The Snow Queen

For the past two weeks or so it has been snowing pretty much everyday here and there has been an icy build-up blanketing the streets. I've been stomping around in fur-lined boots: whenever I see a patch of thick, frosty white snow- the type that glitters in the light- which has not yet been massacred by footprints I become five years old again and am forced to jump into it to hear that satisfying crunch. On a street near where I live there is a row of blocks of flats with intermittent patches of grass separating them from the pavement and I felt the need to walk through every single one, the snow was so perfectly smooth, untouched and about 6 inches thick: just perfect. This type of behaviour, however, seems only to be acceptable whilst walking home with your boyfriend down deserted streets at midnight. When you are walking to class, alone, at 9am surrounded by people you have to try and control yourself so as not to look like an idiot...

Anyway, as a lover of all things snow-related I fell in love with these pictures from an editorial in Vogue, shot by Tim Walker. Something about them just conjures up thoughts of icy lakes surrounded by snowy banks- perfect for crunching around in.

Inspiration For Wrapping Up Warm

From Facehunter, Hel Looks and Cafe Mode

Some Looks To Covet

Clashing printed tights with patterned dresses, as seen at Anna Sui:

Metallics mixed with knitwear, just like Burberry:

Ribbons, a la Luella. I just bought meters and meters of cheap ribbons off eBay with a mind to add some embellishment to old boring dresses.

And woolly dresses adorned with sequins and sparkles, just like Sonia Rykiel. Also, I love the long gloves:

The Church of Sex and the City

I'm not a religious person at all, but if I do worship anything then it is most definitely Sex and the City. I've started working my way through my box set again and had to post these pictures of an outfit Carrie wore to Church in a first season episode (sorry for the dodgy quality, I had to take pics of the TV screen). I may not be going to any Churches in the near future, but I think a demurely cute outfit like this one is suitable for many occasions! I would lose the hat but I love her little white gloves and the bow detail at the waist. If only there was a shot of her shoes!

Bright Lights at the Circus

I just got home from a weekend in London and I’m already planning my next rip back! We didn’t get to do as much stuff as we wanted, mainly because we didn’t really plan our last minute trip very well and also because we slept in both days! But, of course, we made it to Topshop! We arrived in London at 7am after our overnight journey from Edinburgh and after we dumped our cases at the station we went for some breakfast and people watching on Oxford Street.
I thought it was so strange to see people walking around so early all dressed up! Where I live virtually nobody wears high heels during the day (you always see women in smart outfits walking about with cups of coffee wearing their trainers ha!) and I saw so many women who looked like they could have been going out clubbing but were obviously going to work instead!
Our first stop was Topshop, and there was already a few people hanging around outside waiting for it to open at ten to 9. Everyone must have thought we were such idiots, walking around ‘ooohing and aaahing’ and taking sly pictures! I had a pile of stuff which I think must have totalled around £500 pounds before I realised the limit on my Topshop card was only £150, oops! In the end I got a couple of dresses from the designer section on the bottom floor, two bags and a few pairs of tights. I hoped there would be a better tight selection but most of them were all footless tights which I can’t stand! It was love at first sight for me and this Paul’s Boutique bag:
We also went to American Apparel and I got a bit over-excited about basics in every colour! There’s only one AA in Scotland and I’ve never been to it so really we went for the novelty factor as I order stuff off the website all the time and didn’t expect to buy anything! But in the end I picked up a plain grey tee and the gold lame skirt (I have the black one already and I couldn’t decide if I should get gold or not but seeing it in person convinced me) with the idea of wearing them clubbing that night. After lunch we were so tired as we didn’t get any sleep the night before we went to get our stuff and headed to our hotel which was near Notting Hill for a little ‘Disco Nap’.
We went into Camden to go to Club NME at KOKO and I was expecting it to be full of typical Indie Gig Goers but obviously in London the cool guys don’t go to Camden on a Friday night because everyone there seemed to be dressed pretty average, mainly girls in skinny jeans or just dresses and black tights and lots of black. I wore a green Topshop dress (it keeps getting sold out on the website so I was a bit worried I’d see at least one other person wearing it!) with red and black spotted tights and was amazed at how many people came up to me and my friend and told us how good our outfits were! Maybe they were just taking the piss haha! I thought before we went that it might be a bit rubbish but we had such a good time there: we chatted to so many people, everyone kept asking to borrow my sunglasses, we got lots of drinks bought for us and some guy even gave my friend his business card as a chat-up line!
We didn’t get home till after 4 and slept in the next day so didn’t have much time to do any more than visit Covent Garden, where I got my wonderfully bright pink Doc Martens (I saw the in Topshop the day before and fell in love with them and my firend took a cheeky pic as part of our virtual shopping list!) Then we went to Harrods and Selfridges (my friend was desperate to go there to try and buy a Juicy Couture bag but in the end didn’t find one she liked!) where I only bought some MAC make-up (their new mineral foundation is highly recommended btw) the new issue of Lula and a really cute Paul’s Boutique dress which I wore out to dinner that night.
We are planning to head back in a few months and hopefully next time we will have more time for visiting lots of Vinatage stores and the market at Portobello etc etc etc!

Ballerina Blues

Today it has been raining all day, so much so that while I was driving I could only see about a foot in front of my car! This morning I braved the weather to go horse riding (although lucky for me there is an indoor arena at my yard!). On the way home I went to do a quick little shop (in middy boots and jodhpurs, oh dear) and bought these lovelies at Topshop:

I think the earrings are just adorable and they were only £1 in the sale.
When I came home, I had to go to work for 3 hours (it hardly seemed worth the effort) and now I'm about to watch the first episode of Zooey Deschanel's TV show Tin Man, drink Peppermint tea and eat raspberries and cream...

My Forgotten Wardrobe

For the past while all I have been doing is studying for an exam I needed to resit, or working! I had my exam last week and I hope it went well! Since the city where I go to Uni is so faraway from where my parents live (about a 3 hour train journey) I decided to stay at my friend's flat for the night afterwards. We celebrated our reunion (I haven't seen her for over 2 months) with the most food I think I have ever eaten in one day, and just as much wine!

Then we went clubbing, to my favorite club, and I wore this new Miss Selfridge dress for the first time. I got it because my friend has it in black! And also because I think it's so cute and versatile. I wore it out with blue polka-dot tights and gold heels and jewellery and lots of blue eye make-up, then a few days later I wore it to a gig my friend was playing at over a plain pink Tshirt with plimsolls, so its good for day and night!
While I was in the city for one night only, I did realise that there I feel much more comfortable and able to wear more 'out there' outfits. Back home everybody mostly wears just dresses from New Look (in the big town near where I live there is a massive New Look and a tiny Topshop and not really anything else!) with black tights and high heels and you do feel like a bit of a sore thumb sometimes wearing a bright pink prom dress with blue zebra print tights, for example. But in the city I don't care as much because clubs are never filled with people you went to school with who you feel judge you all the time! And so for that reason I pulled a few things out of my wardrobe which I have been a bit scared to wear since coming home:

I love this top to death but I never know what to wear it with, and sometimes I feel like it's a bit garish or tacky. I plan to wear it soon just with a tight black skirt and white plimsolls but I worry that's a bit too boring???

I don't know why I never wear this dress but I think it's so cute. I never know what to wear with it though, like what shoes or what colour tights would go?

This vintage pinafore dress I got a few months ago has just sat in my wardrobe unworn. It's pretty revealing but if I was to wear a Tshirt underneath it then looks too frumpy I think! I love it but I'm just not sure if I can pull it off. I imagine someone like Mary-Kate wearing this this with ease but I just feel maybe I'd look like I was trying too hard to be 'cool'!

I've had this dress for over a year but never wear it. It reminds me too much of a school friend's trusty Halloween costume, which she wore every year, of a cut-up wedding dress covered in bloodstains! It comes up at the front and has almost a train at the back and it is lovely, but I think its going to end up on eBay soon because it just takes up so much space in my wardrobe!