Purple Haze

I recently had a good 4 or 5 inches chopped off my hair, leaving me with mixed emotions. The ends were pretty ratty and I was way overdue for a trim, but it was those ratty ends that formed the bulk of my signature bouffant, giving me massive hair. I can't imagine life without stupidly big Gibson girl hair! So far I've been too scared to even try and put my hair up...fingers crossed I haven't lost my super-hair-powers.

I'm not in the habit of wearing leggings as trousers, but today's outfit was for a rather long car journey, where comfort was essential and being seen by the general public was minimal. I've had this blouse for a while now and thought it was about time it made a blog appearance. It's rather humongous on me, so belting is necessary, but it is light as air and shall be a delight to wear on a hot summers day. It is kind of fanciful, childlike even, but I love the jewel tones used and the little butterflies appliquéd all over.

Wedges (Pied A Terre), cardigan (Zara), blouse (Anna Sui), black vest [worn underneath] (Topshop), leggings (M&S)

Super new nail varnish. Wish I could find a lipstick this shade of bright purple.

Lady, you look fab - Kristen Scott Thomas

Kristen Scott Thomas isn't someone I'd normally associate with great fashion, either on or off the red carpet, but here she manages to really impress me. Her black Lanvin SS2010 ensemble is quite different to your average red carpet dress, being rather relaxed in shape and completely unembellished, yet she manages to look elegant and darkly alluring. I love the soft draping and long train to the skirt, but of course it is the stand-out necklace that really completes the outfit. A simple dress like this is the perfect canvas for a stunning necklace, in this case a twisted snake concoction, also from the aforementioned Lanvin catwalk. Smoky eyes perfect the look.

images from zimbio.com and style.com

Turning Blue

Way back in August of last year, I talked about my love of mixing peachy tones with green. Well scrap that, I have a new favourite; peach and royal blue. Blue isn't a colour I like to wear, I just find it so middle of the road, so uninteresting... that is until I spotted this gorgeous sparkly velvet devore shrug, in deep blue. My mum had the perfect scarf to complement this outfit of blue and peach, plus I had the rare opportunity to wear some of my blue pieces of jewellery (I don't have much in the way of blue clothing, but strangely enough I do have quite a thing for blue enamel work, resulting in a collection of blue jewellery I hardly ever wear, despite really liking them).

Shoes (asos.com), bag (Vivienne Westwood), trench (Zara), trousers (H&M), shrug (Topshop), vest (H&M), scarf (borrowed from my mum)

Rose carved beaded necklace, vintage Florenza necklace, and below a brooch my boyfriend bought me, also carved to depict roses. At the bottom is a watch which belonged to my granny- I just love the way the moon and stars come out at night. The blue sky on the watch is much more vivid than the photo suggests, more like the blue in the necklace above.

Pants Optional

For those who need a little help with the basic rules of fashion, fear not! I have found a most amusing and informative guide to dressing. I wish I could take credit for this, but I must acknowledge the true brains behind this, the girls at Psycho Girlfriend.

I have only selected my favourites, the full 2-page set is available here. For those who are interested, the illustrations are taken from an album of watercolours depicting the Court livery from the reigns of Counts Wilhelm IV and Albrecht V in 16th century Bavaria. The originals can be found here from the spectacular blog BibliOdyssey. If you are new to BibliOdyssey, then you're in for a treat.

Tied Up

The headscarf I'm wearing really ties this whole outfit together. It took a while for me to realise that not only did the red and green of the scarf complement my tights and belt respectively, but that the scarf also has little hints of coppery orange in it too, echoing the colour of my blouse. The coordination freak in me loved this! Believe it or not, I was actually trying to be less matchy-matchy today, by wearing an array of colours....but I completely failed. I guess I'll never be one of those girls who can miss-match with panache. Why fight nature?

Shoes (Aldo), cardigan (Topshop), blouse (M&S), skirt (Topshop), vintage scarf, vintage belt.