My skirt is better than your skirt…(sort of!)

December 21, 2014August 5, 2015 | blueskygirlie

Ok, its probably not – but let me start by saying I am in love with this skirt. Properly. Yes its a bit weird but I’m ok with it. Fashion is a love affair after all!!!

I bought this Kew skirt a few years back but have never been small enough to fit into it. But this year with my metamorphosis into a runner and some dieting, my body has slimmed down and finally I can get myself into a size 10 fixed waist…yay!!!

Its a little tricky to wear for a petite girl so I co-ordinated it with a fitted white shirt, navy fitted jumper and Forever21 necklace. Its a heavyweight check with fringed hem in an A-line maxi shape.

Its a perfect choice for Winter and I think I’m going to wear it quite a bit till Spring.

Shirt – Matalan
Jumper- BHS
Skirt – Kew (now part of Jigsaw)
Necklace – Forever21

National Christmas Jumper Day

December 12, 2014August 5, 2015 | blueskygirlie

Ok, I’m going to come clean – I’m not really a Christmas jumper type person. I love fun fashion definitely…but looking like a clown? No thanks! However over the last few years there’s been some gorgeous Christmas jumpers and there’s something so festive about wearing one. And for someone like me thats great!

I also like a good cause and today is Save the Children’s National Christmas Jumper Day. The idea is simple – wear a jumper and make a donation – £2 if you’re and adult and £1 if you’re a kid. After searching everywhere (and not wanting to spend a fortune) I finally found a jumper I liked in the kids section of Store21. If you’re not familiar with Store21 (the old Ethel Austin) check it out – its really got some hidden gems all at bargain prices. It is pretty and girlie, baby blue yet still Christmassy…and I do love a Robin! If you’re a size 10 the age 11-12yrs kids will fit you. No VAT to pay either!

I smartened the look up by wearing a white shirt underneath, skinny jeans and worker style boots.

Look – they are kissing under the mistletoe 🙂

I also added a pair of snowflake earrings to add to the festive look.

Did you take part? Did you go full on Christmas or more muted like me? Whatever way we wore it its still a great way to raise money for a fantastic charity.
Jumper: Store21
Shirt: South at Very
Jeans: Dorothy Perkins
Earrings: New Look
Boots: New Look

The Jane skirt by BOB by Dawn O’Porter

December 3, 2014October 8, 2015 | blueskygirlie

I have fallen in love. With a skirt – a stunning one of a kind skirt – actually two of them!

A few months ago when Dawn O’Porter announced she was launching a fashion line my ears pricked by. I love her style and I think she’s done great work making vintage cool to a whole new market and showing how good it can look. In the last few years since writing afor some vintage businesses I’ve embraced vintage fashion myself and now wear quite a lot of vintage pieces.

The BOB range is a collection of dresses and skirts based on vintage shapes but for a modern customer. And it looks great. The ‘Jane’ skirt is an A-line skirt in 4 Karen Mabon prints. They are cool, clever and funny. My favourites are ‘Quotes’ which has images of book pages and post-it notes with quotes by Virginia Woolf, Jeanette Winterson and Emily Brönte and ‘Paper Planes’ – a design based on 90’s school including Fab ice lollies, highlighter pens, Wotsits and pencils. This 90’s school one with its brilliant random items all over it is my overall favourite – its such a talking piece!
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Heres the close ups of the prints – they are amazing!

At £180 each they are not cheap but this isn’t disposable fashion – you would wear these skirt for ever.

There are 2 other designs available – ‘Geese in Flight’ and ‘Dog Walkers’ and I can imagine depending on your personal loves they’ll be really popular too.

Buy it at http://www.bobbydop.com – the website also has a great vintage section.

Let me know if you love these skirts as much as I do. Now I just need to save up!!!

Leopard print Loving…

December 2, 2014August 5, 2015 | blueskygirlie

It’s got cold. Bitterly cold. And I really feel the cold! Thankfully I love coats…I have quite a few and view them as much part of my outfit as any other bit of it. You wouldn’t wear the same shoes every day, so why would you wear the same coat?

Last year I managed to buy the most amazing vintage faux leopard coat from a charity shop for the princely sum of just £5. Its a 1950’s coat I’d guess, probably hand-made as it has no makers labels and has an adorable peter pan collar, wide sleeves and a slight swing shape.

So with the wintery weather almost ever present, the coat is out again. I wore it the other day dressed all in black so it stood out. I styled it with knee boots and a black knitted beret style hat. I felt super cosy and also quite fabulous! Meow!!!

I think this coat, although it’s practically a pensioner in age, will be used for many years to come and I’m thrilled to be giving it a second lease of life!

Coat – vintage
Jeggings – Dorothy Perkins
Boots – Topshop
Hat – Primark

And just as a note – this coat just looks like leopard – it’s definitely not made from one!!! I would never wear that…

Its all white

November 28, 2014August 5, 2015 | blueskygirlie

A little while back I blogged about a Primark haul I had done and bought, amongst other things, a white space age style dress I loved but wasn’t quite sure how I’d wear it for winter. Well today I wore it!

With it being cold outside, I wore the dress with Topshop knee boots, thick black tights and a black rib Dorothy Perkins roll-neck jumper underneath. To carry the monochrome look through I added a black statement bib necklace I got a few years ago from House of Fraser which I love. Overall the whole look is quite space age!

With its quite structured shaped and jetted waist and a-line skirt the cut is really flattering. The quilted fabric is cosy too.

When I went out I wore a black leather jacket and black oversized knitted hat with the outfit and I must admit, I loved the look! I thought white might be difficult in winter but it really isn’t!
Would you wear white in winter? Let me know.

Dress – Primark
Jumper – Dorothy Perkins
Necklace – House of Fraser
Boots – Topshop

Obi belt

November 25, 2014September 27, 2015 | blueskygirlie

Being quite small and curvy I always look best if I’ve cinched in my waist. When I was much bigger than I am now, I had a dress with a great oriental style belt that someone told me was called an Obi belt. An obi belt is based on a Japanese style sash belt used for traditional dress that wraps round the body and ties at the front in a bow or knot.

I’ve been looking for a new one for a while and when I came across this one from Krisp clothing for only £5.99 it was a no-brainer! If you cant get to a store they have a great eBay shop which is where I got mine from.

If you order online it comes in the most adorable packaging with a promo code for your next purchase. I love little touches like that.

The belt is one size and wraps from front to back so would fit a variety of different sizes. I would say that my waist at size 10/12 and about 29″ is about as small as it would go without it wrapping over double at the back and looking quite bulky. You could still do it though I just personally wouldn’t like the gathering.
I teamed mine with a bright patterned South dress from Very.co.uk, black tights and black boots.

Dress: South at Very
Belt: Krisp Clothing

A bit of Magic & Sparkle

November 21, 2014August 5, 2015 | blueskygirlie

I was in London a few weeks ago and popped into the huge Marble Arch M&S store for a browse and to check out the Christmas windows (old window dressing habits die hard). Out of all the areas Limited Collection is my favourite brand and the area I buy most from. At 41 I guess I’m technically a bit old for it – but I don’t care about that – I’m a firm believer in that age is just a number and I’m going to be a fashionable pensioner!!! Topshop better be really for me in 2040ish !!!!

The one item that stood out in Limited Collection to me was a white t-shirt with black print and diamanté embellishment that said ‘make your own magic’. I loved the words and at £19.50 it was a great price too. I went for the size 10 – its a slightly loose fit so if you want very fitted go a size smaller.

For todays look I teamed it with skinny Jeans, metallic pointed shoes & a long M&S waterfall cardigan as I am always cold and its winter! I also bought some lovely earrings from Forever 21 while in London for only £3.50. They are diamanté with a curved pearl drop…I love them!

I love this t-shirt and think it will work well for casual and formal wear. While in Limited Collection I also bought a patent look PVC mini skirt to wear with it tucked in. Will feature that look nearer Christmas.

I think this top is going to become a favourite with me…

T-shirt – Limited Collection at Marks & Spencer
Jeans – Dorothy Perkins
Cardigan – Marks & Spencer
Shoes – Primark
Earrings – Forever 21

Layering up

November 17, 2014August 5, 2015 | blueskygirlie

Today I met an old school friend for coffee and wanted a look to wear that was casual (but not too casual) and warm. When I say casual you should be aware I don’t really ‘do’ casual. Its not me. There are some days of course I want to be comfortable and chilled but generally you wont see me in a hoody or joggers…I just feel too scruffy!

I based my outfit around an amazing Jigsaw wool jacket I have. Its a dark khaki green and is lovely quality as you’d expect from Jigsaw. Underneath I wore a Primark cream cotton shirt buttoned up to the collar, layered with a Benetton grey wool slipover and skinny jeans. Overall a slightly preppy look. As it been raining I opted for some sturdy buckled Dorothy Perkins ankle boots on my feet.

Jacket – Jigsaw
Shirt – Primark
Slipover jumper – Benetton
Jeans – Dorothy Perkins
Boots – Dorothy Perkins

I love this look and it was warm enough so I didn’t need a coat on all day! Buying a piece like the Jigsaw jacket is definitely an investment purchase but once you have items like that in your wardrobe you’ll use them again and again. I know I do.

Primark Haul!

November 13, 2014December 28, 2014 | blueskygirlie

Theres no two ways about it – I love Primark.
Whenever I’m in London I always make sure I visit one of the big stores and have a good shop.

My haul this week wasn’t huge but full of bargains. I’m trying to cutback a bit on the amount of clothes I have so I was more selective than normal!!!

Metallic buckle shoes – £6 (reduced from £14)

LOVE these shoes and couldn’t believe when they went through the till at only £6! A dark metallic grey with three buckled straps and a small heel. They zip up the back so no need to fiddle with the buckles. They are so comfortable and perfect with skinny jeans or dresses – I’m in love!

Sequin green jumper – £10

I love green and this jumper for a tenner will be really versatile over Christmas. Got a size 10 and its quite long (covers my bum – hooray) with a relaxed fit. Looks great with a short leather skirt.

Leopard print maxi skirt – £5 (reduced from £14)

I had umm’ed and ahh’ed about this skirt when I first saw it but couldn’t justify the £14 full price tag and it came up very long at my height. In Oxford St they only had size 8’s left in the sale but I managed to squeeze into one as it has an elasticated waist…and being smaller its length came up shorter – result! Couldn’t resist it for just £5. Going to wear it with a black crop top and heels for evening wear.

White textured dress – £5 (reduced from £12)

Love this space age style dress. Its made out of a thick jersey with a textured prism type effect. Again went for the size 10 and its nicely waisted so great for my petite frame. How I’ll style a white dress in winter I’m not sure…but watch this space!