My Fashionably Forward Family

Both my adorable boys are finding their fashion feet-I've really noticed this as quite a few items of mine are now in eldest sons wardrobe- tees, belts, scarfs, even skinny jeans (which look better on him than me, LOL!!)

What £10 can buy

Its great to find bargains for myself, but even nicer if I can find things for the men in my life. So when I was thrifting a couple of weeks ago and spent exactly a tenner, here's what I brought home:

Mens Versace dress shirt for hubby, Cancer Research £4.50

John Rocha tee for hubby, St Francis Hospice, £1.50

Ralph Lauren denim shirt, Salvation Army £1.50 and Gucci loafers, St Francis Hospice £2.50

I think that tenner went a long way, LOL!!

Thrift Inspiration, Doing it Bottega Veneta way!!

When I think of Bottega Veneta, the first thing I think of is their gorgeous woven bags. I've always coveted a quality hand-woven bag, but Bottega Veneta is unfortunately well out of my price range. Current Bottega handbags typically boast clean lines, the softest Intreciatto woven leathers, and a classic palette-Wikipedias description, which I heartily agree with, LOL!

So I was extremely pleased to pick up a gorgeous bag by Cosci, which is also handcrafted in Italy-their woven nappa bags retail between 500-750 euros.

The bag below is the New Intrecciato medium bag, which is available at Net-A-Porter for £1315.

My bag is a mix of casual and smart-it has a slouch factor, but the fastening across the top gives an understated formal air to it. This was from the Haven House charity shop yesterday for only £3-I snapped it up!!

So, although I didn't need another handbag, I could not pass this lovely bag up and for a change I've started using it straightaway!!

Thrift Inspiration, Doing it Net-A-Porter style!!

Now its coming up to Autumn and Winter, ankle boots, particularly suede ones are really in trend and these Christian Louboutin Fifre 120 suede ankle bootees, available at Net-A-Porter for £765 are just perfect for any occasion.

These equally gorgeous ones are by Pedro Garcia-the Dorice boots at Net-A-Porter for a cheaper £280.

So it was great to see these in trend for autumn as I had thrifted these cute plum suede ankle boots in Spring. They were from the Cancer Research charity shop and were around £4.50.

I haven't worn them yet, but on routing through my shoes and boots for autumn and winter, I realised these will also fullfil my wishlist item of heeled ankle boots, but in suede and colour.

I really like the colour and style of these-not overly high for me and they will look equally as good with jeans as they will with a floral dress, cardi and opaques come the colder weather.

Thrift Inspiration, Doing it French Style!!

When I was deciding what to wear yesterday, I was feeling very 'Francais'. I knew I wanted to wear my pearls 'a la Coco', so on went my pearl stud earrings and my long pearl beads.

I also wanted to wear my newest Gaultier find from the boot sale last month-its a Gaultier 2 tee and was only £1.50. I decided to wear it with my See by Chloe flared summer jeans.

There was a slight chill in the air, so I decided to add my silk Orla Kiely scarf around my neck-it really made a difference to the wind factor, LOL!

So, ensemble complete it was off to town to try and get some boring work trousers. I managed to find some in Primark and I also picked up a lovely leopardprint dip dye scarf, a skinny studded belt, lace tights and a grey beanie-the total including the trousers came to £11.26!!

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend, whatever you are up to!!

All Booted up!!

As you may know, I had 2 items on my Fall wishlist-a denim shirt, which I picked up last week and the other was some heeled ankle boots in black. I'd seen some online, but am wary about buying, because of fit and comfort-I personally like to try and buy there and then.

So, a recent thrifting trip brought dividends as the 2 last shops visited yielded me 2 pairs of black leather as new ankle boots-hurrah!!

This first pair is by Dune and are slightly higher that ankle length, but thats fine-the fit is just right. These were from Norwood Trust charity shop and were £6.

So, after leaving the last but one shop I went into Sense charity shop and spotted these black leather Marks & Spencer ankle boots which were only £5!!

So, I'm totally booted up-I've a couple of pairs of flat black ankle boots already, knee length flat and heeled black boots, plus some French Connection brown leather and suede boots that I've had for a few years and barely worn twice.

How is your winter shopping coming along?

Dressing down in denim

Well, one item off the wishlist is a denim shirt. I picked one up last week at the Salvation Army charity shop for £1.50, the same day I found the Gucci loafers.

The denim shirt is by Ralph Lauren and I'm wearing it with my Diesel denim skirt. I toyed with giving this skirt away because of the short length, but I feel comfortable when I'm wearing opaques with it.

To me denim is a great way for casual dressing-what is your favourite dressing down outfit?

Thrift Inspiration,

As you know, brogues and loafers are bang on trend for the new season, Times have a slide show with their best picks on offer from Designers and the High Street, check it out for some Fall inspiration.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was to pick up these beauties from the St Francis Hospice charity shop last week.

Authentic Gucci loafers in my size and with the traditional Gucci hallmark-the horsebit. They fit like a glove and are as new-the best bit was they were only £2.50!!

Will you be in loafers or brogues this Autumn?

The 25p dress!!!

Well you all know I love to bag a thrifting bargain, so I had to show you my cheapest purchase to date. I've been wanting a jersey wrap dress for ages, so when I spotted this one by New Look in my local Sue Ryder charity shop a couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be ideal.

Here I'm wearing it with my 'Virgin Vie' costume jewellery necklace and my Alberta Ferretti sandals which were from Oxfam a good few years ago.

I love the colours and pattern of this dress-turquoise is great for summer and it's what attracted me to it initially, plus the cut around the neckline is just right for me too.

The reason I got my dress for 25p is that I have a 'loyalty card' with my local Sue Ryder! Its a great scheme they run, in that for every £5 you spend they stamp your card and when its full of stamps you get a free £5 spend in the shop! So the dress was £5.25, but I only had to pay 25p-this is my cheapest buy this year!!

Whats been your cheapest find of the year?

My Wardrobe-part 2

Hi everyone!! Following on from my 'Whats in your wardrobe?' post back in June, I was inspired by the lovely Kate of Make Do Style when she wrote this excellent post -'Size matters(2)' regarding an overstacked wardrobe and the concept of 'Slow Fashion'-this is a must read, after you've finished here of course, LOL!!

Basically, because of the summer holidays, I've had time to re-evaluate my wardrobe with autumn looming and also to sell more items, including ones that I had acquired during my 'Buy on Ebay when I'm bored' habit. I've also passed on some more unwanted pieces to the charity shop to make way for recent thrifting purchases that will provide longevity in my wardrobe.

This is my wardrobe after my main sort out, the top wardrobe houses my favourite tops, jackets, dresses, jeans and handbags at the bottom.

This wardrobe has my winter and summer jackets and coats and remains mainly unchanged from last time.

These are the remaining drawers of clothes, which have summer dresses, tops and tees, woollies (cardi's and jumpers), summer skirts and blouses.

So, with reference to my first wardrobe post, I'd mentioned a summer wishlist and also a lack of costume jewellery. I have a lovely little collection of necklaces and bracelets now and regarding the wishlist, here is what I did get from it:

Dark indigo bootcut style jeans

Navy and white striped Breton tee

Leopardprint shoes

Denim waistcoat

I still haven't found red shoes I like enough to get yet.

My autumn wishlist consists of 2 items:

Black heeled ankle boots

Denim shirt

I've acquired a few black pieces in my wardrobe these past couple of months, notably a black pencil skirt, my black vintage Thierry Mugler jacket, black bodycon woollen Benetton dress and some gorgeous black heeled knee high leather boots.

I've learnt 'for me', that less is more-I like to look at a glance to see what I've got and be appreciative of the gorgeous pieces I've acquired over time. Some do not get worn for a while, but will have a long term place in my wardrobe.

What is your wardrobe philosophy?

Ferretti and Frills

One of my favourite thrift finds has to be this navy linen summer blazer, by Philosphy di Alberta Ferretti. It was from the Salvation Army charity shop in February and was only £3.99. I love it as I can wear it with the sleeves rolled up, and with the body being unlined, its a really great piece to keep cool in summer.

I've worn it with my freebie frilly Paul & Joe Sister vest top and my denim leggings

I love blazers, they are such a versatile item for all the seasons and I've quite a few that are summer and colder weather wear too.

Will you be in a blazer this summer?

Fall trend-Distressed jeans and Versace find

Hi everyone!! You may well know already that I love denim and jeans in particular. All styles, washes and cuts. I have 'around' a dozen pairs, so I certainly am not in need of any more.

However, when I spotted these 'Versace Jeans Couture' jeans in my local Sue Ryder charity shop on Friday, I knew I had to have them for 2 reasons-firstly the price-they were only £4.25!!!

Secondly, they fulfill the 'distressed' jeans trend that was big this summer and according to the Telegraph in this article, will definitely be a continuing trend for Fall

I will wear them with a statement jacket or blazer, all I need now is a pair of heeled ankle boots, which is the one main item on my Autumn wishlist.

What is on your wishlist for Fall?

Jean Paul Gaultier-only £1!!!

Wow, its great when family members are great thrifters and my mum in law has produced gems for me before, like the 80s Biba jumpsuit for 50p and the Christian Dior costume jewellery.

So I was especially pleased when this was delivered to me, its a Jean Paul Gaultier dress which she managed to bag at the boot sale for a super bargainous £1!!!!

Its actually a maxi dress, but being ultra stretchy, I can wear it worked up as I'm wearing it shown here

Breakaway on the Essex Coast

Hi everyone!! A Big Thanks to all of you for your lovely comments on my posts recently, the reason I haven't been visiting you all is we've had a family breakaway to Clacton, which is a beach resort on the Essex Coast.

From where I live, it takes just over an hour and of course, we stayed at the Travelodge again, which was a bargainous £19 for the room for each night!!

These pictures are on the 2nd day, when it turned rather overcast, but it was still warm!!

The boys in the sea!!

Clacton Pier and the Sea

The Gardens on Clacton Seafront

Me and My Boys!!

There were themed gardens which were all so very beautiful

I can see you dear!!

We had an absolutely fabulous time and we got the best of the British weather too, coming home yesterday it was raining, so we were lucky indeed!!

A Touch of the Tropics

With reference to this post I did back in May I decided I should wear this top, it being summer now after all!!

I love the versatility of it, here I'm wearing it as a jacket style over a simple vest top and with my Sass & Bide jeans

Not only do I love the vibrant unique print, the scalloped edges round the arms and neckline are so Chloe-esque too!

I think it would look equally as good over some plain summer dresses too!! Plus it was a new shop buy that only set me back £1-what a bargain for summer?

What bargain item are you wearing this summer?