A fifties flirtation

I love the look of fifties fashion styling, especially in the summer, and luckily for me the silhouettes of this time period are some of the best shapes for my body. Seeing Taylor over at Sterling Style wearing this gorgeous summer frock has me yearning not only for some more summer dresses (not that I need any) but also some better weather in which to wear them. I for one am fed up of this rain, what happened to spring?

Akebono Halter Dress by Anthropologie £128

There are quite a few flirty fifties style dresses on the high street but some of my favourites from the Spring/Summer collections are from Anthropologie (these guys know vintage prints and shapes). The selection below is just a glimpse of the delights to behold on the Anthropologie website, check it out here.

Bike lane dress - Revisited impressionist dress - Primary blooms dress

 Henga shirt dress - Eyelet branch halter dress - Essential stripe dress

A Mango summer

I must admit I've never really bought anything from Mango but since I moved to West London I have popped into the store in Westfield a few times, mostly following their gorgeous campaign featuring Kate Moss in that jumper. I tried it on, I didn't look like Kate Moss (obvs) but I was impressed with what was on offer in-store and online. Their new summer campaign has me even more keen for some warmer weather (just less rain even would be a start) and cracking out the St Moritz ASAP.

View the Mango Summer collection here

I'm also pretty excited for the Autumn/Winter collection which is available from July - watch this space for details.

Always the wedding guest, never the...

As many of you may know, for The Boy and I this year will always be known as The Year of the Wedding. Oh no, not our wedding, the wedding of pretty much everyone we've ever met.

So far, five invites and counting.

We've got weddings abroad, weddings in the country, vintage weddings, city weddings, you name it, we're going to it. Not that I'm ungrateful, I love a good wedding, but five? This means some serious thought needs to go into what I'm wearing so as not to repeat an ensemble and, more importantly, not bankrupt myself when trying to achieve the perfect look.

Every year as wedding season approaches I find myself frustrated that all The Boy needs do is put on a suit and tie and he's good to go. Yes, I know that suits do get warm on the rare occasion that a wedding actually takes place during the elusive few hours of British summertime, but a stiletto heel on grass is a far more treacherous situation entirely. We girls tread a very fine line when considering appropriate wedding attire, with the risk of being too dressed up or, god forbid, too dressed down always at the forefront of our minds. Fashion faux pas I myself have witnessed include: wearing a white dress (no really, I'm not joking), wearing the same dress as the bridesmaids, and need I say more about strapless dresses? Ladies, if you have big boobs wear something with straps, otherwise you run the risk of always being known as The Girl Who Got Her Boobs Out At Cousin Frannies Wedding (or something of that nature).

 The Boy and I at his sisters wedding, July 2011

My wedding attire of choice is usually a dress and although I have some ideas for what I want to wear to this years events, Becky over at Milk Bubble Tea has got me thinking that at least one of my ensembles needs to involve a dipped hem, due to how nice she looks in the mint waterfall dress from Glamorous. I'd never heard of Glamorous before but after checking out their website I'm pretty sure I'll be getting a lot of dresses from there from now on.

Here's my top picks for wedding guest attire for the coming season, all available at Glamorous (expect updates on the ensembles I eventually choose over the coming months):

Find all these dresses and more on the Glamorous website here

Hobbs & NW3 press day

Last night I had the pleasure of being invited to the Hobbs and NW3 Autumn/Winter 2012 press day (is there a better end to a rainy Tuesday?) and let me tell you, I was more than impressed. I've always loved the classic tailoring of the Hobbs main range and the quirky prints of NW3 but for AW12 they have really outdone themselves. What I loved most about these collections were that whilst Hobbs have nodded towards some of the key looks for the coming season they have remained true to their roots of quality and quintessentially British style.

The jewellery and accessories have really stepped up as well (who doesn't love a necklace with a bike pendant?) and I think these are areas where the brand will really set themselves apart going forward. Stand out pieces for me were a two-tone shift dress combined with a detachable peplum belt in black leather, a floral fifties-style dress and a faux fur collar (along with just about every print in the NW3 range). Oh, and some of the amazing leather bags. Obviously.

I personally can't wait to shop the Hobbs and NW3 AW12 collections - but for now take a look at the awesome SS collections here (I love the floral blazer and the dani bag by NW3).

Looks I'm loving

I've always had a soft spot for seventies inspired fashion. Maybe it's because flared jeans just really suit my shape or because I love a good hat, either way, my style often seems to lean towards a seventies twist. 

This weeks look I'm loving belongs to Louise Ebel, a 23 year old art history student from Paris, who also often seems to lean towards retro styling. I love Louise's sense of style, she's really eclectic and has no fear in switching from one time period to the next (although most of these pics are seventies inspired, she also often posts looks that seem strongly influenced by the 1920s).

Find out more about Louise at her wonderful blog Miss Pandora

My week in photos 2

On Friday night, as The Boy was staying away at a friends for a Saturday suit fitting, I took the opportunity to do something I don't do very often: relax. I settled into bed (the lounge just won't do for a proper veg out) with a pile of magazines, documentaries on 4OD (I know, I'm a geek), Bridesmaids on DVD and a Kit Kat chunky (a girl's got to eat). It was a wonderful evening, nowhere to be and nothing pressing to do, it was bliss. My week wasn't particularly crazy but, as usual, I'd had lots on and it was nice to just spend an evening doing basically, nothing. My wonderful friend Zsa from The Life Wardrobe had surprised me with a bag of popcorn and a DVD as a treat "just because" (don't you just love friends like that) so my evening was mapped out for me with food, comedy and relaxation. 

Saturday saw me hit the market for the weekly fruit and veg shop, stopping at Sports Direct on the way to pick up some new running trousers (who knew I would actually get into this running lark). It was nice to have a day entirely to myself, a spot of shopping, a sandwich for lunch (that definitely wouldn't have passed The Boy's portion control rules) and then an afternoon of cleaning whilst watching American trashy TV. You wouldn't think cleaning would make me happy, but tidy house tidy mind and all that. We went for a curry and drinks with friends on Saturday night followed by a day wandering along the river to Chiswick on Sunday. It was a lovely weekend and a relatively nice week, here's some pics of what I've been getting up to:

 Pretty much my dream house - dressing like my Grandmother - a visit to the lovely Hobbs store in Bluewater - surprise gifts from Zsa - browsing the fashion books in Chiswick - loving the new Chanel ad campaign

Nails of the day: Out of the blue

I've been trying to take more care of my appearance of late, particularly my nails, which seems to have led to me developing somewhat of an obsession with buying nail varnish. Two recent shades include Deep Sea Blue by George at Asda and a Blue Glitter by Barry M, which I layered this week to match a necklace (that's right, I'm that type of girl). 

As both my mother and Zsa often tell me, I am like a magpie when it comes to anything sparkly and as soon as I saw this necklace in Dorothy Perkins I knew I had to have it, regardless of whether or not it was my style. I decided to layer it over a white collared shirt and black round neck jumper, paired with blue jeans to make the look more casual, and I must say I am now very much a fan of this type of ensemble. I'm already thinking of other ways to create a similar look using different accessories and colours. My outfit did get a few comparisons to the style of Caroline Flack over the course of the day (I'm not sure if this is a good thing) which I suppose I can see, must be my expertly dip dyed hair*.

Overall I was really pleased with how well this varnish lasted, it went on easily and didn't chip until the fifth day, however I must say it was an absolute bitch to get off. As much as I love the look of glitter varnish I usually have to resort to picking it off once it starts to chip as removing it with cotton wool and nail varnish remover tends to create a mess - if anyone knows of an easy way to remove glitter polish do share, you'd make my life.

*more than a years worth of grown out roots