It's Christmas tomorrow!

Because it's Christmas Eve I felt I needed to celebrate this with a Christmas related post and some Christmas related outfits. Christmas is the best time to dress up and it gives you the excuse to wear sparkly tights or a really christmassy dress which you wouldn't normally wear for the other 364 days of the year. So here are a few mini collection/outfits I've created to inspire you....

 Jacket (Republic - £20), tights (Asos - £10), dress (Malene Birger - £54), earrings (Herve Van der Straeten - £390), bracelet (Asos - £12), shoes (Topshop - £15)

 

 Skirt and shoes (image from Pinterest), top (Diane Von Furstenburg - £518), tights (Asos - £10), necklace (Topshop - £22.50)

Jacket (Topshop - £50), top (Dorothy Perkins - £20), leggings (Topshop - £25), bag (Topshop - £20), shoes (Steve Madden)

Jacket (Topshop - £35), dress (Avenue 32 - £555), skirt (Acne - £280), shoes (Nicholas Kirkwood), top (Dorothy Perkins - £20) 

 

 Skirt (Fausto Puglisi - £1256), top (Peter Pilotto - £729), shoes (Miu Miu - £590), skirt (Topshop - £70)

Below: suit, shoes and tartan jacket (images from Pinterest), top (Topman - £25)



Time to dress up...

Last night I went out to a chirstmas party (only 4 days to go!) with some friends. It was a chance to dress up so here are our outfits for the evening....

 This was my dress. It used to be a maxi length dress but I cut off the top and added sleeve holes into it to create this. I'm also wearing a belt I made from some curtain material, a necklace from River Island (see previous post) and my customised heels from New Look.

Snapshot

I was just looking through some of my photos I took while experimenting with my new camera and thought these were pretty cool...

 These three I took with a really slow shutterspeed. I was in the car at the time (on the way to the cinema to see In Time - which is actually a really good film by the way) and focused the camera onto the lights on the road and on the cars surrounding. It was
dark so it created a really interesting effect with the lights.

 A really simple photo but still as effetive. The black and white looks much better than in colour.

 Another one experimenting with shutter speed. If you look at the image larger you can see that it almost looks like the feet are moving and I liked the way that a still photo could capture a sense of movement.

 In this one I was just experimenting with lighting and changing the aperture and light intensity. I like the way that the white light covers most of the face so that it is highlighted and contrasts with the clothes.

 In this one I set the camera on timer, the shutterspeed on a slow setting and twisted round. I really like how this turned out and the shapes it created.

 This one is taken of the lights inside the car. I really love the colours in this.

One of my favourite photos here. Mainly because the orange lights just highlight the whole theme of technology and the future. It just makes the whole photo so much more interesting.

Rings and things

I found these two images recently that inspired me to write this post. I love the photography in both of them and the way that each highlights the jewellery as the main feature. Often in fashion photos you look at the clothes or the model so it's unusual to find photos like these. The rings below are really cool and it reminds me that I need more for myself! 

I really love this look (above). I think what's great about it is that the shirt is very masculine but the outfit is made more feminine by the necklaces and the pearls. It also has a very antique feel.

 I currently only have 2 rings (one from New Look and one from Topshop), though I love them both! My favourite kind of jewellery at the moment is gold - anything that's gold and has a edgy kind of feel is great. The great thing is that it can go with anything - literally anything!

My new necklace (River Island). I bought it just the other day but haven't actually worn it yet. It's such a statement necklace I wanted the first time I wore it to be a special occasion where I dress up so I'm planning to wear it to the school's christmas party. I really love how this looks with the shirt and collar in these photos .

 I bought this necklace while on holiday in Egypt. It's more of a summer necklace so I haven't worn it much recently but it's definitely coming out when it get's to spring (at least).

 My big collection of beaded/pearl necklaces. Most of these I've acquired from my mum, grandma etc. Although I did make the blue one. I always seem to have at least one of these on every day.

This one I also bought on holiday. I used to wear it all the time but don't wear it as much now. I really love the colour though since it stands out so much.

The gold necklace here I literally wear all of the time. It's so useful to just throw on and can instantly make an outfit look better. I got it ages ago (I can't even remember where from - that's an unusual occurence!) and it is actually falling apart slightly but I'm not going to throw it away!

The second one was a present from a friend.  

Two of my favourite bracelets here. The white one was bought on holiday and the silver is actually one of those clever bracelet things. You can change it's shape and it can be a necklace or a bracelet or whatever you want. It used to be my mum's but she didn't want it anymore.

 I've collected this assortment of bangles throughout my whole life and they're from various differnet places. I don't tend to wear bangles too much because they make a lot of noise (and it can be quite annoying walking around and everytime you lift your arm it makes a noise) but I really should wear them more.

Although it sound crazy this is actually a candle holder (or some kind of thing that goes around the candle?). It actually looks like a proper bracelet and it's carrying on my theme of gold so that's always good!

Who doesn't love a bit of velvet?

I think eveyone gets to this time of year and starts to feel the need to own something velvet (or it could just be me!). I've come to the conclusion it's something to do with Christmas and the fact that it's freezing outside (so so cold today). Velvet just seems very warm and comforting and it's definitely nice to wear. It's a perfect fabric for a Christmas party dress and is a stand out material that doesn't need to be overcomplicated. The type of dresses that I really love at the moment are velvet (deep blue, purple and red are obvious choices) with lacy collars and cuffs - I really want to make one of these but by the time I get round to it, Christmas will probably have been and passed.

 Asos - £33.50

 Topshop - £45

I love this dress so much!

 Topshop - £85

I saw these in the shop the other day and fell in love with them
instantly. They'd make a great birthday present (hint hint!)

 Topshop - £95

I love the galaxy print on this.

 Asos - £150

Some of the best shoes in the world! They'd be great for the summer.

 Alexander McQueen - £2330

 This is a vintage dress I found on the internet - this is the kind of thing I mean with the lace. Most of my images come from Pinterest which is a great place to collect and organise pictures.

Marc Jacobs

This is a really nice dress. It's unusual to use yellow velvet since it's not the typical colour used but it works really well here and creates different variations in light and tone which makes it quite interesting.



Nicholas Kirkwood - £680

Amazing. Enough said.



I love this image.



New Look - Christmas present

My very own velvet jacket. This is actually the only piece of velvet I own. I don't tend to wear it much since the shoulders are very large but I still love it.



Velvet leggings are the best!