Freshers' so far...

Hey!
A few outfit posts, nothing too fancy as I have been working this week in the University health centre, absorbing all the germs and such, that place is a breeding ground for fresher's flu!

Tuesday;

Check out the artificial lighting - I was actually up early enough that it was still dark, sigh! I was wearing my new Primark top under an H&M tee, Primark skirt and H&M tights and shoes.

Wednesday (my birthday!);

A suprisingly bland outfit for a birthday girl but I was toning it down as I had felt overdressed the day before at work, Freshers' Week is basically a sea of skinny jeans, converse and other boring basics amid messy hair and hungover little faces! The flats are from Topshop, Primark tights, H&M dress with tee from dollydagger and belt from ebay.

Today;

I think this skirt is so unflattering! I don't wear it often, obviously, it's from boohoo...the peep-toes are from H&M (for future reference - peep toes are not good rainwear!), the tights are H&M, the white vest I think came from House of Fraser and the black tee is Primark. The bracelet is actually Topman, I must have large hands or something!

It's chilly enough for light jackets now and so I brought this old denim out of retirement, just for a change. Maybe inspired by bloggers like Camille and Rumi who rock the faded denim so well! I bought this jacket when I was 14, I saved a whole month's allowance to but it and the matching jeans (which I frequently wore together - hillbilly tuxedo!), isn't it odd that I still have it? The scarf is one of many beautiful presents which I received, I will get round to sharing the rest soon, from my lovely younger stepsister. One present I must share now though is my Marc by Marc Jacobs bag, the photo is not doing it any justice because I had to stick the flash on! Thanks Mum!

Char x

First position

Hello!

My brief absence from the blogging world, ie I didn't post yesterday, was due to starting a new job today. Yes another new job, all the better to fund my shopping habits. Another job which also requires wearing a suit, and I was damn hot today on the walk home! I'm pretty impressed with the shirt I bought for work, from boohoo using the discount I got from the stinking dress. It's a really good fit and 100% cotton (which makes ironing a bitch, I'm quite domesticated really but I don't iron often!) which is impressive for the price.

When I get paid, I think I'll invest in the blue striped version as it's rare for me to find a shirt that doesn't gape in the boob area. I really don't want to be giving off a slutty, scruffy, blow-jobs-in-the-mailroom vibe at the big fancy law firm I'm working at!
I also quite like this rather weird tartan-checked-sheer creation, and it's also like £12 or something. Ahhh the wages are spent before they even arrive, I am counting the days till payday!
I bullied my Mum into making me a barbeque yesterday and in return got a bunch of stuff to sell on ebay, mostly dull china (Royal Doulton baby!) and a collection of teaspoons which fascinated me as a child for some reason. But also this sweet little handbag, which belonged to my Grandmother a long time ago (well, it belonged to her until recently but wasn't used!). I am in love with this bag, but it wouldn't hold half the stuff I take out with me and I have been instructed to sell it, so sell I must! I also have a bunch of vintage dresses, so stay tuned for a preview and details of my ebay etc!

Speaking of ebay, the dispute about the dress I bought and bitched about here is over. The seller has kindly offered a full refund and apologised for misleading me. So, I must apologise for a) boring you with my rant and b) complaining about something which turned out to be easily fixed! I think that it is still a valuable lesson to learn though, whilst I would say that 99% of ebay transactions are free from problems, there are always going to be dishonest people and we all should be careful not to be victims of bad ebayers!

In my quest for summer footwear which doesn't bake my feet I've been seriously considering a pair of white jazz shoes. I know, it sounds a bit mental but there are white pumps everywhere just now that look identical and jazz shoes are just that little bit cheaper!

See? Ain't nothing wrong with that...or is there, do you think I'm mad? I have a pair of black jazz shoes from my dancing days but the black ones actually look like dance shoes (and to me they are!). Speaking of abusing dancewear, I brought some ballet tights back from my Mum's and may attempt to pass them off as normal tights - they are just such a pretty, summery colour. Again, do you think I'm mental? They are a better idea than the white tights I bought from ebay then chickened out of wearing because they were not opaque enough for my legs! My new tights-buying mantra = I don't do 15 denier. Not so unflattering as they were when paired with a leotard either. If only I still had my muscly, meaning not flabby, dancer's legs *sigh*

Other things I'm wearing here are a New Look skirt and Miss Selfridge (sale!) shoes.

As of tomorrow my flatmate is away for like three weeks, woot! No more living in someone else's filth! Why is it so hard to find a flatmate who has the same standards of hygiene and cleanliness as me? I may have a girl's night or something while he's gone...it'll also be much easier for me to get outfit posts! Nita Karoliina of little sneak into my life expressed sadness at never seeing our faces in photos, I guess it's just easier for me to take outfit posts without worrying about what my crazy face is doing but I'm working up to a face shot...maybe! I have to admit that the bloggers I most admire are those who show their faces. If you knew me you'd recognise me anyway so it's not really a privacy thing, more a I'm-not-too-photogenic-in-the-morning thing!

Char x x x

Work it out

Hey!

I've been playing around today with more casual ways of wearing suit jackets, as promised! Another Olsen-suit-outfit appeared before me today on my beloved fashion is spinach, you too can feast your eyes here. I won't post the photo here as I feel that two Olsen posts in a row is a bit much, I like how they dress most of the time but let's not get crazy. So my own way of "dressing down" the suit, god I hate that expression, are here.

The "I heart NY":

I heart NY t-shirt - New York duh (I actually wear this more as PJs, to be honest!), pinafore - vintage via ebay, tights - Tesco, ankle socks - tightsplease, shoe boots - Some shop in NY (not an intentional theme, I swear!), suit jacket - H&M

The Olsen inspired

Suit jacket - H&M, t-shirt and skirt - H&M, tights - Tesco, shoes - vintage Carvela via ebay.

Let me know what you guys think! I prefer the second one for sure, it's just more flattering, the first one looked better in my head...

Below is a truly shocking picture of the outfit I wore to my Mum's last night for dinner, I put the photo up anyway 'cause I liked the outfit even though it's hard to see here. And yeah, I know, leggings are sick (not the good kind) but I was too hot for tights and too hairy for bare legs, deal with!

Shoes - Debenhams, Leggings (ew) - New Look, Dress - vintage via ebay (I think it's handmade, there are no labels and it has this awesome 80's pattern of tiny red, green and blue dots. When I have a new washing machine again I'll re-wear it and get a good photo!). Belt - H&M, Green top - asos, about a million years ago...nowt interesting on my wrist, hair bobbles! So I said I went to my Mum's for dinner last night (we had chinese, score!) because my younger brother (who everyone calls "lil bruv" since he used to work with us) just got back from Morocco, he was away for like a month and had a proper adventure etc etc. Jelous, moi? He brought me back a present, it's so sweet, observe for yourself...

It's a charm bracelet thing with three Hands of Fatima on it, and a tiny bell which jingles when I move, it's obnoxious and that's why I love it, my keys do the same thanks to a Hello Kitty charm. According to the source of all my knowledge on everything, wikipedia, the Hand of Fatima offers protection from the "evil eye". That might be neccessary in some Edinburgh clubs, I tells ya!

Recently many of my objects of lust have been t-shirts, which is unusual for me since I'm not really a "jeans and a t-shirt" kind of girl. I love t-shirts on other people but for some reason I always tend to look/feel scruffy! Maybe it's 'cause I don't iron. Ever. I went to work yesterday in a cotton shirt, unironed, it was not pretty. In fact it looked like it had been slept in. Cast your eyes on these etsy bad-boys:

Yeah, that's the awesome American Apparel tri-blend, it's a men's one but I think the slouchiness would work. They have lady's too, find them here.

This is love! I really like deer for some reason (and no, it's not bambi 'cause I don't think I ever saw it as a child...) but yeah, this rocks. I also like how they've styled it, especially the legwarmer/socks. Find it here. There are similar legwarmer/socks at tightsplease.

I am so getting these when I get paid, they shall replace the ski pants which, sadly, were too short for me! Gutted, but I actually might like these even better! In black though, I think, to begin with anyways...

it's been a long one!

Char x x x

More than just 9 to 5...

Hey!
I've been searching for ways to make my suit jackets (of which I now have 4!) more casual so that, after my summer of hard work, they won't be totally useless garments wasting precious wardrobe space (my wardrobe already has an overflow carpark in the form of a clothes rail).

I'm actually loving Ashley Olsen's entire outfit here, frugal fashionista suggested recreating it with this grey sheer jumper thing from asos which I am officially in love with. I love most grey things and almost all sheer things...This would also make good use of the skirt I can no longer wear to work as I was told twice last time that it was "too short", pah!
I'm certain this would look a million times bettter without that hideous necklace too...

Char x x x

Business time

Hey!
I made it to the bank today (go me!) and then to H&M to find myself a new work wardrobe. In Edinburgh we have two main H&Ms, one (which I usually prefer) which carries all the Trend and Divided stuff and the other which I usually find fairly boring! It has the suits and suchlike, I suppose it's mainly designed for people slightly older than us, but it is allegedly the flagship, weirdly. I had put a few things aside yesterday and today added a simple sort of shift dress. I have photos but they're a bit rubbish since black never shows up well and I had to use a flash, sorry!

Suit jackets; grey (spicy!) and black - £10 in the sale, score! That's actually the 3rd £10 black jacket I've bought, may be a good idea to stop now...
Skirt - £5 in sale, also mistakenly ticketed as an 18 (probably the reason why it's in the sale...). dress, quite boring but a nice fit! Apologies if this is boring! Also apologies for the crappy photography and for the fact that I couldn't be assed to model.
Outfit du jour:

Shirt - ebay (pussy bow! and it has a Mary Poppins-esque pattern!), cardigan - H&M, skirt - boohoo, tights - Primark, shoes - also H&M (also for work, I was breaking them in. They're pretty comfy!).

The work wardrobe of my dreams is a teeny tiny bit closer...when I was a kid I always dreamed of wearing a suit to work, that was basically the specifications of my future job; must wear suit. Teenage jobs with fugly uniforms seem to have cemented this further into my psyche, I'd die happy if I never again wore a unisex, poly-blend, badly sized, polo shirt or some such. Or an apron, unless it was a vintage apron, worn by choice. Whilst baking.

Nina Ricci Spring '08

Char x x x