What I’ve been wearing – 03/06/14

I’ve been trying so hard to be summery and wearing floaty skirts whenever I can. The weather has been mild, but not glorious enough to go all out…

Keep hoping! This outfit selection contains a mix of  “I wish I could wear this without tights” and “I am preparing myself for summer” outfits.

Outfit #1

outfit - jumpsuit - somanylovelythings

Black and white, frilly off-the-shoulder jumpsuit from Rare London, black court shoes from Christian Louboutin, belt from Primark, necklace from New Look, rings from Forever 21, H&M, Sobral and Primark.

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The Rogue + the Wolf jewellery

the rogue and the wolf obey and betray rings - somanylovelythings

One of my discoveries during Pure London show was a fantastic brand called The Rogue + the Wolf. I am a ring lover – some days I have one on almost every finger!

The designs are different and unusual; I was absolutely mesmerised by their quirky and a little bit bad-ass jewellery – which is, at the same time, rather adorable; there are some really cute designs too!

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Chase PR Spring/Summer 14 preview breakfast

chase pr spring/summer 14 breakfast

At the beautiful Choccywoccydoodah secret garden, Chase PR has shown us some of their clients new collections for the next season.

The garden is indeed quite secret – I had no idea it was sitting at the top of their building. And yes, it is a garden, with a bright green fake grass floor, benches, plenty of flowers and my favourite spot: a romantic rope swings with roses at the top.

Fuelled by plenty of sugar and delicious coffees, hot chocolates and juices, we waltzed through the goodies.

Their clients include  Elie Tahari, Julian Hakes, French Connection, Red or Dead and LaidBack London, Sebago bringing in the shoes, Transitions lenses, which were in the quirkiest frames, Chesca and Red or Dead clothes and Storm watches and jewellery.

My picks are the rose gold watches from Storm, as well as some of their rings, the French Connection black and white slingback, Elie Tahari’s metallic pink high heel sandals and a zipper stiletto and the amazing Bocca glasses frames from  Face a Face with Transitions lenses (which I am absolutely in love). I couldn’t leave Hakes’ Mojito engineered shoes out – although I prefer the black to all the amazing patterns they had on show.

Thank you so much Chase PR for having me that morning, especially to the lovely Charlotte who showed me around!

And judging by the looks of the collections, it seems warmer weathers is not the only thing to be looking forward to for the next season!

Clothes swap party

One of the items I bagged - love it!

I am very excited to say that, for the very first time, I did something I had wanted to do for ages: attend a clothes swap party. It was organised by a friend who, after having so much fun at one in the past, decided to host her own.

For me it was the perfect excuse to perform my biannual wardrobe season change – this is when, for pure lack of space (or as my boyfriend seems to suggest, too many items – crazy – you can’t have too many, right?!), I put all the bygone season clothes in suitcases and shove them in the loft. They then come out around six months later, and the cycle is complete! I often use the opportunity to review my collection and get rid of clothes that made in and out of the loft a couple of times and haven’t been worn. Usually, they end up in the charity shop, but this time they had a different destination.

Armed with some nibbles, I pulled a small suitcase packed with a mix of  clothes (some I really liked and had worn a fair bit, others a bought and didn’t sit well or were simply not my style) all the way to my friend’s house, where I was met by around eight other girls holding glasses of bubbly. Promising!

The format was pretty straight forward: you went in the middle of the room, opened your case, showed each item and the ladies interested asked to try them on. If there were no takers, the garment would join a pile on the floor, for later perusal or disposal. If two or more parts were interested, they would all try the disputed item and sometimes this alone would solve it, otherwise, negotiations would commence – all very friendly, flattering but honestly on how the other part looked to decide who the item was better suited for, with all the girls giving opinions! I pretty much got everything I wanted, and I have the feeling everyone was satisfied with their new acquisitions. I certainly took more items with me to the party than I brought home, and this was my intention from the offset!

The vast majority of my items were tried on by more than one girl (it feels nice when other people like your taste!), and two lovely dresses went to a good home – they were sexy numbers, and I am sure she will do them justice!

I ended up with a flower print full skirt dress, which I wore to work the day after, a pair of high heel grey boots, a wool wrap mini skirt, a pencil skirt with leather panels on the side, a skirt suit, a bright pink lipstick, a hair volumising spray and the best of all, three MAC brushes (227,212 and 275)!!!

A great experience altogether, I would certainly do it again. It worked very well and I loved it, plus,  it makes so much sense –  I cannot see a better way of recycling and exploring styles that you might not necessarily go for, as well as making new friends and most of all, having a LOT of fun. And the clothes which ended up unclaimed, were gathered by the hosts to be taken to the nearest charity shop. Nice!

Elle accessories report

It took me a while to go through the Elle accessories report, out a few weeks ago. There are so many choices that I decided to concentrate on my favourite types and created  picture gallery with my heel, bag and jewellery picks.

Just as I would with an outfit, I am starting with the high heel shoes: it might come as a shock but I haven’t fallen *madly* in love with any number in particular – none made me want to cash my shoe fund immediately.

Having said that, I could easily see Lara Bohinc’s Tatjana courts in leopard print gracing my footsies – definitely my favourites, these amazing shoes have a somewhat art-deco brass circles sitting on the leopard print calf and at the top of the heel, giving them an amazing texture. I really love the metal details on the shoes upper – Bohinc’s Tatjana collection is definitely worth checking!

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A self confessed heel lover, I am fascinated by their architecture, thickness, material and texture so I was immediately drawn to the heel shape in some selections, special attention to Miu Miu and Prada, with very exquisite heels  (I had to go to Selfridge’s Shoe Galleries to actually touch the Miu Miu’s – they are amazing!). Their shape was almost remitting to historical/costume footwear, with the back of the heel quite prominent and the high heel itself quite chunky and arched outwards, almost like a “C” at the back of the shoe.

Designer until then unknown to me, Chrissie Moriss stood out – amongst my favourites are the Liliana peeptoe shoe boots, the Metropolis and the Dakota – they play beautifully with geometrical shapes on the body and the black Liliana has very sexy heels with a “precious” stone at the end. Fierce!

Other favourites are Giuseppe Zannoti Design’s orange suede sandals, Jimmy Choo’s Kerfield, Flaxley and Kemp, Camilla Skovgaard’s grey peeptoe and grey and silver with zips stilettos, Charlote Olympia’s Cordelia tall boots, Alejandro Ingelmo’s Nighthawk (what a cool name, I am glad the shoes live up to the expectation!) and Pierre Hardy’s leopard print circle cut out sling back sandal.

Style wise,  lots of sparkle, multicolour compositions and loafers seem very strong. Platforms are still present.

Now, the bags –  I noticed that there are many clutches featured, especially box clutches. Amongst my favourite are the Prada python, Miss Dior jacquard, Valentino snakeskin box bag, Jimmy Choo Candy and “Lanvin Evening”.

Satchels and totes also appear quite a bit, as well as fur/pony skin. Other picks are Chloé’s Aurore, Celine Trapeze, Versace Metallic bag (with the iconic Versace Medusa head made in gold metallic mesh, with long-ish straps, lush!) and also from Versace, an embossed number with tassel, very pretty.

Victoria Beckham‘s bags appear a few times, with their clean, sharp cut, straight lines design, and my personal bag obsession, the Mulberry Bayswater, appears as a fox-riveted haircalf incarnation. I did miss Chanel, only one pick for Coco’s brand and that didn’t blow me away.

As far as jewellery go, big, bold cuffs are everywhere, chunky collars and chokers too.  Among my favourites are a Louis Vuitton collar, a BOSS Black red feather brass cuff (gorgeous!),  a Cavalli shell gold cuff and an owl ring, a Vionett gold cuff and a D&G star necklace.

Needless to say, the shoes are my favourite part – and I don’t see them as merely accessories! I enjoyed going through the report, and overall, it does provide me with plenty inspiration when looking at accessories to buy.

Shopping fever

I am infected by a pesky shopping bug!

I have been compromised, and have the worst case of shopping fever in a while. It is not related to the sales, only 4 of my  sea of purchases was actually from the bargain bin.

It seems to be contagious: 3 of us in the office are suffering from similar symptoms.

In the past 2 weeks, I bought: 1 pair of trousers, 3 dresses, 2 skirts, 1 shorts, 5 tops, 3 high heels, 2 pairs of flats, 3 rings, 2 earrings, on top of very expensive flights to Brazil.

I need some help, thinking about setting up a support group!