Saturday at LFW

I was incredibly lucky this weekend and had the opportunity to go to London Fashion week on Saturday. Having spent so many seasons wistfully dreaming of getting the chance to go for myself, I spent half the day pinching myself to check I was still in reality!

With LFW drawing to a close today, and the fashionistas jetting off to Paris for next week’s schedule, I thought I would share with you a glimpse of my day!

Most of the day was spend fashion-watching. There were some amazing outfits walking around. From the extraordinary to the chicest of chic, LFW was definitely the heart of the city’s style this week. We also had the chance to look round all of the exhibitions. Sister by Sibling was by far my favourite collection. Anything with a bit of Neon and I'm on board! We caught a glimpse of the Todd Lynn models and I pretty much fell in love with the pink dress below. Maxi, structured and a hint of peplum detail? Sold.

Topshop Dreaming

So, as you will be aware from this week’s instaweek post, myself and Sarah have just spent a lovely weekend catching up in London. Naturally, this catch up weekend inevitably lead to a trip (well, ok.. 2 trips) to Topshop. I’m lucky enough to work on Oxford Street so it’s on my doorstep, but in the interest of avoiding temptation I try to avoid visiting the store too often or lingering for too long. And after this weekend, I know why. I’m a massive Topshop fan and have been for years – but let’s face it, who isn’t – but even I can see that sometimes they do go a bit overboard with a million different ‘trends’. I wasn’t overwhelmed with this year’s Summer collection so didn’t really feel like I was missing out on too much. However, my most recent visit has put their collection back up to the number 1 spot on my wishlist. Hello autumn/winter!

I invariably prefer Topshop’s winter collections anyway, maybe it’s because I prefer winter dressing – layering and playing with different textures appeals to the shopaholic in me. This year, as ever, they’ve done us proud. It’s nice to see that some of last winter’s colour palette is sticking around so all those cranberry and silvery grey tones that I stocked up are not banished to the back of my wardrobe this year. There is also a nice play with a couple of neon shades so there’s a little consistency in the transition from summer to winter this year.

In an attempt to render my online lusting a little more productive, I decided to share my favourite pieces with you here. I’m sure, as much as I resist, you will inevitably be seeing some of these items popping up in my wardrobe over the coming months.

Images via www.topshop.com 

DIY Fascinator

Having been on a short-notice trip to York races on Saturday, it's fair to say I had a little bit of a nightmare when it came to finding a fascinator. Unfortunately my budget did not stretch to the £18 ones in Debenhams and M&S, and it seemed a bit silly in comparison to the price of my dress and shoes. Then there was the task of finding a fascinator that matched my outfit and one that I actually wanted to wear. So I decided to take on a bit of a DIY project. Initially I managed to find a feather clip from Dorothy Perkins in the sale for £2, then purchased some gold ribbon and a detailed button to glue onto it for £1.20. However I forgot to pack these and had to start all over again in Leeds.

This is what my finished fascinator looked like:

[When it's on the feathers spread out more so it looks more like proper headwear rather than a clip, and it's also more cream than the pink the lighting has made it look like]

And it cost a fraction of the ones in the shop (effectively £4 in total, not counting the price of the glue gun - I got mine for around £6 in Wilkinson's and am treating it as a very worthwhile investment given the fact that I've used it twice since. You can also find them in places like B&Q or any good craft store).

To make your DIY fascinator, you will need:

- a pair of scissors

- a glue gun

- a mat or towel to protect any surfaces

- a clip or grip

- feathers

- anything else you want to add as decoration (buttons, ribbons, jewels, sequins, glitter, I almost bought a pair of earrings in the sale because of the jewelled pattern!)

For my fascinator, I got the gold clip for £4.99 for two from H&M, and then found a broken feather clip for £2 in the sale at New Look so I could rob it of its feathers.

To make my fascinator, I did the following:

1. Made sure the work surface was properly covered (I can't stress this enough - you don't want a glue and feather concoction destroying your carpet), got out everything I needed and turned the glue gun on to heat up, which takes 5 minutes.

2. In the meantime, I took apart the New Look clip for the feathers by pulling everything back and cutting as close to the bottom of the feathers as possible, cutting them from the clip one by one.

3. Arranged them all on the clip to see which arrangement worked the best, then lined them up in 3 rows for each layer.

4. Glued in sections at the back of the clip, tucking each feather in behind the grips and allowing it to dry before adding more.

5. After waiting a few minutes for all the glue to set properly (it sets very quickly), I then pulled off all the stringy bits of glue, and the clip was ready to wear!

Unfortunately there aren't any pictures of the DIY process as I decided to make it on the morning of the races - you could say I'm a last-minute kind of girl - so there wasn't a great deal of time. But it's good to know that if you have all the materials, you can easily make this in half an hour and you only have to wait a matter of minutes for it to set and it's ready to wear!

I hope this helps with any headwear dilemmas anyone might be having in the run up to races, weddings or fancy summer events!

Natalie's Leeds Loot

Well, we promised you a glimpse of our new purchases from the recent trip to Leeds, and not wanting to let you down, here's Natalie's haul! Some beauties from Topshop, Miss Selfridge and one of Leeds' best vintage stores - Blue Rinse! 

Leeds Calling!

On a rare rendezvous this week, we both managed to arrange a date together in Leeds. And a fine date it was indeed. It included nostalgic shopping trips, food galore and a sneaky outing for the camera. The day was spent enjoying the delights of Bakery 164 (their ever changing and mouthwatering selection leaves your average sandwich looking dull in comparison), nosying around Leeds' finest vintage establishments including new-find Birds Yard, indulging in coffee and cake (...and brownies) at the best coffee bar we know, Opposite, and gazing longingly at the Mac stand in Harvey Nicks.

Have a peek at the photos below and let us know what your favourite girl date is! Outfit purchases coming soon...

[Corn Exchange. Bakery 164 meatball, mozzarella, reggae reggae and mint focaccia. Calls Landing. Primos. American Apparel Neon Green, Barry M Berry Ice Cream, American Apparel Galaxy Glitter, vintage galaxy ring and Forever 21 shield ring. Outfit: navy American Apparel disco pants, vintage M&S blouse, Topshop allegra boots, Primark sunglasses. Opposite brazil nut brownie and chocolate Guinness cake. Bakery 164]

[Vintage ring, Birds Yard bow earrings made to order. Zara burgundy chinos, H&M stripe top, Miss Selfridge denim shirt, Accessorize sandals, Primark sunglasses. Window display at vintage shop on Boar Lane. Productive moment aided by coffee and cake. Necklace: Topshop. Chandelier at Corn Exchange entrance]

Girl Meets Gown

If you haven’t had time to check out the Victoria & Albert’s ballgown exhibition yet, then get down to South Kensington as soon as! I’ve been planning to go and take in all the beautiful dresses since the first moment I read about the planned exhibition months ago, and yesterday, my lovely housemate and I finally got round to it.

I would recommend buying a ticket in advance here, as the exhibition is seriously popular. But if you don’t know what time you fancy going along, there was only a 10 minute queue when I went and then we could see the exhibition 2 hours later. Just enough time for a sunny stroll down to Sloane Square and a cappuccino and apricot croissant in the beautiful V&A café.

Unfortunately no photographs are permitted in the exhibition itself, but then I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you anyway... these are the kinds of dresses that are made to be seen in person. It is the perfect mix of older gowns combined with current season dresses straight from the red carpet and the catwalks, which shows the development of styles and tastes through the years. Any designer worth their salt is in there. The Alexander McQueen feather dress, Elizabeth Hurley’s iconic Estee Lauder ad campaign ballgown, Beyoncé’s presidential performance dress and, my personal favourites, Marios Schwab and Christopher Kane beauties.

If you haven’t been, I could not recommend more! If you have, which was your favourite?

You can read more info about the exhibition here.