Irregular Choice Oz Smooch

Ooh, is that some tasty new season Irregular Choice I see? It is indeedy. Exclusive to Schuh, these "Oz Smooch" take on the basic shape of spring/summer's "Can't Touch This" or "I'm Bossy" which is a good thing I think because I love them! I'm also a fan of the carved perspex heel, it's IC's signature really, so I'm glad they continue to use it. Plus as an avid high-heel wearer, this is my go-to, comfy, wear it all day long heel!
You can see a better image of the new trim above...it's a shiny ice-cream sundae! At first glance I thought it was an Oscar statue, hee hee! The print is the ice-cream one from a few seasons back (yet another fave, so glad to see it return) and the shoe has the t-bar strap and stud closure.
And new season equals...new soles, yipee! Loving that cuckoo clock.
They are also available in glitter if the print above isn't your cup of tea. The shoes are priced £80 and if the sizing is the same as Can't Touch This, Fantasy Flower and the like, it'll run true to size. Here's a closer look at the trim.
And a cuckoo box to match the sole, yay!

Preview AW11-Primark Autumn Winter 2011

My bank balance breathed a sigh of relief upon looking through these photos the other day. You'll see new season stock already filtering into the shops and I get the feeling I won't be buying all that much. Normally, I get really, really excited for winter fashion (saddo), but generally the trends aren't ticking my boxes this season and I'm actually, surprisingly pleased about it. This is the Primark Autumn/Winter 2011 collection and by now, you know me and Primark...I find it almost impossible to leave that shop without spending at least £40 (and in Primark that goes a long way). However lately I've gone in and struggled to find anything, the styles and colours just haven't appealed. My nearest store rarely gets any of the stock I see (and usually want) in previews or magazines and my two main interests are dresses (that department gets smaller each visit) and jewellery (the stock rarely changes and often looks cheap). I've pretty much given up on the shoe department which seems to be at least 4 months behind any other Primark store and even then, you'll never find your size. So why does it please me, that I won't be buying lots next season? Well, I've overspent a lot lately and bought a truck load of dresses and shoes over the summer, so it's slightly reassuring that my wishlist for A/W is pretty non existent just now.

I personally don't feel like I fall into many or any of the new season trends but I'm quite happy with my wardrobe full of floral dresses and I would never try and change my style or latch onto a trend that wasn't "me". Currently, I despise the term "colour blocking" because it's the most overused phrase (and trend) of the moment and this Primark collection fits smack, bang in the middle of that. I actually pity anyone that doesn't want to colour block, this season or next because there's not much else to find in the shops. I think where colour blocking fails for me, is that individually each piece doesn't have much personality, it's not until you style them together that you create the trend but it feels a little 'try-hard'. Nothing on it's own excites me or has me wanting to rush out and buy it anyway. Plus, I'm sure we've all got plain basics within our wardrobe that we could use if we wanted to fulfill this current trend. Anyway, here it is, see what you think...(click images to see them supersized)
Orange coat £35 due August, vintage look patent bag £7 July, pink tights £2 August and white patent strappy shoes £12 in store now.
Limited Edition slinky jumpsuit £23 August, snake skinny belt £2 August and snake platform shoes £18 September (rather like these shoes).
Mustard pussy bow blouse £10 October, crimson wool skirt with skinny belt £14 September, pink tights £2 August and high heel loafers £16 August.
Tomato cable knit bobble jumper £12 September, leather skater skirt £20 September, metal trim clutch £6 July, mustard tights £2 August and loafers as before.
Roll neck £8 August, belted peg leg trousers £14 July, long disc necklace £2.50 July, tights £2 October and purple wedge ankle boots £20 August.
Cable knit button cardi £12 August, cable knit midi skirt £12 September, socks £2 October and lace-up boots £18 September.
Limited Edition satin maxi £23 September, clutch £5 July and suedette courts £18 August.
Cropped jacket £23 September, tailored trousers £14 August, berry heart socks £2 July and lace up boots as before.
Limited Edition peter-pan dress £23 September, padlock mini bag £5 July, socks £2 October, loafers as before.
Belted coat £45 October (slightly more expensive than you'd expect from Primark but it is a doppleganger for that Burberry one), tights £2 instore now and loafers as before.
Check jacket £35 August, cable knit jumper £14 September, trousers £14 September, socks £2 October and loafers as before.
Heart print coat with pom poms £25 August, pocket mini skirt £8 August, teal tights £2 October and lace up boots as before.

So what did you think? The country manor/heritage trend is another one they've covered and it's not really my thing either. I also don't wear jumpers which is another big trend as you can see and I was explaining to my Mum the other day how burnt orange, rust type shades were totally "in" and that it wasn't really a colour I'm keen on (although I know it's generally a blogger fave). It just doesn't do anything for me and I prefer pastels or brights and it's kinda dull and inbetween. So nothing really for me, but as I said I've nothing against the clothes, they just don't excite me. Here's a close-up of a couple of the shoes.

all images courtesy of Primark

Daisy Lowe Speaks To PHP!

You'll be aware that I participated in the 'Get Set For Summer Challenge' in association with Gillette Venus and Braun recently. Well, Daisy Lowe is the 'legs' of the new Dual Epilator (that you'll possibly recall me reviewing a short while back on my YouTube channel-yep that dancing epilator) and recently she hosted the Braun Sound of Fashion event in London, an evening of music and fashion. Now, I have to admit I don't often get invited to press events, I'm not sure if it's due to my location or not being in the right clique! I guess it is easier and far cheaper for those who live in or around London to pop on a train rather than having an entire day of travel and overnight stay for peeps like me. However, given my health issues, it's normally unlikely that I'd be able to attend anyway (although it's always nice to be considered). This year though, my health is improving slightly (possibly not quite enough to run off to London...) but I made the decision that I should probably tackle such an event-just "go for it" as I say and to hell with the consequences! I did a little research online to suss out hotels and train tickets once I knew the date and this was when my grand plan hit a major snag. It was possibly because Wimbledon was on and thus very few hotels to be had, but it was going to cost around £500 for a room and travel for Mum and I (needed Mum to carry the luggage and lean on!). If I'm totally honest I did still consider it...but in the end £500 is just too much to spend on a flying visit, even if it is one of those 'once in a lifetime' opportunity things that I seem to have missed a lot of over the past 9 years.

However as sad I was not to go (and I genuinely was, especially as I'd got my hopes up), it was eased slightly by a little personalised interview with Daisy for my blog. How cool is that? You can see it above (if Blogger ever decides to upload it) and I'm sorry I couldn't bring you the sparkle and glamour of London. Sometimes I do regret that my life (or lack of) limits what I can bring to the blog, unfortunately there's nothing I can do to change that or speed up my recovery. On the plus side, being ill means I don't have work commitments that get in the way of blogging though, so there's a flipside to everything. I have a feeling I would have been very emotional on the trip to London and very reflective of what my life could've been and just how much I miss the city. It's now 10 years since I briefly lived and worked there and I really had the time of my life; it brought me out of my shell and firmly cemented what I'd always known, that I wanted a career in fashion. I always knew I had to come back to finish my last year at Uni though, but there was a massive part of me that wanted to be reckless and stay and completely change my life. However, it's a lot of coulda, woulda, shoulda's and perhaps that path wouldn't have worked out any better for me-you just never know do you? Getting too deep now, heehee! Anyway, hope you've all come up with a master plan on how to torture the techy boys if they haven't fixed my computer by Monday, there's so much I want to blog about just now and I'm extremely limited without my camera or PC.

Stars And Stripes

The perfect shoes to wear today. Happy 4th July, to all those celebrating. You may recognise these Chica platforms by Irregular Choice, although this particular version are the result of a collaboration between IC and Cobra Snake. The style is very limited, so don't hang about if you want them. They are priced £115 and come in a pretty cool suitcase style box. Available online from Irregular Choice, unfortunately already sold out from The Cobra Snake.

I'm Almost Back

Hi! Still no computer and I'm starting to want to strangle the guys in the shop-no joke! It feels like we're being held to ransom though, because we've already been charged for the initial work they did and now our computer is sitting in bits (with them), so we could take it back and lose the money we've already paid and have a computer in pieces or wait until they properly fix it. Not much of a choice really. They assured me it would be ready on Saturday afternoon, but I've been hearing the same story for weeks. My parents are on their hols now though, so nobody can pick it up this week (I can't carry it by myself). So it'll be another week, I'm afraid. I thought I could try blogging a little in the meantime. I don't have my camera installed on my sisters laptop and both my camera memory cards are now full of photos I've taken in the past few weeks anyway-but I figured I could at least blog items that don't require 'real' photos. I do have limited time on this laptop though, so it may not be every day. I'm trying to keep everyone updated on my facebook page-it's been easier to use that during this, so you can find that link to the right. I've been missing you all!!

So, it's sale time and rather than bagging myself some half price fashions, I end up buying twice as much as usual and therefore buying more and although technically saving money in reality I've spent just as much (if not, more)! My room is like crazy messy, shoe boxes and dresses hanging everywhere. There's going to need to be a serious cull to find room for all the new purchases. I've been buying some lovely vintage inspired dresses from Jasmine Guinness at Very.co.uk
Tonnes of Florence & Fred dresses in the Tesco sale. I already owned most of the collection anyway, so just stocked up on those I didn't already have. That latest package is actually still sitting unopened-I haven't had the chance to try them on yet.
Some New Look and Dorothy Perkins dresses again...can't quite keep up with exactly which DP ones as I've bought so many and returned some and kept others! Here's the NL ones though. I did also get the cherry print prom dress, but it was insanely tight, so that had to be returned.
I actually had a rather unpleasant 'sales' trip to Dundee last Thursday. It was super busy and I hate when it's like that with long queues and people not looking where they're stepping (hello! I'm down here!). So other than a cute monkey necklace in River Island (they didn't have any of the shoes I was looking for in my size, damn the 3's and 8's!) and a ring in Topshop, it was pretty unsuccessful. So I decided a quick trip into Schuh was required and picked up the glorious Irregular Choice Abigail's Party in the pink bunny print. Honestly they look like size 3's, such a dinky little shape but fit perfectly (just go for your usual size). I'm holding out for loads more IC pieces...keeping an eye on sale prices!
Oh I almost forgot I bought the Can't Touch This t-bars from ASOS too. Really cute!
What else? The peachy coloured Croco by Vivienne Westwood Anglomania & Melissa also from ASOS. Stunning in the flesh, much better than the online pics you see, highly recommend them. I also ordered the lilac skull Lady Dragon slingbacks last night from Hervia and I don't believe you've seen the mint pair that I purchased a couple of months ago too?
I've also got a couple more dresses on order from the new Barbara Hulanicki range at Asda. Not having constant access to a computer meant I missed out on my size though...I was holding out for a free delivery offer and by then the 18's and 20's had gone in the polka dot. I have another dress from the BH range and it was generous in size, so I've ordered the 18 in the floral one (as they are similarly shaped) and seeing as the navy dress is a wrap, hopefully an exact fit isn't as essential and the 16 will do.

When I got my computer back briefly a couple of weeks ago, I quickly ordered these PPQ for Office shoes, called Menna. Really great for summer. I'm sure there have been other items, indeed there has been, I recall buying some jewellery from Miss Selfridge and a couple of animal rings from New Look. I have my eye on some AMAZING shoes right now, so more about them later.
It's so nice to be back, even if the blog isn't back to it's full capabilities. Unfortunately The Shoe Girl Diaries will not be updated, as it's impossible without a camera and my computer. So, let me know if you've been buying some sales bargains or have got your eye on some of the new season stock that's already filtering into the shops (gets earlier each year doesn't it?).