Gasp...I'm Wearing Something That's Nearly Pink

Oh hey, what's this? An outfit post, in the new house? Woohoo!

Now admittedly it's not the best photography in the world as I still have to get to grips with the lighting - the green chandelier I absolutely *had* to have in the library is amazing but doesn't cast the most consistent glow in the world! But hey, how much better are LOADS OF BOOKS than a boring plain white wall? Pshaw, stylish bloggers, books will always win!

Actual house blog posts will follow at some point in the future. I know I moved in last November but I am a) extremely untidy and b) a world champion procrastinator so there are still plenty of bits that need fixing and/or tidying before I can record them for posterity on t'blog.

I felt rather sassy today though, so wanted to snap some outfit pics, dodgy lighting and all. My wardrobe has been somewhat lacking in #wardrobezoo recently and a horse print top is always a very welcome addition to the clan. It's verging on being pink but I won't hold that against it!

Love a good long top!

Shirt - from Char
Cardi - Hawkshead
Skirt - H&M
Heels - Dorothy Perkins
Ring - MerCurios

All The Patterns

We've all been there, haven't we?

You put on what you think is a lovely outfit, prance around in it feeling fab all day, merrily snap some outfit photos and then look at them on your computer screen only to discover that someone has replaced your face with a moon.

An actual moon. With really unflattering specs on.

And although you are still getting used to said specs because they're much bigger than your other ones, they managed to look all fun and vaguely trendy when you took photos of them before. They don't look that bad in the mirror. So how has the camera made them transform your face into something rather terrifying?

Ok, ok, perhaps you haven't all been there. This is probably something only familiar to glasses wearers. The fact I had no makeup on didn't help either. But still, it's VERY UNFAIR. I've only got one tolerable outfit photo out of the whole bunch.

I nearly scrapped the whole lot but the new (old) coat is too gorgeous not to share and I'm rather fond of some of the #wardrobezoo prints that have sneaked in on the other parts of my body.

Coat - vintage, via The Vintage Corner
Top - Red Herring, Debenhams
Skirt - H&M
Cardi - TK Maxx
Shoes - Irregular Choice

The joys of doing some ironing for the first time in months: you discover all sorts of amazing things you'd totally forgotten about! Also plenty of things that you realise you're never actually going to wear...

And on that note, if you're a similar size to me and are in the mood for swapping some of those things in your wardrobe that you never quite get round to wearing, I'm signing up for Janet and Steph's Big Blog Clothes Swap. It's not just clothes, everything is considered: shoes, accessories, bags. I'm so looking forward to it!

It's A Shoe Zoo Out There

It's on days like this that I realise what a giant moron I am at times. I had utterly forgotten that I even bought these amazing shoes.  Who does that? How is it even possible??* They are actual #wardrobezoo SHOES!

* Answer = Me. Because I am messy and disorganised and can't get anywhere near the shoe wardrobe.

Giraffes and elephants and ostriches. Oh my!  They are so brilliant and super fun - I was clacking around in them all day and thoroughly enjoying myself. If I had any dancing ability whatsoever then I'm sure I would have launched into an impromptu tap routine to fully express my sense of new-shoe-joy.  Ok, so I'm not entirely sure they'll be comfy enough to wear without tights underneath due to the slightly low vamp but I am in mild despair about it ever being warm enough to go bare legged again, so that's fine and dandy.

Only mild despair. After all, I've still got loads of lovely winter coats to wear. When they're this cute, it seems a crying shame to have to stash them at the back of a cupboard for six months. I want to wear them and spin around going "wheeeeeee!" at the loveliness of the Puritan collar.

Like I said, I'm a bit of a moron at times. Perhaps the confectionery nature of my shirt is giving me a sugar rush or something.

Coat - Vero Moda
Dress - New Life
Blouse - ASOS sale
Shoes - Irregular Choice via ebay
Earrings - local shop

Feeling Blue

Panic not. The title of this post isn't literal. I'm not gloomy or anything. I'm actually fairly hyper due to my usual high intake of coffee and the prospect of a day volunteering at the British Eventing competition at Kelsall Hill tomorrow. Yay, horses!

I just somehow ended up wearing many, many shades of blue. Cardi, coat, shoes, tights, jewellery..even my specs are blue! If you squint hard enough then the bag and skirt could be classed as grey-ish blue and greeny-blue. Right? Oh ok then, not really.  But considering I didn't even think I owned this many blue things, that's quite good! It's not generally a colour that appeals to me but I may be changing my mind on that point.

Did I mention yay, horses!  Cos look, they're on my top.  Yay, horses!  I bought this in Bath (tres appropriate given the Regency/carriage driving heritage) on a complete whim.  You know when you walk past a shop and your pattern radar locks in on something awesome?  It was one of those moments. I had to buy it. It's brilliant.

Top - Oasis
Cardi & skirt - H&M sales
Coat - Tu
Flat shoes - StylistClick
Bag - Accessorize, birthday present
Ring - Next Clearance
Necklace - Sunday Girl

An Addition to the Wardrobe Zoo

I had a Disney-deprived childhood. The only animated films we had were The Little Mermaid and Robin Hood.  Fine choices, I'm sure you'll agree, but I'm still the weirdo who's never watched Snow White, Cinderella, Dumbo, Beauty and the Beast... the list goes on.

Our animated film of choice was The Raccoons and the Lost Star.  I watched it so many times over the years that I now have a trigger in my brain.  When I hear the word raccoon I immediately go "Bert Raccoon, flying ace!" and I do it with great gusto.

That's Bert, rocking an amazing initial jumper.  He liked planes btw. It's not just something I made up.

So, hello there raccoon top! And if you're wondering, hell yes I ran round in it going "FLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE" and pretending to be a pilot. It would be rude not to.

Excellent addition to the #wardrobezoo, isn't it?  I was so tempted to whack on a pair of my blue Irregular Choice cat patterned shoes as well but sometimes I have to play it on the safe side for work.  Boo.

Top - Vero Moda

Jeans - Gap

Blazer - Warehouse via charity shop

Shoes & ring - Dorothy Perkins

Cats, Cats, Cats

I seem to have been the subject of some appalling customer service this year.  I don't take it well.  Shop assistants have been told off, shops have been walked out of, moany tweets have been written, ranty emails have been fired off... I might be turning into a narky old woman but frankly I feel it's justified.

I won't dwell on the negative stuff.  Well maybe just for a moment ... Merseyrail is an appalling excuse for a company and I would hate them even if they didn't take three weeks to reply to emails.  And Sports Direct are still on my miffed list for telling me that I should buy pink trainers. 

Positive stuff ahoy!

I was perusing the Dorothy Perkins sale a few weeks ago when I saw something that made me go "FJHMN<HKJDBNM GREENCATS!!!"  Unfortunately, as is often the case with the Dotty P sales, I clicked on the item and it turned out to be out of stock in all sizes, causing my hopes to be utterly crushed. CRUSHED, I tell thee. But this wasn't a Dotty P item, it was from Ruby Rocks, so I hopped onto their website and emailed them to ask if they had any lurking in a store room somewhere.

Hopes were duly restored because I got a very nice email back from Jen at Ruby Rocks asking me what size I wanted and passing me onto someone else who might be able to help.  Then into my inbox pinged another very nice email from Gemma at Madam Rage telling me that they'd found one, in my size and it was on sale on their website. Triple hurrah!  So I bought it, it arrived very speedily and I am a happy Alex, spreading the word about good customer service.

It's just such a nice length and colour, oh and did I mention it's all #wardrobezoo-tastic?  Straight to the top of my favourite tops list!

Not just cats but green starry cats!

Blouse - Ruby Rocks, via Madam Rage

Skirt - H&M

Blazer - Warehouse via Oxfam

Shoes - Office via ebay

Ring - Dorothy Perkins sale

Scarf - can't remember! I think a present from a blogging chum?

Frocks, Frocks, Frocks

I don’t tend to spend much time browsing shops online during the summer.  This isn’t because I do an enormous amount of actual shopping in real shops instead, it’s more due to the fact that I do things in the summer.  My disposable cash tends to get sucked up by weekends away, holidays, tickets to the theatre and the ballet and the cinema, and the ever-present book-buying habit.  Then before you know it I’m moaning about there being too much month for my money and the cute frock I’ve seen gets relegated to the “look for it on ebay in six months” list rather than the “buy it NOW” list.

Winter is a different story though.  I don’t turn into some sort of SAD-affected hermit who never goes out, but the fun jaunts are definitely not as common.   When there are more funds available, I tend to shop a little bit more.   Actual shopping in the winter is hideous though.  Unless you can bunk off work for the day then you get stuck in the weekend Christmas shopping crush (which seems to start in about October) and are beaten around the legs with rogue rolls of wrapping paper until you want to stomp off home in a strop.  Oh, and don’t forget the hideously unpleasant contrast of boiling hot shops and minus temperatures outside and having to constantly strip off layers of coats, hats, scarves and gloves before you spontaneously combust on the ground floor of Primark. 

I would so much rather sit at home with a large mug of coffee and idly browse websites until something catches my eye.  And dresses always catch my eye.  Having to sometimes pay p&p is a fair trade-off for avoiding the shops in the winter as far as I'm concerned.

This is an pheasant print frock. Yes, you heard me.  Pheasants.  How amazing is that?! My #wardrobezoo is sorely lacking in the birdy-ducky thing (it's a family term) department.

Speaking of ducks... DUCKS!  How cute is this Joules beauty?

Woman cannot live by wardrobezoo alone though.  Well, not this one anyway.  I have quite the weakness for frocks that resemble soft furnishings.  Honestly, I'm not being sarky here.  I love my dresses made from duvet covers and curtains and this one reminds me of some very floral cushions that my Nan had.

I can be sensible when I try though. This is both simple and rather beautiful.

And this might seem like a super straightforward black frock (those lucky souls who can wear the colour will probably be drawn to the berry version) but just think how lovely it'd look with any of my collection of coloured opaque tights.

The Best Jumper in the World

Happy Monday everyone (says the mardy looking girl).  Would you like to see The Best Jumper in the World?  Of course you would.  Behold!  It is green.  It is super cute.  It was on sale.  That is practically the holy trinity of jumper characteristics as far as I'm concerned!

I had really bad lighting issues today *shakes fist at the stupid weather* so have had to faff around with this. The jumper is now the right shade of green but my hair, unsurprisingly, is not that red.

Anyway, it has HEDGEHOGS on.  I think that automatically gives the wearer extra cool points and a seat at the top table of the #wardrobezoo party, should we ever have one.  If you all buy one of these jumpers, we can officially be classed as a prickle of hedgehogs, which has got to be one of the best collective nouns ever.

Why am I eating my hair? Your guess is as good as mine.  Best of a bad bunch, photo wise...

I'm feeling fairly prickly today.  Mondays aren't usually that irritating but today has been quite high on the annoying scale.  If it could go wrong, it has done, and in quite spectacular style in some cases.  I'm a bit anxious about going swimming tonight in case I accidentally drown myself or something.

  However I am a firm believer that glancing down at yourself and being able to smile at your outfit makes you feel better, even if it's only slightly.  Hence the mad tights and lovely shoes I'm sporting today.  I am such a fan of a wedge heel - perfect for work and slightly better for me than a pair of flats.  Lovely as flats are, sometimes I just need a bit more height!  I say sometimes... I mean all the time.  I am very short after all.

Jumper - ASOS sale
Skirt - H&M
Tights - Birmingham market
Shoes - Office via ebay
Ring & clutch - Dorothy Perkins