Thrift Inspiration, Ferragamo style!!!

It feels like a long time since I've done a 'Thrift Inspiration...' post, but the turn of the weather and my latest charity shop find has prompted me to do one at last!!

A favourite recurring trend this Autumn is houndstooth, plaid and tartan and its been reworked by designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Salvatore Ferragamo, who has brought out this gorgeous dress for this coming season:

On a shopping trip last week in Colchester we came across a hospice shop, which had an amazing amount of 'vintage'. I was really pleased to find this gorgeous St Michael Marks & Spencer houndstooth Chanel-esque cardigan, which ticks a few boxes for me-namely its really thick and cosy for now, is a great hybrid cardi jacket and is a perfect print for this season:

Its been ideal to wear for our temperamental weather now, I've teamed it with my Topshop denim gilet and Breton striped tee underneath and my grey M&S skinnies and summer ankle pirate style boots:


I love wearing jewelry too, especially earrings. What trends are influencing your look this season?

Day Tripping on the Orient Express

It was my mums 75th birthday this year so we decided to celebrate in style and go on the Orient Express for the day. We checked in at London Victoria station and had a complimentary coffee before departure:

I am wearing my thrifted Marc Jacobs silk tea dress and thrifted Topshop cream tuxedo jacket!



On board, we had a welcome glass of champagne and a couple of glasses of chilled white wine before our delicious 3 course lunch. We had leek and watercress soup for starters, chicken for mains and an almond roulade for dessert-very nice indeed!!



The journey to Deal was lovely, it was approx 93 miles of lovely countryside and some more chilled white wine!

We stayed in Deal for around 2 hours, enough time for a stroll in to town, along the Pier and a rest on the seafront for a spot of people watching.

On our return journey we had afternoon tea, which was an assortment of sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam followed by pastries-delicious! All washed down with fine English tea.

Our carriage was the Pheonix-previous visitors to this carriage was Sophia Loren and The Queen Mother!!

Mum and me on Deal Pier

We were presented with a little box towards the end of the trip-a belgian chocolate truffle, not a diamond ring!!

It was a fantastic day and one that I would definitely recommend to anyone wanting to do something that bit special for a loved one-departures are in different areas of the UK, we went on the Pullman from Victoria in London.

I am back to work on Wednesday, the holidays have gone very quickly indeed. With the weather so up and down it will be good to get back in to a work routine again!

I hope you all have a lovely week ahead and for those of you who may be affected by Hurricane Irene, I wish you safe and well.

Latest Clarks Offerings

I love to see every season what Clarks are offering with their shoes and handbags-they are now featured at Spartoo and some of their items are still on sale!

Having grown up with the brand like many of you, I still like to buy shoes from there every so often. Here is a pick of my favourite pieces available now and they also have a fabulous range of co-ordinating handbags too!!

Cadiz Treasure, £71

Moi Madame, £62



Modest Beauty, £67.20

Miss Louise, £71

Miss Daisy, £80

Ripple Wave, £67.20

What traditional brands of clothing and footwear do you still buy, regularly or every now and then?

Summer plays havoc with my blogging......

A big hello to everyone!! The summer seems to be going by so quickly-unfortunately the weather during August has been so temperamental here, I'm thinking have we seen the last of the wonderfully sunny days?

I hope you are all enjoying August and making the most of summer, whatever you are up to. My mum and I went on the Orient Express on Saturday which was a memorable and fantastic experience, I hope to blog about it soon.

I've nothing really planned now until I go back to work, so I hope to catch up with you all and read your latest posts!

I'm wearing my trusty summer staple of a Topshop denim gilet with a Roberto Cavalli top and Marni skirt.

I've tried to wear a few summer dresses this season, but I still tend to gravitate back to jeans and tees-what has been your favourite summer style staple this year?

Thrift Inspiration, Snakeskin style!!!

The big trend for Autumn and Winter is snakeskin-Gucci, Versace and Prada featured it at Milan Fashion Week for 2011-2012 and its not only the traditional brown colour featured, its actually gone multi coloured for this coming season:

Multi colour snakeskin, read about it here at Look magazine

Grazia also featured it recently, showcasing High Street retailers who have taken the trend on board:

If a dress, skirt or blouse isn't your thing, then how about investing in a bag, belt or a pair of shoes in multi colour snakeskin?

I thrifted this lovely little snakeskin clutch bag at the boot sale a couple of months ago for my vintage fashion fair, but considering its bang on trend and something uniquely different, I 've decided to put it in my wardrobe instead!!

I love the mix of multi colours and it will go with a lot in my wardrobe and certainly will dress up a winter jacket or coat.

Will you be getting into the multi colour snakeskin trend this coming season?