What To Wear To Festivals This Year.

I have a wee confession to make (nothing to do with port-a-loos, don’t worry). I’m not actually going to a proper camping/I-haven’t-washed-for-five-days festival this year. I’m traditionally a HUGE Glastonbury goer and I’ve been going since the tender age of 15. However, this year has been mega expensive from getting the crib with Claire and generally being a mad person (budget, WHAT BUDGET), so I simply couldn’t afford to fork out £200 for a fezzie.

Nevertheless, I am going to the Friday at Wireless Festival (and staying at a hotel in Shoreditch, so not quite true to the festival roots) and I feel like this is still a great excuse to get a new outfit. The grand thing with any festival, even one in the middle of London, is that you can go a bit wild in terms of what to wear. Fun headwear, cute day dresses, a bit of glitter and even a bit of naughty fringing never go amiss, so it really is time for me to start planning properly. But what festival outfits are appropriate this year and what trends should we be thinking about?

I meant to do this as more of a ‘wishlist’ post but then got a bit carried away as usual, so for your viewing pleasure I have put together a few outfit options for every festival scenario. SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, here are some ideas of what to wear to festivals this year.

For the perfect weather festival:

Ever the optimist, I put this one at the top of the list. This is for the festival we all dream of; perfect weather, pints of cider and dancing about in the sunshine. For those of us who are lucky to get a weekend with good weather, the festival fashion world is your oyster. This is what I would wear for a warm and sunny weekend. Some might say that a light blue summer dress is the last thing you’d want at a festival (grass stains, anyone?) but to you I say WHERE IS YOUR SENSE OF ADVENTURE AND/OR BOTTLE OF VANISH.

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1. Swing Dress from Missguided. 2. Wayfarer Sunglasses from Topshop. 3. Tangerine Nail Paint from Barry M. 4. Floral Garland Headband from Asos. 5. Converse from Asos.

For when things get muddy:

Let’s be honest. The likelihood of getting a weekend of blue skies here in Ye Olde England is pretty much nothing so it’s better to be prepared than caught unawares. Rain ruins EVERYTHING, so these are my essentials to keep everything in tact when the weather turns sour. The absolute worst is when it’s rainy, humid and we all end up looking like Monica on Friends so hair serum is at the top of the list! I’m also absolutely in love with this neon mac. LOVE.
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1. Neon Mac from Topshop. 2. Dungarees from Boohoo.com. 3. Long Sleeve Crop Top from Topshop. 4. Hunter Wellies from Asos. 5. John Frieda Frizz-Ease from Boots.

For the festival in the city:

This is perhaps my biggest conundrum. What on earth do you wear to a festival where there is little or no grass involved? WHERE ARE THE COWS? WILL THERE BE MUD? DO I NEED WELLINGTON BOOTS? After a lot of thinking and lying down after all the fashion exertion, this is the outfit I have come up with. I think that you can get away with being a bit dressier if you’re not rolling around in a field and you don’t need to think about inappropriate festival shoes if you’re in a city. I’m loving the contrast between pastels and darker colours at the mo!

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1. High Neck Skater Dress from Missguided. 2. Pork Pie Hat from Topshop. 3. Black Sandals from Zara. 4. Statement Necklace from Asos. 5. Plum Lipstick from Superdrug. 

 

For the festival abroad:

YOU LUCKY THANGS. For anyone heading to Benicàssim, Tomorrowland and other genuinely exciting festival abroad, I hate you and we are no longer best pals. Thinking about what to wear to a festival abroad can sometimes mean taking into account long bus journeys, plane limits and what you can comfortably carry. But you also have to be aware that it is going to be HOT and fuelled with cheap alcohol, so this is my take on what to wear to a festival abroad. Expect maxi dresses and bikinis!

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1. Neon Bikini from Missguided. 2. Round Sunglasses from Topshop. 3. Sandals from River Island. 4. Denim Skater Skirt from Miss Selfridge. 5. Hand Harness from Boohoo.com. 

So, this are just a few of my festival favourites on the highstreet at the moment! What do you all think?

What to Wear: My Night Out Wishlist.

I’m currently having a terrible panic that my entire wardrobe is terrible and that if I don’t invest in some new clothes quickly my whole life will become meaningless. Some might say this is slightly over-reactive but to them I say, NAY YOU SIMPLY DON’T UNDERSTAND.

Backing up ever so slightly, I haven’t bought many new clothes of late because I was saving up for my big move from Cheshire to Coventry. Now that I have my lovely new job, a wonderful (if a bit broken and untidy) house with Claire and have finally got my life together, I have a bit of extra cash to play with. I say a bit, I don’t really have any but I feel like a baller and what is a baller without a good wardrobe?

Next week, we are having some of our university pals to stay. The story is quite tragic, mostly because my old housemate is having to move back to Dubai and we may never see her again, sob. So we’re having a bit of a hoorah at our house to say farewell and also to catch up after the long and upsetting months we have been apart. As you can tell, it is an important occasion that will definitely be fuelled by wine, tequila and a lot of cry hugging. Partly because my wardrobe is in such a pathetic state and also because it’s an excuse to buy something new, I’ve been all organised and decided to plan a few options of what to wear. I’m loving the UK fashion trends at the moment, so it’s going to be an excellent time to invest in a few key staples.

I’ve been inspired by a lot of fashion and beauty blogs that have been featuring neon pieces recently, so I think this is the main trend I’m going for when I eventually go shopping. Unfortunately, I’m having to coordinate with Claire who’s going for a neon crop top and denim skater skirt so I’m a bit limited (she’s a selfish one, isn’t she). As you might know (if you’d read my fashion tragedy post), I bought these New Look platform sandals last week and managed to break them within an hour of wearing. I’m hoping to replace them this weekend so they are my shoes of choice while I’m looking for outfits!

Screen Shot 2013-06-06 at 13.58.31Floral Midi Skirt: Missguided.  White Cropped Tshirt: Topshop.  Gold Chain: Topshop.  Yellow Nail Varnish: Barry M.  Platform Sandals: New Look.

Screen Shot 2013-06-06 at 14.28.27Printed Shorts: Boohoo.  Gold Earrings: Topshop.  Pink Lipstick: Topshop.  Shoulder Cutout Body: Missguided.  Platform Sandals: New Look.

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Monochrome Skater Dress: Missguided.  Neon Satchel: H&M.  Geometric Earrings: Topshop.  Platform Sandals: New Look.  Black Lipstick: Barry M.

So, what do you all think? Any favourites? I’ve officially got a week before the girls come over so it’s definitely time to start planning and buying!

 

2013 Bikinis: Best on the UK High Street

It is with a slightly heavy heart that I sit down to write this post, and I want you all to know that it’s only because of my dedication to this here fashion blog that I am even bothering to write it. For today I am writing a post on the best bikinis for holidays this summer – AND I AM NOT EVEN GOING ON HOLIDAY MYSELF.

I’ve been on girls’ holidays every summer for around the last five years, but saving to move into my new house this year has meant that a holiday is firmly off the cards. Especially seeing as I’m now 22 so would have had to go somewhere respectable that doesn’t do a fishbowl, two cocktails and a round of shots for a fiver (oh Magalluf you will always have a special, though tacky, place in my heart).

So, no hot holiday this year means no bikini shopping. But, like the trooper I am, I’ve scoured the web to track down some of the best swimwear available on the high street right now. THE THINGS I DO FOR LOVE, EH?

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Asos Bikini / Topshop Bikini / River Island Bikini @ Asos

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Topshop Bikini / New Look Bikini / Missguided Bikini

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New Look Bikini / Boohoo Bikini / Forever 21 Bikini

Well, this has thoroughly depressed me.

Outfits of the Day: Double Denim & Summer Pastels

HEY THERE HELLO. This is just going to be a quick little Outfit of the Day post. It is, in fact, our first proper OOTD entry that hasn’t involved mirror snaps or pictures where we are happily obscuring our faces. I would like to apologise for a few things:

• The quality of the photos. We are finally going to start using a proper camera (and a tripod – look how serious we have become) so these will improve!
• My awkward photo face. I am awful at having my photo taken, I usually end up doing a creepy smile that is most often found on the faces of sex offenders on Crimewatch. Again, I think that the tripod and practice will make this better over time.
Our messy floor – no real excuse there though, I’m afraid. We just messy.

Claire

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Lace Body: Topshop
Vest: Primark
Gold chain: eBay
Watch: Casio
Lavendar skinny jeans: Primark
Shoes: Converse

I decided to wear quite a summery-coloured outfit today, possibly as a reaction to wearing all black yesterday and nearly boiling in the heat. Before, I never would have dreamed of wearing a pastel pair of jeans as I was convinced they would be the least flattering thing for my shape ever. As you can see, I was incredibly correct about this. BUT I’m going through a new phase where I’m trying to embrace my natural body shape and so getting The Hips (epic enough to deserve capital letters) out in lavender is now something I am just rolling with.

Lauren

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Blouse: Missguided
Denim shirt: Primark
Jeans: Topshop
Shoes: New Look

We recently published a post all about double denim where we asked whether you dared to do it. Well, Lauren dared. She says this was a result of me telling her we needed to do an OOTD post and her panicking with the need to wear something interesting – BUT I think it works marvelously. Fun fact: these glittery pumps proceeded to give Lauren huge blisters on our way into work, causing her to stop off and wear her bright (and I mean BRIGHT) pink gym trainers for the rest of the journey. Of course I didn’t laugh. Of course.

 

The Young British Designers Event at RBH.

Yesterday, Claire and I (as well as our chauffeur, I mean boss, Gary) had the brilliant opportunity of heading over to RBH for the presentation event of Young British Designers. RBH is a creative agency based in the Midlands who have worked in connection with YBD since its launch in 2010. For those who don’t know (where have you been?!), YBD is all about championing the many talents of young designers in Britain and showing off collections from emerging British fashion designers.

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And what a day we had! After sneakily re-applying makeup in the toilets at work and choking the office with Black XS, we were off with our really cool Perspex invites firmly in hand. Even though we didn’t win the YBD outfit competition, Claire’s loud ‘AH, GO ON THEN’ when we were offered a glass of champagne got the event of to a great start. We mooched about for a bit and met some lovely people before legging it upstairs to where the clothes were. I have about three words to say about this: beautiful neon bags.

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There was a great mix of stuff from last season as well as current spring/summer pieces. My personal favourites were the spring/summer collection of shoes and bags. OH MY GAHD, I nearly died with love for a pair of wedges that had neon straps. I may have spent slightly too long staring at them with love and adoration, stroking them and declaring that I will never love like this again. I didn’t actually stroke them; I’m not a mad person. I am a young professional who can behave in a classy and sophisticated way and not drop cupcakes on the floor. ANYWAY, Claire’s personal fave of the day was a blue box bag and had she bought it, I’d have stolen it and claimed that the stray cat we occasionally let into our house (fondly named Snoop Catt) must have eaten it. Unfortunately, we were too poor to make any purchases (darn you payday, how dare you come a day late) but Gary bought a lovely bag for his mum.

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Shop the Young British Designers collections here

After having a browse of the collections, we headed to the cocktail bar for a mojito or five and had a play with the tweet mirror (which was AWESOME, by the way). There were a couple of talks as well, one by RBH’s Debra Hepburn and one by Beverley Nielson. Beverly heads up the Birmingham Made Me Expo, which is really awesome and you should all check out. She’s also worked at Vogue in New York so all in all, a very interesting person.

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For those who are interested, I wore a snake print midi dress from Missguided, my trusty black leather jacket from Miss Selfridge and a pair of teal heels. Claire went for a navy midi dress from Topshop, a chunky gold necklace and Kurt Geiger heels.

It was a fabulous day and we’re very excited for what’s to come with YBD.

So, big thank you to RBH (and the green bow-tied mixologists, of course).