Dress

In an English Country Garden

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Summer seemed to run really late this year, but it’s looking like Autumn has decided to roll up her sleeves and get to work at last. So I’m saying Au Revoir to the warmer temperatures with a quick post featuring my favourite dress of the Summer.

This dress from Joy has everything. Pockets, pleats, a twirly skirt and that gorgeous floral pattern. I was in love as soon as I saw it. And even better it’s now on sale – snap it up here.

As usual, my little self-made photoshoot was invaded by animals. Shadow came to say hello, and was swiftly followed by Milo. In typical cat fashion, Milo mithered me for ages and then as soon as I picked him up he couldn’t do enough to get away. He likes me really… I think.

All Black, Everything

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Way back when I was a student, I spent most of my spare time binge watching ‘The Hills’ and desperately wishing I could move to LA and get a job working with LC and the gang. Then they brought Kelly Cutrone into it and I changed my mind – I wanted to be a tour de force like her.

I’ve always thought her ‘all-black’ dress code at fashion week was a stroke of genius. It’s smart, yet unobtrusive and it’s quick and easy to achieve.

I love this shirt dress from New Look Tall at ASOS. In fact ASOS is doing a stellar job lately of catering for us leggy lovelies.

However, if I’m going to be honest, this is one ‘tall’ item that falls a little ‘short’. In the tall blogging community I’m a bit on the short side at only 5’10” – and this dress only just fits me. But it does fit. Just.

Yay!

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Dress: New Look Tall via ASOS (exact one here)
Tights: F&F
Boots: XTI via ASOS (exact ones here)
Four Leaf Clover Necklace: Orelia
Earrings: borrowed from my mum (sorry mum!)

A Green Thing

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Dress: ASOS | Belt: Oliver Bonas
Tights: tightsplease.co.uk | Boots: Faith

The fashion world goes crazy for fall, but I’ve always been more of a spring/summer girl. I’m learning to love it this year though – and it doesn’t hurt that the sun has stuck around, so I can actually get out and enjoy the scenery as the colours change.

I’ve been spending lots of time with the two critters below – but unlike me they don’t appreciate hot weather. They’re both mountain dogs and they’re much more at home in the cold.

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The Pretty Dress Guide to Packing for a Beach Holiday

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It’s surprising how much goes into packing for a holiday. I’m not one of those people who can just throw a few things in a bag and go, I like to plan.

Lets start with the shoes: One pair of trainers, one pair of nude-goes-with-everything heels, one pair of wedges, one pair of sandals and one pair of flip-flops. I nearly always end up sticking to sandals and flip-flops once I’m there, but I like to know I’ve got all the bases covered.

The easiest and best way to pack shoes is using a plastic carrier bag. I usually line the bottom of my suitcase with shoes and then pack smaller items around them, leaving a relatively flat surface for the clothes to lie on.

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Converse trainers from BrandAlley

The next staple is the little white dress – dressed up with wedges for the evening or down with sandals in the day.

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Dress: Topshop | Wedges: ASOS

I like outfits that can go from day to evening just by changing up the accessories. (Small hard-case clutches are great for hols as you can also use them for transporting jewellery – or anything else that might get damaged in transit). These are also some of my favourite combinations…

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Dress: Zara | Sandals: Oasis | Clutch: Next

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Playsuit: Jovonnista | Shoes: H&M | Clutch: Textile Federation via ASOS

At the beach I prefer light dresses that you can just throw on/off – maxi dresses are great but the best thing I ever bought, I got years ago from Orion. Their kimono dresses are incredibly light and the material doesn’t wrinkle so they can be chucked in your beach bag with no fuss.

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Orion

I love getting out on the water in a boat (motorboat that is… I can’t sail but I like to pretend I can by looking the part) so I’m a big fan of breton stripe tops.

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Top: F&F | Shorts: Warehouse | Sandals: F&F

And lastly: The Bikinis. I live in these things on holiday. You can never have too many right?

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Clockwise from top left: F&F | George | F&F | ASOS | South Beach via ASOS

Red White and Blue

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Dress: Joy | Necklace: Joy | Shoes: Dorothy Perkins | Bag: TK Maxx

Yay for Summer. And hurray for Summer Sales. I bought this dress from Joy for a bargain price (and it’s still available online here). I love the scooped back, (scroll down for a pic) it’s the perfect dress to keep me cool, yet covered.

Stripes always say ‘summer’ and ‘seaside’ to me… so of course I had to buy an anchor necklace to complete the look (also from Joy and available here). I’ve just booked my summer hols – to Corsica! I can’t wait to get back out to the med and enjoy a week by the sea. I’ve never been before so I’d love to hear any tips you guys have…

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Happy sales shopping! x

Longer Length

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Jacket: Zara | Scarf: Purchased at a craft fair | Dress: ASOS
Tights: tightsplease.co.uk | Boots: Debenhams
Unimpressed Cat: Not for Sale

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The tall blogging community recently got very excited when ASOS launched its tall range. A lot of brands associated with ASOS followed suit and there’s now a great range to choose from. Just before the range launched ASOS drip-fed some items into it’s stock and I spotted this longer-length dress – it really is the perfect length for me. Usually I have trouble finding waisted items that sit right with my body proportions – but no such issues with this dress. If you’re 5’10” or over I’d definitely check it out. My cat might not have been too impressed but I was.

 

Sixties Shift

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I’ve refined my shopping habits in recent years and most of the things I buy these days tend to fall under the labels ‘classic’ and ‘timeless’. And this fits the bill – in fact when I looked at this photograph I thought ‘if it was in black and white, you might wonder if it had been taken in the sixties’.

The dress is a favourite, it’s heavy fabric – so perfect for winter – but it’s not overly warm for office-wear. And I’ve been enthusing about Charnos tights for ages – as I have quite long legs and these are the only brand I can find that fit me perfectly and don’t slip throughout the day.

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Dress: GAP | Bag: Accessorize
Tights: Tightsplease.co.uk (exact ones here)
Boots: Marta Jonsson at Debenhams

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Mango Remembered

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So as it’s the season of office parties – I mean Christmas – I’ve been digging through the archives for things to wear, and I remembered taking pictures of this little gem of a dress, which I bought at the end of the summer. I love the unusual shape at the front of this dress, though I’ll probably take it a step further and dress it up with a bit of festive sparkle or a long slinky gold necklace when I next wear it.

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Dress: Mango | Sunglasses: Accessorize

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The Look for Less

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Selena Gomez stole the show at this year’s Teen Choice awards. She wore this Cushnie et Ochs dress with daring double slits at the front.

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I love this look on her but I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to show quite that much leg round these parts… And, as my dad would say: it’s rather pricey, considering half of it’s missing…

Luckily I’ve stumbled across this Needle and Thread dress on sale for £95 which is not only beautifully embellished, but also has a slightly-more-modest-yet-still-very-sexy double split.

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