A Heeliday

On a quiet night in, a few weeks after moving into my new house, I managed to injure my foot/ankle. It was dark, I was happily running down the stairs, missed the last step and several months later I am still nursing it back to health.

I can still do most yoga poses, cycling is okay, but have to be careful about walking too much on it. Heels seem to be a big no-no - I've worn them twice since the incident and it set me way back in the healing process. 

Luckily my desire for glitter shoes and a trip home to the States led to a very wise investment from Target. I've been pairing them with dark skinny cords and low back sweaters with dangly earrings as my go-to look for the holidays. A bit boring, but the look is keeping me warm and dancing for hours, which really is more than you could ask for during the winter.

Brighten Up

It is an incredibly awful day out there, especially when you take into account that this time last week I was putting on sunscreen, sunglasses and heading to a park with mates.
I knew that the wet and windy forecast for Forbidden Fruit solved the footwear crisis that took place completely in my head earlier in the week. (Bad as wellies are they make portaloos and beer soaked fields much easier to deal with.) However, my fringe is really long and not very pleasant when stuck to my forehead. H&M flower clips to the rescue! And as everything is going to be covered by a rain mac I grabbed the necklace for a bit of colour too.

Skirting - The Issue

I have a tendency to persevere in my fashion challenges – brown tights, blistering shoes – but sometimes you come upon an item that you quickly realise is a lost cause. You avoid it, try it again, back to avoidance and eventually accept that it is not for you.

This lovely skirt will be departing my wardrobe in the near future.  It was on the round rack at H&M with several cousins of various colour families. I loved the fact that it was neutral, but still had loads of colour in it. I imagined wearing it with sandals and t-shirts on warm days or with brown tights and sweaters in winter, accessorising with a coral necklace or bracelet or maybe just some gold earrings.

The first attempted outing was for a night out with friends. I bought some coral tights to wear with it. When I walked out ready to go, my friends pointed out that it was completely see-through. I was living in a basement flat at the time, so lighting was an issue. The coral tights also looked hideous on general basis and went straight into the bin.

The first official outing was to work. In spite of my notions that I would instantly age to retirement through its purchase, I bought a slip, specifically, to wear underneath it. I was convinced by a librarian friend that a slip would save the day and it would also keep it and other skirts from clinging to my hips and making its way up.  

Lies. I spent the day pulling the skirt down and struggling to keep the slip hidden.

The skirt was put away.  I rediscovered it last week. Maybe it would work this time, I paired it with brown tights, a lovely dark green top, brown shoes and this necklace. I gave it a chance. It looked great.

Then the cracks began to appear. Like a handsome man who enchants you and then comes out with something so offensive you wish you had never met them, it began to reveal the slip and several more inches of leg than was appropriate for work.

Maybe I am being a bit harsh, maybe I could sew some weights into it...or maybe it's just a bad skirt.

An Anniversary

Ten years ago today, I got into a black cab from Great Portland Street to King’s Cross Station, got on a train to Luton Airport, was ripped off for baggage charges on everyone’s favourite no frills airline,  and boarded a plane to Dublin. I landed, met another London friend in the airport and headed for our hostel in Dublin City Centre.

I sobbed for most of this journey, in fact, I had a near nervous breakdown upon checking into our grotty hostel. You see I had fallen in love with London and a lovely English architect, and I had left both behind due to an expired visa and a chance to extend my European travels for a while longer.

The me I was then would not believe that I am still in Dublin. In fact I cannot believe I am old enough to have lived here for 10 years. My relationship with Dublin has been an incredibly slow burning one, like the kid in school that you always got stuck sitting next to, but absolutely hated and eventually became best friends with. Eventually a fondness bred, until one two-week holiday abroad, when I suddenly realised that I could not wait to get home and home was Dublin.

It would be impossible to count the ways I love Dublin and far too much of it includes pubs and drink, which if I put into writing would suggest some sort of mild alcoholism on my part. I love its boldness – its cheekiness. I love that it is fairly compact and accessible, especially once you invest in a bike. I love that you are bound to run into someone you know almost everywhere you go. I love that when the sun shines everyone gets out and enjoys it. Most of all I love the home and family I’ve created here and I wouldn’t be anywhere else – well that’s a bit of a lie and after a string of wet, miserable days, you’d hear me exclaiming ‘And I chose to live here – why?!?’, but that is part of my love for it - for better or worse.

But this is a fashion blog and I’ve digressed a bit – has Dublin changed my style? The answer is, yes and no. I find myself a lot braver these days, but still a bit of the classic American aesthetic lives on. I definitely feel I get away with a lot more here than I would in the American suburbs and have received a number of comments on the brightness of some items of clothing when visiting the States. I definitely wear a lot more dresses and make up than I used to, but I sometimes wonder if these things and my more brave fashion choices are more age than location related. Also it is difficult to maintain style when you have 4 seasons in one day, but it is something you simply must learn and love to do in here.

I love this dirty old town and it seems to love me back – I think we’re both in it for a long while yet.

Primary Colours

Primary Colours by marielmcp featuring strappy flat sandals

Whenever we needed to buy paint for school projects, my father would only ever allow us to buy red, yellow, blue, black and white. So the gorgeous purples, oranges and teals were left on the shelf as my father said we could make anything else we wanted with primary colours.

I sometimes wonder if this is why I so love Mondrian and anything that appears in fashion that is all about primary colours. Like these lovely flats from Vionnet. They are repeatedly appearing to me in some form online and while completely out of the question, a girl can hope that something similar may appear in some form on the high street.

Spring it on

I am a big fan of cardigans. I am pretty sure this obsession originates from my angstful teens and the fact that when my paternal grandfather passed away my father inherited a number of his golf cardigans.

There was a marled grey, wool acrylic blend, with a v-neck and an embroidered crest from some golf tournament that I wore pretty much everyday for a few winters, even when it started to come apart at the seams. There was another dark brown and tan argyle print with these gorgeous ‘tiger-eye’ buttons that  I adored, but didn’t wear too often and the last time I saw it, my brother had hijacked it from my wardrobe, completing the circle of closet thievery in my house.

My sweater drawer is probably 70% cardigans - they are invaluable for layering year-round. My most recent acquisition is this not so mellow yellow H&M cardigan. It was only a 10er and is the perfect pick me up for the transition to spring. I added the bow with a safety pin, which I fashioned out of a belt from a dress and paired it with a white tee and my favourite (only) pair of trousers. As the song says, 'Let the sunshine in.' 

Pretty in Pink

The days are just starting to get longer and my plans for spring and summer are starting to align themselves in a most favourable manner, but to bastardise the The Rolling Stones, I see my wardrobe and it all seems to be black, no colour anywhere I want some colour back.

Pink and I are not the greatest of friends on a general basis, but when winter wardrobe fatigue sets in, I am generally able to forgive any character weaknesses. I bought this along with 2 other brooches from Claire's Accessories for a wedding outfit that needed a bit of quirk. 

Run on

I have been terribly neglectful lately. I prefer not to blog out of obligation because the few times I have done, I wasn’t very happy with the result. In some ways I think I am suffering from a lack of inspiration.

I’ve been trying to figure out why. Part of it is that I have been unable to afford anything new for a while, but then I haven’t really needed anything new either.  When I say ‘New’ I mean new to me – I embrace charity and thrift shopping when I have the time. But with ‘new’ comes the fashion equivalent to an adrenalin rush - even a new solid coloured tee makes me want to run home and pair it with everything I own to see what looks best.

For the most part I’ve been a bit bored with clothes and shopping. Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing things out there, but there are also a lot of the same bits, but in different colours or some other slightly altered state to make it a must-have for the season. When I was looking at bits in the sales, there was very little that sold itself to me.

I am very inspired by the Comtesse de Ferveur and the challenge she has set herself to not buy anything for a year, unfortunately I have a list of things I need to buy in the coming months that started last year due to loss or wear and tear on the currently owned items. In most cases I am either waiting for the right version of it or for the cash to be available in my bank account.

Though I did manage to pick up a few things in the sales and one item that was necessary as per my last post...new runners. They don’t have yellow, but they do have silver - I put the mad red laces in myself as they came with navy laces and I decided they needed a bit if oomph and if you can’t have fun with your runners...what can you have fun with? Plus I bagged them in Size? for half of their original price.