The alternative prom outfit....

As many of you will know, it's prom time of year. I've heard some horror stories about prom outfits. One chap who was at our house fixing the dishwasher told me how his wife had bought his daughter a prom dress that cost over £700. He was so incensed that he left the family home for two days and went to stay with his Mum. On top of that there were still shoes to buy, a limo to pay for, plus the hairdo and so on. Now that's a big fat "Ouch".

Well let me tell you, there was none of that in this house! I do understand that prom (not my favourite term but let's go with it for now) can create all sorts of issues for the girls. Long dress, short dress, colour, fabric, cost - well the usual that us ladies face when choosing a special outfit. The one thing that I do really like about prom though is that after weeks of revising, wearing tracksuits, no make-up, hair in a ponytail and glasses on - it gave our daughter the chance to dress up and have some fun and that was lovely to see.

I'm not one to offer fashion advice unless it's requested but Flo and I did have a brief chat early on about what sort of outfit she wanted to wear. She's old enough to make her own decisions so my only suggestion was to encourage her to think about wearing a less obvious choice than a short, tight, cut out number which although can look lovely, isn't really her. Initially she ordered a few beaded dresses from ASOS but even the size 6 didn't fit. She has a tiny waist and although they were really pretty on her, she didn't feel that they were quite right.

And then one Sunday when we were in town we nipped into Coast in Debenhams, just on the off-chance to see what they had. She had thought about wearing a 1950's skirt and the assistant that I know kindly looked in the stock room and produced the size 6 skirt that she is wearing above, reduced from £120 to £59. Within minutes the deal was done.

The skirt that Flo had was the Rita skirt but the nearest at the moment is the Coast Eve Jacquard skirt (£129 - below). They do the Rita style every season in a few prints and it's a real gem, especially for those ladies who are more pear shaped as they can show off their narrow waist whilst not having anything that skims or clings over the hips and thighs. Plus the addition of heels elongates everything too, giving a lovely silhouette.

I've just shown this Coast Kalisse skirt (£120 instead of £160) and matching top to my husband and I've told him that I'll be wearing it when we renew our wedding vows, which having seen this outfit I now have plans to do. Oddly he seemed slightly bemused. But seriously this is a great outfit for a bride, whether first, second or third time around.

I've styled a client in this Coast hyperbloom skirt (£165) for a wedding that she's going to, along with the top below which is from Reiss. You may have seen Susannah Reid wearing the skirt of this month's cover of Good Housekeeping. What I love about this style skirt is that it really does transcend the ages so well - from 16 to 60 (and beyond) it's a great option.

Reiss  Rita top, (£29 reduced from £89)

Anyway back to the prom outfit. After securing the skirt in record time, we then went into Topshop which is almost next door to Debenhams. I figured that the top could be tricky. It needed to be short, if not cropped, either silver, the same green as the skirt or white at a push and because the skirt is quite covered and traditional, I realised that she would want something slightly edgy and nothing at all like a top I would choose for myself! And within two minutes we found this top....

Topshop bralet top (£15)

So I know that it's not overly covered up but it's no more revealing than anything that might be worn on a beach. And sometimes you just have to appreciate when to let things go a little!

As for shoes, we left them until pretty late - the day before in fact. And the hair appointment too but all worked out well in the end.

New Look silver snake print sandals (£24.99)

Flo was accompanied by her friend, Josh, who was the perfect gent bringing her a beautiful corsage. Apparently one boy who she has known since Primary School went up to her and said "Flo, I like your attire. "

I had a budget in mind of £100 for the outfit and this came in at £98.99 which was a little more acceptable than £700. Even now I can't help thinking about that poor chap!

You shall go to the ball....

It's a long time since I've been to a school ball but last night was the night - and a fantastic night it was too. Normally it's Mr SG donning his tux for a black tie event (for work purposes of course, you understand) but for once I wasn't the babysitter and instead we got to go out together.

I really hadn't given any thought to what I was going to wear and it can be at times like that when a dress just happens to find you. I was in Coast a couple of weeks ago looking at outfits for an event that I'm styling on Wednesday and on my way out I saw this Coast Frankie Jacquard dress (£145).

In the flash of an eye I had tried it on, bagged it and I was on my way.  I think that it was the print that attracted me initially and I liked the overlay at the top too but had the length not been right, it would have gone straight back on the rack.

I have no idea why I went with the Aldo  spot shoe (£60) - other than because I liked them and because they were a slightly less obvious choice than silver or nude.

This is a back shot of the dress taken from the Coast site which I think may just well have a 20% discount on at the moment.

For information purposes, the dress comes up true to size. I'm wearing an 8 and whilst I could have got away with the 6 I wouldn't have been quite so comfortable around the waist. So comfort won out in the end!

And I got myself a new pal on the night. Just look at the sword on him!!!

A glamourous Mum in a glamourous outfit from Coast, Dune, Carvela and Jigsaw

 

 

A very beautiful lady!

 

Last night we held a Glamour Evening at school and I styled the fashion side of things. It was a joint event between myself and a friend who is an Arbonne representative, plus we had a hairdresser come along to do an "up do" on one of the models, a make-up artist, a team of ladies threading eyebrows and another lady promoting her teeth whitening business - so there was plenty going on. The entrance to the event was lit with tea lights (I can't take credit for any of this) which made it look really pretty.

 

The board room was transformed - a little bit Winter Wonderland and a little bit Downton Abbey!

 

Well, what's a mantelpiece for if not for displaying shoes....

...and the odd bag?

 

During the evening we covered a number of different events that might arise during the Christmas calendar and "black tie" was one of them. A lovely Mum from school had her hair and make-up done for the event.  In preparation for the event I chose this fabulously opulent Rita skirt from Coast (was £125, now £87.50) which I knew would make the most of her tiny waist and which I hoped that she would agree to wear - and luckily she did. [They are only available in limited sizes now but if anyone is desperate for a size 10, I have a spare one - although only at the full price.]

 

 

I've displayed the outfit in the pictures below and in addition to the skirt you can also see the bag that I used, which is from Dune (Now £52 instead of £65) as I wanted to pick up the blue in the skirt elsewhere in the outfit but this could just as easily be done in some shoes or in some jewellery.

I also opted for the Coast Sunnita jacket (£85 full price though it is available with a discount at some stores) as it has a nice neat fitted shape to it and I didn't want to spoil the line of the skirt, some Stella & Dot earrings, a Coast thick gold bangle and Carvela Lacey shoes which have little spikes on the front and which were included just to add a bit of an edge to the outfit.

 

Carvela Lacey shoes - tricky to find right now, House of Fraser have sold out and the Very website has crashed but there will be some somewhere!

I also used this 100% silk cami from Jigsaw (now £35.10 instead of £39). These are fantastic for layering under jackets as they aren't too tight, the V-neck isn't too low and the straps are adjustable so they're not constantly falling off your shoulders. They come in a whole range of colours too - just in case anyone is after something similar.

I hear that Santa may be buying this outfit for a black tie event which this lady has coming up. He sounds like my kind of chap!

Something to banish the Sunday night/Monday morning blues...

I've said it a million times and I will probably say it a million times more but I'm a huge fan of a coloured coat for the winter. There are so many dull, dark days during the winter months that it's lovely to see a bright pink, blue, red, yellow or coral coat.

In this post I'm taking a look at blue coats. I've seen lots of them on my travels over the last few weeks and months and there are some great ones to choose from.

French Connection has two of my favourite blue coats. There's this imperial wool coat (£169) which I used  on a model at a style event a couple of weeks ago. It has a great depth of colour to it so is easier to wear than some of the lighter blue shades. It currently has  20% off with Grazia (OCTFC20 which continues until midnight on 2 November

This French Connection oversized wool coat (£225) is a lovely soft blue. It's more oversized than the style above so arguably may have a shorter shelf life but if you're after a coat in the shape of the season, this could be a winner. The wide collar and simple styling are also a nice touch.

The Great Plains wool funnel neck coat (£120) is a real gem. It is slightly oversized without being swamp like and the funnel neck is a real winner. It has a strong nod to the 60s trend which is so big this season and as with anything that is based on a style from times gone by, it won't date - because it already has, albeit in a way that is trendy once again - if you get my drift.

Despite the oversized styles that dominate at the moment, lots of ladies still prefer a fitted style of coat, feeling that it is more flattering and waist defining/bust minimising - which quite often it can be. Sometimes with fashion trends there's a trade off between wanting to wear something that is new, fresh and different vs wearing a shape which is known to be flattering. The classic example is the trade off between boot cut jeans, which tend to be more flattering on lots of women, vs skinny jeans which are more modern. Some things can be styled in such a way as to overcome their limitations and sometimes all that is needed is a period of adjustment and time to get used to a different look.  So really what I'm saying is don't rule anything out - not without giving it a proper try first as that's how we get stuck in a rut.

However if it's still not possible to get one's head around a looser shaped coat, the Boden Ingrid Coat (£179 down to £143.20) has a semi fitted style so it may tick all of the right boxes.

This Country Casuals blue fold collar coat (£249 but currently with 20% off) has a clearly defined waist and is also has a nice detail across the back, also adding to it's shape. It's one of the few double breasted styles out there at the moment and in the flesh it's a really pretty blue shade. I was quite surprised when I came across it in CC but in actual fact they had quite a lot of nice clothes (don't tell anyone I said that!) I like looking at lots of different brands as without fail, all brands have some great pieces - even if only a few - and all brands have some rubbish pieces. The weight of some of their dresses, particularly their wrap dresses, is really good. Far better than equivalent priced brands, or even those that are more expensive. They also have a fairly extensive petite range.

Warehouse also has a couple of options. There's the brushed drawn hair coat (£95) which currently has  25% off with this week's Grazia. Having said that there aren't many double breasted options look at this - another double breasted option. Lovely colour, nice fabric and a good price with the discount.  

Or there's the Warehouse boucle coat (£85) which obviously has more of a texture to it. I'm not entirely convinced how well this one will wear given its finish but it's worth taking a look at it to see how the fabric sits once it's been tried on and rubbed over a couple of times - not that I'm suggesting that anyone should go and try clothes on and give them a hard time before deciding whether to buy them or not.

Lastly Coast has this Soho Crombie Coat (£175) which is a lovely mix of a classic style but with a modern edge, thanks to the zips above the pockets. I think that it would work just as well for work as it would with jeans and trainers at the weekend.

 

So, what d'you reckon? Is anyone tempted by a blue coat of any shade at all? My Boden spotty blue coat, now heading into its 9th winter, may well be making an appearance sometime soon.

Today's shoes - What I wore, what I saw and what I bought....

 

Today, shoes featured quite heavily in my day. I had two meetings at opposite ends of town so predictably I had a pair of trainers with me just in case but these M&S block heeled leopard print shoes are so comfortable that I didn't have to change - which is a rarity for me when walking a distance. And it's really odd but whenever I wear these shoes, people always ask me where I got them from. They are always shocked by the response!

Clearly I only have one dress. This is the same Pia dress that I featured only a couple of days ago but I was on the 'phone whilst trying to get dressed so I had to go for something easy/stretchy and which wouldn't end up in me doing myself an injury. It was then easy just to thrown on the shoes and jacket before heading out of the door.  I think that here I am wearing the dress slightly longer than at other times of the day but that's what I like about it - it can be worn longer or shorter and I've even been known to put it on upside down - but that was in error.

On the way back across town there were four shops that were directly in my path, so they each got the once over. Jigsaw was first and although I tried on a couple of dresses, there was nothing that I loved enough (or more importantly which loved me enough) to justify buying it. Then, having felt a little bad about my comment about White Stuff yesterday, that too got a visit, just in case it had the perfect summer dress - but it didn't. It did have plenty of skirts though...

Then it was the turn of Coast, where I looked lovingly at the Ariel shoe (Coast £65 down to £30) but I concluded that, much as I liked them. I really didn't need these shoes in my life. Although looking at them again maybe I was wrong about that. I don't know about you but I always feel that it is important to acknowledge when one is wrong about something and to try to do something to fix it....

And these are what I bought today - wait for it - the Jack Wills Castley flip flop (£14.50) - I know, hardly a purchase of designer shoe magnitude. I've had a pair of Cath Kidston flip flops for a couple of years now but they are looking a little tired and given that they haven't included any in their collection this year, I have had to look elsewhere. For some reason I like a print on the base of the flip flop and the top part is my perfect shade of pink.

So that's my round up of the shoes I wore, the shoes I saw and the shoes I bought - for today at least!

A cropped top? Seriously? Why yes. Don't look away just yet!

If I said that I was going to get a cropped top, I would imagine that everyone would think that I had lost my marbles because (surely) a cropped top equates to an exposed midriff. However a cropped top which doesn't show any midriff? Well there's a thought.

The silhouette of a fuller style skirt is often disadvantaged by the length of the top worn with it. The waistband gets covered, hiding the narrowest part of both the skirt and its wearer. So, for anyone with a fuller styled skirt in their wardrobe, I'm offering a different solution this season which will both update your wardrobe and make the skirt more flattering to wear. A little bit of imagination may be involved, that's all!

As to a couple of examples of this style of skirt, the palm tree skirt from Karen Millen (£99) is a nice option. It has a good length and the print, whilst pretty, isn't too girly.

For a more neutral option, the midi denim skirt Karen Millen (£129) is almost like the jeans equivalent of a skirt and therefore quite a safe option for anyone embracing the concept of a cropped top for the first time.

So as to tops.  Because the skirts are high waisted the cropped T-shirt Mango (£17.99) won't expose any tum but it will create a lovely silhouette and it's just a little bit different.

The cropped lace Tee Warehouse (£45), which also comes in white, is really pretty too. I have worked with this top (and very pleasant it was too) and it is definitely on the right side of cropped.

The palm leaf top Warehouse (£38) would work really well with a white midi length skirt although, as with the lace top above, both have a skirt to go with them which are worth taking a look at.

As to shoes, heels are always a great choice and I have to admit to being a little bit taken by these Glory High Shoes from Topshop (£58). If I chose to go with the denim skirt and white Mango lace T, these would be the shoes for me. Perhaps less so with the paint splatter skirt and/or palm print top - unless I was feeling very brave.

For those who may prefer something more subtle, they also come in this lovely mint  colour.

Luckily, Iva at Falling In Style has already paved the way for me by wearing this lovely outfit, in which she looks stunning. When the sun comes out, I will be happy to bear all but for now it's the parka and boots all the way for me.

How to look good naked...but I think that I prefer these ladies with clothes on! (From Warehouse, Coast, Karen Millen, Dune, Ted Baker, Jaeger)

 

Yesterday evening I was working with the Solihull BID  at the Mell Square Shopping Centre and specifically, with House of Fraser. The photo above shows the seating area where I sat and chatted to my ladies. Put together by the interiors team, I would quite liked to have picked it all up and taken it home with me.

These were part of the team with whom I was working.  Boy were they heavy (sorry ladies). Dressing these models was so tricky - their arms kept falling off, they wouldn't bend or move in the way that I wanted them too, I kept groping their boobs (and apologising to them)!  I have so much respect for the VMs who work with them on a daily basis in the confined space of shop windows.

The models were to be dressed in work wear so I wanted to include a dress option and a trouser option, print on the top half, print on the bottom half, colour, texture, matching bag and shoes, clashing bag and shoes, open shoes and closed shoes, together with classic, and more on trend, pieces.

Model 1 wore printed trousers and a pale blue lace top from Warehouse to reference the pale blue in the trousers, a Ted Baker mac with Dune shoes and bag - very matchy, matchy - but they could easily be separated out.

I love Dune for their range of inexpensive but stylish bags. They have a lovely coral one plus some nice tan and black ones too.

The great thing about these trousers is that there are so many colours with which to work. I felt that the print of the trouser and the texture of the top demanded a simple, classic shape in a coat.

The shoes are black at the back. I like the closed toe for those who don't feel that open toed shoes are appropriate at work. Love the leopard print lining in the coat too!

Model 2 sported a little neon and black number from Coast -which almost looks like a skirt and top option - together with a softly tailored jacket, also from Coast.

The leopard print bag is from Biba. I fancied introducing a print as a black bag, whilst safe, was a bit too predictable. The patent shoes were from Kurt Geiger.

I wanted to break the neon pink up, so chose this large linked necklace from Karen Millen. I like this necklace for work. It's really versatile and has a good weight to it, with just a little bit of bling in the smaller links.

Model 3 wore a printed kimono style jacket from Yumi, a cream Warehouse top, Episode trousers, Dune shoes and a Jaeger bag.

I love the colours in this softly tailored jacket as there are so many different ones that could be picked up elsewhere in an outfit. It would also be great with jeans at the weekend. The Warehouse top has a slight texture to it and the necklace, which picks up the brown shades in the jacket, is from Ted Baker.

I love this Jaeger bag! It's as near as it needs to be to the shade of blue in the jacket and the shoes pick up the coral in the jacket. The shoes may be a bit high for work but maybe not. The trousers are a lovely fabric - nice and drapey with just the right amount of room in the leg.

Ladies, it was lovely working with you - even the ones that were rigid and not very chatty!