Latest Uniqlo designers

You know I love Uniqlo not only for great basics but also for the amazing designer collaborations, which are all so affordable.

There’s never usually the same sort of scrum as there is when H&M, for example, launch their latest designer range. You can get in the stores without queuing, try clothes on without losing the will to live and buy them without risking injury from vicious elbows and stamping heels from fellow shoppers. Much more civilised!

The latest Designer Innovation range features lots of designers and different styles – all for under £30! Below are some of my favourites...
 

Theatre Products dress/long sleeved tunic - £24.99

NINE striped dress - £24.99

NINE leopard print top - £24.99

NINE dress - £24.99

Theatre Products printed short sleeved dress - £24.99

Theatre Products top - £24.99

Costello Tagliapietra dress - £24.99

Costello Tagliapietra dress - £24.99

 

Suzuki Takayuki dress - £24.99

Bubble gum shoes!

A quick lust item of the week. I know I've featured Vivienne Westwood for Melissa shoes on the Edna blog before but I've noticed that some of them are currently on sale on the Hervia website, making them a little more of an affordable treat! These are my favourites and they come in a range of colours (the blue featured below are the cheapest). I love the multi-straps and the heel looks manageable.

Vivienne Westwood shoes - £87.20 down from £109

My only concern is whether the PVC would make your feet sweat if you attempted to wear them without tights? If any Edna readers has a pair of Melissa shoes and has road-tested them bare foot, I'd love to hear how you got along. I'm concerned that in the hot weather, the 'bubble gum scented' shoes wouldn't smell quite so sweet for long!

Starry shoes

If you don’t like floral, you’re unlikely to venture into Cath Kidson’s full-on floral world. I know Cath Kidson can also be a little twee and there’s only so many retro tea cosies and sewing kits you need in life! But, I always follow my shopping mantra which is that treasures can be found everywhere...such as these...

My new Cath Kidson espadrille star print wedges...a present from Mr W.

It has been such a treat to wear at least some semblance of a heel, as pregnancy has put an end to high heel wearing for now. They’re not too high and are incredibly comfortable – even the woven back is lined with soft fabric so that it doesn’t rub.

I know £48 for canvas shoes may seem a little steep but they're very well made and after wearing them a few times, I think worth every penny!

However, they also came under attack on Regent Street today when some utter muppet with a push chair managed to wheel into my ankles TWICE and actually dragged one of the shoes off...all whilst crossing the road! Aside from being slightly miffed at almost falling over in the middle of the road, the red mist truly descended when I thought my new shoes had been ruined!

Thankfully my lovely new shoes are ok...just a tad looser than they were.

And the man got a severe telling off...I actually shouted at him...a first for me on Regent Street!

p.s. on the subject of shoes, the Swedish Hasbeen range for H&M was launched today...bargain clogs for less than £35...and not the usual H&M designer collaboration scrum!

Anniversaries

I'm going to be a little quiet on the blogging front this weekend as I'm heading away from computers and the city and having a weekend away with Mr W to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary (and eighth year together!).

I know it's such a cliche but our wedding day was amazing and I loved every second of it...and I was never one of those women who had dreamt of this day since I was a little girl! I did not want a big white wedding, with a horse and carriage, and swans and castles and all of that sort of stuff!

What we had was just a wonderful, relaxed day with friends and family...and an amazing party!

So I hope you'll indulge me tonight with a few photos of my wedding day, just to remind me of what an amazing day it was...and how much I loved my non-traditional wedding outfit! All of it was bought in a sale...except the Vivienne Westwood handbag which fell to pieces after about three uses and I now have a totally different bag as a replacement!

 

 

With cupcakes made in a cupcake baking
marathon session by both our mums!

My inspiration for my outfit had been the Autumn/Winter 2009 Dolce & Gabbana collection but as quite a few grand on my outfit was out of the question, I used it as inspiration and shopped elsewhere.

The dress (and there was a matching coat) was from Aquascutum, jewellery was Lulu Guinness, headpiece Chapeau Claudette, shoes LK Bennett and the hold-ups, which had a saucy seam up the back, were from Agent Provocateur. All bought in the January sales last year for bargain prices...and hair and make-up done myself (just the words 'bridal hair' had me running and screaming out of salons!).

My lovely husband wore a very cool three piece suit from Gresham Blake. 

With my lovely sister, who looked amazing
in her Reiss dress & Kurt Geiger shoes!

And with my best friend Lisa...I only know
the raspberry pink shoes are from Zara,
as I was with her when she bought them!

Dresses fit for a birthday party!

This past Saturday night was an opportunity to dress myself up a bit, put a nice frock on, maybe a few sequins, and go out to a birthday party. However, getting to the point of leaving the house was eventful!

My growing bump has not caused much of a clothing problem on a day-to-day basis, as jersey dresses with empire lines have seen me through. Trying to find a dressier frock for a night out that still went around my expanded girth was another matter. At one stage, Mr W had to come and rescue me as I got stuck in a dress and started to panic and hyperventilate! He did point out that I was hardly pot-holing and stuck underground and to pull myself together (common sense, but it didn’t go down very well at the time!).

I did eventually find something that fit and dressed it up with some statement jewellery (unfortunately even my reasonably new jewelled flat shoes don’t seem to fit at the moment, as pregnancy seems to make your feet swell...and ankle straps are becoming a challenge as I also seem to have developed cankles!).

In a spell of fashion daydreaming and online browsing, these are the dresses I'd love to have had in my wardrobe last Saturday...and to fit into!

Pearl Lowe for Peacocks butterfly dress - £40

Max C spotted long sleeve dress - £42 (but unfortunately it’s currently out of stock)

Dorothy Perkins navy stripe belted dress - £45

Warehouse one shoulder ikat dress - £48

Mango Francine dress - £49.50

Zara pleated dress - £49.99

Monsoon Rosie dress - £85

Premium china blue flower silk kimono – £85

Reiss pearl silk dress in coral – rather pricey at £179 but very gorgeous!

Cautious colour blocking

I love Zara handbags and was lucky enough at Christmas when my lovely husband bought me one. Every season there are plenty of little beauties in store just itching to get bought and carried home! This season is no different and if you like the colour blocking trend but feel that bright clothing is not your style, then head to Zara and have a look at their handbags.

This week's lust item is a gorgeous tan handbag that combines a classic colour with a flash of cobalt blue on the trim. It's also a classic shopper style and will fit a tonne of stuff in it...great for those of us who aren't so good at only carrying around the barest of essentials!

Zara large soft shopper - £69.99

A spring day out

The sun is shining in London - blue skies, temperatures above 20 degrees...the works! This sort of weather also means that a huge percentage of the population almost strips naked in the excitement of finally having sunshine after six months of gloom! A lot of flesh on show!

While I may have been tempted down the hot pant route if I had the legs for them, alas I don't so my thighs are a bit more covered up! And rather than short shorts, I love nothing more than a summer dress swishing against bare legs (no tights...hurrah!).

On my imaginary day out in the sunshine today (I'm in doors with Mr W doing DIY!) this is the outfit I'd like to be wearing. It would take me from a stroll and lunch in the sunshine to drinks later (this is, of course, ignoring the fact that I'm pregnant and would not be able to wear this dress or probably the wedges either...but still, I did say imaginary day out!).

River Island navy peter pan collar waisted dress - £34.99

Topshop chocolate three stud belt - £30

Dorothy Perkins cross over wedge sandal - £32

Warehouse metallic straw clutch - £25

Asos matt finish key hole sunglasses - £15

Butterfly by Matthew Williamson at Debenhams turquoise & gold stretch bracelet - £12 (down from £15)

Hattie Rickards for MADE tone tone bracelet - £20

Lucas Jack square ring - £35 (down from £50)
 

A little too much detail but this is the lipstick I would slap on too!

Topshop lipstick in infrared - £8

Designer shopping without the guilt

A quickie tonight as I’ve been to my first antenatal class and have returned home shattered and even more alarmed at the prospect of labour than I was three hours ago! It’s a good diversion to think about fashion for a while rather than discussions of my pain threshold and descriptions of what contractions feel like!

I love a good designer collaboration on the high street. I blogged recently about my palpitations at the Editions range at Debenhams and my lovely new Preen dress for less than £50.

The latest collaboration that has caught my eye is Jessica Ogden’s range for Asos. The range is part of the Green Room collection at Asos and is produced in Kenya in support of Kenyan producer SOKO.

So not only is it gorgeous and a little taste of designer clothing for a fraction of the price, it’s also good for your shopping conscience!

Strap stripe dress - £55

Run around playsuit - £40

Beaded bow jersey top - £30

Double bow dress - £40

Sailor collar jersey top - £30

LK Bennett in lustworthy form!

This week's lust item is more about an entire collection than a solitary item. I walk past LK Bennett every day and their window display is killing me at the moment. They are on fire this season!

Sometimes a lot of LK Bennett's shoes can be a little 'mother of the bride' for my taste. This season she must have been banished to the back of the shop!

Unfortunately, the prices mean that I am going to be lusting through the shop window rather than admiring on my feet. And my struggles with heels mean that I am very unlikely to invest in a gorgeous, sexy pair of red, ribbon-tie, heeled sandals that I will never, ever wear!

In my imaginary fashion world where money and comfort don't factor, these are the shoes I would be buying!

Selina shoe in green sage - £175

Orlando sandal - £185

Agatha sandal in red lipstick - £175

Mirella sandal in blue navy - £175

Arabella shoe in pink coral - £120 (down from £175)