Fashion Et Moi

October 11, 2018

Telephone Graphic Print Blouse

Hello and happy Thursday! I’m glad we’re meeting so regularly at the moment – I’m finding I have time to focus on my content much more than before so let’s hope that continues!

I’m sorry I’m back with another outfit featuring these yellow jeans so soon. I had planned to shoot another outfit at the weekend but Saturday was a total wash out and then Sunday was taken up by trying (and failing, wah) to get Glastonbury tickets and then eating a big Sunday roast at my grandma’s. At least this shows how much I love these yellow jeans, how differently they can be styled and that they were worth breaking my ‘only second hand denim ban’ for.

Today I’ve dressed them up a bit, in comparison to last week’s post. I paired the jeans with this incredible blouse from Sister Jane that I bought at their sample sale a few months ago (where I also bought that pink gingham mini dress). It is covered with a fun telephone graphic print, in playful a red and blue colour palette, which is one of my favourite colour combinations. The telephones are engraved with s.j., which, although isn’t Sister Jane’s official logo, is a fun way of incorporating the current “logomania” trend into my wardrobe.

I finished the look with these white patent boots from Topshop. I bought them last season however, I didn’t get my wear out of them thanks to the Beast from the East followed by a hot summer so now I’m reaching for them as much as possible. They tie in nicely with the white of the telephone, meaning they work much better with this outfit than a black pair would.

I absolutely love this outfit and cannot wait to wear it again. It’s great for work or evening dinner plans and the colours just work so perfectly together, which always makes me very, very happy. The hint of yellow in the print is picked up by the jeans and the burgundy Coach saddle bag matches the deep red telephone handles. I even made sure my nails were painted white (who remembers painting their nails like this but with Tipp-Ex in school?!) to tie together the boots and the telephones.

That’s it from me today! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my general musings about how I styled this colourful outfit – how cool is this telephone graphic print? I’m obsessed. Have a great weekend and I’ll be back next week with another post. X

October 4, 2018

Unlikely Colour Combinations | Yellow & Burgundy

Hey everyone,

I hope you’re all well and are having a good week so far. I’m still mourning the end of the last weekend – one of my best friends got married and threw a spectacular festival style wedding on Saturday. The weather was perfect, I wore a dreamy Rixo star-print dress and I got to catch up with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while. All in all, the perfect weekend.

Today, I’m sharing a look that I wore a few weeks back, just as the weather was turning autumnal. I’m really enjoying all the AW18 trends; from seventies feels and cord to animal print and checks; I just love this time of year. Although I don’t follow trends religiously (I often just wear what I feel like), I do observe them and one that I find myself doing naturally, is unusual colour combinations.

Green and pink; lilac and brown; yellow and burgundy, colour combinations like this shouldn’t work…but they do. I love trying out new colour combinations and while I first tried out yellow and burgundy last autumn with my yellow coat, here I am at it again.

I planned this look specifically around wanting to wear these awesome yellow & Other Stories Jeans and my trusty burgundy Coach saddle bag. These jeans are the same shape as the blue pair I wrote about in last week’s blog post, yet they’re a wonderful yellow/mustard hue. Similarly to my reasons behind buying the blue pair (read the Denim Debate post), I knew having a yellow pair of jeans would open up styling possibilities in my wardrobe. I was right – I’ve worn them loads in the past few weeks and have many more styling ideas as we move through the season.

I paired the jeans with this 70s cream ribbed tee with beautiful burgundy embroidery and hem details that go so perfectly with the bag and jeans, both in colour and style. I finished the look with my beloved leather jacket – I’m fully making the most of leather jacket season while I can – and my vintage Chanel loafers.

Ok yes, so just a quick note on these shoes as I haven’t featured them before! I got them for a bargain price at my last vintage job and I absolutely love them. I’m still breaking them in – boy they hurt after a few hours wear – but I know they’ll be totally worth it.

What unusual colour combinations have you been trying recently? I am very keen to try purple and yellow but I don’t have much purple in my wardrobe! Burgundy and pink is also a great colour clash and I love orange and green. X

September 26, 2018

The Denim Debate & a New Pair of Jeans

As summer finally comes to an end and autumn dressing – blazers, boots and jeans – is officially a-go, it’s time to talk about denim. The denim debate is something that I’ve wanted to address on here for a long time. It’s a fabric that I, like many fellow bloggers, love, yet it is one that is very harmful to our planet. Did you know it takes around 8,000 litres of water to make one single pair of jeans? I think that is just staggering, not to mention how damaging the dye is that’s used to achieve that gorgeous blue hue we all know and love. So today I wanted to talk about how vital it is to be conscious when buying denim and my reasons behind buying the brand new pair of jeans that I’m wearing in this post.

I haven’t bought a new pair of jeans for a long time. Maybe about a year and a half. By new, I mean brand spanking, never-been-worn-before new. See, I try to buy vintage denim and having worked in vintage shops for a few years, I have acquired quite a few different cuts, shapes and washes to satisfy my denim needs.

I am an absolute champion of vintage denim. Giving a new lease of life to an old item, it is much better from the environment (as vintage and second hand shopping is in general), it’s cheaper and it’s often higher quality – most of my jeans are vintage Levi’s that cost a fraction of the price of a new pair and are made from stiff, sturdy denim that have already stood the test of time. However, I was missing one particular shape.

Enter my new pair of jeans from & Other Stories and these are the reasons why I love them. Firstly, they’re just the shape I’ve been looking for for literally years. They’re super high waisted, seventies-inspired with a cropped wide leg and I love them. I was hoping to find a genuine 70s pair in a vintage shop but they were always too petite or way too big on the waist. So when the high street came up trumps, I (reluctantly) could hardly resist.

Secondly, they fit perfectly, which is something I always find difficult with shopping for jeans, especially on the high street. I have quite a small waist and big hips so either I can’t get jeans on or the ones I can gap horribly at the back. For reference, I’m normally a waist 26 but I had to size down to a size 34 in these Stories jeans, in order to get that figure hugging fit.

Finally, I knew they would open up so many styling possibilities. I have lots of seventies blouses in my wardrobe that just sit there, unworn, because they don’t go with my 80s/90s vintage denim. With this new denim purchase, I’m able to re-wear items that I have not for a long time which in turn reduces my likelihood to go and buy more, which is a win in my eyes.

I hope you’ve enjoyed gaining an insight into how I shop. Conscious purchasing is getting a lot of airtime in the fashion industry at the moment – finally! – so I thought this was the perfect time to discuss the denim debate. I am a very considered shopper and this is something I've championed for a while now. If you’d like to read more about my shopping ethics, check out my Why I Love Vintage post from last year or my shopping consciously post I wrote more recently.

Thanks for reading – how do you feel about the denim debate? Are you taking steps to reduce your fashion footprint and buy second hand? I’d love to hear X

September 19, 2018

What I Wore To London Fashion Week SS19 & A Reflection

As London Fashion Week SS19 drew to a close last night, I found myself reflecting on it and how it made me feel. I have been attending fashion week in some capacity for years. I’ve interned inside the British Fashion Council show space, worked with brands on Instagram takeovers at Paris Fashion Week and done street style pieces at London Fashion Week. I’ve always had a purpose when going to Fashion Week, yet somehow this year, as much as I absolutely love the buzz of it, I ended up with a big case of imposter syndrome.

I think a few elements led to me feeling like this. Firstly, I did not plan my outfits in advance. This was a big mistake for someone like me who gets easily flustered and doesn’t like to be unorganised. Secondly, when I was trying to decide what to wear I felt like my wardrobe and shoe collection were a bit lacking (which is mad really but I’m sure we all have those days). And finally, by the third day of working at London Fashion Week, I was just feeling a bit insecure. It’s like a real life version of Instagram – watching fashion people coming and going, so easy to get sucked in but also feel like you need a break from it.

It was so interesting to read the BBC article about Alexa Chung – who showed at London Fashion Week for the first time – and her imposter syndrome. She completely flipped it on its head and said that it is a good feeling to have because it means we are capable of learning rather than just feeling like you are the elite and therefore have nowhere to proverbially ‘go’. From model to TV presenter to fashion designer, throughout her career Alexa has felt this imposter syndrome but look where it has taken her – it has pushed her to try new things and grow. So in reflection, I now know how to prepare better for Fashion Week and I also know not to beat myself up when I feel insecure.

Reflection over, let’s talk about this outfit. I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity – and weather – to wear this incredible oriental print jacket that is actually a family heirloom. Lewis’ mum donated for my charity clothing sale back in April but I loved it and its story so much that I bought it for myself. Handmade in the 60s by Lewis’ great-great-grandma, it’s a silk kimono style jacket in a vibrant red hue and it is just exquisite. I wore it fastened up as a top and paired it with my white Levi’s 501 jeans and red clogs to match the jacket. It was a super comfy look that still had that extra something special for Fashion Week. It took a while to decide this is what I was going to wear, but I got there in the end.

So there’s my rather honest and frank reflection on London Fashion Week SS19. I absolutely love it and will always find it so exciting but I think it’s healthy to be prepared both in outfits and mentally beforehand. Has anyone else felt imposter syndrome either at Fashion Week or otherwise? Let’s share experiences. X

September 4, 2018

Western Details

The western trend has been bubbling under the surface for a few seasons but over the last few months it’s made a prominent play for the top spot. From western shirts and engraved buckle belts to saddle bags and cowboy boots, it’s easy to add some western details to an everyday look.

Over the years, I’ve been gradually adding more and more western accessories to my wardrobe, not necessarily seeking them out but always being drawn to them in vintage shops. I recently picked up a pair of vintage cowboy boots in Paris for just 16 euros but that purchase warrants a dedicated styling post to itself. Today I’m talking about this awesome shirt that I got from Rokit when I was working at their head office earlier this year.

Made in Mexico, this on-trend ivory shirt is the perfect alternative to its classic white counterpart. In an oversized fit (on me anyway!) with super long sleeves (that look super cool pushed up), it’s an easy throw-on-and-go piece that looks great with a pair of jeans for that added western vibe. What I particularly love are the western details on the shirt; the contrast brown and white striped piping in an oh-so western shape across the back, the chest pockets and its cool cream buttons, which I always say look like maggots, ha!

I paired it with some white jeans with a distressed hem that were a kind gift from 7ForAllMankind. These jeans are great (#notspon) – super soft, high waisted with a slim leg and they wash really well. I love how the off-white of the shirt looks with the bright white of the jeans – it’s a look that I’ve loved all summer long, making it the perfect way of transitioning into the new season.

To add more western details, I finished off the look with my Coach saddle bag. Its gorgeous deep burgundy colour stands out against the all white outfit and goes well with the red clogs that I chose for another colour pop.

I hope you've enjoyed this styling post and I'll see you next week for another one! How are you injecting western details into your look this season? X