Incognito

Since this winter , more then ever I'm wearing the same outfits and items again and again, my only comfort right now when it comes to my outfits is actually having enough accessories to shadow the fact I'm wearing the same skirt and jumpers over and over again most days of the week. I kind of love the combination of the scarf and wide brim hat right now,  good for sheltering from the random gusts of wind and insane showers currently battering the UK, also serves as a great solution for hiding and covering my slightly hangover face after a couple of drinks too many last night with my workmates. I can already see this outfit is going to become a regular favourite for as long time (or until the weather warms up a little bit ...)

Sunday's stripes

I did a little bit of a wardrobe clear-out today and found this stripy jumper I forgot about. I have to admit my wardrobe is in state, it's clearly been built for a guy who has 3 t-shirts and one pair of jeans, it's so tiny that I usually can't fit more than a few jumpers and basics on the shelves which means that every once in while I need to refresh my memory and pull some things for a bit of a wardrobe refresh, I usually then take a few items from my clothing rail and put them back to the wardrobe, I try to do this at least once or twice a month so I can get a good view of what I have, especially at times when I get really bored wearing the same over and over again so I was really happy to find this stripy jumper although I have to admit it wasn't my best purchase this winter, I got caught up for a bit with the stripes trend but eventually forgot this jumper at the back of my wardrobe which was actually not  such a bad thing as now I can finally enjoy it now that I'm a bit sick of the sight of solid roll necks and oversized jumpers which I have far too many of.

No change

Black and white again, same outfit over and over again, it's been going for far too long, can't even get a decent shot nowadays because my camera is constantly playing up. I'm in a dire need for a change, fresh colours, new cuts but there's nothing that's captivating or exciting enough at the moment for me to want to spend my money on. 

I spent Saturday with my friend who's already piled a ton of spring/summer pieces but I just didn't feel excitement at the pieces I've seen so far and eventually ended up buying this jumper at &Other Stories, it kind of reminded me of an old jumper I once got when I was a teen on my first visit to London , obviously back then it seemed a lot more rebellious and exciting to wear a jumper full of holes, right now it just seemed more of a safe but slightly quirky addition to my wardrobe. I'm honestly feeling like I need a major wardrobe overhaul after wearing pretty much pretty much one outfit in different variations all winter :) 

Essentials and non-essentials

Recently I've noticed a pattern in my approach to shopping and the sales period this year was a proof that there is a slight change in my approach to shopping and spending which I'm actually very happy with. Probably the best evidence for that is my reluctance to shop the sales, not because I hate the stress of diving into messy sale rails and pushy customers but because I truly got to the conclusion that there was nothing I really needed to spend my money on, at least nothing that I can consider completely essential to my wardrobe at this time of the year. I have plenty of basic items, knitwear and by now, enough jackets and coats to last me a few good winters but one thing I noticed I can't get enough of recently is shoes and handbags, these shoes from Topshop and Maanii handbag have been two items I marked quite a long time ago as two pieces that I will buy once the end of season markdowns start and I'm quite happy I managed to hold myself until the sales and save some money but I was also really happy that I bought exactly the two items I set my eyes upon and didn't get distracted by any other sale items that I simply didn't need at this point. 

One of the things that I noticed is that pretty early on in the season I had a list of items that I wanted but didn't want to pay a full price for and with that list also came a more sensible outlook on what I need or don't need so when the sales started, most of those items I thought were essential at the beginning of the season, suddenly disappeared from my list simply because as times passed I started realising I did not really need them and eventually I was left with just two items on my list - a pair of shoes and a bag, certainly not big sale scores but definitely more practical then most other items I set my sight on when the season just started.

I'm hopeful that I'll be able to keep up with this as the new season arrivals start to hit the shops, it was certainly something that not only saved me a lot of money but also taught me to evaluate carefully what I need and what I can live without. 

Coat Check

According to the newspaper's today is the most depressing day of the year but for me the day after the Christmas break is actually one of the happiest days, it's the day in which I feel a great relief in going to back to my daily routine and it's always mixed with a little bit of excitement and anticipation for the new year. 

As I was feeling extra cheerful this morning I decided it will be a good time for a bit of a lighter touch to my outfit with the help of my new coat. It did feel a little strange to wear such a light coat especially as I'm used to so much black in my wardrobe so decided to wear my biker jacket underneath to add a little bit of an edge to this classic coat, I felt I needed the extra detail to help me feel a little more comfortable shifting away from my usual black coat. I feel really happy with this new addition to my wardrobe now despite my initial reservations, it certainly made me want to add a bit more colour and lighter shades into my wardrobe.

Routine

Every year, once the holiday season is finally over, I feel like a giant weight was lifted of my shoulder, the holiday season is usually quite stressful for most but for me the worst part of it is the sudden impact on my routine. There's nothing I hate more than having my daily routine broken by the holiday madness, I love the stability of knowing what I will be doing Monday to Friday and where I will be and the holidays always seem to shutter this stability. Celebrating the return to work this week has also meant celebrating the return of safe and comfortable wintery outfits and after spending the week in sunny Tel Aviv where temperatures reached 26 degrees during the day, putting on a fuzzy cashmere jumper on a rainy and windy day felt like the best thing ever. Call me crazy but I always preferred dressing up for winter and after a long holiday at home being able to go back to my comfortable wintery wardrobe and get back into my routine were exactly the two things I needed after this slightly crazy holiday season.

Trusted favourites

Time seems to fly this week and I can't believe it's only two days before my Christmas break officially begins. On Sunday I'll be on the plane back home but so far I have done zero packing or Christmas shopping, I'm writing this while taking my lunch break at work, the clock just struck 6 and we're still looking at at least 3 more hours of work preparing a new project to go live. Although I love moaning, I'm actually enjoying my time at work but unfortunately the crazy hours this week have stopped everything else in my life and all my plans outside work have now been put aside and just as my plans, the daily morning fashion exercise now consists of me picking up just about anything I can find, although I'm quite happy with my outfit today, a skirt and a trusty old men's jumper is probably my favourite items. I know I can pull them out of my wardrobe when my eyes are still half shut in the morning and still manage to get a sort of OK outfit that I won't feel ridiculous in. To challenge myself I decided to wear my chunky pair of shoes which I still haven't really broken into but so far so good. Now all I  have to do is wish that the project we're working on tonight will finally be ready to go live and then I might finally be able to take a deep breath and hopefully finish all my holiday preparations in time.

A little bit of skirt love

It's that black skirt all over again! I'm not going to apologise, it's simply my favourite item of clothing at the moment, the sort of trusty item that you know would pretty much work with any shirt, jumper or t-shirt you choose to wear it with. In many ways, this skirt has replaced the essential black dress for me and allowed me to play around with my outfits after a long period of relying on black dresses only because I was just too lazy to try harder. It seems that I get more wear out of this skirt than any other item in my wardrobe and I can't even imagine what might happen the day I can no longer wear it. If I didn't feel a bit strange about wearing it every day I probably would have but I guess even the best skirt needs a break every couple of days so while I feel like I need to apologise for constantly wearing this skirt, I also think it's a great example of an item that just becomes an easy wardrobe staple you just want to wear it everyday. 

Touch of pink

I'm a little bit in love with all of those looks from &Other Stories, a touch of light and pink shades, so beautiful yet seems so out of reach for me. I really find it hard to wear pastels and pinks or even white, not because they're not really my colours but because I'm so clumsy that by the time I leave home and get to work I usually spill my coffee on myself about 3 times and manage to smear my mascara and eyeliner everywhere, not to mention the messy morning commutes on the smog and dust filled London Underground, all of those just scream 'accident waiting to happen' if I even try and think of something slightly lighter than my usual greys, blue and blacks. I do kind of envy those that are brave enough to rock a little bit of pink and pastel, I sort of wish I could find the perfect pink or pastel piece that I'd feel comfortable wearing without being worried about spilling coffee over it or mess it up in some kind of way. For now I'll keep on looking at these brilliant looks for some inspiration until I feel brave enough to add a little bit of pink and pastel shades to my wardrobe.

Back in business

The weekend is here and after a few days of testing the grounds at work and sticking to fairly basic outfits I felt I really need to go for something a little bolder and louder. I don't wear prints as much as I used to nowadays and it's probably been ages since I dared to wear a bit of animal prints, but after a long week of boring and subtle outfits I really needed to go loud and bold and this leopard print sweatshirt was my bold statement for today and I think I'm actually going to wear this to work sometime last week. I think that a little bit of animal print won't do any harm and I certainly felt a little bored with my outfits at work by the end of the week, so here's for a little bit of animal print!

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!

That Marant look

It was obvious I had to try out the Isabel Marant Pour H&M pieces I got yesterday so I started this morning with the men's t-shirt. I love easy pieces that add a little bit of fun to what would be a very boring outfit and the black and white print is just perfect for that. Obviously I had to knock-off this look from the lookbook, I have no excuses for that, it looked effortless and cool and that's what I like. I feel most comfortable in outfits like these where I can easily mix and match and layer basic pieces and I can see this t-shirt easily becoming one of those items I just wear over and over again. 

If you can't beat them, join the queue - my Isabel Marant for H&M experience

I didn't really mention this H&M collaboration here before simply because I wasn't really sure I'm actually going to try and battle the frenzy around it, but last night after a couple of drinks and staying out too late, my friend jokingly suggested we go out early in the morning and queue to check out the collection. Since I just finished a contract job and had the next couple of days off and obviously under the influence of a few drinks, the idea suddenly seemed like a fun adventure. I really like Isabel Marant's mainline and Etoile collections and her laid back and practical attitude towards fashion, but I didn't do my preparation for this collection at all so when we my friend and I arrived at 5:30 to join the queue I was amazed by the amount of preparation other people have done, almost all of them had print-outs of the items they wanted to get and many of them had very detailed information about sizing and measurements, essentially we were the black sheep who had no idea what they really wanted and just stood in the way :) The queuing wasn't so bad, everyone seemed to be friendly and in good spirits which made the wait more pleasant but it was so cold by the time the store opened we could barely feel our toes!

I was also surprised by how civilised the whole process was, we were the first to enter the shop so expected lots of pushing and shoving but everyone seemed really well behaved although I don't think I've every seen people pile on so many items at once into their shopping bags!

I absolutely fell in love with the black dinner jacket, it was so well made and really pretty, however I couldn't find it in my size. My friend picked up the silver foiled skirt and puffy cardigan, those items were a bit over the top for me and I decided to stick with items I knew I would wear without hesitation. I love Isabel Marant's printed t-shirts so getting those was a no brainer, I picked one from the men's collection and one from the ladies collection and also had a quick look around the children's section.

Overall it was an interesting experience although I feel quite embarrassed for embracing the herd mentality and will never forget the puzzled looks from the passers-by when we were standing in the queue. I don't think I'll be doing this again but for now I'm happy with my finds. Also have to say big thank you to the lovely and patient staff at the High Street Kensington shop who I'm sure had a very long and stressful day today!

The hat hunt

I'm not going to make excuses about my hair, I need a cut and a dye urgently , it's a mess so therefore a hat related post is probably appropriate on such a bad hair day. 

After posting about how much I wanted a new winter hat I felt really tempted to go and try out this fuzzy little number from River Island that I mentioned in my previous hat related post. Most of the other hats while really amazing were very far from what I could actually afford and while playing a little bit of online-window shopping is never bad I still wanted to find a cute and cosy winter hat and this one was the perfect match in terms of style and budget and it did quite a good job of keeping my head warm and providing a proper cover to my poor neglected hair.

New territories

I finally felt brave enough to wear this jumper today! It's so hard when you get stuck on wearing a very specific range of colours to suddenly wear something that is so far off from what you're used too. At least this is how I felt when I bought this jumper from H&M and it took me a couple of weeks to actually summon the courage to wear it and feel comfortable in it but I really love this jumper, it's definitely nothing ground breaking but it's making me happy knowing that every once in a while I can actually try out something new and different. I sometimes wonder how my wardrobe would have looked like if it wasn't for my mother's love or dark and grey clothing? I always remember her very strict shopping rules, one was 'when in doubt go for the black' and it's a strategy I adopted fully as soon as I started buying my own clothes and since then found it hard to move away from but I guess this sudden outburst of me trying to bend the ridiculous rules I adopted is a positive change that will help me try and get some more colour into my wardrobe and try new things!

Not your standard winter hat

I love wearing hats in the winter, for years I've been wearing a black fuzzy beret that my mum bought for me as a gift during my first winter in England, that poor hat has gone through so many adventures throughout the last few years and sadly will be retired this winter. I would usually settle for a simple black hat but it looks like hats this year are anything but simple. I'm on a mission to find a fun and quirky hat this year and it looks like I'll be spoiled for choice this time. I absolutely love these lovely hats and can only wish I could afford some of them but at least they serve as inspiration for my hat-hunting mission. 

Quiet before the storm

I seriously couldn't imagine how badly the day will end when I got up this morning and snapped this outfit. I was actually less grumpy than usual and decided to play 'getting dressed' rather than throw the first thing I found on myself.
It's been a terrible month for me with sad and shocking news pretty much becoming a regular occurrence over the last few weeks, and it seems like things are not looking better so for now I immerse myself into the world of fashion escapism to make things look a little better, I don't know where this will lead but the more trouble I have the more I become interested in trying new things out, whether it will take some of the pressure off, I don't know. I know I have bigger and greater things to focus on right now but it's just so easy to escape into this world of standing in front of the mirror and playing dress-up in time like these.

Take a trip to the moon with Stine Goya

Stine Goya has been a long time favourite of mine and every collection holds plenty of lovely surprises. This winter collection's themed around a trip to the moon, I love a good collection that is build around a theme that can spark my imagination and this collection certainly does with a wide variety of items to fit any style you can find anything from metallic accented puffer jacket, printed dresses and structured jackets and knits. I love how the trip to the moon theme is translated across the collection, the more you look at each piece the more apparent the theme becomes and for a fantasist like me it's just the perfect way to spark my imagination. 

So what will I be taking on my trip to the moon ? I will definitely go with those lovely berets , croc heals and a comfy and large backpack. 

Check out the gorgeous collection video to see more and spark your imagination:

The white collar

I'm a huge fan of collar details, if there is such a thing. It seems like every winter I develop a slight obsession with collar details , last year it was a sharp and crisp pointed collar, two years ago I was obsessed with peter pan collars and this year there's nothing I love more than a good high-neck collar detail. Call it turtle neck, polo neck or roll neck (I can never figure out what's the difference) or anything else, high neck tops and jumpers are taking over my wardrobe this season and at the minute I'm a little obsessed with adding a white roll neck collar under every jumper I wear and I especially like it with this stripy number from Mango which I sort of regretted buying until I added the little extra detail of the white collar.  I do like simple additions like this to help with adding a little bit of detail and interest to what might be a relatively boring outfit.

Before it gets too cold

Even though I re-organised my wardrobe this week and replaced most of my summer items with winter items, I'm still have a hard time saying goodbye to this outfit, it's probably been one of my favourite outfits this summer when it wasn't too hot or too cold. The shirt is from American Apparel, I had it for over two years and it's just one of those item that I always go back to because it's so easy to wear any time of the year, on it's own in the summer or under a jumper or a jacket in the winter. Unfortunately I will be saying goodbye to this jacket which I adore for a few months as it's too light for winter and I can't handle the cold most days without at least two layers :) but I'll be really happy when it gets warmer and I can wear it again.