Cropped wide legged trousers - maybe one to consider if you haven't done so before...

Happy New Year to you all!

So, how has your New Year been so far? How many resolutions have you made and broken? I've broken all of them. Even the ones that I didn't make. 

It's not so much a resolution but I have decided to give up alcohol until after I've run the marathon. I need any psychological advantage that I can get, no matter how small. And guess what I keep thinking about? Yes, having a glass of something fizzy - which is ironic because I'm really not much of a drinker at all. Clearly that's why diets don't work. Deprivation is not good for the psyche, or the soul. 

Anyway, that aside, it suddenly dawned on me yesterday like a flash from a higher place, that a pair of these wide legged cropped trousers from Whistles would be a really good addition to my wardrobe. I saw them before Christmas and they've obviously been lurking around in my sub-conscious since then. I recognise that I am very fortunate in that I have enough clothes and so I'm only going to buy things if they are really different to what I own already. And these are. 

I nipped into town yesterday morning, Christmas money in hand, to see if there were any in my size and there weren't. I could have managed with the size 10 but because they were too big on the waist, they sat too low on my hips making them look more like trousers that were slightly too short, which given their name (cropped trousers) is almost certainly what they're meant to look like. But I just wanted them an inch or so shorter, so that they looked more like a long skirt (and slightly less clown like).  

Obviously research needed to be done to establish that these were worth the investment (I say that in the loosest sense of the word) and so I wandered over to COS to see what they had. Their selection was really good but most of them still fell at that funny length on me, apart from these wide leg jersey trousers (£59). I don't think that these images are selling them very well at all - so let me explain!

I could wear these with trainers and a chunky roll neck jumper for a casual look. Trainers are still a big love of my life not only for comfort but wearing them means that I can complete my requisite 10,000 steps for the day much quicker than I might otherwise. Which also means that I can then sit on my bum for the rest of the day watching TV. (Spot who had a fitbit for Christmas!)

I like how these look with flats...

For a smarter look I could go with my high neck lace blouse with a bow, which I finally managed to get around to ironing, plus some heels.

I like how VB wears hers although the shoes? Hmmm, not so sure.

Image courtesy of Pinterest

In the summer, chunky sandals and a lighter weight top or shirt would be good. So I definitely think that they have legs.

I like how Olivia Palermo wears hers too...

The worst thing that will happen is that I will put them on, laugh loudly at myself, post a pic on Instagram so that everyone else can laugh too and take them back. But if you don't try you never know.

Now the one thing that I did manage to find me that fit yesterday were these Adidas superstar trainers from Schuh. Unlike the sparkly ones that I really loved, these are leather so I figured that they would be warmer.

Again I've had my eye on them for a couple of weeks now and my Stan Smiths are looking a bit tired, plus if my husband will buy me a Fitbit for Christmas what does he expect? If I'm going to meet my targets I've got to have the right gear haven't I?

Whatever you're up to, I hope that you're having a brilliant New Year's Day. Beth x

Gold, (gold) always believe in your soul (sole) .....

You've got the power to know, 

You're indestructible...

Actually I can vouch for the fact that Adidas Superstars are indestructible. I've got a pair that are 12 years old now - they've got paint on them from where I painted a playhouse pink and one lace is shorter than the other where I chopped it off with the shears when gardening. 

Moving on though, the re-launch of Adidas Stan Smiths a while back now gave Adidas a new lease of life and Stan Smiths, together with Superstars, are the go to trainer of the moment. And right now gold trainers are definitely having a moment. Being the magpie that I am - and quite possibly a slight sheep too - I can see how a pair would work. 

I did several hours of Christmas shopping today and what better way to grab myself a ten minute sit down than by trying trainers on? Well I'm not really a coffee kind of girl and it's nice to "achieve" at the same time as resting. 

First up, Adidas Superstars in liquid copper (£69.99). Well they're definitely gold, that's for sure. I'm not quite sure what I think about the contrast between the gold and the white toe. Too much? Maybe. The jury is out for now. 

Moving on to the Adidas Stan Smith gold (£69.99) - I was surprised but I didn't like the look or feel of these, despite having a white and red pair that I love. They felt low to the ground, the leather didn't feel like leather and I thought that they looked a bit like Grandma type shoes. (Sorry Mum!) Stans don't have the three Adidas stripes on the side but instead they have the holes which on the gold ones, just don't quite do it.

I liked these Superstars in white and copper (£69.99). But the fit wasn't great. They kept slipping off at the back so they stayed in the shop. I also wondered whether they were a bit too subtle and perhaps not quite gold enough....

....whereas the same can't be said about these Adidas Superstar Gold (£80). I have one word - sort of. CP30. I just couldn't go there. Even at Christmas...

On the other hand, the Adidas Superstar gold and metallic white trainers (£65) which have gold sequins, (yippee, gold sequins) on them could be an entirely different matter.

So, what do we think? Yes or no to gold trainers? I'm a definite yes but they need to be the right pair. Let the hunt continue...

Blatantly pinching an idea from the Whistles website...

It's a long time since I've worn a dress over trousers. I used to wear outfits like this years ago and never really thought that I would do it again. But then the Jigsaw striped dress that I love suddenly seemed too short on its own and I saw a picture on the Whistles website of a similar outfit here.

I did feel a bit bad about my lack of originality but then the words of an elderly lady who came to one of my M&S presentations rang in my ears..."Nothing in fashion is new any more. It's all been done before. I didn't like pussy bows the first time around, or the second and I still don't like them the third time around" and then I didn't feel quite so bad about pinching the idea from Whistles. Plus it's always good to re-work some old favourites don't you think?

Oooh and before I forget, I published a new vlog today which you can see here. It's only fairly short but hopefully it will be of help to some of you. If not quite a few of you!

Until next time, have a good one. x

An outfit for lounging around in....

Does anyone else have to force themselves to just STOP? Well yesterday afternoon I decided to do just that. It doesn't come easily but having done one very long run on Friday afternoon and two shorter ones on Saturday and Sunday morning, plus Christmas shopping, oodles of washing, cooking, food shopping and baking I decided that it was time to just sit down for a while.

The youngest and I made friendship bracelets for her to sell at school in aid of Children in Need. We sat in front of the fire and watched films and it was bliss. But then again sometimes the simplest things in life are, aren't they?

Obviously when it came to sitting down for the afternoon, comfort was paramount. Because they are pretty much the most comfortable trousers out, my Felsted print trousers from Baukjen were more than up to the job. Sparkles and animal print were, in truth, probably slight overload but no-one in the family said anything. I think that they're used to it by now. Comfortable trousers are always high on  my list of wardrobe essentials, so I would love to know if you've come across any gems recently.

Keep safe in the storms. Beth x

An outfit for the school run....

Yesterday I had to buy an umbrella. And why did I have to do that? Well, I insisted on walking to school without (in my defence) realising that the heavens were going to open. But they did - big style - and I had three choices a) to wait until lunchtime for the rain to stop before walking home (tempting but lurking in the doorway of our local M&S for three plus hours probably wouldn't have been a good look) b) to get my new Oasis coat soaked (not flippin' likely) c) to buy an umbrella. Or as my friend pointed out, there was an option d) which would have been to get a cab - and in fairness this would have been cheaper. Anyway the youngest thought that it was highly amusing and that it served me right for making her walk/scooter to school. She'll thank me when she's older. Actually scrap that, who ever thanks their parents for making them walk to school? They just torture them with the fact, making them feel guilty at family gatherings.

When I'm dressing for the school run - as opposed to the school "drive" I always work from the ground upwards. Adidas trainers, new Whistles high rise skinny jeans (bad move on a Monday morning - breathing is actually quite necessary in life, or rather, for life), silk shirt, one of my favourite slogan jumpers (New Look special last winter) and my new coat - which created a whole little story of its own.

Capes, ponchos, sleeveless coats - I'm trying to get as much wear as possible out of the lot of them before the winter sets in and it's thermals and duvet style coats all the way!

Hope that you're all having a good week, dodging the rain and not spending your pennies on unnecessary purchases as a result of being a sparent (stubborn parent - it's an addition to the tiger mother/helicopter parent/snowplough parent theme - poor, I know but it's the best that I can come up with!)

Re-visiting our ribbing chat - and putting vlog no. 2 out there!

Some of you may remember that a few posts ago I wrote about ribbed clothing and how much it features on the High Street this season. In this post I'm featuring a whole outfit which is ribbed and which I bought from Autograph at Marks and Spencer a few weeks ago. These two pieces were featured in Vogue so unsurprisingly they are not now available on line but I suspect that they may still be carrying stock in store.

For some reason this outfit reminds me of Friday nights watching Friends back in the 1990's - boot cut trousers, longer line jumper - we've been there before but I don't think that this means that we can't go there again!

In my second vlog, which you can watch here I'm talking about this two piece together with Topshop jumper and Marks and Spencer ribbed dress. I would love it if you could head over to see what you think!

And as is only fit for a 1990's inspired outfit, here I am doing my best Spice Girls pose. Anything to keep the photographer happy!

Wearing a lovely necklace from Yosa and some printed pants!

"Oooh, that's a pretty necklace" the seven year old observed several times during the course of the day, which I'm sure Rachel, who runs the online jewellery business Yosa would be delighted to hear. She kindly asked me if I would like to choose a piece of jewellery to feature on Style Guile and I chose this lovely Triangular Outlines Necklace which you can see below.

I love big, bold, bright, statement necklaces, and Rachel has a great selection of these too, but sometimes it's nice to wear something which is a little understated. If I'm not wearing a statement necklace, I tend to layer a few finer necklaces together but this necklace is a fabulous compromise between the two as it's substantial enough to hold its own ground without being too bling - and some outfits just don't need bling. Geometric shapes are going to be a huge trend for the upcoming season so this necklace also ticked that box nicely and will do a fantastic job of updating some simple dresses and tops.

Rachel has lots of lovely pieces including bracelets, ear-rings, bags and scarves as well as necklaces and she sends everything out beautifully wrapped. You can find her on instagram as well as twitter and facebook too. There are lots of amazing women out there running small businesses alongside running a family and it's fantastic if we are able to support them.

As to the rest of my outfit, I'm wearing the Felsted print trouser from  Baukjen (£69 in the sale) similar here (£109) which I bought just after Christmas, together with a Hobbs top, Whistles handbag and Adidas Stan Smith trainers. The trousers haven't had chance to make much of an appearance but I'm planning on changing that as they are so comfortable and easy to wear. Oooh and just look at that elasticated waist (which I'm hiding for that very reason)!

A little casual sparkle (from Victoria's Secrets) for a day of DIY!

This is the type of outfit that you wear when you've spent hours putting Ikea wardrobes together, only to realise that it's time that you should be at school and that you don't have time to change. So what to do? Ah-ha! That's where a black blazer and a big scarf comes in handy - and as luck would have it, a trend for joggers and trainers. Oh how I love these times of dressing down - imagine that in the 1940's!

I bought these black joggers from Victoria's Secret just before Christmas. They have a slight sparkle to them and they needed a good wearing in, which they certainly had today.  Last Friday I went to Ikea and bought 3 wardrobes and whilst I was working on Saturday, Mr SG duly took delivery of 32 boxes/packets.  Mind you, he had the last laugh because I have spent more than a few hours turning said 32 boxes into three wardrobes. Oh yes, I'm now so au fait with the construction of PAX wardrobes that I can put them together without looking at the instructions.

Tomorrow everything should come together beautifully (famous last words) as that is when all the doors will go on and the internal fittings will be finalised. And then? And then I will have about 15 bags of rubbish to take to the dump. Oh the glamour!

A lot of navy and a little bit of sparkle. And tomorrow? Tomorrow it's time to wear a dress....

I had a little bit of a navy thing going on today - not too hard give the amount of navy that I wear. It was throwing it down when it came to pick up but I couldn't be faffed with a brolly so I wore this navy metallic beanie from Topshop that that my Mum gave me for Christmas and which I keep in the car for such emergencies. OK so my jacket was less than a wise choice given the rain but the rain sort of appeared out of nowhere.

The rest of the navy ensemble was made up of Cos cotton trousers, a white GAP shirt, a sparkly navy GAP jumper, a Boden jacket and Adidas trainers. I could quite happily wear this kind of thing every day - not jeans but not far from it with lots of navy and a bit of sparkle. Tomorrow I fear it may be a dress kind of day. I can't quite remember when I last wore a dress - New Year's Eve I think, so it's time to be brave and get those legs out. Anyone fancy joining me??? Please say yes!

Meet my latest accessory, which also serve the purpose of the being able to see variety....

[Outfit: Whistles trousers, All Saints jumper, Adidas trainers, Cocinelle cuff, shirt from boutique]

I know that you wouldn't think it just by looking at it but this outfit actually took a while to pull together. First, I had to iron my shirt (not a pleasant activity for a Sunday morning).  Secondly, I had to stitch the cuff of my jumper which had come undone and if that wasn't enough....well it was actually so after that it was just a case of getting dressed. But the thing was that today I went to pick up my new (and first pair of) glasses so I wanted everything to be plain and safe. And you can't really get much plainer or safer than navy trousers, navy jumper, white shirt and white trainers can you?

My prescription isn't strong but I think that for the cinema and also for night time, or early morning, texting my glasses will make a difference. Mr SG is slightly freaked out about them. He thinks that it's rather like having a new wife. Interesting. I'm just wondering whether this new wife might possibly be in need of a whole new wardrobe???

ps sorry about the blog looking different. In getting my computer fixed, the settings have been mucked about with and I'm not sure how to re-set them. Everything is so tiny. Great timing on the glasses front really!

How to wear wide legged trousers and trainers....

 

Wearing: Jigsaw trousers, Whistles top, Stan Smith Adidas trainers

I knew that today I would shopping for many hours, so I wanted to find a smartish way to wear my Adidas Stan Smith trainers.

Wide legged trousers with trainers were one option available to me. Wide trousers are a nice change from skinnies - definitely more forgiving on many shapes and with a high (ish) waist they can definitely serve to elongate the legs.  They also gave that smarter element that I was after.

The one thing about them that needs to be right though - in my humble opinion - is the fabric. Whilst suiting fabric can work (if any of you have some suit trousers from your more "corporate" days, dig them out and give them a go) I prefer a ponte jersey fabric. Apart from the fact that ponte is hardwearing and doesn't  crease easily, it is also quite thick, supportive, it has some stretch to it and it is also non scratchy (a very technical term I know!) Nor does it bag or stretch out of shape. Further, it bridges that gap between the corporate and non corporate world in a way that works with trainers.

The pair of trousers that I am wearing were bought from Jigsaw nearly five years ago now and for info, the composition of them is 71% viscose, 24% polyamide and 5% elastane.

It isn't that easy to find wide legged ponte trousers but I think that a good option would be the tailored man pant Me & Em (£118). They are made from "compact stretch ponte" (49% polyester, 48% viscose, 3% elastane) and according to the Me & Em site, they are "Cut to skim the silhouette.....these are the perfect leg elongators."  There are no dry cleaning bills with these either, as they can be washed at 30 degrees.

 

An alternative, is the man pant from Me & Em (£118) the composition of which is 64% viscose, 30% polyamide, 6% elastane. The product description states that "The trouser is cut to fit loosely off the bottom, to skim your silhouette and elongate your leg." These too can be washed at 30 degrees.

 

 

I realise that these trousers are at the more expensive end of the scale so I will keep my eyes open for less expensive alternatives. GAP normally has some great options for smartish trousers but they are all either skinny or straight at the moment.

Equally I appreciate that smarter trousers and trainers aren't for everyone but I've always worn trainers for reasons other than exercise and have no problem wearing them in all sorts of ways. In fact secretly, and not so secretly, I'm a huge fan of them for comfort because other than flip-flops or boots, there's not that much that I like to walk around in. Apart from crocs but I'm not sure that now is the time, or the place, to go there.

An outfit round up....

 

I seem to have so many different projects on the go at the moment that I haven't managed to blog for  a few days. So, I thought that I would bring you all up to date with a 3-in-1 type post.

Over the years I've realised that it doesn't matter how organised you are before the children go back to school, there are still lots of jobs that don't get done, so I purposefully left the labelling (of the iron on variety) until this evening. Happening upon the  cardi of our youngest stuffed in her PE bag and needing a wash wasn't so much part of the plan but not to worry. Oh and I've just been told that one of them needs a stitch in their blazer pocket. I think that a raised eyebrow conveyed my response adequately.

Some of you with eagle eyes may recognised the NW3 purple jumper from the blog sale. It wasn't snapped up so I decided to wear it. I didn't own the trainers, necklace or the t-shirt when I bought it but now they all worked together. So that was one new outfit sorted.

Keeping with the theme of boyfriend jeans, yesterday we took a trip into town to get the requisite school trainers and rugby boots. I think that the prospect of a visit to Sports Direct is what gave me my deathly pallor! Anyway, Stan Smith trainers (which are uber comfortable) with a lace Warehouse top and Boden jacket were fine for that particular little jaunt - which also involved a visit to the Build a Bear Workshop. No visiting the new Whistles store for me. Tomorrow however will be a different story!

And today I was photo bombed by an angel! Now, the top that I would ordinarily wear with this Jigsaw skirt is mine no more, so I wandered into shirt territory (GAP) for a change. Neither converse nor trainers seemed to work with it all so the Birkenstocks, which are now sadly on their last legs, stepped into the breach.

 

And as for tomorrow - who knows what it will bring in terms of an outfit. As for my activity for the day, it's shopping all the way. Yipppeeee!!

A lovely Breton top - you may be surprised where it's from....

 

Now I bet that some of you are wondering why a trendy (!) young (!) thing such as myself (double !!) is wearing something from Damart - a brand historically associated with a customer base, I think it's fair to say, somewhat older than myself.

You may be surprised to know that I made my very first Damart purchase at the age of 21. It was a pair of thermal gloves which I wore for the entire winter (and several afterwards) whilst riding my bike to law school in Chester. Not only that but they were recommended to me by possibly one of the coolest girls in the year. How she came to find out about them I never did find out but to this day, despite having bought several other pairs of gloves for cycling/running since, they were by far and away the best. Incidentally whilst at Chester I was knocked off my bike as, it turned out, by a Lecturer in Road Traffic Law at Liverpool University. The irony wasn't lost on me! Fortunately both I, and the Damart gloves, survived unharmed.

So, when Katy from Damart asked me whether I would like to wear something from the collection, I was only too happy to help. Not only because I loved my gloves all those years ago but also because Katy obviously took the time to read Style Guile and to make some suggestions based on what she saw.

I chose this striped sailor neck t-shirt which is £19. It comes in a navy with red trim, or red with a navy trim and is 100% cotton. It's a really lovely quality and with my Jigsaw boyfriend jeans and Stan Smith Adidas trainers, it felt a really nice, casual outfit. You just can't beat a good Breton top and this is definitely up there with some of the best that I have tried.  I think that my approach to fashion and styling can be best summed up as follows: There isn't any one brand where I like everything, but for every brand that's out there, I like something!