Fashion Et Moi

May 7, 2017

Spring Vintage Haul

May 4, 2017

Matching With The Distillery District | Toronto

As soon as we decided to head to Toronto for a long weekend a couple of weeks ago, I knew that I wanted to shoot an outfit in its Historic Distillery District. When we visited Toronto back in 2012, this compact and unique area made a lasting impression on me with its red brick buildings being similar to those in industrial northern England and its dark green accents being, well, just very aesthetically pleasing. Having developed a rather severe obsession with the colour green and having recently picked up two pieces in contrasting shades of the colour, I threw caution to the wind and went twinning with the Distillery District.

Planning my outfits for the location or carefully selecting a place from saved photos for a particular look is something I have started doing over the past few weeks and it makes the whole shooting process much easier. I used to have the “wherever is fine” attitude when Lewis and I would go out to shoot a look because the effortless, street style shots we see on lots of blogs seem like that was the way to do it. But said shots are, more often than not, meticulously planned and I will strive to produce content in the most fitting locations, whether that be using stairs to capture a different angle, a old theatre for that perfect retro look or, like in this case, matching the colour palette of the outfit to the location.

I absolutely love this forest green corduroy bomber jacket and despite not being a traditional spring-like shade, it has fast become my go-to for this current in-between weather. It perfectly matches the windows and doorframes of the Distillery District’s gorgeous red brick buildings, which makes this colour obsessed girl very pleased. To make the look a bit more spring-like, I added another shade of green – because why the hell not – in the form of these bright green and white check trousers. They are so flattering thanks to their slim fit and high waist and are a nice change for light wash jeans, which I am wearing way too much at the moment.

I finished off the look with this playful t-shirt from Topshop that I got about a year ago. The colour brings out the white in the trousers and the overall look adds to the overall summer vibe. I think these trousers would look equally good with a cute white blouse or structured white shirt for a fun night out look and anything that can work for both day and night is a win in my eyes. The fishnets/Dr Martens combo compliments the alternative look of the trousers really well but quite frankly was not the best choice for walking right the way across the city to the Distillery District – boy my feet were hurting when we arrived!

These are some of my favourite outfit photos we have done in a while. At the time, I was worried that it was way too sunny, causing the exposures to be too bright, but with a little editing I think they have turned out well! I absolutely love how well the outfit matches the wonderful backdrop of the Distillery District and photos like this make me realise how important it is to choose your location wisely, as I said at the beginning of this post.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and if you are loving green as much as me, shop some of my favourite green items below! I'll be sharing another outfit post shot in Toronto as well as a Toronto city guide next week on Fashion Et Moi!

May 2, 2017

Late To The Belted Blazer Party

BLAZER: VINTAGE | BELT: TOPSHOP | BLOUSE: VINTAGE | JEANS: VINTAGE LEVI'S 501 | SHOES: DR MARTENS

Ok so I am totally late to the belted blazer party that has been happening over the past few months in the much warmer European winter - but I am here now! I have admired from a far, biding my time while wrapped up in sheepskin in Montreal, during the coldest winter I have ever experienced, waiting for temperatures to rise. Although I normally love winter, wearing the same Dr Martens boots and two of my warmest coats for a solid four months totally killed the joy of winter layers and zapped my creative inspiration, so no-one’s going to tell me I can’t chat about my appreciation for a belted blazer now.

I have always been partial to the good old blazer. When I first started getting into vintage fashion in my mid teens, it was my jacket collection that grew the quickest (followed by cute dresses, of course). I have a monochrome gingham one back in England that I am totally craving right now, along with a cobalt blue coat and red military style jacket, all from my teenage/early twenties vintage shopping days. I find it very hard to part with jackets and coats because I can renew my love for these pieces every few years, especially with blazers, as they are a timeless shape.

But I think I can just about cope with the absence of my old favourites when I have this totally awesome floral one in my life. I really reminds me of the granny chic we saw on catwalk of Miu Miu AW16 and no, you cannot tell me off for still wearing AW16 trends when celebrating the arrival of spring!

What I love about this outfit is the juxtaposition of styles – the femininity of peach coloured florals layered over a delicate white blouse mixed with the boxy boyish shape of the blazer and tough Dr Martens shoes is a match made in heaven! The blazer is the perfect length to add a beloved waist belt to, creating another nice contrast of a flattering hourglass shape with the key to power dressing – big shoulders.

I am absolutely buzzing about the arrival of spring – even if it is slightly later than hoped – and cannot wait to share more spring and summer outfits.

Shop my favourite floral printed blazers below.

April 28, 2017

New Blog Design | Fashion Et Moi Relaunch

Hello! And welcome to the next era of Fashion Et Moi!

I thought that after four years – that’s right, it is Fashion Et Moi’s fourth birthday today! – it was about time for a redesign and an all important migration over to self-hosted WordPress.

I had felt quite blocked over the past few months regarding the design of my previously Blogger hosted site. I felt that I had outgrown my cute header and layout with lots of widgets in the side bar and this meant I was reluctant to publish posts on a site that I was not proud of. ‘Why produce content I'm proud of when I will not be proud of the final published look’, I thought – perhaps that was silly but you cannot control this type of creative emotion.

It took me a while to come up with my new site design. I knew that my blog would never have a landing page, lots of stuff going on on the page or force the reader to click on countless buttons to get to the actual content because I love to scroll. My favourite blogs to read have lovely simple designs where I can scroll endlessly (well for a few posts at least) without having to click a single button to see the content. I love that so obviously had to keep that functionality for my own site.

Another thing I knew that I wanted to improve was my imagery. Photography has always been one of my favourite past times so the images are now much more varied within the post – some laying side by side with text and others are bigger, sometimes taking up the entire page and I absolutely love it. I think this will also force me to improve the photography at the point of creation, as the images need to be sans blur to cope with being blown up so big.

Finally let’s talk about the aesthetic. I knew that my background would remain white but it was the header that I struggled with. Lots of the blogs that I read have just a simple black, typed header and while I like this look, I want my blog to stand out from that. Suddenly, while in the shower one evening, an idea came to me. That’s always the way, you have to be patient and wait for ideas to come to you rather than bashing out a brainstorming session.

I decided to handwrite my own header. I have always been told that I have lovely handwriting and I thought it would add a personal touch to my blog – what do you think? Ok so handwriting your own header is not exactly groundbreaking but the key to this idea is that I am going to change the colours of the writing - perhaps seasonally, according to current trends or with colour combinations that I am particularly loving. I hope that this will keep things fresh and interesting for you, the readers, and also stop me getting bored with my own aesthetic.

Regarding my migration from Blogger to self-hosted WordPress. It is something that I had been thinking about for about a year maybe, since I had heard and read about the advantages and freedom of WordPress vs the limitations of Blogger. Then, since doing a digital marketing internship over the past few months, learning more about SEO and working on many WordPress backends, I realised that the migrations was essential. So voilà! I am now a WordPress convert and I could not be happier.

I hope you like the new site as much as I do! There are definitely still some minute details that need smoothing over but it was about time that I just got on and launched it! I am now feeling super motivated and able to produce content that I am truly proud of. Here’s to your makeover Fashion Et Moi – you’re looking fab at four years old babe – Happy Birthday!

Izzie X

March 26, 2017

Weekly Vlog | Gigs, A Snowstorm, Skiing & Eating

I hope you enjoy watching this fantastic week as much as I loved living it. Apologies for the lack of posts this month – I have been mad busy working and then spending my weekends enjoying life. I might write a little post about it all and I should be much freer from April so please bear with me!

Izzie x