On Saturday I went to London to meet my friend who lives in Brighton. Whilst there, I tried on this Reiss quilted jumper in ivory (£79) (below). We both really liked it but, after thinking about it, I concluded that it was too much to spend on a top that I would probably wear in a really casual way and anyway, I already had a white sweatshirt (above) which would do much the same job.
Roll on Sunday and I decided to wear my white sweatshirt just to see what I thought. As the end of the day was nearing, I concluded that the Reiss one would, in fact, be very handy to have and as it was a bit smarter than mine I could wear it in a slightly different way.
So we sat down to our evening meal of home made burgers, home made rolls, salad and home made ice-cream (all thanks to Mr SG), the latter of which I doused liberally with salted caramel sauce (the ice-cream that is, not Mr SG). The trouble was that before it even reached the ice cream, I doused myself in it - and what I mess a made. And then, in taking the sweatshirt off to give it the fairy liquid treatment, I managed to get the sauce everywhere - up the sleeves, down the back, on the inside. By the time I had finished with it the top looked like a baby had projectile vomited (and the other) simultaneously and it was at that point that I realised that for once, just for once in my life, I had actually made a very good decision in not buying the Reiss top for had I done so, I would most definitely have been wearing it at that point.
Obviously whilst in London, a visit to J. Crew had to be on the agenda. Now I don't want to be a party pooper, and more than anyone I understand the joy that clothes can bring, but we did enjoy our game of spotting where else we could find less expensive alternatives to what they had on offer. Banana Republic, GAP, Zara and Topshop featured. Of course some of the things are lovely and it's great to see a successful brand but as with anything that has such a strong brand identity, it's important not to get seduced by that, rather than the clothes on offer.
Now one of the items that has featured quite a lot recently is this J. Crew jewelled bib shirt (£495). It's pretty much sold out on line so there are obviously plenty of people who can get their heads around spending that much on a shirt and I have to say, not being one of them, I'm pretty impressed by that.
But for those who can't imagine spending that on a shirt, this H&M embellished shirt (£29.99) would probably do just fine.
You could even sew a few more embellishments on it to make it sparkle a bit more AND, it would leave £465.01 to put towards this Dulcie coat from Shrimps (£595) which is very covetable.
Anyway, whilst in London I wanted to try this H&M beaded sweatshirt (£29.99) which I had seen in the window of our local store last week but which I hadn't had time to try. When I put it on my friend said "Oh my God, you look like you've been inflated." Which naturally left me very deflated but on looking in the mirror I couldn't argue. The fabric was stiff and the shape wide but on others I wouldn't rule it out - it just might work.
And whilst I'm on the subject of embellished bits and bobs, this H&M grey beaded sweatshirt (£24.99) could do a good job of adding a bit of bling as the nights draw in.
