Hush Boutique - Instant Love

I have started to shop more at local (and online) independent boutiques - I've realised that the women/men behind these (online) shops are just like me - trying to make a living and a difference, so it's important to support them.

I noticed a few friends via Facebook interacting with Hush Boutique and at first thought it was just a local shop not in my area.  Which it is (they're based in Wilmington where they have a real shop). But .. they also sell online via Facebook so I was intrigued even further as to what the stock was really like.  I mean, it looked great on the hanger but for the prices, what was the quality like? Would it be sent swiftly? What would the clothes look like on a person?

I spoke with Alison at Hush Boutique who was very quick to respond, very friendly and extremely generous.  I explained that I loved her stock but would love to try it on so she sent me a neat parcel that arrived yesterday.

I had high hopes for the grey slouchy top and I loved the oversized black top/tunic/dress (have yet to try on to see just how short it is!) - will post tomorrow about the this.  Today it's all about the grey slouchy top - it's instant love for me - it's one of my favourite colours, it fits, it hides a lot, it exposes a bit, it's slouchy, it's versatile - it's everything I want/need/desire/lust!

Here is the pic that attracted me to it in the first place.

Here is it sat neatly this morning waiting to be tried on

Here is me in it

And then I added a necklace as I felt a bit bare around the neck (my obsession with scarves these past few years has a downside - if I've not got something 'up there' I feel naked!)

I can't wait to wear this with my other skinny jeans - red, green, blue. I'll do a bigger show and tell each time I wear it on Avenue 57

Sorry, what was that? How much is it and where can I buy one?  £20 (seriously yes!!) and you can contact Alison via her Hush Boutique Facebook page. If you do buy, please post on A57 as I would love to see how you style yours.

Fiona

xoxo

Rianna collection at River Island, sort of

River Island is a shop I always used to buy clothes in, but then the children came along and I lost ALL style mojo .. but that slowly came back a few years ago when my identity as FIONA came back and I was no longer just a mummy.

Recently there has been a lot of hype about Rianna's collection for River Island so I was drawn back to the store online and had a look.  Firstly, the Rianna collection is just a bit too street and hip for this 39 year old living in the country but if I were living somewhere more hip than Newbury and if I were 20 years younger then I can see the appeal of some pieces. But this blog post is not about Rianna or her effortless hip style, it's about me and what I found in River Island when I looking there today.  WOW .. who knew that they do still have items that I would buy in a heartbeat.

Here is my wish list if I could (I've got the brakes on gently for spending at the moment):

YELLOW PANELLED CAP SLEEVE PENCIL DRESS - £35
There is a yellow dress included in the Rianna collection but it's LOUD and SHORT and twice the price of this.

I love the zip detail on the back 

CREAM LACE BEAD EMBELLISHED SHELL TOP - £30
I may actually have to buy this because it's SO good - dress up for night, dress down for day - I love the versatility of it

NAVY AND WHITE BRETON STRIPE T-SHIRT - £10
So predictable - a striped tshirt .. I love them!

YELLOW MESH INSERT BOXY LONG SLEEVE JUMPER - £35
Do you spot a yellow lust theme yet? I love this jumper so much

WHITE RIPPED AMELIE SUPERSKINNY JEANS - £35
I love white jeans, I need more in my life and at £35 these are great value. River Island also do a long leg which is perfect for me

MID WASH DISTRESSED CASSIE BOYFRIEND JEANS - £45
I am totally into boyfriend jeans at the moment. Took me a while to feel right in them as they were so different to the skinny jeans I've been wearing for the past 3 years. Grab a pair and try them, you might be pleasantly surprised.

CREAM BOUCLE WATERFALL BIKER JACKET - £55
This was pointed out to me by Joanna from Poppy's Style a few weeks ago - it's drippingly (made up word) gorgeous don't you think? I'd wear with the jeans from above and some grey slouchy ankle boots.

BEIGE LEATHER WESTERN ANKLE BOOTS - £60
LOVE these, no more words required.

So, my dream purchase list would set me back £308 and I was being very good when browsing, I could VERY easily have spent many hundreds more. I'll be back to River Island when I'm looking to buy someething next time around.

What shop have you forgotten about or never shop in anymore due to age/style changes?

Fiona
xoxo

7 days, 7 looks and WTF

It's been a manic week, I've been sat on my ass a lot but that's because I work behind a computer all day. I also work from home so it's REALLY hard to even be bothered to get dressed every day - the only reason is that I have Avenue 57 to post photos and no-one wants to see me in my dressing gown.  Also I have the school run to do so I use this as the biggest excuse to get up, get ready and get out the door for 7.50am.

Yes again the weather is vile here in the UK and it's really hard to be inspired when you're wearing clothes you've been wearing in rotation for 12 months. We virtually had no summer here due to rain in 2012 and the last time I remember the sun shining with some warmth was April 2012.

Here I am over the past week - nothing new, all recycled from years ago

But it's not about me me me - there are other ladies I get daily inspiration from - here's my top picks from last week

Would love to see what you've been wearing all week - feel free to post your look on A57.

Now, what to wear today?  It's the worst kind of day - my thin pathetic frizzy hair is going to look BAD because it's raining AGAIN and I have to go out .. to hat or not to hat, that is the question?

Fiona

xoxo

I think this has to be the best WTF I've found in a while - the pubic hair knee high boot.  Come on, someone tell me seriously who really would buy these and who on EARTH would have paid the original price for them?!

Spring forward into East Street - Newbury

Click here for more information

Spring/Summer 2013 Trends

Following on from the gothic themes, berry colour palate and dark tones, Spring/Summer 2013 brings fashion back to life with a huge array of colour, playful themes and brighter colours.

As with all trends, it’s best to pick the ones that suit you and your style. The 60s will dominate quite heavily this spring/summer. A continuation with metalics and stripes and a gorgeous introduction of pastels. Pleased to see that over sized items are in the shops too.

Where to buy? An introduction to East Street, Parkway Newbury

We all know Parkway Newbury is there, we've all been, but have you actually stopped to look down the side streets? Since October 2011 Parkway Newbury has transformed a traditional market town to sophisticated shopping destination without losing any of its charm.

Parkway Newbury is now home to over 50 shops, cafes and restaurants. There is also a great 550 space car park for shopper convenience. East Street is packed with 4 clothing, 1 shoe, 1 chocolate, 1 art gallery and 2 jewellery stores.  Yes, all down one side of the outside shopping mall!

From the main Northbrook Street entry you have Jigsaw and Mint Velvet headlining the entrance which then leads you into East Street where you will find Ecco Shoes, Hotel Chocolat, Costa, Torr, Argento, Fraser Hart and Joules.

Let’s dive in and take a look at each of the shops in turn.  From the top as you enter East Street:

Quintessentially British, affordable, fashionable clothes in stylish surroundings. No two Jigsaw stores are the same.

Bang on trend: Monochrome - Romantic Floral Shift Dress - £149

When to wear?  A fantastic dress that would be perfect for the office, the races or an evening.

Mint Velvet offers luxury women's clothing combining modern silhouettes with luxurious fabrications to create a relaxed and sensual style of women's fashion.

Bang on trend: Pastels - Irish Cropped Jeans - £59

How to wear? Turn up, wear with fitted or oversized top, pewter ballet pumps.

Whitewall Galleries brings the finest artwork from around the world to a discerning audience of art lovers. Placing the emphasis on individuality and quality, Whitewall reflects the exhilarating character and infinite variety of the contemporary art scene.

Featured Item: Room For You by Doug Hyde - £325

Where to hang?  Anywhere, it would look cute in a children’s bedroom, hallway or kitchen – really bright and just makes you smile too!

ECCO is a Danish company, started over forty years ago. The founder Karl Toosbuy brought an entirely fresh approach to every aspect of making shoes, developing the most advanced computer shoe design systems and manufacturing technologies in the world.

Featured Item: ECCO women’s wedge strap sandals – Helen - £110

How to wear? Turned up jeans (black, navy or white) turned up to show off the ankle strap detail. Also good with a stripy day dress.

Hotel Chocolat is a British chocolatier that encompasses a new type of chocolate company, connecting luxury chocolate making and retailing with cocoa growing – it is one of the world’s few chocolate makers to actually grow cocoa.

Featured Item: Easter Eggs - From renowned Extra Thick Eggs and simply gigantic Ostrich Eggs, to handy little gifts and treats perfect for egg hunts.

When to eat?  EVERY DAY over Easter

With over 1,200 coffee shops across the UK and more than 860 internationally, Costa is a global success story with a growing network of retail sites. In addition to our Costa-owned shops, we also operate both corporate and individual franchises.

Featured Item: Costa Coffee Club The Costa Coffee Club – FREE.  Register online to receive latest promotional information.

When to drink?  Every time you’re shopping in East Street and need to take a break.

The boutique you wish Newbury had always had. A beautiful store that has everything from day wear to evening and accessories for all.

Bang on trend: Metalics - Liebeskind Vintage Belt in Brown £64.50

How to wear? Jazz up a day outfit by wearing with jeans and a white Tshirt with grey long cardigan or make it a statement in the evening with all black – jeans and shirt
My star buy - this is amazing and would be worn at least 3 times per week!

Amazing jewellery store stocking over 30 well-known brands.  They travel the world to seek out the best quality, most diverse pieces. Their hands-on buying practices mean that they always bring you quality jewellery while never compromising on our unbeatable prices.

Featured Item:Thomas Sabo Studded Link Bracelet - £298
How to wear? A great bracelet for every day wear.  Team with other bracelets for a more statement look day or night

Fraser Hart is one of the UK’s leading multiple retail jewellers with a vision to at the heart of every celebration. Fraser Hart stores offer a wide range of gold and silver, diamond and other precious stone jewellery in addition to prestige and premium branded watches.

Featured Item: 9ct white gold 0.50 carat diamond tennis bracelet - £895

When to wear?  Every day, something as classic as this should be shown at all times.  Looks great if worn with a collection of pearl bracelets.

Have you been to East Street?  Which is your favourite store?  Hope to see you on the 21st March either morning or afternoon - I'll be there to help with any styling questions that you may have.

Fiona

xoxo

This is a sponsored post

TK Maxx Shoe Porn

I know that by just writing that as a title to a blog post I am opening myself up to A HUGE AMOUNT OF SPAM but bring it on weirdo's I'm ready for you and I can't not stop writing that just because of you!

I never write two blog posts in one day - I rarely write two a week so it has to be important right?

So, the situation is I'm writing a press release for a software client of mine, just sat here quietly minding my own business when BAM, an email that attracts my attention, lands in the inbox. If you know how to ignore emails like this then please do share your secret.

FLASH SALE: High fashion footwear from top designers

So I go from Microsoft Word and boring software tech speak to shoe heaven and (cue dream sequence music) a 10 minute virtual shoe shop where I have no limits to budget, it's just me, TK Maxx website and the buy now button.

In NO particular order, here are my top 3 I NEED THESE dream shoe purchases.

PIERRE BALMAIN - Ankle Strap Heeled Sandals - £159.99

DOLCE & GABBANA - Green Leather Platforms - £129.99

CHLOE - Leather Sandals With Gold Metallic Heel - £129.99

And to keep it totally real, because these shoes even at the flash sale prices, are way out of my purchasing league

KURT GEIGER - Flat Black Sandals - £16.99 (only size 3.5 and 4 left)

BIRKENSTOCK - Patent Sandals - £24.99 (only 6.5 and 7.5 left)

I have these in purple and wear to death with slouchy jeans in the summer

Insert more awake from dream music - Where was I?  Oh yes, writing about cross platform PDF toolkits.

Do you have a day job that is so far removed from fashion it's funny (but it's not, I want to talk clothes all day long not software)

Fiona

xoxo

I'm a magpie

I make no secret of the fact that I have ZERO creativity when it comes to most things - particularly clothes! I stare a lot at women around me for inspiration and I also read blogs that appeal to my sense of style. I make no apologies for the fact that I steal a lot of looks and post them up on Avenue 57 as my own! But credit where credit is due, when I saw Joanna yesterday on Poppy's Style I thought to myself 'that's really nice and very well put together, I'll have that look for tomorrow'! It was so easy to get up this morning KNOWING what I was going to wear - took 5 mins to get dressed (instead of usual 15 just stood in front of the wardrobe waiting for a top or dress to jump out at me .. then going to the jeans drawer to see if inspiration will leap from there and then finally onto the shoe cupboard to see if it's a style of shoe or boot that will bring together an outfit).

I cannot tell you also how over the moon I was when H&M sent me a sale email the other week and my favourite tshirt in the whole wide world EVER was in the sale at £3.99 (it's not in the sale now but it's still ONLY £7.99) - I bought this striped one, a grey one and a white one - NEVER buy just one of your favourite items - always buy lots and lots.  Remember I wrote a love letter to this favourite tshirt of mine last year?  When I say I'm in love, I really do mean it!!

The jeans are Primark super skinny and super (too) tight - I think have a suspect camel toe on show if you get close - this is not good, I know that, but my love of the jeans is greater than my care of the camel toe outage. Grey boots £12 from Peacocks

Denim shirt from Sainsbury's about 2 years ago but I know they have similar in some stores again at the moment.  ASOS also have one similar online today for £35

I don't have a fur gilet so couldn't style exactly as Joanna has but my trusty Abercrombie & Fitch puffa gilet which is around 15 years old is still going strong

There a lot of gorgeous women posting on A57 at the moment - I am truly one happy magpie right now!

PS - this gilet is 15 years old and I still love it. What item do you have that you still love that is borderline vintage it's so old?

Fiona

xoxo