OOTD: Favourite Jacket

I went out for an extremely British pub dinner with a friend last night, and thought it the ideal occasion to whip out the Doc Marten patch jacket from Cow Vintage that I received for Christmas. It’s crazy, has shoulder pads, and is fabricated from every material conceivable and shamefully, this is the first time I have worn it! I spotted this jacket while in Paris by chance in an outerwear edit on Cow’s Twitter feed and was infatuatedddd! However, the state of my finances couldn’t quite hack the hit and so I decided to frantically call my father overseas and request it as a Christmas gift. Being vintage and therefore one of a kind, time was clearly of the essence, I waited with baited breath, a sweaty brow and curtain-twitching anxiety for confirmation of its purchase via a Facebook message from my sister. As you can probably guess, this mini-saga had a positive outcome and here I am, happy as Larry, wearing the best jacket I have EVER owned. It’s stressful stuff, this fashion nonsense…

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Jacket Doc Marten from Cow Vintage

T-Shirt Eleven Paris

Shorts Levis from Urban Outfitters

Belt My mothers (cringe)

Boots Missguided

Earrings Paris vintage

OOTD: Gale force winds and a thigh-high splits…

Today was inarguably a reflection of my daily routine for the next month and a half. 6 long weeks loom before me until I set foot onto unfamiliar South American grounds and continue the whirlwind that has been my year abroad. As I sat in a Parisian style cafe in Moseley munching hungrily on baguette and sipping Earl Grey with my mother, life finally came to a delicious standstill and I was able to fully appreciate not only how blessed I am to have been able to spend 4 months in another country, but also to be back home with my family.

I’m not a partisan of the ‘New Year New Me’ trope, nor do I believe that within the space of 24 hours, we can completely transform our lives and become a sparkling, clean-cut version of ourselves that doesn’t lie, indulge or make mistakes in life. I do however believe that life, like my year has been a long process during which I have begun to discover those things that I truly have a passion for, express my creativity, develop my own confidence and self-belief and realise who around me truly count and deserve to be there. A process which I hope will continue as time goes on. So, in a rather Proust bites the madeleine-esque moment, I rapidly began to truly appreciate all of the experiences that life has offered me and I finally feel an overwhelming sense of contentment, of comfort, of acceptance and of happiness with myself. Something which at 16 years old, I never really thought I would ever achieve.

What does this have to do with my OOTD you may ask?? I suppose that the fact that there was a time when I would intentionally wear shapeless jumpers and joggers to hide my body, and use my hair to cover my face whilst staring at the ground says it in a few photos. I’ve reached a point where I am happy with myself, where the fact that I wear what I want means so much more than fashion, it’s an assertion of my own independence and right to live without worrying so much what other people think once I have left the room. So, in light of the New Year, here’s to new experiences, more mistakes, having a blast and DOING YOU. Amen.

  

 

Jumper Menage a Trois

Dress Missguided

Boots Missguided

Earrings French Vintage

Rings French vintage

OOTD: Studs n’ Sssnakeprint

I had a lovely catch up with one of my girlfriends from school today at Starbucks before heading to the shopping centre once more in search of that elusive once in a lifetime BARG. For yet another day of retail therapy and girly shenanigans I whipped out this vintage leather effect snake print 80s style blouse (I just love how many fabulous words can be crammed into one description of it), jeans so tight my blood stopped flowing and a studded hairband which I scooped up in the sales a few days ago. Top this off with some rather impractical yet glamorous sssnakeprint platforms and I was good to go. I actually picked them up along with an identical pair in shimmery silver for a grand total of £24.00 from New Look, which even at this point blows. my.mind. Despite a blue-toed and rather slippery transition from the car park to indoors I really like this look as I felt that I was channelling an 80s pop diva what with those billowing sleeves and chunky accessories…(though I caved and cut out the shoulder pads.) Strangely enough, Sinitta held an 80s glam themed dinner party on Celebrity Come Dine With Me tonight, #meanttobe #somacho.

Headband Discount pop-up store at my local shopping centre

Necklace H&M

Blouse Kilo Shop, Paris (Vintage)

Jeans Zara

Shoes New Look sale

Watch Casio

Purse H&M

OOTD: Braving the Sales

Following a post-Christmas come-down I figured it was high time to leave the house and brave the sales in the hopes that I may snag the bargain of a lifetime amidst the heaps of fringed crops of Summer ’12, floral leggings not so cruelly cast away into storage and neon beanie hats that, despite their gariness still seem to tickle my fancy even now. Unfortunately, none of the merchandise at my local shopping centre siren-called my name as it normally does but I did enjoy a rather lovely chai latte post-shopping to alleviate the trauma of navigating the waves of shoppers.

To prepare me for battle I went for a simple and extremely comfortable layered look, and topped it off with my new favourite coat and, as my mother would say, leather clodhoppers (that word totally doesn’t exist within the English language but I get the message either way.) Chunky boots firmly strapped to my peepers I was ready for war/shopping….

 

Anti-food bebe Christmas Look

A very merry belated Christmas to everyone! After a whirlwind couple of days of incessant consumption and Christmas shenanigans I’m feeling extremely inspired and motivated and ready to get back into some form of routine here in England. Let’s start with my Christmas outfit! Keeping in line with an unintentional ‘all black everything’ theme my sisters and I embraced our dark sides this year. I opted for a simple vintage black dress with a sweetheart neckline and a crochet neck insert. By pairing it with ‘tame’ heels and a dark lip, I preconceived a kind of sexy 20s siren look, though in reality I’m still as baby-faced and camera-awks as ever! Enjoy!

Dress Vintage

Shoes New Look

Lipstick 5th Avenue by Dior

OOTD: That time Natasha came to take me home <3

Fridge cleared, suitcases packed, and 10 pounds over my original weight, I am spent up and ready to haul myself across the Channel and back to good ol’ Brum. Fortunately for me, my parents and sister have come over to help me take the shameful abundance of Parisian purchases that I have seem to have accumulated at a monstrous rate all the way back home….babes.
My final post in the City of Lights inronically features not myself but my beautiful younger sister who seems to have blossomed over the 4 months that I haven’t seen her. She rocked up at my door looking so lovely I couldn’t not feature her on my blog. So here she is! I’ve missed ya Tash!

Coat Urban Outfitters

Top Urban Outfitters

Skirt Topshop

Shoes Aldo

Earcuff H&M

Gloves Birmingham German Markets

OOTD: Weekend in Toulouse

Last weekend I went to visit a friend in the beautiful French city of Toulouse….Based in the university quarter of Chapou, we spent our time exploring the city, rummaging through its numerous side-street vintage stores and indulging in every form of cream-filled pastry within our sights. Here is the outfit I wore on the Saturday, a grid print 60s style monochrome dress with a grey sweater to prepare me for the freeze and comfortably conceal my imminent ‘bebe de nourriture’…

Jumper H&M
Dress Oasap.com
Necklace H&M
Shoes ASOS
Bag Urban Outfitters
Nail polish Topshop nail laquer in Green Room

Style Crush: Lorde

This doe-eyed impossibly stylish/talented teen stormed onto the music scene with her debut single ‘Royals’ and hasn’t looked back since. Her voice, songs and performances are so incredibly mature that it’s rather difficult to believe that she’s 16. You see, at the ripe old age of 20 I still really really REALLY wanna be her friend! Asides from her obvious style she is  gradually blossoming into a contemporary style icon for teens, with her edgy dress sense correlating perfectly with her alternative sounds. Her style in 3 words??? Sultry, gothic regal.

Lorde’s debut album ‘Pure Heroine’ is out now and I highly recommend giving it a listen.

Also check out her cover of Kanye’s ‘Hold My Liquor’…PERFECTION.

Budapest Streetstyle

 

The beautiful Olivia looking extremely trendy on a recent long weekend to Budapest. Travel post to follow!!

OOTD: From one rain-ridden city to another…

Today I planned to do a little sight-seeing and a lot of walking to work off the copious amount of carb-babies I have consumed this week. You can imagine my dismay when the heavens opened just as I was about to leave the house. People complain about Manchester being a city in a permanent state of humidity but seriously, it rains a lot here rendering it really hard to dress appropriately yet attractively.

Today I decided to wear my favourite UO shirt tied over the ol’ reliables, my Zara jeans. The heat was really just compensating for a depressing lack of umbrella but I actually quite like it! I also opted for a simple red lip and minimal eye to add a bit of colour to an otherwise grey and abysmal day. I have to say, Mac Amplified lipsticks are stubborn as hell and last and last and LAST. Upon arriving home, my afro had emerged, my foundation was in a puddle on the floor and my water had got into my boots (fml) but alas, my lips were as red and flawless as ever. I seriously recommend.

 

Hat H&M

Necklace Claire’s

Jeans Zara

Boots

ASOS

Ring Mockingbirds