Back to the books

Here's my outfit for the first day back to Uni. The dungarees are probably the chicest I've manages and are actually from Penneys! I love the gold buttons and the legs are a skinny fit which is very unusual for a dungaree!
The purple top adds a splash or colour as do the lumo ribbon laces I used to jazz up my ancient Docs. It of course had to be teamed with my favourite blue beanie so all my friends could spot me from far off! I finished it with catflick eyeliner and shimmery light brown lipstick.

Sunshine shorts

So here's another 50s inspired look! We managed to get a beautiful day for a family barbecue.I was thinking about the carnival scene at the end of Grease. I showcased the edited stripey shirt in an earlier post when I changed it. I really like the way the blue contrasts nicely with the bright yellow of the shorts. I tucked in the shirt to emphasise the high raise of the shorts and also because the shirt is very loose around the bottom and it's more flattering held a little closer to the body. I wore my hair up to keep cool and so it wouldn't take emphasis off of the outfit. I finished it with a wide, purple bandanna for the 'We can do it!' housewife look!

Combo

Felt like I couldn't call this a snapshot without a full length pic! This was one of those effortless but hip outfits. I got a new jumper, its ridiculously cosy and was only 15euro in Tesco! The Penneys leggings you've seen before and the shoes were for comfort rather than style, though they did co-ordinate plus the yellow added a splash of colour.
The bandanna made the whole thing look a little more America during the Babysitters Club era! It was also a super handy way to keep my new fringe out of my face (or to hide a greasy hairline-student tip!).
I'm posting the outfit mainly to show you how you can work an old-school stylish twist without any real effort and still being comfy, cosy and easy to wear!

Snapshot 22!

So another snapshot to mark my back-to-college shopping trip. I had books and nose rings to buy and I woke up with only a few hours of the afternoon left before the shops closed. I threw myself into something simple and comfortable. The dress is a blue, skater-style from Penneys that I bought for a date, the over-knee socks are inherited from my mum (God knows when she wore them!) and used to be school socks. The jumper is another inherited number that I found in the bin-bag my mum had gathered to give to the charity shop. I love that its the classic, simple 90s sweater; plus it's black and it goes with everything! The orange bandanna and the silk brogues added a splash of colour. The brogues are from TKMaxx and are my new 'instant-quirk' item. Several strangers complemented me on them while I was out in Dublin plus the are super flat and comfortable. The necklace also got some compliments-it's a real bug set in glass that my dad brought back from a work trip. Weirdly enough the casing glows in the dark I recently discovered! It was my usual cat-flick liner and after taking pictures I threw on my new bright-orange Clarins lipstick to brighten it all up. Comfy, simple and a slight nod to the back-to-school style dominating the highstreet this time of year!

Snapshot 21!

So recently I've developed a slight obsession with blue. I own far too many blue clothes. On the plus side, it makes it easy to co-ordinate a bright and breezy outfit. This one was for a pub night with some friends out in Dundrum. The blue hat is a found item, the Aztec print top is Penneys, the belt is lost-and-found sale, the shiny leggings are a hand-me-down from my mum and the skirt is Debenhams sale and the boots are Oxfam.

I love that the skirt is shorter at the front than the back it gives it a slightly more interesting shape. The shine on it brightens any outfit and the pleats are those fantastic ones that require no ironing. The leggings were to keep myself covered as it was chilly and the shiny skirt looks much too short at the front with bare legs sometimes. It also sits elegantly high-waisted which worked with the shorter Aztec top. The belt was sorely needed to cinch in the waist of the short top otherwise the whole outfit would have looked a little..wide. The hat was to cover a recent travesty of a haircut. The boots were to top it off and add height. 

I kept the make-up simple with a black cat-flick eyeliner and my dark purple lipstick which makes any outfit a little more chic.

Jeans

Today marked day 35 in my hunt for fabulous high waisted jeans.
I have not bought jeans for myself for nearly 7years. I have been blessed with a friend who periodically throws out jeans in my size and was the previous owner of all but one pair of my jeans (the remaining pair having been a bonus of helping a friend with a video shoot where they were part of the costume).
Jeans shopping is right up there with bikini shopping for most of us women. It is a kind of peculiar torture that ruins the usual pleasure of treating yourself to new clothes. High-waisters have added a level of difficulty to my jeans shopping previously experienced by no sane human on this planet. It is killing me.
My body is designed to not fit normal jeans. Luckily I am not hugely fond of wearing jeans but that could have come from years of having to choose between jeans that fit my legs or jeans that fit my ass. I never manage to get both! Now I have decided to torture myself further by trying to find ones that fit both waist and booty. What have I done. My naivety led me to believe that since high-waisters were originally from a time when curves were the in thing that it wouldn't be the impossible dream to hope that there would still exist pairs for a woman like myself! I was wrong. They are for the skinny, boyishly fabulous, assless model types. The fact that my shape would rock it too is I could just get one to fit an hourglass is irrelevant to the mainstream jeans-makers.
But my fabulous ass will not be giving up til it is clad in sassy high-waisted denim! Even if I have to hunt down someone who owned a pair when they first came out and steal their wardrobe. It is on.

A little glam

This dress was a step away from my usual style, I borrowed it from my girl Lorena. She tends to wear a much more sophisticated, put-together classic look. The dress is a pale pink-nude colour which contrasted nicely with my tan. It's completely sheer in the front panel and at the back but I wasn't confident enough to wear it with a bra! The bralet is in a similar colour with black lace. To tie the lace in with the outfit I added the slim black patent belt and my black bowler to create a quirky but co-ordinated look. I wanted it to combine style and fun and to create a dressier look for going out! I kept the hair soft and simple with a low messy bun and understated natural make-up.