Following on from yesterdays post about everyday sequins and considering that today is, in actual fact Christmas Jumper day, I thought I would put together a small selection of the kind of Christmas jumper that you would actually want to wear…you know, the kind that doesn’t come with a battery pack as standard! Covering a range of price points, from the subtle to the shamelessly shiny here is my Christmas Jumper edit to make sure you head into Christmas week in suitably festive style!
This is most definitely on the chic-er side of novelty. If you want to join in with the fun but can’t stomach the thought of some of the more, ahem, ‘unique’ styles on the market, this super cute sequinned robin could be a great alternative.
Yesterday I spoke in a little more detail about the Lara Lip sweater by Markus Lupfer and how to work sequins into your everyday wardrobe. Yes, it’s a little on the spendy side but it really is a modern classic – I’ve had mine for a couple of years now – and makes the perfect fash-pack alternative to some of the more garish sweaters on the market.
If you fancy adding a touch of bling to proceedings but don’t want to overdo things then this jewel embellished fine knit sweater from Zara could be the one for you. Pair with smart trousers jeans or a leather pencil skirt for a perfectly glam Christmas day look.
For The Sophisticate Hush Lurex Metallic Knit
This gold and cream lurex knit from Hush just screams luxury! Team with cropped trousers, heels, freshly blow-dried hair and a glass of bucks fizz for the most sophisticated of Christmas morning looks.
For the ultimate in festive luxury, this sumptuous cashmere sweater is a no-brainer. Although this is the perfect shade of Christmas red, I have no doubt that this will earn its place in your wardrobe year-round – how gorgeous would this be in the spring paired with navy and white?
I hope I’ve given you a few ideas of how to get into the festive spirit heading into Christmas week. Are you rocking your Christmas jumper today?
Elf On The Shelf – The Adventures Of Tuukka Tuukka DAY15
Growing up I was very much a girly girl. I took ballroom dancing classes and wistfully dreamt of the day I would be old enough to wear the fuschia pink frocks that came complete with sequins, organza sleeves and a feather hem. In my time I have owned sequinned leggings, sequinned camisoles, sequinned scarves and of course the obligatory sequinned dress! These days, my everyday style has much more of a ‘borrowed from the boys’ vibe but what can I say? Underneath all those blazer & jeans combos there’s a closet magpie. A playful Markus Lupfer sweater makes a brilliant addition to any fashion fans closet. The now iconic ‘Lara Lips’ design is a bit of a modern classic and at this time of year makes the perfect ‘fash-pack- alternative to the more, shall we say ‘flamboyant’ Christmas jumper. This sweater is a bit of a masterclass in how to wear sequins during the day. We’re all guilty of stashing the bling in the back of our wardrobes, only to see the light of day during those four weeks of the year that it’s deemed appropriate. But, by switching leather leggings for cropped denim and a smart jacket for a chunky knit or winter coat there’s really no reason you cant take your sequins out for a daytime spin. Here I’ve paired my ‘Lara Lips’ sweater (a few years old now but there are new designs each season) with cropped, flared jeans and loafers – boots work just as well if you’re just not up for braving the ankle chill (check out my post on boots & crops) and a blush coat to pick up on the hot pink of the lips. Wearing my Saint Laurent bag cross body immediately gives a more relaxed vibe – this would be the perfect Christmas shopping followed by cocktails look.
What are your thoughts on wearing sequins during the day? On point or over the top?
Yes, I know it’s another blazer. I haven’t got a red blazer…well I do now obviously and quite honestly I have no regrets. This was a bit of a surprise holiday purchase. I stood in a queue behind perhaps the most irritating woman I have ever come across in order to buy this blazer which – as I remarked to my mum afterwards said a lot about how much I actually wanted it. (FYI she decided to hold up the whole queue by trying on and requesting new and different sizes in pretty much everything. The whole scenario took FOREVER and the only thing that calmed my shopper’s rage was the fact that her dress was half unzipped and showing the label and no one was telling her! Ha, that’ll teach her (I know I’m evil)). Anyway, I’ve gone completely off topic so at the risk of repeating myself I LOVE THIS BLAZER! It has padded shoulders (not Alexis Carrington style padded shoulders, nice subtle padded shoulders) that give a lovely sharp silhouette and It’s that gorgeous blue red that’s just perfect for this time of year. The only downside that I can see is that the first time I wore it, Mr.R said I looked like Santa and my dad shouted Hi Di Hi (bloody cheek, they wore yellow jackets)! Anyway, I’ve long since learned to ignore Mr.R’s sartorial observations and I think it’s pretty hard to fault! There’ll be no surprises as to how I’ve styled it – black jeans, black cami and heels are pretty much my dressed up uniform. This is the velvet cami that I talked about in A Pre-Christmas Holiday In The Sun which throws a bit of texture into the mix and gives that all important festive feel! Whats your go-to outfit for a bit of festive fun?
One of my favourite past times is perusing the virtual shelves of luxury online stores and adding all the loveliness to a wish list or fantasy shopping basket! Now it’s a momentous day when I actually make a purchase so all of this is purely in the realms of fantasy but hey, a girl can dream right? Here are my top ten fantasy buys that are getting me hot under the collar this Christmas. Mr.R, if you’re reading…
Balmain Blazer
The Rolls Royce of blazers make no mistake! We all know I love a blazer and this one has been on the life lust list for quite some time! The Balmain signature blazer is significantly more structured than my usual picks and yes it will always be just a little bit ‘wag-ish’ but hey, I’m cool with a little bit of wag style now and then!
My Jimmy Choo Black patent Abel pumps are probably one of the most worn pair of shoes I own so I’m desperate to add the Romy (in the lower 85mm heel) to my collection. This blush suede pair are the perfect paradox of practical and impractical…they’ll go with anything and everything but blush pink suede? Did someone say high maintenance?
A year or so ago my mum bought me what is essentially a wallet on a chain…a small bag big enough for your phone with card slots and a zip compartment. Now as much as I love my other bags, this is the one I reach for on a day to day basis. It’s small and light, it basically acts as a purse and I can wear it cross body. This Prada bag would be the perfect upgrade for days where something a little more dressy is required.
I feel like I’m hugely late to the party with this one. The Susanna boots have been on the market for so long they have doubled in price and spawned a Topshop dupe! They are definitely having a moment right now but I can see me wearing these until my dying day! They remind me of (a much more glitzy version of) a pair of Ash cowboy boots I had and wore until they had been re-soled so many times they dropped to pieces.
A Christmas candle is always such a special treat and really helps to get you into the festive spirit! I adore Diptyque and the Christmas collection this year is beyond gorgeous! Three warming, festive scents in the most beautiful glass votives (I use mine for storing makeup brushes once the candle has burned down) choose from Dragon, Unicorn or Pheonix…I’m not gonna lie, I think I need fall three the only issue being I feel like I need this in my life right now so festivities can well and truly commence!
I’ve always been more of an eye than a lip girl but I’m starting to feel that now I’m in my thirties I really should have mastered the art of applying a proper, full-on lip! This collection by Charlotte Tilbury has given me all the heart eyes and surely would give me the incentive to play at ‘being a real grown-up who wears lipstick and everything’!
I mentioned a while ago that I’m having a bit of a moment with earrings and have been lusting after anything from Maria Tash for quite some time. This super simple yet super chic mini hoop would be quite a delight to find tucked away in my stocking…Santa if your listening?
These gold skinny stacking rings are so bloomin awesome but present me with two problems. Firstly, despite my best efforts and intentions, my hands are looking a little rough, dry and just generally a bit worse for wear. Not the best for showing off these delicate little beauties. Secondly (and yes I’m aware that this is a bit of a first world problem) which one do you choose? They’re all so morish! Obviously, I can’t do much about the latter (except maybe buy all the rings which does seem rather excessive) but if somebody would like to gift me some products by Margaret Dabbs well that would be just fabulous!
Isn’t this baby blue colour a dream? This scarf seems made for snuggling up on icy, wintry days and manages to look both cosy and ‘tres chic’ all at once! I have a feeling that this is the type of accessory that would live in your wardrobe for a long long time!
Many years ago I was the proud owner of the ultimate leather leggings from By Malene Birger. Supple, soft, stretchy leather that didn’t ‘knee’ or ‘sag’ they were perfection. Unfortunately, said leggings were involved in an incident which even now makes me wince. If I said the incident involved a bottle of ‘bleach heavy’ mould and mildew remover would you get the gist? Yes…it was a sad sad day indeed. Anyway, since that sad day, I have never had the heart (or the pennies) to replace them but I’m pretty sure this fantasy pair by Joseph would greatly help the grieving process along!
I love the idea of cashmere…soft, snuggly and super luxurious, I always imagine the cashmere wearing girl to be someone who holidays in Aspen and drives a vintage car! Now of course that’s nonsense – these days you can pick up a cashmere sweater alongside your bread and milk but well, I’m rather partial to the fantasy and In my experience, good cashmere is hard to find. I have bought at both low and high price points and I’ll be honest…up until now I’ve been disappointed. Firstly, there’s the itch factor. Now I’ve spoken about this before (check out my post on coloured knitwear) and while I know cashmere is supposed to be ‘above’ the myriad of scratchy knits on the market, until now I haven’t come across a piece that I could wear against my skin without some kind of barrier – i.e. a t-shirt (which just seemed to defeat the object)! Secondly, there’s the fluff factor – again I’ve spoken about this before but getting fluff up your nose or in your eye is so not glamorous. Finally there’s the bobble factor! If you are serious about investing in cashmere then a knitwear comb is essential – a bobbly fine knit sweater does not scream chic so much as cheap! In my eyes, de-bobbling is a completely non-negotiable part of the upkeep!
One of my first holiday purchases was this gorgeous fine knit camel cashmere sweater (what can I say, I must have had a premonition about the temperatures back home), which FYI, I can wear without a t-shirt underneath and (so far) has not bobbled!!! There’s something about camel coloured knitwear that just screams luxury so running with that theme, I’ve paired it with a cream coat and tan suede boots – impractical but oh so chic! What are your luxury must-haves?
If you’re a regular reader you probably won’t have failed to notice that I’ve developed a teeny bit of an obsession with the Anine Bing Madeline Blazer. I first mentioned it in my September Favourites and, like anything in life, wanting something and not being able to get your hands on it seems to make you want it all the more! This blazer has been a bit of a tease. When it sold out I immediately signed up to the waiting list and from then on we were embroiled in a game of cat and mouse – me chasing and always, always getting pipped to the post! I’m not normally one to hold out this long for a particular item but what can I say? When its love, its love! I finally got my hands on my current pride and joy at the beginning of November and to say I am impressed is an understatement! The fabric is so soft – more like a heavy bamboo jersey than the wool I was for expecting (you would think after stalking something for that long I would have eyed up the fabric composition if only to check out the cleaning instructions). It truly is everything I hoped for and more which is just as well as the price tag warranted definite consideration. Although checks are having a bit of a fashion moment, this is far from a trend piece and in my opinion is 100% worth the investment. I took advantage of our recent trip to Spain to shoot this look which I couldn’t resist styling in classic ‘me-fashion’ with jeans, heels and a silk camisole. Whats your sartorial pride and joy? Whats worth the investment for you?
The Anine Bing Madeline Blazer is currently out of stock (again) but MANGO has some fabulous alternatives and at the time of writing there’s 30% off in the Black Friday sales – code BLACK17! Happy Shopping!
A uniform is supposedly the antithesis of what any fashion lover holds dear – namely the ability to choose, style and fashion their look at will or on a whim. As any former schoolgirl will attest, the rigidity of an enforced uniform is boring at it’s best and stifling at it’s worst! Who among us can honestly say they never bent the rules – hitched the waistband of a skirt or braved a forbidden hairdo? The irony is that no sooner do we leave the school gates and are thrown into the big wide world of dressing ourselves than we almost immediately crave the certainty and stability of at least knowing what we are putting on in the morning! I would argue that a uniform, of sorts, can and should have its place in your wardrobe if only to cover those days (and we all have them) where you just can’t seem to pull it together. For me, that uniform is jeans, a t-shirt and (shock) a blazer! I have numerous variations of this formula and I love that no matter the occasion, or whether my brain has turned to sleep deprived mush, there’s always a formula to fall back on and a formula that works! If you read about the latest hundred pound haul you may have clocked this blush pink beauty from ASOS. Now you may think that this pretty shade of ‘Millenial Pink’ (yes that’s what the kids are calling it these days) isn’t particularly ‘Autumnal’ but pair it with shades of berry and chic leopard print accessories and the colour suddenly takes on a whole new vibe! Here, I’ve styled my ‘uniform’ in action, teaming the blazer with my staple cropped flared jeans, a t-shirt and heels. Do you have a style crutch? Whats your off-duty uniform?
It was universally agreed that this hundred pound haul was the most challenging to date which, I have to say, came as something of a surprise. ASOS is vast, both in quantity and variety and I think the difficulty lay in the simple fact that give a girl too much choice and she is liable to get so befuddled that she either a. orders ALL THE THINGS, or b. orders nothing at all and ends up somewhere with a more edited selection. Anna from The Anna Edit has a great guide on ‘how to shop ASOS’ for this very eventuality – it’s obviously quite a common problem! I think I fall into the former of the two scenarios – as I mentioned back in August, I’m having a bit of a love affair with ASOS at the moment so I rather enjoyed both the challenge and the prospect of putting my new premier delivery service into action (it’s really quite excellent). Heres a rundown of my picks from the ASOS edit of the hundred pound haul…
Selected Femme Dress
After the big wardrobe detox of 2017, my closet has been looking shall we say a bit sparse. As far as I’m concerned this isn’t gratuitous shopping for shoppings sake – I have been in dire need of a bit of a splurge (I’m sure Mr R would beg to differ but then again it’s probably too much of an ask to expect any husband out there to actually admit his wife needs some new clothes)! This streamlined knit dress by Selected Femme was a bit of a wildcard and I surprised myself by how much I loved it! The beauty lies in its simplicity – crew neck with elbow length sleeves, the dress falls just below the knee and simply pulls on over the head. I’ve already worn this slinky number with boots but I’m pretty sure it will work equally as well with heels, strappy flats – I’m thinking my black Aquazzura Chrissy flats – or even a good old pair of converse! The knit is heavy enough to skim over any lumps and bumps while still giving you that fitted silhouette… the dream!
As I said, I’m in the process of pretty much building my wardrobe up from scratch and this Mango sweater ticked the ‘token colourful sweater’ box nicely! I’ll be honest, this one didn’t fill me with excitement BUT again I was surprised by just how much I like it (basically I over ordered operating on the assumption that I’d have to send a percentage back – yeah, I should really have known better with that one). The half turtleneck and balloon sleeves are cute details on what would otherwise be a simple fine knit sweater. The tomato red colour will be fab with ripped jeans and trainers and I can’t wait to pair it with my new Anine Bing Blazer (yes I finally got my hands on it – pictures coming soon)!
After I got married, in search of a bit of a buzz, I had a couple of extra ear piercings but I’ve never really done anything with them, preferring a couple of simple studs. When I saw these hoops and studs from Whistles I thought why the heck not (plus I have a little bit of a thing for moons since Luna came along)! I’m absolutely in love with the whole range from Maria Tash so until Mr.R can make good on my Christmas wish list, these fit the bill nicely! They are both now sold out on ASOS but are still available through the Whistles site.
I hold my hands up, this was a bit of a cheeky add-on but you know me and blazers! There’s a post coming up all about this beauty so I’ll won’t go into details but suffice to say, this is a stunner!
Heres where things went downhill a bit. I love a baker boy cap in winter and this one with its gold studs just looked the business. Unfortunately either I have a head to rival Helena Bonham-Carter’s Red Queen or the fit of this is minuscule! It’s now sold out so I’m inclined to believe the former!
Best Of The Rest
I would say that that is one successful haul. The others, on the other hand, had mixed results with one tester sending everything back bar a basic white tee! Some top picks were…
We were extremely lucky to time our haul at the time of one of ASOS’s 20% off days (keep an eye out, with black Friday coming up and pretty sure there’ll be some amazing deals to be had). The downside of this is that things tend to sell out extremely quickly – I’ve linked what I can but apologies if some things or sizes are no longer in stock. There’s some great fashion content coming up with items included in the haul so make sure you stay tuned for those! Are you an ASOS lover? What have you got your eyes on for Black Friday weekend?
It should come as no surprise that denim is, like a lot of people, where my comfort zone lies. A skirt is something of an alien garment and I admit, I’ve never quite got to grips with it. Don’t get me wrong, I love skirts on other people. A cursory flick through Pinterest will turn up literally thousands of glossy pics of the kind of girl that can pull off a pleated blush pink midi skirt without looking like some kind of throwback to a 1950’s US Prom! In my teenage years, I was all about the mini skirt. A mini seemed both easy to wear and style up, although if somethings not easy to wear at the age of eighteen then what hope is there? In my twenties the pencil skirt was the object of my affection – I clearly remember trying to recreate Roland Mouret’s Galaxy dress with a black satin pencil skirt and a knockoff Topshop top. Now I’m in my thirties I’m determined to crack the midi! I think my issue with the whole skirt genre is how to style it. Usually, I’m pretty good at pulling looks together but more often than not when faced with a skirt I draw a bit of a blank. My default is always, without fail a white shirt. A white shirt and skirt- whatever the style will always be a winning combo! I think the key to making something that’s out of your comfort zone work for you is to keep it simple and play up your accessories. Here I picked a black fine knit sweater topped with a classic leather biker jacket. The statement patent boots are a great contrast to the cream wool skirt and give edge to an inherently feminine style. What are your thoughts on midi skirts? How do you style yours?
Jessica Rhoades 