New Look Lust List

Happy sunday everyone! I've had ever such a busy weekend - yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited down to The Guardian offices for a masterclass day on how to break into the fashion industries (more on that in a new post soon!) so today I've mainly been catching up with Homemaker work and doing some online window shopping. My eye has been particularly focused on New Look - my brother bought me a £20 giftcard for christmas that I've not spent yet, so I think a trip to town is in order. 

Whilst perusing their site, I came up with this little selection of beauties under £20 (or a cheeky bit over, but a couple of pounds to make up the difference never hurt) and it seems my love of pastel isn't going away any time soon. I love making this moodboard but it didn't half make me pine for summer! I particularly love the crochet top, brown sandals and the longline floral blouse, perfect for adventures. 

What do you think I should buy? I've also got a £10 Boots voucher to spend, so if anyone has some beauty advice, let me know...

Kilo Sale Haul Part 2 - Revival and Working Class Hero Vintage, Huddersfield

I know what you're thinking - how many clothes can this girl buy? But when your university project is a vintage fashion magazine AND there are so many pretty things to be had for next to nothing, what am I to do? I doubt ill be needing to shop again this side of Christmas.

After all the excitement of Judy's Vintage Kilo on the Thursday, Friday yielded another treasure trove in my very own Huddersfield courtesy of my favourite local vintage shops, Revival and Working Class Hero.

Whilst their sale wasn't quite as grand or as big as Judy's (and some of the items were old high street stock rather than 'true' vintage), simply held on trestle tables in the Byram Arcade (Huddersfield's coolest hotspot), there were plenty of items in amazing condition and good sizes, which is always a rarity at kilo or vintage sales. Even better, these guys were charging £5 a kilo, meaning pretty much any light-ish item was the equivalent of £1! I for one have never seen a vintage sale this cheap.

So what did I buy, I hear you cry? Well, for an outrageously lowly £10.60, I bagged the following...

H&M Dress - I wasn't sure on this when a friend first held it up, thinking it might be a bit mumsy, but after getting it home and trying it on, I'm so glad I added it to my bag. The fabric is wonderfully thick for a H&M item and the pattern is far less garish than it looks in this photo. Best of all, the bodice fits perfectly and and the skirt is a decent enough length that I think this would look really nice for a formal event.

'Housewife' cotton dress - You know when you find a dress type and shape that works for you so you just keep buying the same thing over and over again in various patterns? Well this is a typical Jenessa dress! I have a million and one simple cotton tea dresses like this that I've bought from vintage fairs, but my wardrobe was well in need of some green and I love the pattern. Like my other dresses in this style, it's a wee bit long so I will probably lop it off at the knee and make a matching bow out of the spare fabric.

Lilac Cardigan - A proper granny classic! I bought a similar cardi off ebay a while ago that I was planning on using for a tutorial, but when it came I ended up loving it so much that I kept it plain. So finding this ones means I can do my old D.I.Y idea after all! This one is a lot thicker and stretchier than my old one anyway which was already beginning to get a little baggy around the sleeves. It looks really nice just thrown over a dress or a plain white blouse.

Miss Selfridge Pearl Collared Jumper - Probably my favourite buy from across the two days (even though it's not really vintage), I've barely taken this jumper off. I'm even wearing it now as I type. I rarely wear black but it matches with my black gingham Judy's dress perfectly for some subtle schoolgirl chic. The pearls are well stitched which is pretty rare in these sorts of items so I'm hoping they survive the wash!

Floral Skirt - It looks a bit droopy and sorry for itself in this picture, but this skirt is a lovely silky material. I was really drawn to its wintery colours and hope to team it with a simple vest, fluffy cardigan, thick tights and DM boots this winter.

Denim Skater Skirt - Considering I have been trying to find a skater skirt that isn't too damn short for ages, I was thrilled to find this one in  heavy denim. It'll need a few inches lopping off it, but it has a great shape and the fabric is immaculate, a definitely rarity for vintage denim. Plus, it has pockets - definite bonus!

Scarf - This was a bit of an impulse addition, but I thought the simple colour was a safe investment for the upcoming months. It's in the same felty fabric as my red winter coat, so hopefully the two will go quite nicely together for a casual winter look.

Pretty crazy right? Hopefully now that this first one was such a success, both stores will think of doing another one - my bank balance certainly hopes so! Even if they don't, both shops have some amazing full price stock that I'm constantly lusting over, and which you can check out at the links below.

http://www.revivalvintage.co.uk/

http://www.wchvintage.com/

Do you like to shop vintage?

Market Bargain: Jack Wills Dress

When I started this blog, I thought it would be a fun place to share all my bargain finds, crafty tutorials and things that I buy. However, I really struggle with spending money without feeling guilty and sometimes I forget to put little purchases up here because it reminds me how I'm meant to be saving! I am definitely a thrifty blogger and a girly girl when it comes to clothes, and I have very little other indulgences in my student budget, so maybe I should just stop beating myself up and accept that I deserve a little treat every now and then.

My latest dress bargain actually happened a few months ago but I forgot to put it up here - that still counts as new right? Basically, I have a wonderful magpie of a boyfriend who has been trained into recognising a 'Jenessa' dress when he sees one, and also happens to be pretty darn thoughtful. I was sleeping away at our student house when he came home from work and woke me up with a surprise that he had bought me from Huddersfield market, which turned out to be this -

Straight away it was right up my street- floaty with a lace ruffle lining, a delicate floral pattern and a good, thick fabric. However, when I noticed that the label stated Jack Wills I turned a little bit pale and had to ask Kev how much he paid for it. With a beaming smile that knows my bargain loving way a little too well, he announced "£7!"

SEVEN POUNDS! A quick hunt of ebay found this dress, which turned out to be a Jack Wills 'mornier' print to be selling for just over £50, way nearer to its actual original retail price. Although I have always admired Jack Wills womenswear I have only ever been able to afford a polo shirt from them, so having one of their dresses is just delightful. I feel very british!

So, the moral of the story... don't underestimate your local market! And secondly, don't be afraid to take your boyfriend shopping.

Matalan's Dress Event

Afternoon bloggers! Just thought I'd give you all a heads up about a cheeky little sale that is going on at Matalan at the moment - The £5 event! Who doesn't love a bargain, even more when it's dress shaped? Matalan seems to get a bad rep from what I've seen, perceived as a slightly older-fashioned brand, but I've found them recently to be on top form, selling classic, well made pieces at very reasonable prices.

I had an amazing day yesterday in Leeds with a very exciting business meeting (that I hope I can tell you all about very soon!) so decided to treat myself on the way home. I've been wanting one of the renowned Topshop Speckle Dresses for ages, you know the one - 

Very nice, and perfect for dressed down days, but a bit plain for me to spend £26.00 on, even now it's been discounted to £20 in the sale. T-Shirt dresses are a really versatile piece to have in your wardrobe - they're breezy, can be dressed up or down, and don't clash with ANYTHING. Luckily, Matalan's £5 event included their own version of the dress, as seen here - 

As you can see, the different in minimal - a slightly lighter colour, and a longer hem. The Matalan fabric actually has a much softer finish and the longer hem just hits my knee, rather than Topshop's bum-skimming version.

So all in all, a bargaineous result! I'm in the midst of an ebay clearout at the moment as I attempt to save some money over summer, so won't be spending much on clothes, but who can resist a little grey dress?

Here are some of the other dresses in Matalans £5 event, on until Sunday. Get shopping! 

Primark's Yellow Laced Wonder - The one that almost got away

Readers, I have a confession to make. When I was in Manchester for Judy's Affordable Kilo Sale a few weeks back, I have to admit that vintage clothes were not the only thing I fell in love with. In fact, I started an infatuation with a dress from a store about as non-vintage as you can get. Behold, ladies and gentlemen, for I give you Primark's yellow laced wonder.

I mean really, how was I not supposed to buy this? It has a collar, a swirly skirt, polka dots... The second I tried it on the mahoosive Manchester in Primark I knew this was THE dress for my friends sisters graduation party next month. Fitted perfectly across the chest, skirt was a decent length and I felt like I was 5 years old again and going to a tea party.

 I think we can all agree that yellow is not for the faint-hearted and I was initially worried that wasn't doing my mixed race skin tone any favours. Having already spent £20 at the vintage fair, I was beginning to feel a little naughty - I know fashion bloggers do a lot of 'haul' posts but I for one feel somewhat guilty about spending more than a certain amount on clothes in one day. This dress was £22 - nothing bank breaking but pretty top of the range for Primark. So, I put it back on the rail, got the train home and lived in instant regret for two weeks.

In the fortnight that followed, I'm pretty sure my boyfriend wanted to dump me for all the times he'd look across the sofa and i'd be frantically searching for this dress on the eBay app. It made no appearance in the Huddersfield store, nor in my hometown store of Stevenage (yes, I rang my mum and made her go look). It seemed the yellow wonder was going to be my very own one that got away- I couldn't really justify the tenner of train far back to Manchester to get one what with rent and all the other boring expenses of being a student in between loan dates.

But result! Anyone who knows me knows that I am a music journalist by trade, and was lucky enough to get a press pass for Parklife festival through my other blog, safetyinsound.com. Not only was I delighted by a free festival, I had an excuse to go back to Manchester!

And so, this happened.

I am so, so glad I bought this dress. Sure, I can't imagine it is the most popular of items due to its boldness and will probably end up in the £5 sale in a few weeks, but who cares? Sometimes, you just gotta have it.

New Look Nearly Buy - Pinafore

Hello friends! Thought I'd update you on my latest purchase, or nearly purchase. A favourite past time of mine is trawling the online sales of  High Street brands, and I nearly keeled over in shock when I spotted this coral number on New Look's website for a lowly £6.00.

As we all know Pinafore's are well and truly in vogue, and considering that my wardrobe is in desperate need of some summer colour injection, I was tapping my card details in before you could say overdraft. I've never bought from New Look online before, but I can report that the transaction was pleasantly simple and postage was only £3.95, which is quite decent next to it's competitors.

My item took a week to arrive, firmly within their guidelines. So far so good. I unwrapped it eagerly, but to my dismay, the item was simply not my description of coral. In fact, it was a full on red! Considering my love of pastels and subtle shades this was a little disappointing because it really did look more like a pinky orange online. Secondly, the dress was massive! I'm normally a size 12 but went with a 14 because it was the nearest size in stock, and I find that New Look clothes sometimes come up a little small. But the waistband turned out to be hugely gappy on me, giving the pinafore more of a dinner ladies apron feel rather than an on-trend summer winner. Simply not cool, it had to go.

This however, is where New Look came into their own, Despite purchasing the item online, I was able to claim a full refund in store, and was treated really politely without any of the suspicion or accusation you sometimes get when trying to return clothes in a shop. Though this item might not have been quite right for me, the actual quality of the fabric was faultless and I certainly wouldn't be put off buying things from them in the future. I guess the moral of the story is just to try before you buy- maybe if I had verified my perception of 'coral' in the store things might have been a little different...

Have you bought anything online recently?