On the Run - the Boden A/W '12 press day - but did I get to meet the man himself?

Alas not, no, I didn't get to meet the man himself, Johnnie Boden, because I needed to get home to make sure that my little man was OK, after having been off school ill. Nevermind, hopefully I will get another opportunity to meet him some time in the future.

So, as to the Boden press day! As you know, I am a fan of Boden - I think that the amount of boxes in this post demonstrates that point fairly well, together with the shrine to Boden that I created in this post

The first person I met on walking through the door was Jilly Murphy, the stylist who styled me for the Woman & Home article. It's always nice to see a friendly face and she is lovely and down to earth, so it was nice to say hello to her again.

I then had a whizz around the room before going back and starting again with the assistance of Lisa Field, the PR Manager at Boden, who explained the different "stories" to me.  I was really pleased to hear that all of the catalogue was shot in the UK - apparently it has only been done in the last few weeks, with some parts still to be finalised - so I can imagine that there was a lot of rain dodging.

Boden didn't show case all of their clothes, instead selecting a few well chosen pieces for the press to view. This year, the clothes, (I am told) were presented in a much simpler format - hung on rails, so that they could do the talking, with little use of props or Boden prints as in previous years. 

Just to set the scene.....

As to the clothes, this season there are four different stories:

• Shoreditch is a heritage story with a cool, fashion edge. Lisa explained that this is their most modern and contemporary story with clean, sharp, lines.  It is less floral, with only two colours per print and it includes fitted knitted tops, a midi skirt and (amongst other things) a navy velvet trim coat which has an androgynous look about it.  This story is a slight departure for Boden, which is reflected in the promotional material. The models are more static, less smiley, and the shots are styled more along the lines of a "look book" as per Jigsaw, or Toast  (as in the brand, not the food). 

I think that it is fair to say that with this story, Boden is flexing its fashion muscles.  I get the impression that it hopes to be seen by the press as a brand which caters not only for its traditional and established market but that it has something more cutting edge to offer too.

• Another story is "pared down pretty" - probably one of my favourite stories, it is all about casual glamour.  The pieces are said to be "simple but sophisticated - quietly sexy - clothes for a woman who appreciates a relaxed sense of style."  There is effortless layering, muted colours and understated prints, as you can see from the rail below. 

Here are a few of my favourite pieces from this story - although to be honest I liked all of it. There's lots of sparkle in it too.  This is the Florence dress, which is inspired by the 1940's.

This is the dress in the flesh...

Probably one of the brightest items in the story - a lovely pink jumper which would look great styled casually or with a statement necklace.

I love the print on this top, which, if I remember correctly is a print from Boden's archives - great because it won't need much accessorising.

This Georgette top was designed to be dressed up or down and I can imagine it doing both jobs very well being worn with jeans in the day or smarter trousers, heels and a blazer in the evening.

And here is this top in the flesh. I felt that the print was a bit Celia Birtwell(ish).

This is a lovely shaped top - looser it will hang beautifully and cover a multitude of sins. The sparkle adds a lovely touch to it.

Within this story, Boden has also done a selection of LBDs, or in this case a LND. I love the fact that it has got long sleeves and the lace overlay adds a pretty, feminine, quirky touch to the dress.

Another LBD - with a beautiful bow across the front of it. It's not going to be for everyone but I think that this will look stunning on. I am tempted to give it a go just to see...

• The next story is called "Northern Lights." It was shot on the Northumberland coast using the great outdoors as a backdrop for Boden's most casual styles. Autumn is celebrated less with prints and more with seasonal colours.  Here are a couple of pieces from the Northern Lights story. I think that it is fair to say that I haven't quite captured the range of colours from the story but these were the pieces which, style wise, caught my eye. The brogues come in another colour, as do the skinny trousers.

• Finally, there's the heritage story which references Yorkshire tweeds, checks and prints and which showcases Boden's Westminster print, which features throughout the whole of the Boden ranges, to include menswear and children's clothing - and also on a piece of furniture.

I can see where Boden are headed with presenting their collection in this way and I hope that it appeals to the press.  I also hope that the Shoreditch story is well received and that not only does Boden retain its existing and very loyal customers but that it also attracts a new type of customer too. I for one can't wait to see the new catalogue.  The new collection will be available at the end of July.  Thanks to everyone at Boden for making me feel so welcome.

On the Run - A totally different, interesting and amazing outfit (not)

As women, we are all juggling lots of balls - and sometimes we drop them.  I reckon there are three kinds of balls:

• Rubber ones - If you drop them they bounce pretty high and you can normally catch them on the way up, or the way down, and rescue the situation;

• The ones that you find in ball pits - Not much bounce but if you act quickly and scoop them up, you might just about get away with whatever was about to go belly up;

• Glass balls - Drop one of those and you are stuffed. Well and truly stuffed.

More about that later...

And here I am again - in the same coat. I know, this is getting dull, really dull but a combination of bad weather and being really short of time this week, due to a poorly fella, means that I'm just sticking with what's close to hand.

I was styling this morning (in case you are wondering what I did with said poorly child, my husband and I are boxing and coxing when it comes to childcare) so wore this outfit with my navy patent Hobbs loafers and my grey Mulberry handbag.  By the time it came to pick up from school it was raining so I put on tan boots but felt that the grey bag couldn't stay, so, in an effort to inject a little bit of spring into the outfit, I used what I call my Ted Baker ice cream bag.

Here's a better shot of the bag (handbag) but a worse shot of me (the old bag).

This is what I had on underneath my coat - slim fitting navy Cos trousers and a lace top which I bought from Monsoon Fusion last summer. I really like the fit of it as it is neat and covered!

Monsoon has done a very similar top this season, which you can see below...


                                                           

Tomorrow I am off to the Boden press day so I shall be on the 5.50am train to London. Ouch. In the evening I am styling ladies at Selfridges in preparation for Ascot so I am not sure whether a post will materialise - but then again if it's raining and I'm wearing the same bloomin' coat again you won't be missing much.

Anyway, as to the ball dropping. Today's dropped ball arose as a result of me failing to remember that our youngest should have gone to school dressed as a farm animal. Despite my guilt, I concluded that the ball that I dropped was only a rubber ball - largely because she wasn't fussed and ended up being the "Farm Fairy", which suited her down to the ground.  However my friend's parting words, delivered with a twinkle in her eye were:

"I am so going to dob you in to the Daily Mail." What a bad mother I am - please don't tell them that I let the children eat (home made) chocolate cake on their birthdays. Anyone else dropped any balls today?

On the Run - An H&M coat, some shiny new converse and what to do with the hair?

So after the madness of yesterday as a result of the DailyMail article I thought today would be a quiet one. How wrong could I be?!

Before we go into any of that though, I would just like to say thank you to everyone who got in touch to say how much they liked the article.  I also wanted to say "hello" to anyone who liked my facebook page and started to follow me on twitter - it's lovely to have you along.

As a result of some random look on twitter this morning, I realised that the finalists for the Brilliance in Blogging Awards had been announced and, peeping through one eye again (not good for the wrinkles) I was thrilled to see that Style Guile was one of the eight finalists in the Style category.  I am in some great company and wish lots of luck to all of the other finalists. The winner will be announced at the BiBs conference in June.

After that I was a bit of a dither so didn't manage to write much of the post I am doing for Boden but I have a poorly boy on my hands anyway so I was kept pretty busy trying to make him comfortable until...I had an email to say that Marks & Spencer would like me to work as a stylist for them in store.  Our eldest has this great plan for me to become the stylist on their adverts as that way I will get to meet Gary Barlow. I like her thinking! So, all in all that made for quite an exciting day.

As you can see, the navy H&M coat is coming into its own.  I think that it has nearly paid for its £24.99 self already.

On Saturday I wore it with my Hobbs spotty dress, which was quite a smart look.

On Monday, I wore it with black biker boots when going out for a walk with the girls in the rain.

I have to say that I am pretty impressed with the Primark lilac nail varnish that I bought the other day. It has lasted just as well as any of the more expensive brands. I may find that I need some industrial strength nail varnish remover to remove it.  I also pinched this coral H&M satchel from our eldest.  Well, if she will leave things lying around in the kitchen...

On Tuesday (this is all starting to sound a bit like "the Very Hungry Caterpillar" isn't it?) we only nipped out briefly and so the coat came out again, this time with the new converse and the Lola Rose scarf. 

Our eldest has her eye on the converse. When she asked me what size they were I replied "my size" which, sadly, also happens to be her size.

And here's a closer pic of the converse, which I fear won't be mine for very long.

I decided that in the shots of what I was wearing today my hair looked too much like a toupe so I have abandoned them. It is at that stage where I need to decide either to grow it or to keep it short but irrespective of that, it needs to be taken to the hairdressers. Problem is I don't have the time to go - shame I just can't hand it over to someone else to sort out for me. Any offers?

On the Run - Wardrobe de-clutter Part 2: the organising phase

Oh, what a day! It has been one of those typically chaotic Bank holidays where everyone is on top of one another, it's raining so everyone is in a bad mood, our son is unwell so feeling sorry for himself. If we had a dog that would be barking its head off.

Some of you may know that I featured in an article today in the Daily Mail.  I was given the heads up on it being in today's edition by one of the other bloggers featured.  So, I legged it to the newsagents first thing, reminiscent of the time that I arrived at the newsagents at 5am to buy one of the broadsheets, where they printed the results of the Law Society Finals. I suspect that at that age though I looked slightly better than I did today, having jumped out of bed and having grabbed the first clothes to hand (which fortunately turned out to be mine), doing some minor ablutions, before donning my running trainers (with jeans - so cool) and heading out.  

I thought that the article was well written and not in the least bit controversial - it appears that I was wrong, on the controversial stakes at least.  I got as far as reading the first three comments on the website when it became apparent where they were headed.  At which point I stopped reading, choosing to go and dye my hair instead which was a much better use of my time.

When I saw a reference to me having too much time on my hands I nearly wet myself laughing - and I wasn't even laughing that hard. Belive me, if I had any spare time, my pelvic floor muscles would be in a much better state than they are.

Anyway, the day continued. I dyed my hair, bathing the youngest as the colour developed, except I took a bit longer bathing her than I should so I am now a bit darker than I should be. However, the grey is so prolific that in a couple of weeks time it will look as though I have had quite expensive highlights put in - until it takes over completely.

The youngest then proceeded to cry whilst I cut her hair, until tempted to do a chocolate taste test by her Dad - which went down well.  We then baked a cake, which sank in the middle (I was one egg down and the extra milk and baking powder clearly wasn't a good enough substitute) but which the eldest proclaimed tasted delicious and could I make it like that again, other than perhaps when we had guests coming. The cheek!

Anyway, moving on to part 2 of my posts on Wardrobe Editing.  Having shown you the "editing" part yesterday, I am now moving onto the "organising" part. I firmly believe an organised Wardrobe  will work harder for you than a messy one where you can't see anything/can only find one shoe/everything is crumpled up etc. And yes, whilst it does take a couple of hours to get it how you want it, you will easily get that time back - and the cost of eliminating the hassle factor in the morning is priceless.

This isn't about what is in my Wardrobe  - rather it is about how it it is organised and what works for me. It won't work for everyone but sometimes seeing what doesn't work, helps you to decide what will work for you.

So here goes - this is the Wardrobe iteself, included purely so as to put everything into context. 

Left hand side of the Wadrobe:

Two shelves of clothing, having been organised with the things that I use most regularly (long sleeved tops/vests/striped items/often worn jeans and scarves) at eye level and all easy to grab in a jiffy.  These are the "building blocks" of my Wardrobe...

These are the shoes that I wear most often - not in any particular order but able to be seen easily.  I am not too hard on my clothes or shoes and rarely have to throw things away because I have trashed them.  Shoe trees help softer shoes keep their shape.

This is where my Wardrobe design failed me - not enough room for dresses!

Middle section of the Wardrobe

This is where I keep all of my dark knitwear - as you can see I am a bit of a fan of black and navy.  Again, these still fall into the "building blocks" catgory.  I have some accessories laid out so that they too are easy to see which means that they get used.

I have found a tie rack to be useful for hanging necklaces up - again, so that I see them and wear them.

Here I have hung my jackets and smarter trousers together and which I no longer wear very often.

This section contains pieces which I don't wear as often now - largely because they are my heaviest jumpers which I have moved to one side in anticipation of some warmer weather.

This is a separate rail on which I hang pieces that I want to wear but which I need to remind myself to wear - if you see what I mean. They aren't really the "building blocks" other than the darker items to the left, but rather the pieces which will add interest to an outfit, either in terms of colour, fabric or print.

I hope that you have found this useful. As I say, it won't work for everyone but even just taking a couple of tips away may help to make that mad morning rush a little easier!

On the Run - Wardrobe de-clutter Part 1

I had a thought (rare, I know) as I was running past the speed cameras this morning. You know the film My Fair Lady - the scene where Eliza Dolittle is at the races and she shouts at one of the horses "Move your bloomin' arse"?  Well, I expect that message to flash up at me when I run past them, rather than the large, illuminated, 30mph sign that flashes as cars approach too quickly.

Carrying on from yesterday's post, today I am going to bring you shots of the process I went through in de-cluttering my Wardrobe.  Having a neat and tidy Wardrobe, containing only those items that really work for you and that you feel good in, is definitely a great place to start.

This picture shows the heap of clothes that was expelled from my Wardrobe.

 These are the shoes with which I will be parting.

The next task was to sort the clothes and shoes into piles.  I put all coats together, all skirts, trousers, tops etc, just to bring some sort of semblance to the proceedings...

...and then bagged them up accordingly.  I haven't quite decided what to do with everything yet but I feel much happier now that a thorough edit has taken place and that it is all neatly ordered.

Naturally, as you might imagine, when going through the pile there were one or two things that I retrieved. I am going to see whether there is a way to re-style them before making a final decision.

I have it on good authority that tomorrow, along with three or four other bloggers, I may be making an appearance in the Daily Mail.  I knew it was in the offing, having spoken with the journalist a couple of times and having had a photographer come to the house last week.  I am letting you know this with some trepidation (and some uncertainty as to whether it will be in tomorrow or Thursday)...just in case you wanted to take a peek, which is exactly what I will be doing, through one eye.

Tomorrow, in the second of my Wardrobe de-clutter posts, I will bring you some pictures from inside my Wardrobe.  I am not quite sure whether I am more nervous about that, or the Daily Mail article but having started down the rocky road, there's no turning back now.

On the Run - A little bit of Hobbs in a Saturday outfit and some wardrobe editing

Do you ever have those moments when your children come up to you, most likely first thing in the morning, telling you that they don't feel well and you scream in your head "But you can't be ill today, I have to do such and such"?

That happened to me this week - twice in fact. Everything turned out OK in the end, thanks to understanding clients and a very accommodating husband who went to work at 7.30am on Friday to collect some work so that he could work from home that morning.  However on the second occasion, it could have all gone so horribly wrong because on that day I was due to shop with a lady whose wardrobe I had edited, in a very significant way, earlier in the week. Without that shop on Friday, she would have been one chilly lady. So when number 2 appeared and said he didn't feel well, that's when the scream occurred.  

I was working this morning, having been contacted by a lovely lady after she had read about me in Woman & Home. The only problem was, shortly before I was due to set off, I decided for some unknown reason, to edit my own wardrobe.  So that left me with little time to decide what to wear. In situations like that, you just have to go safe I reckon so this is what I wore...

My spotty Hobbs Bryony dress, which has served me well three times now.  You can see how I have styled it previously here (when I didn't have to walk as far) and here (when I did). What really struck me, when looking back to find these posts, was that the second photo was taken on 16th March and it's not a jot warmer now than then - which can't be right.

                                                     

I wore this navy coat today, which I spotted (forgive the pun) in H&M yesterday.  I really like the fabric - thick but not too thick, the narrow double breast...

and the detail on the back - together with the price, of £24.99

I also opted for my Hobbs navy patent brogues as they are really comfortable and I walk a fair way when out and about, dashing around in the shops.

Finally, when looking in Topshop's window, I spotted these trousers which are the ones that I have in a different colour way, and which you can see here - I have to say, I am very tempted - although I am not sure about the ankle socks, I must confess.

Having decided that I should practice what I preach when it comes to editing wardrobes, over the next couple of days I will bring you photos of my efforts to de-clutter my own wardrobe - together with the end results.  No pressure there then.