All The Florals

I realised the other day that we're now into March and I haven't bought any new clothes since before Christmas last year. Not particularly by choice. I'm not on a spending ban or a no-new-clothes ban or anything. I'm just poor. Fun eh?

Ah well, I was never much of a shopper at the best of times and haul posts tend to make me feel a bit icky nowadays. I'd rather read about why you've bought something lovely and how you've chosen to style it up rather than seeing quite how mad you went in Primark.

This stuff is all old. Also mildly inappropriate for work but why break the habit of a lifetime?




Look, it makes me awkwardly happy to look like an accident in a soft furnishings shop.



Everyone loves a good pair of floral heels, don't they? This pair are mega. Short people like me need all the help they can get from a big pair of wedges.





Jumpsuit - Wallis
Blazer - Matalan
Tapestry wedges - present, via Office

Pop Your Collar

I seem to be on the quite the vintage roll at the moment. It's a refreshing change!

 I was having a mooch back through old blog posts recently and it struck me that I'm not anywhere near as interesting in my outfit choices as I used to be. Vintage kinda solves that problem for you. No need to accessorize or pair things up, just shove on something with a bold pattern and let your collar do the talking.

This is my new (old) super seventies secretary frock.  All I need is a shorthand notebook and some slightly flickier hair and I reckon I'd fit in beautifully.

Check out the massive collar:

And the magical slimming powers:

It's a very good frock.

Frock - vintage 'Devonshire Lady' via The Vintage Corner
Heels - Office via ebay
Necklace - Accessorize
Bag - can't remember! Shame on me.

Always Winter

Fashion blogging in the winter is tricky, especially when you have to take your outfit photos outside. We're right at the end of March and it's still snowing and sodding freezing. Do I want to remove my coat, hat, gloves and several layers of scarves to stand still in a floaty frock when it's minus 2 outside? No, I do not. And I don't understand all the bloggers that are doing outdoor photos with ballet pumps, bare legs and spring dresses. Are they immune to the cold? Do they actually wear those clothes for the rest of the day? I don't know about you lot but my office is nowhere near warm enough for spring clothes, even with the heater on. Part of the reason I love Vix so much is that yes, she dons the chiffon in sub-zero temperatures (and looks amazing in it) but she certainly doesn't pretend it's a balmy March day out there.




I'm not into pretending either. I couldn't even bring myself to remove my gloves until halfway through taking the photos. Luckily the cape has a muff. Fnar.

Oh yes. THE CAPE. Found in an Ashbourne charity shop on the last day of the Norbury Manor holiday and immediately pounced upon by me with great glee and much squawking of "Welsh tweed?  CAPE?! BUYBUYBUY."  It came with a matching skirt which I didn't wear today partly because it needs altering but mostly because, much as I love Welsh tweed, I don't think I can wear it top to toe without looking like a bit of a maddo.

It's made by Trefriw Woollen Mills, so I did a spot of googling and discovered that they're still in existence and still making beautiful textiles.  Also their customer service is ace, cos I emailed them to ask if they knew anything about the pattern and age of the cape and got a reply within about half an hour, telling me that it's a St David's cape in R62R from the early 80s.  Must have been pricey back then because the ones they make now cost £250!  I got mine, plus the skirt, for £15 and they're in perfect condition. Hurrah!





I love how it fastens up the shoulder.






Cape - Trefriw Woollen Mills via charity shop
Dress - Closet @ Dorothy Perkins
Heels - Office Vintage range, via ebay
Pebble necklace - charity shop
Ring - Dorothy Perkins sale
Gloves - no idea!

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?

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