Impeccable

I need this skirt from Asos – in fact I love the whole look. Midis might well get me back into heels and out of my pyjamas. Brrr!

S

Asos preview – velvet!

I realise it is technically still summer but I am already thinking about the new school year – my mind turns to pencil cases and what is in my mind party season. Soon we will all start getting invites to house parties as everyone comes back from late summer holidays and wants to spend time in rooms together again.

I find Asos a bit Primarky for summer clothes because the sunny season is much more about showing skin in some sort of LA-esque fashion than anything more interesting. But autumn, and especially this autumn, is about glowing colours, layers and depth. I am especially keen to try out some velvet and probably the camel colours that are popping up everywhere (yay! I love the fabulous grandma look).

Asos’ preview of this month’s drop covers a lot of what I am looking for as the nights get longer: long witchy lace dresses and squishy velvet on the one hand; chic beige 70s style pieces on the other.

S

Something old, something new

I’ m not into mindless consumerism, but I’ve been broke for a long time and things are getting ridiculous. Yesterday I went and bought a sorely-needed cardigan and found myself considering haggling with Zara. A visit to Le Grand Topshop revealed lots of pretty things but parting with money for clothes that are already coming apart at the seams aggrieved me too much. I did buy a maxi skirt (I think they look cool again) and a lovely hairband so it wasn’t a total bust.

But after reading this post “Bad New” at favourite new blog No Signposts in the Sea, I really want to buy things I can pass down. I went out the other night and like this blogger, realised a lot of what I was wearing was vintage, inherited from my grandmas: an embroidered clutch bag, a jacket, a Russian scarf and most of my jewellery.

So, it’s not really possible with my money as it is but I’d love to replace these beloved items from my wardrobe that are no longer what they were. The bow shoes above from Topshop and these Shelleys ballet flats that are way past the point of acceptably mangled, I would replace with Ferragamo Varina flats:

This is a very beloved jacket but it’s now too small. Strangely, I found that a sequinned jacket is quite useful for putting over stuff as metallics go with everything; zebra print perhaps not so much. I bought this about five years ago and it was considered a bit weird at the time but now sequinned shoulders are everywhere. I have no idea why someone would name their label S’nob.

This jacket would get replaced with a lovely quilted flowery jacket from Rebecca Taylor. I am over my magpie phase but I still want things to be pretty and not sportswear inspired. Crucially, it also needs to button up: while looking for jackets I found some that don’t do up as a design feature but, calling from the real world designers, jackets need to do this.

More quilting on my only leather bag, from Accessorize, the one I take to interviews:

But I can’t anymore because it’s destroyed and the handles are hanging by a thread:

There is only one handbag designer for me and that is Miu Miu. In Opposite World, I will replace the above bag with its classier sibling, which will presumably last a little longer:

And finally, one of my most loved items: a lace dress that I bought from Joy about 4 years ago. It has done its utmost to survive but now looks very worn and ropey – I have started wearing  it as a nightdress because it can’t really go out anymore but even that application is beginning to not really work as the straps are broken. It may find new life as a skirt if I can get my sewing act together.

I did find a very good look-a-like in Topshop yesterday and spent a long time staring at myself in the changing room mirror trying to decide whether to buy it or not. A few years ago, I would have spent that £35 in a flash (although it’s only £30 on the website. But a big part of me looked at the already fraying synthetic lace and thought “who made that? Why does it already look like it’s falling apart? Why does it cost £35 when it’s so transparently poorly manufactured?” It just wasn’t worth it – I’d rather wait (around 20 years is my guess) and get the dream Stella McCartney version or chance upon a good replacement in a vintage shop.

S

A new autumn coat

I went to Kennington yesterday to the teeny-tiny gallery space of The Camera Club, a members-only photography club where you can hire studios and dark rooms, to see an exhibition of fashion photography. It slightly reignited my desire to do photography myself, as I used to really enjoy developing pictures back in the pre-digital days. I’m more designed to sit around in cafes reading Look magazine than I am to dedicate myself to art but regrettably the Club is too serious to have a cafe.

Kennington turned out to be pretty posh. I was under the impression it would contain mainly tower blocks and an air of menace but in fact it had a Pizza Express.

I mainly post in order to show you my new coat, brought all the way from New York’s Banana Republic. I know we have one here now but it’s quintessentially American y’all! It has a Mad Men/Gossip Girl feel because of the “bracelet-length” sleeves and lack of collar. My posing and British wintertime does its niceness no justice. I wanted to wear some original 60s vintage under it but it’s really hard to wear calf-length skirts in 2009 without feeling terribly frumpy.

The addition of some gloves would make this outfit the business. I already felt like an old lady from the 50s when I was tottering around Kennington with the coat buttoned up and with my Lulu Guinness cameo lady bag ramping up the twee factor. Buttoned-up old ladies are my idols. The brooch and the lace top are needed to stop this being gloomy. Maybe some silver lurex tights are what this outfit is really hankering after – something to reflect some light!

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Something from Nothing

Recently a friend asked me where I shopped and how I put outfits together. I found this seemingly simple question almost impossible to answer and I’ve been pondering the answer ever since.

A fuller answer will have to wait for another but I did say one thing, and although it seemed absurd to me, even as I said it, I’ve since come to fully believing it:

If you want to dress better, then go into a shop and pick up ugly things to try on

Now, this comes up with more than one caveat – firstly, this advice is more sound if you feel that your current style is in need of modification. As everybody’s definition of ‘ugly’ constantly changes, it’ll force you to try on items you may never have touched before. And you could be pleasantly surprised. This approach has certainly worked for me and I’m constantly amazed at other people’s ingenuity when teaming one item with another.

I saw another example of this today and feel that it illustrates my point well. You may have noticed the recent trend for crop tops? Why, I hear you cry?Well, that was also my initial thought but then I saw how blogger Diamondcanopy had incorporated this white lace Topshop crop top into her daily outfit and it made a lot of sense.

Blogger Diamondcanopy (photo courtesy of Diamondcanopy)

I recently moved jobs and got a great £75 Topshop voucher as a leaving gift. I intend to raid the sales racks and go for all the ‘ugly’ things. It’s going to be great.

A

 

 

 

Lyell

 

I love this label Lyell, based in the US but available at Couverture in London. When it is summer, I get a mania for white lace/cotton/crochet dresses and tops and this is probably the sweetest, daintiest one I’ve ever seen. I love the look of the shop as well – I love the idea of a few, perfect items bought from a minimalist, old-fashioned place like this. I don’t look like a miniscule ballerina like all the models but I think this kind of basics line could be worked into anyone’s look. Providing you want to dress like a flower fairy.

 S

Peek-a-boo

Lace. Seethroughness. “Sheer”. These are some difficult concepts. You can wear any old nonsense clearly but how to make these things look good and not like you are on your way a school dance? Mainly, avoid wearing plasters over your nipples as an alternative to a bra (TRUE STORY). But if neither of these is a possibility, I have been giving the wearing of the above some thought.

Rumi of Fashion Toast

As many “Worst Dressed” lists will tell you, lace sits on a fence on one side of which lies Brothel and the other Christening Gown. Teetering on that fence is a chic, Audrey Hepburn-esque vibe with the right touch of boudoir. I wish I could put pictures of my very stylish flatmate Alice up on here because she has been working the look well in a simple, sleeved black lace Topshop dress that contrasts beautifully with her blonde hair. That may actually be a key to wearing black lace – some contrast and ideally not with red satin.

To wear something underneath or not to wear something underneath? I think a bit of visible black lace bra is sexy but I don’t know if it would work under yet more layers of black lace. A superfine layer of lace or sheer material over some discreet underwear could be really lovely. Just a hint looks brilliant on super-sylphlike blogger Rumi of Fashion Toast. Further inspiration comes from Style Bubble.

Susie Bubble of Style Bubble

Both of these ladies are more of the Audrey than the Marilyn school of physiology and that’s where my problem lies to be honest. If I’m revealing anything, I fear my Marilyn-like proportions will unleash discomfort on those around me rather than appreciation. Stealth seems to be the key here.