Casual mid-season style ideas

High End Vs High Street

I am back again and right in time for payday, well thats if you get paid at the end of the month, obviously, and if not, well an end of the month treat is always a good excuse to shop! So I have been searching many webpages and when I say many, I mean it almost made me reassess my life. I spend far too much time on the internet! Anyway, less rambling, here are a few of my favourite items I have come across this month. Taking into account the 70's trend I decided to incorporate some flares. I must say, I have serious lust for the Shrimps coat I have featured (link below). 'Hmmm' I wonder how many of my body parts I could sell to get my hands on it. Although I could just keep all my fingers and toes and simply add the coloured collar to the ASOS jacket I have featured (link also below) and get the same effect, in fact, you get two coats for one because you don't always need to wear the collar... Oh no, I can feel it already, I am talking myself into it. Similar to last months High end v High street (link here) I have tried to create an outfit and although it is getting towards spring it still is not the warmest in good old bligthy, aka England. 

I hope you enjoy weekend. 

Hollie x   

1. Shrimps faux fur coat £474
2. ASOS Faux Fur coat £42 + River island Faux collar £17
3. Stella McCartney Flares £255
4. River Island Flares £42
5. Gucci Loafers £410
6. Russell and Bromley loafers £175 

Back to it

Saturday Outfit Inspo

Furry Ball

That 60's Vide

Staples Pieces

 

   

So often I hear the phrase 'its an investment' or 'its a staple piece', more often than not the phrase is coming out my mouth and I am often justifying to myself another piece of clothing that I don't really need. So, with these phrases in mind I started to think what actually makes a piece of clothing a 'staple item'? I started thinking about this today when I was deciding what to wear and I came across a black tweed blazer I bought using the exact two phrases above. The truth is I have probably worn the blazer three times, which for the price I paid, does not justify it! After getting over the slight pang of guilt I feel every time I don't wear an expensive item, I started to quandary why I thought the piece would be a 'staple item' what makes any item a 'staple' and with the rate fashion changes, is any item no matter how timeless really a 'staple'? (Could I say staple any more in the last sentence?). You may admire the cut of a piece, or the designer, but there will probably be a point were it sits in your wardrobe and you admire it, but don't wear it. I think I probably do this with a lot of my clothing and honestly I don't know why they sit there waiting to be worn especially as there supposedly 'staples' and I should be wearing them weekly. Really though, what I am waiting for? I am not a child, I wont spill my dinner on them or play in the mud (I promise). I know exactly why I bought the blazer, because I thought it would make any outfit more put together, but more specifically it's what I had heard/read or saw and finally I caved and thought I 'should' have it. I know, I know shame on me for buckling under the pressure of a well placed magazine article, but I started thinking 'why don't I have a blazer?', instead of 'will I ever wear the blazer?' With me, there is always the fear that I will think of the perfect outfit and not have the item in my wardrobe, I think that's why I don't throw items away, maybe the phrase 'staple' is also just another way of me justifying my hoarding habit.
I sometimes think maybe its the colour that makes an item a 'staple'. For example, I seem to wear a lot of black, but then my blazer is black and I hardly ever wear it, perhaps if you have to justify an item to buy it you sort of deem it practical, which is fine, but shouldn't you love each piece of clothing you own? And if you don't, why is it still hanging in your wardrobe? Maybe that's why I don't wear the blazer a lot, my heart just wasn't in it when I bought it, I thought I needed a blazer in my wardrobe, not, 'I love this item I need to have it'. After reading this back I think I am being a bit harsh on my poor blazer, maybe it is just the items time to wait it out until I forget it was bought for practical reasons and fall back in love with it. So, what other items would I truly deem as a staple in my wardrobe... It varies, give me a couple of months and it well might be my black blazer.
Do you have a staple item in your wardrobe? Or like me do you go through different phases?
On a totally unrelated matter here is what I wore today all black but still not 'staples'... well not yet!
Hollie x

Dress-Charity Shop

Shoes-River Island

Jumper- http://www.culture-vulture.co.uk/

Anything to add?

 

   

I think everything you could probably write about black has already been written, but that's not going stop me writing something else about the colour. For a colour that is so simple to wear it seems to get a bad rep sometimes, almost as if its simplicity is something we should frown upon. Lately I have been drawn to a lot of black clothing and it is usually when I am extremely busy. It's just so easy to get it right when you are wearing all black. Should I be punished for what some might call a lack of imagination? Believe me, I do this myself sometimes when I find myself in a full black outfit. I feel like I have failed to make an effort, but after saying this, when you think about it, it is in fact the effortlessness of the colour that makes the outfit chic. Take, for example, Marc Jacobs final show for Louis Vuitton in Paris. Nearly the entire collection was made up of black and I defy anyone not to find at least one piece they would not wear, and why is that? Well, apart from the amazing design, it has to be the colour, it really is the colour everyone can wear. For me, when I wear a full black outfit I try to add contrast through texture. Which is what I did today, by adding a thick knit roll neck Jumper from H&M with one of their faux alligator style leather skirts. What do you think to the colour black? Does it bore you, or ignite your imagination when you get dressed?
Hollies x

Jumper- H&M

Skirt- H&M

Shoes- River Island

Painter and Decorator

Last night I decided to wear my favourite painter and decorator outfit (I mean overalls)and headed out for cocktails with my girlfriends. I honestly could wear my overalls all the time they are so versatile. I have to rein myself in when I'm shopping so I don't buy any more. Seriously, I would be walking around like an adult baby 24/7.  
I hope you enjoy your weekend.
Hollie x

Overalls- Riverisland

Plaid Shirt- Boyfriends

Leather Jacket- Topshop

Shoes- Kurt Geiger

The 'C' Word

As soon as I type the word 'comfortable' I'm tempted to delete it. It just conjures up images of tracksuit bottoms and most certainly means its  doomed in the eyes of the fashion elite. What 'doomed' item am I talking about? Dungarees (overalls). Yes, that's right, the item of clothing you used to dread being sent to school in (those damn buckles and my small bladder). But, now I am a grown up who has mastered my fine motor skills and bladder I bloody love them! Not only do overalls give me a sense of achievement every time I make it to the toilet in time, they also make you look taller/slimmer. They are quite literally fashionable control pants. So, this blog post reads like an advertisement for Tena lady. 
Here's the final cherry on top of this largely bladder related fashion post and the only criticism I have with the item; pull those straps a little to high and you run the risk of running into another forbidden fashion word...'Camel toe'. I can just imagine your face grimacing at the screen as you read the dreaded word... sorry.
Enjoy the pics and try to loose the image of my camel toe (I joke, those pictures have been deleted!)
Holly x

P.s The wind was blowing up a storm hence the variety of blustered faces I am pulling. Honestly, the overall straps had been loosened by then and have no relation to the pained look on my face.

 Dungarees- River Island

Hat- The Hundreds

T-shirt-Topshop

Coat-Reiss

Jewellery-River Island 

Bracelet- Marc By Marc Jacobs