Flattery.

I feel like I'm becoming terribly sartorially predictable recently because my last post featured something gingham and, well, so does this one. Sorry! I've actually become a bit obsessed with the print lately, I wrote an article about it and bought about three different pieces in (pastel) colours as "research".

I bought this ugly/cute smock dress several months ago now, but I've been doing a lot of thinking about how I feel about it. (Yeah, sorry, pretentious fashion nerd alert). I don't own many things in lilac, mainly because when I started my intense pastel trajectory I had lilac hair. The zoomed in checks are really cute and I love how weird the shape is.

(Sorry about the super boring backdrop, as always)

I really like the way it looks like a weird parachute. It looks like it doesn't fit properly, and I think that's so funny. My legs looks very spindly (like those Salvador Dali elephant sculptures) and my body looks like it might topple over from the imbalance. I'm trying to dress in a way that is more comfortable and that seems to include being less precious about whether it makes my body look good or not. I was thinking back to when I was about 15 and I used to watch all of those fashion shows on TV, the ones that tell women how to dress for their "shape" which basically means "correcting" it to resemble the ideal, hourglass figure. It's strange how obvious that misogyny is, but at the same time how little it is actually called out or even noticed. Even before I recognised the gross body politics I remember thinking God, how boring! If you like something, why can't you wear it? Why do you have to care about how it makes your body look? Obviously I know I have a lot of privilege in this area because I'm pretty skinny, but as my own way of questioning those awful dressing standards women are expected to adhere to I'm starting to actively think less about what "looks good" and me or what is flattering, and focus on what I actually want to wear.

My best friends bought me this Tatty Devine necklace for my birthday. I love it so much and the quote is so perfect for the way I've been feeling lately. That whole "your body is the house you grew up in" thing is so poignant I think, and I love that this is what they thought about for me. One of these sent me a very unsubtle message a few weeks before asking me "hypothetically" what my favourite quote was and, because I'm an English Literature student, I replied with about ten really long poems and book quotes before he told me it had to be less than 200 characters. They actually chose this one for me all by themselves and it couldn't be more perfect if I'd chosen it myself.

Dress - Asos, tights - Asos, shoes - Syd & Mallory's Emporium, shorts - ebay, headscarf - vintage, necklaces - vintage/Tatty Devine.

Some more new things! Bunny tights and jazz style shoes. I wish I'd taken a close up picture of these because they're so cute, the little holes you can see are heart shapes and they have jagged edges around the ankles.

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Be back soon for more ramblings about my personal identity in relation to material possessions!

Strawberry shortcake.

Hello! Sorry it's been so long since my last post, I don't really have any exciting excuses, just deadlines, reading, etc etc. Oh, student life!

Trousers! I know! This might be the first time I've ever worn trousers in a post on here? I mean, I can't be bothered to trawl through my archives but trouser sightings on here are pretty rare indeed.

It feels so weird wearing trousers considering I've basically only worn skirts for the past four, maybe more, years of my life, but they are so COMFORTABLE! Like, why didn't anyone tell me?!

I think this is another way that my style is becoming a lot more comfort orientated. Not in a very deliberate way, but I know that I just want things which are easier to wear, ie not skirts that need petticoats underneath, or polyester vintage things that are going to make me sweat all the time. So, I'm not sure which version of me this is (3.0? 4.1?), but I'm kind of enjoying being here.

I got them way back in November (I was shopping with my mum & had been saying how I wanted to buy something other than skirts, then they appeared & fit perfectly. Fate, I tell you.), and then in February (maybe?) I was reading one of my mum's Vogues at home and saw this spread all about gingham as a trend for next Spring/Summer. Now, I'm not saying I'm a trendsetter but, coincidence? I think not. It's just like that time I bought a pink coat in a charity shop for £1 and then next summer they were the ~thing~ to have. Maybe Anna Wintour should start following me round with a notebook, I don't know. Anyway, I've actually become completely obsessed with gingham and have bought two more items in lilac and mint. Classic me. Also love the Meadham Kirchhoff reppin' on the left [heart eyes emoji], my favourite look from that collection.

(I scanned this spread very badly from the runway edit bit of Vogue, then photoshopped it via Paint. You are welcome)

Matching the colour of your jewellery to your hair is pretty standard, right? I went to a Hole tribute gig last month (celebrating 20 years since Live Through This came out! It was amazing! Glitter everywhere! Boys in dresses and tiaras!) and someone has brought a whole bunch of sparkly kid's jewellery for people to take, so naturally I went for the hot pink holographic bracelet. 

Top - ebay, trousers - vintage, shoes - DMs/Amazon, socks - Topshop.

 Such a #fashblogger sorry but I find this really funny!

Blouse - vintage/DIY, cardigan - charity shop, belt - charity shop.

I am so in love with these trousers, they're just so versatile while still being pretty unusual. They seem to go so well with so many things in my wardrobe (fate!) and I can't decide which outfit is my favourite so I took a few extra pictures. So, yeah. Enjoy more of my face!! This one is pretty much my favourite combination of shirt and cardigan, only with these trousers instead of a skirt. When you find a formula, stick to it I guess.

Top & headscarf - both vintage, earrings - H&M, poor lighting - me.

This top is new as well, I bought it just before I came back to Sheffield from my favourite (and like, only decent) vintage shop in Newcastle for very cheap. It's quite oversized and floaty so it doesn't really photograph very well, but I'm kind of obsessed. I love the ridiculous clash of pink and red tones here. Still works though (not that I'd be bothered otherwise, obviously!).

I have lots of things I really want to post about (and lots of work to do avoid), so hopefully I will be back in this internet space soon.

Deckchair life

Hey! Long time no see (sorry sorry sorry!).

I bought this skirt at a vintage fair last weekend, it is several sizes too big but I couldn't say no to something cute in pastel (will I ever?) and it's tied within an inch of its life at the back.

I haven't taken pictures outside for like, ever, and I think it's very obvious why: squinting all over the place and very flyaway hair. But it was SUNNY! Also this gives you the chance to see my Desperate Housewives-esque very plain lawn, including dead trees and shrubs planted by other people.

The stripes really remind me of the ones you see on deckchairs in historic seaside towns, ones from washed out 1950s postcards from Blackpool or Margate. Faded but still resolutely summery. Do they even come in those colours any more?

(Really, really have to get better at hiding that remote, don't I? Anti-professional til the end I guess.)

I've been buying a lot of pieces lately that are a lot more comfortable than things I used to wear. Less polyester nighties and more comfy long skirts and trousers. I feel like I'm in a really transitional period in terms of my style right now, which is why I need to actually get my act together and document it more on here, I don't want to miss it!

Adorable jelly shoes from Asos that are 100% going to be driving my aesthetic this summer. They have them in lots of shades, but obviously the pink was too perfect to ignore.

Blouse - vintage/DIY, skirt - vintage, socks - Topshop, jelly shoes - Asos.

I'm trying to organise my time a bit better recently, spending less time faffing around and actually doing things which I love and that are actually productive. This past week I've been watching all the Wes Anderson films I haven't seen before, organising all my saved likes into a Pinterest (which you can have a look at if you like, but it's mainly for me to collect things so I have a solid set of references) and I've actually been doing some exercises. I've also been planning things for the ~future~, because I have to accept that I am 21 now, apparently. Positive vibes, etc etc.

Fairytale realities.

I know London fashion week was aaaages ago, but I have been thinking about Ashish's Autumn/Winter collection pretty solidly since then and I really wanted to write something about it. Or, I really wanted somewhere to blurt out some of my incoherent fashion feelings about it.

Oh gosh. So pretty, so many things to say. Frothy, sugary, ruffly goodness in the sweetest pink possible. The glittery patterned underskirts and blunt edges are killing me. Actual 21st Century, post-heiress/post-Bling Ring looks. So, so dreamy.

I am definitely not one for monochrome but these beautiful, glittery creations could change my mind. I think iridescent, sparkly white is becoming one of my favourite concepts, I actually just bought a pair of glittery socks that look a lot like this skirt fabric and I can't wait to put them on and pretend to be wearing this outfit. I love that you can see the lights running through the skirt on the right, it kind of feels like an off duty princess in a dubious nightclub kind of outfit. Also, tiaras as an everyday accessory are starting to seem more and more plausible.

I love these outfits so much! They're so 90s avant garde princess I can barely handle it. The all over body denim frills are killing me, and the chunky gold chain & pearl straps are something I really want to DIY (but will definitely fail at miserably). I feel like this collection is really innovative, I mean I've never seen anything like this before and it's so, so beautiful. The second look is incredible, how does that crop top manage to look so floaty and spiky at the same time?! And these are possibly the only pair of sweatpants I can ever see myself wearing.

All the sparkles and the denim really reminded me of Missy Elliot's outfits in this video:

Missy forever, etc. Early noughties style is so coming back in and I love it. Cannot wait for all the sparkly things from my youth to start being sold everywhere.

I love the mix of casual/sportswear shapes with the unbelievably decadent, dripping sparkles everywhere. The outfit on the right was so beautiful going down the catwalk, I was just sat watching in awe. I like how you can see the light up platforms more here too, apparently Ashish are doing a collaboration with Topshop soon and a version of these shoes will be available in the collection! Keeping my eyes peeled for news of this way in advance.

These looks are so good I honestly feel like I might be tearing up. I need an all sequin two co-ord or mini dress in my life like, now. The pearl and gold bead edging on these pieces feel so regal to me, I don't know about anyone else but I am getting a serious Elizabeth I vibe from the neckline on the right.

Also, I'm kind of obsessed with the blonde model! She's amazing and I adore her hair. I'm pretty sure she walked for Meadham Kirchhoff this season too, so obviously I'm even more in love with her now.

This is my favourite look of the collection, I genuinely gasped when I saw it coming down the catwalk. Layered sequins and layers and layers of sparkly, wedding cake netting. Breathtaking, really.

Hair, beautiful hair, that is like pre-makeover Mia Thermopolis meets St Vincent meets pastelgoth. So many goals I can't even tell you about them.

I actually wrote a piece featuring this collection for the Sheffield uni women's magazine, which you can read here. At the meeting, my editor said she thought of me as soon as she came up with the fairy tale idea. My reputation for glitter and pink as everyday looks clearly precedes me.

(Picture sources, all style.com except for the last one which is from tumblr)

Glitter clown.

Hey! Told you I'd be back super soon. Actually being true to my word this time!!

This outfit is one of my favourite things I've put together recently, I'm kind of obsessed. I bought this skirt about a year ago but I don't think I ever showed it to you. It makes me feel a tiny bit like Cher Horowitz, which can only ever be a good thing.

I'm really into the mix of textures in this outfit, the shiny/matte weirdness of the skirt just works against the rougher patterns in the jumper & tights. Also, I like how the hearts and the little sections in the jumper knit are vaguely the same size. The little things, you know?

I have been so into glitter eye make up recently! I bought three pots of glitter from this ebay shop last month and I think I'm definitely going to stock up on some more because they're so cheap and really pretty. This one is lavender, although you can't really make that out here.

Also, I told you I'd be going back to pink didn't I? Just can't stay away from that candy floss girl aesthetic, I guess.

(Your girl is terrible at make up/face shots)

Jumper - vintage, skirt - ASOS, tights - ASOS

Dorky pose because I am super cheesy and perfectly okay with it.

Care bear style tips and life goals.

Jumper - Topshop, skirt - Meadham Kirchhoff for Topshop, necklace - Tatty Devine

I bought this jumper on a whim while lazily browsing the sale section in Topshop. I thought it was absolutely adorable, like it was made of care bear fur or something. ("It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" basically). I bought it mainly because I thought it would be really funny to wear this with my hair exactly matching the colour, and it is! I like to think of my outfits more thematically these days (not every day, and particularly not when I've left myself only 20 minutes to get to a lecture), and this seemed so dreamy.

This jumper is one of those pieces that just feels to easy to wear, so many things in my wardrobe gravitate towards it. This necklace is one of them. My mum gave it to me for Christmas and I have barely taken it off since. It's so beautiful and goes with so many things - it's iridescent so it changes colour depending on what the light is like or what I'm wearing it with. I know you can't see it that well here (I forgot to take proper close up photos because I'm terrible), but I'm planning on doing a proper post dedicated to some new piece of jewellery I've acquired lately. I went through a weird period of not wearing any at all, but I've got back into it in a big way recently.

My hair isn't green any more, but I still really like how my hair matches the jumper exactly here. I like being able to have an obvious charter of my life. I like this as a perfect snapshot of who I was at this point in time. I am 21 now, but I was 20 here. I believe in constant reinvention and re-evaluation of myself. I used to be so static and so set in my ways, convinced that I was always going to be the same and that I didn't need to change. I think I was scared of growing up, scared of becoming an adult when basically I didn't really want to be alive. But I'm more positive about my capacity for change now, I am even excited by it. I did not like this hair colour, but also I loved it because it allowed me to really think about who I consider myself to be. Does that make sense? I mean that even though I didn't particularly liked it, it let me see other versions of myself. I like being able to literally see myself changing, and hair is such an obvious way to see that change. I feel like I really needed that,  I have relaxed a lot more now and I am not as precious about myself. By that I mean, if my hair looks rubbish, it looks rubbish. I kind of revel in it, actually? Like here I love that my roots kind of match my eye liner. Time passes, things change. This is just a moment and it will pass, but the strength that I have now will only get stronger.

I'm writing this quite late, can you tell? I'm going to go to bed now, but I will see you soon for more outpourings of my heart in relation to clothes.