London Fashion Weekend

I went to London fashion weekend on the opening night on Thursday but it was so busy and I was really tired from work so I left after half an hour. I went back today and had a great day there. There were great designers including my favourite online boutique, Never fully dressed, who i feature regularly on here. I bought a gorgeous bright pink, pleated maxi skirt from them. There were lots of bloggers walking around taking pictures of the sales, the shows and of the other visitors. One blogger stopped me and asked for a picture of my outfit which was flattering!.. The only negative thing I have to say about the fashion weekend event is that, although Somerset house is a beautiful venue it is a little cramped and disorganised. There is no flow and because all the designers are seperated by rooms, you are always missing out certain rooms and therefore missing out on those designers. However, there was some great stuff there as usual- some great vintage rooms and the retreat tent with all the spa exhibitors looked great! You could get your nails done, have a spray tan or a massage. Me and mum stopped for a glass of champagne at the Hoxton gin bar and drank it out on the balcony overlooking embankment which was very nice! All in all a lovely day :)

outfit of the week no.2

These leggings are fab! Bit out there for those of us that are less daring but If you're scared to try them out as they are a  bit out of your comfort zone, I say go for it! That's what fashion's about! They'll look especially great put together with all these items I've chosen!

River Island

River Island

River Island

River Island

Or....

for the more dressed down look try these grungey flat boots...

Also River Island

outfit time..

I put this outfit together while browsing the online shops tonight... I think it's super cool and is inspired by this lovely bright pink sleeveless shirt I saw on River Island- I think I may have to buy it!

topshop

River Island

River Island

Tosphop

Throw it all together with a pair of black tights for an effortlessly chic look for the winter!

maybe chunky black knit tights to keep you extra warm!

My first break...

Finally after 3 months in London filled with a month long internship followed by rejection after rejection and disappointment after disappointment, I have landed my first editorial job. Having pulled what feels like 3,000,000 pints, I have finally moved one step closer to getting out of the pub and into what I really want to be doing. I must say, I was beginning to lose hope that I would ever get anywhere with my applications. Other graduates my age must know what I mean- it feels like you do hundreds of applications and no-one is actually reading them. If you send out a hundred you might get two responses, if you send out fifty you might get one and if you send out 25 you probably won't get a single one. It's a numbers game, as my mum always says, or it is just pure luck. I applied for a fashion assistant role at Alexandalexa, a high-end designer kidswear website and yes, I got rejected from that particular role but they e-mailed me back asking if I would be interested in doing some free-lance product writing for their website, alexandalexa.com. Interested?! I would be bloody over the moon, is what I thought although I think I may have worded my response slightly differently. And so, here I am, after my first day in the office there and life has gone from bloody miserable to great all in one day.... Funny how that can happen isn't it. Word of advice to anyone feeling like there's no hope- don't give up! You never know what's around the corner! (Excuse the cliche)

Recent wardrobe additions....

Soooo, I've been trying to be better with money recently and that's why I haven't done one of these posts for a while... weekly shopping has become fortnightly/monthly shopping. However, I have still managed to snap up some great wardrobe additions recently like this lovely high-waisted black skirt from River Island which I thought would be a great buy for A/W wardrobe as it will work with anything and tights. I also purchased this camel long blazer from H'n'M which I've had my eye on for ages... It was such a bargain at £24.99, I just thought why not! I bought this leopard print new look shirt too as it was also a bargain at £16.99! Can't beat a good bargain and it will go great tucked into the high waisted black skirt!

Saturday nights outfit

So this weekend I went to visit my Uni bff, Emily in her hometown of Colchester in Essex. We had a great time and, as you can imagine, a lot to drink! I usually go uber glam when I go to Essex and wear something that isn't necessarily 100% me just to fit in! ( I know, terrible right?!) but Colchester is a lot more relaxed than other super glamorous areas of Essex- so I just stuck to my usual style of casual glamour by wearing this high waisted black skirt from River Island teamed with a silky brown vest from Topshop, a big red stone pendant from my new favourite jewellery destination, Forever 21 and a skinny leopard print belt- also from topshop. I of course also wore my fail safe, favourite pair of Steve Madden tan strappies!

top- Topshop

necklace- Forever 21

belt- topshop

skirt-River Island

heels- Steve Madden

My take on the Topman T-shirts contraversy

I don't usually comment on men's fashion but when I read a piece in the mail yesterday about the Topman T-shirts promoting domestic violence and a sexist attitude towards women I was compelled to comment on it. I wasn't immediately compelled to blog about until I had a debate with a male freind of mine who credited the contraversy to an overreaction to the by the 'PC brigade.' I, more than anyone, agree with the notion of the pc brigade and their holier than thou approach and reaction to everything and anything contraversial nowadays. They have taken the joy, fun and laughter out of so many things that Britain used to, and should, be still enjoying- commedians are asked to revoke comments meant as obvious jokes, tv presenters are asked to apologise for thoughtless slips of the tongue and so on and so on. However, on this occasion I have to agree with the decision to remove these sexist and offensive t-shirts from the shelves and the online topman stores. Being a girl in her early twenties, I am only too aware of the sexist attitude towards women that still exists in our apparently 'modern and equal' world. The comments from builders or just from men in general when you walk down the street, the wolf whistles, the bum pinching-they all think we enjoy it- but what they don't know is that it makes us feel like a piece of meat, it embaresses us and it makes us feel uncomfortable, if not, scared. How many of you girls out there have heard one of your male freinds boasting about 'pulling a pig' or getting off with an 'ugly bird' or a 'dog' because they were just 'so drunk.' These T-shirts compound, to me, all that is still wrong with some men's attitudes towards women at this time. I say some because of course I have male freinds who wouldn't dream of treating or talking about women with such little respect but my general feeling is there is a lack of respect for women and young girls today and these T-shirts, I believe, do nothing but make men feel like it is acceptable and further more, funny. This sexist 'banter' has got to stop and this is why I am glad these T-shirts have sparked contraversy amongst domestic violence organisations and women's equality organisations and have consequently been removed.

my favourite fashion website of the moment

yayer.co.uk is officially my favourite go-to site for pretty, quirky items- vintage or modern. It has a really vintage, cool, London look to it and I love the styling for the photos. Today they added 60 new pieces. Here are my favourites from their 'new in' selection..

Plain and simple- great Autumn/ Winter outfit

Hey everyone! So, the terrible weather is finally well and truly upon us and this could mean doom and gloom all round.. Or, we could look at the positives and realize this means shopping for a whole new winter wardrobe with lots of lovely jackets and coats to keep us nice and warm! The choice is yours- but if you do decide to look on the bright side and indulge in some A/W shopping here are some ideas for your new, warmer wardrobe......

River Island

River Island

Zara Taylor @ zarataylor.co.uk

Topshop

River Island

Another great going out outfit

I love, love, looooovve this dress! Whole outfit is from ASOS

Gorgeous going out outfit

I love having a night out to look forward to and my favourite part is deciding what to wear. That usually includes trawling through online fashion stores- topshop, river island, motel, french connection etc and trying to find that stand-out dress or skirt. But then it's not over you've still got to think about what shoes go with it and of course, which accessories to wear. With plain dresses I like to wear big statement jewellery pieces- usually a necklace or a big cuff or something. But with busier items I like to keep it simple with the accessories. Here is an outfit I have put together- I spotted the dress in River Island in the Westfield center last week, loved it and it has been on my mind ever since. So, this is how I would put it together for a night out....

River Island

Neverfullydressed.co.uk

Zara

The new winter coat I just had to have!

I got paid from work today and thought I would treat myself to one item so i trotted off to the Westfield ,which is down the road from where I live, (I know lucky me!) feeling rather excited about my potential purchase. I didn't really have anything in mind but as soon as I spotted this coat in topshop I thought it was exactly what I was looking for in my autumn/winter coat for this year; glamorous and over the top but yet still would keep me very warm on those rainy, cold British days. I tried it on and, straight away, fell in love with it. I just had to have it.. so I bought it and now all I need is it for it to pour from the heavens so I can start wearing it!

New fashion icon..

So, there's not many people I look to to style advice as I usually think it's all about what YOU like and what suits you and your specific shape. However, when I was a few years younger I was obsessed with the way Lauren Conrad dressed and tried to copy all of her outfits (on a slightly different budget obviously!) Well, I have developed a new style crush in my old age... Millie Mackintosh from Made in Chelsea. She's got that effortlessly natural chic look that we'd all love to master. She always looks so pretty and well put together and like she hasn't tried too hard. I love these threee outfits below especially the Zara blazer and topshop leather shorts combo she wore to the horrible bosses premiere.. It's so simple, cool and chic! I've actually got these shorts myself although they're a little tight at present! lol.... So here is my new style crush in all her glory. From now on I will probably post about all her great outfits to come...

I got a dip-dye...

Finally got my hair dip-dyed! It's a very subtle one as I like the more natural looking ones where it looks like your highlights are just growing out rather than the very sharp colour change ones. The Khloe Kardashian one in the post below it the sort of subtlety I was going for and to be honest I think my fab new hairdresser has achieved it. If anyone is looking for a great salon in London I got this done at BASECUTS on Portobello Rd and it was really cool in there and the guy definitely knew what he was doing! I'll 100% be going back! So nice to have a change...

the top in the picture is Topshop

Hair- BASECUTS, Portobello Rd