Outfit: Teal Wednesday

Green print dress - Florence + Fred at Tesco (charity shop)
White cami - charity shop
Teal tights - Jonathan Aston (MyTights.com)
Silver shoes - Faith

Refashioning: Jeans Become Skirt

This skirt started life as a pair of high waisted, incredibly wide legged jeans. They were a bit on the short side but still fitted fine around the waist so I decided to refashion them into a skirt.
Denim skirt - refashioned from Topshop jeans
White cami - charity shop
Teal shrug - Ann Taylor Loft (charity shop)
Teal tights - Jonathan Aston (MyTights.com)

Cosmopolitan's 8 Autumn Essentials (Plus One Of My Own!)

According to the September Issue of Cosmopolitan magazine there are 8 essential pieces to have for autumn, and the good news is: you probably own most of them already!
1. Fitted Jacket - who doesn't have one of these? Be it as part of a suit for work, a cute little jacket to wear with jeans, or even a denim number, most of us have one of these in our wardrobes. Denim jackets are on their way back in by the way, so dig yours out from the back or your wardrobe, or from under the rest of the coats on the coat hooks - just don't pair it with jeans!

2. Boyfriend Shirt - There are plenty to choose from on the high street, or pinch one from your boyfriend/brother/dad and wear cinched in with a belt.

3. Tunic Dress - We all had these this summer so hang on to the ones in darker colours to wear for the new season. Add heels and thick tights and you're good to go!

4. Pencil Skirt - These have been around a while now so chances are you have one. If not, check out the offerings at Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge. Again, worn with coloured opague tights, this was a big look on the catwalks.

5. Pretty Blouse - Boyfriend shirt not for you? No matter, try something more feminine instead. Frills, ruffles and pussy bows are all available so there'll be something to suit everyone.

6. Sweater Dress - Back for Fall '07, this was one of my favourite items last year. Wear over jeans, leggings or coloured opaques and cinch in at the waist.

7. Wide Leg Trousers - Already a popular look this summer, the wide leg is set to stick around for the autumn/winter.

8. The Cropped Jacket - A hot item this spring, dig yours out again to wear in the next couple of months, before it gets too cold.

As for my essential item pick - shoe boots. They are everywhere in the fashion magazines at the moment and were shown on several runways as part of the A/W '07 collections. These were big last winter too so you may not even need to buy new shoes this autumn. Wait, what am I saying? You always need to buy new shoes, a girl can never have too many!

This Week I Will Be Mostly...

...reading Look magazine
...eating out
...listening to my vinyl record collection
...watching the Devil Wears Prada
...shopping for new boots!

Outfit: New Boots!

I did a little shopping on Saturday and these boots were the star find. Just £15 in the River Island sale, they are suede all the way up, and come higher up on my legs than any pair I've ever owned. I didn't end up going anywhere in the boots, I wore this outfit last night to go to a friend's house, but as it's a new house you have to remove your shoes on arrival so I didn't think that was a worthy first outing for such fabulous boots.
Black sweater - Dorothy Perkins
Denin skirt - Tall Girls
Grey tights - Ethel Austin
Green suede boots - River Island

"I'll be seeing you." "I hope not sporadically!"

So it turns out we have dial up access whilst awaiting the broadband connection to be activated, so updates will be forthcoming, but they are likely to be sporadic.

A Two Week Break

I am on holiday for 2 weeks now. I may get chance to post during that time, but if not, enjoy the archives and I’ll see you in a fortnight!

Outfit: Casual Friday

Black shrug – unknown
Blue top – Primark
Dark skinny jeans – Topshop
Blue shoes – New Look

This is my new favourite top, and it was just £2 in Primark. I think I’m going to get a ‘spare’ if there’s any left tomorrow, in case anything happens to this one.

Outfit: Mixed Thursday

Multicolour faux wrap dress – Next (charity shop)
Blue cami – New Look
Blue shoes – New Look

These are my newest and oldest items from New Look! The cami I bought in 1998 (it’s practically vintage!) and the shoes were new a couple of weeks ago.

Outfit: Bright Blue for a Dull Day

Electric blue v neck sweater – Florence + Fred at Tesco
Brown tweed city shorts – H&M
Electric blue tights – Jonathan Aston (Sunwin House)
Brown shoes – Roberto Vianni (Debenhams)

I’ve had a few comments recently about the darkness of my pictures. It’s a combination of factors – a hideous uplighter shade in my hallway that blocks most of the light and a lack of sunshine in the mornings. I’ve tried a makeshift solution today, putting a lamp on the floor and twisting round the light shade on the ceiling light. I intend replacing the upligher shade as soon as I can as I really can’t see the point of them. Anyway, hopefully today’s picture is better lit (apart from the strange shadows on the wall!).

Outfit: Coloured Tights!

Well, if the weather is going to act like it’s Autumn, I’m going to dress like it! It’s raining again so boots were a must. The tights were just £1 in Primark and I’m really impressed with the quality.

Grey city shorts – Next
Teal cotton rib sweater – Gap
White pinstripe ¾ sleeve shirt – Zara
Teal tights – Primark
Grey boots – Ethel Austin
Silver bangles - Scope

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing boots if the rain that is forecast arrives
…reading ‘Notes From A Big Country’ by Bill Bryson
…watching the days til Friday – then I have 2 weeks’ holiday!
…listening to the Abba 4 CD boxset – ‘Thank You For The Music’
…eating homemade chocolate brownies
…shopping on the local high street

Outfit: Dull Monday

Red shrug – charity shop
Blue cami – Topshop
Grey city shorts – Next
Red shoes – Barratts
Blue & silver bangles – Oxfam

Saturday Shopping

I just went to the local high street on Saturday morning, but ended up with a few bargains. Firstly, this faux wrap dress from Next, which I got in the charity shop supporting the local hospice. It was £5.

In Ethel Austin I got these boots (which are actually grey, believe it or not!) for £8, and some grey tights.

Then in Tesco I picked up this blue sweater for £8.

Outfit: Friday Night Out

We went for a Mongolian meal with friends on Friday evening. As I do youth work on a Friday evening during term time, I am really enjoying being able to go out whilst it’s the summer holidays.

Black trousers – Tall Girls
Teal shrug – Ann Taylor Loft (charity shop)
Black v neck tank – Dorothy Perkins
Silver belt – Primark
Green satin shoes – Oasis (charity shop)

Outfit: Sunny Casual Friday

Black v neck sweater dress – New Look (charity shop)
White cotton rib tank – Dorothy Perkins
Cuffed crop jeans – Dorothy Perkins
Black & cream shoes – Next (charity shop)

Silver chain belt - Dorothy Perkins

Silver bangles - Scope

Black necklace - Scope

Outfit: Sunny Thursday

Red long sleeve T – Primark
Brown cord trousers – Tall Girls
Red wedges – New Look (charity shop)

What?

I like to look at my stat counter every so often, to see how many people are visiting the site, and how they found me. Bizarrely, someone googled “photos of women wearing black tights in south Yorkshire” and found my blog from that. Nowt so queer as folk I suppose…

Why Do You Buy What You Buy? (The Psychological Effects of Hand-Me-Downs)

Yesterday I was reading the excellent Closet Therapist blog. She asks, ‘why do you buy what you buy?’ and suggests that some people (herself included) shop to make up for a childhood full of hand-me-downs. Whilst this is not quite true in my case, being the elder daughter I didn’t have anyone to hand anything down to me, I could well have been making up for a childhood of secondhand clothing. Much of my childhood clothing came from charity shops and whilst I love to hunt out a bargain now, back then there was a huge stigma attached to not having new clothes. From what I remember though, the things I did have handed down to me were from a neighbour across the street who is a few years older than I am. I think that because she wasn’t related, I thought it was cool to get her things and loved many of the pieces I was given. I particularly remember 2 items:
1. A white cotton jacket that was nothing special but I loved, possibly because I had never owned anything like it before. I was about 9 at the time and my little sister said it made me look like an ice cream man which was lovely of her.
2. A pink, heavy cotton (almost denim weight) drop waist dress with a stretchy roll neck and stretchy cuffs. I loved this dress and wore it to several birthday parties that year. I think it has always been at the back of my mind because when purchasing sweater dresses last year, I ended up with a grey one that bears a remarkable resemblance (in shape) to the pink dress of so long ago.

Red

Over at the Shiny Fashion Forums (SFF) my friend Caroline has just bought herself some red shoes. Having never owned red shoes before she has asked for some advice on what to wear with them. As my regular readers will know, I love my red shoes. I tend to pair them with basics and neutrals such as jeans, black & white or grey. Yesterday, Amanda pointed out that “I try to think of red shoes as a pseudo-neutral - in that they're not REALLY neutral, but they pop with a lot of clothes. I'd probably wear those with black, white, denim, darker shades of blue and green. Would look great with a black or dark denim pencil skirt!”
This is interesting to me, because I’d always thought of red as a colour in its own right, rather than as a ‘neutral’. So I decided to try it out with another colour and, using the same shoes I wore yesterday, this is what I came up with:


Turquoise/green top – Dorothy Perkins
Dark skinny jeans – Gap
Red belt – market stall
Red shoes – Barratts

I am going to remember in the future that red can be a ‘neutral’ colour and try to find new ways of combining my clothes to create more outfits around this concept.

Outfit: Black and red Wednesday

Black cotton dress – George @ ASDA
Red belt – market stall
Red shoes – Barratts
Red glitter bangles – Primark

StepTall: Site Review

I came across the StepTall site last week whilst browsing a list of sites for tall women. They stock shoes in sizes UK8-12, widths C-E (not all styles come in all widths) and the selection is large. As it is the end of the season at the moment, many styles are currently on sale. Whilst this means that there are bargains to be had, the range of sizes is limited. However, I have high hopes for the new season range.

The site is a little slow to load due to the many moving graphics, but the shoes are displayed from two angles which is helpful to the customer. It would be more helpful to have prices displayed with the icons though to avoid having to wait for every page to load just to see how much something costs. It is possible to search by size making it easier to hunt out a shoe in your size.

Shipping is available to all countries, but is quite steep, especially for the UK. Shipping rates can be viewed here.

Here are my favourite picks from the stock that is currently available.
Nadine - £60

Trudie - £41

Tula - £55.95

Tumey - £79

Outfit: Brown & Turquoise

Brown linen mix jacket – Dorothy Perkins
Brown linen mix skirt – Dorothy Perkins
White & turquoise print top – Dunnes
Turquoise shoes – Nine West (outlet store)
Turquoise and silver bangles – Oxfam
Turquoise necklace and earrings – gift from friend (Accessorize)

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing strappy and open toe shoes, and flip flops
…reading the September issue of Elle UK
…watching the young man’s niece enjoy herself at her 2nd birthday party
…listening to the radio
…eating Fabulous Bakin’ Boys Chocolate Cupcakes
…shopping for new underwear in Primark

New Collection Online at TallGirls.co.uk

An email from Tall Girls popped up in my inbox today, announcing that some of the new season styles were now available on their website. Excitedly, I rushed on over there and I have to say I was rather disappointed. There’s nothing wrong with the styles, they are all very wearable and I am pleased to say that they have started stocking a suit – much of the collection was very casual in previous seasons. But my disappointment comes from the colour palette. Everything is in muted tones of grey, black and brown. Don't get me wrong, I like grey and brown, but I need a bit of colour too. Perhaps it’s just the colour overload of the 80s brights and loud patterns that we’ve been experiencing recently, but there’s nothing I can get excited about particularly. Having said that, I will list my top picks of what’s there are the moment.

Suit jacket (black) - £65

Trousers (black) - £45

Long Chunky Cable Cardi (black or charcoal) - £45

Chunky Slouch Cardi (soft grey or black) - £38

Bell Sleeve Tunic Dress (black or plum) - £29

Herringbone Wide Leg Trouser (beige or grey) - £45

Let’s hope that when the rest of the collection comes online there will be a little more colour. Otherwise it’ll mean recycling all your summer brights to stop it being a long, dark winter.

New Shoes

For my birthday I was given a money box in the shape of a shoe and it says ‘saving for shoes’ on it. I’ve been putting all my pound coins and fifty pences in it to stop myself putting them in the vending machine. I counted up yesterday and I had £12. Not much, but then Ravel is closing down so I thought I would go and see if there were any bargains to be had. There weren’t. Everything is still £20 or more so perhaps I’ll go back in a few weeks to see if the prices have really fallen to clearance levels.

But still armed with my £12, I ventured into New Look. These lovely patent shoes were staring up at me, just 2 pairs left and one in my size. So for £5 I couldn’t resist.

Then I went to Barratts and got these red shoes for just £8. The style is called ‘Bananarama’, how fab! A total of £13 but I don’t think that was bad for guilt free shopping (since I had been saving for shoes anyway).

Outfit: Blue Monday

Blue top – Primark
Brown tweed shorts – H&M
Blue shoes – New Look
Blue & silver bangles – Oxfam

The Future’s Bright… At Pucci

It may only be 3rd August and although the weather’s finally picking up for summer, I can’t help but be excited by the trends for next season. Especially when I see pictures like these from Pucci.

Outfit: Casual Friday

Dark skinny jeans – Topshop
Pink cardi – Gharani Strok (charity shop)
White cami – Topshop
Brown & pink dress – charity shop
Pink shoes – Faith
Pink pendant – Scope
Pink bangles – Gift from friend

Outfit: Mixed Thursday

Black & cream print wrap dress – Dorothy Perkins
White cami – Dorothy Perkins
Black brogue style shoes – Dolcis

Silver bangles - Scope

New Links!

As you may have noticed in the side panel, there’s now a new list of links – any shopping sites I come across that stock Tall length clothing and/or size 9 or larger shoes. If there’s any I’ve missed, let me know and I’ll add them.

How Cool Is This?!

Called the Louboutin Manicure, it was devised by Zoe Pocock of the Charles Worthington salon in London. It was featured in Grazia magazine but I saw it on Kiss and Makeup, who spotted it on All Lacquered Up. If you want a professional one it will cost you £36, but my friend over at Shiny has tried it herself and, although the red is not quite as bright as she hoped, it looks pretty fab!

Why I Love: MyTights.com

This has just become my new favourite shopping site! Not only do they stock practically every brand of tights you could ever want, they categorise them by type too. Wool, Extra Tall length, brightly coloured, opaque, it’s all there and easy to find.

Want ankle socks, knee highs, footless tights or leggings? Look no further. Stockings and suspender belts? MyTights has got it covered. But the main reason I love this site so much? I placed an order with them yesterday morning and this morning the status of my account says ‘Order fully completed and dispatched’. Oh, and shipping is only £1.95 with no additional charge if they have to ship your order in 2 or more parts. Many online retailers could do with taking notes on this excellent service for some (Office online) have a lot to learn!