Chopping wide legged jeans into culottes

Last spring I bought a pair of wide legged jeans in the Whistles sale (I'm having a feeling of deja vu here after yesterday's post!) I liked them but only wore them a couple of times so over the winter I decided that come the spring I would get them chopped down to ankle length culottes. Not relying on myself to do the job even remotely properly, I took them to a local tailors who did the job for me and since having them chopped I've worn them much more.

When having them taken up, I took along another pair of culottes, the length of which I liked, so that we got them right. Here I'm wearing them with Topshop shoes (similar here) and a Cos shirt

My bag was a birthday present from a lovely friend and the cuff is from Tory Burch at Bicester. 

If in doubt, do the chop (not the snip. That's a whole different ball game on many levels.)

Anyone for a dress with pockets - or even better, a dress with FOUR of them?!

Oasis Jacket, Cos dress, Jigsaw sandals, Accessorise flamingo bag

When looking for the perfect summer dress (which I seem to do constantly) to dress up or down, these are some of my requirements..

• A good length - if it's too short, a dress can fall at the first hurdle;
• A good colour - for some reason blue or white are my preferences for summer dresses - they just go so well with brighter accessories and other base colours, such as tan;
• Possessing some shape but not too fitted - slightly fitted dresses work better for me than a lot of the oversized styles that are around at the moment which don't suit my frame;
• 100% cotton;
• Pockets are an added advantage;
• Simple styling but with a little something about it.....and as luck would have it, I came across one in Cos last week, one of my favourite brands for their styling and quality. At the moment when I'm out and about I'm half shopping with a trip to New York in mind, that I have coming up later in June with our eldest once her GCSEs have finished. Even though I have a healthy luggage allowance, I would prefer to plan properly and pack fairly light, taking just a few outfits that I can work in different ways. And this dress, I thought, would fit the bill perfectly. 

Here I've styled it with Jigsaw tan sandals but I would be equally happy wearing it with trainers or my lace up ballet flats when walking around. In the heat, I actually prefer a little more coverage and with it being cotton it will probably give me the best chance that I could hope for of not melting into a puddle. A few flouro accessories won't go a miss with it, or equally gold or silver chunky necklaces for anything else that we might get up to whilst over there. For that little twist I really liked the side slits. And the pockets? Big patch pockets on the front and pockets at the sides too. For those who love pockets in a dress, you will be in pocket heaven!

This photo gives a better idea of the sleeve length, just for those who just like to check these things out.

One thing the eldest has been tasked with before we go is being able to run a decent distance because when we're out there I know I will want to see the sites whilst running and I can't leave her on her own...but for now it's back to the Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice quotes. Good luck to all others in the same position - whether they be the exam takers or the exam supporters!

These are the shots of the Cos dress (£59) from the site...

 So, for any other Cos fans out there, have you spotted any beauties lately? x

A style staple plus Sienna Miller's hair and is it me or does Catherine ZJ look more and more like VB?

Carrying on with my plan to wear everything in my wardrobe, a pea coat is a style of coat that never goes out of fashion. It's a timeless classic and if you're thinking of investing in any type of coat, this is one that will last for years - along with a biker style jacket, a leather jacket, a trench coat or a camel coat. Other styles come and go and they are nice to own in an exciting, heart missing a beat kind of way, but as they may only last a few seasons they are probably more of a Zara/Topshop buy.

I had my first pea coat when I was about 23 and wanted to replace it after it had served me very well. This one from Reiss I bought in their post Christmas sale about 4 years ago now and provided that I don't grow out of it, it should last me for many years to come.

Now I may be a bear of very little brain but it just can't deal with this picture. It keeps trying to make it into Victoria Beckham. The similarities between her and Catherine ZJ are starting to become a bit spooky and my little brain finds is very confuddling.

Although in fairness I can't really comment about people coveting other people's looks because if I had hair that I could cut into this choppy bob, I so would. As it is it would take me forever to grow my short style out and knowing me after a few months I would cut short again so there's no point in even going there - but somehow I can't stop thinking about it which is always a bad sign.

A scarf (Accessorize), Spakles (GAP) and Spots (Topshop) - not all together but not far off!

 

Sorry for the radio silence. I've been whizzing around the country for a couple of days, working other days and we've also had the decorators in so sadly blogging has had to take a back seat. Oh but most exciting of all - how could I forget - today we booked tickets to go and see 1D in concert in October. Already we're hugely excited!  However despite all that's been going on, it doesn't mean that I haven't been thinking about you all and wondering who needs what in the run up to Christmas.

For my trip away I took this shrunken (although to be honest I'm not sure what about it is shrunken, exactly) metallic sweater GAP (£44.95) but which I bought for £30. Last week a friend dropped by and she was wearing a lovely chunky navy jumper and a big scarf and given that the forecast was chilly I decided that it was a great combo for me. Obviously I don't own another chunky jumper, or indeed a navy sparkly one - but you know how it goes.

And I know that I'm extremely late to the blanket scarf party but I was waiting for the right one, which I found in Accessorize. I can't find it online - it must be me, sorry - but the bright colours were right up my street and it is so warm. There are stacks of them about from New Look to River Island, H&M and Topshop and if it's not somewhere that you've gone yet they are a great way of adding some colour and/or giving a new lease of life to a slightly tired coat.

This evening the eldest and I braved the Bullring. Oh crikey me. We had a great time together though and this caught my eye in Topshop (£85). Now, I have a particular friend who loves fur coats - in fact she loves coats of any description - and she loves spots. So I'm just waiting to see if she can resist it.

I'm not sure which shot is a better reflection of its actual colour - but both are pretty lovely. Worryingly I seem to be tempting myself now. So, moving swiftly on.....

This is as Christmassy as I have got yet. These lovely letters arrived today from the wooden letters company which was a great find online. They make a wide variety of different sized letters in varying fonts and finishes. It would be so easy to get carried away on there.

And I thought that I would share with you the new wallpaper on our bedroom wall. To my surprise the whole family loved it. When I said to Mr SG a few weeks ago that I thought we needed to do a bit of updating in the house, he just said "I tell you what, why don't you do what you like and let's see if I notice." I think he noticed.

I think that he's noticed the fish on the walls too. In fact I suspect that they may have been swimming around in front of his eyes last night - but it would be wholly unfair of me to say exactly why that may have been.....

Updating a piece from last winter with bits and bobs bought over the summer...

Jack Wills shirt, Dune boots, New Look jeans, Topshop T-shirt, Accessorise bracelets.

As I think is pretty obvious, I don't do glamour in Wales. Not that it's not a glamourous place - far from it - have you seen Catherine Zeta-Jones, or Katherine Jenkins, or Catherine Middleton? (OK so she's not strictly Welsh, in fact she's quite possibly not Welsh at all but she's married to the Prince of Wales' son and she lived on Anglesey for a while). No, it's just that a) I am always under instructions to "pack light" which means that everything has to work together and b) we tend to be walking on the beaches, lighting fires, crabbing off the pier and chilling at home, so heels and dresses don't really fit into my lifestyle over here.

Now let's face it, a checked shirt is never going to set the world on fire but checks are a huge trend this season - from scarves to shirts, to coats and even shoes. Here are a few of my favourite checked pieces this season:

Warehouse checked cape £30 which I really like as it's a relatively inexpensive way of adding something to your wardrobe which is warm, practical and which will give a lift to an existing jeans/coated jeans and boots type outfit.

This Jigsaw cropped checked shirt (£59) is 100% cotton and comes in burgundy, which is having a huge revival this season, or blue. Easy to wear with black, blue or grey, it's a nice alternative to a denim shirt for a weekend look - especially for those who aren't fans of double denim.

And at New Look there's this orange checked scarf for £9.99 which I first spotted on a friend who was out watching the half marathon. She observed that only I would notice a scarf after 11 miles, the last of which was uphill, but it was so lovely and I was so desperate for a distraction from the discomfort that it was a welcome sight (as of course, was she.)

And the orange scarf sort of leads me on to this beautiful orange sky which greeted me a couple of mornings ago, having been woken earlier than I would like to have been by the youngest.

All of which completely misses the point of this post which was to talk about how things that you may have added to your wardrobe over the summer, can be used to re-work pieces that you may have had last winter.

In the above photo I've added in my favourite Topshop yellow T-shirt and a stack of bright bracelets from Accessorize, both of  which pick out the colours in the shirt. It's not revolutionary but it's worth having a rifle through your wardrobe, taking out something that was OK last winter but perhaps not quite as it should have been and see what else you can add to it to make it work a little better - or in a different way. Just a thought for a rainy afternoon!

I love this jumper which I've seen on several people. I think that there's something wonderful about wearing a jumper with 1970 written on it....unless like me you happen to have been born in that year - in which case it's not necessarily something that I would choose to advertise.

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!