Ebay special

I'm selling an under used Mulberry bag - a black nylon number. I haven't ebayed for ages and it has changed so I've been rubbish at listing it and so I'm promoting here!!

Mulberry Black Nylon carry bag

Get ready for Spring

Yes I know Christmas hasn't even happened but in fashion terms you should be planning your spring wardrobe ready for March. After all January and February are dud months - post Christmas fatigue, detox specials and poor bank balances all makes for cosy nights in and making do.

You'll be needing to hit the gym or making with the aloe vera as spring fashion is mainly of the body conscious kind. Once again the cut of the cloth veers towards the 80s but reigns itself back from being the brash flash persona of late. Really the garments although opting for 80s lengths owe more to the 30s.

For Spring/Summer 10 (we are in to double figures) think pale pink, lilac, navy and taupe for block colours, with lace and satin , prints and embellishment. The Miu Miu collection encapsulated this perfectly although this is not the only collection to do so, I'm just not in the mood for listing designers!
So my forward planning tips are to pack up your brights and keep your black lace and sequin items to wear with summer dresses and skirts. Think pink but rose, blush and nude.

Thought for the week - quality v quantity part 3

The main concern I have with fashion editors and magazines et al bestowing great virtue on quality style purchases, is this is determined by your available income.

I've read up and digest all the differing views on this matter and it basically distills down to one fundamental point - your disposable income. The problem is you have to choose what you buy very carefully if you have very little or no disposable income.


Think about planning your wardrobe as a map - a map of activities. If you are a stay at home mum for example then you need more casual clothes than going out items. I would recommend you buy more items but at lower prices for things around the home, a couple of easy but fashiony school run items and save up to buy a gorgeous dress and bag for going out. Make the dress a stylish designer number and the same with the bag. You have a special item to pull on for dinner dates, drinks with girl friends and an item you can keep. The idea is whether you are working, young carefree or burdened down by responsibility or mortgages, then plan your basics and build the fabulous stuff in year by year.

I think the less is more approach allows you to have goals and these goals mean carefully selected items that you will keep. TK Maxx and thrifting at charity shops and car boot sales are a great way of getting individual well made items by great designers.




As a rule of thumb I always keep any designer item I've bought and I include certain high quality retailers like Joseph in this category. But I do not buy overtly high fashion items from designers otherwise their glitz fades. And this is always a hard one to qualify or agree on but sometimes certain garments are of a moment and unless you've got money to burn be careful.

I bought a silver maxi skirt from Kate Moss's first Topshop collection which I was always keep and I have a New Look leather jacket which is a winner as it is very 70s and always comes in handy - but these are exceptions. I tend to wear out and never keep most of my high st buys in the long run. Although I don't buy expensive white tee shirts and I've had a Gap one for years.

Choosing style and slow fashion over the immediacy of trends and a jam packed wardrobe is quite hard but with planning, wardrobe mapping and a bit of patience fabulous pieces that work year in year out can be yours.

Dress a blogger for Hanukkah, Christmas, Happy Holiday

Continuing this popular series from last year my first proposed outfit for a fellow blooger is Jane from The Small Fabric of My Life
I take all the clues from the clothes the blogger tends to wear, the colours and then challenge their usual looks a little! Being Make Do Style the budget is set as it was last year at £150. The total for this outfit is £137.99



Dorothy Perkins Blue geo print shift dress £32

Monsoon Cotton Stretch Ivory Bolero £36

Clarks Daily Bread Smart Shoes in Red £59.99

Navy 80D opaque tights £5
(I'll leave you to imagine navy tights! This look could easily substitute red tights instead of navy)


New Look Heart Necklace £5

I laughed out loud

It isn't often I cite the Sunday Times Style magazine after all they usually draw upon me, but I forgive them every time because they cheer my Sunday up in the same way The Guardian Weekend magazine fulfils the same role on a Saturday. However today for good measure in the Going Down section were Melissa Shoes and I quote "Crocs for the fashion pack. Stop this plastic madness!"

High Street Pick of the Week - Christmas gift ideas

Again not exactly on your high street although I'm sure you can find a shop that sells hand held fans. After my brush with Turandot I thought a fan might make a cute stocking filler for Christmas cheer.

Hand Fan Phoenix and Camilla £1.75

Carrie does Covent Garden

Mama and Papa MDS took moi and Mr MDS to the opera last night to see the English National Opera's performance of Turandot at the London Coliseum on St Martin's Lane. It was a delightful evening and I will post a review of the opera production on my Fashion and Film blog.

I will say that it was a long day and I wore my opera going togs from 9am in the morning as I had to get to Holloway at 10ish to pick up my dissertation from the book binders. There followed a morning of coffee on Upper St in Islington just down the road with a fellow MA student. We then hit Oxford St and college to bind our supplementary copy and had lunch in Pret! After our dissertation handing in (yes yes yes!) we did what any sensible gal would do hit the shops. Just for a browse.... Selfridges and H&M were enough for visual pleasure and I have to say H&M have some great things in. We also discovered a pile of rotting Jimmy Choo shoes downstairs in the H&M at Oxford Circus and some clutch bags, we understood why they didn't sell and spent a splendid time discussing collaborations.

A final stint in the LCF library (goodbye books) and I met Mr MDS outside work and we walked to Covent Garden where we enjoyed a hasty but satisfying supper at Carluccios. In fact me saying 'pasta con fungi' was the only Italian of the night as the ENO sing in English. I loved the music and singing but found the production 'interesting'. All I can say is I love it when I can make a bunch of old folks laugh in the aisles with a Gordon Ramsey take off, at the end of an evening.

Of course I'm to busy being a crowd pleaser to take photos of outfits so I hastily recreated it this morning.

Purple top Limited Collection - M&S
Glitter cardi - Zara
Patent navy blue belt - LK Bennett
Silver grey Skirt - Joseph

I call my skirt 'Carrie' it is a great skirt which stands out on it own and is such fun to wear.






I wore the outfit with purple tights and years old boots from Sacco Shoes in New York. They were probably my faux pas but I has a lot of walking to do yesterday and it was raining in the morning so I wanted dry feet.

Back to Work

Now I've finished my dissertation and hence my Masters I need to go for glory on getting freelance fashion styling work. I'm lucky to have fairly regular contract work and I'm teaching on the next NHJ Style Academy in January...however I need to mention that I do undertake personal styling and direct you to my website, which is in need of an update as it's been a holding page for two years now! Contact me for commercial, editorial or personal styling.

New Skirt and a hip update

On my charity shop browse last Saturday I spied a cute orange skirt for a fiver and thought I'd pop back on Monday to get it. It is a woollen M&S number of quite a few years ago and it is a UK size 10. I also found a £199 Dolce & Gabbana gold dress in TK Maxx for which I couldn't return to buy!
Back to the skirt - well I just about squeezed into it! It was a shocker as I realised my fat hip issue was really a fact that was here to stay unless I tackled it pronto. I engaged in public ritual humiliation by using a weighing machine that prints out your height, weight and body mass index. The one I choose actually said it out aloud. At 169 cms, 5 foot 6.5inches I'm officially 64kilos, 10 stone or 140lbs. According to my BMI I'm in the healthy range but nearer the borderline than I'd like to be. If I go by Edith Head's 1967 assessment of healthy weight ranges I should be 13lbs lighter at least!

Basically I've eaten and drunk like a good 'un during my MA and done little in terms of exercise. My hips are a frightening 38 inches where once they were 33 inches - opps. In fairness I will have a Master's degree and I have managed to work when I can, look after petit garcon and run a home. But it is time to stop the rot. I'm going to have to exercise a lot to get rid of the deposited fat and seriously pull a healthy balanced diet together that stops me from adding any more pounds.

Any top tips other than zipping my mouth!

New Book

I really want to read fiction again after nearly 18 months of academic reading only. The transition is proving harder than expected. I've managed to devour my Christian Dior's The Little Dictionary of Fashion. It is a great read and the perfect Christmas present for any fashionista. I got mine at the wonderful V&A shop. I'm also reading Edith Head's How to Dress for Success which is an invaluable and instructive book regardless of the fact it was written in another time, it was first published in 1967.

I had toyed with a Jilly Cooper or a chick lit special but I haven't the heart for it. I went for a browse in a few charity shops on Saturday whilst the petit garcon was at a birthday party. I had £2 on me for a coffee but I spent my pocket money on this book instead.
It is a bit heavier going than I intended to choose but I fancy being transported to Paris and that of the 30s and 40s.