A mini treat from Vivienne Westwood

My 10 week old daughter already owns a pair of Vivienne Westwood shoes. I don't even have a pair, so the decision to get her some before me chaffed a little! But when I saw this pair of Vivienne Westwood Melissa mini shoes...and that they were in the sale on Hervia, down from £60 to £18, I couldn't resist buying them for her.

She'll have to wait until she's about 18 months old before they'll fit her...but it'll be worth the wait to see her looking very cute in them.

I'd hoped to post a link to where you can buy them on Hervia but they don't seem to be on sale any more, even at full price. This link shows the range of shoes that were on sale over the past year.

I promise my Edna blog won't become totally dominated by baby attire...but as I have had a baby, a bit more will start to slip in...though I'll try to make sure it's stylish and not awash with baby pink!

Monsoon hits amongst the misses

I’ve blogged before about Monsoon and the fact that it can be very hit and miss. I find a lot of the clothing unflattering – lengths are either not short or long enough, patterns are more market-stall hippy fodder than Marni-esque and it generally just fails to excite me.

But, there are hits amongst the misses and I always keep an eye on what they have in stock...especially the Fusion range. I love the heart print dress shown below and want it in my wardrobe now.
 

These are some of my current Monsoon favourites...

Fusion Alioth heart print dress - £60

Fusion Hyrdrus dress - £80 (very Oscar de la Renta...I love it!)

Fusion Beba embellished top - £40

Jenny spot dress - £95

Grania denim dress - £55

Fusion Ursa blouse - £45

Hailey pattern dress - £60

Collar up

I love collars. I’m much more of a fan of a nice, collared neckline than anything plunging. I probably have more white shirts in my wardrobe than any other single item of clothing...my favourite of which is a very sharp, starchy Karl Lagerfeld for H&M shirt, which is now very old and at risk of dying on me, so I only dig it out about once a year for uber meetings.

I think the structure of a collar works amazingly with the softness of a dress, or the contrast of a shirt with a floaty skirt, or a loose, flowing blouse with a bit of unexpected severity in a collar.

The peter pan collar is a sort of middle ground, with the roundness of the collar softening it and making it a little more feminine.

My collar inspiration...and probably one of the reasons we now have so many of them on the high street...is Alexa Chung.

I think there can be a risk with a peter pan collar of looking like a girl-woman who puts daisies in her hair in the park and likes skipping because she’s so ‘quirky’! I think the peter pan collar on short, wispy floral dresses can be great up to a certain age...or if that really is your style and it reflects your character...but it definitely doesn’t reflect mine or look good on a slightly grumpy 34 year old!

But given the massive choice now on the high street, there really is a mountain of collars to choose from...including buying collars themselves, so you can collar-up your existing outfits.

These are some of my favourites...which I think work minus daisies and skipping!

Asos double layer lace collar - £12

Asos leather peter pan collar - £15

Asos parachute print peter pan collar shirt - £35

Topshop black clover print peter pan collar blouse - £38

Warehouse peter pan embellished collar top - £38

Pins & Needles spot collar top - £40

Monsoon Fusion Eris sleeveless top - £40

Max C peter pan collar tunic - £42

Sparkle & Fade faux leather trim shirt - £45

Oasis collar jacquard dress - £65

Whistles leopard collar lace shift dress - £175. This is way out of my price range...and probably not something that would get a lot of wear given my social outings at the moment tend to be at lunchtime and involve trying to get a breast out...but I adore everything about this dress. The navy tones down the lace and makes it chic with the leopard print. Definitely a lust item!

Blog Holiday Comes to an End

I always get that back to school feeling when September comes around, no matter how old I get. A change of season, a bit of a new start, cracking open the new anything...including clothes!

With the new season, I thought it was a good time to bring to an end my blog holiday and start What Would Edna Say again.

The arrival of my lovely daughter Laney May seven weeks ago means a lot of changes to my life...including limited time and energy to not only blog but even to think about fashion.

But I do have some time for fashion thoughts!
 

I realised I was finally recovering from my (horrific!) labour and various complications when I picked up a fashion magazine again, put on some mascara...and started to give a bit more thought to the clothes I was putting on my back! Tracksuit bottoms are, for me, a sign that all is not well emotionally!
 

Just before Laney May was born, a good friend suggested that if I was planning to breast-feed, it would be a good idea to look through my wardrobe and see what allowed easy access. She knows how much I love dresses and that they could pose a problem if I was attempting to discreetly get a breast out in public!
 

It turns out that breast-feeding has had more of an impact on my wardrobe than my pregnancy ever did. I’ve started to wear far more separates and also, like most women who don’t have much time to get ready, have been relying on jeans a lot. I’ve even bought maternity jeans for the first time so that I have a more forgiving waistband (I'm still sore from my c-section and have extra pregnancy pounds that will at some point be shed!).

So I thought I’d end my blog holiday with some photos of me wearing a pair of my new maternity jeans and embracing the world of separates on a trip out for lunch (where through a bad choice of seating in a gorgeous café called Lavish Habit I seemed to be breast-feeding in full view of a busy intersection...nothing like easing myself into it!).

 

 

Asos maternity jeans, Topshop striped top, Zara jacket (bought for a bargain £10), heart print scarf from a shop in Spitalfields market, and a Lin & Leo nappy bag.

Small Primark bag (which I think has a whiff of Chanel about it

Cath Kidson wedge espadrilles

The accommodating waistband!