A New Dress From Zalando

Last week I was sent a voucher by Zalando and invited to pick out my choice from the massive selection of  a massive selection of clothes  from their the website to review. I did of course pick a dress as with summer finally here, I take the opportunity to wear dresses most of the time. After much deliberation, I decided to try something a little different from my usual choice of floral dresses and went for this simple style by Numph in one of my favourite colours - khaki. What I really need to finish off this look is some bright neon orange accessories but for now I am making do with this tan brown belt and these suede wedge shoes. The dress is incredibly lightweight and comfortable to wear, just what I need for summer. I think the simple style is also quite versatile so could work for lots of different daytime looks.

I was however also really tempted by some of the other dresses that I spotted as I am particulary lusting after dark florals at the moment, which will be good for the rest of the summer and on into the autumn and winter. Here are just a few that I spotted.

Motel Myla Dress

Desigual Valentine Dress

Anna Field Knee Length Dress

Esprit Knee Length Dress

Ruby Rocks Dress

Zalando is a great place to find some slightly more unusual labels plus some great designer pieces. Have you checked it out yet? what do you think?

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

Floral Overload

To celebrate the 2nd birthday of her blog on 6th July, Intrinsically Florrie has decided to have a virtual tea party and is inviting both bloggers and non bloggers to join in by sending a picture of their floral outfits. I love Intrinsically Florrie for her amazing fkoral outfits and this was the perfect opportunity for me to have a go at mixing up my own multi floral outfit. Florries outfit includes a total of 16 floral items. I wasn't able to cram quite this many into my outfit but managed 6. If I had some floral tights and the weather permitted I would have happily worn them plus floral nails and floral sunglasses.

Cardigan- Marks and Spencers

Dress - People Tree

Shoes - Temps De Cerises

Hair Flower - Dorothy Perkins

Bag - Vintage

Necklace - a present from my sister

The bag is vintage and was a recent purchase from Oxfam. Unfortunately it was quite a bit smaller than expected but was so pretty, I couldn't bring myself to send it back. It does however fit my iphone just perfect so make a great iphone case. The dress is part of a collaboration between People Tree and Laura Ashley where there have used vintage Laura Ashley prints and recoloured them to make them up to date. If you like it, they have quite a few items from this collection including this dress and a very nice cropped jacket in the same fabric at half price here.

I also spent this week making cupcakes for my daughters birthday. She was insistent that I should make them rather than buying them and actually I was glad I did as I really enjoyed it. I did cheat a little buy buying ready made frosting and sugar flowers. Next time I might get a little more creative and try making my own frosting.

Hope you had a lovely weekend. What is your favourite floral outfit?

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

If You Want Bold, Bright and Beautiful Prints, Shop Fairtrade

For a long time now, I have tried to be ethical with my shopping but , failed, to a degree for a number of reasons. The clothes were just too expensive for my budget and also many of them were just nothing special (specialness is a very important trait in clothes for me when shopping). The ethical clothing choices just didn't really give me what I wanted and needed for everyday wear at an affordable price.

I have tried my best to shop ethically but will have to admit it has been a bit of an uphill struggle. This summer something changed. I have been not only been discovering more and more ethical and eco fashion pieces that I really want to buy not just because they are ethical but because I love how they look. But I have also become more and more disillusioned by the clothing on the high street by its poor quality and uninspiring designs (not in every case but you have to admit, it is quite samey, polka dots anyone?).

Anyone who visits this blog regularly will realise that I have a love of bright and bold prints. I have searched for beautiful print dresses on the high street and have miserably failed this year. now suddenly I have realised where I was going wrong.

If you want great prints, shop Fairtrade. Whilst Fairtrade clothing doesn't always work for every trend or style, for bright, bold and amazing prints is a definitely a winner. This has to be the secret to ethical shopping, looking for unique and different pieces that captilise on local cultures and trades peoples skills.

Last week posted on my new maxi skirt by Gringo and whilst searching for more pieces by this label I found these lovelies (by a variety of Fairtrade labels) at ethical retailer Fashion Conscience . I am stunned!

African Print Ruched Skirts by Fair + True

Kidogo Shorts by Lalesso

Lalesso Zip Front Dress

Gringo Fairtrade Peacock Print Short Dress

Nomad Fairtade Butterfly Sarong

Nomad Print Maxi Dress

Nomads Vintage Inspired Floral Dress

Komodo Tunic Dress

(just to let you know this post contans affiliate links)

What do you think of ethical clothing, do you manage to find pieces that you love?

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

OMG I Have Found Floral Dress Heaven

I make no secret of the fact that I love a floral dress or two. In fact it has gone a bit beyond that to becoming a full scale addiction where I constantly trawl the shops and internet in search of that holly grail of floral dresses. So you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across the most amazing collection of floral dresses that I have seen for this summer (OMG!) in the most unexpected of places.

I will have to admit that I don't think I have ever bought a single piece of clothing in Warehouse in my whole life. Not sure why but I had always kind of assumed it was a shop for tall people (no idea what led me to such a conclusion) but consequently, as I am only 5ft 2, I never really paid it much attention.

Then.... I spotted the summer 2011 collection which left me completely flabbergasted by the full on amazing selection of floral dresses.

Garden Festival Dress

Trailing Floral Shift

Pansy Print Cross Back Dress

Wallflower Printed Dress

Floral Print Stripe Prom Dress

Garden Print Floral Dress

Floral off the shoulder dress

Floral Maxi Dress

Romantic Floral Dress

Blue Pansy Tea Dress

I know this kind of overtly floral stuff won't be to everyone's taste but I am truly smitten. With my birthday only weeks and most people tending to give money rather than pressies these days, I am seriously considering investing in one maybe even two of these lovelies. The difficulty being making up my mind in which. The shift and tea style dresses tend to suit my body shape best and at the moment I am leaning towards the first two as favourites.

Which do you like? Have you ever bough anything from Warehouse, I would be interested to hear your feedback on quality and fit.

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

ps. this post contains affiliate links but the items were selected purely on my love for them

Early Spring Florals

I am always ready for spring and summer way before they actually arrive and this year is no different, those floral dresses have been wanting to bust out for weeks now. Today, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. I say 'was' because it didn't seem to last much longer than a hour after I got dressed but it gave me enough of a spring feeling to go for a floral dress, albeit layered with leggings, top and jacket. I even decided to get my toes out (big mistake) not something I would usually do until the weather is much much warmer.

Part of the reason for wanting to get my toes out was these new shoes that I have just got by Dkode from Spartoo, I love the bright orange with neutral greys. I also got the chance to wear the new necklace that I treated myself to when I was in London last week. I am pretty uninspired by much of the high street jewellery at the moment and wanted something a little different. I found this necklace in a little shop/ stall in Victoria station.

The dress was sent to me by Motel last year and I love the print but I have always felt a little uncomfortable wearing it as the children always pull on my clothes and it wouldn't take much for it to end up around my waist! I felt much more comfortable with a top under it and the leggings were a wise choice too on such a windy day.

Anyway I decided to make the most of the natural light by taking some photographs outside. I soon changed my mind when I opened the door and got an icy blast of wind. It was definitely much colder than it looked so I opted for the lounge instead which gets plenty of morning sunlight.

Striped Top - local charity shop

Floral dress - Motel Rocks

Leggings - People Tree

Denim Jacket - BCBG MAXAZRIA Jeans (swapped on Posh Swaps) 

Shoes - Dkode from Spartoo

Necklace - Jewellery shop at Victoria Station

Ring - New Look

Are you feeling ready for spring now? what are your favourite spring clothes?

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

Weekly Round Up - All Good Stuff

Can't believe it is nearly the weekend already,  I still haven't had the chance to post all of the posts that I wanted to so I am going to squeeze them all into one post as there is so much stuff that I want to blog about, I am struggling to keep up at the moment.

First of all I just wanted to share with you that Oxfam is have a 50% off sale of the jewellery and accessories in its ethical collection between 12 and 5pm today. It is only a small collection but has some interesting and unusal stuff like this Recycled fire hose bag plus it is all ethical and helpls to support the charitable work of Oxfam. If you happen to be over at the Oxfam site , why not also check out the second hand shop for some amazing vintage clothing and jewellery? I could spend hours just searching under the word 'floral' or 'silk scarf'.

Something that has also caught my attention this week is the new Emma Watson collection for People Tree. Whilst I really love People Tree, so far the I have not really bothered with Emma Watson collections as they have been a little too 'young' and preppy for my taste, perhaps suited more to teenagers. The latest collection though has a few item that I really like. It is far more edgey than previous collections perhaps to match her edgy  hair cut. The whole collection is black and white with polka dots, checks and a very nice black drape dress, black wrap dress and blazer, all great wardrobe staples.

Next I wanted to share some good news. I have just completed my CTJT Diploma in Fashion Journalism. It was an online course which I completed in my own time which is great as I have so many demands on my time. In other ways not so good as I did complete it 'in my own time', I seem to become an expert in the art of procrastination lately. Anyway, I have finished it and am really pleased I did. Overall I found the course really useful both in terms of improving my writing skills but also in giving me some great tips on  other apects of becoming a journalist including interviewing and taking photographs. Most importantly the course covered the subject of finding a job in journalism in detail with lots of useful tips and the course tutor had lots of experience and gave lots of advice and feedback.

Until I hear about the university course that I have applied for, I plan to start to work through a new book that I have just bought called The Fashion Photography Course. I hope to share and discuss some of the more interesting parts as I work through it. I have also been accepted as a writer for The Source magazine which is going to launch very soon on the Ethical Fashion Forum. I am really excited as this will be a great opportunity to put my journalistic skills into practice and learn more about ethical fashion.

This week I have been busy writing lots of posts including a review of Floral dresses at Marks and Spencers, the D and G Mimisa Floral  Shift dress and floral dresses to party in this summer. I have also updated my website with some of my favourite floral and flower covered dresses - obsessed , me?

My outfit in the picture at the top - Jacket- M and S from a charity shop, top from a charity shop( then customised wit bleach), skirt from Dorothy Perkins ( really old), shoes by Bronx (from Spartoo), tights - Dorothy Perkins, necklace - a present.

Have a lovely weekend and thanks for all the lovely comments in my post about Does being a fashion blogger affect your style?

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

Friday Finds - Floral Dresses

Oh no my Friday finds is late again but seen as I am writing this at 5.30am (children huh) I consider it pretty lunch still Friday.

Over the last few weeks, floral dresses (and bags and blouses) have begun to become something of an obsession. First there was the D&G collections, how amazing is that, then I recieved a Cath Kidston catalogue which seems to have taken up residence on my desk for flicking through at every possible opportunity especially when my internet connection is going slow, which seems to be a fairly common occurence at the moment.

One of the great things about floral dresses for me is that I can buy as many as I like as I know they will get loads of wear and will be kept for many seasons to come. For me there are some things that never really go out of fashion and florals is one of those. So here are some of the gorgeous florals that I have found over the last few weeks.

The ultimate floral dress - I love this, the print, the colours and the shape! Mimosa Dress by D&G

Liberty Floral Jersey Tube Dress by Annie Greenabelle - you need to really look at this print up close to see how beautiful it is.

Reluxe Upcycled Cup Dress

Johann Earl Vintage Button Dress (XS) - Urban Outfitters



Spring Rose Orla Dress By Motel Vintage

Vintage Floral Dress At Oxfam

Cotton Floral Dress - Marthas Closet Vintage

Don't forget to check out my Ethical and eco fashion page for more places to buy beautiful clothes.

Have a lovely weekend

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

Just to let you know that this post does contain some affiliate links.

Floral Dress Inspiration For Spring

It might seem like a strange thing to post about spring floral dresses with snow and sub zero temperatures forecast and just over a week to g until Christmas. This year I have been exceptionally organised with my Christmas pressy buying leaving me time to think about other things. Floral prints are one of my favourite things about spring and summer and it looks like they are going to be big news for Spring 2011, if you don't believe me check out new fashion on The Shopping Forecast. Here are some of my favourites from the Spring catwalks.

Erdem - of course!

Jil Sander - not sure about the tent like shape, but I love the print

Vanessa Bruno

Kenzo

Chanel

What do you think of my floral picks on the Shopping Forecast, If you like please register and vote (you could win £200 of clothes) Have you seen any lovely florals for the Spring?

With warmest wishes

Ceri

All images from Elleuk.com