Matchy Matchy..

Hello again,

I haven't written much recently as I'm in the middle of finishing up all my uni work for the year so I've been incredibly busy, apologies to anyone who actually wants to read my blogs! I thought I'd take a break and write about something I've been obsessing over at the minute; two pieces.

                           

I've always loved two piece suits but I've never really been able to fork out the money to get myself one, then a few weeks ago I came across an Instagram account that makes one off two piece outfits and completely fell in love with their designs. They're called Shop Genoa and all of their designs are handmade and totally unique, so you'll never find anyone in the same two piece as you. They've been running since July 2013 so I don't know how I haven't managed to come across them yet, but I'm glad I did just in time for summer. Their prices seem to vary based on what kind of thing you're looking for but I haven't seen any priced over £30 which is very affordable, especially since they have to source the fabric etc. Here's a few of my favourites off their Instagram -

                                                 

                                                   

                                                    

                                                     

There's a big buzz around co-ordinates this season and even Kim K is getting in on the action, a rare moment when I will commend Kim for her clothing choices but I am loving this nude turtle neck number she's sporting.

                                  

American Apparel have also produced some amazing co-ordinates pieces, but as always they don't come cheap. You can't buy their items as one outfit but you can get yourself some leggings to match your crop top and even throw in a matching scrunchie if you have the dolla to do so.

Another place that I managed to find some great cheap two pieces was ASOS Marketplace, if you search "two pieces" or "co-ordinates" you should have plenty to choose from. They vary in price but of course the nicest are always the most expensive. Here are my two favourites, the first is priced at £84.99 and the second at £65, not the cheapest but the most beautiful in all the land.

I did set myself a goal of not wearing/buying all black outfits in the new year, which I obviously haven't stuck to. I am however going to start embracing colour and the sunshine by covering myself in tropical birds and fruit patterned clothes. I've also spoken to my very talented sister about possibly making our own two piece outfits, so watch this space for possible business ventures!

Love yas,

Katie.

If only...

If only by whatktwore featuring a black hat

Theory gray shirt
my-wardrobe.com

Topshop t shirt
nordstrom.com

Oversized wool coat
wconcept.com

Leather jacket
$155 - modekungen.se

T by alexander wang skirt
$1,005 - brownsfashion.com

Kenzo pants
$375 - ekseption.es

Cosabella lace lingerie
cosabella.com

Ginette_ny jewelry
$870 - monnierfreres.co.uk

AllSaints antique gold jewellery
allsaints.com

Chanel 18k yellow gold bracelet
traditionaljewelers.com

Yves Saint Laurent black hat
vestiairecollective.com

Polyvore I love you...

So Recently I have become a big fan of Polyvore. I've always used it to search for clothes and just to generally keep up with current fashions but I've started to make my own "sets" on it. When you make a set you're basically just creating a wish list of everything you want to buy. Or in real life, never will buy but you just want to put together an outfit of it anyway because you live in hope that one day you'll own it. I'm hoping to start using Polyvore more and more so if you're on there and want to follow me you can find me under the username "whatktwore". If you're not on Polyvore I suggest you start to use it immediately, even if you don't want to make sets it's great to help you find something you like or want. One of the best things about it is that when you click on an item, say a really expensive pair of boots, it will bring up all the items similar (and cheaper) so you can find an alternative to suit your budget, yay! Basically Polyvore rules man, get on that shit.

Monochrome Madness by whatktwore featuring lace shorts

Zara lace dress
zara.com

Zara crop shirt
zara.com

Joseph cropped pants
net-a-porter.com

Lace shorts
$47 - beginningboutique.com.au

Fleur of England sheer bra
journelle.com

Lace-up boots
ebay.co.uk

Leather handbag
$64 - whistles.co.uk

Marc by Marc Jacobs watch
asos.com

Hipster glasses
shopzerouv.com

Lips makeup
etsy.com

Bleach London how I love thee..

I've been really awful at blogging this last 3 weeks because I've felt a bit of bloggers block. I know what I want to talk about but every time I go to write something I can't seem to put in words what I want to say! I've always been a better talker than writer and I'm not going to lie when I say my confidence does get knocked quite a bit when I see how many amazing and successful bloggers there are out there. I sometimes feel like I don't have anything new to offer and nothing amazing enough to break into the enormously popular world of fashion blogging, but I guess everyone has to start somewhere.
I'm easing myself back in again with a review of one of the new Bleach London hair dye products, which I have to rave about. Originally I wanted to go for the colour "Blullini" which is a very light pastel blue colour as I was a bit nervous about going blue. As a blonde I suppose I am at an advantage and can dye my hair almost any colour that I so please. In the past I have been red,orange,ginger,dark brown,light brown, pink and lilac, so it was inevitable that blue would be my next move. When I went to my local boots I was a bit disheartened to discover that they were currently only stocking two colours "Washed up Mermaid" and "Sea Punk". Both colours were lovely but not exactly the shade I was planning on going for and after a lot of picking up and putting down of bottles I finally decided to go with my instincts and the colour "Washed up Mermaid". It was still blue, just not the exact shade I had originally intended to go for, but for only £5 I thought I might as well get it anyway. When I got home I sat for what seemed like hours trying to talk myself into putting the dye on. It's not that I didn't want to go blue, I just didn't want to go BLUE if you get what I'm saying. My friend Eve eventually talked me into it and I reluctantly agreed and started to make up the dye in a bowl. The bottle size originally worried me because I thought it looked quite small and wouldn't cover all my hair but as I started to apply it to my hair I realised that the contents actually went a lot further than expected.

So after applying the alarmingly bright blue dye to my hair I sat waiting nervously for 15 minutes for it to develop, although I could already tell that my over bleached porous blonde hair was lapping up this blue dye wonderfully. When the 15 minutes was up I washed it out (but didn't shampoo as stated in the instructions) I think this is just so you get the full effect of the colour because of course within one wash it will begin to fade. I could already see that the bright blue hadn't really washed out of my hair at all and was feeling slightly panicked to see the final dry result. After drying and styling it up a bit I was pleasantly surprised to see that when it was dry it was actually the most dreamy colour of blue/green I had ever seen. I'm not joking when I say I actually fell in love with my own hair! Whoever named this product deserves a big high five because I was walking around feeling mermaid like for the first few days of debuting my new blue do.

I cannot rave about this product enough to anyone who feels like taking the plunge but is afraid of the outcome. If you're not feeling blue then why not try one of their other colours? They have a great range for sale in Boots and for £5 how can you say no? The other great thing is that if you do choose a dye and it doesn't turn out exactly how you had planned you can buy their washing out liquid which is also priced at £5.

I was planning on trying a few of their other colours including "Awkward Peach" and "Parma Violets" but you know I don't think I'm quite ready to stop being a mermaid yet. 

Love and Kisses,

Katie.

and after a few washes..

Risen from the dead...

Hello hello,
I've taken a little 2 week blogging break (through no fault of my own) as I didn't have internet for the first week I was living in my house AND my laptop had a mental breakdown which resulted in me losing all my files :( It's not been a great week for me and technology. Anyway I'm back now so I've decided to do my resurrection post on my favourite looks from New York and London fashion week, I've picked these two because I'm going to do another post on Milan and Paris when it's all rounded up. For a person who loves fashion I've never really been a massive fan of designer clothes, I know that sounds ridiculous I mean of course I love their clothes and I take inspiration from them, but I can't afford any of the pieces and it's unrealistic for me to think I ever could at this age, unless my daddy was a millionaire, which he is not. I've always shopped on the high street and mostly in vintage and charity shops but recently I've discovered the power of eBay and I've been nabbing myself all sorts of amazing designer lookalike jumpers, shoes etc (post coming up soon when they finally arrive from China!) I suppose I can't deny that if I had the money I'd be kitting myself out in some amazing designer pieces and maybe one day I will be, but for now I can only spend my days drooling over fashion week shows and dreaming..

New York fashion week brings in an array of designers that I love, Phillip Lim being one of them. His collection for this years fashion week was inspired by "all things elemental" which explains his rock formation looking prints on silk bombers and leggings. I've always had an inner battle with myself where my natural inclination to turn to androgynous looks over rides my strong desire to be feminine and dress,look and act like a girl. The great thing about this collection for me is that while the clothes are more androgynous looking than most on the runway, he uses fine silk, pastel colours and beautifully tailored trousers to create that feminine look that makes his clothes so wearable for women, casual and feminine! Here's some of my favourite looks from the 3.1 Phillip Lim show -

London up next, where I find myself spending more time looking at the LFW street style than what's on the catwalk. I don't think I'm being biased when I say that London has it nailed when it comes to street style, it has been said British girls are the most fashionable in the world* and I think I'd have to agree.
I don't think I'd have any room on this post for street style because there were so many fellow bloggers that looked amazing and I couldn't possibly fit them all in, so onto the catwalk..

I found it almost impossible to narrow down my favourite because I fell in love with so many shows, Ostwald Helgason's flower prints could easily turn me into the girliest girl but Richard Nicoll's monochrome goodness was a clear winner for me. Not a designer I'd usually follow that much but with this sporty androgynous collection I was dying over the sheer panel dresses, knitwear, silk bombers and biker jackets. I have so many favourite items from this show that I have to put up this many pictures.

So there you have it, my absolute favourite looks from New York and London, oh my god you have no idea how hard it was for me to make those decisions! I hope you enjoyed this little insight into fashion week if you don't usually look into it and are a high street lover like myself. Now all we can do is wait for someone to copy these and make us a cheaper version!
Love ya's
Katie.

*based on opinion, this is not a fact and is of course debatable for all my non British readers haha.

Autumn wish list...

Hiyaaaa,

Sorry I've been so bold these past few days but every time I've gone to write a blog post I've just eaten sweets and watched films instead. I think I'm trying to lap up the last of my home comforts before I head back to uni and live in squalor and poverty for another year. Although this time of year gets me SO EXCITED for two reasons, one is that it's almost autumn and I can finally wear all the jumpers,boots,coats and furs my heart so desires. I think I mentioned before I'm not a summer kind of gal. The second reason is that it's almost time to move into my new house and decorate it. The only thing I love as much as clothes shopping is bedroom designing. Oh how I love it. Seriously I could spend hours and hours on Tumblr looking at bedrooms and dreaming of my room and how I'm going to design it, does this mean I'm getting old because I'm having serious joy times over pillows and rugs? I'll actually probably do a post on my new house and room when I get back to show you all what I've bought. Anyway I'm digressing, so I decided to do something with my time and stop eating sweets and seeing as it's almost loan time (yay!) I'm going to do an Autumn wishlist. I think I've spent the whole summer adding things I couldn't afford to my favourites so that I would remember to buy them with my loan, this is a very bad thing to do so please don't do it. I could honestly be here forever telling you about everything that I want so I'm going to try and whittle it down as much as I possibly can by just putting together a virtual outfit.

D&G Green Lipstick (stolen from Azealia Banks' Instagram)

Urban Outfitters Printed Band Panama Hat £28 

Topshop AGE Chelsea Boots £62

Primark AW13 Collection Oversized shirt £12

Topshop MOTO Ripped High Waisted Mom Jeans £42

Zara Faux Leather Jacket £69.99

You actually can't begin to understand how long it took me to decide which items made the cut and which didn't. I think as a full outfit this would be so nice though so decided to go for these items, although I wish the chelsea boots came in black! I think the chocolate would be a nice alternative though, plus I own about a million pairs of black boots already. Sorry this post isn't as long as usual but I'm actually holding off watching Breaking Bad to do this and I cannot hold off any longer. FYI you NEED to watch Breaking Bad if you aren't already watching, it's unbelievably good TV.

Lots of love and kisses,

Katie.