CuratingMi

22 September 2014

The elusive fur gilet........

or so I thought! I have managed to secure another classic item that's been on my radar for a long time now and is another great addition to my Autumn/Winter plan. I searched high and low for one last year (see here and ,here) and bought 3 or 4 which were all returned. However when Damart got in touch with me recently and asked me if there was anything from their range that I would like to try, I opened their look book and this fur gilet immediately jumped out out me! I knew that it would fit in with my slightly grungey A/W looks of skinny ripped knee jeans, shirts and Chelsea boots! I love the way have Damart have styled it over a dress with heels here too!

The gilet also comes in another colourway, taupe and I think it is great quality and good value for £39.

I think the style of the Damart gilet works really well for me which I feel is due to the neckline and length of it. Last year the first one I tried was from New Look and it had a huge collar which totally overwhelmed me. I also bought and returned one from Next that was shorter with a stand-up collar which just didn't look right on me. The last one I purchased was from Zara which was a zip front round neck which didn't suit me either. I think the Damart one works well is as the proportions are just right length wise and of course the neck-line on this one allows me to wear a jacket underneath which was just what I was after.....see here!

Damart gilet (current, here)

Levis vintage denim jacket

Boden raven & grey marl Breton (current, here)

ASOS Ridley busted knee jeans (recent, here)

Clark's Lolly Dawson boots (current, here)

Damart gilet (current here)

Uniqlo check shirt (Spring 2014)

Gap original fit (Summer 2013)

Superga pumps (Summer 2014, still available here)

Damart gilet (current, here)

Zoe Karssen sweater (T K Maxx recently)

H&M jeans (as before)

Kurt Geiger Laurel skate shoes (still available here)

One of the main reasons for me wanting to find a gilet last year was because I had a straight from work Christmas do so I wanted something I could throw over my work uniform of black skinny trousers and black suede dicker boots and add a bit of bling.....job done! I am definitely looking for other ways to dress it up too! I think this will be perfect for after work drinks now with leopard print ballet flats that I can stash in my work tote!

Damart gilet (current, here)

Jaeger black jersey top (ancient)

Gap skinny trousers (old)

KG dicker boots (old)

Marks and Spencer bag (Winter 2013)

So come on tell me....how do you style yours? I have made a couple of purchases that will go perfectly with this.....I've shared a few of them here but I'm not quite ready to share the rest of them just yet! Needless to say I can see myself getting a lot of wear out of this little number over the coming weeks though!

Some outfits to share from the past few days. I wore this outfit the other Saturday to a friends birthday lunch. When I got up the day looked like it was going to be grey but just as I was about to walk out the door the sun came out! Typical! Anyway I had just enough time to change as I had planned to wear this dress all week!

Zara lace dress (Spring 2014)

Kurt Geiger Kad Sandals (still available here)

Balenciaga bag

Now, this is the outfit I thought I was going to be wearing, but look forward to wearing another time!

Mango blazer (Autumn 2013)

Topshop camisole (Summer 2013)

ASOS Ridley busted knee jeans (recent, here)

H&M lace pump (recent, here)

Marks & Spencer bag (Winter 2013)

Zara t-shirt (Spring 2014)

Gap Always Skinny jeans (old)

Kurt Geiger Laurel skate shoes (still available here)

Zara sweatshirt tee (Summer 2013, holiday purchase)

Mango jeans (old)

Kurt Geiger Laurel skate shoes (still available here)

Furla bag (old, via eBay)

Topshop cardy (new purchase, see here;)

Whistles t-shirt (outlet purchase, last year)

Gap Always Skinny jeans (old)

Kurt Geiger Laurel skate shoes (still available here)

Marc Jacobs bag (old)

I would like to thank Damart for sending me the gilet and just to point out that I didn't feel I was under any obligation to write anything about this item but I felt it deserved it! I am very much looking forward to wearing this in the cooler days to come. It has well and truly scratched the fur gilet itch for me!

Be back soon with some of those purchases I mentioned earlier ;0)

As always I love reading and responding to your comments.

Michelle xx

The impulse buy......

that slotted perfectly into to my A/W plan! Thanks to a Uniqlo email notification in my mailbox last Tuesday this fab little Lulu Guinness sweatshirt has found it's way to me! It's a fab statement sweatshirt that works brilliantly with everything on my wishlist.

The Lulu Guiness collaboration with Uniqlo went on sale on last week. It's not like me to be so rash, I normally dither but I purchased immediately. Just as well I did snap it up straight away as it was sold out the next day! There are a few more Lulu Guinness styles, see here. The only other one that really caught my eye was this black, white and red top.....bit of a theme going on here!

The sweatshirts are £19.90 and there are a selection of t-shirts at £12.90. One thing I will say about Uniqlo is that I found their delivery to be super speedy.....I ordered on Tuesday and it was with me on Thursday! That's what I call excellent customer service! Here's a little ensemble of things from my Autumn/Winter plan, to make up a great outfit!

Uniqlo sweatshirt (sold out)

ASOS Ridley ripped knee jeans (current)

Clarks Lolly Dawson boots (current)

Lulu Guinness (current)

You may have noticed from the collage above that I've since become a little obsessed by Lulu Guinness and added another cheeky little addition to the Autumn/Winter stash! I have also purchased this foldaway shopper bag. I managed to score mine on eBay but you can also buy them from House of Fraser.

It folds into this which will go neatly in your handbag. Perfect for those spontaneous acquisitions!

Anyone else have a thing for Lulu Guinness? I love the red lips!

A roundup of what I've been sporting over the past few days! Really enjoying this late Summer sun, it's a chance to get a bit more mileage out of some of my favourite Summer outfits.

Mulberry top (old, factory shop purchase)

Zara jeans (Spring 2013)

Kurt Geiger Madison Epadrilles (here)

Longchamp Planetes bag (here)

Mango top (Spring 2014)

Zara coated chinos (Spring2014)

Birkenstock Arizona's (via Amazon)

Mulberry Dorset tote

Zara top (old)

Gap Always Skinny jeans (old)

Kurt Geiger Madison Espadrilles (here)

Mulberry Dorset tote

Pull and Bear dress

Birkenstock Gizeh's (gifted by my lovely friend Sharon)

Mulberry Bayswater (ancient)

Gap denim jacket (old, via ebay)

H&M maxi dress (Summer 2014)

Birkenstock Gizeh's (gifted by my lovely friend Sharon)

Mulberry Dorset tote

The weather seems to be getting a bit chillier now so it won't be long before we are breaking the Autumn/Winter clothes out!!

As always I love reading and responding to your comments.

Be back soon!

Michelle xx

My Autumn/Winter plan

So here goes with my wish list.....hope it doesn''t bore the socks off you dear readers. I really want to streamline my wardrobe this year so I am starting with basics as I really am only really looking to enhance what I already have. First item on the agenda is a new pair of jeans. Without a doubt my purchase of the year has been a pair of ripped skinnie's which I picked up in H&M for all of £10, with that in mind I researched some new ones and I have narrowed them down to these ASOS Ridley ripped knee jeans. Hopefully they will give the H&M ones a much needed rest!

No wish list would be complete without boots! As I was dashing out of Clark's after the purchase of the dreaded school shoes I spied this Lolly Dawson style. Love the fact that they are totally flat and look fab with super skinny jeans which sit neatly just inside these boots or skinny jeans that fit outside the boots well too. When I was paying for the school shoes, Clark's were good enough to slip a 20% off voucher in the bag so I have already made these mine, I will do a show and tell soon!

Sticking with footwear which as I have mentioned before seems to be my Achilles heel, I've ordered these lace flats from H&M. Another item which will be useful, I was thinking these would look great with skinnies and a blazer should I have the occasion to lunch with the ladies (a few birthdays coming up including mine!) and dress up a bit! I was also thinking they would be fab with my Mango jumpsuit instead of heels and also with my leather look pencil skirt which I am still yet to wear! At £14.99 it would be rude not to partake in a purchase!

I'm in need of a few new tops so I'm starting with a classic Breton. I have more than a few of these but after hearing fellow bloggers and friend's extolling the virtues of the Boden ones I had a little peruse around their website and I loved the look of this little number. I'm going to be pretty strict with my colour palette so this raven and grey marl colourway should be the perfect addition to my collection of Breton's

I think this slouchy boyfriend style cardigan, would work perfectly over the above Breton. This one caught my eye in the window of Topshop. Brilliant for now with a few layers instead of a coat.

I was a huge fan of the shirt and sweater comb last year and so I started my research to find the perfect shirt for this year. Love this red and black from Gap, I think this one will look brilliant with a black round or v-neck sweater....more on those below.

Another style staple I'm looking to update is a denim shirt, my current H&M one is quite stiff and although it has stretch it is still quite rigid so I am looking for a softer version and I have eyed up and decided on this one also from Gap.

More basics as we move onto some knitwear. I am just after a couple of simple v-necks and round necks. I have bought merino from Uniqlo before and have been really pleased with the quality and how well they wash and wear so first up I'm after this grey v-neck.

I'm also after a plain black crew neck, see here.

I am going to wait to get into a store before I purchase these as I want to compare the men's and women's fit after reading Susie So So's post.

Last but not least I think my list would be incomplete without a new coat. This is where I need to reign things in a bit this season as I purchased 5 new coats last year! The one gaping hole I have amongst my coats is a bit of leopard print. I spied this Marks and Spencer Limited Edition coat in store and was immediately enamoured by the cocoon shape.

Love it in real life, I think the colour looks a lot better, a bit more muted than the M&S website would suggest! Thank goodness I have a birthday coming up so that I can justify getting it!

Looking over my list, it is striking me as a tad.......dare I say it...a bit grungy but that's not a bad thing for me!! My favourite look which I discovered late spring was this ensemble of a Superdry leather jacket (courtesy of T K Maxx) Zara cupro T-shirt, the aforementioned H&M ripped skinnies and Kurt Geiger Laurel skate shoes (you can them here with 20% using code KGSEPT20). This outfit has been the inspiration for some of the Autumn/Winter purchases as I felt so comfortable in this.

If I've realised anything since I've been blogging it's better to build on what you've already got! I think I've learnt to buy better as (even with the cheaper high fashion things) I buy more for my actual lifestyle, as in what's suitable to wear on the school run and to do the food shop in.....as on the whole my life doesn't get much more exciting than that! Don't get me wrong I'd love to dress like Victoria Beckham everyday but I just don't have her lifestyle (or budget) and so I'm getting practical! I think when I discovered blogs and Pinterest I tended to buy everything I loved and ended up making a few mistakes because I didn't get the wear out of certain things and would end fed up with them after a season. So now I'm trying to buy more classical basics that go with everything and make my wardrobe work a bit harder for me. So do you have a plan for you Autumn/Winter wardrobe to or is it just me?

So here are just a few of the looks I've been donning over these past few days.....yep the black is already featuring heavily!