Well with having 5 days off over the bank holiday and a little bit of glorious sunshine i decided to venture into Nottingham for some much needed payday shopping. Now i came prepared, I'd researched on the Internet and noted down what items i wanted to buy/look at and calculated optimum shopping time – reasoned Monday 9am, hoping the shoppers would be too hung-over from the weekend to want to brace the crowds. After a bit of a tantrum from me due to an extreme case of bad hair day ended up arriving at due destination around 11.00 hours.
Now high on my hit-list was a new bag for work, something professional and classy that would also fit my new NetBook in. The contenders were Warehouse’s Satchel £85 – just back in stock in Tan and Black or Ted Baker’s Herby £119 available in Black or cherry red/raspberry. Now I've been in love with Warehouse’s satchel ever since it appeared in Look magazine and i was expecting it to be just as beautiful in real life, but i was v.disappointed. First of all i was expecting the structure of the bag to be quite hard, but it was more soft and slouchy and overall it didn’t look very expensive. I have a pet-peeve about bags looking cheap – complete no-no, that’s why i will never buy them online unless I've seem them in the flesh. Now even looking at the picture online I'm still in love and i only saw the tan version so hopefully the black one might look better and i may buy in the future. Now the Ted Baker bag i first saw in John Lewis and i was undecided as the price is slightly higher than i would usually pay, i was after the Herby with gold detailing but the store only had it with chrome/silver detailing again in danger of looking cheap.
The bag i did buy is from River Island £39.99 and it’s style is similar to a doctor’s bag, very in-keeping with the granny-chic trend as seen on the catwalk by Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs.
It looks very hard-wearing with the studs on the bottom, and brass detailing and features a mock-croc patent panel on the front and back complete with double handle and strap detailing for that Mulberry Alexa look.
One of the trends for Autumn/Winter ‘10 you should be rocking is leopard print so embrace your inner Bet Lynch and channel Dolce & Gabbana (it never went out of fashion for them), it’s all over the high-street right now. I picked up two pieces from H&M, a jersey open-fronted jacket and a scarf. The jacket i will be teaming with black and gold and staying strictly away from the red (unless it’s on the nails), you don’t want to look too sexy siren, think more smouldering temptress – understated elegance is so much more sexier!
In the first image the colours looks almost black and white but the print is the traditional leopard colours with the main background colour creamy beige as you can see in the second.
The scarf i picked up in the sale, strictly speaking it’s a sarong and was with the summer swimwear items. Again it’s the traditional beige, black, brown print but the background colour is a lilac/purple. As it is sold as a sarong the material is quite shear but having so much material means it’s hardly noticeable as a scarf. I predict this will become the most hard-working piece in my wardrobe this season, the flexibility of the piece is endless, neck scarf, head scarf, belt or come summer sarong! If you can manage to find something similar out there, the cost per wear makes it a bargain - £9.99!
Now i know leopard print is a very distinctive look and not for everyone so if you’re not feeling brave enough to wear it all over ( i don’t literally mean all over!) just accessorise, like with the scarf or a belt or look for a little bit of detailing such as on pumps or bags. Don’t forget to search through your wardrobe first though, i found i had 2 scarves – slightly different prints/colours mind and some Primarni pumps i haven’t worn for years – happy days!
On t0 work wear items i headed to Topshop where I’d seen some harem/peg leg trousers that would look great teamed with some mid-heel courts and a sheer blouse and blazer for the office. The trousers i purchased were Crepe Fold Over Hareem pants – i keep wanting to call harem’s pants instead of trousers for some reason – they’re navy blue with gold stud detail on the waist panel. I did try on a few pairs of harem/peg legs – a must to make sure they look right and not too MC Hammer-ish. I found this to be the best for me as they fit well around the groin area – not too much waste fabric there and just skimmed over my legs finishing at the ankle. I really like the turn-ups which makes them more fashion-forward, I've tried turn-ups on my peg-legs and it doesn’t look right with the way the legs are cut. The one fall-back is i think they will crease easily due to the fabric so one-wear only trousers.
The next item is a cream sheer Victoriana blouse, now i didn’t try this on and haven’t since but after finally searching for one without any lipstick or foundation marks - don’t you hate that, hello - surely it’s a sign they’re wearing too much make-up – i thought it would look great as a piece to layer up come Winter – I'm thinking gilet and jeans for casual and leopard print jacket and skirt for work.
Front…
…and back.
Take a look with the H&M jacket.
Accessorise with gold jewellery and of course a Michael Kors watch! I’m loving the anchor charm necklace i got from Accessorize £5 – after deliberating between the anchor, swallow or locket i decided on the anchor as it reminds me of the Dogeared Carpe Diem Lollipop26 blogged about that i really want btw – sold out everywhere.
Right guys it’s been a long post and I've not even mentioned the beauty products i got so I'll save them for another day but before i go my OOTD – enjoy x
Dress – Warehouse
Belt – Dorothy Perkins
Shoes – Holster – from work but they’re Australian brand try googling them
Jacket – River Island
Bag – Warehouse
Necklace – Accessorise
Watch – Michael Kors
Bit of a festival vibe look going on – i did like it but looked the same as about 10 other girls i spotted out shopping – boo!
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