Paint it black

After my last admiration post dedicated to the gorgeous Stella McCartney shoes and my disappointment that I will probably never have a chance of actually owning a pair, I remembered this pair of black pointy block heel shoes from Zara that for some strange and mysterious reason Zara only had in green, although a lovely shade of green, when I first saw them I kept saying to myself how much I would love to own a similar pair in black, the green was just not convincing or worth the investment, but it's funny how things have changed. A couple of days ago I popped to Zara to have a quick look around and noticed they had a few pairs of these green shoes in the sale and thought to myself whether I'll be taking a giant gamble buying them and painting them black. Now I can honestly say, I'm really terrible doing any type of DIY work and usually stay away from anything as it would probably end in a disaster, but after a quick online search I realised there are plenty of simple shoe dying colours which are quite affordable ( 5 pounds in comparison to the 20 pounds the local cobbler asked for). The colour I used was Dylon black leather shoes dye  and the process was quite simple , albeit a little messy because the dye is really watery, almost like ink which means it gets a little messy and splatters everywhere, my biggest worry was having the dye leaving marks on my floor so instead of newspapers I used old plastic water resistant envelopes which seemed to be a safer option. Overall I'm really happy with the result, the dye didn't leave any nasty marks or residue, and a little bit of shoe polish helped getting rid of the matte look after the dye and I now have a great new pair of black pointy shoes.

Darker shades of summer

It’s usually around this time of the year that the new Spring/Summer trends slowly start appearing in shops, magazines and blogs and although I’m usually quite keen on seeing how these trends are translated by the high-street chains, the real thing that is usually on my mind is how do I work my mostly dark wardrobe with the usually light and colourful spring and summer trends. 

I recently joked with my friend that my biggest fashion nightmare will be the disappearance of black and dark colours from the catwalks and shops in the summer. As I mentioned many times before, when it comes to getting dressed, summer is definitely my least favourite time of the year, especially because suddenly everything seems to turn so bright and colourful so last night, I had to reassure myself that not all summer clothes this year will be washed in shades of pastel and wild prints and so I gathered my favourite black and grey designer looks from the Spring/Summer shows in celebration of the darker shades of summer and now the only thing left to wish for is that the UK will actually be blessed with a real summer this year.

Work from home

There's no better way to start the weekend then actually working from home on a Friday ! My job gives me a bit of flexibility and in the run-down to Christmas things are getting quieter so today was the perfect day to take things easy and skip the mad rush into the office and setup my temporary office in my local cafe. To celebrate my work from home moment, I decided to dress appropriately for my work session and pretty much wear 'whatever' because no one would actually care. I always enjoy finding a good excuse for a lazy outfit and this one is certainly the mother of all lazy outfits, just put a giant cardigan on whatever you wear and you're sorted! I have no idea why but I decided it would be absolutely essential to wear a necklace to 'break all the black' before I packed my laptop and shuffled down the street to start my 'working from home' day, I suppose it does give a bit of a 'glamourous' touch to this outfit that could perfectly double-up as a pyjama any other day. 

That's how I look on Monday !

I'm not a morning person, I'm not a Monday person, I can't get my head to think 'fashion' on a Monday morning. 

I blew up my blow-dryer which meant my hair looked even worse than it usually is and to add to all I started a new permanent job this morning after a few months of contract work. To save myself time and stress I decided to wear a simple black dress, it's the perfect item when you're not really sure what would make an appropriate outfit in a new workplace. I was so nervous I just couldn't focus on playing around with outfits or think of something more exciting. The best thing about getting dressed for my new job that I noticed today was that I'm working in an all male office, in my previous job, I was working in an all-female office and constantly felt there was a constant competition between all the ladies of who's going to pull out the craziest and most eye-popping outfit everyday. Honestly, I come to work for work and most days prefer to focus my energies on getting ready for the day ahead so just want to wear something practical and comfortable and luckily with an office full of boys, I think there's less to worry about when it comes to fashion and more time to focus on actually doing great work!

Out of the suitcase

Yes, it's the dreaded jacket again ! I'm finally at home with my family after a long day of missed flights and missed connections (thank you spring snow !) and one missing suitcase which means I have to rely on whatever I brought with me in my carry-on bag until my suitcase is tracked somewhere in Europe. Luckily , I know flight connections have a tendency to go wrong so I took a couple of items in my carry-on preparing for worst case scenario and I'm really glad I did. 

I was expecting the weather to be really warm but it's actually a little chilly which means I have to rely on the only jacket I actually brought with me. The only two other lighter items I put in my carry on were a grey baseball style t-shirt and a wrap skirt from H&M and those are currently the only items I have but luckily they work together just fine although I'd be really sad if my suitcase is not going to be tracked down in the next few days but to be honest I can't complain now, I'm at home with my family , the weather is lovely and after last week which has been absolutely mad I really appreciate having some quiet time to relax and unwind .

The simple detail

I'm a sucker for simple LBDs and while I love a simple black shift dress , I always look for a simple and small detail that will distinguish it from other little black dresses which is why I was absolutely thrilled to get this dress from &Other Stories this morning. 

This dress caught my eye when I went to check out the shop two weeks ago and I mentioned last week that I was a little confused about the sizing and couldn't find the right size but decided to take a chance and order it online in a different size and hope it would fit better. Luckily,I managed to nail it this time with the size and I'm really happy about this purchase. It's definitely not a show-off dress which is what I actually love about it, from afar it might appear a simple black shift dress , but on a closer inspection you can see the little draped detail that makes this dress a little more special and I have to admit this was the thing that caught my eye when I first saw it. I do love a little extra detail on a simple dress which makes it look a little different and I also love the fact that the fit is quite relaxed but still looks somewhat sophisticated. 

The splurge

If it wasn't for this bag I wouldn't have thought of leaving my apartment this morning in this horrible weather, it's been so cold and miserable I lost any will to go out or do anything and just wanted to stay at home but I knew there was a parcel waiting for me at the post office carrying my Rebecca Minkoff Mini 5 zip handbag. 

I've been waiting for the opportunity to get this bag , it's by no means a new bag but I've been saving a little bit every month since last summer and waited for the right opportunity to buy it because I loved it so much when I saw it in a shop last year.

It's not the most expensive bag ever but I would rarely even consider or find myself in a position to buy a bag that retailes at over 100 pounds because I'm doing just fine with my standard Zara bags, but ever since I saw this bag I knew I wanted to get it and after a few months of saving I finally found it last month on a flash sales site , I've never been to a flash sales website in my life but it was actually a pleasant experience and the best thing was that it cost a lot less than what I expected it to cost which made me even happier. 

I did have some doubts about the size and whether I'd be able to fit stuff in , I usually love carrying a tote with pretty much all of what I have at home which usually makes it impossible to find anything so buying a bag that is relatively small was a concern , but I promised myself that I will try to keep things more organised and thought a smaller bag would mean I will be more careful with what I carry which makes this bag just the perfect size for me to learn how to carry a bag without carrying everything I have at home. So far I managed to shove my giant wallet into it , my phone and even my camera and a small folded shopper without making the bag look like it's going to fall apart under the weight so I'm quite happy with this purchase and it looks like it's definitely going to be my last bag purchase in a long time as I feel I finally have a balanced bag collection that doesn't need anymore additions. 

Off to work

Today was one of those rare occasion in which I had to step it up a little for work. On most days I'm pretty much free to wear what I want but every once in a while it's the sort of day that requires to tone it down or polish it up a little and get into 'business attire' mode.  Luckily this time I had a chance to wear this cool jacket I borrowed from my friend. I actually borrowed it as more of a casual item but decided to use it today  as an addition to a simple black dress for a slightly more classic look. I'm kind of loving it how it turned out although the photos aren't really showing that , it's actually the sort of outfit I can definitely see myself wearing more often for work as recently I've been trying to get my outfits to be slightly more 'grown up' or 'serious' although so far not very successfully so this jacket and this outfit as a whole might be a slight sign of a new direction which I'm slowly trying to figure out.

black and blue - round two

I think my slight interest in the combination of black and blue is slowly growing into a slight obsession. I decided to mix a couple of items my friend brought over the weekend to help me with my job interview outfit. The blue jumper was actually not planned to be part of any outfit as my friend was wearing it but the colour caught my eye and I couldn't stop thinking about it so eventually I asked my friend if we can do a trade , she picked up another item from my wardrobe and for the time being I'm the owner (or borrower) of this electric blue jumper which I absolutely adore. 

I couldn't wait to wear it this morning, it was actually meant to be part of my job interview outfit but we felt it might be a little too 'relaxed' for a job interview so I finally had a chance to wear it today with a simple black skirt and this fuzzy bomber style jacket which I didn't really get a chance to wear this year. To spice it up a little I decided to skip my usual chunky shoes and wear a pointy pair of patent leather flats and a matching clutch. I was actually really happy with this outfit as it felt refreshing to play around with different items I usually don't wear or use very often and obviously I was quite excited to wear this jumper my friend lent me and I expect it to be a prominent guest in my outfits until my friend decides she wants it back !

Sports day

Sports day !!! This was the first thought that came to mind when I opened the parcel from Envii and had a look at its contents, it was definitely not sports a sports day for me but with all the running around I've been doing in the last few days I feel like a sporty outfit was in place.

I have to admit inspiration hasn't been a friend over the last couple of weeks when it comes to outfits, a combination of over working and general stressful happenings in my life are leaving completely exhausted at the moment so when it comes to getting dressed I only want what's comfortable and easy to wear and I think today was the perfect day for this dress to arrive as it was just what I was hoping for.

I mentioned last week that I was checking out the Envii website and found so many great looking basics so I decided to test the water and ordered this dress. The order processing times were a little slow if you're used to UK retailers but since it shipped from Denmark I think it was worth the wait! I'm really happy with it. After ordering I was a bit worried that the dress might be too sheer or to thin but I can honestly say the quality and fit are great so I think I'll be checking out Envii more often when I need to stock up on new basics! Overall I'm quite excited to wear this dress, it's so simple it really doesn't need any additions, just a nice pair of shoes and a couple of chunky metal bracelets and

No extras

A printed skirt and a solid jumper , probably my favourite outfit to wear when I'm in a rush or can't really decide on what to wear. When I wear a skirt like that I prefer to keep it simple. This skirt is a recent purchase from Zara's new collection, I really didn't think I would like it as I thought the print was a little too much and my friend kept laughing at me and asking if I'm planning a magic carpet ride!  but after trying it on with just a black jumper I actually thought it's amazing, it's really not the sort of print I would usually go for but I definitely fell in love with it after trying it on. I'm thinking that a skirt like that doesn't really need any additions , no jewelry or accessories, just a solid top which makes this a perfect outfit for days I just don't feel like fussing around too much.