I will hold my hands up and say I have done a fair amount of shopping this month – or this winter – period. However, I have been selling lots and still have loads more to sell, because my style, since having Allegra, seems to be on an ever evolving journey. Nearly three years into motherhood and being a full time working from home mum has it’s style challenges. I love to get dressed up, but yet this mama really has nowhere to go! At least not on a daily basis, so it completely changes how I shop and what I wear.
In October I bought a lot of knitwear. If you’ve read my knitwear edit you’ll know that knit wear is a new found love of mine. The battle I have is, if I am totally honest, no matter how much I love nice big chunky knits they don’t entirely work for my lifestyle. They are something I need to take off the second I get to work – which is at home in my house. I just find them far too hot – so as much as I am loving all my new knits they don’t get half as much wear out of them as I expected.
So as well as chunky knits, I have been buying polo necks just to wear as a base layer that I can style easily beneath jackets and coats. A few new jackets have found their way into my wardrobe and I am actually really happy with my outerwear collection, you can take a look at my latest coat edit, which includes lots of coats inspired my own coat collection. This winter And Other Stories really has become my go-to shop, admittedly it’s slightly more expensive, but the clothes just really excite me. I often buy pieces from there that are for a special occasion or an event or if I am investing in something that I am going to wear lots – like jackets, coats and shoes and that’s exactly what I bought – two new jackets and a pair of shoes. I have an And Other Stories edit coming soon.
Hounds tooth is a print I totally did not expect to fall for. I actually don’t own a lot of check, in fact my winter wardrobe is typically solid colours with maybe a handful of floral and animal print blouses just to change things up every now and then. For this reason I was quite happy to invest in a hounds tooth coat – when it is particularly cold and we’re all bundled up our outerwear will do most of the talking, so going for an impactful coat has always been my approach.
In fact my approach to shopping coats isn’t too dissimilar to how I shop my boots. I like my boots high and I like them to have something about them. Boots need to make me feel good even if I’ve just chucked on a simple black polo with a pair of jeans. Two pairs of boots have made it into my wardrobe recently; A pair of blood orange square toe boots from Topshop which are an absolute dream to wear – they have just integrated into my wardrobe so well and help to add a little something special to a very simple look. And again, the same for the second pair of boots I have been enjoying wearing lately, my over the knee berry red boots from Wallis. Who’d of thought I’d find the confidence to rock a thigh high boot again? I totally never saw that coming, but what can I say? I like to push my own boundaries every now and then.
Of course the festive season is upon us and there will be lots of festive styling and shopping inspiration coming across the Mum a Porter channels. It would seem that I now have a fully fledged love affair with sparkle! Last year I put together a Festive Style Guide and in it I wrote how difficult I found it to navigate festive fashion. ‘Look at me’ dressing isn’t particularly easy when you’re at the start of your style journey and although I am no longer in that place anymore, that guide will still apply to many. However, there will be a new guide coming soon more, reflective of where I am at now. I have been gravitating towards shift dresses, glittery and sequined. And bodysuits – I am a sucker for a bodysuit, especially over Christmas, they just work so well. I have been asked what is the actual difference between a bodysuit and a blouse? In all honesty – beside the fact that bodysuits are easier to tuck into your bottoms without un-tucking, I don’t know, but I really like them!
You can take a look at my Style Diary or follow me on Instagram to see what I am styling daily.
Wearing: Black polo neck / black skinny jeans / Blazer made to measure / Berry red boots / Mum a Porter Cherry bag in pressed rose
