WEIGHTY ISSUES

Today I went to a barbeque wearing this outfit, bare legs and all. Yes I'm well aware of today's grim weather but I just can't take winter dressing anymore, I'm militantly dressing like it's spring. Which it is! Other than that I don't have a great deal of waffle about this outfit, I love everything yada yada, so here's something which has been playing on my mind recently:

Tomorrow marks two weeks since I stopped eating junk food. And, man, do I ever love junk food. Margarita pizza dripping with salty mozzarella is my favourite and I could sit and eat chocolate forever. Whilst it is hurting my soul, this change in diet is of course good for my body, skin, health, life expectancy.. but sadly the catalyst was that I've now booked my summer holiday. I'm a big believer that you should work with what you've got, and your clothes should fit you, not vice versa - so why do I feel the need to get healthy (and whenever a girl is saying get healthy she usually means lose weight) now I am close to exposing my near-naked body on a beach, in front of people I don't even know?

I'm so torn on this issue. Half of my brain tells me I am amazingly lucky to have a body that is strong, functions properly and does all the things I want it to do, but the other half is insisting that I really need to lose a couple (say.. seven. Or ten) pounds before hitting the beach.

And then I remember there are starving kids in Africa and girls being raped in India, and that teenagers in North Korea are so oppressed that they're not even allowed to wear jeans, and realise how absurd and banal this all is and wonder why I even waste brain power thinking about it.

AND THEN I REMEMBER I HAVE A FASHION BLOG and take photos of myself posing in various outfits. Urgh life, you so weird. Can we all just have a good standard of living and fair treatment please and be happy with what we've got.

I'm wearing:

Waiste dungarees

Vintage shirt

H&M coat

Topshop socks

Office trainers

Minkpink bag

I Love Crafty necklace

RECORD STORE DAY

It's not like Manchester really needs a reason to drink on a sunny Saturday afternoon, but Record Store Day was the perfect excuse to get out of the house and hit town. I picked up the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album from the absolutely packed Piccadilly Records, plus Grimes's Visions - a total bargain at £7. In my teenage years I was addicted to buying CDs, beginning with singles I liked the covers of in Asda, to spending hours flicking through obscure albums in indie record shops. I stopped buying CDs as their price increased and my disposable income decreased but really £7 is just the cost of a cocktail in the Northern Quarter, with much more longevity to the enjoyment from the music. It's a habit I'll return to; one a month maybe, carefully considered, not because of their pretty covers.

The rest of my afternoon was spent in a sunny spot outside Common Bar, listening to live bands and DJs through the walls, hanging with my boyfriend, our buddy Alun and blogging pals Pastime Bliss. My jellies made their debut appearance and I was the ideal temperature in fewer layers than usual: finally the weather is getting almost bearable. This jacket, skirt and jellies are set to be my summer uniform so you are sure to see much more of those.

I caught a couple of minutes of Bernard + Edith and really loved their sound.. I'm so rubbish at describing music but to me they sounded like if Grimes was made of sunshine and rainbows. Which of course is good! I'm hoping to catch these guys around the city sometime soon. There was also a fluffy dog in boots there.. you can imagine just how exciting that was.

I'm wearing:

Waiste Starry Nirvana jacket

Wildfox tee & sunglasses

Chelsea Girl maxi skirt (in black)

Topshop socks

Juju jellies

Minkpink bag

DRESSING DOWN

Ever wondered what I wear to dress down, to run errands and the like? No? Well, just humour me then... I don't always wear 5-inch flatforms and rainbows of colours, as much as I would like to. I do sometimes just dress down, and this outfit is just something I'd wear to uni or to pop to the supermarket; this particular look was for a day off work, picking up our weekly shop and visiting the hospital.

I'd seen Minkpink bags on Market HQ (such an amazing store.. shame it's in Auz) but didn't know they were sold in the UK - so you can imagine my excitement when I found out they were being stocked at Eternal Envy, just down the road from me. Cue the biggest, baddest of the collection quickly coming into my possession. The patchwork reminds me of bags my nana had in the 1980s, with added fringing, which I'd have on every accessory if I had my way. Along with my pastel tie-dyed Evil Twin tee, light furry jacket, and skinny pleather trousers this is my kind of dressing down.

I look so tired and pale in these photos.. a rest is needed but the end of the university year is in sight, plus Chris and I have started talking about holidays. A horizontal week in the sun has never been more necessary!

I'm wearing:

Minkpink jacket

Evil Twin/DIY t-shirt

Oasis trousers

Waiste beanie

Topshop glitter socks

Dr Martens shoes

Minkpink bag

IN AN OCTOPUS'S GARDEN

You could say my parents' garden is somewhat.. rustic. They may use harsher words, but it's the place of many happy memories for me, growing up, playing games, mainly those involving owning and riding imaginary horses. My psychedelic clothes plus the garden setting reminded me of the Beatles' song Octopus's Garden from the Abbey Road album... I'm not under the sea though I would sure like to be resting my head on the sea bed.

Feeling pretty blah as my dad's been in hospital this week, so I wore my brightest mix of colours to cheer myself, and hopefully the other patients on my visits, up. I love wearing my rainbow Waiste jacket and this has fast become my favourite vintage dress (now with new hacked hem), plus I'm wearing my new Buffalo Spice Girl shoes my mental parentals won off eBay. You can get 'shop soiled' (read: a tiny rub on the sole) Buffalo shoes for a decent price on there - even worn pairs can go for silly prices as they're rare now. I say this about every new pair of shoes I get but they are BEST EVER. Comfy and clumpy and faintly ridiculous: my favourite formula for footwear.

My dad's had many pints of blood over the past month so I'd just like to finish by saying a big THANK YOU to anyone who has ever given blood. As well as for patients with long term health issues it's also essential for disasters where many people are injured - such as the earthquake in Pakistan this week, and what has happened in Boston and Texas - so I urge you to consider donating a bit of your red stuff.

I'm wearing:

Waiste Starry Nirvana jacket

Vintage dress

Thriftette socks

Buffalo Wannabe trainers

(in black here)

FASHION FLASH MOBBIN'

Working in retail, the phrase drive footfall gets bandied about an awful lot. Usually from head office, when your figures aren't quite as high as they think they should be, and they expect you to do something about it. So you bake cakes, buy booze, make cute little cards that say "20% discount" on them, and expect the crowds to come flooding in.

They don't. It's so hard to inspire the generally apathetic public to attend such events, let alone part with their hard-earned cash. That's why I was so enthused to attend Manchester Arndale's Fashion Flash Mob on Friday. Every twenty minutes, all weekend, there were flash mobs of dancers wearing a different retailers' clothes, then straight afterwards said retailer was offering a discount; plus envelopes were handed out during the dances, one containing a number winning a hefty voucher for the store. You only found out by going into store though, to find the winning number on a board at the back of the store - some clever merchandising going on there. The dances drew large crowds, curious to see what was happening, and those crowds actually translated into footfall for the retailers featured.

I was so impressed by the organisation, how well thought through it all was, and how many retailers enthusiastically got on board. I stayed for two hours (but could have easily, and happily, stayed longer) and saw two dances, plus spent time in the pampering area of Halle Square. I found my perfect No. 7 foundation match, using the smart gadget you see on the telly ads, and also had a lovely Hotel Chocolat hand massage. No.. not with chocolate, but with their skincare range which was equally delicious to their chocolate.

Things that fashspired me most from the flash mobs: Vero Moda's cute white fluffy jumper (would go perfectly with my white shoe problem obsession, plus dungarees, pouffy skater skirts, jeans, just.. hi) and the ice cream socks with nude shoes. I immediately hit Topshop to replenish my pastel sock supply.

There are further such events planned for Manchester Arndale, so let's hope they continue to drive footfall in such a fun, inspiring way.

I'm wearing:

Waiste Starry Nirvana jacket

(yep.. I got it. It was always gonna happen)

Oasis dress

Featuring Topshop socks

DAZED AND CONFUSED

Movies inspire my style more than anything, and since I often sit with a favourite film playing while I work or browse the internet they influence me subliminally. This is definitely the case with Clueless, Mean Girls, ad Heathers, one of which is constantly playing when I'm in the house on my own, and I do believe this shows in my style!

Last Saturday I watched Dazed & Confused and since then I've had the 70s on my brain. Filmed in 1993, it's set in 1976 and features slogan tees with pastel denim, cute hairstyles, distressed dungarees, a faded, sun-drenched quality about everything, Parker Posey being a complete bitch.. and it all came to a head in this outfit which incorporated the flares and the high-school pride, plus the totally retro zig-zag blouse, as seen on Posey in her final drunken scene. This is a charity shop special lacking any form of store label but it is exactly the same as something I would've worn circa 1997: the Seventies was my era even then and I loved the white flares and burnout zigzag tops my mum got me from random cheap shops in town. Maybe even the market. But I wouldn't have told my friends that.

I can't believe I don't currently own a pair of pale denim flares but it's not through lack of trying; I picked these MiH jeans up for mega cheap intending to bleach them to acid wash. I've bleached them three times now and they seem to be almost resistant to it! Really happy with this faded lilac now though.. I'll just be on the lookout for some 70s-style high waist flares in vintage stores.

And the film.. well, if you haven't seen it already then I'm sure you can pick it up for cheap from pretty much anywhere. If, like me, you're into American high school films where nothing really happens apart from beer bongs, bong bongs and teenage romances then it's a classic.

I'm wearing:

Wildfox jumper c/o Zalando

Charity shop blouse

MiH Marrakesh jeans

Jeffrey Campbell x Wildfox Lonestar shoes

Vintage bag