"YOU NEED ME"

... says Topshop. How do they always KNOW?

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Velvet. Jewel colours. Skater skirts. Mmm. Too right I need it. GIMME.

i like a girl in uniform

dress, £14.99, and cardigan, £19.99, both h&m. shoes, topshop; necklace, asos.

So Friday was that momentous day when I finally got my 75% uniform allowance at work, cha-ching. For the last month, in the absence of uniform, I've been having to wear all black which gives me a bit of an unfortunate moody teenage goth vibe, as well as screaming I'M NEW and making me feel like something of an outcast in comparison to my colleagues. The dress above has been featuring pretty heavily, and believe me, if I could have got away with the cardigan I'd have been bundled up in it constantly. Instead it's just been accompanying me to and from work every day (thanks cardi), it is f r e e z i n g. When did this happen?!

Anyway, I'd been eyeing up this blouse since it arrived last week and knew I had to have it as soon as I put it on. Not the most practical option maybe - "delicate dry clean only", apparently. I mean, as if specifying "dry clean only" didn't imply the delicate part enough... Doesn't exactly bode well for something I'll be wearing once or twice every week, but then I've always been more of a buy now, think later kind of gal. The trousers were far more of a sensible choice -- I'm amazed at how comfortable and flattering they are already though, I can seriously see myself living in these.

coralie blouse, £120, and paris high-waisted cigarette pants, £89, both reiss. shoes, nine west.

mcarthur glen spirit of fashion popup shop: rachael barrett

Oops, the blog's been looking a bit sparse lately, sorry 'bout that... Real life seems to have got in the way a bit, what with finally being in gainful employment for the first time in 8 months or so. I've been working in Glasgow's Princes Square, so for the last couple of days the McArthur Glen Spirit of Fashion popup shop has been catching my eye every time I wander past. I'll be honest, the massive McArthur Glen signage in the window made me slightly sceptical (yeah, 'tevs, I'm a snob I guess) but the rest of the display looked amazing so I took a look this evening. And came back out about 15 minutes and £96 later.

It turns out McArthur Glen is the sponsor of the Spirit of Fashion awards, in conjunction with the Royal College of Art and judged by esteemed fashion types like Betty Jackson and Wendy Dagworthy. The winners are three young designers -- Matthew Miller, Carolyn Massey and Rachael Barrett, chosen to create an exclusive Spirit of Fashion collection. It's already hit London and Manchester, and the Princes Square popup shop in Glasgow is the last leg of its tour, open until 20th October. It was the Rachael Barrett collection that caught my eye, with its gorgeous neutral colours and relaxed fit. I plumped for a couple of button-up-to-the-neck shirt styles, dress and top, in black and off-white silk, but to be honest I wanted pretty much every single piece. The black pleated skirt and classic silk t-shirt were two other favourites of mine. And, best of all, I was extremely pleasantly surprised by the prices -- £50 for the top and £70 for the dress, and there was a 20% discount for the weekend only! So I highly recommend getting yourself down there tomorrow. I am thoroughly ashamed of my horrendous iPhone photography, but hey, I'm gonna post it anyway because my google skills are failing to throw up any official photos of the Glasgow store.

monki and cos: ruining my life by medium of online shopping

Monki and COS online stores go live in the same week*... INTERNET, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME??!! They also both appear to have decent stock and non-fugly layouts; parent company H&M, you might want to take a look at this. Really now, as if I needed another procrastination tool/method of draining my bank account?! It has revealed to me Monki's interesting colour names though - 'dirty sunflowers' and 'lichen-licious' (numbers 3 and 5 respectively, if you're wondering) stuck out in particular... Bordering on too cutesy even for me, perhaps, but I'll let them off.

* Or am I just slow on the uptake?

1-5: monki, 6-10: cos.