wonky karma

Jumper: Huk, Jeans: Uniqlo, Shoes: eBay, Sunnies: Charity Shop

How wonky am I? I really need to invest in a tripod. But yes, wonky karma, after my jubilation last week when I won a Blackberry I was on top of the world. However I got a karmic smashdown at my work xmas party on tuesday when my beloved blinging HTC spent a few hours being kicked around the dance floor. Big fat sadface.
But, anyways, I don't know if they offer it here but I got these jeans from a Uniqlo in Japan and I found a pair that fit around the waist and they took them up for me whilst I waited for no extra charge - cha-ching! Excellent for us shorties. Excellent for the first day of genuine proper sunshine this year in Manchester.

xx

P.S after my first ever wearing of a bit of Primark on this blog I immediately got a whole load of hits...off people googling 'primark'

badass

Jacket: Japan, Hoodie: Primark, Jumper: Huk, Jeans: Topshop, Necklace: Vivienne Westwood, Booooots: Kate Kanzier

Yeah, one pop of the hood and I'm gangsta!
Ouch so my first mention of Primark. I don't wear Primark, pretty much never, I got this hoodie about 3 years ago for a halloween outfit and I'm gonna put it out there that it's the only piece of Primark in my current - and extensive, wardrobe. There's nothing about Primark I like.
When I was younger I used to tube it with my friends over to the Hammersmith branch every Saturday and top up on a bag full of crap which back then genuinely only cost a tenner. Then about 4 years ago I realised I tended to only wear the stuff I got there for a max. of three weeks, the prices had steadily gone up and for me it wasn't worth it. Then you factor in the dodgy ethical practices, the sheer wastefulness of their entire store ethos and the depressingness of the boring tick the box 'fashion' they produce and...ugh. The last thing I bought there was a skirt - again for Halloween and I've regretted it as a waste of money ever since.
I think the real point is I admire and value authenticity and to me that's having an outfit made up of bits of clothing slowly bought from here there and everywhere, and Primark is the antithesis of that.

Brrrap!

xx

family friendly

Jumper: Huk (BB), Bodychain: UO, Playsuit: Vintage, Boots: Vintage, Watch: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Off for an other half family roast dinner tonight so I've gone very family friendly and almost aggressively inoffensive. The jumper is new...and I wasn't supposed to be buying anything new in Februrary EXCEPT I went to a charity races night on Friday and won a blackberry in the raffle! It was amazing, it's so nice just to have something good happen to you out of the blue. But anyways I have a blinging HTC I adore:



so the Blackberry is going straight on eBay which has freed me a little capital which I shall promptly be squandering - keep a look out for the "(BB)" to see what I decide is worth my free monies.

xx

Sshhhhhhh...

Scarf: ?? Your guess is as good as mine, Minimono: Japan, Grey cardi: H&M via the floor at our house party, Silk top: vintage, Jeans: Topshop, Boots: Kate Kanzier

As you can see today's outfit is another variation of the mini-kimono (the minimono), I tend to do that, I get an idea in my head and just want to run with it. I added it to yesterdays outfit as well - post-blog picture time.

Thought of the Day anyone? I was having a read over at I Want You To Know and Kristabel had posted about the crazy number of photos of herself on her computer and asking if people feel silly taking so many photos of themselves - often with a camera perched precariously on various household objects to achieve the desired height (just me? oh well...). I always feel a bit silly and cross my fingers every time that the people in the office across the alley from our sitting room aren't looking. But it's not too bad because this blog is totally secret, the only person who knows about it is the boyf and he's totally sworn to secrecy. BUT this got me thinking, why do I keep it so secret? And I guess the reason is I don't really feel worth having a self style blog, I'm not some amazingly natty dresser and my photos aren't wacky out there photoshoot style affairs. But I persist because I like this type of blog on other people. I like seeing how normal people get dressed everyday. Um, so there. I guess.
I wonder what the blogger secrecy rate is like?

xx

early mornings

Not an early morning person. This jumper is my ultimate fall back, it's just comfy and casual and that's just how I like it. I think at heart everyone loves a comfy jumper, a comfer if you will. What do you reckon, does everyone secretly hide their love and pretend their favourite thing is some uber-stylish hat or something?

Jacket: Korea, Jumper: H&M, Velvet Playsuit: New Look, Shoes: Kate Kanzier

xx

like a japanese cowboy

I had 'Rhinestone Cowboy' going through my head the whole of this morning, except with 'Japanese' inserted. The mini-kimono jacket I got from an amazing used kimono market in Kyoto. Best market EVER. This was only about £3. Brill.

Jacket: Japan, Dress: somewhere in Korea, Socks: Pretty Polly, Boots: Vintage off my mum, necklace: topshop

xx

Summer

Now, when I look at these shoes, it's like a little sailor pops up in my head and goes, 'Hey Fran! It's summer already, want to pop on a stripy top and come out on my boat?' I feel just that little bit happier. My house mate took one look at them and went 'Fran, they look really remedial', but what does she know, she's a zoologist.

Shoes: £5 on eBay, but originally Barratts

xx

yeee-haw

That's pre and post-coatage because finally the weather is perking up enough I'm not constantly be-parka-ed. Few of my golden oldies here, the boots my mum gave me years ago when cowboy boots were last 'in' and they're amazing.

The bag is commonly known as my 'naked ladies' bag because when you look closer:



Sweeeeeet. I found it in Traid in Hammersmith yonks ago and have loved it ever since, even though it's really getting grubby. Bizarrely enough I think it started life as a give-away because the press studs have the Kerastase 'K' logo on them.

And finally,



The 'struggle' necklace. I found it going for about a quid on some random jewellery stall in China, all by itself. I like to think some Chinese girl out there was trying to find an English name that meant something like 'hope through adversity', or 'to strive is wonderful' but through the power of Google Translate ended up with 'struggle' (This isn't me being horribly patronizing or anything, I've taught kids in China called Magic, Tiger, Happy, Onion etc. They have a healthy disrespect for our language norms).

Gosh what a lot of chat. Sorry about my face, when I smile I look like some sort of loopy clown.

Bag: Traid, jacket: Japan somewhere, Jumper: Topman, Belt: off my mum, Maxi-dress as mini-skirt (you don't see that often): China, socks: Pretty Polly (from Superdrug of all places) and boots: off my mum.

xx

here and there

No full length today because I kept on looking like some big headed wierdo. Probably because I do have a very large head. A bit of a TBA Day rehash today, long shirts under jumpers might just become my new 'thing', even though I don't normally have a 'thing' maybe its time for me to get a 'thing'. My 'thing' for today has been the awesome might of the two day hangover (those under 23, just you wait) and the subsequent fuzzyness of being.

shirt: Huk, Jumper: Coast (from me mum), jeans: Topshop, Shoes: Kate Kanzier

xx

see through

Todays top is actually navy blue - not that you'd know it from the photo. This was last nights going out outfit, and that I haven't managed to post till eleven at night probably says something about how that night went. The top is from what is fast becoming my favourite little shop in Manchester, Huk, it looks a bit crappy from the outside and forever has a sale on, but as I found out yesterday all the stuff is imported from China which is probably why I like it so much and it means the stuff tends to be pretty cheap - awesome.

top: Huk, bodychain: UO, jeggings: H&M, boots: TK Maxx

xx

Not such a great idea

So it seems to be that time of year, post-sales, pre-spring where fashion bloggers a-plenty are considering their last year or so of purchases, having wardrobe revamps and generally trying to work out how they stand vis-a-vie their clothes.

I've been reading all these blogs, blissful in my own certainty that a) My wardrobe has no trouble fitting all my stuff in, and b) I've hardly spent anything on clothes recently. In fact I was so sure of it I thought I'd try a little experiment. It's been about six months since I came back from China so I reckoned I could gather together all the clothes I've acquired since then easy-as and bask in my own wonderfulness of how controlled my buying has been.

So this came as a bit of a shock....



Even this..



Didn't really help.

Now this isn't even the first time this has happened to me. So luckily I've come up with a few formulas for dealing with this.

Firstly this helped a little:



To the right: clothes and shoes I have bought, to the left: clothes and shoes that have been given to me/found/otherwise procured. I'd say that brings the total down quite nicely.

Out of a total of 33 items, 11 or 1/3 or even 33% I didn't spent money on - get in.

Next, 'quality vs. quantity' It's generally agreed that things that are made out of real silk/leather/wool will last you. So a quick rummage tells me that out of a possible 33 items, 16 are polyester/viscose etc. (the left) and 17 are nice stuff (the right).



I honestly thought that would go more in my favour, I never buy anything I consider to look cheap. I think we can thank Kate Kanzier and my penchant for pale coloured silks for swinging that one into the safe zone.

So, quality is at 51.5%

Encouragingly only 5 of the 17 'real' items, so 29.4%, are ones that were bought for me. So I buy nicer stuff for me than other people do - interesting.

Price of course is the biggie here, my bizarrely accurate memory comes in useful here. The average cost of each item was a gorgeous

£16

The beige ASOS wedges came in top at an eye watering £50, while a New Look not-velvet playsuit bought in the sale was a glorious £3. Whilst I feel it would be uncharitable to give precise numbers a quick adding up of the 'otherwise acquired' pile reveals a far more generous figure - wehay!

So overall I don't feel too bad about that, although definitely not as smug as I thought I might.
Welcome to the inside of my head.

xx

Rabbits and a TBA day

Well I say 'day' I'm just wearing my TBA shirt because it's amazing - check out the lattice collar. Annoyingly the photo doesn't really show that the jumper is navy and the trousers are grey.

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the year of the Rabbit - my year! Which I thought was a good thing till my teacher informed me it's not. Apparently chances are I'll have a challenging year. Figures.

Hopefully be moving beyond my bedroom this weekend so watch this space

Blue jumper: H&M, shirt: TBA (fanks to the bf), jeans: Topshop, brogues: Kate Kanzier, watch: Marc by Marc Jacobs

xx

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Orion's Belt

So, big apology for the strangely combative stance/expression, my camera was not playing ball this morning. The universe print skirt was my big news of yesterday, I got it in the Oasis sale for a £9, and it's actually a maxi dress but I don't think I'll be wearing that much of it like that. It's a halter neck so a bit too cleavage-y and something about a halter neck maxi dress is just too' someone's mum at a BBQ'. I love it as a skirt though, I'm a massive fan of prints and it's a bit mental and looks like tie-dye.

Oh and the title, that refers to the necklace, I kept with the universe theme and popped on my VW Orb because I've had numerous people tell me it looks like the 'universe' that's attached to the cats collar in Men in Black.

Necklace: Vivienne Westwood, Jumper; housemates, Dress as Skirt: Oasis, Boots: TKMaxx

xx

Not wine

I bought this lipstick at the weekend on a bit of a whim. It's odd I've never really worn lipstick before, basically because I've got pretty bad skin and I've always somehow felt anyone can wear eyeliner/eyeshadow/mascara etc but that for lipstick you have to have perfect skin - like one of the old school screen sirens or something. That and putting more red on my face seemed like a bad idea. But then I bought this, wore it on Saturday night and it was amazing and got much public acclaim.

The outfit is the first of my weeks worth, as with everyone else it seems I've just had a wardrobe reshuffle, and one of my new ideas was to make up outfits out of the stuff I was reshuffling whilst I was chilled out and had the time - unlike most mornings. So I now have 5 hangers with outfits-in-waiting which is quite exciting. Fingers crossed they all work out!

Oh yeah and today I tried next to the window in the mirror....not 100% successful.

Lipstick; Revlon Matt in Wine Not, shirt: China, bodychain: UO, trousers; H&M

xx