A flirtation with fashion, up in chilly Birmingham x

Last Friday Claire and I ventured up to the beautiful, big and bustling Birmingham NEC to take in the spectacle of The Clothes Show (all in the name of research of course). Luckily we were there on press day so it was no where near as manic as I had anticipated! The last time I visited must have been about fifteen years ago so it was a bit of a blast from the past for me personally and I can just remember it being awash with feisty teenage girls on a mission to purchase as many bargains as possible! So, after walking around in numerous circles for the first thirty minutes upon arrival and getting completely lost, we managed to clamber the escalator of fortune, leading us to the many halls which make up the show. First stop was picking up our VIP (yes, VIP don't you know) tickets, which gave us front row seats to the catwalk show in the 'Fashion Theatre'.

The theme of the show was 'A Night At The Movies' encompassing quite a few genres such as Fairytale Romance, Western Action, Sci-Fi and High School Rocks. I did get rather snap happy but unfortunately, and I totally blame the cold for numbing my brain, I forgot to equip myself with my trusty camera on Friday. So, the pics are iPhone-tastic, ie a bit blurry here and there with no flash or zoom. Apologies for that! 

Rather than focusing on current or future trends, this catwalk show was entertainment first and fashion second, which is completely appropriate to the event. With the likes of The X-Factor, Glee, Dancing on Ice, High School Musical and various celebrity focused TV programmes influencing and inspiring the nation's young and trendies, the icing on the cake was the appearance of Lauren and Mark from The Only Way is Essex, causing quite a stir, especially with the girls sat directly behind us who were pretty enthusiastic about anything, particularly the scantily clad male models (who admittedly were rather eye-catching!).

I didn't leave the show completely inspired by the fashion, but was kind of entertained. I'm not a huge fan of High School Musical or Glee, and proud of it, so this type of show was not really up my street! My fashion high point was the dear-stalker hats, which I adore! xxx

That snowing look x

I wasn't quite ready for the flurry of snow which delicately floated on down over Bristol on Friday. This seasonal smattering, along with two Christmas markets, mulled wine, digging out my much loved Cath Kidston wellies and a sudden urge to get all my Xmas shopping done in one week, must mean that winter, the season to be jolly, is well and truly upon us!

On a quest for some kind of geeky pressie for my brother in law Tim, I became quite taken with the idea of binary watches and managed to find a pretty cool, understated one which, I reckon will definitely suit his mathsy keener ways! But now, I really want one for myself and absolutely adore these Nooka watches which I remember seeing at Urban Outfitters a couple of years ago. Only thing is, it would probably take me half an hour to figure out the blimmin time!

 

From left, Zub 20 ZENH $150, ZOTV $285

xxx

Fairytale fashion and the Peter Pan collar x

I have always loved the cute, vintage, preppy appeal of the Peter Pan collar and with the emergence of a veritable feast of this particular design detail popping up all over the high street this winter, the dream destination of Neverland is never far away! After scouring the shops, I have popped these beauties on my Christmas wish list.

Leopard trim dress £35 Topshop, Lace dress £45 Miss Selfridge

These darling dresses add a sexy twist to the nostalgic prim and proper Peter Pan collar. With the addition of animal print and aluring lace, they give a cheeky wink to the trend.

Button Front Blouse £265 Milly at Net-A-Porter, Lace Collar Blouse £30 Next

I love the sheen of the silk on this Milly blouse and the bold contrast between the black and white which add a touch of sophisticated fun to this nostalgic look. As tops, either of these would look amazing teamed with super skinny Jeans or tucked into leather shorts for daring, contemporary chic.

Red open back dress £38 ASOS, Camel Coat £345 BABBU at Skirt

The optimisim of the futuristic look and it's connotations with swinging sixties fashion surface year upon year and owe themseves pefectly to the Peter Pan collar. These simple silhouettes breathe life into the past yet again.

Maybe its the inner child in me, the reluctance to ever grow up, but the Peter Pan collar makes me feel cuddly and soft and the likes of Alexa Chung, Agyness Deyn and Nicole Richie all seem to agree. xxx

Clip-clippity-clop on the stair, oh yeah! x

This season i'm decided, I want to make like a little mouse with clogs on! When I was browsing the pages of the Zara website the other day, my eye kept getting caught by the genius way that they had teamed their sandal clogs with scrunched up socks! So cute, so easy to wear, so fabulous! The 'Sock Sandal' trend has actually been clomping around for a while now, with the likes of Burberry, Marni, Margeret Howell and Muiccia Prada all pushing the unlikely trend on the 'SS10 catwalks. So now, I'm on the hunt for the perfect pair to see me through the Winter months. It is truely a hard mission but a pretty enjoyable one, so here goes, a boot (it is nippy afterall) and a sandal ...

The inspiration

Margaret Howell and Burberry

The finds

Vamp sandal £39.99 Zara, Clog boot £55 Next

Now, all that's left to do is decide which one, 'how lucky I am'! xxx

Clothes Swapsie x

When a recent invite to a clothes swapping evening arrived on my lap(top) I squealed with delight! What an absolutely fab idea! Always thinking of thrifty ways to inject freshness into my wardbrobe, this seemed like the perfect opportunity. So I scampered along to my room and selected some fineries to pack into my new I heart TruffleShuffle bag (which I love) ready for the said evening. I think that for an event such as this, it is necessary to pick things which you have to sigh a little at the thought of losing, otherwise why would anyone else want them. Or, maybe garments which you have loved to the extreme and simply moved on, yet they are in fine fettle and worthy of many more years of fun outings. So here are a few of my picks, I really hope someone likes them!

Topshop backless side pocket dress and Topshop beaded chiffon cami

Topshop swing top, Asos peg trousers and Cos dress

H&M dress, H&M skinnys and Topshop sequin panel tee

Gap check dress

The date is TBC, but I think this is a fab idea and a great excuse for bubbles, cupcakes and chit-chat on the side! xxx