When I was re-launching this blog recently, I thought about re-naming it and making the tag line into the name. Since “Country Chick, City Chic” perfectly sums me up.

When I was in my first year of university, London seemed very daunting at first. It was a million miles away from the green fields of home, where wellies were my preferred footwear and “on foot” was my main mode of transportation. I shared a flat in halls with (amongst others) another girl who had also come from a small village, like me. One day she came out of her room wearing shorts with tights (don’t judge – it was the hottest trend at the time!) and I remember her saying to me “I could never get away with this look at home.”

She wasn’t wrong. Communities are smaller, gossip is louder and trends are slower to catch on in the countryside. Which is perhaps why it sometimes feels safer to blend in, than to stand out.

It’s not a mentality I like, but the longer you stay in the countryside the more you feel it taking root. So when I started thinking about experimenting with the leather-look, I was a bit worried it was too edgy for me. But then I found the perfect pair of leather-look skinnies and now I can’t stop thinking about ways to style them. (We’ll save that for another blog post though.) First of all let me take you through my search for the perfect pair of leather-look trousers…

First up is this pair of “Leather-look leggings” from New Look Tall via Asos. When these arrived the label on the packet actually described them as wet-look and that’s a much more accurate description for them. They fit true to size and felt like a second skin but they left little to the imagination and it was really the leather look I was after…

Next up was a pair of coated black skinny jeans from Missguided. I’d never shopped from Missguided before and found the quality left a lot to be desired. The material was very unforgiving on me and the fit wasn’t perfect on me either (as my hips are a dress size bigger than my waist) though I would describe it as true to size.

After that, I tried Next. This pair I absolutely loved. The quality is amazing. They’re a snug fit with just the right amount of stretch to be comfy. They’re also lined with a fleece-like material which makes them very cosy for these cooler temps. And they come with the added bonus that they look much more expensive than they are. Sadly though these were also true to size at the waist and therefore not a good fit for my pear-shape. I was gutted but with no way to alter them I opted to send them back.

I went for these coated jeans instead and finally found the perfect pair! I love the zip detail on these, the quality is great and they fit like a glove. No, actually, they fit like the perfect pair of jeans. (I’m wearing a 12 XL Tall.)

P.S. The t-shirt I’m wearing for this post was designed by a very talented friend of mine and it’s part of a much larger range for this streaming channel. You can buy the exact t-shirt I’m wearing here and you can see the full range here. I’ve found the sizing guide to be very accurate (I’m wearing an M) and was pleasantly surprised by the quality – as well as being a decent length and the perfect fit it’s also 100% cotton.