Colour co-ordination trends I'm loving right now

The night I met my now husband I was wearing red shoes, red bag, red tube top (yes a tube top - it was 2006) and a navy skirt. On a girls holiday to Magaluf later that year I wore a white miniskirt, white shoes and white top. Back then colour co-ordination was BIG!
I felt the need to constantly colour co-ordinate all my outfits. I now look back at pictures and cringe, but that's fashion its forever changing.
I actually don't think I've colour co-ordinated my outfit ever since, I constantly mis-match colours trying to create new ways of styling the overly worn items hanging in my closet.
However, as mentioned above fashion is constanting evolving and changing and recently the colour co- ordinating trend has re-emerged but in a relevant and more stylish way. Its left me wanting to match all the colours in my wardrobe even if said wardrobe consists of Navy, Grey and Black pieces - well its definitely a starting point.

Ph Credit - lacooletchic, gudrunolof, alisonpeebles and manrepeller

An ode to my ASOS Bridal dress

As soon as I walked into an official "bridal" shop I knew I wasn't going to find a dress for me. The very lovely sales woman walked towards me with the biggest, voluptuous, netted dress I'd ever seen and I instantly shouted NO in my head. Whilst the dresses she showed me were beautiful and had sleeves (something I knew I wanted and needed for an October wedding), I knew these dresses were going to look ridiculous on me. 

In the shop I was advised that I may change my mind when I tried a few 'bridal' dresses on. I'm sure that can be true but to be very honest I didn't want that type of wedding dress. So I never tried any on, even after looking around a few dress shops. I don't regret it, I needed to feel like me. 

I've never been very Bridey and up until the point my boyfriend of 10 years proposed I'd never envisioned myself getting married, let alone in a huge white dress. 

At the beginning I thought about a coloured dress, I've always loved emerald green, that could

Work - but I knew I didn't want an extremely traditional wedding and a white/cream/ivory dress could add some tradition to the day. 

Many brides would not even think the highstreet/online highstreet was an option. Most brides want their dress to be original, a one of a kind and I get that but the latter comes at a price but the highstreet offers a whole array of gorgeous dresses at a fraction of the cost. 

I work in fashion and know what our Great British (online) high street has to offer. First I looked at designer white dresses that could pass for a wedding dress at Harvey Nichols then I searched John Lewis, Liberty, Monsoon and House of Fraser. Whilst theses outlets all had some beautiful dresses I didn't find that something unique that suited my style. 

ASOS BRIDAL 

ASOS is the brand I go too for my usual sartorial so why not for my wedding dress? I scrolled for many hours over many weeks before I found what those in the wedding business call 'the dress'. 

Yes searching for a dress online is time consuming. These dresses are not made to measure so you need to ensure it's a style that will suit your figure and in a fabric that looks expensive without actually being expensive. A plus side - around early spring new styles debut regularly giving lots of choice to choose from, finding the right dress was inevitable. It happened one Friday night, as soon as I saw it I loved it. But there was still the possibility that it wouldn't fit, we all know high-street fashion is not always true to size. When the DPD man knocked on my door some days later I was pleasantly surprised with how my purchase was packaged. No usual plastic ASOS packaging - instead a huge ASOS bridal box and garment bag containing my soon to be wedding dress.

I was very very lucky, the dress fit perfectly. I instantly knew I had picked the right dress. Yes, it's a high street dress so their are a few quality issues including some tucks around the bum area but overall this is a beautiful dress. The fabric quality and weight feel much more expensive than the £95 price tag.

On the day it received so many complements and I loved how unique this dress felt. I managed to portray my own personal style and most importantly without having to spend a fortune.  

Ph Credit - Eve Hopkinson Photography

Party Train

A couple of Friday's ago I joined the office girls and headed in to Manchester for Christmas cocktails and dinner in the Northern Quarter. The night was a blast but living outside the city becomes a drag when your evening comes to an abrupt end because you have to get the last train back to your semi rural abode. I love seeing trees and fields outside of my bedroom window but on nights like that it would be so convenient to live in the city. 

As I headed for the 10:29 train, one could have been fooled into thinking that the night was over, when in actual fact many similar individuals were continuing the party on the last Northern Rail Manchester to Leeds service. 

Yes, that festive time of year is upon us when the last train home on a Friday night becomes the party train - filled with post Christmas party goers ready to get an affordable ride home. Let's just say I didn't get the party train memo. I turned up with my bottle of M&S lemonade ready to avoid the wine hangover before I arrived at my destination in 50 minutes time. It seemed everyone else had turned up with something stronger. 

The journey home consisted of cider quaffing office workers singing Oasis anthems whilst banging the tune on the windows. I was actually enjoying the sing along until the girl sat on the floor next to me almost puked on my favourite gold heels. But we all get a little giddy during the festive season so possible puking is more than forgivable. 

It was my official office Christmas party last Friday and I was somewhat sad that I wasn't a member of the party train again. But a drunk ride home in a warm car with my sober Husband and Christmas music on full was just as entertaining.

Back to the habit

Its been a while since my last post but it's now time to get back in the habit. In the last 6 months, I've started a new job and got married and sadly my little blog has taken a back seat amist all the organisnig and planning. 
It's time to get back into my writing habits and as always my blog will be a platform for my love of writing, fashion, style, pop culture and news. I aim to amuse and inform with the added personal and serious topic thrown in for good measure, because while the low brow is fun and easy reading we need the high brow to feed the intellectual side of our brains.   

Ph credit - The Red List

Prosecco Gate

It's come to the end of summer, we've already started to dig out our boots, winter coats and used that umbrella far too many times, but hey that's the great British weather. At least we have our summer memories right? Trips to the beach, wine in the garden you know the drill.  I'm pretty sure your summer as well as mine involved consuming copious amounts of Prosecco and if not then where have you been, what have you been doing?! Literally everywhere I've looked these past few months, homosapiens of all ages and genders have been drinking Prosecco. It's the talk of the town! I've seen it on trains in screw cap bottles, accompanying woo girls at tables donned with fireworks, in far too many Instagram stories and stacked on the shelves of Aldi in the largest bottles you have ever seen for only £23.00!! 

It now even comes in organic (yes, I've tried it) and reduced sugar versions, us British people have jumped on the Prosecco band waggon even to the point of sharing running out scare stories on Facebook!! 

 

Although this summer I've enjoyed a few glasses (bottles) of fizz myself I have to say it's not my friend when it comes to hangovers. I'm guessing there's a reason it's cheap - those bubbles seem to cause nausea, head aches and that hangover induced anxiety I often feel the day after! 

I've decided I'm changing to champagne. This year has involved a few reasons to celebrate, my upcoming wedding, turning 30, graduation and as such, I've become accustommed to champagne. Which delightfully doesn't leave me feeling like I want to face plant the sofa the next day (most of the time) but unfortunately pulls on the purse strings. But hey who says you can't enjoy a bottle of Veuve on the couch just because it's Friday!! It's cheaper from the supermarket and if all else fails, Aldi do a great version for £10!! 

Ph Credit : Pinterest

A Sea of Change for the Fashion Industry

  

The high street and online shopping world is currently drowning in fast fashion aimed at young consumers and why wouldn’t it be? This demographic is fashion conscious and loves on-trend apparel at low prices. According to a Mintel Womenswear report (2016) “Young women drive fashion purchasing; 63% of 16-24-year-olds have bought outerwear within the last three months and almost half (48%) have bought footwear and this consumer is more likely to prioritise low prices.”

These types of stats are what drives fast fashion retailers such as H&M, New Look and Topshop to aim their collections, advertising campaigns and promotions at a younger generation.

But what about the mature shopper? Don’t they deserve on-trend, stylish clothing and to be included in the world of fashion?

My final major project at university consisted of creating a timeless knitwear collection for the over 50’s women for a middle market high-street retailer. This decision was made due to an increased gap in the market that needed to be addressed.

Research brought to my attention the limited offerings there is for the fashion conscious mature consumer. Marks and Spencer, Hobbs, Jigsaw and Jaeger are all brands targeting an older market but somehow their collections were aging and boring. This growing demographic has the potential to be a profitable alternative to the price-driven and less brand-loyal youth and somehow this opportunity was being missed by many popular high-street retailers.

“The over-55s is set to be the fastest growing demographic over the next five years, driving spending among older women represents an opportunity for womenswear. The research finds more stylish clothing for their age and greater availability of clothes in larger sizes as key issues older women would like to see resolved.” (Mintel, 2016)

Since carrying out this research, I have noted a sea of change happening within the fashion industry, after many years of signing teenagers to promote their wares, brands are catching on that customers with money to spend – older women – want to see models with life experience in campaigns and editorials.

The latest crop of fashion weeks saw designers Dries Van Noten and Simone Rocha casting older models to walk their shows. This past season designers have made a distinct effort to be more diverse in their casting, using more non-white models, as well as older and non-professional models. Jan de Villeneuve, 72 who was photographed for the cover of The Telegraph’s Stella magazine last month adds “Life doesn’t end when you start getting a pension…...Older women love fashion too. I’ve always thought it would be nice if people of all ages, shapes and sizes were included because that’s more relevant to day-to-day life.” (Telegraph Online, 2017)

In recent weeks fashion publications, Elle UK, Porter and Sunday Times Style have all covered this topic. Personally, I'm excited by diversity within an industry that sometimes feels generic and mainstream. 

Ph credit - The Sunday Times and Vogue