Max-imise your date night with a maxi dress of perfect proportions

Missouri Maxi Dress, Monsoon £59.00

Petite, 90’s High Neck Maxi Dress, Asos £22.00

TTYA for Long Tall Sally, Printed pleat maxi dress £95

Zara Sandals £49.99

Lime Stripe faux fur clutch, River Island £35

I don’t believe that there is a woman alive who doesn’t suit a maxi dress (or the odd man for that matter!) so finding one to round out your summer or even winter capsule was paramount for me. As I consider this a must have look, I have once again set myself a mission to find the most gorgeous pieces in every length.

The thing I love most about these long length party stoppers is that they can’t fail to be both sexy and casual at the same time. Switch out the heels for a pair of flats and pull in a subtler bag and a denim jacket and you’ve got a casual look to rock to your nearby watering hole. Whilst a sexy pair of heels and a in your face bag makes this outfit the perfect one to rock on your next night out (date or not!).

What are your concerns with the maxi trend, are you someone who doesn’t feel comfortable in longer lengths? Drop me a comment below as I’d love to hear from you!

*Kudos for anyone that gets the reference in the title. You are my hero.

Multi purposing your dresses this Spring

Blazer: Topshop, Sweater: Primark, Belt: Fat face, Sandals: Clarks

As you know I love my dresses in summer. Summer is far too hot to be messing with layers and separates when you can just throw on your dress, shoes and your out of the door! The downside however? A highly patterned dress can get boring, potentially like this one above so while we have cooler temps I have been switching my dresses up with a few quick to alter tips.

During Autumn I wore my shorter sundresses with my long blue jumper creating a fun flared bottom whereas above I have made the dress shorter by belting it up higher on my waist and added my thick, yellow jumper from Winter. I then shame tucked this up higher to make it more flattering.

I really love this pattern as a skirt, in fact I think I prefer it. Although I love a nice pattern and am looking for some new patterns for SS but I think smaller patterns like this one need to be in smaller doses where as a larger floral print works excellently on larger surfaces but thats another thought for another day!

How do you wear your clothes in unexpected ways?

Making workwear work for those early Spring days

Coat: Next PLC, Black T: Zara, Necklace: Accessorize, Trousers: Zara, Brogues: Clarks, Bag: Zara, Scarf: Fat Face

Pain free work dressing.

Guys! Spring its really coming I can feel it! Plus for most of the week it was about 12 degrees and sunny which gave me the false impression that shorts could be sensible on the weekend (I was wrong) but still spring is on its way and so my winter capsule is of course showing the strain!

So I would like to introduce you to easy transitional dressing! In all honesty I got a bit ahead of myself the other weekend and I pulled out my heavier jumpers and leaving myself with the lighter half of my winter capsule and what was left was small, but oh so mighty.

Make transitional dressing easier;

• Separate your heavier pieces to one half of your wardrobe keeping lighter pieces towards the front.
• Make your outfits simpler, using either easy to wear separates or using cool, light layers
• Introduce lighter colours into your outfits
• Turn up sleeves and cuff trousers and jeans for a little light ankle relief!
• Start pulling out your lighter scarves! These are excellent for keeping off the chill but allow you to wear your winter coat for that bit longer! (which is helpful for those early mornings and late nights where it still gets cold!)

In the last week I have worn primarily dresses with tights and these trousers as well as loose Tee’s and of course long necklaces. So what is the key to pain free and transitional work wear? Well simply put, its light layers such as these lighter trousers, flowing tops which give you room to breathe and thinner cardigans.

My favourites have also included my long burgundy jumper which is lovely and thin my various V-neck T-shirts and my jeans turned up into cuffs with flat ballet pumps. I have also stopped wearing my darker colours (bar black) and tried to keep as much of my outfit in the lighter tones. The real key to work wear is dressing for your environment however. For us we don’t have air con and being in a concrete, flat roofed office means our office is almost always hot so I always need layers for outside of work not in it, however others of you will be suffering with bitter aircon so always remember dress for your environment!

What do you find works for you when the season starts changing?

The Capsule Wardrobe | Preparing for SS15

Umbrella: Zara, Jacket: Primark 2012, Dress: H&M, Jeans: Zara, Boots c/o Long Tall Sally, striped scarf: Next 2013

Caroline of Un-Fancy is unveiling her Spring Capsule wardrobe soon and me? Well I’m dreading April when I’m meant to be unveiling mine.

I have already begun looking into whats out there for Spring 2015 and I have to be honest, I’m less than impressed. I’m over monochrome, and theres only so many black and white striped tops that a girl could need but at the same time I am ready for colour and I am ready for florals.

As far as I can remember I have always jumped the gun on new season stock and whereas I should still be revelling in layers and cosying up in a cuddly jumper on a Sunday I am instead bouncing on my toes and getting all kinds of excited for dresses, light jackets and all things floral!

So whats a girl to do? Well the obvious really, wait. I won’t lie to you guys but the waiting is hard . . . What are you guys keeping an eye out for this Spring/Summer 2015?

Ignore that acne, I had a bit of an allergic reaction to the bed sheets on holiday – fun haha

Next week I hope to share with you guys the basis of my SS15 wardrobe. I have decided to take more time on creating a structured wardrobe based on needs and then maybe later in the season on fun one of pieces which have the ability to transform basic outfits into more exciting ones! But we will start with needs and then go from there, I plan on bringing the rule of three back out from the Autumn Capsule in order to create a structured capsule.

As far as this outfit goes? Well for a cold winters day making your dress into a top and wearing multiple scarves? well that for me is always a keeper. . .

Fridays On Trend.

Striped Tee: Primark, Leggings: H&M, Flats: New Look, Bag: Phoenix and the Lion (in store see their bag collection on Twitter!

I want to make a promise to you all that I don’t actually spend my entire life dressed in leggings. Sometimes I do mix it up and wear say . . . jeans. I’ve just noticed in recent weeks that I seem to be wearing an awful lot of leggings based outfits! Don’t worry however, when I add up how often I actually wear leggings in comparison to other clothing options its actually not that bad! I just appear to always pick those outfits to share with you guys.

Originally I wore this out to the supermarket one night with Josh (its all about grand romantic gestures in our household) and then when I re wore it over the weekend I added my cute croc bag from Phoenix and the Lion and a statement necklace from Accessorize. What I love most about this outfit is its super casual and comfortable while having a little bit of glamour mixed in.

When you want to dress effortlessly I think stripes obviously have to play a part and the moment you add rolled sleeves and cropped leggings/trousers it just transforms into something that bit more than leggings and a tee shirt. More importantly I need to tell you about this top. I wore it before in my Miami Vice inspired outfit but I bought this from Primark for £5! Oh yes £5! I would convert that into dollars for you but I’ll be honest, Its Friday and I’m feeling lazy. Needless to say this was super cheap and yet its super awesome. Its striped with long sleeves and a chambray back. What gets cooler than that?

In fact I’m kinda ready for winter just to wear this tee shirt constantly but instead of wishing away fall and those left over warm days I will try and instead enjoy the weather that we currently have and the clothes that come along with that.

I’m hoping to do a post on my accessories next week if that’s something you guys are interested in? And tomorrow I have a post on my first week Capsule Wardrobe thoughts and bad shopping habits!

*you may have noticed but I am not including outerwear/coats in my forty but I am intending to keep my choices to a minimum. Currently I have my Poncho above, my camel waterfall coat and perhaps my green jacket and the faux leather sheepskin jacket)

Once upon a maxi dress . . .

 

Cardi: Next, Top: H&M similar, Maxi Dress: H&M (Old) Similar, Sandals: New Look (old) similar (totes want these!)

 

 

Once upon a time in a far away . . . Maidstone – lived a girl and a great shaped maxi dress. Only one day, along came the dreaded drier who slowly made the maxi dress shrink, up and up and up until it became a tall girls worst nightmare! The unintentional midi dress.

And there you have it folks! Why the skirt of this looks slightly odd! I blame university driers, crafty buggers . . .

Sales and I. (Trying to be good in a time of sales)

Lipstick: Yves Saint Laurent (the only) Rouge Pur Couture in Le Orange

Clothes: Infinity snuggy thing: Next (old Autumn 2013), Slub Jersey in white: Next Bag: Primarni

I went in the mid-season Next sale. It’s one of those places you know you really shouldn’t go into at these times it’s like the unspoken rule to shopaholics like myself. Go into a next sale? You will come out with stuff you don’t need nor necessarily wear again; it’s just like the unspoken rule. So of course I went in. I obviously love torturing myself with things I can’t and shouldn’t buy.

I was however lucky this time. My recent self-teachings of buying more sensibly are obviously kicking in and working more now as I came out with three things, one of which was full price and all of which I have already tried to wear at every occasion. I also held and put back a total of four things one of which was a t-shirt saying “I’m a pretty big deal on my blog” (ok, for me in my mind and hopefully Joshes) but the quality wasn’t great so it got left behind (but this blogger loved it check it out here+) as did the identical tee shirt in a different colour but a size down sure it still fit and looked great but more blue Jess? Really? I’m banning myself from buying any more blue not sure if you’ve noticed but I have had a major influx in blue things recently! But banning! So you’ll probably see it next week – in fact you will because I haven’t posted these photos yet!

Zara Boyfriend Jeans, Top Next, Shoes New Look

Anyhoo a while back (as mentioned here+) I saw these shirts on the site, thought how cute and that I’d love them but never bought one! (Crazy how my virtual shopping often gets literally forgotten) but anyway I saw this shirt and I love it! It’s so comfortable I have been actively stopping myself wearing it all week. However with the weekend upon us I can’t promise I won’t wear it everyday.

It’s my go to.

With the latest comfy sporty trend still going strong I can’t help but feel that this won’t be the last sporty item in my wardrobe this spring! Do you have any go to’s? And check out my day to night look with this shirt here next week!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

 

This is not a post.

Today I am directing you to another blog. I stumbled upon Emma purely by accident on a lazy afternoon when I was determined to find some actual tall girl blogs. Luckily for me, I found Emma. Her blog 5 foot 10 literally made me cry out Mecca! Dedicated to not only her own tall style but others like her this is the go to place to find inspiration for you longer legged beauties!

So when Emma asked me to take part in her new weekly feature “Tall Talk Tuesday” I literally jumped at the chance! (and hit my head – tall girl problems hey?). To read more click here+ to read the article and be sure to like her blog! After all with a blogger heights wall dedicated to telling you the height of your favourite bloggers you really can’t go wrong!

Epic Fails all round.

See Post . . . “. . . Like Father”

I have no new pictures. How silly is that? I don’t mean I never took them, because I did but I forgot to upload them. Who does that? A tired girl petrified at the thought of more tube strikes thats who. So heres a little bitty about life recently until later when I can get you the goods I mean, photos.

Lesson 1: How not to fall off your bike, Aka; Read the Instructions.

“I have a plaster on my knee. (And a bruise. Whats one without the other?) and now everytime I see it I remember one important thing, every 23 year old should probably already know. Lesson 1; when getting your newly delivered bycycle read the instructions first.

I didn’t read the instructions. So my new bike and I came to not so much of a screaming hault but more of a slow-mo fall to the ground sideways. It was classy, especially with all the local smokers staring at me. Number two? I probably shouldn’t have done it in sparkle boots either but I like to live on the edge. 

 

Luckily Josh made me feel better, fed me chicken dippers, and gave me a plaster. I already felt like a six year old whats one more thing?”

Stay tuned folks – I promise to post photos soon.

Mom-olog and Decisions

I need a dress. Now when I get that I need feeling I’ve started pulling out my inner mum-olog. You know the one, (and if you don’t – how do you get so lucky?) It’s that inner voice which a, rolls its eyes and says you need a new dress do you? But I finally beat her down this time to a yes I need a dress.

However that did not help me decide which one should I buy. Now, firstly why do I need a dress at all? Well you see every February the 18^th is mine and Joshes anniversary. And every year we go back to where we met, London, stay the night in a posh hotel go out and eat Turkish food, get cocktails at browns and go see Greenwich on the Sunday. It’s a tradition now and if there’s a year without it I’m not sure how we would cope.

But anyway I normally buy a new outfit for the dinner (it’s only fair – especially to claim I bought it for him) So I found three I love and I know after having spoken with inner mum-olog that I probably should just save for the fancy Boden dress but then I asked Jess-olog (that’s mumolog’s worst enemy, thanks for asking.) and she was all, “but then you could buy two for the same . . . “But mum-olog told her off so I’m back at square one, which to buy?

So thoughts everyone? Is any of them a keeper?

Number one, pink! from Dorothy Perkins

Number two, Leopard Print from Next

Number three, (kinda thinking this one, but saving? the woe.) Boden Polka dots

 

P.s. don’t judge me if I can manage to throw a new blazer into this party . . .

For the love of chocolate and Downton Hats

We went for a run yesterday. I instantly regretted it. It rained, school kids had just been kicked out of school and into the wilderness, a.k.a maidstone. It was a mess. On the upside, my friends think I ran 2.7 miles.

(I walked, totally walked most of it – but maybe I could claim that as being interval training . . . no?)

On the plus side Josh came with me. Someone to witness my lack of fitness prowess and today my joints hurt. I might just have to go in for early retirement. Its the only way.

I never understood those people out running anyway . . .

(If you happen to be reading this on Wednesday, I’ve probably gone out and attempted running again. They call it glutton for punishment, I call it running for chocolate.)

Downton Hat: Marks and Spencers, Waterfall Jumper: George, Asda (Still in store but not online), Necklace, Accessorize (In store), Top: George Asda, Jeans (Bailey), Dorothy Perkins Tall (Imagine these in black), Boots, Newlook similar.