Looking Wagtastic in Next

I went to a wedding last Saturday and whilst there I noticed one of the guests was wearing a dress from Next that I had seen instore and pointed out to Chloe on our trip to London for her birthday.  When I saw it on Saturday, I was glad my daughter didn't buy it, I didn't like it on, it didn't look right with heels, strange, as I always love anything with ruffles and especially if it involves bright summer colours.

Then I saw a picture of Coleen Rooney in the same dress and it took on a whole new meaning for me. She may own Balenciaga by the bag load and have closets full of Chanel, but I always love it when people with loads of money, still mix it up with a bit of High Street fashion.

I soon realised what was wrong, although on the hanger instore, this dress lends itself to the idea of being worn with heels, but it actually looks far better with flat sandals, dressed down rather than up.

Then Chloe informed me one of her friends actually bought and wore this dress out to her birthday night  at Cafe de Paris, so I pinched a picture off of facebook!

OK I know this picture wasn't taken from a great angle, but I prefer it worn as a day dress, the necklace is not required and it is far more stylish with flat sandals, aviators and a top knot!  Go Coleen!

Style Stealers

I read an article accusing Alex Gerrard of stealing Cheryl Tweedy's style by wearing the same dress Cheryl was seen in at the Glamour awards, for Elton Johns white tie and tiara ball and that also she was even copying her loose side bun, hairstyle.  Take it from me, if you have different colour hair and copy somebody else's style it never looks the same. Alex's side bun is far more sleek than Cheryl's which is a bit too bouffant for my liking. That girl has mighty"big hair".

As you know I rarely think that Alex puts a foot wrong in the style stakes and I actually prefer the dress in the black colourway, as it enables her to wear those fierce heels!  It also shows off the underwear as outerwear trend more than Cheryls, which just looks like she is going for the safer Nude trend option. 

I often think Cheryl looks awful when she is doing the X Factor, almost as if she is trying too hard, although I have to admit she looks gorgeous here...

I am way too old to have a "Girl Crush" but all my friends will tell you, I love everything Alex wears!

Here she is wearing a white maxi dress and gorgeous Alexandra Wang bag.

Looking Cool whilst shopping in Chelsea, with a striped dress, Hermes bag and aviators.

Do you prefer Cheryl or Alex's look? and what do you think of Alex's daytime style?

How will the rise in VAT affect your shopping habits and a few things from the outnet!

I was gutted when I heard about the increase in VAT we can all look forward to (not) in January 2011.  A rise of 2.5% bringing us up to 20% on our shopping, not good news for (us) shopoholics!

I was already wondering what effects this would have on my future shopping habits, but Kate at makedostyle beat me to it with a great post, telling us how our wardrobes will need to work harder and there has never been a better time to think about a) investment dressing and b) wardrobe staples. 

Investment dressing is that great designer piece that will last you like, forever, the one great piece (usually a coat or dress) that will take you anywhere, from the office to cocktail parties and it doesn't have to be black! 
Wardrobe staples are the pieces that will mix and match to create a wardrobe of great basic pieces for classic styling, i.e. white shirt, jeans, black pencil skirt, grey t-shirt, Trench Coat, black pumps etc. They don't have to expensive, but you will always look classy in a neutral colour palette.

If you don't want to start buying from New Look, then Sale shopping may well become the only way to purchase for many, even for those who hate the sales!  I am seriously thinking that this will be the time that I will make most of my purchases and for in season shopping, thank God for theoutnet, a fashionista's bargain paradise where you can grab a steal, every Tuesday and Thursday. Who cares if it is last seasons or even last years, when you are shopping for basics, staples, or investment pieces, it doesn't really matter?

Just before the sale season got into full swing, I went online and nabbed a pair of Current Elliott "Dad" Jeans.  They looked like boyfriends to me, but when they arrived, I realised why they were called "Dad", because I guess your Dad is bigger than your Boyfriend and these are quite big, I could eat a few whole Victoria Sponge's and still fit in them! Also slightly looser on the leg and around the crotch, but I love them anyway!  I'm sure my neighbours will think they belong to OH when they are on the washing line! £53 reduced from silly money!

I also couldn't resist buying the See by Chloe smock top at the same time.  I wanted this on net-a-porter last season but didn't buy it and boy, am I glad I didn't, because I only paid £28 for it! A top that was originally way over £100 - what a bargain! It has slits in the puff sleeves so you see a bit of flesh and it is whiter than white, sounds silly I know, but you know how some things are really white? 

So what do you think?  Two great wardrobe staples that will last me for years? I think so, so I hope you agree. 

Sorry for the seriously crap picture, you just can't take them of yourself can you?  The jeans weren't rolled up properly due to the fact the tags were low down on the leg and I hadn't removed them at that stage, but you get the idea!

Do you think the rise in VAT will affect your shopping habits?

Panic Buying

I was in a complete fluster when the net-a-porter sale went live on Monday morning. "Why" I hear you asking, well it was because I only had 10 minutes before leaving for the school run and I was straight off to work afterwards!
I had a mental list of possible purchases, the lanvin chain flat gladiator sandals, a Angolmania Westwood dress, black heeled sandals and a black bag.
The Lanvins weren't reduced, the dress wasn't in my size, hardly any choice for black heels below £200, then I saw the bag.
Ever since my Chloe Heloise went on ebay (I only sold it because the rivets holding the handles on kept coming loose) I have wanted a new black one, but there wasn't much choice and price is more of an issue than it was when I used to have quite "high end" bags hanging off my arm, so when I saw this one, reduced  to £172, it seemed like such a bargain (which it wasn't, only 30% off), was a great size (I love a Tote) and I liked the chain handles, so I quickly bought it without thinking.

Its nice and roomy, has loads of pockets inside (see how I'm trying to convince myself) but at the end of the day, it may sound a bit snobbish, but its DKNY.  The smell of leather is intoxicating and it is so soft, but will I use it?  I so love my LV Neverfull, but should I keep thi,s just incase? what do you think?  Did I do the right thing spending the Family Allowance on it? OK don't answer that last question.....

Of course if I had had over £500 to spend, I would have bought this, without question....

Alexandra Wang Rocco now £522 at net-a-porter but sadly I didn't.  I only usually get bags as a combined Birthday and Xmas present, roll on December and the January sales!

Hot on the High Street

If like me you are all "washed up" when it comes to the high end, designer sales, maybe the item(s) you wanted weren't reduced at all, or if they were, they may have had a stupid percent off, or were totally sold out in your size, or possibly like me, (who has been in training not to make panic buys since I started this blog), you still went and bought something you are not sure you will use, well take a deep breath, and turn to the good old British High Street, as it may be time to fill those gaps in your summer wardrobe with some more purse friendly alternatives that will fit in nicely with your existing pieces.

I took a sneaky peek at phase eight last night only to find that a dres I had blogged about a while ago was now a fantastico bargainus £22! It slipped into my online shopping basket with ease!  I know its not particularly flattering for my body shape, but as I have told you many timnes before, I am a complete sucker for stripes, no matter what I look like in them!

Was £45 now £22.50

I also took a fancy to these navy shorts.  Not the highly covetable khaki or roll up leg style of the season, more a classic shape in a cotton sateen fabric that will look fab with my white see by chloe blouse and red/white stripe castaner rope wedges (one thing us apple shapes do have is decent legs, only trouble is mine are about as long as a four year olds!).

Were £35 now £17.50

Lots of lovely stuff on the site, wardrobe staples in the way of grey jersey tops for use whatever the season

Was £35 now £17.50

A breton top will see you through many a spring season, the nautical trend shows up on the catwalks year after year

Was £29 now £21.75

and it would look fab with the navy shorts and some ballet pumps, very madamoiselle!

If you haven't bought one yet, Maxi Dresses are going nowhere, they have been around for almost as many summer seasons as wedges have, and seem to have become a permanent fixture in our wardrobes

Was £99 now £74.25

I just love the print! and if you are not a fan of maxi dresses, then the same fabric has been used for this gorgeous skirt, a real riot of summer colour!

Now half price at £24.50!

So would you go for the navy options like me, or the luscious summer flower prints?

All items available now at Phase Eight

Camilla Skovgaard - bringing out the animal in you!

Following on from yesterday's post about those gorgeous black and chain sandals by Camilla Skovgaard, I was overjoyed to see that the two pairs of shoes she has designed for the Amanda Wakeley collection are also on Sale!  I have loved this style since I first saw them and have seen the brown ones on a few different blogs, although being a huge fan of animal print, it would be so hard to chose between the two!

Both colourways are half price and are reduced from £350 to £175 and are available from

amanda wakeley and surely that Tractor sole will do away with the need to wear "Party Feet"!

Camilla is fast becoming one of my favourite shoe designers, I really need a pair.  I did ask OH last night if he would buy me the ones I posted about yesterday, but I got a very stern "No" in reply.  Sometimes life really isn't fair!

Which pair best suits you?

Black Beauty

I didn't see these when I first logged on to the Matches sale the other day and as I have been expressing an interest in aquiring a pair of black sandals to add to my shoe collection, these beauties certainly fit the bill! Both edgy, sexy and a great sale price!

Camilla skovgaard Chain slingbacks, Was £305.00 Now £185.00 at Matches or £183.00 from net-a-porter. I know one blogging friend who would most certainly call these "bedroom or fuck me" shoes!

I fell in love with some Lanvin chain gladiator flat sandals on the harvey nichols sale but they sold out quickly and sadly they didn't get reduced on net-a-porter so by way of consolation,  I made a stupid Bag purchase which I don't want.  Buying a new bag is pointless, I still love my LV Neverfull too much and know I won't use it!

Talk about panic buying, the sale went live 10 minutes before I am due to leave before the school run, didn't they know I got up at five am especially?  I think I will return it and buy these shoes instead!

Did you bag a bargain at the net-a-porter or matches sale?

Royal Ascot Round-up

A bit sad to see that Declan Donnelly's girlfriend, Sky Sports presenter Georgie Thompson and the lovely and usually extremely stylish Louise Redknapp, thought that they had received an invitation to a Funeral rather than a day at the Races!  Georgie completes her look with what can only be described as a black doily on top of her head, whilst Louise does "Spanish widow chic" in a black lace number complete with Peplum, when her husband is alive and kicking, standing right next to her. Her headpiece looks like a cross between a black flying saucer and an assassinated Crow with a few funeral flowers thrown in for good measure! Come on ladies, bring a bit more colour to the event next time, it is supposed to be summer you know!

Amanda Holden tests out the new aerial for a soon to be released turquoise Telly Tubby.

This lady looks more like an extra from the set of Cranford in that dress - I don't know what Miss Matty would make of that Hat though!  I hope she didn't have to be sedated before she left the Nursing Home.

Enough of the bitching I hear you say, I know it doesn't become me, but sometimes I just can't help it, so now for some looks that I love, not celebs, just normal stylish ladies showing us how Ascot should be done!

I haven't found any pictures of our darling fortynotout, I hope she hasn't been arrested for taking someones eye out with her fascinator!

Some great personalised gifts, pictures and Michelle Keegan

Sorry to bore you with more details of my daughters 21st last week but there are a couple of things I wanted to share with you.  Firstly, my middle daughter (uni girl) is very thoughtful when it comes to cards and presents and spends hours trawling the net to find the perfect cards (usually customised) and gifts, and I was really impressed with this gorgeous Grazia style notebook which she ordered from http://www.gettingpersonal.co.uk/ and had personalised with elder daughters name.

A great gift for a fashionista of any age! but for me it would have to be one of these two....

and for my blogging friend Pearl, at Fashion Pearls of Wisdom, well what can I say other than that I hope someone reads this and buys it for you!

,

Secondly, elder daughters big night out at Cafe de Paris, went without a hitch (unlike Uni girls night at Funky Buddha, where although on the guest list, they still weren't allowed in).
Elder daughter had emailed Cafe de Paris to be put on the guest list months ago, she arrived with her friends but minus her email confirmation!  Luckily they were still allowed entry and one of her friends even blagged them VIP access (the cheek of the young eh?)

She was very pleased to have met Tina from Coronation Street (Michelle Keegan). I love this photo, it will be another great reminder of her 21st birthday, I couldn't do this post sooner as she hadn't uploaded the pictures.  Chloe is wearing dress by H&M bought out of utter desperation as everything she tried on that day looked awful and it was 6pm in the Oxford Circus branch when she was left with little option but to buy this and although I envy her for being so tall, its not always a good thing when all the dresses and skirts are way too short!

I just love it when Celebs are happy to have their photo taken with you and they don't make it look like it is a chore, doesn't Michelle look like a real sweetheart?

If you could choose a personalised notebook what would it say?

Looking slightly less than glam

At last!  A picture of Elle McPherson where she doesn't look stunning and perhaps her mission to make us fortysomethings feel really bad about ourselves, is finally over.  Although I am in my forties and have a rather painful problem with my right foot, luckily for me, nothing is visible, unlike the lump that has appeared on the top of Elle's foot!  It looks like a misplaced Bunion to me!  Actually it could be a Ganglion, I had one on the top of my hand when I was quite young, I remember the Doctor saying I should get someone to bash my hand with a Bible!  yeah like I had one!  or any large book will do apparently, you bash them then they disappear!  Judging by the size of her lump, an edition of War & Peace may be in order!  Ganglions usually appear near the wrist joints or on top of the foot, so looks like she may have one afterall and sadly they have nothing to do with age, oh well!

More Fantastic Sales bargains!

I actually started this post last night, with my hot picks from the Kurt Geiger sale which started yesterday...

Jen Large Flower was £260 now £89

Jada Clog was £150 now £59

 

Hibiscus Platforms were £140 now £69

Those sandals with the massive flower are stunning, the clogs I have loved since they hit the site and the gold cork platforms will see you through many a summer season to come!

Meanwhile so many other sales have started it would take me all day to start picking my favourite bargains from all the online retailers, so just a quick round up today folks!

From Harvey Nichols, I would chose the Halston Heritage Sac, in gold, was £155 now only £93!  A little piece of Halston for under £100 - thats banana's!
Don't be fooled that there are no big sale banners when you log onto the site, as soon as you choose your category, you will see the items are reduced.

From mytheresa.com it would have to be these Rupert Sanderson Estelle Sandals (notice how I am coveting some black sandals at the moment?). These are half price at £213.79, now thats what I like, a good old 50% reduction, none of this buggering around with 20 and 30% off!  Don't forget mytheresa is an international site, based in Germany so you have to enter the pound sterling currency sign at the top right of the page, for those of you who haven't shopped there before.  They also have Louboutins in the sale, so what are you waiting for?

Over at my-wardrobe.com you can shop by brand, item or discount.  I clicked on to the 50% and spotted this gorgeous wrap monochrome dress by BCBGMAXAZRIA for an amazing £63!  Wouldn't it go well with those Rupert Sanderson shoes above?  You had better be quick, it won't be around for long!  A designer wardrobe staple for less than you would pay on the high street - I die!

Victoria Beckham in Miu Miu

While the ever so stylish Victoria Beckham sports this gorgeous Miu Miu dress and skyscraper heels to take the kids to the playground in West London...

her bessie mate, Tana Ramsey is taking a leaf out of Posh's old fashion Look Book and sports flared jeans and cork wedges, a look which reminds me of Liz Hurley who used to be constantly photographed in white flared jeans.

As both women have had copious amounts of children (like me) between them, their figures are undeniably a reason of much envy by women like myself who can't afford a tummy tuck as they are being stitched back up after a c-section!

 In light of my recent post about Tess Daly and her weight loss since the sex text scandal surrounding her husband Vernon, it makes me wonder if these women, both married to men who have been accused of cheating in the past, keep their fingers out of the biscuit tin to keep their husbands from straying and fear of more scandal!

Do you think Victoria is overdressed for the occassion? Whose look do you prefer?

Swallow Print dress by Miu Miu £1,295 at net-a-porter

There couldn't be a worse time....

to be skint.  After a family meal out yesterday, OH and I actually wrote down all the money we had spent on Chloe's birthday, right down to wrapping paper, Claridges and the now famous Mulberry Mitzy Tote and the grand total came to a couple of quid shy of a thousand pounds!  Thats without the couple of hundred I spent on myself - yikes! We have Courtenay's 19th on Friday, just to add insult to injury and then what happens today?  I get home from work only to find that some of my favourite online shopping destinations have started their sales!  I write this post as I sob over the keyboard and Little Man watches The Simpsons (which shows I've been on here 2 hours now as its 8pm!). I should be washing up or ironing or something but sadly, I have had to check out the bargains on offer, just so that you know what I would buy, if only I could. The one great advantage of the Sales having gradually been bought froward from the traditional August date, is that we now have time to grab some holiday wardrobe bargains and there are plenty around already, so its not just the basic wardrobe essentials like Mac's, Jeans, white shirts and basic t-shirts you should be looking out for, as very often holiday clothes get brought out year after year.

I have till 9pm tonight to cancel the Sainsburys food shop, don't tempt me!

Totally loving this one shouldered dress from French Connection was £65 now £39.  This dress will travel way beyond your holiday and would see you through many a summer event.  It comes in 2 colourways, but I love bright blue with a tan!

These cotton harem pants are now half price at £35! They will be nice and cool for travelling with a short sleeve t-shirt, flat gladiator sandals and don't forget to wear your trilby, it will save it getting squashed in your case! For evening, team them with heels, a vest top and loads of junk jewellery! again from French Connection.

This will do nicely! Was £25 now £18, Multi Row Cuff

Don't be fooled into thinking you can only wear Sequins at Christmas! I would team this gorgeous DVF top with white skinny jeans and heels for evening, but you could casual it down with 3/4 length black jersey harem pants and flat sandals. Was £200 now £138 at Matches

and here are your go with anything, sexy black strappy sandal from Maxmara, my shoe collection is crying out for these! I can see them with all the pieces I have mentioned above and I am seriously lacking a pair of black sandals! was £438 now £298 at Matches

These YSL sunnies are in a similar shape to my Dior ones and they are on their 3rd summer and still going strong, so these will be a worthwhile investment. Was £160 now £112 at Matches

Every wardrobe needs a white denim option, say Matches and with my recent white skinny jean post, I couldn't agree more! Sportmax jeans were £128 now £88.

With City styling, these DVF shorts will work well with heels or flats, were £206 now £128 at Matches

This See by Chloe silk tank will go with the Harem's, white jeans and city shorts above, I feel a holiday capsule wardrobe coming on! was £258 now £180 Matches

I've blogged about these before, but I still love them and they deserve their place in my holiday "wishful thinking" wardrobe! They only have 20% off and are now £260 but they are Louboutin!

So all I need to do now is rob a bank and book my flight!

What is on your holiday wardrobe wishlist?

Oh and just so you know, Selfridges have Halston dresses reduced in their sale!