Outfit: Blue Friday

Blue sweater – Dorothy Perkins
White t – Dorothy Perkins
Dark skinny jeans – Gap
Black boots – Tall Girls

House Of Sole (formerly known as Elephant Feet) Discount

I opened my email this morning to find this comment had been left on my post about the House of Sole store from February 2007:

Hi Shoegal,

I hope you received our comments about how great you are for establishing this site.

Anyhow, House of Sole (Formerly known as Elephant feet) are having a 1week sales for shoegal's followers to shop at 8 Chiltern st between the 21st and 26th of January 2008 and receive a 50% discount on all items. You would need a password, which is Shoegal, shoegal shoegal in House of Sole.

We are open Mon- sat 10am to 6pm, except Thursday when we close at 7pm.

Kind Regards

Team at House of Sole

020 7486 7789

I wasn’t sure which comments they were referring to but there was a blogger link left in the comments box so, intrigued, I clicked on it. Turns out? There’s a whole new blog dedicated to me! OK, so there’s just the one post there but still!

I’m not sure if the 50% will work on the website but if anyone wants to give it a go and let me know, I’ll update the rest of you.

There are some fantastic styles on the site at the moment, I particularly like these leopard print platforms at £99


And these blue satin ones at £120.


As you can see, the 50% discount will be very welcome, so don’t miss out, get shopping!

Long Legs

I've just added a new shopping link to the side panel - Long Legs. This company is based in Canada which is great news for us in the UK as you can basically halve the prices to get the amount in GB Pounds thanks to the strength of the pound against the dollar right now. The selection looks great and the prices are comparable to those at Long Tall Sally and Tall Girls. And if you can find a sale item in your size you are guaranteed a bargain!

Outfit: Red and Black

I must learn to stand up straighter in my pictures! And I think heels work better with this length of skirt. But I’m wearing these boots now and I love them!

Red polo neck sweater – Luxuriously Tall
Black skirt – Dunnes
Black tights – Silkies
Black boots – Tall Girls

Outfit: Black Tie

Black wrap dress – Luxuriously Tall
Black cardi – Long Tall Sally
White shirt – Oasis
Black tie – Claire’s
Black tights – Morrison’s
Black boots – Arturo Chiang (Century 21)

Silver belt - local boutique

Outfit: Black & Cream Stripes

Black & cream stripe dress – charity shop
Black polo neck sweater – Long Tall Sally
Black tights – George at ASDA
Black & cream shoes – Next (charity shop)

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing dresses
…reading ‘Size 14 is Not Fat Either’ by Meg Cabot
…watching Echo Beach & Moving Wallpaper
…listening to whatever is on my MP3 player
…eating flapjack (yes I’m on a New Year home baking kick)
…shopping for nothing – need to save for a while now

Smart and Shallow

My friend Bec and I were talking on Friday night about how different our blogs are. She writes about how she can live more generously, or she reviews the intellectual book she’s been reading this week and I write about shoes, what I’m wearing and shopping. We decided our blogs balance each other out though, like Yin and Yang. And whilst I may seem to be the shallow one, I do enjoy a good book as much as the next person and through Bec’s influence I now automatically say no to carrier bags in shops.
Any one who has read ‘Some Like It Haute’ by the fabulous Julie K L Dam will recognise the central character Alex’s mantra “smart and shallow”. I think it’s one I should adopt for myself as I know I can come across as shallow for my love of style and shoes and my obsession with what I’m wearing, but I also know that I not, in fact, shallow.

Outfit: Red Dress

I am so loving these shoes at the moment. They are this week’s favourites. But really, how fickle am I? A different favourite pair of shoes each week! So, it’s the new red dress, made work-appropriate with a black cami and black tights. And the jacket keeps things smart.

Red dress – Claudia Richards (Luxuriously Tall)
Black cami – 3 Suisses
Black jacket – Long Tall Sally
Black tights – Marks and Spencer
Black patent shoes – Matalan

Pre-Christmas Shopping

Yes I know it is January 14th but this was an order I placed from Luxuriously Tall before Christmas. It only arrived last week which is an unusually long wait for goods, even from the US, but I suppose all the extra Christmas post in the UK was to blame for the delay as it is recorded as having left Chicago on 14th December.

There was a sale on so I took advantage and bought a few items.

Red dress
This is a lovely dress as you can see from my outfit today. The sleeves are long and it’s so comfy to wear. I should be saving it for going out somewhere special I suppose but I don’t go that many places that require a dress and I believe in wearing the clothes that are in my wardrobe. If you save something too long, chances are you’ll never wear it. The same goes for perfume by the way (slightly off topic but never mind). Don’t save your lovely fragrances for some special occasion, wear them everyday. If you don’t, when you at last come to use it, the perfume will have gone off with age and won’t smell as fresh as it does new. Besides, a spray of perfume every day will make you feel special and every woman deserves to feel special everyday.

Red sweater
This is a more casual piece and I can’t wait to wear it with jeans and skirts. The quality of the knit is good as is the fit.

Brown cardi
This is a looser knit than I was expecting but that doesn’t make it any less cosy. It is shown here buttoned up but when I wore it Friday night and yesterday I only buttoned the two buttons at the top for a ‘swing’ effect to balance out my skinny jeans.

Once more I am super pleased with my purchases from Luxuriously Tall and would highly recommend them to anyone needing tall apparel, something that is not so easy to come by in the UK.

Outfit: Church on Sunday

These are my current favourite boots as I’ve probably said before. They are just so tall on my legs.

Brown cardi – Luxuriously Tall
Brown top – Tall Girls
Dark skinny jeans – Gap
Green suede boots – River Island

Outfit: Work Christmas Party

I suppose it’s not really a Christmas party when it’s in January, but whatever, it was my company’s holiday party on Saturday night. My entire outfit was thrifted and cost less than £10, including the shoes.

Black silk dress – Pierce II Fionda, Designers at Debenhams (charity shop)
Bronze sequin shrug – Red Herring, Designers at Debenhams (charity shop)
Bronze glitter shoes – New Look (charity shop)

Outfit: Smart and Chic

I have another meeting today (I should really stop arranging those for Fridays!) so it had to be smart casual again today. Love these shoes as they make my feet look tiny.

Dark Long and Lean jeans – Gap
Black polo neck sweater – Long Tall Sally
Black socks – don’t know
Black patent shoes – Matalan

Outfit: Long Tall Sally

I am veritable walking advertisement for Long Tall Sally today. And I felt like going a lot smarter and more ladylike than yesterday too. This is a sort of reworking of Tuesday’s outfit.

Black pencil skirt – Long Tall Sally
Black sweater – Long Tall Sally
White shirt – Long Tall Sally
Black tights – George at ASDA
Teal shoes – Matalan
Teal beads – Claire’s
Teal belt – Claire’s

Wanted: Petula Boots by NYLA

How much do I want these suede boots from NYLA? They are an over the knee style which on me would be the perfectly knee high. They are also available in Black or Red. However, at $179.99 and from a site that doesn’t ship outside the US, they are not likely to become mine anytime soon.

A Craving For Kylie

Whilst browsing the sale section of the M&Co website, I had a sudden urge to look at the Kylie (kids) area of the site, specifically at the jewellery section. When I first had my ears pierced at the age of about 12 or 13, my sister, her friend and I used to spend hours (and all our pocket money) buying earrings in the local Mackays (as M&Co was known back then) store. They did the most wonderful collection of dangly earrings and cards with three or more co-ordinating pairs for a bargain price. So I was pleased to see that the teens of today can have the same experience in their own local towns (M&Co stores tend not to be located in big cities). Heck, for 50p (down from all of I could even be tempted to purchase this ‘set’ to get that retro 80s vibe.

Outfit: Casual Layers

I wasn’t sure on the status of the heating at office number 2 so I thought I’d better wrap up, just in case. As it turns out the heating is mended although it’s not overly warm in here at the moment. Also, my hair is not looking the greatest, hence the hat!

Brown cardi – Marks and Spencer (charity shop)
Turquoise rib polo neck – Primark
Brown long sleeve t – Tall Girls
Dark skinny jeans – Gap
Turquoise faux suede faux fur trimmed boots – Splash (ebay)
Brown cord hat – Matalan

Tall Girls Purchases

My lovely little sister gave me a voucher for Tall Girls for my Christmas present so what better excuse to shop in the sale there? I ordered three items:

Jeans

Top

Boots
The jeans are fine and I am keeping them. The top is going back: it is supposed to be a fine knit but when ‘fine knit’ becomes ‘see through’ I think that’s taking a description to the extreme. I am disappointed with this as my past Tall Girls purchases have been such good quality.
The boots I love, they are super high leg so reach right up to my knees – something that doesn’t often happen with knee high boots. Unfortunately they are just a little too small so I am sending them back to exchange them for a size up. But the customer services department is moving apparently and so it might be next week before they are sent out now. Fingers crossed they’re still in stock!

Outfit: Cold Tuesday

Black pencil skirt – Long Tall Sally
Black polo neck sweater – Long Tall Sally
Teal v neck tank – Next
Black tights – Morrisons
Teal boots – Faith
Teal beads – Claire’s

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing my boots
…reading the February issue of Cosmopolitan magazine
…watching Shut Up and Sing (Dixie Chick documentary) when it arrives from Amazon
…listening to Bucks Fizz
…eating caramel shortbread if I get around to making some
…shopping for nothing – need to save for a while now

Outfit: Winter Monday

It’s windy and cold and was dark and raining when I got up this morning. I could so do with being a lady of leisure on days like this. But no, I dragged myself out of bed and now the sun is coming out so it might not be a bad sort of day after all.

Brown wool mix pinstripe trouser suit – Long Tall Sally
Blue blouse – Dorothy Perkins
Blue sweater – F+F at Tesco
Brown boots – Nine West (Allders)

UPDATED: Outfit: Smart Casual Friday

I have a meeting with my manager later on today and so I wanted to look smart but also wear jeans as it is Friday. The best way to combine the two is to wear dark jeans and keep the rest of the outfit simple.

EDIT: It was so cold on Friday that I ended up wearing this blue silk scarf all day - a £6 bargain a few years back in Accessorize. So you get a bonus picture too!

Black sweater – Long Tall Sally
Dark Long and Lean jeans – Gap
Black & cream shoes – Next (charity shop)
Black O pendant – Scope

Blue silk scarf - Accessorize

Outfit: Food and Bowling

We went out for a meal and bowling last night with friends. This has become my new favourite going out top as it is very flattering and the young man loves me in it.

Lace trim cami – Long Tall Sally
Grey cashmere cardi – Marks & Spencer (ebay)
Long and Lean jeans – Gap
Grey boots – Ethel Austin
Turquoise & silver bangles – Oxfam
Turquoise bead necklace – Accessorize

Sale Shopping

Last week I bought a couple of tops in the Long Tall Sally sale. I have decided that over the course of the next year or so I want to ensure that my entire wardrobe is made up of clothing specifically designed for tall people so that means taking full advantage of the sales. No more tops that are too short in the sleeve or body, and no more dresses with the darts in the wrong places.


Black sweater £19


Clay (it’s sort of a pale greeny-teal colour in real life and has tiny beads below the lace at the front) lace trim cami £5

Confusing Fashion

Is anyone else confused by the fashion spread in this month’s ‘Cosmopolitan’ magazine (January 2008 issue)? The first story is summer dresses, then there’s gym wear (OK, New Year resolutions and all that, I’ll give them that one) and finally, white shirts. Hello?! It’s JANUARY! It’s snowing outside. What use are summer dresses without polo necks and tights to accompany them and keep us warm. Actually, I’m starting to think that I should give up on UK fashion magazines altogether (but then, how would I know where to buy all the fabulous shoes?). I keep a Look Book by cutting out looks I like from magazines and pasting them into a notebook. And I am increasingly finding that, from the magazines I buy on a regular basis (Look, Company, Cosmo UK, Glamour UK, Glamour US, Lucky, Elle UK), it is the American ones which have the fashion spreads that appeal to me more. If you are a Brit who has never read a US fashion magazine, take a look at one next time you are in Borders. I find that the stories they run in the US magazines suit my style far more than some of the wacky ‘out there’ pieces shown increasingly in British magazines. It’s all just so much more wearable in the US publications. I’m not going to give up on British magazines of course, there are too many features I do read and enjoy, it’s just that I think I should give them up and read books or something instead. But there are not usually any pictures of shoes in books and where’s the fun in that?

Outfit: Snowy Thursday

After being cold all day yesterday I wasn’t taking any chances this morning. Fortunately the heating was on when I arrived today. I’m dressed in layers so I can always shed a sweater later on if I warm up. But there’s a dusting of snow on the ground and more forecast so I don’t think I will be warming up anytime soon!

Denim skirt (made from jeans) – Topshop
Grey wool rib polo neck sweater – chain store seconds shop
Grey silk & cashmere v neck sweater – Zara
Grey wool tights – Levante at MyTights
Striped socks – Topshop
Green suede boots – River Island
Silver belt – Primark
Green pendant – Primark
Black beret – George at ASDA

This Week I Will Be Mostly…

…wearing something warm for work – the heating was not on when I got here this morning and it’s still cold!
…reading ‘Shakespeare’ by Bill Bryson that I got for Christmas
…watching Pretty in Pink on video
…listening to the 101 Country Hits CDs I got for Christmas
…eating something other than buffet leftovers
…shopping with the Tall Girls voucher I got for Christmas

Outfit: Back to Work

It’s cold, it’s dark and it’s back to work.

Black & blue dress – Dorothy Perkins
Black polo neck sweater – Long Tall Sally
Blue tights – Jonathan Aston (Debenhams)
Black patent shoes – Matalan

Happy 2008!

I’m back! I didn’t take many pictures over the holidays; I decided to take a complete break from blogging and pictures. But here are a couple of outfits you missed whilst I was away.

Sunday 23rd December

Going to church then visiting friends.

Jeans – Next (charity shop)
Blue sweater dress – H&M
Black polo neck – LTS
Blue patent shoes – New Look


New Year’s Eve: Mixing My Metallics

Party at a friend’s house.

Skinny jeans – Topshop
Blue sparkly top – Dorothy Perkins
Sequin shrug – charity shop
Glitter shoes – New Look (charity shop)