Thrift Inspiration....Singing The Blues in All Saints, Reiss and Vintage Yves Saint Laurent

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a great week so far-my day today has been so up and down, I don't know if I've been coming or going! Firstly this morning saw me running late for work, completely run out of petrol on the way, problems parking which led to me being late and then on my return to the car park later a parking ticket! I was rather stressed by the time I got home early afternoon but it got better with a meet up with girlfriends for a meal and catch up at a local restaurant and with hubby cooking and washing up for himself and younger son I feel like I'm now fully calmed down, hehe!!

I was really chuffed to have been nominated for 'best thrifty blog' by The MAD Blog Awards for Mums and dads 2014 this weekend. I've displayed a 'Nominate Me' badge on my sidebar and would deeply appreciate it if you could take time out to nominate me please! IF I get through to the next stage then more voting is required and I could be in with a chance of attending a lovely finalist awards evening and winning an iPad Air, woo hoo! Anyhow, it's been lovely to have been nominated and any further nominations and votes will be much appreciated!!

Back to style matters in hand, I thought I would show you some fairly recent thrift finds that seem to be very much on a recurring theme-blue to be precise.

As you all may be aware I am very much a denim enthusiast-ok, addict might be a better word if 25+ pairs of jeans is slightly more than the norm! I'm thinking that it's not so much jeans I'm into but the colour more so? I pretty much love denim jackets, waistcoats, skirts shirts and jeans and all in different shades of blue but particularly this year faded blue has definitely been on my style radar a lot, very evident on my denim inspiration pinterest board if you fancy taking a look!

My latest thrift finds were from a couple of Saturdays ago- I found this fabulous vintage cheesecloth Yves Saint Laurent mens shirt in a neighbouring town's St Francis Hospice charity shop for just £2.50!!

It's such a great fit and is definitely my current favourite go to shirt for summer, to be paired with faded jeans, cut offs and white jeans (if I find a pair that I like):

My next find that day was in the afternoon at my own local Sue Ryder charity shop, which was a pair of Reiss high waisted skinny zip ankle jeans for a bargainous £1 in their sale!! In my size too and another pair of perfectly shaded blue jeans that I can't wait to start wearing!

The middle pair are some Gap boyfriend jeans that I thrifted in January for just £3.99-again the perfect distressed lighter shade of blue that will be perfect once ankles can be shown in warmer weather!!

The 3rd pair are some Levis demi curve straight leg jeans which if I can remember were also less than £2, thrifted last year in Autumn from a neighbouring towns Sue Ryder charity shop:

Left to Right: Reiss, Gap, Levis

The last picture features more shirts that I've thrifted and been gifted since Autumn last year:

From top to bottom: All Saints checked shirt, £2 from the St Francis Hospice,  River Island acid light wash shirt from the DEBRA charity shop for £3.99, my gifted degrade denim shirt from the swap shop party and dark wash thrifted H&M chambray shirt from the Sense charity shop for £3.50.

So you've seen a sneaky peek into my denim obsession and what sort of items are making their way and staying in my wardrobe.

What style and items are actually making their way into your wardrobe this season? Please share I'd love to know! 

Bomber Jackets- Two for All Seasons!

Hi everyone! It's the time of year where for some of us the sun is shining, the weather is milder, the daffodils are popping up and blossom is appearing on the trees-well my one is anyway and thoughts of lighter outerwear are being experimented with. 

One style of jacket that is perfect for trans-seasonal dressing are bomber jackets and there certainly many styles and colour combinations on offer. Lovely blogger Michelle snapped herself up a fabulous Topshop one which is perfect for day to night dressing as well as for any season too.

Here are some bomber jackets in action, which really range in pattern, style and colour:

Pictures: Google images

Well for me, the perks of having a son working in fashion PR means I get treated every now and then. Last year he brought home this grey leopardprint bomber jacket by Danish brand LeFix. I barely wore it last year but now the weather has been milder I've started wearing it more and it's lightly quilted, waterproof and very lightweight too:

It's currently my go to jacket of choice and I even wore it to the swap shop party last week over a tailored jacket for the journey which kept me nicely warm and covered until I was inside. The length and thickness of this jacket make it perfect for early Spring and Autumn wear.

A couple of weeks ago my son brought home this gorgeous bomber jacket which is just right for Spring and Summer as it's not thick at all and has such a vibrant print and great colours, ideal for wearing with denim:

I loved it as soon as I saw it and have it stashed away for warmer Spring and Summer wear later this year. 

What style of jackets are on your radar this year, are you wearing bomber jackets this season?

Voucher Code Swap Shop Clothes Party!!

Hi everyone! Earlier this week I attended a clothes swap party held by Voucher Codes UK, #VCSWAPSHOP14 

When I was invited by the host Fleur, I was instructed like everyone else to bring 5 items of good condition clothes and/or accessories that I don't wear anymore and depending on whether it was high street or designer each item was awarded a certain amount of stamps. My plus one for the evening was my eldest son who came straight from work so I brought his 5 items of clothes and on arrival I received a grand total of 18 stamps to shop with!!

 It was held at the Gallery Soho on Charing Cross Road and on arrival I had a cocktail and decided to take part in one of the craft events which was embellishing tights. In good time it was then upstairs to the clothes swapping and boy, was there a fabulous amount of clothing and accessories to choose from. During the evening there was a lady making balloon headbands, a photo booth, catered food being brought round, cocktails and the craft sessions. Here are my pictures and some from the event organisers:

Here I am about to start shopping!!

There were a good few rails with a really great choice of different good quality items in lots of different sizes too:

Fleur, the lovely host from Voucher Codes

Lovely cupcakes which unfortunately I didn't sample!!

In the photo booth!

Sitting down doing my embellishing before the clothes swap

So many lovely people choosing their items!!

Meeting lifestyle and style bloggers Shanika Says, Nataly of Sand & Sugar and not pictured, LucyJLoves 

I was fortunate to receive a goody bag which included a gift voucher from Matalan and which I've already used to purchase a couple of ballet pump shoes for Spring. Amongst other things included was a lovely two tone leather purse and some Nair body clay cream:

Of course I had to show off my haul of goodies-unbelievably I came away with nine items and by the end of the night I still had stamps spare! But I was very impressed by what I bagged, which included a fabulous degrade ASOS denim shirt, a River Island speedy style canvas bag, a brand new Ted Baker cobalt blue and tan leather belt, a River Island sequin tee, a Topshop dress and skirt, a bangle and some brand new with tags Topman skinny jeans for Christopher-he had to have something for coming, hehe!!

My embellished tights which I can't wait to wear!!

The event itself was a major success and so enjoyable- I met some really lovely bloggers and it seemed to go too quickly- a sign that you've thoroughly enjoyed yourself!! Here is myself and Fleur with my bag of goodies!!

The best part of all was that the following day all the left over clothes were donated to Oxfam charity shop, so a perfect way to round off the event!!

A big thanks to all the lovely people at Voucher Codes for making the night go so well, I can't wait for the next one now!!

Thrift Inspiration....Pinterest & Lucky Brand

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a really great week so far, it's half term in the Thriftmystyle house but with working and general life moving ever fast and forwards it's been hard to keep up with blogging.

It's great though when you suddenly get inspired and today's inspiration comes straight from this mornings activity of  scanning and pinning via pinterest. This has been an extremely slow burner for me and I originally opened an account 'just because' sometime last Summer. The account sat unused and that was mainly because I really didn't understand how it worked and how it would benefit me and my blog.

So last month after deciding I should check it out properly, I was so glad I did as boy, it really has captured me in all things style related and is definitely my guilty pleasure of the moment! A bonus is a lot of my favourite friends, bloggers and brands are on there too which makes pinning so inspiring and addictive.

So back to today's post- I started this morning with a cup of tea and the radio and some pinterest and one brand that I was constantly pinning was Lucky Brand, whose style aesthetics are right up my street! Being a lover of denim and tailored pieces their pictures for me are so inspiring and here are some of my favourites from what I pinned earlier:

Then while I was pinning, it dawned on me to share with you a find from late Summer last year which is this lovely little navy tailored jacket from...Lucky Brand clothing!

I'ts a wool jacket and having already so many blazer styles already in my wardrobe I was pleased to find this differently styled one:

I found it in my local British Heart Foundation charity shop for £8.99 and the pictures don't show the true colour which is a dark navy. I've pinned so many different pictures which pair smart jackets and jeans that I've a good idea of how I'll be wearing this one soon when the weather gets a touch warmer!

What is currently inspiring you style wise at the moment? I would love it if you did check out my pinterest board and follow if you like what you see!!

Wisihing you all a lovely week ahead, whatever you are upto and thanks to you all for your continued support, reading and commenting it is always much appreciated.

Thrift Inspiration.....Net-A-Porter & Blogger Style!!

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a great week-the weather overall has been pretty awful with some being a lot worse off than others in different areas of the UK. I do so hope you haven't suffered very badly with flooding and the like. It is so sad and soul destroying for people who have lost goods and treasured possessions because of the continuous floods- I hope and pray they will be able to get their lives back on track as soon as possible.

My week has been busy with working at different libraries but I have the weekend off-yay!! When I go to different towns for work I always try to sneak in visits to the local charity shops. Wednesday lunchtime saw me browsing at six during my lunch hour, bagging a bargain and still having time for a sneaky McDonalds before going back to work! 

Style wise I've noticed that I go through phases-if it's not denim and jeans, then it's jackets and coats and if it's not neither of these then it's handbags!! Like jeans and jackets, I can never have enough handbags- if I spy a quality one then I'm there like a homing device!!

I've been on a slow burning mission to get a slouchy hobo style leather bag- I have a good few totes, structured handbags, cross body bags and clutches but wardrobe purges over the years have seen me get rid of my slouchy hobo styles. Here are my favourites at Net-Porter of what's influenced me:

Elizabeth and James textured backpack, £445

 Anya Hindmarch Maxi Zip satchel £795

Chloe The Marcie £1195

Marc Jacobs Classic Q Hillier Hobo, £350

 Proenza Schouler PS1 Large Satchel, £1440

So this is what I found below- a gorgeously buttersoft, slouchy hobo style leather black bag by All Saints for a fabulously frugal £3!! It is actually so roomy-it has three large compartments, a front zipper pocket and inner compartments too:

To be fair, I most probably didn't need another black bag, but I really couldn't pass on this one and on days when I need to store my brolly, hat, scarf, lunch and other general bits and bobs it's great to have just one bag that doesn't look like you've stuffed your whole world in there and can't close the zip! I've culled four bags that no longer make the cut in terms of quality and size so I don't feel so bad buying another one!

On that note, another bag which has been on my radar thanks to the lovely Michelle of Myfashionable40s is this Autograph leopard and black leather cross body bag. She blogged about it here in November and I couldn't indulge at the time as I had bought the wedge boots in the same post when M&S were doing their 20% off. However last Sunday whilst browsing ebay I was ecstatic to find it for less than £25 on a buy it now!! 

It arrived on Thursday and I'm so pleased with it-everytime I've seen Michelle wear hers I've been thinking how it was 'the one that got away'. It really is so versatile and stylish and the perfect size too and the money I spent was gifted so I actually didn't spend my own money-yay!!

So two 'new to me' handbags for February and having bought a red woolly hat in Dorothy Perkins on Tuesday too, my total spends thus far is £8-not too bad, but I had envisioned a couple of weeks ago that I might be doing Avril's Frugal February style challenge-it's been an unfortunate fail there for me but I shall certainly be trying to be as frugal as possible for the rest of the month.

How is your February going style and frugal wise? Wishing you all a good weekend-i'm having a relaxing one with a dash of housework thrown in and also looking forward to Sunday evening when the next installment of Mr Selfridge comes on-my TV highlight of the week!