Merry Christmas!

I've been really busy the past few days with all the Christmas food and presents and cheese and food etc.. so I know it's a bit late! 

In these photos I am wearing...

Green velvet dress - Ark (Hearts&Bows) - £24.99

Black bowler hat - Ark - £12.99

Grey cardigan - Hollister

Watch - Marc Jacobs

Bracelet - Pandora

Necklace - Birthday present

(I am also wearing black ankle boots from Matalan)

I love the velvet look for Winter because it's really warm and cozy. I don't really wear Hollister but someone bought me this cardigan a couple of years ago and I needed something to keep me warm, I like it because it's fitted so it doesn't drown me in fabric. I bought the hat and the dress about a week before Christmas when I was buying presents and realised that I didn't really have anything nice to wear on Christmas day. I've loved bowler hats for ages but never really had the confidence to wear them, so it was more of an impulse buy/mum pressured me to buy it. 

I dyed my hair pink using Directions hair dye on my birthday (3 days before these photos were taken), and it's probably hard to tell. It fades so quickly, but that's probably a good thing because I can't turn up at work with pink hair. If I did want something more permanent though, I wouldn't use Directions again. 

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas! 

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

(ps. Sorry about the rambly-ness of this post, I haven't blogged in a while and wanted to ramble)

Christmas outfits

I can't really afford to buy new clothes recently because I've been doing Christmas shopping but I have loads of ideas for pretty Christmas outfits. So, instead of buying loads of things, I am going to make collages of all the Christmas outfits I want. 

I thought the contrast of the boots with the elegant shift dress made something more comfortable and appropriate for Christmas with the right amount of formality. This really makes me want to pair my purple Dr Martens with a simple shift dress now.

This outfit is more comfortable with the jumper but still elegant and formal with the jewelry. I would probably wear an outfit like this for Christmas if I hadn't worn my tartan skirt last Christmas (I don't like repeating outfits).

Cheesey christmas outfit in case you want to get really christmassy. If this was me I would pair these items with something simple like jeans. Personally, I wouldn't be that confident and just go for the socks or the hat but why not wear as many Christmas things as you can?

Velvet is a perfect winter material because it's so warm and cosy. I also love the colour because red is a typical christmassy colour. The tights are really different because they have interesting detail rather than just being plain black. This is my favourite out of my Christmas outfits and if I could afford it, I would buy something red velvet to wear.


So let's hope I can find something pretty to wear for Christmas then I can do an outfit post about it!

Lots of Love
Sophie
xxx

The fast paced world of fashion

Imagine, it's September, the weather’s still bearable and Summer is only just over. Most of us haven't even started wearing coats yet. It's that awkward time of year where we aren't ready for Winter clothes and are desperately still clinging to our beloved Summer dresses. But fashion doesn't wait, it always has to be more than one step ahead and this month is fashion month. A whole month where extra lucky (and mostly famous) people can see what they have to look forward to in Spring, about six months from now.

It may seem odd at first, sitting on the front row wearing layers of scarves and coats (or if you're like me, sitting in front of a computer with a blanket and a cup of tea) looking at Spring/Summer clothes in the beginning of Autumn and vice versa but in fashion people like to be ahead. The high-street is similar in the way that if you don't buy a bikini in Spring by the time you actually want a bikini ready for going on holiday in Summer they're all gone and the shops won't be getting anymore because they've already moved onto Winter.

Ridiculous. This mainly annoys me because if it's cold in January and I want to buy a coat I probably won't be able to. I don't want to have to plan my outfits six months ahead; I'd rather live in the moment a little bit when it comes to clothes shopping. Maybe it's a personal fault and I should do my clothes shopping earlier to avoid situations such as what happened this Spring - I wanted some summer shoes because I finally decided to stop calling my converse 'summer shoes', I found some really nice ones and went to buy them, but they were already sold out and they continued to be sold out all summer. Admittedly this was at Topshop and as we know if something nice is in Topshop every girl in the country buys it because every girl in the country shops at Topshop - or at least browses. You would think the most obvious thing that Topshop would do is order in more, right? Well no. They gradually ordered in shoes that were more appropriate for Winter, the shoes were getting thicker and more boots were coming in. So I didn't ever get the shoes I wanted, I should blame myself and be more organised next year.

Recently mentioned Topshop shoes here

Of course I understand fashion month and why it's so early. It's not just us customers that like to know what's in this season, the shops that take inspiration from designers like to know so they can make clothes that will sell, primarily for us. Although it does make me just a little bit uncomfortable watching models in floaty Spring dresses and little sandals whilst I'm thinking about what coat I should buy. Understandably the high-street shops, the journalists, and a lot of other people, need to know so they can make the clothes or report on what we should be wearing.

I just need to adapt to the fast paced world of fashion, I need to buy my bikinis in Spring and my winter coats in Autumn. Alternatively, I could buy Winter coats in the sales and save them for next year, but I am way too impatient for that.

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

Cats in fashion

It seems like with the increase of internet memes and the likes of grumpy cat people have recently become a little bit more obsessed than usual with cats. If this doesn't apply to you then you are probably a dog person and will hate this post. But I do love cats, and I have recently noticed that there is a lot more bits of clothing and other stuff covered with cats, and I love that too. 

I've seen cat ears pop up recently - and even before the Halloween season began and every teenage girl decided to dress as a cat by wearing some (honestly, if I had the chance I would've done that too because I would take any excuse to wear cat ears)

Topshop did have loads of cat ears all in different colours but now these are the only ones on the website. They're still cute but I preferred the black ones.

Cat ears have also appeared on other stuff like hats, it seems everyone wants to become an actual cat and dress up with cat ears on everything possible, probably just because if you can, why not?

This cute furry hat is from Next and is £10. As well as being lovely and furry it has cute little ears like a cat. 

Trying to feed my newly found jewelry obsession I've found some pretty rings that look like cats. These rings are both from Asos. So if you don't want to show your love for cats quite so openly as wearing cat ears, you can subtly wear a little ring with cat ears and a little cat face with little tiny whiskers. 

I recently discovered an online shop called Seoulrhythm and they have lots of cat related things, cat tights, cat sweatshirts, cat dresses - so many cats. The prices are all in dollars but this just means the prices are a bit confusing and they ship to anywhere in the world. 

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

Game City - Nottingham

I know this is mainly a fashion blog but I thought I'd a do a little post about Game City because I was there and I had my camera.

Really weird but amazing game called Starwhals

Mario Kart on a Nintendo 64

The awkward Nintendo 64 controller

On Monday me and some friends went to Game City in Fletcher Gate, Nottingham. Game City is powered by Nottingham Trent University, with support from Confetti College. It aims are to show video game culture as art and get people to experience and learn whilst having fun playing games.

 It's on all week (19th - 26th October) and it looks like it's going to be raining for a while so it's a really good idea. At first I did just think it was a room full of games because I went last year and didn't really explore, I just assumed that was it. But it's a bit more than that. As well as the popular stuff like Mario Kart and Grand Turismo they have loads of indie games and the developers are there too so you can talk to them about the games and other interesting stuff.

They also have different events on throughout the week here - schedule, which includes different workshops and competitions. On Saturday there is an Oculus Rift demo which I really want to go to because it's a virtual reality headset, my brother's had a go before and he said it was amazing. 

It's a really nice atmosphere where you can just sit on bean bags with your friends and play loads of different games in one room. I think it's aimed more a younger people because it's during half term and after about an hour me and my friends went. But my brother - who is 14 - has been there all week so far and still seems to find more things to do! 

My boyfriend made a vlog about the day so have a look here > click click click

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

Denim and Monochrome

Hello! 

Sorry about my squinty eyes, I decided to do an outfit post in the rain, probably not the best idea ever.

I am wearing

Denim Shirt - second hand (Grandmas)

Vintage Skirt - Cow Vintage 

Purple Dr Martens - Dr Martens

Gold Necklace - Christmas present

I took these photos nearly a week ago but I've been really busy with coursework and work (Sorry!). I have a couple more posts in mind so I'll try and do one tomorrow and one at the end of October. 

I've posted this outfit to Lookbook too so have a look! 

I forgot to post my last outfit post on Lookbook and I have to wait 6 hours before I post another one, so I'll do that later. 

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

Winter Shoes Wishlist

My creepers have sadly broken down, but I've worn them nearly everyday for nearly two years so I think it's reasonable that the soles have grown holes and the suede has turned from black to brown. What I'm saying is, I need new shoes. Sadly, I can't buy new shoes because I need to save my money for Christmas presents and I spent quite a lot on H&M stuff the other day (boxing day sales I will be buying lots of shoes). Because I can't afford shoes right now, I thought I'd do a wishlist about shoes.

Black heeled lace up boots are my favourite kind of boots at the moment. I really want something that has a heel and is casual too. I love these Topshop boots because they remind me of Converse but leather and with a heel. Topshop have loads of boots similar to this is loads of different colours and patterns so I recommend everyone to have a look! Perhaps they're not the perfect Winter shoes when thinking about practicality, you can't exactly walk through snow with them, but they look amazing and they would probably keep your feet warm and dry (maybe).

Topshop Boots - £42

I already have a pair of purple Dr Martens and I've been wearing them a lot more since I've gotten a bit bored of my creepers. When I bought my Dr Martens last year I was undecided on whether to get shoes or boots, after trying on the shoes and realising that they're actually really uncomfortable, I got boots. However, I think these 1461 shoe Dr Martens are really nice. I love the colour, it's perfect for Winter and matching with tartan. Dr Martens are more appropriate Winter shoes because of the thick leather and the grippy sole so you won't fall over on ice (because that always quite embarrassing). 

Dr Martens Shoes - £85

I've seen so many people wearing boots similar to this and I love them. The cut out section is really clever because it means you can wear cute socks and everyone can see them. They also come in white, but I thought that these are more appropriate for Winter. These boots are Jeffrey Campbell so they are slightly out of my price range, but there are loads of high street versions available from pretty much everywhere. They are good for Summer and Winter because you don't have to wear socks if it's warm but if it's cold you can wear socks, very versatile.

Nasty Gal, Jeffrey Campbell - £115.77

Chelsea boots are still in this season and I really like these traditional looking ones. They would go really well with a tartan coat and jeans. The leather would keep you warm during Winter and the elasticated section makes them comfier too. 

Office- £80

There are so many pretty boots out there at the moment but I'm going to wait until after Christmas because then I can get them cheaper in the sales (hopefully)

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

ps. my boyfriend made a youtube channel and I'm in a video so have a look click click click

Saving money whilst keeping up with trends

I'm not one of those people that obsessively follows trends and thinks 'I have to buy this because it's in'. However if there is a trend that I really like (eg pinafore dresses) then I will buy something new and follow it. I don't often buy a lot of stuff that's in trend because I think I won't really be able to wear it for very long and it'll be a waste of money. So I want to explain how I try and save money and keep up with trends.

1. Don't get rid of something just because it isn't in fashion at the time.

I have done this many times, you're ruthlessly going through your drawers, find that black lace top you never wear, throw it in the charity bag. Then a couple of seasons later you want it back. (I still miss that top). Fashion often repeat itself so to save yourself from buying it again, just don't throw it away, just in case. This is also the case with my tartan skirt, I bought it last Winter when tartan was in and this year it's back! I'm happy about this because I love my tartan skirt.

2. DIY 

Simple DIY customisation on clothes can make them look brand new and for hardly any money. For example when the whole 'putting spikes/studs on everything' came in, a lot of people just added their own spikes or studs to old clothes because they're only about £2-3 in shops or eBay. I tried to do a bit of the DIY thing too, when it was the yin yang phase I drew them on my shorts, but I'm not sure how great that looked. I also added beads to the collar of a dress when beaded collars came in - a more successful DIY. All I did was sow little beads to the corners of my collar and it made the dress look a lot less boring. So you don't need to change your whole wardrobe each season, just change the clothes you already have.

3. Buy one piece of clothing that's in trend to go with your old clothes

This summer I bought a skirt that fitted in with the whole monochrome idea but it was the only monochrome thing I owned. However, it goes with so much, I can wear it with vest tops, bralets, jumpers etc, so I can do monochrome in lots of different outfits with one skirt. This also happened with the pastel phase. I had a couple of pastel pieces like a cardigan and a tshirt then paired them with shorts or jeans so it was still following with the pastel trend. 

4. Take a look in a charity shop

Charity shops can be full of all different and exciting things and you never know unless you look. Sticking with the same idea that fashion repeats itself, if someone donated some clothes that were in a few or maybe even ten years ago, then eventually they will be in fashion again, so have a look and you may find something in trend and at a reasonable price.

Too much Tartan

Hello! I took these photos yesterday using my tripod so they're not as good as the photos my boyfriend takes. It's got a lot colder recently so I've had to layer up with a hoodie, jacket and scarf - I really should just buy a coat. 

In these photos I'm wearing...

American Apparel Tartan skirt here

American Apparel grey hoodie similar here

H&M jacket (I can't find the same jacket because I bought it years ago but other H&M coats and jackets here)

Cow vintage tartan scarf (can't find similar but look around vintage/charity shops and you'll probably find something!)

this black top is from Topshop but I got it ages ago
Dr Martens here

So this is my first real winter outfit! I don't really have that many winter clothes but I wear the same clothes in winter as I do in summer. But I might go shopping soon, then I can do a little winter-y haul and loads of outfit posts, yay!

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

ps. I've had silver shampoo on my hair for over an hour so my hair will probably be purple when I wash it off (ah)

Tartan

A new season has come and as expected has brought along new trends with it. My favourite of the Autumn trends at the moment is tartan. I love how it can look classic and wintery but can also look grungy when paired with leather.

This year I have seen tartan everything. Dresses, skirts, coats, trousers, I've even saw someone wearing tartan tights. 

Miranda Kerr, Alexa Chung, Cara Delevingne, Olivia Palermo, Kate Middleton

The Autumn/Winter catwalk was filled with tartan everything, blanket coats at Celine - looking a lot like picnic blankets - fitted jackets at Tommy Hilfiger and Marc Jacobs. Then there was the more grungy looking side of tartan from Phillip Lin with the leather sweatshirt paired with tartan trousers. The Emilia Wickstead show was full of pale colours and long tartan dresses making tartan look more pretty and elegant.

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

Jewellery Wishlist

I don't really wear a lot of jewellery but it's not because I don't want to, it's more I'd rather spend my money on clothes. I always look at jewellery in shops then see the price and think 'I could spend this money on clothes instead'. But now I've changed my mind and like a magpie would say I want shiney things.

I love the Pandora Stacking rings but the cheapest one is £30 and the idea is you buy a lot to stack them together, I don't think I'll be buying these any time soon. But doesn't mean I can't look and admire the prettiness. 

Maybe these don't really count as jewellery but they have pearls on and they're shiney. I like anything that is cat related and they are so cute. I probably wouldn't wear them, I just had to put them in my wishlist because of their cuteness.

River Island £4

Continuing my ring hunt I went on Asos and found loads of different versions of what I wanted, completely the opposite to a few weeks ago when I was looking for plain gold rings and went to Topshop, Primark, New Look, H&M, River Island (every shop in Nottingham) and there wasn't anything that was just plain. I really should just look online more often.

Asos Rings shown above £8-£15

A bit of a cat theme going on here... I love dinky little silver necklaces because you can layer them up and wear them with anything. This necklace is from Little Teacup which is a lovely online jewellery shop run by Chelsea Jade. (Cat necklace £3)

I already have a gold Casio but I don't like mixing gold and silver jewellery, therefore I need a silver Casio. This one is slightly bigger than my other one and it has a light (wow). I found this for £30 on The Watch Hut website.

As you can tell I prefer minimalist jewellery to spikes and diamonds and things so another reason I don't have a lot of jewelry is because of how picky I am.

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

Summer Tartan

These photos were taken about a week ago but I've only just got time to post them because I've been reading loads for English Lit because I went back to College (wah) last Thursday and suddenly realised I should've read two books (oops)

I think this outfit is a mix between a Summer and Winter outfit. Tartan is something mainly worn in Winter but I really missed wearing my Tartan skirt over Summer so I thought because it's officially not Summer anymore, I pulled it out of the wardrobe for the first time in months.

(American Apparel - also this skirt is now half price and only £16!!)

Despite the fact it wasn't officially Summer anymore, it still was quite warm, so I didn't wear anything on my legs and wore Dr Martens to bring the Winter bit back. I always thought it looked a bit odd when people did the Dr Martens-in-Summer thing but now I've done it and changed my mind. I think Dr Martens with bare legs doesn't look that bad.

(Dr Martens)

The vest top is from H&M but I've had it years and the gold necklace was a Christmas present from my Great Granddad, which I have also had years.

I like mixing Summer and Winter clothes together because if I only wore jumpers and jeans in Winter I'd get a bit bored, so I usually wear a Summer dress but with layers. In the Summer I suppose it's the opposite, wear stuff you could wear in Winter but reduce layers (like I did in this outfit).

Photos taken by my boyfriend

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx

Getting bored of Summer

I think the title is a bit misleading but it seems to fit too. 

I love Summer, I love the freedom and the sun and doing fun things like picnics and bike rides but every year I miss my jumpers, beanies and snugly clothes. I get a bit bored of shorts and dresses even though in Spring I'm excited to bring my Summer clothes out again. It's partly because I don't have a lot of Summer clothes, I have a lot of jumpers and a few dresses so in Winter there's a lot of combinations you can do with one dress but in Summer you don't have as many options (hence the lack of outfit posts). When it's hot we just try and wear as little as possible so we don't melt. 

As Winter approaches however, I do miss Summer. I miss the floaty dresses and the fact that you can just throw something on without worrying about being cold and having to add numerous more layers that also have to match the rest of the outfit. I also I love how in Summer there is no need for tights, I hate tights. I think they ruin outfits, of course some dresses for example do look better with tights but I'd rather wear socks than tights anyway, however when it's really cold we don't have a choice between tights and socks, it's just tights - and normally 2 or 3 pairs. 

Here in the UK Summer only last for a month - and that's if we're lucky, so by the time I want to buy anything I feel like 'I can't buy this because I'll only be able to wear it for a few weeks'. I have literally been saying this since June, and this is why I didn't ever get round to buying sandals, I still want some but right now, in the last week of August, there isn't any point. 

The Topshop T-Bar shoes I wish I'd bought and now it's too late

With a new season brings new trends so with the colder weather we have the excitement of the new clothes coming into the shops. And therefore brings the end of Summer sales! So you can go and buy bikinis and what not for next year and then wait a year to actually wear them. But really I am excited for the new season of clothes, I love jumpers and pretty soon the shops will be rammed with new ones to spend my money on (I will never have enough jumpers!). 

The start of Topshop's Winter jumpers

So what I'm trying to say is, the end of this season is sad because we will have to put away the floaty dresses away for another year but on a positive note, we can pull out the pretty jumpers and big cosy beanies. Personally, I like change, especially in my wardrobe, so I am looking forward to Autumn/Winter. Does anyone else agree?

Lots of Love

Sophie 

xxx

Diana Mini

A few months ago my boyfriend bought me a Diana Mini camera. They're these really cute film cameras that are only a bit taller than a reel of film, it takes 35mm film and the photos have a square frame. You can also do loads of interesting effects with them, such as overlapping photos, panoramic photos and you can choose from rectangle or square frames. You can also buy a flash for it because you need a lot of light to take photos with it, probably why a lot of my photos came out dark. I've used it before but the first time the photos didn't come out very well because I think to do all the fancy effects you have to be a bit of an expert. This time they came out quite good so I thought I'd do a little post about them! 

I started this reel of film in May when I went to Skegness so there's some really old photos. I like it when I can't remember what I've taken anyway because it's like a little surprise when they get developed! 

These are some of my overlapping photos, I can't remember if I did it my accident and just forgot to wind the film along so it looks like my boyfriend has strawberries on his face oops. 

I would just carry it around everywhere with me because its so small but its so hard to find cheap film, I found it once in Poundland but it's disappeared now (wah) I may have to do some deep Internet researching to find some! 

Lots of Love

Sophie

xxx