B L A C K AND G O L D BIRTHDAY

As my last post was about my birthday activities I thought I would do a post about my birthday presents. I was a very lucky girl.

Firstly these black and gold heeled sandals were not technically a birthday present but I bought them using Topshop Gift cards I got for christmas so they're technically a gift. I have very odd shaped feet, they're creepily pointy and narrow. Therefore I find heels, well shoes in general a bit of an issue because my feet slide out. Therefore I usually always chunky heeled boots with strapping in facilities. BUT I couldn't resist these beauties, they have a strap to hold my ankle and I loaded the soul with those cushiony things to help fill the space. I decided on these heels over other barely there varieties and they have a chunky heel. Stilettos look very pretty and ladylike but are not practical for people like me with bambi legs and no balance walking on the cobbled streets of Chester. I wore them out for my birthday meal, ripped my ankles to shreds, got huge scabs but it was worth it. I still love them.

Secondly my Whistles bag, I have admired the Whistles clutches for a while. After my boyfriend asking repeatedly what I wanted for my birthday I decided on this clutch bag. Its got a great shoulder strap, that could also be used as a necklace as my boyfriend pointed out......... The classic black colours means it will go with most of my outfits but the patent croc effect adds a bit of interest. All round winner basically.

Lastly Russel and Bromley Grosvenor shoes, after explaining my weird feet the problem also applies to day wear shoes. Mum and Dad are fed up of me complaining about my feet hurting all the time so they bought me good sensible shoes for my birthday. Luckily for me the ones I choose are comfortable AND look nice. I decided to go for the black and gold pair and not the red as black will go with more of my clothes. I like the masculine edge that can be worn with skinny jeans and edge up a floral dress.

Chester Zoo (is the best)

It was my birthday last week and my boyfriend came to visit (life story over). Soooo after deliberating for a long time, analysing the pros and cons of not that many options (not much to do around here) we decided to go to CHESTER ZOOOO. I haven't been for years and I have to say I was not disappointed, most of the animals came out to play and it didn't rain so all around thumbs up really. Instead of posting a million 'it looked better in real life' pictures I have just uploaded my favourite animal...... the red panda. I was first introduced to this beautiful creature a few years ago when they arrived at Chester Zoo. My friend from school took a picture of one, brought it into school and everyone agreed if I was an animal that is what I would be. From that moment I have felt a strange bond with them..... probably my imagination. 

Not sure if its just me that does this but I try and dress up a bit more that usual on my birthday. Keeping this in mind I decided to wear the fluffy hat that has been lurking around my bedroom collecting dust balls since Christmas. I'm still not sure if I look ridiculous in it but it was my birthday and it kept my head warm so hey ho. The picture below isn't really the best outfit post picture but it will do, I wore my trustee Topshop boyfriend coat I bought a trillion years ago. Double sided Zara scarf (best investment of winter eventhough the rest of Chester bought it also grrrrr), Topshop mom jeans and cut out boots that you can't see. Not forgetting my Michale Kors bag, very nice surprise Christmas present from Santa/my mum (she has good taste). Everyone go to the ZOOOOOOO!

Another picture of my face and some pretty pink flamingos that were annoyingly noisey. Felt sorry for the monkeys living next to them.

Long awaited outfit post

I haven't blogged for a while but since my last post I have acquired some "wish list" pieces I've had my eye on for a while. This jumper being one of them. I originally saw this sweater in one of those lovely Asos magazines us customers get in the post. It was paired with a floor length mermaid like sequinned dress and a massive black floppy hat, I instantly thought, I NEED THAT OUTFIT. Unfortunately I couldn't justify a sequinned gown soooo I just bought the top. It is a Cheap Monday sweater with a jersey body and transparent chiffon sleeves (well more organza for the fellow fashion design students out there). I'm a bit of a bargain hunter when it comes to clothes. I don't have a bottomless pot of money but I like new things so I tend not to spend over £30 on tops. I do sometimes have to make exceptions though for items such as this. I was willing to pay more for the unusual design detail and quality of the fabric and colour. Instead of the usual black sweater there is a slight plummy tone to it which is highlighted more on the sleeves. Sine investing in a Cheap Monday piece I have been looking more at their other stuff. I like how simple and relaxed their garments look but they have subtle details that set them apart from the usual high street jersey basics. I would recommend a look!

Asos Cheap Monday Sweatshirt

Onto the necklace, since I bought this in the summer I have barley taken it off. I found the brand Delilah Dust whilst scrolling through Instagram, I instantly loved all their pieces. As a child I found myself being forced to look at rocks on days out, some pretty some not. My brother has ended up studying geography and other rock related  things at university so that probably explains it. I used to collect the pretty crystal ones.,more girly that the fossils my brother had. Therefore when I saw this brand I fell in love as it reminded me of them. After alot of debating, it was a hard choice, I went for a lovely white stone on a gold chain. I thought it would go with more of my outfits, which has turned out to be right as I wear it with most things. Unfortunately this story has a sad end, last week I wore it to work (got lots of compliments) but the chain snapped. I'm so disappointed. So if Delilah Dust if you're listening please can I have a new one or a magic wand to fix it.....?

Delilah Dust

Lastly my jeans and boots. I noticed alot of celebs sporting the slashed knee look so I thought I would do a DIY job. I bought a pair of black skinny jeans from Primark, i think they were £7ish. Cut a slash in the knee and bobs your unlce! As I've been wearing them more they are getting to look more distressed. Not sure how they will survive the wash we will have to seeeeeeee. The cut out boots are my trustee companions from New Look, there is previous blog post about them if anyones interested :)

 P.S Please excuse the backgroud to these picture. I still haven't found a good place to take them.

Camel + Pastel

I recently added a 'must have' camel coat to my already extensive collection of outerwear, oooops. I did think carefully about this purchase but it was too much of a bargain to leave. Its from French Connection but I bought it from ASOS.com, £150 down to £83!!!!!! (I know). In my defence I have wanted a smart camel coat for ages but instead I bought a practical puffa coat to wear for work, which I don't regret as its kept me nice and toastie walking to work. I instantly fell in love with this camel beauty so it had to be. Below I have pictured myself wearing the coat with some other recent additions to wardrobe. Underneath I am wearing a knitted cream cropped polo neck jumper from...... Primark for £3, again I couldn't leave it there. The scarf I'm wearing is from Reiss, I think the powder blue compliments the camel colour perfectly! Again the scarf was another bargain, I definitely have sale eyes, £20 down from £79. It does tend to malt all over my clothes therefore I have learnt not to wear it all day but for an impact outfit its great. I paired this outfit with black high waisted leggings and heels (not shown) my everday hint of berry lipstick and gold hoop earrings that I have worn everyday for 2 years now, my babies. Hope you like this combo as much as I do :)

Primark cropped cream jumper.

The coat has a cross over double breasted front with big black buttons, not the best of photos but shows the whole coat. Here is a link to the Asos website if anyone is interested in purhcasing.

French Connection Lisetta Coat

Reiss powder blue scarf.

Pyjama suit

Soooo I thought I would post some pictures of my Saturday night outfit. In the January sales I purchased the patterned top and trousers pictured. Both from Zara, the top cost £22.99 and trousers were £29.99. My sales eyes were definitely out and drawn to those pretty orange sales stickers in Zara. I love print, especially floral like this one so I was drawn to it automatically. I'm usually not too frightened about wearing what I want but in the fitting room I was conscious that it looked like I was wearing pyjamas...... Putting this thought to the back of my mind I bought it (well thats pretty obvious). This was just after christmas, I haven't had an opportunity to wear the infamous outfit that was lurking in my wardrobe until Saturday night. It was cold and rainy therefore didn't fancy getting my legs out so I went for it. Luckily I didn't get any drunken abuse and was allowed into the club we went to so I think it was a success...... Let me know if anyone agrees or disagrees. P.S I apologise for the bad photo's, I'm not great at the whole picture taking thing and my dad was in charge of the camera. I accessorised my outfit with a French Connection necklace, also a sale purchase. An Asos navy blazer and Boo Hoo buckled platform boots (which I love). I also wore my bright orange Chanel lipstick show in the last picture.

Over Your Shoulder

I'm hoping to post a January/ Christmas haul post up soon, show off some of my bargains. Just need to convince and teach a family member how to take decent photographs..... could take a while. So for now I'm just going to share this song because it makes me smile when it comes on in work :)

Looking back at old work

Having a bit of a nostalgic day today remembering uni work so I thought I would re post some old pictures from one of my sketchbooks. The images are a bit out of date now but I still find them interesting.  

This is a photo shoot I found in Dazed and Confused August 2010. I liked how the images had been made to overlap and create different patterns and illusions, reminded me of the photos I took on the train using reflections. I liked this effect so I decided to cut the images up and jumble up the images even more contrasting colours and shapes. 

 The first image is taken form a photo shoot in Flux magazine, Issue 73, the shoot was titled Possessed. I love everything about these images. Throughout the shoot the male models have a real feminine edge to them and in some they wearing heels, exploring the boundaries between male and female fashion.

The middle image is a Raf Simmons advert, it felt this was a very eery and powerful image portraying the idea of restriction and being unidentifiable.

I found the images on the left in Pigeon and Peacocks magazine, Issue 1. I think that they also give of a creepy possessed feel, the lady in the images seems lost and confused which creates a really mysterious atmosphere.

These are images I took myself during a very boring train journey. At first I was just messing around but after looking at the images I realised that I actually quite liked them. The mixture of blurriness and sharp injections of light reminded me of the images from Flux magazine (previous image). I also like that in some images it looks like there are two scenes on top of each other, I think it gives a mysterious feeling to the images. In the end that train journey turned out to be quite productive.