WHITE HEAT

Really don't think I need too many words for this one.. ya'lls know how I feel about these boots. Love love love. One small note though: I thought they were bright white! They're actually more like cream. I'm over that hiccup now though and fully enamoured. I can't afford to eat for a few weeks now but they're totally worth it, right?

I also seem to have developed a thing for black and white striped tees. Actually, it's kind of an old thing of mine that's resurfaced, and I've dug some old tops out of storage. I feel like being a bit minimal right now. I KNOW RIGHT, this is actually crazy for me. The perennial maximalist goes minimal!

Celebrated my boots' arrival with a few pints of cider courtesy of Kopparbeg's pop-up bar on Spinningfields. The new flavours are fit; I like Cloudberry the best. And sometimes (sometimes), when the weather behaves itself (like it did the other night) being in Spinningfields is a bit like being in a beautiful holiday resort somewhere warm, and not like Manchester's financial district at all. Perfect escapism.

I'm wearing:

Chopped up Oasis t shirt

Waiste Cross My Heart dungarees

Topshop Arson boots

Fringed bag from Portuguese market

Urban Outfitters, Delilah Dust & Ibizan market necklaces

PS. Did you get paid today??? Don't forget to sponsor me to run The Colour Run in aid of Macmillan.

THANKS LOVE YOU X

GLAMOROUS AMOROUS

I have often seen the Lady Boys of Bangkok tent after leaving a night out at Satan's Hollow or the Village, and thought to myself "I really ought to go see that one of these days". This past Tuesday "one of these days" finally came around with the arrival of the Glamorous Amorous tour; this time the tent (or Sabai Pavillion, as it's known to Lady Boys regulars) is erected in one of Old Trafford's carparks.. just down the road for me, luckily, but also easily accessible from Manchester city centre via Metrolink.

With the promise of showstopping cabaret, immaculate make-up and flamboyant costumes, I donned my sequins (seriously.. what else?) and shimmied on down to the Pavillion. I gotta admit, the first half of the show I was a little confused over how I felt. Girls Aloud were dead ringers and there was a fabulous 1970s megamix, but there were some "sexy" parts that I just couldn't get on board with like a 50 Shades parody (I cringed at the time but funnily enough I've been singing "slap and tickle, slap and tickle.." all day). However, the second half was much more about beautiful costumes and fun dance routines, and I found that I relaxed and began to really enjoy it. I absolutely adored the feather costumes, wiggling to Give Me Everything; and the winged finalé costumes were breathtaking - reminded me of the Victoria's Secret shows, with bodies to match.

The Lady Boys are in Manchester until the 6th July and ticket prices start from a tenner, so well worth a visit - plus you can make a night of it with an on-site bar, cute outdoor seating area, foyer area to mingle and do the "face in the hole" (like Charl and I did, below.. mega attractive), and Thai food being served - I had the veggie curry which was perfect to chow down on during the interval. I was invited to the show by Gandey World Class Productions, so thank you for a fantastic evening!

My final verdict? Great fun, once you've settled into it.. but perhaps give granny a pre-briefing if you're taking the entire family!

I'm wearing:

Vintage Frank Usher dress

Vintage bag

Aldo Rise J.W.Anderson shoes

HORTICULTURALLY SPEAKING

I woke up this morning with an unaccountable need to get some tropical looking plants for my flat's balcony, which may or may not be related to poring over pictures of LA sunsets on Instagram: complete with palm trees, beaches, and the outdoor lifestyle which accompanies warmer climes. Improvement in the weather only increases my craving for an outside space; sat on cute cast iron furniture, candles burning, drinking a sundowner.

So this afternoon, I dragged Chris to B&Q. A sickeningly Sunday Couple activity, I know, but nothing would calm my desire for plants. We picked up a fern type thing, which would pass as a palm tree if you squint a bit and forget about perspective; an olive tree which promises to bear fruit in late summer, though I doubt they'll compare to their meaty Mediterranean counterpart; and some other little plant thing that will bloom with red, orange and yellow flowers. You can tell from my comprehensive description of the flora that I am not naturally a green-fingered individual.

Anyway, due to a slight planning oversight (read: forgetting to measure the space on the balcony in which the trough was supposed to go, and being unable to shut the window while it was out there) the outdoor plant box is currently an indoor plant box. Attempting to do a grown-up weekend activity was a bit of a failure. Back to lay-ins and beer in front of the TV, I think!

I'm wearing:

COS breton

Vintage/DIY waistcoat

Oasis skirt

Topshop Arson boots

Minkpink bag

WILD HORSES

One day in June, four girls jumped in a car for a road trip to the beach, where British summertime performed exactly as we'd hoped with a stormy sky: setting the scene perfectly for the Wild Horses lookbook.

OK, so we might have been sopping by the end of the day, but the Thriftette lookbook turned out perfectly. Lucie and Grace had a set vision in mind - atmospheric, moody - and model Harriet was ideal in her role as beach gypsy. My main responsibilities as assistant were getting coffee from McDonalds, holding the umbrella over our model and saying "shall we get her in the car now? Her legs have gone blue", and honestly at one point I was ready to pack it in and huff off to sit in the warm. Then I realised what an absolute trooper Harriet was and I had no right at all to complain!

If it were Vogue there'd surely be some sort of heated tent or caravan with an endless supply of hot chocolate and fleecy blankets, and maybe we'd be in Barbados or something, with a Photoshopped stormy sky. One day, one day..

You can view the entire lookbook here and the accompanying video here. Enjoy.

LIFE UPDATE

Daydreaming has become my new form of procrastination which is obviously even more useless than my usual technique; blogging. So I'm easing myself back in with a few little updates about the Dotty life...

The wonderful Maria from Miss Drifted Snow White has given my blog a beautiful redesign. Considering she asked me to send links of blogs, colours and fonts I liked, and I sent the Wildfox Sirene lookbook and a picture of a rainbow cake, I think she did pretty well. It makes me feel like I'm on a quiet beach with the sea lapping the sand - a good job well done, thank you Maria.

While we're on the subject of blogging, don't forget that Google Reader is soon to close down. You can follow me on Bloglovin' here.


At long last I have Instagram! Boyfriend got a snazzy new phone (it really is snazzy, it senses your eyes reading and scrolls up and down.. bit too tech for me that) and donated his old Android phone to the charitable cause that is me. I've been on Instagram for three days and I've already realised that having a cat in the photo is worth a hundred times more than a picture of a Starbucks, but I'm still figuring out the hashtags that will get you way too many spam likes. It's like a whole new world! Find me @fashiondotty.


Finally, my trip to Madrid has been cancelled due to a holiday mix-up at Chris's work, so I've given myself something new to look forward to in the form of The Color Run. If you haven't heard of it before, it's a 5K race... sounds easy enough, right? But along the route you're pelted with brightly coloured paint powder. It's supposed to be just a bit of fun but I'm actually going to go for it and aim for a time; I'm a bit of a fairweather runner but I used to do half marathons back in my day - the last being in 2008 - and it's something I'd like to get back into. So this is just the start!

I'm also running The Color Run in aid of Macmillan Cancer, so please click the JustGiving link below to donate. How about £2, instead of today's Starbucks, or £6, rather than one item from Primark?

OBRIGADO

According to A Recent Survey*, it takes an average of two days and seventeen hours before you completely relax on holiday; but I distinctly remember the feeling around twenty-two hours into mine when I was lay on the beach with my chin in the sand, somewhere in that grey area between awake and asleep, and I felt relaxed. Completely and utterly. Holidays as a young adult were great: getting away from your parents and going crazy on the free shots provided by the neon bars who just want your nubile faces in the hope it'll attract further punters. But holidaying as a proper adult is different, and I felt it acutely this time. It was about reaching the point where my mind was full of nothing, except figuring out six degrees of random film stars, what to eat for lunch (at 4pm) and whether I would randomly bump into Paul Rudd around the Algarve. See, where did that thought even come from? From my brain being in an almost meditative state. My mind, when unoccupied, goes to Paul Rudd. Of course. What else?

Now I'm back, full of ideas and enthusiasm to do things other than sit in front of a computer. I want to eat fresh food, read interesting things, have friends over for dinner, sit outside, go for coffee. The trick is to keep tight hold of the enthusiasm even as the holiday tan - or in my case, freckles - starts to fade.

By the way.. funny how you take so much to wear on holiday and only end up wearing the same things, isn't it? It always happens. This time it was these funny little moccasin boots I got from a charity shop which I'd never even worn before, but turned out to be the ideal beach-to-bar (apologies for the Grazia-ism, but it's true) shoe.

Also, we managed to adopt a cat for the duration of our stay. He was adorable but also sat outside our apartment door at 5am screaming to come in. It could only happen to us.


I'm wearing:
a myriad of Wildfox, Evil Twin and Minkpink, plus some vintage,
charity shop, Miss Selfridge, Topshop, French Connection & Patrizia Pepe.





















* I don't like not referencing this Recent Survey, but I got the information from Zest magazine who didn't cite the source either. So we'll just have to believe.