usually the hallmark of quality, but this particular coat really is pretty good. So I got it, and as I walked around town, I quickly figured out exactly how I wanted to style it. (Bearing in mind a peacoat is almost infinitely styleable anyway.) I’m currently besotted with dark blues, like navy and cobalt. I’m kind of loving primary colours in general, and I’d been thinking that I wanted to mix dark blue and red, as I’ve done here. My original thought was that I wanted a long sleeve t-shirt dress, with thin white stripes on a field of navy blue, to wear under the coat, and then I’d punch it up with strong red accessories. You would think, wouldn’t you, that a dress like I just described would be pretty easy to find, and I saw things very similar to it, but not exactly what I was looking for. (I’m goin’ hyper-particular on this one.) I will find it eventually, but in the meantime, I came up with this. I was planning on going very casual, with the red tee and the peacoat worn with jeans and red sneakers, but then the whole thing just morphed into what I’m wearing here, and but for the fact that I’m not crazy about the boots and this particular red bag with this outfit (I have a blister. These boots baby that. I thought this was my only red handbag. As it turns out, that was wrong, but whatever.) I am just totally chuffed with this. Giddy over an outfit. Probably I need to get more of a life, but a good clothes day can really buck me up, particularly in the dead of depressing winter. I will be fine-tuning this one, you can bet on it. Details: Sunglasses: Jigsaw, remixed. (So bright and SO COLD today, yeesh.) Earrings: Xmas gift from husband several years back. Necklace: Inherited from Grandma. Peacoat: H&M. Long-sleeve tee: Dorothy Perkins. Scarf: Bought from some wool shop on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, on our vacation last year, remixed. Skirt: Primark. Yes, another tube skirt. I’m currently in love with navy blue, what can I say? Handbag: Cath Kidston. I think this is remixed? Tights: Topshop, remixed. Boots: Deichmann, remixed. See here for supplemental photos; I just liked this particular one.)

Another Visible Monday, courtesy of Patti at Not Dead Yet Style, and I am so happy with this outfit. I am not even done with this outfit yet, in terms of coming up with a complete styling, but what I’ve got so far makes me ecstatic. This woman you’re seeing right here in this outfit? This is me. I think I’m onto something here, in terms of nailing down my personal style, and the way this thing came together makes me pretty confident in saying that.

It began with some absent-minded window shopping at H&M. I was killing a little time, with no intention at all of buying anything, when I saw the peacoat. It’s wool, it’s well-made, and they’d knocked it down to £10 on clearance. I have been watching the thrifts for a peacoat for some time now, and frankly, I’d be shocked if I’d found one that cheap. Admittedly, this is H&M, and that’s not usually the hallmark of quality, but this particular coat really is pretty good. So I got it, and as I walked around town, I quickly figured out exactly how I wanted to style it. (Bearing in mind a peacoat is almost infinitely styleable anyway.)

I’m currently besotted with dark blues, like navy and cobalt. I’m kind of loving primary colours in general, and I’d been thinking that I wanted to mix dark blue and red, as I’ve done here. My original thought was that I wanted a long sleeve t-shirt dress, with thin white stripes on a field of navy blue, to wear under the coat, and then I’d punch it up with strong red accessories. You would think, wouldn’t you, that a dress like I just described would be pretty easy to find, and I saw things very similar to it, but not exactly what I was looking for. (I’m goin’ hyper-particular on this one.) I will find it eventually, but in the meantime, I came up with this. I was planning on going very casual, with the red tee and the peacoat worn with jeans and red sneakers, but then the whole thing just morphed into what I’m wearing here, and but for the fact that I’m not crazy about the boots and this particular red bag with this outfit (I have a blister. These boots baby that. I thought this was my only red handbag. As it turns out, that was wrong, but whatever.) I am just totally chuffed with this.

Giddy over an outfit. Probably I need to get more of a life, but a good clothes day can really buck me up, particularly in the dead of depressing winter. I will be fine-tuning this one, you can bet on it.

Details:

Sunglasses: Jigsaw, remixed. (So bright and SO COLD today, yeesh.)

Earrings: Xmas gift from husband several years back.

Necklace: Inherited from Grandma.

Peacoat: H&M.

Long-sleeve tee: Dorothy Perkins.

Scarf: Bought from some wool shop on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, on our vacation last year, remixed.

Skirt: Primark. Yes, another tube skirt. I’m currently in love with navy blue, what can I say?

Handbag: Cath Kidston. I think this is remixed?

Tights: Topshop, remixed.

Boots: Deichmann, remixed.

See here for supplemental photos; I just liked this particular one.)