Get your Yellow Wellies on!

I was lucky enough this year to be invited to the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) Yellow Welly Fundraiser Party, due to a friend being on the organising committee. This is an amazing charity, providing volunteers who go out in dangerous conditions to save lives at sea. A worthy cause and one which I'm using this particular event, and my blog, to get a post out about.

If you would like to make a donation to the RNLI, you can do so here.

The event was at The Hurlingham Club in London and it was a good old excuse to get dressed up in black tie. As you can see, my friends really do scrub up amazingly (they're good-looking people naturally, so when they put the effort in, super stunning).


Me and the girls in the centre of the club. I wore my red sequinned vintage dress with the winged Louboutins. B is wearing a fab white dress with ruffles down the side of it, very art deco. C (not me!) in the other red dress, which was a flamboyant kicky cocktail number. And L is wearing a beautiful dark purple sequinned dress with a black feathered shawl and a feathered headband. So we were all vintage-inspired, if not outright vintage, hearkening back to a time when people knew how to dress properly.


Bathroom posing... sorry...


I'm in the middle here with some of my favourite legal people!! We were all in the same class (2) from August-November and, ahhh, love them. Watch this space, there are some big things to come from these guys.


A slightly over-flashed picture of the girls! I don't normally drink, but when there's good champagne on offer I am on it. Amaretto and mulled wine are the other drinks of choice (never to excess, and not very often).

A view across the table. Very nice meal and excellent company. What more could I ask of an evening?

Glamourous feathers, Prada shoes (not seen or even photographed... sorry J, your big fashion moment!) and a beautiful faux fur shrug.


Close-up of L, B and me (C was not in this photo as she was rushing around being all organiser-y!)

So glamourous...

... and hilarious.


FYI, salmon pink and navy/baby blue is definitely the colour combination of the season!


An excellent excellent evening had by all.

I'm a lumberjack and I'm alright...

In revision mode, pre-big fat exams lead me to this outfit, based on a shirt of Ruth's! She wears it as a dress so I did too! Conveniently she was away for the weekend, haha!


I did team it with v v thick Uniqlo heattech leggings and boots to combat the slight shortness. Thankyou Ruth, for aiding me in my hour of need/no clean clothes!


Ruth's suggestion of the day, btw, is to "translate" foreign names. Now, since she's away at the moment, I can only remember 2 linked examples:

Julio Iglesias - Julian Church
Enrique Iglesias - Eric Church


Try your own. And let me know how they go!!

Jamie Jeans

Despite my well-known dislike of skinny jeans, I've been desiring a pair of black ones and I've been won around. They're still not the most flattering on me, but I ended up buying the skinniest black skinny jeans that ever there were. And FYI, nope, they're not jeggings (please, give me a little credit!).





These are the Jamie style, available from Topshop (mine are Topshop tall, naturally!). I fit into a smaller size than usual (I'm usually a 10, but I somehow fit into the 8). Topshop sizes are weird though, I did try on the Baxter style and barely fit into the size 10!! Guess it just shows how you've got to try all the jeans on!!


FYI, Sherin has won my Aussie competition with her lovely Polyvore set, we shall see how the prizes go!! I have no idea...




ALSO, flatmate Ruth is away this week, but has left a Ruth's Suggestion with me for your Christmas amusement (yes, I know, it's early but we did this about 2 weeks ago). Elf Yourself!!! I sadly can't find the one we did, but it was hilarious....!

Swearing Tights and Aussie Competition

Hey everyone! I'm still alive... just about... not shopping, not wearing overly interesting things, it's all about the work. Mmm exams.

However, I managed to get this photographed this morning and I'm having a brief break before a week of cramming and exams, so there's time to put it up!



Pink boots + alphatights + Vogue tshirt = awesome.

The House of Holland alphabet tights are incredible... they occasionally spell out swear words!!

These were taken on the same day, a day filled with classes, ironically!


FUCK!!
Shit legs...




And on a separate note - Aussie have a competition for you!! What we want you to do is design an outfit which defines, for you, what Aussie is all about. There's a potential prize in it too - no idea what it is but I'm promised it's awesome!

Aussie by evil_ginner featuring Ashish

Items in this set:
Elegancedw.co.uk dress, 260 GBP
Ashish sweater, $815
Miss Selfridge shorts, 30 GBP
Geekshoes.com shoes
Generalpants.com.au, 30 AUD

For me, I think Aussie defines confidence and flirtatiousness - the smell is awesome and the shampoos work really well on my hair - good hair makes me confident! Hence why I've gone for two outfits - one is proper Aussie, ready for a beach barbecue (I know, so typical but it IS what I think of when I think Aussie!) and the second is a flirty dress with some fabulous pink shoes. Love it!

So post up the link in the comments to a Polyvore set defining Aussie and I'll pick the winner!! Competition ends on 30th November.

Playing about (excuse the face)

Image heavy post - sorry, I always seems to do self-posts, but I'm so busy atm (exams in a week and half, TERRIFYING exams too!). Anyways, here is me playing about with clothes, trying to figure out what to wear with the houndstooth jacket.

Please excuse the face - I may have been told at points in the past that I should be a model, but with a face as elastic as mine, it's probably for the best that I avoid photos where possible.



Not sure about it with the pink skirt - too patterned? They are different size patterns, but I'm not sure.


And over the tshirt "dress"




This is my "I'm-a gonna deck you" face.



Finally, reuse of the Littlewoods skirt!! This is a very... curvy, bodycon outfit. Dangerous.

Black Monday

This is what I wore on Monday - for some reason, several of us in the class were wearing black, no idea why!! One of the boys was like "Well, it is slimming"... cheers for that!!! Maybe I have gained a few pounds (I eat too much cake! But still 4lbs in one week? Unfair man!), but he was joking, honest!


Anyways, it didn't stop me wearing a raaather short black skirt with oversized black jumper and brightly coloured scarf. What you can't really see are the leopard print tights and black ankle boots. The stiletto ones. Which apparently due to my "drunken Bambi" style walking make me get holes in my tights on the left inside leg, due to right boot. GAH.




I then had to go outside, so folded up the jumper a little and threw on The Jacket. I've worn it loads this Autumn already. Good purchase.

I really wanted to make a montage out of the top 3 images to put them together. But despite doing it before (when I had a little more time to play with it) with the Paris photos, I somehow have forgotten EVERYTHING. Ugh. If anyone has any recommendations for easy to use Mac programs which I can play with copy and pasting large photos, I'd be very grateful! I have Paintbrush but it opens my images far too large.

Underground Rebel Bingo

For a friend's birthday, we all went out to the Underground Rebel Bingo Club. Now I can't reveal much about it (although you can read about it through google... duhh!) but the theme is flash/dangerous. This would be fine... if we weren't expecting to be drawn all over (with the pens for the bingo). So I wanted to a) look good and b) wear something I didn't mind getting drawn on.


I went for white painted racer back with grey denim skirt, blue Pantone tights and flaming Converse, all with the black sequinned jacket over the top.


I was getting ready, hence iPod!!! Sadly, on the way to the club, I fell over in the road, like a child, and managed to get a big hole in my knee. It's sort of cool in a ripped tights way, but that adds to the hole already there from the stiletto boots I last wore them out with. Think I can probably still wear them occasionally. When my knee heals a bit.

I went for colourful eye makeup, with light green, dark green flicked up, silver eyeliner on top and navy pencil on the bottom.

Wish these had come out a bit better - my face looked more angular than usual and I had proper cheekbones!! Alas, my efforts to capture it properly did not work.


So colourful and somewhat ridiculous. Fun though. And who doesn't love a bit of indie electro and being in the midst of some trendy and beautiful East-London-style boys?


Of course, I'd worn something very different during the day!! I'd bought myself a new scarf, I know it's Keffiyeh style and whilst I don't hold views on the region (I am v v uneducated about the Israel-Palestine affair), I figured these had probably made it into the mainstream enough that I could wear it without the political implications. I like it, so I'm going to wear it!!

Patricia Field for Diet Coke Eco Bag

Now, I know everyone and their dog has tote bags, but they are still very very worthwhile and good to look at!!!!

I got sent details and an actual bag from the Patricia Field for Diet Coke eco bag. It folds up into a v small pouch (useful!) and is made from recycled bottles. I can vouch for the fact that it does not feel plasticky.


Press chat -

"The bag, made entirely from recycled bottles, will be given away free to customers who purchase two 500ml bottles of Diet Coke in selected Boots stores nationwide from 22nd October.

Showcasing Patricia’s unique urban style, it has a striking print peppered with hot pink - set to be huge for Autumn/Winter - and white phrases inspired by the fashion world. It also folds up into an easy-to-store pouch that rocks a leopard print pattern, giving you a trendy and practical alternative to using plastic bags."

Well hello there! That's a little pouch...

... but it's folding out....
... to a full sized tote bag!!!
Super-80s styling there. Love it. Definitely using it tomorrow for lugging books about!!

Is that really a dress, Claire?

The answer is... probably not. But with teal green tights, ankle boots and attitude, who's to say otherwise?



OK, so I probably will wear it as a tshirt in future.


But that doesn't mean it's not cool!

It did ride up a little. I did not showcha my chocha though. But the bum shape ended up a bit weird!!


Not bad though, for £20 from Topshop (Realitees). I love the city skyline look!!!

What else to pair this tshirt/dress with? I'm thinking I kind of really neeeeeed some black skinny jeans/trousers. Must go check out Zara next week.

Integrity and Banksy

Just a quick point, which is quite important to me - recently it's come to my attention that myself and other bloggers are being offered items to review, or being invited to events etc. I wanted to make it clear that I will always say when I've been invtied to something or been sent something. I also wanted to make it clear that when I review something, I genuinely think what I write - I'm not about to go write a good review of something that I've been sent if I don't think it's a good product. I like to think of myself as having a certain level of integrity which I aim to put through.

Wanted to make that clear, as it's not always! I don't want the blog to become a vehicle for selling products and I don't want people to not trust me (in so far as one can BE trusted on the internet anyway).


And on a completely different note, Flatmate Ruth's suggestion of the day is to go to the Banksy website and use some of his hi-res images to make tote bags/mugs/tshirts. It actually SUGGESTS doing this on the website, as long as you're not going to go do this for commercial purposes. Ruth particularly likes the Dorothy Stop And Search image above. Check it out!