The Style Guile Super Sale starts!

 

Sorry that I didn't post yesterday! This is what I have been up to for the past couple of days - washing, ironing, snipping any loose threads, using my sticky roller and making everything ready for the Style Guile Super Sale, where I'm offering for sale some of my favourite pieces - many of which have appeared on the blog. 

 

So, unless anyone has a better idea, this is how I plan on running things:

• If you see something that you like, drop me an email at style@bethgoodrham.com with the name of the piece of clothing that you like in the email header;
• I will respond (quite probably on Monday or Tuesday) with an email providing the details of my bank account, together with the postage costs;
• The clothes will be sent out when the pennies have arrived;
• I will aim to send the parcels no more than 3 days after receiving the pennies;
• Goods will be sold on a first come first served basis and will be non-returnable;
• I would love to wrap everything in tissue paper and make it look pretty but I probably won't have time!  
• I've tried hard to provide good photos and to ensure that everything is cleaned and well ironed (although I must admit that I haven't had everything dry cleaned) but if I have failed in this regard, it's really not intentional! 

Postage*

• All items will be sent second class;
• Postage for items that can be sent as a large letter ie blouses, tops will be £2;
• Postage for items that can be sent as a small parcel ie jeans, knitwear etc up to 1kg will be £3 and up to 2kg, £4
• Postage for items to be sent as a medium parcel will be charged according to Royal Mail second class postal charges (between £5.20 and £28.55!)

* If for any reason I have got the postal costs around my neck (not due to too much fizz you understand. Hic!) then I reserve the right to charge the amount that the Post Office charges me!

 

So, here goes!

 

One item at £25

 

LK Bennett burgundy patent shoes, size 38.5 (basically a slightly generous size 5). Brand new, bought for client - original price £115.

One item at £20

 

LK Bennett ivory cross over 100% silk shirt, size 10 - brand new. £35 in LK Bennett sale. Slight mark on hem at back.

All of the items below are £15

Navy and metallic Oasis swing style jacket, size 8, never worn. Dry clean only. Great for work over dress, with a pencil skirt, or with jeans.

Navy and white 100% cotton, 50's style Dickens and Jones jacket, size 8, machine washable - worn no more than  a couple of times.

All Saints dress size 8 - worn once, good with tanned legs or over leggings.

Jigsaw knee length shift dress size 8. Contains 59% wool but is machine washable at 30 degrees. Hardly worn, great for work.

 Jigsaw knee length printed 100% silk dress, size 8 - dry clean only.

The pieces below are all priced at £10 (well, until you reach the £7.50 category!)

Hush loose knit jumper, XS (but it's very roomy!) Worn a couple of times. Machine washable.

Whistles sequinned top, 100% silk, size 8, dry clean only. Worn once.

Ted Baker floral printed top, size 1 - worn a couple of times. Machine washable. Really pretty colours in this print and it nips in nicely at the waist.

NEXT knee length denim dress, size 8. Worn a couple of times (label now removed as the dress has been washed and ironed.)

Whistles utility trousers with zip detail, size 8. Much prettier blue/green than is shown in the picture.

The pieces below are priced at £7.50, well until you reach the £5 category!

Topshop spotted trousers, 7/8th length, size 10 (not a hugely generous 10 though) machine washable. As worn in a blogging feature in Easy Living Magazine!

Hush ankle length trousers (or slightly above depending on height!) 97% cotton, 3% elastane, size small, which in this style equates to more of a 6/8 rather than an 8/10.

Boden wool mix jumper, size 8, machine washable - good length so good with jeans/skirts etc.

Boden black wool jumper, wool mix, size 8 (same style as above) machine washable.

LK Bennett embellished purple bolero - XS, machine washable - good length to wear with dresses

Gerard Darel 100% silk blue and white printed blouse with belt (can be worn with or without) - size 36; generous size 8. Washes and irons beautifully. Small button missing from one cuff.

Jigsaw silk, modal and cotton top with bow detail, size S. Very forgiving style!

Zara cocoon style top, size small. Lovely with skinny jeans or trousers. Worn once or twice.

Coast printed dress, just above the knee, size 8 (more of a 6/8 I would say). Nice silky fabric, easy to wear.

Jigsaw cropped mohair and nylon black and navy printed jumper, size 8, handwash. Brilliant for layering!

Zara navy and black "fur" sweatshirt style top, size S.

Ted Baker silk backed cardi, size 1. Washing instructions say dry clean only but it's fine on a hand wash cycle in the machine. Slight hole under arm which needs a stitch but this is more to manufacturing process, than wear.

GAP burgundy and camel striped long line 100% cashmere jumper, size XS (size 6 for this) - small hole on lower back. It says dry clean only but I've just washed it, as I do all cashmere, and it's fine. £80 new.

Oasis wool mix dress with laser cut hem detail, size 8, dry clean only.

Zara slim (but not tight, more of a tailored fit) black leopard print trousers, UK 8, wash at 30 degrees. Definitely appeared on the blog when I had a party at home one Christmas!

Topshop navy peg style trousers, size 8.  Pockets trimmed with "leather". Good with either flats or heels.

Coast 100% silk, vest style top with racer back, size S. There are poppers inside on the strap so that a bra strap can be worn without showing. Lovely under a blazer for a night out.

Kew navy boyfriend style cardigan with silver stripe worked through it (94% merino wool, polyester and metallic), size S. Never worn.

Hobbs NW3 purple V-neck wool jumper, cotton, silk and wool, size 6 (but a generous 6). Works well with a higher rise trouser or jean.

Cos fitted cardigan, size small, little frill on the shoulder. Worn only a couple of times.

Zara cream lace top, size S. So pretty and it goes with everything!

 

Kew navy marl (almost dark denim looking) open fronted cardi, size S never worn.

All of the items below are priced at £5

GAP printed trousers, UK size 8, so most shop's equivalent of a size 10. Wished they loved me like I love them! Able to be washed and ironed.

Mango navy 100% cotton skirt - above the knee (on me at least). Really comfortable and great with a denim shirt or with a smarter top and heels. Size medium but it fits me so it's more like a small!

Ted Baker navy silky (100% lyocell) top, size 1. Looks much better with a body in it!!

"Pure" cashmere navy tank style knit - size 8, quite fitted. Only worn a couple of times. The top picture is a more accurate reflection of the colour.

Hobbs red bolero style top, size 8 - lovely over work dresses. (There's also a cerise one but it's not shown here. Very similar style.)

GAP cobalt blue relaxed style knit, XS. Looser shape, great with skinny jeans or trousers.

Kingfisher blue 100% silk H&M shirt, machine washable. Worn only a few times but I noticed when ironing it that it's a little thin in places - still has plenty of life left in it though.

Kew 100% linen tunic style top, size S - great on the beach. Comes to top of thigh.

Topshop sequinned double layered top, size 6 - one of my favourites, ever!

Zara pale pink and duck egg blue printed shirt with gold skull buttons, size S.

Monsoon Fusion pink lace top, size 8. Love the colour of this top!

Boden pink fitted t-shirt (not too tight) size 8.

Zara grey poncho/cape style top, size S. Great for the cooler mornings. Worn only a couple of times.

GAP sleeveless cardi, cotton, silk and modal, size XS cost £14.99 in the sale, never worn.

M&S beach cover up, size 8, 100% cotton brand new.

NEXT pale blue chino style trousers, size 8, 100% cotton, worn only a couple of times.

GAP  chino style khaki coloured trousers, 100% cotton, size 8 - again only worn a couple of times.

GAP true straight jeans in a 26/32 - worn in but not worn out!

COS 100% navy cotton top with Peter Pan style collar, size 36.

 

GAP very fine, soft, cord legging jeans - quite bright blue, 26/32

Grey/lilac GAP top with slight cross over and ruching down one side, size XS but it's not desperately fitted. Nice with a white shirt layered underneath.

Zara silver sparkly shoes, size 5 - but a generous 5!

There are one or two extra pieces which I still need to iron and photograph but I thought that I would get these posted before the bank holiday weekend, so that everyone has a chance to take a good look at them. Have a fabulous break!

An outfit of Whistles, Orla Kiely and announcing the Style Guile Super Sale!

Now that my patient is OK to be left, I have taken off my Nurse Gladys uniform and headed home for a couple of days.  Honestly, those knee ops are amazing. I thought that it would be weeks before Mum was up and walking but Usain, as she is now known, is whizzing around her bungalow like there's no tomorrow.

So today I was back to sorting the troops out at home. Trainers seemed to be appropriate footwear for the day, along with jeans, a bright green Jigsaw top, a Whistles blazer and an Orla Kiely bag. I love the colour of the Jigsaw top but it's quite thin and as it wasn't the warmest of days today, the extra layer of the blazer was much appreciated. I refuse to wear boots though. I just can't bring myself to do it - it would be like an admission that cooler weather was around the corner.

So, what's this rail all about then? Well, it's nearly time for the Style Guile Super Sale! I've cleared out the many wardrobes that my clothes inhabit in the house, sent some to the charity shop and those that I am happy to sell on, will be appearing here soon. It has taken me a long time to be brave enough to do it and I have spent the day washing and ironing - but I'm nearly ready to go. The clothes will be grouped according to their price which will (I think) be either £15, £10, £7.50 or £5 (plus postage). The clothes will be sold on a first come, first served basis and I will send the items out once the funds have cleared. Let's see where this takes us...

Mixing three (subtley) printed items with a dollop of denim - plus a Limited Collection M&S top

 

I like a nice pair of printed trousers - although I've now decided, three days after these photos were taken, that that these aren't them (which probably explains why I haven't worn them for ages). Anyway, for now, let's pretend that I hadn't reached that conclusion or else none of the rest of the post, which I also drafted three days ago, would make any sense.

I dug this pair out from the "too big to wear" pile. Except that now they are no longer too big to wear. On the one hand this is good because I can now wear them but on the other hand, it isn't so good because conversely I probably now have several pairs of trousers that need to go in to the "too small to wear" pile. That's the problem with the summer - wearing shorts, dresses and looser fabrics generally means that it's harder to notice when things are getting slightly too tight.

As well as printed trousers, I like to mix my prints and although I'm not such a big fan of wedges at the moment, I've always liked the snake print of these Carvela wedges. The star clutch, which as you've probably noticed goes everywhere with me at the moment (seriously, who has time to change their bag every day) is obviously not plain however the denim top? Plain as plain can be. A good dollop of denim always brings everything together.

Mixing prints doesn't have to scream "crazy lady with no taste." It might say "no taste" but it doesn't have to scream it.

Part of the reason for not having any more up to date photos than my three day old ones is because my Mum has been in hospital having a knee replacement. BUT one thing that I did have whilst she was in surgery was a stand up desk.

OK, so I may not have had the treadmill (seriously, those heels on a treadmill?) but my set up, courtesy of the NHS, comes a pretty close second to that of Mrs Beckham's

Now one thing that I did manage to do before my Mum went into hospital, was to order this Grafitti print top Marks & Spencer (£29.50). Mistakenly I sent it to her address but it was here ready and waiting when I brought her home from hospital - so that was quite handy. Anyway, I haven't had a chance to try it on yet but I thought that I would share it with you because I have high hopes for it with a pair of black trousers and heels for one of my many (!) nights out. I have to say, the village  I grew up in is really happening!

44 and off to V-Festival - Oh help, what to wear?

 

Going to a festival in the middle of August should be hot right? Wrong! It was absolutely freezing yesterday and as you can imagine, I wasn't exactly without my layers.  In fact I had four in total but still I was cold.

I really hadn't given much thought about what I was going to wear (clearly, it's hardly ground-breaking) apart from my coat, but more about that later. However what I did know was that I didn't want to look like I was trying to be a teenager again (I've got one of those for real).  So any notion of cut-offs was abandoned (as I think it is fair to say - without being mean - it should have been by many others. Or at least they should have worn slightly longer ones. Too much bottom cheek on show is never a good look, whatever your age) in favour of jeans. I have had the Joules wellies for ages and given that the coat was so bright, I stuck to more denim and white. Neon accessories were my only nod to anything vaguely festival like really and many thanks to Emma from Marianna Boutique who very kindly (but very naughtily) sent this lovely ChloBo necklace to me after I wrote about Marianna a few days ago.

This just made me laugh (through chattering teeth). What a great name for a food stall.

Now I don't often post pictures of food but this is exactly what was needed to warm me up. The most enormous tub of porridge with banana, nutella and granola - not my normal porridge toppings but they worked!

These were who we had really come to see. I have spent so many hours running to the Killers' music that I actually know the words - as in properly know the words - which is rarity for me as usually I just make them up. Other than when it comes to 1D of course as I know their words too - but maybe that's something I should keep to myself.

The one thing that I had given some thought to was the coat that I was going to wear. I've been after an excuse for a bright yellow jacket for a while now and V Festival seemed to give me the perfect opportunity. Not only that but we do spend most of our holidays in either Guernsey or Wales, both of which seem to have their own particular kind of horizontal rain which soaks you in seconds.

This was one contender, the Sea Folly jacket from Seasalt (£79.95)

...but I decided that the colour wasn't quite bright enough and it also looked slightly short for me.

So there really was only one other option...

...the "iconic Women's Raincoat" (that's what they called it, not me!) from Petit Bateau (£132). Our son had one of these when he was 3 and it was always so sunny and bright that I loved it then, as I do now. For info, the website states that they take 6 days to arrive but I rang the London store who posted it to me from the post office next door and it arrived the very next day. Fab service!

Marianna Boutique - a beautiful boutique specialising in Danish Designers

Something that I really like doing on Style Guile is writing about new brands and independent boutiques. Sadly many independent boutiques have not weathered the storm of the recession.  When you live in a big City like I do, the astronomical rents mean that they just can't compete with the High Street stores. This is such a shame as they offer such a different shopping experience, both in terms of the choice and the personal service. I would love to be able to pop along to a local boutique and to pick up some simple, stylish, interesting pieces from niche brands.

I've followed the activities of Marianna Boutique (Ipswich) on twitter and facebook for a while now and last week I contacted Emma, who runs the boutique, to see whether she would mind if I wrote about her business.

The Becksondergaard tote in "Mouse" (£45)

There was something about the clothes that Emma featured, and her comments on social media, that made me think: "She sounds like a nice lady, I'd like to find out more about what she's up to."  If I'm honest, I'm a bit nosey too plus I always like a success story - and recently the boutique has had a great success story. Emma described being "beyond thrilled" to be a Drapers Independent Awards finalist 2014.

Interestingly, prior to buying the boutique, Emma was a customer there and loved the collections, especially those by the Danish brand Malene Birger.  At that stage, she worked as a senior finance manager for a large insurance company and did so for nearly 20 years but after having her children, she realised that she needed to make some adjustments to her busy life. (Apparently she has failed in this respect as it's no less crazy now!)

 

Hofmann Mathilde dress (£239)

Emma  trained professionally as a personal image consultant and bought Marianna six years ago. She believes that her expertise in knowing what colours suit certain skin tones or what shapes flatter particular body shapes, combined with a head for figures, has helped Marianna weather the recession and come through it stronger than ever. She says that it's also a great asset when she's in buying appointments as she knows which pieces will work best on her customers.

 

ChloBo yellow tassel necklace (£40) - (I think that this would look great when I go to V-festival on Saturday).

Emma told me that the boutique's USP is very much "Scandinavian Style" and that they specialise in premium Danish designers. Most of Marianna's customers are ladies aged 35-55 and many of them have been customers since the boutique first opened its doors in 2004.

Printed biker jacket (£149 reduced from £249)

The Marianna website was re-launched this Spring and showcases some of the pieces available at the boutique (although only about 75% of the stock goes online due to the availability of quality images.)

Emma has set up a discount for 10% off Style Guile readers on any orders at Marianna. The code is STYLEGUILE10 and it expires 30th September, so there's plenty of time for new season purchases. For anyone who's interested, amongst the pieces above, these are what I have my eye on...

The Sargossa heels (£220) which come in several colours and which are designed to be the ultimate in comfortable high heels. Apparently they have medical grade shock absorbing foam to take pressure off the feet and the heel height is calculated with the optimum platform to support the foot. They sound pretty perfect to me.

With the Drapers awards lunch in London in September it's going to be a busy month for Emma and the boutique and I wish her the very best of luck.

 

A Denim and Chambray outfit for a casual kind of day....

I couldn't quite get it together today. Sometimes when I start the day by doing jobs, with the result that I get showered and dressed slightly later than usual, it doesn't work too well. I started off with a skirt, or two, or three, but ditched all of them. Then, to avoid a fall out of the apocalyptic kind, I went for the simplest of simple of combinations of trusty jeans (GAP) -  a trusty shirt (GAP) - and very trusty shoes (Carvela), all of which were in a very neutral colour palette. OK to some it may be boring and lacking a certain edge but that's where the benefit of normcore comes in. A trend of understated simplicity - it's perfect for those days when you can't get it together or you can't be ar*** because the outfit can be passed off as the ultimate look.

One of our activities for the day, as well as buying school shoes and doing the food shopping, was to go swimming. Luckily the floor blended quite well with my colour scheme for the day. My lovely new basket came along for the ride and if you look carefully, it contains the bikini which I featured on here a couple of weeks ago now. Much to my surprise, it's now my swimwear of choice.

And just look at the numpty who can't even dress herself properly after the swim. Tragic!

A round up of the weekend's outfits (they're not glamourous in the least!)

These are the weekend photos that probably shouldn't be shown to the world but they're all that exist for now.  Plus I always wanted Style Guile to be real life - so I'm going to use that as my excuse for these horrors!

Saturday morning started off with the park run. When it comes to the park run I've realised that age is actually a great advantage.  Clearly not that many women run in my age category which means that it's possible to do a less than brilliant time and still look quite competent (on paper at least). That's my kind of running! Here I'm wearing GAP running clothes, which I really like. They're not great for anyone who prefers a silky, lightweight fabric but personally I prefer a thicker fabric with a bit of support.

Then I decided on my Hush star jumper and a chambray skirt for the rest of the day, plus Topshop shoes. Usually I would choose a slightly more fitted top but it was a relaxed kind of day so, you know, I just went with the flow.

Sticking with the relaxed theme, Jigsaw tencel chinos, a Reiss jumper and converse plus a Kate Spade bag were good for a trip the swings - until it rained and I needed to levitate to keep the white converse white. Such a ridiculous choice of colour for converse!

And today a bag is wearing me!

I'm sure that in real life this bag isn't as big as it looks here - but maybe I'm wrong. It looks as though I could climb in it and camp for the night.

The bag was a present from a relative and it was bought from Indica in Guernsey.  It was handed over to me at the airport, which was a lovely gesture but by that point, we all had our quota of hand luggage, other than Mr SG whose hand luggage was a carrier bag. So guess who got to put his carrier bag (complete with crocs) into the basket to carry on to the aeroplane? Actually he stopped short of that, making me carry it instead but in turn, he had to carry my Cath Kidston bag. That poor man, he has so much to put up with!

So following on from yesterday's post, today I had flamingo coloured legs and shoes. I was off somewhere where jeans weren't really appropriate but having worn shorts and flip flops for so long, I found trousers and heels really hard.

Whilst looking for alternative baskets to bring to you (I failed miserably) I came across this Flamingo bag from Accessorise  (£10). I saw it a while ago and searched for it the other day but couldn't find it and then, when searching for "baskets" today, there it appeared - obviously!

I love little bags like this and find them so useful. I tend to put all of my bits and bobs in them and then move them from bag to bag, which makes life pretty easy when it comes to swapping bags. But back to flamingos....

It all started a few years ago with this wallpaper that we have in our conservatory...

...and this year I had a birthday card with flamingos on which I also love. I feel a flamingo obsession commensurate with my obsession for all things pink, sparkly and striped. Oh dear....

Two of my two favourites coming together - Diet Coke and ASOS plus THE perfect gift!

I'm on a list! Finally, I'm on a list! Actually I'm on a lot of lists, such as "the people who have been on a speed awareness course" list but this is a list that I really like being on. It's the Diet Coke bespoke gift pack, list.

In all honesty, if the criteria for being on the list is how much Diet Coke a person drinks, then I think that I have earned my rightful place. Put it this way: if I was like a flamingo, and if my skin colour was the same as the colour of the food/drink that I consumed, I would be Diet Coke colour, which actually sounds quite appealing to me.

To celebrate the launch of "Treasure Hunk", which is a collaboration between Diet Coke and ASOS,  I was sent this fabulous personalised T-shirt that I'm wearing, together with a personalised crystal-encrusted Diet Coke bottle and a crystal ring- pull necklace.  I love personalised things, from my "Bethy G" necklace from my friend, to my plastic "Elizabeth" bowl, which my eldest bought for me for 50p at a service station on her way back from a school trip a few weeks ago - I love them all.

In a nutshell, Diet Coke and ASOS have collaborated and each day, ASOS will hide Diet Coke "Hunks" in unexpected places across the ASOS site. To find them you will have to crack clues given on the Diet Coke Facebook Page and ASOS.COM and put the answer into the ASOS search bar.

If someone is logged into the ASOS site and finds the hunk, he will appear wearing a Diet Coke T-shirt with the customer's name on it. Ha, that could certainly brighten up a rainy day! Customers can win a host of prizes including limited edition personalised "Share a Diet Coke" bottles encrusted with crystals and customised ring-pull jewellery.

However, the ultimate prize is a bespoke nine-carat, rose gold, diamond encrusted ring pull pendant worth £4,500 designed by award winning jeweller Katie Rowland.  At the end of the six weeks, one winner will be chosen to win the necklace. So to those who enter, good luck!

Oh, and to anyone at Diet Coke reading this, last year I promised my husband's PA that I would find her a bottle with her name on it (I tend to spend a lot of time rooting through fridges of Diet Coke bottles) but still I have failed to do so, if there's on with "Gaynor" on it, could you please point me in the right direction? Thanks ever so!

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue - largely Ralph Lauren with a little bit of Whistles

Today's outfit all started with a bike ride. I needed a bag to put all of my bits and bobs in and remembered that I had given my Ralph Lauren backpack (a true piece of mid 90's chic) to our eldest so, in line with yesterday's shenanigans, I pilfered it back for a while.

The back pack was great for the bike ride and then I thought that about trying it for real - well, for the first time since I last used it for real, which was about 17 years ago.

I love a good midi skirt and I had my eye on this one when it first appeared in Whistles. Although it was spring/summer '14 stock, I couldn't quite figure out why, given the weight of it. When I came across it in the sale, reduced from £125 (ish) to £65, I snapped it up. I can't say that it had my name on it but it's called the "Ivy" skirt, which was my Grandma's name, so I saw it as a sign. Trouble is I seem to keep getting caught out by these "signs".

With the skirt having so much volume in it, it needs a fitted top to keep the proportions in check and this skinny rib knit from Boden did the job. Heels also work to off-set the shape of the skirt. As many of you will know from experience, although midis are great for covering the knees, they are also great at shortening the legs and widening the ankles! In the winter I will wear it with knee high boots, the tops of which will be covered by the skirt. I'm not fond of a gap between the top of  boots and the hem of a skirt (on me at least) as it creates too many horizontal lines and breaks. It just puts me on edge!

I have no idea what tomorrow will bring but I'm off to raid another wardrobe to see what else I may have given away over the years.....