Thursday, May 28, 2015

Bessie the Bus – Oasis’s Travelling Fashion Bus


One afternoon last week I needed some toothpaste and shampoo, so I stopped off at the large Boots on the retail park on the way home. Imagine my surprise to see a large, pink bus parked up in the car park:



On further investigation it turned out to be a sort of ‘pop up’ Oasis store – called Bessie the Bus. Bessie is a fully functioning Oasis store that is travelling the country and setting up shop (as it were) in places where there isn’t a branch of Oasis close by. The nearest ones to where I spotted Bessie are about 20-30 minutes drive away so the retail park is the ideal location as the high street stores permanently located there attract many, many shoppers. Bessie was on site for three days before travelling on elsewhere.

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The lady I spoke to on the bus said that they had been travelling around for the past 9 months or so, and you can click here to see whether she will be anywhere near you in the coming months.

Formerly a mobile library that had been abandoned, the bus has been transformed into a miniature store, complete with fitting rooms. The inside is kitted out with hanging rails, shelves and a kitchen area – that houses more clothing and accessories!

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I think this is a really novel idea and will certainly generate interest in the brand. Look out for Bessie at various events around the country this summer!

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Monday, May 25, 2015

Outfit of the Day





I wore another dress on Thursday. Personally I find a dress such as this one and leggings just as comfortable as jeans. Sometimes more so. Plus, I have a bunch of dresses hanging in my closet looking neglected since my office dress code went casual so it’s nice to bring one out every now and then. It turned out my whole outfit was from the Tall range at New Look… oops.

Dress – New Look Tall
Leggings – New Look Tall
Cardi – New Look Tall
Shoes – George at Asda
Earrings – gifted
Necklace – gifted
Belt – free with a top



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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Outfit: Stripes, Leopard and Red


The day I wore this (Wednesday this week) my outfit from one year ago popped up on my Timehop app (does anyone else love that app as much as I do?!). It consisted of a skirt with nude tights and an elbow length sleeve top. And the heels I fell out with a couple of months ago as I was wearing them the day I tripped and fell and bust my ankle. But that’s beside the point. The point is that I had (practically) bare legs and short(ish) sleeves this time last year, whereas this week I was wearing a sweater, jacket and scarf (that I didn’t photograph – it was leopard print and therefore awesome) and was still cold. I don’t know what’s going on with the weather this spring (my brother in law called it ‘winter with extra daylight’ the other day) but it’s cold. And I don’t like it.

Jacket – c/o TM Lewin
Sweater – Long Tall Sally (sale)
Pants – Forever 21
Shoes – Atelier Mercadal (c/o Sarenza)
Earrings – gifted
Cross necklace – gifted
Heart necklace – Scope


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Monday, May 18, 2015

Friday Night

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Georgia Rose silver camo flats


Friday night we went out to a birthday party at a local pub. I wore this ensemble, with my black faux leather biker jacket over the top. You may have noticed that I dyed my hair dark again. One of the reasons I did this was so that I could use my hair extensions, which I did on Friday night.

Top - New Look Tall (eBay)
Jeans - Long Tall Sally (eBay)
Shoes - Georgia Rose (c/o Sarenza)
Necklace - gifted
Earrings - gifted


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Friday, May 15, 2015

Outfit of the Day

My outfit from Monday this week. I wore a dress for once. Perhaps the novelty of jeans every day is wearing off?

Jacket - Warehouse (charity shop)
Dress - River Island
Shoes - Jones Bootmaker (sale)
Belt - Next
Beads - eBay

Monday, May 11, 2015

Outfit of the Day

What I wore for my first day back in the office last Thursday after my super-long weekend (if Thursday afternoon to Wednesday can be classed as a weekend!).

Blazer - Long Tall Sally (sale)
Sweater - Forever 21
Pants - Only (Amazon)
Shoes - Atelier Mercadal (c/o Sarenza)

Thursday, May 07, 2015

#Oxclusive Event With Oxfam

You all know about Oxfam’s high street shops right? But did you know they also have an online shop? And that the hub of the online arm is situated just south of Leeds? No, neither did I and I live in area!

Last Thursday a group of bloggers were invited to Oxfam’s Wastesaver centre to find out more about what happens behind the scenes of the shops and what happens to all the donated clothes that don’t get sold. And it was fascinating.

The outside of the warehouse unit - it's big!

First of all we were taken on a tour of the massive warehouse. The Wastesaver site receives clothing that hasn’t been sold in Oxfam’s regular shops, along with items from corporate partners such as Marks and Spencer, Next and Sainsbury’s. They estimate that the staff there sort through 19,000 garments a day.

The sorting lines 

The best things are taken to be sold on Oxfam’s online shop, some items are sold overseas in countries such as Senegal so that traders there can sell the clothes on via their own market stalls and make a living for themselves (a big part of Oxfam’s work overseas is to support sustainable living). Other items are sold to be shredded 1000s of times and used as mattress filling. Only the soiled and unusable items are sent to an incinerator. Everything is used or recycled if at all possible.

Garments waiting to be sent for shredding for mattress filling

Oxfam also has an Etsy store, which is a fairly new initiative, and that stocks fabric pieces, packs of damaged or stained cashmere sweaters (to be used for craft projects) and upcycled clothing, such as the cashmere sweater with the lace insert you see in the photo below.


An example of the wares in the Etsy shop

As you can see, there is masses of stuff – the green boxes alone house all the shoes and handbags that are waiting to be listed on the online shop.

Shoes and handbags for listing online - they wouldn't let us rummage in those boxes!

 The online shop currently has around 6000 items listed and includes everything from bridal gowns to leather jackets, so if you’re looking for something specific then check it out. I was particularly taken with the Louboutin’s on the shoe wall…


The online store staff includes stylists, seamstresses, people who are good with numbers – and there are lots of volunteers involved. The store is mostly contemporary womenswear but there is a selection of vintage and some menswear too. All the photography is done by volunteers.

The Wastesaver site also houses the Festivals’ Team, who take a selection of clothing items and set up a stall at various festivals around the country each summer. They tailor the collection to the specific market at each event so look out for them if you’re off to Glastonbury or another festival this year. The festivals alone net Oxfam around £250,000 per summer.

The festivals area

Everywhere we went on our tour of the warehouse there was something to see. This is the 1970s inspiration wall:


Once the tour of the warehouse was complete we sat down to watch a fashion show. The staff at the Oxfam site had put together a selection of catwalk inspired looks using the items available to them from the warehouse, such as a denim theme and 1970s.






After that, like any good blogger event, we were given tea and cupcakes and had a chance to chat with the people we’d met and ask any questions. 

Tea and cupcakes!

There was also a pop up shop with a few rails of clothing that were able to purchase from.


The pop up shop - I almost bought the green suede jacket

I’d taken a few items to donate at the beginning of the event so I’d been given a voucher to spend in the shop, and I bagged myself this Superdry hoodie which has barely left my back since, it’s so warm and cosy.


We were each given a little goodie bag which contained some fabric swatches, and some information about Oxfam, and we were invited to choose a pair of sunglasses each from a selection that had been donated by the corporate partners.

Sunglasses I chose as my thank you gift

All in all it was a great afternoon – a lovely opportunity to meet some bloggers from the Yorkshire area and a really interesting look into the behind the scenes activities at Oxfam. I’d like to thank all the staff at the Oxfam Wastesaver site for inviting us along and for their kind hospitality.


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