stop breaking down

happy october everyone! i'm so excited for autumn, i love this time of year with its clear skies, crisp leaves and low sunlight in the evenings. at least, i love the september & october part of autumn before it all descends into a soggy november mess.

in my next-but-last post, i mentioned that i was hopefully going to buy this skirt from miss selfridge (taking advantage of their 20% student discount offer, hello) and i did! it was originally £35, but with the discount it came down to £28 which is still somewhat steep but i decided to just go for it as i really love the skirt & it's the cheapest it was ever going to be.

i really do apologise for my facial expression, i've actually discovered that i cannot smile symmetrically, the left side of my mouth always goes higher than the right! bizarre.

anyway, i decided to wear it with my grey rolling stones tshirt, as i think you need something with strong shoulders to balance the long, floaty effect of the skirt. last weekend i wore it out to the pub with a plaid blouse with puffy sleeves, although i actually think this looks better!

also, if anyone in the uk thinks this looks familiar, janet from the x factor (ie diana vickers mark two) was wearing it on last night's show.

i love the two layer effect you get with this skirt, i think it looks really different to the other maxi/midi skirts you see all over the place these days. plus, the fabric flows out behind me when i walk, which makes me feel all feminine and empowerment-y at the same time.

i wouldn't usually wear this colour, but i think it is absolutely beautiful & so appropriate for this time of year! i really want to wear it to college some time because i think it's something you can either dress up or down, but we'll be workign with clay until wednesday so i think i'll have to wait a while!

blurred photograph for the shape.

after i bought the skirt, i also had a little wander around new look in search of some new shoes, and i'm so glad i did because i found the perfect pair of brogues! i managed to get them for £17, down from £25 after another 20% student discount and some new look vouchers i've had for ages. normally i find it so difficult buying shoes i like that actually fit me properly because i have really skinny, flat feet.

love the detailing they have on them, especially the actual brogueing! i'm so sick of seeing regular lace up shoes being called brogues even though they don't have the detailing that they need in order to actually be brogues. sorry, little pet hate that i have!

skirt - miss selfridge, tshirt - ebay, socks - had them since first school, shoes - new look.

my friend matthew just started a blog about all things male and fashiony, so go check it out!

also, i've listed a few new items in the shop and there will be more autumn-y related ones coming soon!

that's all for now, hopefully next time you see me i'll have had my hair cut.

*

PS is anyone watching coronation street at the moment? i am positively gripped by the rape story line they have at the minute, i think they're handling it so well - and it's so true to life the way some people think carla is "playing the victim" or lying about it, as this is something that rape victims constantly have to deal with. i think the acting is fantastic, and hopefully this can go some way to changing attitudes towards rape in this country. did you know that there is only a 7% conviction rate for rape in this country? absolutely shameful, and apparently there are even more rapes (estimated 75-90%) that go unreported. sorry for the sombre end to this post, but it's something i've been thinking about a lot lately.