I wasn’t amazed by the Topshop online sale, but there are always so many more treats in store! I was torn between a few items in the Manchester store sale, but settled on these silk joggers by Topshop Boutique. They were reduced to £40 from £70, so £36 with student discount and I had a £10 voucher, so at £26 they were a pretty good deal! They’re one of the comfiest items I own, and they fall beautifully and can be dressed up or down easily. The Topshop Boutique range is generally a little overpriced in my opinion, but it’s always my favourite section of Topshop and I’m a sucker for anything silk.
Here I’m wearing my new trousers with a batwing cropped chiffon blouse from SheInside, ASOS ID necklace, Zara mini shopper and Jeffrey Campbell Jett boots which I got on eBay.
One month ago Rihanna’s first collection for River Island went on sale in stores and online – I am not a Rihanna fan but, I LOVED this collection. Some pieces were not to my taste (those double jeans?!), but the simplicity, clean silhouettes and choice of fabrics of a lot of the pieces definitely was. The collection also wasn’t as overpriced as I was expecting it to be which was a definite positive – most pieces were not priced much over what you would expect anything similar from River Island to be, with the exception pf maybe the very basic t-shirts at around £20. I couldn’t choose just one piece to purchase, so I ended up with this gorgeous yellow silk dress (£70) and a beige maxi skirt with a slit and zip detail (£40). This dress is a perfect combination of a relaxed silhouette and a luxury fabric (although I am terrified of ruining the silk – a good tip is to wear a crop t-shirt underneath to prevent any notoriously difficult deodorant stains), and a bold neon colour. So far I’ve paired it with darker outfits like this as it’s still thick black tights weather, but in the summer it will look great with bare legs, sandals and maybe an oversized denim jacket.
I also recently purchased this ‘mini shopper’ bag from Zara which I love – it was included in my recent Zara wishlist post! Although white is not the most practical colour I’m still obsessed with it, I love the simplicity of it, and it’s a really cute size without being too small to fit anything in.
Did you pick anything up from Rihanna’s first collection for RI? What did you think of it?
This week marked the launch of H&M’s new, higher end label ‘& Other Stories’. When I first heard about this brand, I was curious about what to expect, because H&M to me has always been one of those stores which is neither bad nor great; you occasionally find a great piece in there but you usually have to sift through rails of boring first, and the website is definitely not inspiring. & Other Stories, however, has left me very pleasantly surprised! I would describe it as a cross between H&M and Zara, with prices more like Zara’s than H&M’s, but nevertheless fairly affordable.
Minimalism seems to be the key, with a website somewhat reminiscent of a well presented Tumblr blog (speaking of which, they have one of those too) which very easy to navigate and pleasing to look at. The theme of minimalism continues into the clothing, definitely in a good way. The ‘Ready To Wear’ section of the site is full of clean lines and silhouettes in everything from (what look like) great quality basics to gorgeous silk shirts and tailored trousers, to beautiful draping and to the occasional quirky print. & Other Stories hasn’t stopped at an impressive selection of clothes, their shoes (including a few Nike trainers as well as own brand), accessories, lingerie and even a range of branded beauty products have all left me dying to shop!
I intended to include just a few of my favourite pieces from the website in this post but I couldn’t narrow it down! If I hand’t spent all my money on Rihanna for River Island (whoops – blog posts to follow!) I would definitely be purchasing: the t-shirt with transparent stripes (£25), cotton/PU skirt (£39) and draped shorts (£39) (see first three images), and if money was no object I’d also love the partially transparent oxfords (£79), white cropped trousers (£55), a silk shirt or two (£65), amazing platform boots (£95) and everything else really!
The only UK store is located on Regent Street in London, I hope to pay a visit soon, but for those outside of the capital you can shop everything online too. What do you think of & Other Stories?
Almost every girl loves mermaids and the SS12 trend for all things underwater-fantasy is the perfect opportunity to channel your inner Ariel. I’ve been in love with this Topshop Premium Silk Shimmer Pleated Dip Hem Skirt since it first came to my attention but at £65 I chose not to buy it. Luckily for me it’s now in the sale for £35 or £30 for petite and tall versions (I’m wearing petite), so I jumped at the chance! The skirt is 65% silk and 35% metallic fibre and so feels very luxurious as well as looking ultra girly and pretty. Here I’ve paired it with an equally feminine mint green sheer blouse bought years ago in Primark and some nude heels from Garage, but I also can’t wait to wear it a black button-up or white crop tee and black leather biker jacket to toughen it up a little too!
