Frou frou and fabric and frills oh my

This frills trend is fabulous and I am so tremendously bored of everything I own I want to tear everything into rags, sell the rags and buy a sequinned zip-frill dress from Primark with the resulting £4. I will have to wear it every day because I’ll own no other clothes but as long as I retain some woollen tights and my duffle coat I won’t die of exposure.

 A better option for my party-season pennies might be this good look-alike of the Lanvin dress, above, from Asos., whose magazine I have started receiving in the post against my will but which I find strangely good reading. I do wonder how it is that Asos can get their magazine to me but Elle, which I actually want, has still failed to turn up.

I’m in the mood to look more glamorous than my duffle coat allows me to and as soon as I have clothes funds, I am going to go and buy a feel-good dress. I have been fantasising about something like the Oscar de la Renta dress Carrie wears in season 6 of Sex and the City. Hopefully you remember that big shiny box because this picture really doesn’t do the feeling justice. I would like my dress to come in big black shiny box too.

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Signposts

Courtesy: Fashionologie.

• The gorgeous Chanel Autumn collection was shown on a boardwalk along the beach at dusk. I’ve just booked two weeks off for surfing and to go to Helsinki in July and this makes me think of how I will feel at dusk by the sea and by the lake. And how I will look of course.
• Actually, whenever I leave London I end up woefully underdressing because I think the countryside people will hate me if I turn up in my usual clothes. This is a completely irrational fear that is the product of watching too many films about an unlikely friendship between a stuck-up city girl and a down-to-earth country boy, and every time I turn up anywhere I just feel dowdy and miserable.  Instead I would like to look like this:

 

Courtesy: The Cherry Blossom Girl.

• Is there any outfit you could wear anywhere, with anyone, and still feel right? At work; at the pub; to meet Karl Lagerfeld; to meet Barack Obama; to sit in the park; to meet your boyfriend’s parents. I remember reading years ago that Kate Moss decided to go on holiday and all she packed was a gold bikini. This may well work for Mossy. I suspect A has packed considerably more than this for her current holiday. The Times says the statement dress is the “ultimate all-occasion frock”. If it’s made of jersey, I can only agree, The Times.
• However, this perfect jersey dress is currently eluding me. In my mind it is maxi-length, navy blue and has long sleeves. In real life this garment would probably require quite a lot of engineering and that’s probably why it hasn’t been produced by Asos or Topshop. Comes on M&S! I want something in return for championing you earlier.
• Bits and pieces: Fashion on Film in 2009, including Coco Avant Chanel, a documentary about Anna Wintour called The September Issue and Bruno.

Courtesy: The Guardian.

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Irwin & Jordan & Me

I went out with some friends on Sunday night and received some feedback about my current style. Basically I was accused of dressing like a yummy mummy. Not very flattering but not entirely unreasonable when you are working on a relative basis comparing levels of glitz I sported a year ago  to those I sport now.

Me, a year ago. But with hairspray and living your dreams.

I think that it’s been a while since I lost my taste for brightly coloured bits of high street clothing bought on impulse and jumbled up together any old how. I’m much more into muted colours and keeping things casual. I can’t remember when it happened but at some point I started favouring jeans over dresses and now when I go to get dressed it’s jeans every time.

Everyone’s tastes change over time and I’ve always longed to be a person who has a “look” – a personality-expressing look that you commit to, like Margot Tenenbaum. I certainly don’t think I need to make myself put on something for anyone else’s benefit and I’ve always had quite a good feel for trends. Now I just reserve my limited dollars for things I really love and that reflect me.

I have faith in my taste and I’m drawn to what I’m drawn to – style is instinctive and emotional and if I need to buy endless navy blue items at the moment, who am I to argue with my heart?

My desire for endless grey t-shirts and navy could be soothed by these lovely dresses from Irwin & James, a new brand on my-wardrobe.com. I also really like the green version. Suddenly I have to stop and check myself (or rather my hair) whenever I reach for a colour. Does green go with blonde? Only one way to find out.

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Glamour

As I mentioned before, I really liked the fashion spreads in this month’s Glamour, and here is how the styled the lovely Malene Birger dress (above). Other chiffon-y, angelic items came from Reiss and Stella McCartney (I thought these knickers were expensive until I saw the ones Natalia Vodianova wore in this month’s Vogue).

I also really liked this shoot revolving around casual items, with the youngest, glossiest-looking model imaginable. Glamour is always about smooth edges and clean styling but I like the look – I’ve always liked primary colours and boxing things up, and hated crinkled textures, raggedness and muddy colours. I’m not really a rock chick sort of person, as my devotion to chiffon makes clear.

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House of Fraser

I generally do not go in House of Fraser unless it is to seek out the Benefit counter, partly due to a brief but traumatic experience working there. I was vaguely aware it sold brands and I think I went into the one on Oxford Street looking for Elle McPherson lingerie a while ago but in the main I give very little thought to HoF.

But with some time on my hands yesterday before meeting friends I went and had a look around the one at Bank and Monument and it turned out to be awesome! It must be new because it is small but perfectly formed, with a sort of art deco vibe. I scooted round the beauty hall and will have to come back for some supplies that ran out while I was jobless, but the best bit was a really excellent clothes department, which basically comprised the obvious Coast and Oasis sections as well as designer bags from Chloe, Marc Jacobs, Anya Hindmarch and Mulberry, and then a D&G, See by Chloe, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Day Birger and Mikkelson section. Joy! Just my level, especially if they have a sale… Shoes came courtesy of Kurt Geiger and French Connection.

I now have a little shopping list of things that I shall enjoy buying in this mini-HoF, which was the perfect amount of busy, i.e. just enough people to distract the perfume ladies but not heaving.

• Benefit Coralista blusher
• Lancome Adaptive foundation
• Black bow sandals from KG
• Yellow ultra-padded wooden heels from French Connection (I need a manicure before I can enjoy wearing either of these new sets of shoes)
• And this perfect white summer dress from Day Birger, which fulfils all my frolicking in the pastures dreams. When you see it in real life, it is that perfect white cotton dress.

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p.s. I have not been able to find a picture of the bow sandals so this is my MS Paint interpretation for you.

 

A NaP day for a white wedding

I am not getting married but do like wedding dresses – spending ludicrous amounts of money on a really special dress pushes my buttons. Net a Porter now has a “wedding boutique” that gathers together appropriate dresses and accessories for the bride, bridesmaids, mother of the bride etc. I think the bridesmaids get the best loot but there are some beautiful dresses that someone might appreciate on there for their own wedding. I am keen to be invited to weddings as, after many years of being critical of people’s attitudes to  marriage I have realised I have been jeopardising my access to free cake. NOT ACCEPTABLE.

This lovely lace-necked gown is from the wedding boutique but I had a peek around for white dresses and found this lovely white cotton dress that would work for someone’s lowkey summer wedding, and then this fierce Balmain £6000+ embroidered cap sleeved uber-frock.

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Dream dresses

Somewhere, deep in my heart, all I really want is to dress like a queen trapped in a castle somewhere, or alternatively a lovely little fairy in the woods. When I wrote stories as a kid, the queen was always in charge so clearly her clothes would need to be a bit more practical than these, but…look how beautiful these dresses from Etsy designer Sarah Seven are. I especially love the white dresses, which tick a lot of dream dress boxes for me, because I still want to dress the way I hoped I would when I was 10. Pure indulgence.

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Postal clothing

I have previously documented my devotion to clothes and accessories with postal addresses on them and so of course when you add my weakness for white cotton dresses to the mix, this dress by Daydream Nation  featured on Style Bubble is definitely going to set my radar bleeping.  Although you could argue it’s a bit out there, I can really imagine myself wearing this without feeling too self-conscious. The print is so easy on the mind – there’s something romantic about getting things by post and it’s so lovely when something comes through the letterbox that isn’t a bill. Imagine wearing a dress that encapsulates that feeling. This girl apparently came airmail as well. Good choice.

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Photo courtesy: Style Bubble

S in the 60s

S wore this amazing red & white 1960s dress to our pal’s party last week. I was particularly enamoured with its sports like front zipper and voluminous back, and I thought I’d share it with you all through this Photoshop homage I created.

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Fantastic Photography on Etsy

I do love a bit of Etsy but I often find it challenging, to say the least, to find items where the photograph actually does them justice. And it  turns out that I’m not the only one to have noticed this as you can see from this Etsy article offering tips to designers who want to make a real impact. 

For me, half the fun is looking at wonderful photographs and here are few from the shops of RubyPearl, SarahSeven and Makool, which really make browsing a pleasure:

White as Snow Dress by sarahseven

 

Ruffle Scarf by SarahSeven

 

Late Tea Dress

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