A London day out and coloured jeans

Yesterday hubby and I had a lovely day out in London. We strolled along the South Bank up to Borough Market but decided to visit Southwark Cathedral first, which is so stunning and beautiful.

I am pictured in front of the organ, which is totally massive and very impressive!

After taking in the wonder of the Cathedral we ventured into Borough Market, which was a hive of activity and gorgeous smells. The vast variety of food was amazing too and we bought some English and French cheeses, French bread and apple chutney for lunch later.

We stopped off at the Mudlark just under London Bridge for a refreshment stop of mulled wine and cider before venturing home for a late relaxing lunch and lounge.

I've been wearing my red skinny jeans quite a lot, they are from Next and are a thick denim ideal for winter. Jess Cartner Morley did an article yesterday on coloured jeans. This trend is sure to continue this season, with pale pink. hot pink and aqua being the 'it' colours this summer.

Will you be in coloured or printed denim this season?

Current/Elliott and J Brand jeans-less than £5!!!

Well I really was the early bird that caught the worm at the charity shops on Monday morning. Since New Year, I've really got the denim bug and I certainly bagged the best bargains of the year so far.

The 2nd shop I visited was Scope and I picked up these Current/Elliott mushroom skinny jeans-when I saw the price and the size I was amazed! I quickly checked the other rails and was giddy with excitement when I spied these J Brand Earhart jeans!! First stop was the changing rooms and was I pleased when they both fitted like gloves! On to the cash till and out the door and although I visited 3 more shops I didn't find anything else, not that I was worried though!

Now nicely laundered and pressed I thought I would show you my spoils!!

The J Brand Earhart are last season and are still available in the sale on Mywardrobe for £132 and the Current/Elliott The Skinny cord jeans are on sale for £94.99 on Net-A-Porter

On Tuesday I had more thrifting denim luck as I picked up a pair of James jeans for only £3.75 and a Levis denim skirt for only £3.99!!

My denim obsession really now needs to come to a halt for the moment as I need to be thrifty in general-its great to get bargains, but like everything I still need to watch the budget!

Whats been your best buy of the month so far?

Thrift Inspiration, Double Denim's New Dawn at Grazia

I've noticed that nearly everyone is being very frugal and thrifty as we start the new year and two of my last purchases of 2011-just after Christmas, were a denim shirt and some coloured denim skinny jeans. These are items that I can wear now and also in the summer and will always be on trend.

So after getting my New Years Grazia on Thursday for just £1 as I used the prior editions discount voucher, I was pleased to see my new purchases were totally inspirational for Grazias fashion feature-Denim's New Dawn:

There is a lot of double denim going on, a trend that really took off last year and not only is blue denim featured, coloured denim is in the mix too:

The feature suitably inspired todays casual outfit, which is my denim shirt by H&M, scarlet red denim skinny jeans by Next and purple wool cardigan which I bought a couple of years ago from Uniqlo and is still going strong. The shirt and jeans were thrifted from my local Sue Ryder charity shop-both came to less than a tenner too!!

I'm on the look out for another feminine cut denim shirt with gold rivet fastenings, this one has silver and is short sleeved, making it a really versatile item for winter and summer, as are the coloured skinny jeans.

What is on your style radar for the new summer season?

Cocoon coats, Vintage v Modern

Cocoon coats have been in style for decades now and the earliest picture I can see is from Balenciagas Fall 1954 collection, featuring this rather fashionable cocoon design:

Fast forward more than half a century and Prada have the style in their Autumn/Winter 2011 collection-the shape and cut is so easily such a style classic, reinvented by different designers virtually every decade in plain or printed versions:

Before I realised the coccon coat was back in fashion this winter, I had bought this 1960s heritage green version for my vintage fashion fair stall. It had not sold all year and I decided to try it on last month as an alternative day winter coat and its been in my own wardrobe ever since!

Lisa Armstrong did an article on cocoon coats last month, featuring an Etro claret version and I do agree with her that they are such a style which tend to go with skirts or trousers and have the added bonus of allowing thick jumpers underneath without creating extra bulk.

Here is my Aquascutum coat in action with skinny jeans-its a perfect day coat and I really love the colour too:

What style of coat are you currently in this winter?

Gucci vintage handbag- Christmas present to me!

A big hello to you all!! I do so hope you all had a very Happy Christmas and are enjoying the rest of the holidays- fortunately for me, I am not back until next Tuesday-hurrah!!

Before Christmas, I was really excited to find a gorgeous vintage Gucci handbag which is in a classic flapover style- bang on trend for this season too!!

The first picture is the Gucci 1973 medium flap bag, with double G detail, currently available on Gucci's website now for £1520-totally gorgeous, but well out of my price range! It just goes to show how style does goes round in a cycle-the two designs of these handbags are so very similar, decades on:

Which is why I always love designer vintage pieces-for a fraction of the price and with its clean classic lines, this is certainly a real style investment purchase which will never date:

I love the gold G clasp fastener and as well as a few compartments it also has the added feature of a detachable strap so it can be used as a clutch too! With my Chanel no5 parfum from hubby for Christmas too I've been very fortunate indeed!!

I hope you all received some really lovely presents this Christmas and I'd like to take the opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year and a peaceful and successful 2012. Many thanks to all my readers who either read, comment or follow-your views are very much appreciated and please feel free to chat to me on twitter too-I've just signed up!!