Showing posts with label necklace. Show all posts

Wishlist: River Island


In all honesty, I was, at first, a little disappointed with the River Island Winter sale. On Boxing Day, I devoted about an hour to trawling through the websites of the staple high street retailers (Topman, Ark, H&M- you know the ones I mean), searching out the best buys and bargains. My disappointment, I must admit, was by no means limited to River Island. Aside from a very reasonably priced pair of bright green coloured skinny jeans, the menswear sale at H&M was hugely inferior to its female counterpart. The only fruit yielded from my Topman search was a pair of white tees for £12- which I only bought because I had some dye to use up. But River Island topped the lot- I couldn't find a single thing I wanted enough to buy when I had my first glance through their online sale. After the third page I gave up and resorted to looking through designer outlets, in the vain hope of finding a McQueen skull scarf for £10. Perhaps my thinking was a little to wishful. No; it definitely was.
Fortunately though, due to a past purchase, I receive regular e-mails from River Island. Usually, my enthusiasm for a company fades almost as soon as I find out the item I ordered has been sent- my interest is then transferred to the Royal Mail. Then, when the item arrives safely, I move on the the next craze, and I soon begin to regret my subscription to regular notifications from the company which, as I've explained, I have lost all interest in. But now my attitudes have changed.
As I was saying, I received this e-mail from RI telling me that the sale contained items which 'now had up to 70% off!' Being as financially apt as I am, I thought 'Ah fantastic!' and decided, in my bargain-finding wisdom, that the sale deserved a re-analysis- failing to realise that such an offer usually means 'one item with 70% off, the rest with a few pence knocked off.' However, such was not the case with the River Island sale, which I am now ashamed to admit I skimmed through so thoughtlessly on my first inspection. 
Perhaps my initial dissatisfaction can be explained by the fact that I only looked at the first three pages of about twelve... Never mind though, the point is that my second examination was both more thorough and much more enjoyable. Some of the bargains on offer in the sale really are spectacular. I only wish I could have saved a little more money from my immediate post Christmas spending spree. It may be only the dregs of the sale that are left over now, but if anything, this seems to have highlighted the true gems of the sales- the items which are a little more risque,lingering still, after the popular fads have been bought up by the average mindless consumer. Here are some of those:
A cute little studded bracelet for £3? Yes Please! 

The 'Navajo blazer'. £25 down from £80 (!!!!)- speaks for itself really! Looks kind of fleecy, good for a smart winter look I'm sure!

This is like an evolved cross necklace- its a necklace made up of lots of little crosses! Looks kind of barbed wire-y from a distance. A must have at £3!

Camo was big in 2012, and the trend looks set to continue. And what better way to continue the trend with this camo print shirt with corduroy collar and elbows for only £15 (down from £40!)

Something about the brown straps with the African tribal-meets-aztec style print just makes this look lovely! Only £8 as well!

Navy brogues for £25. Timeless classics- great for any outfit that won't go with regular brown ones.

Purple denim shorts, cut high above the knee in keeping with the late 2012 trend. They look really authentic- like someone has taken a can of spray paint to some jeans then cropped them neatly around the thigh. Irresistible at £12!

Winter Sales Outfit no.2


Another really simple look- casual but smart. It's a nice one to wear indoors on a cold Winters day. The snowy Jumper, which I found for £10 at a local vintage shop, is woolly enough to be warm, and baggy enough to be comfy, but is cut short at the waist via an elasticated waistband so isn't so baggy that it makes you look fat. It's got a kind of chicness to it, particularly when worn with the sleeves rolled up, that prevents it from wandering too far into grandad jumper territory.
The dark colours go together swimmingly; the white print on the jumper really stands out. The burgundy chinos can be found at topman for £15- and I imagine at River Island and H&M for a similar price. I often worry that I rely too heavily on Doc Marten boots, but is that such a crime when they add a sublime touch of class to any almost any outfit? The trick with DMs is getting the colour right. I chose dark green to go with the jumper, and laced up the boots in dark red to match the trousers- just to show that I put a bit of thought into them, rather than just chucking on the first pair I found. I imagine white laces would have worked well too, but sadly I didn't have any to hand.
The necklace is the true party piece of this outfit. It's a beautiful, spike-adorned chain, with exciting cuboid shapes increasing in order of size up to a nice big one, right in the middle, which never fails to catch light at some angle, drawing attention to the necklace. 'Interesting,' 'nice,' 'fancy,' 'lovely' and 'gorgeous' are all descriptors for this necklace that I hear regularly when I wear it to partys, or even just when I go shopping in it. I hope you like it too!

Own Clothes Day: What I Wore

The own clothes day. Or, as I prefer to call it: the sudden-realisation-I-have-nothing-to-wear day. Occurring approximately 4 or 5 times every academic year, the 'own clothes day' is, in theory, every fashionista's best friend- a chance to show off the season's latest trends, to show off those new boots, to find the skinniest jeans in your wardrobe and parade around the school knowing that your waist will be squeezed tighter than anyone else's in the whole school. However, sadly there is a thin line between the own clothes day being your best friend and your worst enemy, and it should be every style-conscious student's priority to avoid crossing this line at all costs.
One wrong move on own clothes day, and your image can be tainted- for a lot longer than a good outfit will enhance your image as well. I can painfully recall many an embarrassingly awful outfit on own clothes days past. I must admit, I wasn't really into fashion when I was 13, hence I thought nothing of wearing a navy tracksuit with a grey striped jumper and white trainers- on each and every own clothes day that year! (sadly that is completely true- the memory still haunts me!) Since then I have done much to rebuild my reputation, and, if nothing else, my sartorially disastrous youth has at least taught me to be aware that own clothes day is not an occasion to be taken lightly.
Unfortunately, whenever it is the evening before own clothes day, and I peer hopefully into the depths of my wardrobe, the washing machine monster comes along and swallows up all the clothes I really want to show off. Then, inconveniently, all my back-up, plan B, fail-safe essentials (black skinnies, chunky cardigans, v-neck tees etc) have either disappeared off the face of the earth, or have some sort of hole or tear in them, which I belatedly realise I was supposed to sew up weeks ago. Then I am forced to venture into the wilder realms of my closet- the place where home-made experiments lay strewn about, half finished, over the wardrobe floor, and where daringly risque patterns hide at the back of draws. Such was precisely the case on this own clothes day. This is what I went for:

   Let me take you through my clothing choices. I'll start from the top down- so first, I went for a classic band tee. I bought this Guns 'N Roses tee about 3 or 4 years ago when I was going through something of a rock phase. I love the contrast of the colours on the black, and I've always had a thing for cross shapes and skulls, so the combination of the two in an almost religious fashion was just irresistible. I cut off the sleeves, and lowered the neck line, partly because it was too tight, partly because low cut tops are very on trend (or at least were when it was a little warmer!) and partly so that I could show off my two tone necklace (also made of skulls- wooden ones).
 As tempting as it was to compound the crucifix look by wearing a necklace with a cross on it, I went for something a little more exciting in the form of this spiky chain necklace with some sort of shapes on it (still not sure exactly what they are). Whatever it is, I think it's really jazzy, and a bargain at £6.
 Working our way further down, we come to the jeans I chose to wear. These are a little personal innovation of mine. Originally cheapo £10 skinny jeans from Primark, I first ripped these jeans, then decided they weren't interesting enough, so I bunches them up with elastic bands and stuck them in a tub of bleach for a week. Annoyingly, they refused to go white, but the yellow is a little different to most bleachers I suppose, and I love the random swirls and patches the bleaching process creates.
 I played it safe with the footwear by picking out a sensible pair of docs. I had been waiting for an opportunity to wear my beloved teal brothel creepers, but decided against this move when I saw the rain clouds gathering before I had even left my house. Still, I think the dark green goes nicely with the darkness of the top, and contrasts sublimely with the yellow of the bleachers.
 And here's a picture from behind, because my bum is obviously exactly what you want to see!
There, then. I hope you like what I wore this own clothes day, and I hope I have convinced you that own clothes day is an opportunity for creative expression which is not to be missed.
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