Ugly/cute

Hello! This is just going to be a quick little post to show you some new shoes I have acquired recently! I so rarely buy shoes, I genuinely think that on average I buy a pair every year, or maybe even every other year. I am incredibly picky, and also have really awkward feet (skinny size 6 and a halfs, urgh), so when I finally find a pair that I love I wear them until the soles are falling apart. As a result, my shoe collection is rather sad looking. I wear my brogues an awful lot, but I often feel like my lack of variety in the shoe department lets my outfits down. Anyway, I was lucky enough this year to be given two lovely pairs of shoes for my birthday!

I have been musing on purchasing a pair of Doc Martens for a while now, and I asked my Dad for these ones from their website. They are so cute! They have lots of floral patterns, but I feel like this is a fairly unusual one. I really like the delicate red flowers on the clunky, iconic shape and they look so cute with my frilly socks! (Of which I have bought literally six more pairs)

Before I started wearing these, I was really worried about getting blisters as I've heard they take a while to break in, but I've actually been alright! They fit really well too, which is a dream when you have difficult skinny feet like I do.

I also got another pair of shoes for my birthday, but this time from my flatmates and some of the girls I'm living with next year. They are so adorable, and I was so surprised as I didn't think they were going to get me anything! I love these, they feel quite schoolgirlesque, but a lot cooler than the hideous things I used to wear in school.

I really like the ugly vs cute dynamic these shoes have going on, I like the idea that people won't be able to work out if I'm wearing these because they're sweet or tough.

Both pairs look so adorable with socks, especially my new glittery socks! These are the lilac pair, but I also have them in blue and mint green.

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By the way, I have Instragram now! I have no idea what I'm doing, but my username is strawberry_charlotte if you want to follow me (:

Dorothy

Hey guys! I'm posting again in under a month, let the celebrations ensue!

I bought these shoes for £2.99 in a charity shop quite near where I live in Sheffield. They are so cute and glittery! I literally couldn't believe my luck when I saw that they were my size, for a couple of weeks before buying these I was looking for some plain red shoes to do a glittery DIY with, but now I don't have to.

(This is me tapping my feet together in a "There's no place like home!" manner)

I wore them with my green tights to channel the Wicked Witch of the East, and the schoolgirl socks (that I actually wore as knee high socks when I was five?!) to channel Dorothy herself. I really want to put together a whole Wizard of Oz inspired outfit, perhaps with a blue gingham dress and my Glinda necklace from this post (and almost every other post ever).

They don't seem like they've ever been worn, they are pretty unscuffed and new looking. I'm going to try an wear them in around the house to stretch them a bit as they are a little stiff and uncomfortable. Very Christmassy though, so I might wear them to trot around the house in a glamourous (and annoying) way.

Happy Christmas!

Tassels

Sorry it's been such a while since my last post! I've been waiting for lots of little parcels to arrive so I can post about them, but they seem to be taking forever! I really hope they haven't got lost in the post. Anyway, two parcels arrived today & I am going to show you one of them! (The other one I'm going to do a post with some other pieces I'm waiting for as they go together quite well)

I don't really buy things from ASOS all that often, but I saw these shoes in this post and I thought they were so cute!

I really love the tassels and the pink and turquoise colour scheme! Pastels 4ever. The little heart detail at front is so sweet too.

I am so bad at buying shoes because I am really particular and fussy about what I like, I normally find it so difficult to find shoes I would be willing to wear. I did really need some new shoes (my poor Miss Selfridge shoes are looking rather worse for wear!), and I think these will be perfect for summer. They are made of canvas-y material too so they hopefully won't be ruined too quickly!

Sorry I haven't put these together with an outfit! I've been feeling really under the weather recently so outfit pictures are a bit of a no no at the minute. Hopefully I will be back to posting normally soon, thank you for sticking with me!

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.

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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.

get on your dancing shoes

"shoes must have very high heels and platforms to put women's beauty on a pedestal" - vivienne westwood.

 last night, i went to the opening of an exhibition of vivienne westwood's shoes at the bowes museum with my mum & my sister. my grandad is a member of the museum group so he got an invite, but decided it wasn't his cup of tea so gave it to us instead!

bowes museum leaflet & back of the invite.

it was a lovely evening, the bowes museum is a wonderful old building, but the new fashion & textiles gallery is surprisingly modern. the exhibition was amazing, the shoes there were incredible, although sadly i don't have any photographic evidence as cameras weren't allowed so you'll just have to take my word for it! vivienne westwood has always been one of my favourite designers (and i'm not really that into fashion so i don't have many), simply because everything she does is created with incredible skill.

some of my favourites from the collection were her toile print boot with dutch pottery patterns, the famous super elevated gillie which naomi cambell was wearing when she fell over on the catwalk & the biba shoe. also, the penis shoe made me laugh. i love that she has a sense of humour, & is always pushing boundaries within fashion. it was quite incredible as we were looking around the gallery because, as my sister said, so many elements in her work have been filtered down in the industry & you can still see their influences today, like the pirate shoe for example.

a postcard of the super elevated gillie & the front of the invitation.

the exhibition is there until july, so if you're in the area it's definitely worth a look! i find it quite funny that this exhibition has been to moscow & beirut, and will go to japan, new york & china, but i went to see it in barnard castle in county durham, bit of an obscure location.

here's what i wore, i didn't really have time to take proper outfit pictures because it's like an hour's drive & i was running late! the dress is from new look, & has a kind of cape thing going on, but i forgot to take a picture without my cardigan so you can't see it here, woops. the cardigan is from tesco & the tights are vintage. a random woman came up to me in the gallery & told me that she liked my outfit, i was pretty flattered seeing as most people there were very stylish, and loads of them appeared to be dressed head to toe in vivienne westwood!

and here is the lady herself on my wardrobe collage!

blue suede shoes.

hello again. i realise i'm getting a bit lackadaisical with posts again guys, & i do apologise but i've been working so hard on art lately i haven't really had time to do anything else.

due to this slight work addiction, all my shopping has been relegated to online browsing (apart from my little oxfam raid which i will write about at the weekend) & therefore i have bought some lovely new shoes.

the colour hasn't quite come out right on the pictures, but they are a wonderful mint green pair of boat shoes. or at least i think they are boat shoes, they are more loafer-y than i expected.

it's red nose today tomorrow & our school has a thing where we have to wear red, so i shall be wearing these with my paddington shorts & blackadder red nose day shirt as i think they will go together pretty well.

sorry for the short update again, but i am in so much of a rush these days. today i met my new spanish tutor who i'm going to start seeing evert thursday, which leaves me with only one free weekday every fortnight, urgh. but still, i do desperately need to get on with revision for my AS speaking resit so in the end it will all work out for the best. goodbye for now (:

i need a job, so i want to be a paperback writer

this is just going to be a quick post today, as i really can't think of much to say that wouldn't consist of incoherent rambling. hopefully i will have more to say later in the week.

a while ago (possibly for my last birthday), my mum bought me a voucher for a website which lets you customise a pair of shoes online by using different colours and/or adding pictures.

it took me a while to get round to designing my pair, as i was pretty unsure of what i wanted them to look like. in the end, i settled on a beatles picture. big surprise i know, but how could i not?

the shoes themselves look quite similar to converses & they are pretty comfy, only i need to buy some longer laces because i can barely fit the shoes on as the laces they have now make them too tight.

i left the rest of the shoes white because i wanted to be able to write things on them, although the material is a little tougher than i thought so i may have to sew onto them - challenge & a half.

i haven't worn these out yet, as i'm quite unsure what to put them with. i may take them on the art trip to london, as i need some comfortable shoes for walking (and because i have flat feet this is often difficult).

possibly one of my favourite pictures of the beatles, they were just so cute in the early years!

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i have had this blog for about two years now, & i think it's gone through quite a few changes, both in subject matter & in appearance. i feel like my confidence has grown slightly, both on this blog and in real life. i love writing & documenting my thoughts on here, but sometimes i feel it's slightly lacking. so, i was wondering if i could ask you, my darling followers, the kind of things you enjoy reading about on here & if you have any suggestions for  me to improve or enhance the content.

what do you like to read? or, what would you like to see more of?

• outfit posts
• recent purchases (jewellery, clothing, other things)
• artwork and other projects (like dressmaking or jewellery i have made)
• text posts about my life
• inspiration (about clothing, artwork, or people i find inspirational)
• music i love
• photographs from parties, holidays, trips or gatherings with friends
• other things (if you could specify, that would be lovely)

if you would make your thoughts known in the comments, that would be greatly appreciated. if you don't wish to, that is perfectly fine & i am sorry if you find this irritating, i honestly just don't want to get stuck in a rut.

obviously i intend to keep the content as honest as possible, so if there are things suggested that i just don't think are "me", i won't write about them as i don't want anything here to be false and untrue to who i am.

hopefully this exercise will bring me inspiration, and possibly more energy for thoughts from another kook, as often i am put off from posting things in case people will find them dull.

yours sincerely, the humble writer.

and sweet marie who waits for me

i just got back from my auntie's wedding yesterday, which was a two day event at their farm just outside of edinburgh. it was a really lovely day, & everyone was really happy & stuff (obviously) & there were many amusing moments. i met so many family members that i never even knew i had, second cousins, great aunts, cousins once removed! in fact, there was so many of us that the photographer had to break out the huge wide angle lens to fit us all in the photograph! i also got to see my family from australia who i haven't seen for six years, so that was really amazing.

this is the arch they got married under, my granny grew all the flowers & they put everything together themselves! i thought it was so cute that they decided to have the ceremony at their home.

i didn't take any pictures of the actual ceremony, but here is one from their dance routine. oh, which was to is this the way to amarillo? by tony christie. never let it be said that my family doesn't have a sense of humour.

how cute are the favours?! they were all handmade as well, by my long-suffering cousins. it's a little shortbread biscuit, which i don't think you can really see, that was lovely.

the homemade table decorations.

so, this is what i wore for the wedding! the dress is from dorothy perkins, the necklace & the hairbow were made by me & the tights are from primark.

the light on this one is a bit weird, but you can still kind of see the dress i hope!

i was sharing a hotel room with my brother for the night (which was thrilling) so i only had a few minutes while he was in the bathroom to take outfit photos.

here is the back of the dress. no, it isn't just an oops-i-forgot-to-look-at-the-camera moment.

i love the fabric of this dress, it's so swishy & awesome. i pretty much fell in love with it as soon as i saw it.

my shoes, avec the DIY ribbon ties, in more detail. you can see the tights a bit clearer too, the brother said i looked like i had warts all over my legs. seriously, that boy's a charmer.

of course, i couldn't leave the boy out! here's my brother's outfit for the day, or what i could get of it (he's a little camera shy).

i'm going away on wednesday to london for a few days, so i will try to schedule some posts for then. i knowwww i haven't put up my surprise yet because i get very distracted & i want to actually do it justice, but i do sincerely spologise because i promised i'd post it about a week ago!

curiouser & curiouser

my shoes for my auntie's wedding arrived today! (along with some really old music magazines about the beatles, but i won't bore you with my old man tastes!) they were from peacocks, which is actually a really nice place & still pretty cheap - my shoes were only £16 & they were pretty much exactly what i was looking for. yeah, suck it topshop!

i think they'll go nicely with my dress, as i don't want everything to be too matchy-matchy.

the only thing i might change is the little ribbon tie, as i'd quite like something in blue (no pun intended) to go with the dress.

now for the more exciting part of this post, to be revealed after the jump break! oh, the tension.

reach out, i'll be there.

OH MY GOD, it feels like it's been FOREVER since my last post.

i do sincerely apologise, i have just had so much work to do over the past week; i had a mock spanish oral on monday (which sucked), a mock psychology exam yesterday (which went alright i think) & a mock english poetry exam today (which went better than expected)! so pleased that's over & i can get on to doing things that i actually like; like prep for my art exam & my friend's birthday party on friday/saturday (happy birthday kate!)

i was also busy on tuesday night, as i was at a motown concert - which was a-ma-zing!

there were 4 groups playing; the three degrees were first. this was an all female band who i'd actually never heard of before but were actually very good! i didn't get any pictures of them though sadly.

the next group was the drifters (yes, i know the photo is a bit sucky), who were really really good! i'd only heard under the boardwalk by them before, but i loved the set they played. also, you actually can't beat a good turn, clap, kick dance routine or two!

it completely slipped my mind to take any outfit pictures so i'm afraid you'll have to make do with my accidental shot of my foot during the interval.

the next band were the four tops, yay! there was only one original member left (the guy on the far right) but they were really quite brilliant. if you haven't heard of these guys, i suggest you check them out as they do some wonderful soul songs. also - they wore the cutest sparkly suits!

the headline act; the temptations!

aaaaaahhhh i love these guys; and their incredibly awesome purple suits! they even had purple shoes on.

(i actually hadn't realised until now, the guy's head in front of me is lit up rather nicely!)

they were just amazing, it really was a fantastic night.

i hope i will be back with a few more posts soon, but times are so unpredictable at the moment that i just can't be sure.

tomorrow never knows

happy new yeaaaaaaaaar!

merry 2010 everyone, i now christen this decade: the tenties.

it sounds so much cuter than "the tweenies" don't you think? much less cbeebies.

my new year's eve consisted of driving to yorkshire to my auntie's house (the 31st is also her birthday) & playing a hell of a lot of beatles rock band.

my brother, my cousin and i were the best team, we managed to play shea stadium in the story :O

i also kicked some serious ass at singing.
hello 100% in lucy in the sky with diamonds, while my guitar gently weeps and here comes the sun!

it's also been craaaaaaaaazy snow here, like 9 inches thick!
oh my.
but school is cancelled tomorrow, woo!
as it is a new year (and a new decade), i need a few resolutions.
- be more hardworking. i am so lazy it's actually a little bit ridiculous.
- gain some weight. i have no idea how, but i am going to do this.
- spend more time with friends.
- take more pictures. i also plan on digging out my dad's SLR film camera.
- teach myself how to play guitar.
- buy more records.
- be more organised
- go to more concerts.
- discover more vintagey shops near me.
- do unusual things.
oh! and this is my 100th post, oddly appropriate don't you think?
PEACE OUT.

hallowe'en; part one

happy belated hallowe'en everyone!

my picnic was lovely, although i can't get any photos on here because my computer is being a bit difficult, so it's just an outfit post for now.

my face is a tad sickening in this picture.

nothing new outfitwise apart from my flowery shoes which arrived on friday much to my excitement.

tshirt - ebay, 99p

cardigan - h&m, £9.99

skirt - topshop, £10

tights - no idea, i think they were a gift from the mother

flower in hair - h&m, £1.99 for two

vintage necklace - 50p

i do love this skirt, i think it translates from summer to autumn quite well.

the shoes!

oh, i love them so much.

these are the cakes i bought for our picnic, they were so lovely!

i had about three today because we had lots left over.

they had the cutest little star, pumpkin & bat shaped sprinkles on, just lovely.