Dressing up time is not just for kids!

Hello lovelies, I feel like I really owe you an outfit post, but when all I've been wearing in this freezing weather is tonnes of layers and a huge coat (and I've only left the flat like twice in like 5 days haha!) it doesn't seem worth it!

In further procrastination (I really just can't get on with this stupid Fact File, 3000 words due on the 10th eek!) I thought I'd just post the full set of pics that I use as my footer etc on here! My lovely friend Liz took these snaps when I had my beautiful pink haircut at Toni & Guy and we played dress up one night. This remains a favourite dress and outfit, if only there were more opportunities in life to wear a backless white lace dress, 6 inch heels and a black facinator!!

Dress - John Zack by way of Selfridges, Leggings - Topshop, Shoes - KG by Kurt Geiger, Earings - ?? borrowed off Liz, Fascinator - downstairs in Affleck's Palace

Hope you likey! Have you got a favourite dress/item of clothing that you love but just doesn't ever seem appropriate? I never have an occasion to wear an outift quite like this, so its really fun dressing up and taking photos!

Hopefully I'll do some fun photos like this after my new haircut tomorrow! But for now I'm off for a bubble bath before bed <3

VW x

Polyvore Procrastination - Perth in 19 Days!

Are you all excited about Christmas? I'm getting sooooo excited! Not just for all the usual Chrissie stuff like mulled wine, those little sausages wrapped in bacon, Santas grotto (you are NEVER too old to visit Santa), and decorating the tree, but because I'm going to Australia this year!!!


I can't believe I'll be jetting off to Perth in only 19 days and get to see my parents and little bro! Ok so I am going to miss sitting in flannel pjs opening assorted winter related pressies like scarfs and cute christmas jumpers, and lusting over long sleeved velvet party dresses to wear to christmas dinner may be a little futile, but it'll be such an experience!


I have quite a lot of uni work to get done before I go, but I can't help but get distracted by Christmas, its all snowy here in the UK and the coca-cola ad has graced our tv screens, when I have a little peek on ebay there it is, that little red 'X days til Christmas' counter, it can't be escaped. So I allowed myself a little dream time and discovered polyvore, I know, I know how late off the mark am I, but anyway, I love it, what a great procrastination tool!

So while dreaming of a hot hot Christmas rather than a white one I made this little mood board. I wish I actually owned half this stuff, but alas its November, so unsuprisingly most of it is no longer available, but if I had my way this is what I'd be packing! Anyone fancy lending me some strapless tops (avoiding tan lines is definatly a priority) or a nice straw fedora/panama? How funny is it that its like -12 in some parts of the country and I'm thinking about strapless bikinis and vintage sunglasses!

On an entirely different note you can now follow me on Bloglovin' also. I'm not completely sure how it actually works, but maybe I'll gain some new followers?
Follow my blog with bloglovin

And to all you lovely people who have commented on my last few posts, thanks so much, I love reading your comments and will always try to reply to any questions and definatly pop over to your blog for a snoop around :-) Please do 'follow me' if you like what you see!

Anyone else completely procrastinating on blogger and dreaming about Christmas instead of doing work?

Loves, VW x

I Love Free Haircuts

I've wanted to do a post like this for a while, and since I'm getting my hair done on tuesday I thought it was good time. As you guys are just getting to know me I thought I'd give you a glimpse at something really important to me, my hair (wow that sounds shallow). I just think the way you wear your hair says a lot about you, and its a bit more permanent than your clothes so its good to get it right & express your true style and personality. Since I've been doing this blog the pictures you see of me are with quite, well, boring, bland hair, or at least that's how I feel about it anyway. I usually like to make a lasting impression ;-)

I LOVE having short hair, I had the chop about 3 years ago and never looked back, at first it was a quite standard pixie crop, and I stuck with a natural reddy/auburn colour. To be honest times have changed quite a lot actually, even though it was only a few years ago people often looked at me strangely or were shocked by my crop, not many girls my age had such short hair, but now the likes of Emma Watson have made it 'fashion'. 

When I came to uni I had the unique opportunity to be a hair model for Toni & Guy. It was such a fabulous experience, and now I always go there for a new cut or colour. I never have to pay and usually always get my hair cut by a professional stylist and often one of the art directors at the academy. Mainly they're what you call 'demo cuts' where the stylist cuts my hair in front of the students as a demonstration, but on occasion its a proper show where you get your makeup done and they give you clothes to wear. I'm so open to whatever they suggest, and just let them go for it with experimental or unique cuts and crazy bright colours.

Here are my 2 favourites (& probably most radical) -

December '08 Demo cut  - 'The Pom' - 08/09 Toni & Guy Collection

October '09 Experimental cut - Toni & Guy Academy

Toni & Guy have academies in London & Manchester and the students are always looking for models, if your lucky you might get it for free, otherwise cuts are about £12 and colours £15, and they use all the best products the same as in any T&G salon (label m. and wella colours etc). There are different workshops for different levels, it want something like a simple trim and all-over colour then you can probably get away with a beginner class, but for anything a bit riskier they often have advanced creative classes with people who are already fully qualified stylists in Toni & Guy salons and just want to experiment with something a bit different.

I know some people are weary of getting anything a bit different and are quite protective of their hair, but I'm just not the kind of girl that freaks out about it, I always let my friends have a chop at it and am forever with my head over the bath adding a new box of diy colour!

I'm in a show this Tuesday, I think Mac professionals are doing the makeup, and a vintage boutique is providing the clothes! My hair is so thick on top and very long and out of control at the back, plus my roots are showing pretty bad since this colour is left over from May and was originally black, so I'm looking forward to getting it all sorted. Unfortunately it won't be too short or radical as I'm actually supposed to be growing my hair out for a friend who I'm being bridesmaid for in April! (very excited but sad that she doesn't like/want my hair short for it, I think I'll end up with extensions!)

Look out for photos next week! For now I'll leave you with a few pictures of my various hairstyles over the last couple of years incase you're curious. (Apologies for the shockingly bad quality of some & of course the stupid faces!)


June '08

January '09

February '09

May '09

May '10

June '10

Hope you're all ok!
Loves, VW x

OOTW - Revolution and Revival?

Firstly I must apologise big time for my lack of posting! Well over a week since my last!! Blogging kind of tok a backseat for a while as I had my dissertation synopsis due in, which meant catching up on a lot of reading, and well you know, uni work has to come first. I found the whole thing pretty stressful to be honest, no one said 3rd year would be easy! Speaking of my diss, it's on second-hand/vintage fashion and I have some primary research to conduct, so in the coming weeks I'd very much appreciate your help and feedback. I'll be formulating a quick qestionnaire to email out, so hopefully you could fill it out and pass it on to people etc, I'm sure you all have some great insight considering the subject area!

So, not only did I think you deserved a post, but some pictures were obviously in order to make up for my bad blogger behaviour! Ok so the title is a bit misleading, as denim cut-offs are hardly revolutionary are they? And neither are these rather plain photos against a brick wall! But maybe that’s the point? It’s been getting dark sooo early here, so I seized the moment today when I got in from my 9am lecture, grabbed The Boyf, told him to wrap up warm and marched him outside to make use of the natural light. Never mind what I was wearing, how my hair was sitting today, or the fact that I filled my brows in a bit wonky (not to mention the lurking spot on my chin), you guys were getting some shots!

Jumper - Topman, Scarf - H&M mens (stolen off The Boyf), Levi Cut-offs - Vintage, Belt - Vintage, Brogues - Urban Outfitters, Earings - made by me!! In later photos, Trench - Zara, Gloves - Tu at Sainsburys

I think I must have been the only vintage fashion lover around who didn’t own a pair of denim cut-offs!! I bought this pair of Levi 501’s yesterday for a tenner and am in love. I’m hardly surprised, I had lusted over girlies wondering around in tiny little hand-cut 501s for over a year now, and there really was no excuse for not buying a pair. Although... I have to say maybe a few gals did cause apprehension – larger ladies in a style that really is more knicker than short, not so good. Perhaps I was worried I would look exposed, flabby or larger than life, my thighs are hardly me favourite feature after-all! So in this respect I am however pleasantly surprised, at how comfy and casual they are, yet they make me feel, well, pretty damn sexy. You American girls have been avid lovers of the daisy dukes for years now, why did it take me so long to catch on? Also, I'm so addicted to the fab high-waisted 90’s cut that I’m left gagging for a full length pair!

So why did I bite the bullet and finally nab a pair when its so chilly outside? Well as some of you may have read my parents and little bro recently moved to Australia and I’m going out to visit them for Christmas, I can’t believe I’ll be seeing them in 29 days time! They were visiting family in Sydney (my mum’s Australian) and just arrived in Perth today where they’re hoping to settle down. Earlier I enjoyed a crazy little virtual skype tour around the house they’re renting which is massive and gorgeous and has a swimming pool! It was 39°C there today, and might get hotter by the time I get there, so obviously I needed some super cool summer clothes! To be honest though I don’t think you’re going to see any pictures of me from Oz in much more than my strapless bikini, these cut-offs and the odd vest! I’m not sure if I can be bothered to look fashionable at forty degrees, we’ll see!

And the final 3 pictures? No your eyes are not deceiving you, some of you may recognise these as old brownie culottes! I bought them on ebay last week for 2 quid! Why is it that the Girl Guides were the only ones that could make a good culotte? I mean get it right, you should have seen some of the things people were passing off as the traditional shorts/skirt combo! I myself was a Brownie, and I’m not so sure I fully appreciated the uniform at the time, but I’m fortunate enough to be able to fit into this pair 26” waist, so call it a revival! They arrived in the post this morning and seemed ok with my jumper, so made a quick costume change just to give you a quick peek, I’ll style them differently next week sometime I think! Comfy is not the word for these babies, nice little elasticated waist and oh so roomy, plus the colour is perfect for autumn!

Culottes - Girl Guides Association by way of Ebay!

Anyway I’ll stop jabbering now, turns out when you don’t post for nearly two weeks you have a lot to say! And it is rather nice to finally be able to write something for me rather than uni work!

Hope you’re all ok, in all my procrastination I did manage to keep up with reading a few of your bits and bobs... there’s always time to discover a great new fashion blog and check in on your faves ay?!

Ciao for now, VW x

NB: I tried to post this yesterday when I actually took the photos and wrote the post, but evidently blogger was mad at me for neglecting it and was in a proper mood, haha, sorryyyy, better late than never?!

OOTW - Balcony Behaviour on Bonfire Night

I do not enjoy these pictures one bit to be honest, but I thought I'd post them anyway because it would just be a waste otherwise - not to mention the fact that The Boyf would be un-amused if I didn't use them as he had to stand in the cold and rain to take them!

Dress - H&M, Cardigan - New Look, Leather Belt - Vintage, Brooch - Gift from my friend Liz (vintage), Boots - Ebay.

 This is what I was wearing on Saturday, it was a pretty nice chilled day for me, the mother-in-law came to visit for the day/lunch while she was up north so went to the pub, had yummy lunch (it always tastes better when someone else is paying, haha!) and watched the England v New Zealand rugby match on the big screen. Ok so I didn't really care that much about the rugby, but my boy and his sports mad mummy were enjoying it which made me happy, haha how sweet of me!

When we got home I realised it was quite a nice little 'outfit of the week' opportunity, as it was my first time wearing this dress this winter and gave me a chance to show you all how I've styled my new boots (which really hurt my feet unfortunatly, stupid 6inch wedge - I know, I need to man up, but for now they will be reserved for times when I don't have to walk very far!).

I love, love, love this jumper dress, it was about £20 from H&M a couple of years ago and its really cosy and warm with its roll neck! And incidentally in this years most coveted colour combo - camel and black! Whenever I wear this dress I get loads of compliments from random passer-bys, like 'oh you look so elegant' and 'if only all young ladies dressed as nicely as you' (from a cute little old lady at the bus stop), which I think is hilarious because its just a normal dress and hardly takes much effort to thrown on! Perhaps its because the high neck and long sleeves keeps me quite demure and covered up, but its nice and body hugging too; with a pair of heeled boots it makes my legs looks longer and thinner, what a lovely combination, this is maybe what I'd describe as day-time sexy!?

We were going to go downstairs and shoot the photos against a brick wall but it started chucking it down with rain and was too dark to get any decent photos in the flat, so here enters the balcony idea (which has a little cover). The natural light was marginally better but the setting is less than desirable, a bit of inner city grime in the background, nice.

Did you all have a good weekend? I couldn't bare going out in the cold for bonfire night etc, but some people had their own little garden display behind the flat which we had a great view of from our bedroom window, yay for beautiful fireworks from the comfort of your own toasty bed!

TTFN,
Loves VW x

I knew it would happen one day...

A little impromptue set of outfit photos...


I knew it would happen one day, I've always said it would. Sorry, am I being a bit criptic? You need to understand I am perpetually late, to anything and everything. I mean not always ridiculously late, sometimes just a minute or so, never-the-less it counts; lectures, meeting for coffee with friends, catching the bus, birthday parties, you name it I've been late to it before. But I always say that one of these days I'll be on time, early even, it WILL happen.


So yesterday The Boyf and I took a little trip to Chiquitos for dinner (they're doing 25% off with an NUS student card, so get your bums down there for some DELICIOUS mexican food!), then to the cinema (orange wednesday, ohh yea). Well of all the random useless times to be early, 50 minutes early to be exact. It was pretty damn boring I can tell you.

Blazer - Urban Outfitters, Hoody - American Apparel, Shirt - Topshop, Shorts/Culottes - River Island, Tights - Asda, Socks - Primark, Trainers - Reebok, Scarf - Vintage, Necklaces - Urban Outfitters & Accessorize.

This is where we took the opportunity to take a few snaps of my outfit in the empty coridor, which explains the bored looks! I was actually quite glad for this opportunity in the end, because I kinda like this 'thrown together to stay warm and dry' look i was 'working', but it got dark so early yesterday I didn't get a chance to take outside photos and the red walls and carpet look pretty funky don't ya think?


Geeky urban street style? I've wanted to show you my absolute fave shoes for a while, my 'reeboks with the straps' to Flo Rida, reebok freestyle hi-tops to you and me! I got them back in my orange loving days as an 18th birthday present from my grandad (no my 80 year old gramps did not rock up to foot locker and purchase these off his own back, this is just what I spent my £50 on!), and still adore them today, sooo comfy and I love that you never see anyone else wearing them, or at least not very often, I have seen the purple and white versions a few times though! They are the closest I come to 'sensible shoes' and they're neon orange haha. They're sometimes hard to accessories though, so yesterday I just went with the ghetto vibe and slung on my chunky necklaces!

Apologies that you've already seen this shirt though, I just love it so much!

Oh and we saw The Kids are Alright (eventually!), I really enjoyed it, although it wasn't what I expected, if you think its all comedy you'll be a bit dissapointed as theres definatly some heavier stuff in there. Also be prepared for some rather full on sex scenes, some with Yaya a winner from ANTM a few seasons back! I friggin love Annette Benning and Julianne Moore so much, so it was really cute seeing them as a couple!

Anyone else take advantage of Orange Wednesday yesterday, what did you see? We saw the trailer for The Kings Speech and I really want to see it when its out, Helena Bonham-Carter looked fab!

VW x

Extra Effort? Pyjama bottoms, no bra and un-washed hair!

I read a post on the lovely Charlotte’s blog yesterday, and after looking at my last OOTW post I really gave her proposal of blogging artificiality a bit of thought. Bloggers: what do you wear on non-blogging days?

Do I wear the same things on outfit post days to on non-blogging days; don’t we all put a little extra effort in for our OOTD/W’s? Well yes, I do anyway! Firstly I don’t post pictures every day, and just choose my favourite outfit of the week to blog about, but when I KNOW I’m going to have a photo op I do add that little extra pizzazz. Sure it’s kind of fake, but I always plan out my outfits anyway, whether they’re for a lecture, shopping, going out to dinner or whatever, you dress for that occasion don’t you? I’m just not a throw it all on kinda gal, I’m not effortless, I’m considerate. But when I’m posting an outfit yea sure I go the extra mile too... yesterday I wore my new DIY necklace, but probably because I wanted to show it to you, and I put the scarf in my hair like I always do when it’s a bit of a mess, but I was only off to Wetherspoons for lunch, so I didn’t really need to, but I didn’t want photos of me with bad hair either! These little extras kind of made the photos though didn’t they!?

And what am I wearing right now? Pyjama bottoms (I don’t own trackies), an old jumper, thick socks, no bra, no makeup, no jewellery and un-washed hair. But I didn’t leave the flat today (reading, dissertation planning and tv) so what does it really matter? Would I wear this to the library on a Sunday, obviously not, but it wouldn’t be far off...

Yea it’s a bit fake but no one wants to see a picture of me like this anyway, trust me, your better off taking a looky at my 'extra-effort' photos if you want to know the real me, when I get dressed I care what people think, its not effortless, but it is me, and thats what you lucky readers get to see!

You're not alone Charlotte, this blog post without a picture = welcome to my off day!

Loves VW x

OOTW - An Autumnal All-Round Experiment

Hi guys, I still can’t believe there’s a whole 5 of you following me that I don’t know in real life (9 total)! Thanks for reading my lovers, sorry for the HUGE post.

Today’s OOTW is what I’d call an experiment, all in the name of self improvement I might add, so please comment on what you like and don’t like etc! In an effort to improve my blog I’ve been scouring your fashion blogs (yes you!) and sussing out what I like and don’t like, and well there’s not much I don’t like and a whole lot I do! So taking ‘inspiration’ from you lovely ladies I present my very autumnal OOTW.

Scarf - Vintage, Coat - Zara, Shirt - Vintage, Jumper - Topman, Necklace - DIY (see Eagerly Awaiting the Postman), Shorts - New Look?, Socks - Marks and Spencer?, Brogues -Urban Outfitters.

1. You will notice this post is very picture heavy compared with my previous endeavours, this is mainly because I couldn’t choose which pictures to show you from my ‘shoot’ and after spending hours ‘researching’ I decided it’s nice to have a lot to look at to go along with my constant ramblings!



2. Yes you clever little thing, it’s outside. You’re all doing it, and the out doorsy pictures look so much prettier than my dreary blank wall/door backdrops, so I gathered up the courage to venture into the ‘garden’ of our flat block on the way home from lunch yesterday and tried not to think about all the residents looking out their kitchen windows with puzzled/bemused looks.

3. This coat was screaming to be pictured amongst the autumn foliage don’t you think? That was a bit of an experiment too, wearing the coat itself, it’s from the Zara sale in January 2006. I bought it way back in the day because I was obsessed with orange (ok so I still do love it as a colour, just not generally to wear), my room was orange, my mobile was orange, any present anyone ever bought me was a little orange, I think for a while there my hair was even orange, ok you get the picture?! So when I saw it for £40 I begged my mother, ‘but its ORANGE mum, pleeeaasse, it’ll be really warm tooooo!!’ I lovingly wore this coat almost every blustery day that year (I even wore it on my very first date with The Boyf), well until October that is, when I traded it in for a blue one from Next, hey every girl gets a new winter coat for school don’t they? And they’ve been vying for attention ever since...

Actually that’s a lie because this year I’ve lived in my trench and last year I wore my oversized hounds-tooth blazer almost day in day out, so I probably haven’t worn this coat for 2 years! So why did it get relegated to the back of my closet if I loved it so much? Boredom I guess, and maybe for a while there I was quite afraid to wear winter brights, thought I might stand out like a lit up Christmas tree; but you know what...? This A/W if there’s one thing I love more than the neutrals, camel, brown, grey, black: it’s bright, bright, bright! What better way to clear up a tad of ‘Seasonal Affected Depression’ than by injecting a splash of summer colour into your snugly warm wardrobe! Dear Orange Coat, Welcome back old friend.



4. Outfit experiment in general. More than just rediscovering the coat, I put the whole look together yesterday morning as a bit of a trial run. The blouse/shirt is new to me, I picked it up last week for £6 and this is the first time I’ve had a chance to wear it, but it was so chilly looking outside that I layered the jumper for extra warmth, which was great as it allowed me to still show off the funky collar. Then I’ve noticed everyone’s been rocking the winter shorts recently and thought they’d look great with my long grey socks, but I hadn’t worn these yet this year because I kind of hate my legs/knees and realised the socks might emphasise and further my body-part hatred. After seeing these photo though I’m quite happy; I’m usually looking down on my legs you see, and have over analysed the bowing of my calves and swell of my knee on many occasions, but you guys never see me from that rather strange angle so I don’t know why I worried?

The whole outfit pulled together quite well in the end didn’t it?

5. A’la naturelle. I didn’t edit any of these photos. The Mr took them as always, and we are only working with a ‘point and shoot’ digital camera (Casio Exilim to be exact), so normally a few tweaks are a must but I don’t have photoshop etc on my laptop so the quality isn’t great anyway. This week shooting outside was fab, the natural light really worked it’s magic and for the pictures with a greater colour intensity we actually let the camera do all the work and put it on ‘Autumn leaves’ mode, quite apt don’t you think? Anyway, I’m a bit of a technophobe at heart and can’t get to grips with all the free photo editing software I’ve seen recommended, so from now on I’ll stick to a bit of natural light and the camera’s built in genius, and if all else fails hello Windows Photo Gallery ‘Fix’ to hoik up the brightness and contrast! I suppose I could drag my lazy ass off to uni and use Corel Photopaint etc... one day, maybe.

Anyway, let me know what you think!

Loves VW x



My Halloween History

The UK has never been that big on Halloween, and neither have I really. I wasn't allowed to go trick or treating as a kid, my dad said he didn't like the idea of children begging at strangers door's, and I don't blame him, the whole thing is a bit weird really isn't it? And my family usually spend October 31st with the lights turned off at the front of the house pretending we're not it, in Hoddesdon its safer that way, if you have no sweets your gardens more likely to be set on fire than just the odd egg to the window as a trick, eekk!

As I've got older I have however embraced the 'holiday' in various ways (any excuss to dress up!). So here's my Halloween History in pictures!

Your Halloween may have looked like this..

Our Halloween Haul 2006 (aged 16) - a little impromtue dressing up with whatever we had in my house and Trick or Treating round the estate!

Or it might have been a bit more like this...

House Party People 2007 (aged 17) - Fancy dress party at my house, standard. The bottom photo is the only surviving snapshot of me (in the middle), I was dresses as a witch type thing, in a 3-4yr old tesco costume as a top!

Or for quite a few of you it was probably like this...

Fright Club 2008 (aged 18) - I then move to uni and spend All Hallows Eve 08 clubbing in Manchester. I wore a children's 'bat costume' from asda, my boyfriend (bottom right) was a very drunk Russell Brand, haha!

But this year Voni, what did you do this halloween? Well much the same as the last really, I stayed home! And I wouldn't have it any other way! I wasn't invited to any parties, didn't know anyone going out in Manchester, and definatly am too old for trick or treating, we may have got away with it at 16, but not 20!!

So The Boyf and I are very happy to stay in tonight and celebrate in our own way, tonight consisted of...

A MASSIVE tub of sweeties (Tesco's Spooky Selection down from £10 to £5) and a choice of horror/halloween dvd's from our shelf- The Nightmare Before Christmas, Seven, Slither, Severance and Scooby Doo!

We actually only watched Severance tonight, its a really good film, so funny but quite scary too if you're a first time viewer (recommend!), cooked a yummy chicken curry and then spent the rest of the evening watching 'CSI Sunday' on Five USA, we're not ones for X-factor and all that crap, and what could be better than a bit of crime drama on Halloween!? And we didnt even get any trick or treaters, I suppose we do live in a 3rd floor flat, at least we didn't have to share our sweets with any badly dressed children!

What did you guys get up to this weekend? I look forward to seeing any fancy dress picture posts! But please tell me I'm not the only person who stayed home?

Loves VW x

PS. I'm finally just about over the flu and have ventured out of the house a few times, so an autumn OOTW will be coming up tomorrow!

PPS. My parents read this blog as one of the ways to keep up with my antics now they've moved to Oz, so I just wanted to give a little shout out to my daddy! Happy 50th Birthday Daddy - Have a great 'All Saints Day' in Tazzy! Love you lots xxxxxxx