London With Grace.

Grace and I headed up to the Topshop Student Shop at Oxford Circus. She bought this gorgeous velvet turban. It was the last in the shop - we had to steal it off a mannequin. 

Afterwards we headed to the Hummingbird bakery for some delicious cupcake goodness. 

Grace wore a vintage cape and had a carrot cake cupcake, and I wore my new Topshop hat, with a Topshop jacket and dress and my ASOS bag, and I ate a chocolate cupcake (above). 

Flo x

What (Grace and) I Wore To: Sit on a bench

Grace is wearing a Topshop jacket with an H&M top and skirt.

I'm wearing a Topshop dress and jacket (that belongs to Grace), with Office boots and my vintage bag. 

Flo x

What I Wore: On Holiday

Taken after a day in the car, where we had driven from France, through Switzerland (where this picture was taken) to Italy. 

I'm wearing an ASOS tee, Zara shorts and belt with my trusty Converse. 

We spent a night in a hotel that sat in the mountains above Lake Como. This photo was taken at 8:30am and it was already a good 25 degrees.

The dress and jacket I'm wearing are from Topshop, the belt is from Zara and the flip-flops are Havaianas.

My brother is wearing Ray Bans, a free t-shirt, H&M shorts and Vans.

 

We visited Volterra and it was a little cooler, so I was able to cover up a little (I really didn't want to get any sun burn). The shirt I'm wearing used to belong to my mother and comes from Jaeger, and the shorts are Zara. 

To brighten up the outfit I wore my favourite sandals from Office. 

My brother wore his Vans with Lyle and Scott shorts and t-shirt, and a very touristy looking camera.

In Pomerance, the Lyle and Scott devotee wore a polo and chinos with his Vans (you would think he didn't bring any other shoes away with him) and I wore a Dorothy Perkins dress with my Office sandals.

The swimsuit I'm wearing is from Speedo and I bought it a couple of years ago when I was still part of a swimming club. However, the head instructor told me that it was "inappropriate" because it was a "fashion swimsuit". It's from Speedo. Honestly. So now, I don't wear it unless I'm on holiday.

I wore the black Dorothy Perkins dress (with my espadrilles and vintage bag) again in Paris because it's cool, comfortable and rather chic. 

 Flo x

What I Wore To: Cook Chili

I went to work for just four hours today (I need money for university in September so I'm doing all the hours that I can), then made my family a delicious chili con carne (if I say so myself), even if I did forget the kidney beans and tomato puree. 

I'm wearing a very old Topshop tea dress (I got it when I was 14 and it used to reach below my knees) with my beloved Converse and a hair band from Dorothy Perkins (in the pictures below you can see my vintage watch). I absolutely adore this dress, even though it is chiffon and has a slip underneath it is wonderfully cool and I can run around at work without getting too hot. 

My nosy dogs came out to see what was going on. Lottie (below) may have only been there because she thinks that my Converse are actually her favourite chew toy. Dream on dog.

Flo x

What I Wore To: See Inception

When I headed out to the cinema it was cooler than it has been, but it was still warm. When I left the cinema it was raining, biblical-style. So I had to hang around at the cinema for ages because there was no way I was running through the rain in this skirt - it's my mother's favourite vintage skirt. I wore it with an H&M t-shirt, Zara belt and Converse. I use this bag all the time, but it never seems to feature in my pictures - I got it from the Marc B concession in Topshop Oxford St. My necklace and charm bracelets are vintage and my watch is Marc by Marc Jacobs.

What do you think about the skirt? It's longer than a lot of the stuff I usually wear, and what a lot of stores are stocking at the moment, but hemlines are coming down for A/W '10, so I thought I'd stay ahead of the trend (that and my mother is several inches taller than me). My little brother thinks I look like a grandmother and "a bit formal". Any further developments on that? I do agree with the formal part, but I think the Converse and the t-shirt make it more casual.

Read my review of Inception here.

Flo x

What I Wore To: Do Absolutely Nothing

Today has been one of those summer days where it is boiling hot, and no-one is around to do anything of interest, so I have spent my day lazing around the house and garden, eating and reading, with a brief reprieve for dog walking and meeting my godmother for a catch-up.

I'm wearing a playsuit from Topshop I got in the winter sale a few years ago, with my grandmother's vintage watch. 

Flo x 

Coat.

I know, I know, it's July. Summer has barely begun. Yet here I am, lusting over coats that I will be wearing come late September. For all my love of girly dresses, floaty skirts and heels, I love nothing more than a masculine coat for winter. Last year, my brother had to ban me from borrowing his coats - I wore them more than my own (sadly I don't have any pictures though - that would be evidence of my theft). 

This year, I decided that I would simply go Zara Mens, or River Island Man (where Bear got his coats from) and deal with the strange looks but now I don't have to. I was checking my emails and I opened one from Topshop, containing this beauty.

It's everything I look for in a coat - double breasted WITH pockets, long sleeves (none of this 3/4 nonsense that to deal with), big collar, and the perfect length to wear with dresses and trousers. The only downside I can see is that it is from Topshop, which means a lot of people may get it, and as I like my clothes to look as unique/different as possible, I may still go to the men's departments. My mother just reminded me about vintage and charity shops so I may try there as well. 

Flo x

Image via: (the new-but-not-improved) www.topshop.com 

The Ball (part deux)

For my school ball, I didn't want my dress to be the same as anyone else's, meaning that I couldn't go to high street or get something from the internet, and nothing vintage or from boutiques ever fits me properly, which left me with one option: employ my mother's degree in Fashion Design and get her to make me one. 

We bought a Butterick dress pattern and then took several trips to Broadwick Silks to get the perfect material. After deciding on pink silk with plain black net, my loving parent spent several days putting it all together. We then took a trip to the Swarovski Crystallized shop and bought some pale pink crystals to put on.
To get the shape of the skirt, we bought some net from a little fabric shop in Whitstable, and created a petticoat to go underneath.

 I love this dress - it came out so perfect - and it was exactly what I wanted. I would happily wander around in it all the time, if only I wasn't so worried about getting something on it and staining it (I nearly cried when I thought someone had got red wine on it).
Worn with my vintage bag and heels from Office (in the sale!)
Flo x

7 days to go

My school leaver's ball is a week today. To say that I'm excited would be an understatement.
This is the only big, dress-up event I will ever attend in relation to my school, and as a result, I started thinking about my dress early. Some people are saying that they aren't going to make much of an effort "I'll just get a dress from town that I can wear again because it's just a school thing/I don't want to spend too much money/I don't really care", and that's their choice, there's nothing wrong with that - I just think that this ball is about celebrating the end of our (secondary) school careers and the time we have spent together. But then again, I love any excuse to dress up.

I thought I had found the perfect dress in a vintage shop in Covent Garden. It was floor length pink silk covered by a layer of black net, with some minimal bead detailing on the bust, but sadly, it was made in the 1920s, when women were considerably more flat chested than I am, so I was left to look elsewhere. 

I then considered ASOS Black, especially this dress:

However, I really didn't want to be wearing the same dress as anyone else. 

Which means that I, or rather, my mother, would be making the dress. And that's exactly what we did. 

The dress comes from a Vintage Vogue pattern, and is in pink silk and black net, like the dress I tried on. 

I wanted it to be a combination of the dress Grace Kelly wears in Rear Window, the dress Carrie Bradshaw wears in Paris in the last episode of Sex and the City, when she meets Big and a Dior dress I saw in an old issue of Vogue. 

Only six people have seen the dress - I'm really keeping it hidden until the ball itself - I don't understand why people post pictures of themselves in the dress on Facebook - it ruins the wonderful surprise. 

Flo x

All images via: Google images

Sports Day

I don't do sport. I don't enjoy sport. I regard anyone who tries to make me do sport with a great deal of suspicion and mistrust. 

So how did I get out of doing anything? Claiming I didn't know about it and then feigning injury. Works every time. 

RUN HANNAH RUN! 

(She won her race, by the way)

I'm wearing Topshop sunglasses, Lyle & Scott Cardigan and vintage scarf. 

Flo x

Gloria has returned....

Gloria (my camera) is completely over her diva moment and is ready for action.
When I went to London with Grace for the American Apparel rummage sale epic fail, I got two excellent vintage bags, for £16 each, from Absolute Vintage. I don't normally like vintage things (I'm not opposed to the idea, but I like vintage things to be in excellent condition and not to smell weird).

I got really excited when I saw this bag - it was sitting on a shelf next to a Chanel and I could see it's tag said "£18" and I thought, just for a second it was Chanel too. But no, it's just a cute little quilted bag, that is surprisingly roomy. It can handle the pressure of my purse, lip balm, phone, iPod, sunglasses and notebook without breaking a sweat.  

It's a better shape than most of the clutch bags available on the high street at the moment and it's real leather, so I think it's going to last for quite a while. 

The other bag was I bought twas the snake/croc skin bag (on the left). It's really stiff and sturdy so I can bash it about a bit without worrying about it breaking (i.e when I run for the bus, because even though I've passed my test I still have to catch the bus). I haven't used it much yet, but I think it will become my new school bag. 

The bag on the right is a bag I bought this time last year from Topshop, and is affectionately known as the Lovely Lucky Bag. I can see in all seriousness that it saved my life. I don't use it much, because the strap is a weird length, but it will always have a special place in my heart.

Flo x

P.S. See the scarf hanging multi-coloured scarf hanging behind the vintage back? I knitted that myself. 

London Fashion Week, er, Sunday

Yesterday, after a minor car-related disaster (apparently the oil-gasket blew while we were on the motorway), Dad and I headed for London Fashion Week. Thanks to the car, and the ineptitude of South-Eastern rail services, we missed the Betty Jackson show (grrr), but we were right on time for Margaret Howell. We sat front row, which was more than a little bit cool, and we were opposite Alexandra Shulman (I had a minor fashion geek meltdown). A few people down from us was Alexa Chung, who is one of my style inspirations, but I did have to explain to my father who she was. 

I do wish I wasn't wearing my glasses in this picture though - I look a bit stupid. 

Margaret Howell's collection was as good as ever - lots of chunky knits and tartan with belted waists and mannish trousers, jackets and shoes. The colour scheme was definitely toned down, but there a couple of bright splashes of red here and there. Also in the collection were some gorgeous coats, which I may have to get my parents to invest in next season.

Todd Lynn was next, presenting a uniform-inspired collection, in muted colours similar to those at Margaret Howell, with lots of big furry shoulder pieces.

Military style jackets and narrow leg trousers made up a large part of the collection, so I don't think I need to be worrying about parting from my skinny jeans just yet. 

The next show was Louise Goldin for Topshop, which I didn't get any pictures of (sob). But I think all that really needs to be said of the green-themed collection is that Lady Gaga will probably be putting in a large order soon and that I really want some red rhinestone studded leggings/cycling shorts. 

Finally, we headed to the Banqueting House for Julien Macdonald. The first show I was at LFW was when I was 15 and it was a Julien Macdonald presentation, with Naomi Campbell and Lily Cole on the catwalk. Unfortunately, we couldn't get seats because the security guard had taken on the belief that everyone needed to KEEP BACK and away from the catwalk. But even with my limited view of the show I could see that lace, thick knits and muted colours will be the way to go next season. 

When we returned to the car, much later than expected thanks to signal failure at Victoria, it was still broken, so while we waited for the AA, we ended up in a pub in Rochester.  As a result, my outfit photo was taken on my phone, which has a terrible camera.

I'm wearing a vintage scarf, which is actually meant to be part of a sari, that I stole from my mother, Topshop (faux) leather jacket, Topshop net skirt with petticoat and my lovely New Look boots which Alexa Chung told me she liked, when I said I liked her Chanel ones. 

Flo x