& Other Stories Blue Clutch

& Other Stories has just opened their flagship store in London at Regent Street. It is a new edgy and chic brand from the H&M group. It received a lot of PR coverage in press and amongst bloggers last week on its launch. The brand is supposed to be inspired by bloggers instead of catwalk trends and I believe, has currently launched only in 10 European countries.

They have a huge range of clothing, accessories, shoes, bags and makeup. Their make up range is surprisingly quite extensive for a such a young brand.

They have a website too that looks like a tumblr-meets-pinterest board, which I personally think is quite unique.

I was overly curious to find out what they had to offer so I went to the store a couple of days ago, and came home with this...

It's a very chic looking blue clutch with a red inside. It is made from Scuba diving wetsuits are made, giving it quite an edgy look.

It has a side-press buckle that sort of reminded me of my old school backpacks but in a cool way. The black strap sort of breaks from the blue colour and adds dimension to the clutch.

  

The inside of the clutch is lined with red scuba material and looks really good as the red stands out against the blue when its folded.

I tried to pair this with something casual I was wearing the day I bought it. However, it could be dressed up just as easily. Also, it surprising holds things quite well. I had filled it up with all my essentials before this picture and it still maintained it shape well.

The store itself has a very boutique like feel to it and is really big. Since it is not too cluttered with clothes, the experience of shopping in there was really good. All in all, I am really impressed with & Other Stories and will definitely be making a trip back there soon.

Spiky studs meet the Bag Lady

Yes, I am referring to myself. I admit, I have a little problem when it comes to bags. I want them all. 

Studs have been around for a while, in clothes, accessories and shoes, but I never fancied them until I saw this... 

Hello awesomeness! 

I first saw it in Topshop and though it was cute, but not worth the price. I then saw it Zara and firgured that it was slowly infiltrating its way through all high street brands. I saw it again in Primark, six times cheaper than the original Topshop bag. It was a bargain I couldn't resist. 

I absolutely adore this little clutch and have taken it out with me thrice so far. It fits in a lot of things for a clutch and is quite comfortable to carry around thanks to that little strap it has.

All in all spiky things are my new favourite! Next stop...shoes!

McQueen, I love you.

The title almost gives it away, this post is all about my love for Alexander McQueen. I'll be honest, I have always believed in being trendy and that does not necessarily convert to be branded or brand conscious. When I moved to the UK, I was introduced to a whole new world of brands, brands I did not even know exist, brands I would lust after, the minute I was introduced to them. 

On my very first evening in the UK, my new found friends and I decided to go to the city centre and get familiar with the city. Soon we found ourselves in a mall (come on four girls in a new city; what do you expect?) As soon as we entered, the first store my friend saw was the McQueen store. "Oh I love McQueen.", she gushed. "Really? Me too." the other one added. I instantly saw them bond over something that I dint even comprehend and stood there silently. They looked at me, waiting for me to add my little bit about McQueen, but there was nothing I could add so I simply smiled like a fool and in that moment I knew where this newly founded friendship (4 hours before this incidence) was going.

Flash forward January 2013, yes, I did figure out who Alexander McQueen was, thank you very much. Not just that, but I fell in love with his style. Classic designs with that goth edge. Just perfect for a little punk-chic rebellion every now and again. 

Over time I have collected a few McQueen accessories and love them!

To start off with, I love the green scarf in the picture above. Although it is has the skulls on it, it is very unique and very different to the usual Mcqueen skull pattern. This scarf was from the SS12 collection and is in a jersey material. As it was for spring, the skulls are actually in  floral pattern and hence unless seen carefully virtually invisible. My mum loved the floral pattern on the scarf and almost stole it from me until I told her that the floral pattern was actually skulls. "I don't think I can carry off a skulls look at work." she said quietly, clearly not happy with it. 

The purse is from the SS12 collection as well. This is in a limited edition sky blue variant, although the pattern makes an appearance in all collection in different colours.  The studs give it an edge and the pastel blue makes it look feminine. I simply adore this purse.

Lastly, I own the gold razor double wrap bracelet. However I have tiny wrists and can manage to wrap it around thrice around wrist. "Is that a razor you are wearing on your wrist?", my manager asked me yesterday. "A bit too gothic for you isn't it?", she went on. But thats what I love about it. It is a bit gothic without being too overwhelming and I can wear it practically with outfit and it looks good.

Purse: I couldn't find a link to the blue one but the black one is now available at 55% discount on Outnet! Link

Bracelet: Is now available at 50% of the original price I got it at! How unfair! Link

SALE

Happy New Year to all!

January is the first month of the year. January is the month of resolutions, but January is also the month of SALES!

4 alphabets, 1 word, that I am dreading at the moment is SALE. Yes, to most people this is a wonderful word. It brings joy of sorts I can’t explain. Oh the joy.... but let’s not go there. My resolution for 2013 has been to not shop. Although this is probably overly dramatic, I like to think of myself as a recovering shopaholic. My resolution for the new year is to bring my shopping under control. 15 days into the new year and so far, I'm doing pretty well. the idea is not to not shop at all, but to cut it down and enjoy the pieces that I currently own. I will still allow myself to buy clothes but it must fall into the following categories for it to be a valid purchase Reason to buy things: a.       It is an absoloute necessity b.      Reason a +It is rare and if I dont jump on it now I will never have it c.       Reason a+ I have wanted to own this item for years but never found one that I like enough to buy in the past. I will admit it is really difficult to try and control the urge to buy things, but I like to be positive and l believe I have found a new approach to tackling this. One of the reasons why I like to shop is I like to constantly update/ upgrade my wardrobe and outfits. Over the years, I have accumulated so many pieces in my wardrobe, that i have realised that if I take a new approach to styling them, they can be  mixed and match and I can create several new outfits that i have never worn before. This break from shopping has given me a fresh perspective to styling.  To start off with, my winter cape. I bought this cape 2 years ago from Miss Selfridge. It is navy in colour and I think it is a classic colour that never goes out of style. The cape had rather large clunky buttons that I wasn't particularly fond of and as a result, last winter I dint use it at all.  I had completely forgotten about it but found it in my cupboard after deciding to go through all the things in my wardrobe as the first step of my self imposed shopping ban/cleanse.  I realised that the only reason I wasn't wearing the cape was the buttons and hence decided to change them. I ordered new buttons from LoveCraft.com. They were very efficient in their delivery I must add. This is the pattern of the button I selected.

I am so pleased that I did this, as I believe was the best thing I could do to my winter clothing. The cape is warm and stylish and oddly makes me feel very parisian, although I'm not exactly sure why. A beret with it is my ideal winter outfit. I could wear pajama shorts inside it and it would still look chic! (just kidding)

All in all I'm happy the way my utilitarian resolution is shaping up my hedonic need to style outfits! 

What to Wear on Christmas day?

Isn't it wonderful to wake up early in the morning, run downstairs to find a whole bunch of presents under a beautifully decorated tree? It is one o my favourite things of Christmas, but there is something else I enjoy equally. Yes, spending time with my family is a given and hence wont receive much recognition in this post.

What I really enjoy as much as unwrapping gifts is getting dressed for Christmas. There, I said it out loud. I have heard mixed reactions whenever I have told people this. Some look at me like I’m from kuku-land while others totally gush how much they love getting ready for Christmas day too. Even if it’s just to spend time with my family at home, I think it's a festive occasion and hence some new, pretty clothes are mandatory!

Before I go on with ramblings any further, I must mention that the following post is a direct result of the past two hours, shamelessly spent browsing through ASOS, wistfully wishing that I was back in the UK, only so that I could order one (or all three) of the dresses. Sadly, as I’m in India at the moment, all I can do is browse through websites and wear whatever I packed for Christmas day.

While browsing I came across three different dresses that I thought were perfect for the Christmas day. They are very different styles and are suitable depending on how dressy or comfortable you want to be for the day.

Also, as it is after all for Christmas day, I thought it was only apt to stick to red or green. There is no hard and fast rule about the colours, its just the brand marketing slave in me propels me to gravitate towards red or green for Christmas.

The green dress is my favourite. If I were to pick one of these three dresses, I would definitely pick this one. Probably because I’m spending Christmas after two years with my family, I feel uber festive this year and would love to wear something dressy, even if the extent of my parade in the dress is only from my room to the living room.

The lovely black lace detailing in the front and the crinkled skirt both remind me of Christmas for some reason. The skirt shouts Christmas tree while the lace is festive. Ok, Maybe I’m stretching it a bit too much, but its so pretty!

This dress is definitely the dressiest of the lot. You can wear it at home like I would or is even perfect to go out in the evening. Its also available  in blue, but as mentioned above, the blue is not my pick for the holiday season.

The red dress with hearts is the perfect for Christmas day too. It ticks all the boxes. Red: check; woolen, warm and cosy: check; cute: check.

I absolutely love the bow detailing at the back. Again, something that reminds me of gifts and hence Christmas. The heart design is very cute as well. All in all, along with the zip on the sleeves, the bow detailing on the back and the heart pattern, this is something I’d definitely wear for Christmas as well; if only I wasn't feeling that festive this year.

The red jumper dress is the comfy-iest of the three dresses. If you are someone who cant be bothered to get dressed for Christmas day and just want to wear something comfortable, this dress is perfect for you. The red and white make it festive enough though its a simple jumper. In my opinion it is fashionable take on being dressed in PJs all day on Christmas day.

If you are someone like me, hope this gives ideas for what to wear on Christmas day, if you are not, hope you enjoyed my bit of rambling!

Green dress: Link

Red dress with hearts: Link

What Barbie and I have in common... Peplum!

Peplum is back! It has been around for the past few now, and although its a funny little word I think its really chic.

When I first saw it back on the runways all I could think of was my old ragged Barbie. Growing up in the 90s, I had quite a few Barbie dolls and my favourite thing to do with them was to dress them up.

Back then, peplum was a very popular pattern. I remember skimming though a catalogue of Barbie's dresses and all of them having that little frill around the waist.  

It is funny for old trends keep popping back every now and again. However, the key thing to remember about fashion is that you must wear something that you are comfortable with and suits your body. Peplum is perfect for anyone with an hourglass or apple (cornet) shaped figure. However, if you have a pear figure, it might be best to try and avoid this style as the frill divides the body into two halves and can draw more attention to the half below it. It works well with an hourglass or apple figure because it accentuates the waist. If you have a tiny waist,  show it off!

Although I know this in theory, this is not why I went peplum crazy last month. My reason to shop was purely out of herd mentality! I saw a ton of people wearing it at work and was temped enough to go buy two tops in a span of 15 minutes. A bit much you think? Well clearly not for me.

As you can see this Topshop burgundy top is my favourite and hence is mentioned first. Although it doesn't have any print on it, the colour is enough to make the top stand out. It fits perfectly and with a little bit of accessorizing can look really classic.

Top: Topshop- Link

Jeans: Topshop Petite- Link

Necklace: Forever21

Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs Classic Q Lil Ukita

Shoes: Zara

Black is my favourite colour. I also think that black makes anything look chic and classic. This black lace peplum top believe it or not is from Primark! Yes, its true. I went in to buy a pair of tights and came out with this top! It has a black lining in the front and is sheer behind. Although wearing it as it is not really my style, it would probably be more appropriate on a night out.

I wear this top to work and hence a sheer lace back look is not an ideal for me. I wear a black slip inside to cover my back; no pun intended!

Jeans: Topshop Petite- Link

Necklace: H&M head band worn as necklace

Bag: H&M- Link

Shoes: Zara

All in all I think peplum is a fun trend however, I'm afraid it will fade. I don't expect to see peplum for very long on the runways although I would love to see it stay on for a couple of more seasons at least before I'm ready to dive into another another blast from the past.... 90s neons in Spring 2013 anyone?

PS: Here's a little flash back of the 90s Barbie for those of you who don't remember this or weren't born yet then to know it.*

All Barbie images taken from the internet*