Moving on

If anyone happens to be looking for me, I've moved over here - www.mallowstudio.co.uk to my new design blog. Posts will be about prints, patterns, vintage children's books, clothes and interesting design of all kinds. Take a look if you'd like.

Autumn is everything

 

Jacket - my mothers from the 1970s

Shirt - 1970s vintage , jumble sale,

Jeans - H&M

Bag - American eagle (gift)

Boots - vintage, jumble sale

Autumn is the best season. Halloween and the annual watching of hocus pocus (best Halloween film ever), fancy dress and pumpkin flavoured goods. Bonfire night, mulled wine and free fireworks. The colours, the weather, the getting out of the cold weather wardrobe. All good things. Especially since this is the first year in a long long time we have had a real summer. I mean it was 32 degrees, that never happens. And it's still not really cold. Hence the above outfit being acceptable in the third week of October. I've had this jacket of my mum's for a while. It's a perfect fit but needed a repair which I put off too long. Happily it is now fixed. These boots are doubly old, I bought them approximately 4 years ago at a jumble  and the have now given up and fallen apart. An excuse for new shoes? The blouse is new to me, I found it at a jumble sale a week earlier. The label says Pepperhill California. I hope it belonged to a true Californian Hippy. At the same jumble I found some simialr items, I hope they all came form the same well dressed woman.

There is no single reason for my not blogging through 2013 so far. I've moved jobs, but that's about it as far as big changes go. I've noticed lots of blogs I have followed posting less, maybe it's just the Autumn of style blogging? I guess we shall see.

Rust/Rusty

Cardigan - Made by my Grandmother

Shirt - Vintage Jaeger from jumble sale

Skirt - Uni Qlo

Coat- Uni Qlo last year

Tights- Gift

Necklace - Gift

Boots - Charity shop

Listening to  - The Haunted Man - Bat for Lashes

Happy New Year all. I've managed to not take a single outfit photo for over a month somehow. Well actually its because I leave for and return from work in the dark but that's no excuse. I have had pretty great festive time. I seriously over indulged with food, particularly puddings... I received some nice gifts, got to celebrate with various friends and family an also went to my first blitz party. It was awesome and I am definitely going again. Outfit wise I'm predictably still all about mini skirts and shirts. I actually really like this outfit, which is rare. I like to wear slightly off colours and colour combinations and this fits with that. Also the cardigan goes so well with the boots. The cardigan was a pre-Christmas gift from my talented knitter of a Grandmother. I love the rust colour with the flecks of blue, and the mohair is so soft and warm. The boots were a long awaited for purchase. I have wanted a pair of heeled ankle boots for about a year but couldn't find any that I really liked enough to fork out £50-£80 on. So I resisted. Then I saw these in a local charity shop. I turned them down because they cost £20 (!) To me that is way too much for a charity shop pair of shoes. However after going out for the day I concluded I needed them. When I got back to the shop another girl was trying them on. As you can see they luckily (for me) didn't fit and I got them. I'm not sure what anyone else thinks about this, but I am starting to find charity shops are pricing me out of purchasing. For example a second hand office pair of shoes for £25 or an H&M dress for £15. I know that's not that much really but to me the joy of charity shops is the combination of giving to charity plus getting a bargain and the bargains don't seem to be as available these days. Obviously I want the charity to have as much cash as possible but I feel I would probably buy more if things were a little bit less. Any thoughts on this? Also Bat for Lashes latest album The Haunted Album is so so good.

Grey Skies

Coat - Vintage, charity shop

Shirt- Vintage Liberty's, charity shop

Skirt - Topshop, jumble sale

Cardigan - Uni qlo

Shoes - Clarks

Necklace - Gift

This outfit is a kind of homage to the grey weather we've had a lot of lately. I really try not to wear too many very dark colours during the winter as I think I feel happier in neutrals and lighter colours, especially when I'm getting up every day in the dark. I love this coat but haven't worn it much in the five years I've had it. It's mostly due to the extra large collar, but pinning it under seems to have worked. It's probably a man's jacket from the late 60's and has a label with 'Dandy, Kings Road' on it. I may have to wear it on a visit to it's spiritual home. I love a bit of history to my clothing. Also these Clarks shoes are the best, super comfortable and also go with everything, who new metallic silver could be such a useful shade.

I've had a busy November, celebrating my birthday and also Thanksgiving. I went to an American friend's Thanksgiving dinner and it was amazing! It's kind of a shame we have no national holiday with a proper feast attached to it. I had the best Oreo and Raspberry cheesecake I imagine I will ever eat and I even sort of enjoyed the sweet potato and marshmallow dish. I also had a really good birthday with some lovely thoughtful gifts and a lot of chocolate cake. I like to treat myself to a birthday dress each year but this year I made one and then didn't wear it, sometimes I lose courage wearing homemade things out and about. It's quite an interesting time capsule of my style, seeing what I have worn on my past few birthdays. If anything it's not changed much, I wore the same boots two years in a row. Speaking of boots I finally found the perfect pair of ankle boots after resisting any and all high street versions, I found a great pair in a local charity shop, they will no doubt be on this blog a lot this winter.

Antlers

Necklace - Charity shop

Cardigan - Jumble sale

Silk shirt - Traid shop sale

Skirt - Gap about 4 years ago (gift)

Tights - H&M

Boots - Jumble sale about 7 years ago

This has pretty much been my uniform these past few weeks, shirt + mini skirt + cardigan + tights + boots. I like it as it makes getting dressed so easy. I have quite a weakness for printed cotton shirts and plain silk ones, so I am trying to actually wear them all. I went to a couple of jumble sales in October and stocked up on Jaeger shirts and wool jumpers to see me through this potentially very cold winter. I also found a stash of books including Joan Didion's 'Slouching towards Bethlehem' which has a note from the previous owner from 24th November 1979 about a youth hostel in Germany. I love things like that, makes reading this particular copy even better. Also reading a book that was written about the 60's in the 60's is so interesting, given that we now have some historical context on what became of the counter-cultural movement. I also went to see 'Everything is moving' at the Barbican, which was great and very interesting with quite a diverse selection of photographers represented. This outfit however was worn yesterday for a leisurely pub lunch and the fireworks at Battersea Park. A great way to spend a Saturday. Also this necklace - does anyone know what it might be made of? It's very light and I don't think it's stone. A friend suggested it's made of Antler, but have just no idea.

Blue Sky Romance

 

 Outfits - 

1. Vintage dress jumble sale

2. Necklace charity shop, Top Urban Outfitters

3. Homemade dress, vintage belt jumble sale, Clarks sandals

4. Vintage blouse jumble sale, skirt Traid shop, Office shoes

5. Dress belonged to my mum, bag jumble sale, Office shoes

6. Vintage necklace, vintage top jumble sale, Uni Qlo trousers

7. Vintage top charity shop, homemade skirt

So I took a rather late Summer holiday this year, heading to the undoubtedly beautiful shoes of Lake Garda and also the Romantic city that is Verona. I had a great time and it's been tough returning to the normal working world. We stayed in a hotel with pretty spectacular views and visited some of the local cultural highlights, including the André Heller Botanical gardens, which took us a while to find. The place is magical and bizarre, for example there are stone heads spitting water at each other, many koi carp filled ponds, mosaics, cacti gardens and a couple of Keith Haring sculptures (like the one in the photo.) We also went to another bizarre attraction -  La Vittoriale

I don't really know how to describe the place, it belonged to  Gabriele d'Annunzio

who is buried in the mausoleum there (photo 5) that he had built. The estate also contains an amphitheater, house, and part of a battle ship, plus a lot of references to Fascism. The views in the area are totally stunning and we took a slightly scary drive up a mountain to get a better look. We also visited a lemon house and took a boat across the Lake. We ended our trip in Verona, which is lovely and feels like a film set, all the buildings are so pretty in pinkish marble colours. We did go to the infamous Juliet's balcony, but I found the hundreds of padlocks and graffiti from real life lovers a lot more interesting. I wish we'd had longer, but at least I got a little sun before Autumn hits.

Toast

Time really is going too fast at the moment. I saved these look book photos off the Toast website a couple of weeks ago and they have already been changed for a new set. I really loves these photos, they make me want to go visit a mountain range, or at least spend plenty of time outdoors all the while wearing all these perfect autumn pieces.