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.

Cherry Blossom

These photos are super old now, but I thought I would show you all what I bought from the Meadham Kirchhoff collaboration with Topshop!

I set my alarm to make sure I was up in time for all the pieces to be released online, even though I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted I didn't want anything to sell out! I deliberated over the eye print dresses for a while, but decided my bank balance would not have been very pretty afterwards so I bought this pastel pink rainbow skirt! I'm so pleased with it, the pattern is so subtle and pretty, the lace at the bottom is a really lovely touch too.

(I actually wrote some things about the collaboration for the student magazine, the news piece is here & the little review is here)

The label from my skirt! When I was searching through pictures of the collection I was so sure I would be a Cherry Blossom as the (obviously, pastel) pieces seemed the most suited to my wardrobe. I've kept this label & put it on my bedroom wall, just taking my MK love that extra step further <3 p="">

Goofy/terrible poses forever. I wore this outfit to go hand an essay in & then sit in the library. I really like dressing up to go to the library, feeling like I'm dressed super cute always helps me work I think. Or, at least makes me get distracted by my own reflection in my laptop screen (sadly not really joking here!).

Blouse - vintage/DIY, cardigan - charity shop, skirt - Meadham Kirchhoff for Topshop, tights - Topshop, hairband - DIY.

I've gone off this hair colour recently (I'm going back to pink soon!), but I really like it here.

This skirt fits so perfectly with my wardrobe, I'm so excited to try it out with different pieces! I bought it in a size down because Topshop skirts always seem to sit on the hips and I much prefer being able to wear high waisted pieces.

I also bought the glittery stripey tights, cherry socks & this eye print tshirt, although I did send up sending the tshirt back because the shape didn't quite feel right to me.

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I know I said I would be back to posting more regularly, but then... didn't, but I have a new laptop now (my other one tragically, finally bit the dust a few weeks before Christmas) so I will hopefully be able to post more often! See you soon xx

Washed up.

Hello! Just a short post this time to show you my new(ish) hair colour & new favourite blouse.

I have been wearing this outfit so much lately! This picture is super washed out (sorry) but the blue in the skirt matches the blue of the blouse almost perfectly, and the whole outfit seemed to fall together when I dyed my hair a shade up.

The blouse has such adorable alphabet embroidery in light blue, aqua and white. I think it might be a children's blouse as it's pretty tight (and kind of unflattering tbh, but that doesn't bother me!) and has a weird sizing label. It only set me back £4 and it's just so cute!

I did really like this colour initially, but I've gone off it a lot now & I'm pretty sure I'll be going back to pink/lilac soon. It was a good experiment though and I'm glad I did it, just so I could see what it was like having sea monster hair for a little while. Also, it matches my glittery blue eyeliner exactly! FYI, I used Bleach London dye (available in Boots) in Washed Up Mermaid mixed with conditioner but it still came out pretty bright. The colour has lasted quite a long time but it's pretty patchy as it develops so quickly on your hair.

Next post is going to be featuring my Meadham Kirchhoff x Topshop pieces, eek! Prepare yourself now for some next level twee-ness.