2013 style crush...Laura Bailey

A bit of a late happy new year to you all (though given how infrequently I seem to be blogging these days, that happy new year could well be echoing around an empty room!).

One of my new year's resolutions has been to try and spend some more time on my blog. It's been a bit neglected over 2012 (I've found myself prioritising my daughter and day job!!). But, I'm going to try and make time each week to give Edna some much needed love and attention.

I seem to start most years with a new style crush...though probably not new, just someone who's been elevated to the top of the style pile. Last year was Solange Knowles, this year it's Laura Bailey.

Photo taken from Vogue's 'Today I'm Wearing' blog

Every time I see her in magazines or online, I find myself trying to imagine how I can combine some of my clothes to create similar outfits.

Her style can be quite classic - monochrome at times, a classic trench coat with lots of her outfits, simple, understated handbags...and a love affair with Chanel, the height of chic.

Photo: Getty Images

Photo taken from Vogue's 'Today I'm Wearing' blog

But then she adds in quirky detailing, so that it doesn't look dull. She clashes prints and colours, she wears ankle socks, towering wedges, statement sunglasses, a headscarf...often with bright lips.

Photo taken from Vogue's 'Today I'm Wearing' blog

Photo taken from Vogue's 'Today I'm Wearing' blog

Sometimes the styling can be so simple, such as with her campaign for the range of handbags she designed for Radley, that I think I'd need a bit extra to make it work (a gorgeous face and lovely blonde hair can make most things look great!).

Photos from Radley campaign

But I still love the simplicity - a grey sweater with a classic leather clutch, which I'd probably pair with a really bright lipstick. A simple tan satchel which would look great with animal print platforms.

Photo taken from Vogue's 'Today I'm Wearing' blog

She combines simplicity with eccentricity - a brilliant mix. Quality accessories and classic pieces that will last forever, with fun detailing. And I love this style. I think it's a mix that works really well the older we get - you don't want to start the slow march to M&S Classics, but at the same time looking like you've just gone insane in Topshop isn't a good look either.

So in 2013 I'm going to attempt to channel a bit of Laura Bailey in my outfits choices.

How to wear a leather skirt

I was chatting to some colleagues recently about leather skirts. They're everywhere this autumn and the general consensus seemed to be to give them a wide berth. I think with leather there's always a fear that you look a bit like you're trying to 'rock it up'...and you can descend into a Roxette tribute act!

I saw this photo recently and thought I'd share Alexa Chung giving a masterclass in how to wear a leather skirt...and not look like she's about to launch into a big hair power ballad!

Photo taken from InStyle UK

The key is the contrast - leather but worn in a ladylike way, with demure heels, a chunky sweater, classic black bag and low-key make-up and hair. No back-combing, fishnets, red lipstick, or a low-cut band t-shirt in sight!

So use Alexa as inspiration and don't be afraid of leather!

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!

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!

Summer dressing inspiration

I've blogged before about Club Monaco and my weakness for the brand every time I've been to the USA or Canada. Chic, understated clothing, that's great quality, but has interesting detailing that stops it being too classic and safe. Everything I've ever bought from Club Monaco has become a treasured item in my wardrobe.

It was like my shopping prayers had been answered earlier this year when Browns Fashion started selling Club Monaco clothing...the only shop in the UK where you can buy it. However, I think my poor mathematical skills have always shielded me from the full brunt of the pricing as it seems a lot more expensive in pounds than dollars! Either it is more expensive in the UK or I have zero ability to convert currencies!!

Still, as I am not buying any clothing at the moment, I'm admiring from afar and taking inspiration from Club Monaco's SS11 lookbook. The outfits look fresh and light and everything I want from summer dressing (though possibly longer shorts!).

 

 

 

A fashion crush inspired by a maxi

This is the quick blog I was hoping to post last night until I found out at 11.30pm that Blogger was having a total technical meltdown and skulked off to bed!

I'm hoping to blog again later but wanted to at least get this up for now.

I saw a photo yesterday of Rachel Bilson looking amazing in a floral maxi dress and sharp black blazer and immediately wanted to dig out a maxi dress from my own wardrobe and wear it this way! It could look so whimsical and frothy and yet the blazer and accessories toughen it up...and I love it!

I know that my mantra on Edna is to avoid too much celebrity chatter but now and again I allow myself a little...particularly when someone looks so good! I don't think I've ever watched anything that Rachel Bilson has been in...and wouldn't even be able to name anything in fact...but she certainly knows how to put together a gorgeous little outfit!

All photos In Style UK