Thrift Inspiration: Autumn Trends including a graphic vintage tee

Hi everyone! Well it has been a typical bank holiday weekend in my part of the world-rain, rain and more rain. Oh well, here's hoping the good weather will return or it will be the start of getting out the Autumn layers. My outfit of choice over the weekend was inspired by some weekend reading from the Guardian's Russ McClintock Street Style article. For Autumn top looks include grunge, graphic tees, black and wide legged trousers. One item that has been languishing in my drawer for too long now is a favourite tee that I thrifted a few years ago at a neighbouring town's St Francis Hospice charity shop for around £2.99 and reminded me of this look:

I'm sure most of us must have an iconic graphic vintage tee in their wardrobe and I decided to wear my one- it's a tee of Deborah Harry's Domination 91 tour. I grew up listening to Blondie and they were my favourite band from back in the day, I really adored Debbie Harry's achingly cool style and still do enjoy listening to her music even now.

I paired the tee with my leather/wet look ruched skinny leggings and my western black and suede leather boots which were a boot sale find a good few years ago for a bargainous 50p!!

The details: Mixing silver and gold with my Vivienne Westwood bracelet and silver Ernest Jones bangle-both blogger gifts; the back of my tour tee; the battered and worn in favourites, black western boots:

The gorgeous Deborah Harry; ruching details of my skinny black leggings

I actually had to endure some raindrops for these photos-it really was dreadfully dismal on Saturday and the lighting wasn't at it's best!!

I am linking this post to the lovely Patti of NotDeadYetStyle for Visible Monday and to the lovely Claire Justine for her Creative Mondays blog hop. Do take a look, it's a great chance to view other gorgeous ladies sharing their looks and providing some excellent style inspiration!

Wishing you all a great week ahead!

Outfit Post: Dorothy Perkins thrifted vintage style summer dress

Hi everyone! I thought I would show you one of my newest thrift finds-this is from a newly opened charity shop in my local town, the Saint Francis Hospice and prices are really very reasonable. For the short time it's been open, I've managed to snag a couple of bargains from there already.

One of them being this Dorothy Perkins summer dress which to me is very vintage inspired. I really love black and floral's combined and the turquoise border at the bottom of the dress really adds that extra pop of colour:

The floral detailing and fit and flare style of the dress make it so stylish to wear for the hot weather we're having and the price of it-just £2.50 meant I snapped it up without trying it on! Unfortunately a lot of the charity shops where I live have either closed or purposely don't have changing rooms anymore due to high level of thefts. What a shame people feel they have to resort to stealing from a charity shop of all places, prices are generally so cheap I do feel it's so unnecessary and not nice at all for the charities involved. The same as bartering- I don't tend to barter in a charity shop unless an item is damaged and has not been shown as such on the label, then I will cheekily ask if I could have a small discount. Even if they did not reduce the item I would still buy it for the price shown.

 Anyhow, the new to me dress got an outing earlier this week and I should have taken a back shot of it as it has lovely tie back detailing across the shoulders and the waist.

I am also wearing a pair of silver sandals that I bought quite a few years ago which were actually from my local Dorothy Perkins-they were a summer sale bargain at just £5 and are most comfortable too. I love metallic sandals for summer, but the pairs I have are really on their last legs and I will look forward to getting some new ones next summer.

I hope you're all having a good week-we are due a bank holiday weekend and hopefully the weather is going to continue to be really nice-wishing you all a great week so far!!

What to Wear to a Fine Dine Affair

Get confused enough by the menu selections or cutlery positioning without the worry of what to wear to a formal dinner? Here are some simple suggestions for an appearance of sophistication without straying too far from your day to day wardrobe.

The Work Event

In addition to dressing smart in the office, there are the occasions when work takes you out of hours. Whether it’s for drinks or dinner a high waisted pencil skirt teamed with a tailored jacket will never serve you wrong. Although a black silk strappy dress with a lacy jacket could serve even better. The key is to add a touch of fun to make it less dull daytime and more evening sophistication. Accessorize with some colourful pendant earrings and a clutch and you’re ready to work the room.

The After Work Dinner

Plans after work are inevitable, and frankly life-saving. However there is a different style checklist for meeting your friends at the pub and meeting a special someone for a fancy dinner. What’s needed here is a transitional outfit to take you from under your desk right onto the high end restaurant catwalk. A potential weapon could be the little black dress. Teamed with a suit jacket by day and sharp heels by night all that’s needed here is a switch of accessories. Ditching the work bag behind in exchange for a statement mini-bag will make it a night time outfit. However, what’s really needed is a shimmer of elegant jewellery; some big earrings matched with sophisticated neck candy. Try Pandora’s necklaces for women to catch some attention with a striking pendant.

The Golden Ticket Event

Instead of a work event that you have to rush for, it is sometimes more overwhelming to have a special event that you need to plan for. If it is a ticketed event there is nothing better than to go all out. This could be a midi dress with a statement necklace and killer heels. If you prefer to stick to simple sophistication try pastels, a colour trend right now, with a detailed jacket. Or lucky for you black and white statement is on a hype at the moment.

Key rules to apply; try to coordinate your clutch, your shoes and your accessories but don’t make them match, include no more than three colours in your outfit and if you’re going for a bold dress keep that jewellery simple (and vice versa). Finally, remember that whatever event and no matter how formal, the best attire to wear is an air of confidence.

Outfit Post: Jean Paul Gaultier and Double Denim

Hi everyone! I hope the weekend weather has been kind to you-where I am it's been getting warmer over the weekend and it stayed dry yesterday for the boot sale. It was slim pickings on the bargain front but I did manage to get some All Saints jeans for just £3 which are the perfect darker blue shade for Autumn and Winter. My outfit choice was a mix of double denim and my Jean Paul Gaultier 90s stretchy dress which I wore as a top. This was originally a boot sale find and was only £1 a few years ago:

The Gaultier top is ideal for wearing with blue denim and I wore my yellow neon hoop earrings to go with the yellow in the top. My denim jacket is by Gap and was a charity shop find earlier this year for around £4.99:

I also wore my trusty grey skinny jeans from River Island which are one of my favourite pairs to wear when it's not so hot. Grey jeans for me are an essential in a denim wardrobe, they are a great neutral and work with virtually any other colour for any season too:

I'm currently debating what items I want to invest in for the Autumn/Winter season- a couple more pairs of jeans and some knits definitely feature and of course as soon as I make my thrifty purchases I'll be sure to share them here first!! Look  out for my thrifted All Saints jeans in an upcoming outfit post on LiveToLoveDenim.com

I'm linking this post to the lovely Patti at NotDeadYetStyle for Visible Monday and the gorgeous Claire-Justine oxox for Creative Monday. Wishing you all a great week ahead too. I know there are some of you that are not even thinking of Autumn purchases but for those of you that are, what is on your style radar for the coming new season?

Outfit Post-Tales of Childhood, Spanish Espadrilles and an Egyptian Tunic

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a lovely week so far, time during the summer holidays seems to be whizzing by and it's great how the weather is still so lovely with the sun shining and making me feel so cheery!!

When I was little, I had a neighbour who was a couple of years older than me and she had bought for her a pair of red espadrille sandals-wow, was I impressed at how the laces did up around the ankles and the legs and she looked so cool in hers. When my best friend in primary school also got a pair I did so so want a pair but unfortunately for me as a girl it was not meant to be.

At the boot sale a few Saturdays ago was sandal heaven- I bagged three as new pairs for a total of £7.50 from different sellers and one of them was these lovely yellow Spanish espadrilles, which have a leather lining and the traditional rope wedge heel-tying up the laces around my legs brought back all those girly memories of the espadrilles! My pair were just £2.50 and wearing them all day yesterday was comfort heaven too:

I  love the bright yellow colour-wearing them with darker and neutral colours really put a zing into my outfit in general:

Another item I thrifted last month was this crisp white cotton tunic blouse which was from my local Sue Ryder charity shop for £3.99. I love the embroidery-it looks like it could have been done by hand. The length and cut of the blouse is perfect for Summer and the label is in Arabic and English- 100% cotton, made in Egypt:

My trousers are skinny jeans from TU at Sainsburys and I bought these in the January sales for just £9-they have a slight animal embossed print pattern and the colour of them means they can be worn all year round too.  They are a tiny bit snug on the waist though- I really need to get an exercise regime sorted out, but it's just not happening at the moment, hehe!!

Do you have any childhood fashion memories that you've now been able to wear as an adult?

Have a great week everyone!!