Friday 24 November 2017

A good coat?

Toutes les french fashion experts say that every chic woman should have a good coat. But what is a good coat? Do you have to pay gazillions for something fashioned from camel hair with a Maxmara label or will Zara do? Is one good coat enough? Surely you need something warm for walking the dog, something fabulous for evening, something classic and then maybe a few others because...well, because they're lovely?

Yes, the truth is I have a terrible weakness for coats and tend to spend more money on them than on anything else (my most recent one was... actually I've blanked it out but somewhere around £450.) I buy one every two years- but, and this is a big but (hear me out here, I am a professional at justifying profligate coat shopping) they last wonderfully well,  I still wear ones that are 30 years old. I also live in Yorkshire so you can pretty much justify a coat from September to May!

I love the idea of classic camel, but when it comes to parting with my pennies I can never resist a bit of Viv. I love Westwood's sculptural shapes and I convince myself that they can lift all sorts of dodgy outfits and hide away any bulgy bits. Which was perfect today. I was having an attack of the fat and uglies. I'm sure we all have them, whatever our size. Those days when your hormones conspire to ensure that everything you try makes you looked like an overstuffed sausage, and you end up with a pile of rejected rags on the floor. That's when a good coat comes to the rescue. I put mine over some black waxed jeans, a cashmere breton and black pointy courts. So, I was ticking off a few more French essentials. And les petites saucissons? Successfully hidden from sight.




Coat -Anglomania, similar here and keep an eye on the Outnet for discounted ones
Black waxed jeans- Boden, mine are old but these are the same I think
Cashmere breton-Jigsaw (old) this is lovely but very spendy and my one did develop a few of those annoying little holes in the front
Shoes- Sam Edelman, I bought these at the end of my last fifty outfit challenge as part of a capsule wardrobe idea








                                                                    Sam Edelman heels

Thursday 23 November 2017

French fancy

I must confess to a bit of a Mumsnet habit, when I'm meant to be working it is my procrastination destination of choice. Recently I've been following a fabulous thread about dressing like a Parisienne. I love the idea but don't have the body, the bone structure or the iron will to stick to fags and black coffee instead of fromage and vin rouge.

Over the last couple of days I disappeared down a few You Tube rabbit holes. Some willowy french filles told me exactly how to develop a wardrobe of classic, elegant but effortless outfits. Stick to neutrals, choose quality, don't over-accessorise, get a great coat... et voila you're Emmanuelle Alt. Well, that is all great in theory and I love the look but I don't seem to have the je ne sais quois to carry it off. But what I do have is red lippy, which was also on the list. So I thought I'd bung that on and it would be a good start.

Day one and I wore jeans and a black polo-neck. Groundbreaking stuff I know! I also wore a coat that I first had in the last century. I bought it back in the days when M&S still used to sell some amazing stuff at a reasonable price. I wore it into the ground, chucked it on the floor and generally treated it badly and it fell apart. I've mourned its buttery softness for years and this season I decided to hunt one out on Ebay. Some lovely seller had looked after hers much, much better than me and for £25 the coat is mine all mine again.

When I wore it today two separate people stopped me on the street and asked where it was from. That NEVER happens. Was it the coat, or am I giving off mysterious fashion blogger vibes?!



Leather Coat- Vintage M&S (similar on Ebay)
Jeans- Gap girlfriends
Bag: J-Crew (old, 
Faux fur scarf: Helen Moore, mine was from a dress agent but it's still available here



        Boots-Carvela, this season and super-comfortable, reduced to £135 on a Black Friday deal







Jumper-Silk and cotton from Jigsaw. Mine is ancient but they still do them, they're expensive at £90 (and sadly Jigsaw don't seem to do any codes/ seasonal offers) but so soft and last forever.

                               



False start

Despite my big words about accountability, I've made a bit of a false start. The very idea of having to take a picture of what I was wearing and putting it out there to be judged left me paralysed with insecurity. As is abundantly clear in the last lot of posts, I'm no fashion expert. That's why I'm doing this exercise.

Anyway, two days have passed and I've managed to get a grip of myself. I realised that a) no one is likely to click on my random musings b) even if someone lands on this blog by accident, they're unlikely to give a flying fig what a fifty-year old nobody from Yorkshire is dressed in. So, I'm just going to put on clothes every morning. Different ones. Then take a picture. How hard can that be?


Monday 20 November 2017

Fifty outfits revisited

I had a bit of a scare today. I did that thing where I turned on my webcam by mistake and caught a shocking glimpse of a tired old woman with a grey complexion and scraped back hair, wearing her PJs at lunchtime. When did that happen?

The truth is that my kids have flown the nest, I frequently work from home and it's all too easy to slob around in joggers or jim-jams. Which is all well and good if it works for you. But I've realised that it actually makes me feel a bit crap about myself.  So, no more. It's been five years since I started the fifty-outfits-in-fifty-days challenge and now that I've reached the big five o myself, it's time to do it again.

It was a really interesting exercise last time and I did rediscover my fashion mojo- but I found that I spent way too much on fast and disposable fashion. Stuff to put together an instant outfit and then forget. I don't know how proper bloggers can keep up with the constant shopping and spending, fifty days did me in! Anyway, I've realised that I tend to wear things for years and years, so it's better if I get fewer items that I love. I'm going to mix and match the stuff I've got into different outfits and see where the wardrobe gaps are. It'll be a mix of high street, vintage, ebay and some lovely bits that I've been given by my family or splurged on myself. If you're looking for a fashion maven to guide you effortlessly through the key items for the next season, this is not the place for you.

I'm putting it out there in a blog to lay down the gauntlet, make myself accountable and to encourage me to be a little less Waynetta and a little more Wintour.

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