Tarts and Vicars

Now then, now then! I feel a bit grandad-y in this getup. Worn to the Jack Wills late night shopping event in Nottingham, with dinner afterwards. I love the shirt (as you may know by now) I suppose because it's Mad Hatter's Tea Party meets Fortnum & Mason. Quintessentially British but kitsch.

Patisserie print shirt - ASOS

Grey cable knit cardigan - Ralph Lauren

Dark wash jeans - ASOS

Navy bow tie - Ebay

Brown boots - Rocket Dog

Liquor is Quicker

Ooh, bad naughty blogger! I have been taking photos of outfits, I've just been too crazy busy to upload. Earlier this week I went to Bath with my Mum for a couple of days, relaxed in the most amazing rooftop pool at the spa and went round the Christmas markets - it was lovely, and we had the strongest Glühwein known to mankind, so it felt very festive. Came back to realise that it's actually now DECEMBER and I'm rapidly running out of present-buying time... 

How young is too young to just send everyone one of those crap newsletters? You know, the ones where there's a photo of you and your significant other wearing matching festive sweaters, and you basically just write about how great you are and that everything you've been doing this year is just fantastic. If we had a dog, it'd be wearing a jaunty Santa hat.

Aaaannnyway, here's an outfit I wore a couple of weekends ago, it's getting colder now but I've found I can still wear my lovely lightweight shirts if I team them with heavy waistcoats or sleeveless jumpers.

Waistcoat: Navy heavy wool - Joules

Shirt: Cream chiffon with a low pussybow, worn outside of the waistcoat

Jeans: Mid wash with turn ups

Trainers: Vans Burgundy lace ups (bought in the USA by the Outlaws, I practically LIVE in them)

I was thinking, Victorian street urchin: updated, with this one. I like the billowy sleeves, they hide a multitude of sins (particularly when you haven't been training hard for a couple of months!) and they make me feel dressed up even when I'm in jeans and sneaks. The waistcoat is nicely fitted, so it makes me stand up and sit up straight instead of slouching around like a sloth, but it's comfy enough to wear all day as it's still wool and not panels. It's an easy outfit, but quite classic in it's components if you break it down - white shirt and jeans (Calvin Klein connotations), waistcoat and bowtie (every good English gent), turn-ups and sneaks (50's Americana). It's a favourite.

Kill your velocity, not an Air Kraken!

This weekend we're up in North Yorkshire, enjoying Whitby Goth Weekend - an event with music, markets and mystery based on Goth culture. There's one in April too but we missed it this year, so decided to wait a week on our usual trip up here and make it to this one instead. Although we both have lots of Gothic clothing and ephemera, in the last couple of years we've been really getting into the Steampunk side of things, and I think that's probably due to the creativity. I love being able to collect little bits and pieces from all over to fit in with my outfits instead of being constrained to 'alternative' shops, and being able to craft stuff myself too. I'm nowhere near happy with my outfit as yet, but that's half the fun of trawling the stalls each year!

Brown collapsible bowler hat, bought yesterday at Major Tinker's Emporium in the Rifle Club (http://tinkers-emporium.synthasite.com/)

Frill shirt - ASOS

Navy waistcoat - Joules

Black flocked baroque underbust corset - bought at WGW a couple of years ago from the amazing Harlots & Angels (http://www.harlotsandangels.co.uk/catalog/)

Silver waist bow (again, bought at WGW but can't remember the company...)

Green ruched long skirt - hitched at the front in two places using ribbon

Underneath skirt (visable at the front) - Light and dark brown jodhpurs from Aldi, of all places!

Brown Rocket Dog slouchy boots

Accessories:

Big buckle tan belt - ASOS

Mini brown saddle bag - Primark, looped through the belt as a waist purse

Brass pocket watch

Tan goggles

Divers helmet necklace, Key necklace and Bugle necklace, 'a' watch, leather bracelets - all ASOS

Al says I look like a female version of Badger in Firefly. I guess I'm happy with that, it's sort of the look I was going for! I think I could do with some more brown leather strap type stuff, maybe a holster or something roguish...

P.S. Click on the photo and zoom in to see the detail!

Feeling Twee

This another York weekend outfit, based on the fact that it was quite cold outside but I didn't want a heavy winter coat to drag around the city. So English country style describes over half my wardrobe, lots of tweed, shirts and waistcoats, knitwear and tarnished leather, but this Jacket has been my staple throw-on for the last few years. It's boxy and a little big in the shoulders but I absolutely love it!

Tweed jacket - Joules
Lace skater skirt - ASOS
Navy Leggings - JW
Navy jersey tshirt with buttons
Khaki boots - Carvela
Leather saddle bag
Equestrian print scarf 

I like mismatching something soft and twee like lace with something rough and countryside like tweed. It's a balance, but cute meets function works and isn't one of those toothache-sweet styles you can get if you over-do lace.

A rose is a rose is a rose

We went to York for the weekend to celebrate our 5th Anniversary at the end of September, just milling around the city and eating lots of fine things at the Food & Drink fair. It was relaxed and lovely, and the first non-festival weekend away in a while!

Cream coloured lace shift dress with black ribbon tie (Primark) - I always steer clear of whites and creams because I'm a complete mal-co and spill stuff down me a lot, but managed to keep this clean all day!

Black light jersey dip back cardigan (ASOS) - waterfall style, it hangs quite nicely and gave me some arm coverage as the dress is sleeveless.

Black JW leggings (new ones from the shop in York, hurrah!)

Brown slouchy Rocket Dog boots - pretty sure these were around £15 from tkmaxx a few years ago, I remember being supremely happy that they were cheap enough to buy from the cash in my purse instead of getting out the bank card!

Tiny key necklace - ASOS

Foxy Lady

Like I said, Bestival 2012 was Wildlife themed (much to my joy, as I have a number of animal onesies AND it meant an excuse to buy the red fox one). I knew exactly what my outfit was going to be the minute the theme was announced and since I already had most of the stuff it was pretty easy. Since I was a little kid, Fantastic Mr. Fox has been my very favourite Roald Dahl story by far, it's just brilliant, so of course it was my number one costume choice.

Red Fox Kigu - Sazac (ebay purchase)

Tweed waistcoat - Joules

Purple cravat - ebay purchase

Accessories:

Al's cherry wood pipe (ebay)
Bugle necklace (ASOS)
Mini pocketwatch (ebay)
Misc bracelets
Photopass & media wristbands


What an epic weekend. I found this costume really comfortable to wear around site (even if it was a bit hot at times) and a lot of people in the front row took photos of me whilst I was working in the photo-pit. Rizzle Kicks were wearing Kigu during their set and they both winked and stuck their tongues out at me! Only a couple of the other photographers were wearing costumes but I felt pretty great, in a show-off kind of a way! 

You can read my Bestival review and get to my photos from here: 

http://www.summerfestivalguide.co.uk/Reviews/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/120/Bestival-2012--Review.aspx

and my news stories here:

http://www.summerfestivalguide.co.uk/Reviews/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/118/Stevie-Wonder-Bestival-2012-Review.aspx

http://www.summerfestivalguide.co.uk/Reviews/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/117/New-Order-Bestival-2012-Review.aspx

http://www.summerfestivalguide.co.uk/Reviews/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/115/Florence-and-The-Machine-Bestival-2012.aspx

Running Wild

Just a quick update, I've got files and files worth of photos to go through from the last part of the summer and any blog pics are mixed in there somewhere so I haven't been able to post in a while. Promise I'll get through them soon! So here's a little photo from the first day of Bestival (which was AMAZING, as usual) to fill the gap. This year the theme was Wildlife and since it was too hot to travel in my proper costume I picked up a pair of absolutely hideous leopard print leggings from Primark. They're actually pretty comfy but I can't really see them being used outside of a Bestival outfit...

The rest of it:

Eden Sessions 2011 T-Shirt

Khaki mini shorts with braces - River Island

Hello Kitty leopard print sunglasses - Ebay

Hello Kitty low socks - H&M

Chunky skate trainers - DC's

Silver insoles - Crocs, I've listed these because if you're a festival goer, you NEED them. Seriously, they were absolutely amazing, never going without a pair again!