Lust item of February

When I first saw this dress in a magazine, I started to beat my chest and chant ‘mine, mine, mine’. Mr W was a little bemused to say the least. It was a primitive reaction to something I wanted very, very much!

Cos dress - £79

I love a stripe. I love a clashing print. I love a Prada influence. I love a sleeved dress.

This dress has it all in one lovely little package that costs a very reasonable £79 from Cos.

I want and need this dress in my life...and it’s February’s lust item.

Vogue's February Fashion Crush

It seems that my Edna blog is unwittingly aligned with the fashion folk at Vogue. My 2012 style crush Solange Knowles is Vogue's 'Today I'm Wearing' blogger for February.

In this grey, bleak old month, this fills me with a little fashion glee. It means that for the whole of the month I can get daily style inspiration from Solange...though given it's winter and she's in New York wearing a mini-dress today, I'll not be taking inspiration too literally! Still, love her!

Eighties style crushes

I watched When Harry Met Sally recently for the umpteenth time. I mentioned to Mr W how much I used to love her style and try and copy it. The baggy trousers, fitted jacket, slouchy bag and hat.

Looking back, I’m not sure trying to dress like a woman who was 15-20 years older than I was at the time was necessarily a route to a good teenage look! I also had very little choice in the shops I could visit, as there was bugger all around me, so thinking back god only knows what sort of homage to the look I managed to cobble together!

Anyway, Mr W laughed at me and pointed out that clearly I still subconsciously embraced the ‘Sally’ look as I still dress like it. And I realised he was right...

I thought I was referencing the cooler Annie Hall look but clearly not...over twenty years later I’m still influenced by When Harry Met Sally!

Thinking back to early fashion influences, I remembered being in awe of Magenta Devine on the early ‘Rough Guide’ travel series in the eighties/nineties. I’ve been trying to find photos of her but without much luck...it took a bit of google research just to find her name!

This is the best I could find...

And this clip from a Rough Guide to Bali - she appears intermittently, if you can be bothered to sit through it all.

She was constantly in sunglasses and had a cool, black, angular haircut. I remember her in lots of monochrome and stripes and just dripping in style...and sitting in my kitchen in mid-Wales (in my weird baggy trousered ensemble!) watching her and wishing I could be like her.

I’m not sure whether the fact that I wear lots of stripes and black could in all honesty be considered a throwback to her influence, but it was interesting to remember these early fashion crushes, which I’d forgotten about.

Can you remember yours? It’s so easy these days to reel off names but I loved thinking back to who stood out for me when I was a bit of a clueless teenager...and the likes of Alexa Chung and the Olsens were barely out of babygrows.

2012 Style Crush

A new year, a new(ish) style crush. Edna readers will already know my love for Claudia Winkleman. That love remains unabated. I will always adore a thick fringe, kohled eyes and a loose black dress. Alexa Chung is in the style crush pot too, as are the Olsen twins and Rachel Bilson.

A new addition is Solange Knowles.

The accessories lift this simple outfit.

I love a dressed down leopard print

I know every time I blog about a celebrity, I give the ‘Edna is not supposed to be about celebrities’ spiel. I will spare you this time...maybe I just trot it out to make myself feel a bit better about being immersed in celebrity culture along with everyone else! Instead I will give you the visual fashion delight that is Solange Knowles, Beyonce’s (in my opinion far more stylish!) sister.

I always love a collar...even if these shorts would be a little beyond me!

She loves colour and print and mixes them all up together in fabulous outfits. Nothing is too tight and tacky, or safe and staid. I know some people are very cautious about clashing prints and colours not ‘going together’. Solange Knowles shows that you just have to have confidence in yourself.

Clashing prints still look chic

 

 

 

Again accessories are key in transforming this simple outfit,even down to the way she knots her belt!

I admit I do struggle to imagine myself wearing some of these outfits on a cold, grey, miserable day in my neighbourhood in south London. But on days when I’m feeling a bit more fashionably chipper, I love this whole vibe.

Solange Knowles is the polar opposite of Claudia Winkleman, who rarely ventures far from her black ensembles. But I love both and feel there’s room for both influences in my wardrobe. And maybe for 2012, a year when every news outlet predicts economic doom and gloom at every turn, it’s a good time to cheer myself up with a few more Solange Knowles influenced outfits!

Happy New Year from Edna

Happy New Year Edna readers...if there are many of you left after my blog neglect in 2011. I'm hoping 2012 will mark the renaissance of Edna...though it may be a modest renaissance given I'll be combining motherhood with a return to work later in the year!

I wish you all a wonderful, happy, exciting...and stylish 2012.

My year has started on a more stylish note given I had a few fashion hits over the festive season.

Mr W bought me my beloved dalmatian print ballet pumps from Topshop for Christmas. I also bought myself the same pair of shoes in leopard print just before Christmas, much to Mr W's horror. I slammed down the phone mid-call with him when I saw the Topshop sale had started, screaming 'the shoes, the shoes'. Thankfully I didn't ruin Christmas as the dalmatian print had already sold out and I had to content myself with the leopard print.

And, finally, I'm now the proud owner of the Sophie Hulme for Asos sequined jumper, again bought in the sale.

So the sales were kind to me and my wardrobe has started 2012 with a much needed lift!

Have you had any sales successes?

Lust Item of December

The sales have already started in some quarters...unfortunately not yet in those where I have an interest. I'm obsessively checking Topshop in the hope that the dalmatian print ballet pumps I featured as October’s lust item of the month have been reduced. If they ever do get a price chop, I’d even be tempted to get them in leopard print too.

I’ve also got my eye on a new sweater that is also getting a daily check...and is December’s lust item!

It’s from a range by Sophie Hulme for Asos

I can’t afford Sophie Hulme full price, so a little collaboration with the high street is always appealing. But at the moment, £65 for a sweater is still a bit steep for me.

I love the androgynous style of Sophie Hulme’s clothing but also that they’re made feminine by all of the little details – sequins, mixing fabrics and textures, bows. I think on the high street Cos is very similar – simple pieces, no unnecessary flounces or frippery but with detailing that stops the pieces being dull.

Like this sweater.

It has a masculine feel to it - chunky and quite sensible, it looks like it would keep you warm – but the close fit, the sequins and the navy colouring makes it chic and feminine...and lustworthy.

I keep picturing myself in an outfit that channels this look from Alexa Chung.

Photo from the Daily Telegraph

Something floaty on the bottom and chunky and sensible on the top.

So fingers crossed the sales gods smile on me and the sweater gets the price chop soon.

Bluezoo for Babies

Sorry for the silence over the past couple of weeks. Turns out looking after a baby is pretty exhausting and time-consuming!

And so much of any spare time I have at the moment is now spent researching Christmas presents. I cannot tell you how excited I am about Christmas this year. I can barely contain myself most years...so Laney May’s first Christmas is making me almost faint with excitement!

I thought I’d blog a photo of Laney May and I on a recent outing. We sampled a bit of culture...Laney May saw her first Rembrandt...though she was far more interested in eating my hand!

I still feel a bit weird about posting photos of my little baby on the internet...probably just new mum paranoia...but I felt ok with this one.

My outfit consists of Asos coloured chinos, Zara grey blazer, Henry Holland for Debenhams star print shirt, black Sonia Rykiel for H&M gilet and Urban Outfitters hat.

Laney May is wearing a hand-knitted sweater with hood and pom-pom ears, made by one of her lovely grandmothers (thanks mum!). She already has a knitwear collection that makes me green with envy!

Her dress, which you can just see, is from a brilliant range at Debenhams called Bluezoo and comes with matching leggings, which she isn’t wearing (the tights are lovely brown cable-knit ones from H&M).

I keep saying I’m not going to turn Edna into a baby blog but given I have a little one who is taking up quite a bit of my time, I figure it’s ok if she sneaks onto Edna once in a while! So, here is my round-up of my favourite pieces from the Bluezoo range. It really does have great pieces, which are cute but also stylish and original and don’t look too ‘baby girl in her baby pink glory’!

Having said that about pink, I’m not averse to a sprinkling of pink in Laney May’s wardrobe! Pink dress & striped top - £9.10-£9.80 (down from £13-£14)

Orange top & denim dress - £14.40-£15.30 (down from £16-£17)

Blue birdie dress set (15.30-£16.20 (down from £17-£18)

Pink flower dress & white top set - £14.40-£15.30 (from £16-£17)

Orange rabbit print knit dress - £11.40-£12 (down from £19-£20) – possibly going to end up under the Christmas tree this year!

And a bit of festive kitsch if you fancy dressing up your little one for the festive season but would rather avoid the santa/elf/reindeer outfits! Cream and red deer dress - £13.30-£14 (down from £19-£20)