By their stripes you shall know them..

A certain someone told me that I hardly do patterns and prints, I have to admit I got on the defensive and told her that I do prints and loads of it at that. Having defended myself and kinda bullied the poor chick into believing I do prints I rushed home, put my laptop on, rushed to iPhotos and then it hit me.....hardly any print in sight...it seemed as if everything was in solids, colourful at times but solids.  I refused to accept it and ran to my wardrobe....same thing, mostly solids save for some paisley patterned tops, 4 stripey TM Lewin shirts, a jacket with a smattering of sequins, my striped jacket, some weird patterned skirts, quite a few number of clothing items in animal prints and some floral dresses. It hit me that I unconsciously stay away from stuff with patterns and prints, maybe it reflects my dislike for complication in real life.  I hate wahala.  I stay away from over-complicated and unpredictable people.  I don't like uncertainties and surprises (I kinda liked my last surprise birthday though, just didn't like the fact that I was fooled. lol).

Anyway to prove my friend wrong, I decided to wear stripes the very next day! I dug out this brown and black striped top from somewhere that I would not mention as it is beyond belief and paired it with black bottoms.  I wanted a relaxed but office-worthy look so I wore a pair of brown loafers,

ACCESSORIES

Aldo leather loafers

Accessorize necklace and F21 ring

Lipsy wrap around belt

I hope that certain someone sees this post. lol

Bex

xxx

Fashion Credit

Top:  Dorothy Perkins

Trousers:  Zara

Belt:  Lipsy

Shoes:  Aldo

Silent Post

Zara's Best Skirt Yet (Ok maybe not the best but close!)

Zara leopard print pencil skirt

Seeing that I wouldn't be traveling this year for summer (actually not bothered really except that I would miss the summer sales, my nieces and nephew...), I decided to enlist the help of my personal person Seyi of LPS (personalstuvs.blogspot.com) to order and ship down some stuff for me.  Shopping for cloths online isn't really my thing, I prefer to walk down the aisles ooh and ahh 'ing at pieces that I like and taking them to the changing rooms to try them on.  It's the shopping experience that does it for me...that adrenaline rush of seeing something you like, trying it on, seeing that it fits (.....and would go with those grey harem pants you have no idea why you bought except that it was on sale!).  The aching guilt I feel at the till as I hand my debit card over and the little Smeagol voice that whispers just near my left shoulder, quietly but persuasively....

"Buts we deserves it my precioussssss"

I live for that final rush I get as I walk out of the shop convinced that I just rewarded myself for putting up with all the hardship of this life.

Anyway I placed my order and was about to finish off when I spied this hot number on zara.com. Everybody that knows me knows how much I love animal prints and pencil skirts so I was shocked I almost missed it.  When my order was delivered to me by the good people of LPS, the skirt was the first item that fell out of the package...it was everything I wished it would be and wait for this....IT HAD A FRONT SLIT! I was gobsmacked (takes a lot to shut me up fyi) and delighted! Zara totally nailed it IMHO.

 

I wore it to work the very next Friday with a denim shirt cinched at the waist with a belt and red pointy flats.  Remember the old post of how red loves leopard? well apparently it still does (click HERE to read post).

WORK-DAY

 

Two weeks later, I decided to take the skirt for another spin (I'm determined to get as much action as I can out of it) and this time I wore it to work.  I paired it with a cream shirt and red flats (not the same one as above, these ones have a cute bow in front)

My parents came into town two weeks ago, it was nice to have them around ordering my sister and I around and generally acting 'parenty'. They stayed with us for a while till dad decided he wanted to stay a while longer for a conference and moved to Eko Hotel (I suspect he wanted to get away from us three rather nosy ladies).  I went to his hotel room to 'disturb his peace' that same evening after work, I ordered room service and generally did everything I could do to annoy him.  After a while I decided to take some selfies. He caught me trying to take selifes in front of a large mirror and after watching me exasperatingly and noticing how rubbish I was at it, he decided to take the pictures himself and once he got warmed up he actually started enjoying himself and directing my poses.

DAD

Me, my sis and the dog were sad to see them leave (mum fed our dog fat) last week *sniff*

FASHION CREDIT

Denim Shirt:  Oasis

Belt:  River Island

Skirt:  Zara (order HERE)

Cream Shirt:  Marks and Spencer

Shoes:  Aldo and F21

Cornflower blue with sunshine yellow

Dear Constant Reader,

I opened your email as usual with a smile and was flattered that you asked me how you could wear yellow and blue together.  Like I said in my reply to your email I'm always flattered when readers contact me and even more flattered when they ask my opinion on fashion, you see constant reader I'm a chick like you who's learning how to dress herself, matter of fact I had a blog before this one that I christened 'bexlearns2dress' cos I considered myself still learning.  I still commit fashion faux pas and try to force myself to wear trends that I know aren't my style and I've been known to squeeze myself into tight-fitting clothes like every chick I know. I guess I'm like every other girl out there, I get criticized for my fashion choices just as often as I get applauded. Putting all these aside just for you dear Constant Reader, I'm doing a blue meets yellow post, hope you get inspired

To balance out the fierceness of the yellow shirt and blue trousers, I decided to wear black shoes.

Best pic ever!!

 

Fashion Credit

Shirt:  Next

Trousers:  Next

Shoes:  Aldo

P.S. Shout out to London Personal Shopper (LPS) for helping me order and ship the items I'm wearing on this post. Major shout out to Joy who told me that my blog has inspired her and sent this pic of her working the monochrome trend! Well executed Joy......and btw, your shoes are to die for!

 

xxx

Bex

Monochrome Files: Molly's Day Out

So now everyone is going black and white and yours truly decided to do a post on this classic, timeless trend. The term monochrome is usually taken to mean the same as black and white or greyscale, but may also be used to refer to other combinations containing only tones of a single colour.  I thought of wearing an all red outfit once but perished the thought when I pictured myself looking like a juju priestess.  I've seen people pull off all reds but i don't think I have the heart to do same.  

According to stylingyou.com.au, there are 5 reasons why we all should embrace monochrome

1. This is a classic look. It’s timeless, so even if the fashion gods are not dictating that it’s a style for the season, you can wear it anyway. Which means you probably already have pieces that fit the trend and, therefore, plenty of opportunities to “shop” this one from your wardrobe.

2. It ALWAYS looks smart. No matter what the occasion or time of day, whip out a black and white ensemble and you’re good to go.

3. You can work this look on a budget because the combination is inherently stylish. Still aim for pieces that are made well and in fabrics that will wear well over time (remembering this trend will always come around again).

4. The monochrome look lends itself very easily to a splash of colour with accessories.

5. Cos it looks good gaddamit!!!!

I decided to wear a black and white colourblock bodycon midi dress I'd been too chicken-hearted to wear (the word bodycon makes me break out in cold sweat, lets face it, bodycon doesn't forgive lumps and bumps. Thank God for spanx). 

Striped Blazer

I fished out Molly from on end of my closet (yes my striped blazer is called Molly, matter of fact I did a post about her last year), wore her over the dress and cinched in my waist with a red belt (for that dash of colour). 

 I decided at the last minute to wear the belt over the blazer instead of the dress.  I was feeling a bit jolly that morning so I pinned a red corsage on my blazer lapel.

I decided to go monochrome down to my shoes so I wore a zebra striped shoes and carried a black bag (not pictured)

Well what are you waiting for? Get on the monochrome bandwagon if you haven't!!

Bex

xxx

Fashion Credit

Dress:  Next

Blazer:  Jasper Conran

Shoes:  Atmosphere