On A May Day Morning

Dress - Primark

Jumper - Topshop

Shoes - Topshop

Necklace (Short) - Miss Selfridge

Necklace (Long) - Unknown

Anybody who knows me at all would be able to tell you that organisation is not something that comes naturally to me and when I do attempt it, it has been known to backfire on me slightly.  For instance, I have been known to think I've lost clothes that are in fact hung up in the wardrobe, it's such a rare occurrence.  Just yesterday, I phoned the bank in a panic after checking my online statement and seeing a £700 cash withdrawal I absolutely had not made.  It turned out I'd opened a savings account and forgotten all about it.

Equally, when I tried to take outfit pictures at some ungodly hour last week before meeting my cousin from her early morning flight, I learnt that the sunshine which is usually so welcome makes indoor outfit photos all but impossible.  I really enjoyed this outfit though for some reason, so here we are.  I'm sorry.  I'll sleep in next time.

As some of you may know, I'm coming to the end of a slightly extreme spending ban at the moment, which came about as a result of one of my new year's resolutions which was to not buy any clothes (or shoes or accessories) between January 1st and June 1st.  I found it surprisingly easy at the beginning, as most of the shops were still stocking the dregs of their A/W collections which weren't very tempting and it was too cold to even contemplate new outfits.  However, now the S/S ranges are fully launched and the sun has finally come out, I am having to employ a little more willpower.  In a bid to make it through the last month of the challenge, I've been raiding last year's summer wardrobe and, as always, trying to mix and match items in new ways.

The result, one day, was this outfit.  It has been beautiful weather here in Gothenburg but not quite time for bare arms yet, so I pulled this old Topshop jumper over a favourite Primark dress.  I really enjoyed both the bright coral paired with the colours in the dress pattern and the feel of the heavy cotton knit against the thin summer dress.  I know that the old story goes that you should wouldn't wear tights after April 4th but, hey, we're living in an era of global warming and I'm pretty sure there was still snow on the ground in the UK at the beginning of April, so I think I'll let myself off.

I haven't blogged for nearly two months which is pretty bloody atrocious.  I apologise.  I think you might be seeing a bit of a shift towards more lifestyle blogging in the future though, which I'm excited for.  As much as I love shoes and lipstick - and I do love shoes and lipstick - I find myself lacking inspiration quite often because I'm just not sure that I can convince myself that it matters enough.  Anyway, onwards and upwards!  

I hope 2013's May Day marks the beginning of a beautiful season for you all.  

Until next time,

Elise.

The Joy of Jacquard

Jumper - Topshop

Trousers - Mango

Shoes - Unknown

Necklace - Vintage

Large Ring - Prickig Katt

As a life long lover of paisley, it seems only natural that I would have been drawn to  jacquard loom and, indeed, I have.  For months now I have lusted over quilted  jackets and slinky jacquard print bodycon.  I have drooled over it in jewel tones, in pastels, in monochrome, in metallic.  At one point, I'm sure I have even had a dream in which I was wearing it, yet somehow I never made a purchase, never had a piece to call my own.  Until Christmas morning, that is.

Amongst a generous pile of gifts, I found this knitted piece.  In a perfect combination of shades for winter - dark, yet still bright - and in my favourite sweater shape - thick but not oversized - it was a little piece of woven heaven.  As much as I am often drawn to minimalist styles, I equally enjoy patterns that make you look twice and textures that you could get lost in.  I love paisley because you could follow it forever, and jacquard holds the same appeal for me.  On another level, I also appreciate the contrast of decadent jacquard against the practicality of a knitted jumper.  I feel like it just works, as a piece.

There is something about jacquard that feels so deliciously luxurious; something about the fact that it is so intricate, so multi-dimensional, yet purely for aesthetic satisfaction, that pleases me to the point of feeling almost a little bit royal.  For this reason, I wanted to style this jumper simply, with classic pieces.  Once again, out came these green cigarette trousers, which for an item bought on a sale whim, come in very handy, very often.  As far as footwear was concerned, it was finally time to put to use these shoes which I picked up for just £5 - yes, that's right, £5 - as part of a buy-one-get-one-half-price deal.  At the time I wasn't too taken by them but they have really grown on me, to the point of being one of my favourite pairs.  I like the simplicity of them, which makes them instantly classy, combined with the chunky heel that adds a hint of modernity.  

In a nutshell, I think that what I'm trying to say is that just as I will love paisley forever more, no matter how in or out of fashion it is,  jacquard is also here to stay.  Everybody is allowed a few pieces to act as their personal "get out jail free" card.

Also, I must apologise for how lax I've been on the blogging front lately.  I was just about ready to get back into the swing of life when I sustained a pretty horrid ankle injury which has had me house/bed bound for longer than I would have liked.  Onwards and upwards though; peaks and troughs.  

A Sixties Skirt Safari

Cardigan - Topshop

Skirt - J.W. Anderson for Topshop

Boots - Bianco

Usually I mix and match my clothes quite a lot, rarely repeating an exact combination, but this outfit is the exception to that rule.  There's just something about it that I think really works.  It screams sixties to me - the round neck, monochrome mini, ankle boots.  I like the contrasting shades and the way the zebra print with the bright pink knit should be tacky yet somehow isn't.  It's a pretty garish look, I'll give you that, but it just makes me happy to wear, and that's exactly what clothes should do.

You may have noticed that this week's posts have included a heavy dose of curls.  I'm not sure quite how I feel about this curly bob I'm sporting but I am absolutely desperate for my hair to grow to Rapunzel style lengths.  I think that I've finally accepted that this is never going to happen whilst I'm using heating so I'm saving it for special occasions from now on.  Hopefully I'll learn to love the curls soon.

Just a short post today because, as usual, I have too many things to do before I fly home for tomorrow.  I've spent most of the week watching Christmas films whilst writing an essay about Sylvia Plath, so that's been an interesting combination of mental states.  The next time you hear from me, I'll be on solid English soil, hooray!

Until then,

Elise.

The Early Bird Catches The Worm

Jumper - Bik Bok

Shirt - Topshop

Jeans - Cubus

Boots - Bianco

Scarf - Vintage

I think the fact that I've been up since 2am is very clear from these photos.  I seem to have once again fallen foul to the pre-Christmas essay rush despite having the very best of intentions.  I awoke at 1:45 this morning and established that I couldn't sleep so might as well just give up and do some work.  Somehow, I managed to still put my professional procrastination skills to work though and watched YouTube for three hours instead.

In my defence, I am making up for about three years of not catching the YouTube bug.  I've just never really understood it before, thinking it was all videos of 13 year old boys playing pranks and bad singers falling off of tables.  I recently started watching some beauty videos but I kind of thought that YouTube was just a platform to upload these onto their creator's blogs.  I know, hideously ignorant.  I'm repenting this sinful lack of knowledge by ruining my sleep pattern/life watching endless reams of vlogs now.  If the extent of blogging has blown my mind a bit, the whole concept of the YouTube community has taken it one step further.  It's all so exciting in that 'makes my head hurt' kind of way.

This current state of mental frenzy and a planned day in the library called for something very comfortable and very large.  Out came this jumper.  When I bought it in September I wore it pretty much daily but I've realised that it's actually quite an unattractive shape so have rejected it a bit lately.  However, I think that wearing a shirt underneath made from thicker and more structured fabric helps the situation a little, so here we are.  It's only -6ºC today - practically summer compared to the more common -14ºC - so I got a chance to swap my blanket scarves for this favourite vintage one.

I'm really excited to start developing this blog properly in the new year.  I've stuck mostly to outfit posts and daily mutterings so far but now I've got to grips with the whole thing a little bit more, I'm looking forward to livening the whole thing up somewhat.  Alas, as always seems to happen when I get excited about a project, that little thing called university is getting in the way.  As my Dad regularly likes to remind me though, "the sooner you start, the sooner you finish" so I'm off to the library to free myself of the shackles of post-1960 Brit Lit.

Farewell,

Elise.

P.S.  The image below is a summary of my feelings about life today.  I'm sorry.

The Daily Bread #17 - You Can Leave Your Hat On

Jumper - Topshop

Jeans - Cubus

Boots - Bianco

Belt - River Island

Hat - Vintage

There is something you should know, boys and girls.  My name is Elise and I'm a hat-aholic.  As any hat wearer whose blog I read will know, I just can't get enough.  As soon as a piece of headwear crops up in an outfit, I just can't stop myself from leaving a gushing comment.  It's a bit embarrassing really, slightly clingy girlfriend-esque.  There's just something about a good, or even a bad, hat that drives me crazy (in the good way).

It therefore came as a bit of a surprise when I realised that, with the exception of two knitted affairs, A Letter From Elise has, to date, been almost hat-free.  Good heavens!  I've gushed to you about paisley, about packaging, about Christmas but total ignored my first love, my one and only, the humble hat.  To milliners the world over, I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry.

So here I am, repenting my sins and sharing with you one of my favourite items of headwear.  I picked this hat up in my favourite vintage store in Northampton, Trashy Flowers.  My best friend and I tried on hundreds of hats that afternoon, rummaging through sacks and throwing them all about the place until we struck gold with two remarkably similar pieces, both dark green and this shape.  Jordyn's got a lot of wear at the time, although I hear that she's lost it now, but mine got stuffed away for a while because I was convinced it was too small for my head.  Eventually, I pulled it out for a halloween  Robin Hood costume in 2010 and fell back in love.  Robin Hood, what a style icon, aye?

Now you get the honour of witnessing a blog first for me: a head shot!  Crikey!  I just feel that the detailing of this hat needs to be shown off a little more, as you can't see it properly in the other pictures where the whole hat has unfortunately slipped back slightly.

I'm sorry if that close up frightened any small children, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!  Please do ignore my unsightly eyebrow situation though; I'm growing them out and I'm currently experiencing an unattractive inbetween stage.  

There's just something about putting a hat on that makes the day a little more special.  There was a wonderful article in Vogue, I think the October issue, about the magic of hats.  Unfortunately I don't have my copy here or I'm sure this post would have just been a block quote of that.  It basically just talked about how hats haven't been cheapened yet.  They are yet to become too casual, too accessible, too commonplace, and that's what makes them wonderful.  They still contain that element of daring which a lot of other items have lost.  To be honest though, even if a day were to dawn when everybody and their dog was wearing a hat, I'll still be sporting and building my collection with pride.

Hat wearing aside, can we please have a moment of appreciation for my favourite Tom Jones song, after which I've titled this post.  You may have noticed a large increase in cheer today and a good ol' listen to Tommy definitely contributed to my improved mood.

Hats off to you,

Elise.

The Daily Bread #16 - Soccer Mom

Shirt - River Island

Jumper - Mango

Shorts - Vintage Levi

Shoes - Topshop

You probably wouldn't believe it from this outfit, but it's actually -8˚ in Gothenburg right now, with -23˚expected tomorrow.  Considering how much I've been telling anybody who'll listen for months how excited I am for frosty weather and festive cheer, I'm actually woefully unprepared for these low temperatures.  My solution to this problem for the past few days has been hibernation but I have classes tomorrow, not to mention a serious case of cabin fever.  I'm really not sure how to tackle this.

You aren't here for a weather report though.  I popped this outfit on this morning as I wasn't doing anything or going anywhere and, quite frankly, I just wasn't feeling very inspired.  I know that I'm probably not meant to say that here, but it's true.  I just don't think that it's my week.  I never thought I'd miss England this much but by Jove I do.

One thing I will say though is that I've spent all day feeling a lot like an early 90s soccer "mom".  I think it's the badly dyed bouffant of hair and the cut off Levis, I just picture myself running around after some rowdy sons called Brett and Finn.  (I used 'mom' here rather than the more common British 'mum' because I just know that no mum would ever buy into this.)

Anyway, I'll update you on my snowy adventures tomorrow and I promise to have cheered the hell up.  It is Christmas, after all. 

Elise.

The Daily Bread #15 - The Made in Britain Midi

Dress - Topshop

Jumper - Lindex

Boots - Bianco

Necklace - Topshop

As I may have mentioned, a few weeks ago I placed a very ill-advised, bank-balance-destroying Topshop order because I was simply desperate to get my hands on a particularly beautiful paisley skirt.  I'd first lusted after it a few months ago but it went out of stock almost immediately, in true Topshop style.  You can imagine my delight when a procrastinating browse informed me that it was back in stock.  As I was already paying postage, I decided to order this midi dress too, as I'd been hunting for one of this style for a while but had found no luck in Sweden.

It's a simple, high necked, long sleeved, navy blue jersey midi dress but I absolutely love it. It fits like a glove, it's so versatile and it's so comfortable.  I've layered it here with a jumper and ankle boots for a cold Tuesday in Gothenburg but it'd be equally at home with some statement jewellery and a pair of heels for a sophisticated night time look, despite the casual jersey fabric.  It's surprisingly very flattering too; I'm by no means the skinniest of girls but it doesn't cause any bodycon nightmares, I think because of the fairly thick fabric.  

This dress also forms part of Topshop's 'Made In Britain' collection, which you can read more about here.  For me, this dress is an ideal component of the range.  It is a wardrobe staple - practical, comfortable, live-in - yet the length and the fit lend an immediate sense of luxe to any look.  You could throw it on on the dreariest of days, in the worst of moods, and immediately feel more in control, more put together, more womanly (if that isn't too cliched a word to use).  It feels like wearing a secret and that's why I think it fits so well with the collection. This whole concept of understated luxury is something that, to me, just seems so very British.

As you can probably gather, I'm a pretty big fan.  It's a feel good piece if there ever was one, and I love that. I feel I should put a quick note about the sizing though. I read on another blog that they'd advise getting a size up in this style.  Personally, I completely disagree with that.  I think there's nothing worse than baggy body con which will just never sit right.  I guess that's down to personal taste but I'd advise going a size down, if anything.

I apologise for having been so absent over the weekend; I've been holed up in pyjamas procrastinating like a professional.  I finally submitted my essays yesterday though and so I'm back.  Today I'm attempting to be very productive and organise a few quite exciting developments in my life, which I'll sure I'll be blabbering on about soon.

From a snowy Sweden,

Elise.

The Daily Bread #14 - The Restorative Powers of Paisley

Jumper - Mango

Jeans - Topshop

Boots - Bianco

Belt - River Island

Necklace - Topshop

Today is not my day.  I overslept, remembered it was the week for my night class, then I took about thirty photos and only these two were even slightly acceptable.   However, on days like today, it always helps to wear something that makes you smile the second you look at it.  For me, that's these jeans.  After all, when in doubt, wear paisley.

As it's just a casual, dreary Thursday, I styled these statement jeans simply with my new jumper I picked up in the Mango sale and this necklace that got delivered yesterday.  The necklace, which you'll see in more detail soon, is a collar made of hands and did come with dangly moons, but one fell off this morning so I just unhooked them all and I prefer it now I think.  It was reduced to £4.50 so I don't feel too bad about dismantling it.

Anyway, I have an urgent appointment with the library to attend to so I shall leave you to your days and return more cheerily tomorrow.

For now,

Elise.

The Daily Bread #14 - Gigging Hell

Top - Topshop

Cardigan - Vintage Engelhorn

Jeans - Cubus

Belt - Topman

Brogues - Swedish, Unknown

Necklace - Ethiopian airport

I'm not sure how many of you will be familiar with Northampton, UK, but I assume not a great deal.  Growing up there was interesting experience.  The town itself is bleak, and I'm not just saying that in a 'woe is me, curse my hometown' kind of way - visitors regularly comment on just how dreary it is.  Yet the utter misery of the town meant that its youth seemed to rally together in a bid to have some fun.  Whereas other places seemed to have more cliquey divides, Northampton seemed to have that less, in my experience at least.  You were simply in on the attempt to make some fun, or you were out, and that was that.

A key source of entertainment was live music.  I guess it was because it was something that people could do without much help - you could buy a guitar, you could coerce a grotty pub into letting you play, and there you had it, a night out for all your friends.  As I can't even clap in time, I participated in this scene purely as an audience member - but what's a band without their audience?  For a pretty nondescript Midlands town, we also got a surprising amount of bigger artists coming to play.  The best gigs were at the Soundhaus but that unfortunately closed down due to noise complaints (a cause of uproar in the glory days of 2008) but the bands kept coming to the Roadmender.  

Given that my social life revolved around sweaty gigs - from the good to the bad, the famous to the hopeless - I was pretty familiar with gig clothes.  I find they fall into an awkward category; they need to hit a certain level of nighttime dressiness, yet incorporate the comfort and practicality of day wear whilst also being almost indestructible.  It wasn't until yesterday, when I remembered I had tickets to see The XX tonight, that I realised I no longer had any idea how to dress for gigs.  Do I even have the materials for it anymore?

This morning I raided my wardrobe and cobbled together this outfit, which I think tonight's look will be based around.  I think the black jeans and the breton style stripes are a classic combination which, to me, gives an air of chic yet looks simultaneously carefree.  I will probably swap the cardigan for a denim shirt or leather jacket later and add some more edgy jewellery, I'm thinking chains and spikes.  I chose these brogues because they seem pretty indestructible and I don't care too much about them.  If I had some Converse here in Sweden with me, then I'd probably throw those on instead, but sadly I do not. 

I think part of my problem with gig dressing is that I get a little protective over my clothes and find it hard to be relaxed if I know I'm going to be stood on and crushed.  Do you have this problem, or is it just me?

Merry Monday,

Elise.

The Daily Bread #12 - Friday Feeling, on a Thursday

Shirt - Glamorous 

Jeans - Cubus

Cardigan - Warehouse

Belt - River Island

Wedges - River Island

Socks - Topshop

Necklace - Miss Selfridge

Do you have any of those items that sit in your wardrobe for months, you wonder why they don't get worn, then you put them on and you remember exactly why they don't come out to play very often?  That is exactly the case with these jeans.  My only other leg denim is navy and black, and sometimes it's just a blue jeans kinda day, so on come these Cubus jeans.  Usually, when I first put them on, they've been newly tumble dried (they seem to get washed more frequently than they get worn) so they cling and fit like a perfectly skinny glove.  As the day goes on, however, they begin to go a strange and baggy.  Looking at these pictures, I see why they don't get worn.  The denim just isn't thick enough to suit having any room for manoeuvre, yet that's exactly what there is.

The rest of my outfit consists, once again, of some favourites that have stood the test of time.  The belt, necklace and socks all date back to 2008.  The shirt, cardigan and wedges are slightly newer additions but have still been knocking around for over a year now.  I quite like combining older clothes in new ways though to update them slightly.  Whilst there's admittedly nothing groundbreaking about this outfit, I know for a fact that these items wouldn't have been put together like this last year and then I feel a little less recycled.  I also get a smug kind of 'I told you so' satisfaction in reaction to my mother's endless "but you won't wear it enough, will you?" complaints.  Yes, yes, I know that's not really very nice, but that's where we're at.

I think I may have mentioned that I placed a naughty ASOS order a few weeks ago.  Well, after much anticipation, it finally arrived yesterday and I was over the moon because it meant I finally had some flat brogue-style shoes back in my life, which I was desperate for.  I eagerly tore open the parcel, took the lid off the box and pulled a shoe from inside... and kept pulling, and kept pulling.  It just didn't stop coming.  Eventually, when the whole length of this monster was before me, I couldn't help but laugh: it was simply enormous.  I've checked I didn't accidentally order men's shoes, but nope, these are all woman, and supposedly a UK7.  They are not.  I will treat you to a size comparison picture before I send them back.  By jove.

Big-footed tales aside, tomorrow, my mum and cousin are visiting for a festive weekend of perusing the Christmas markets and other seasonal offerings of Gothenburg.  You can expect a lot of pictures from this adventure as I really love Christmas, if you hadn't gathered that already. I'm not sure I'll get much chance to post but I'm going to try and have an organised Thursday evening and set some posts up for over the weekend (oo-er, I feel like a proper blogger now!).  Have a lovely weekend last weekend of November; this time next week it's officially time to be excited for the big 2-5.

With pre-mature Friday feeling,

Elise.

P.S. Do you like my wine bottle candle creations?

The Daily Bread #10 - Lovestruck Saturdays

Dress -  Lovestruck

Jumper -  H&M

Shoes - Topshop

Scarf - Vintage

Belt - River Island

And once again, I forgot to take pictures until the light was fading.  My resolution for next week is to be a bit more organised on this front.

I decided to utilise a few older pieces today.  I had this dress as for last New Year's Eve but it's just been sitting in my wardrobe since as I've gone off the style of it for nights out.  However, I do still love the colour and material so thought it could be used as a skirt for a Saturday daytime look.  If you haven't come across Lovestruck before I'd really recommend a look at their website.  I found this dress in the small selection sold in Wardrobe, Northampton, but they have a much larger range of beautiful pieces on the website. The jumper was an H&M bargain last winter and has been worn to death.  It's so useful for going over dresses because the cropped style avoids the strange shape I seem to become when I use longer jumpers.

Just a short post because I'm off for some more festive fun now.  Is November too early to be saying such things?  Ah well.

With some jingle bell rock,

Elise.

Inspired By... My Pap

Today is, or would have been, my Pap's 79th birthday.  Whilst I'm not at all into the whole furore of Facebook RIPs, and I'm pretty sure he would have been equally as appalled by them, I thought I'd pay tribute with a post of style inspired by him.  This isn't meant to be dreary in the slightest, so I'll apologise in advance if this serves as a miserable start to your Saturday.

My Pap was very particular with his dressing.  He couldn't abide a hair out of place, spending a great portion of his time picking fluff from our shoulders, offering to shine our shoes and smoothing our hair.  I remember appearing on my 18th birthday in a new cardigan, a multi-coloured oversized affair from Miss Selfridge, and him telling me, "I like that cardigan but I don't like that fluff" as it clung to every dark surface in the room.  

I think it's fair to say that my Pap didn't beat around the bush to preserve your feelings.  If you looked a mess, he'd tell you, and if you acted like a mess, he'd tell you even more.  When you did something well though, or you looked 'smart' (his word of choice for aesthetic compliments) he would be the first to tell you, and I think praise like that is worth a thousand times more than when it's coming at you for no good reason.

Outfit #1:

Trousers - Monki; Jumper - Mango; Shoes - ASOS; Belt - Topshop

For this outfit, I have embraced androgyny in its fullest and went for something my Pap would have actually worn.  He always brought out a new pair of corduroys for special occasions and this pair I scouted out in Monki a few days ago sprung to mind straight away.  He also would have really embraced the fact that the colours of both the jumper and the trousers are seen in the check detailing on the shoes, always being one for a bit of cohesion.  I added the belt in because I rarely leave the house without a belt and neither did he, but it's just occurred to me what uproar the different shades of leather of the shoes and belt would have caused.  Crikey.  I generally really like the 'Grandad' feeling of this whole outfit and I think it'd be perfect for a crisp winter day, paired with a Mac and a home knitted scarf.

Outfit #2:

Dress - Love at Topshop; Coat - River Island; Boots - Missguided; Hat - French Connection

I chose here the kind of outfit my Pap would always have something nice to say about -  prim, put together, smart.  I'd turn up to a family meal in something like this, hair in a bun and shoes shined, and you know he'd say something nice.  I specifically chose this dress not only because I've been lusting after it for a while now, but because it's by Love and I think his favourite thing I ever owned was a floral dress from Love.  I've paired it with this coat because, well, warmth first and the hat because he always loved me in a hat.  I've gained this reputation amongst my family as being the one who does hats, and that's not a label I'm going to shirk because I bloody love them.  Whilst I do like this outfit anyway, for me the thing that made it particularly Pap-esque was the colour coordination between the floral design, hat and coat and the black dress background with the black boots.  Of course, opaque black tights will also feature in this outfit, but I didn't think you need to see a picture of those.

I'm starting to wonder if maybe this post is a bit weird but I just woke up this morning with some inspiration for it.  One of my favourite things about fashion is how we draw inspiration from everywhere, from the strangest of people and the unlikeliest of locations.  All the things my lovely old Pap loved in terms of how we dressed, I steered clear of for so long, turning my nose up at any kind of colour coordination, at polished shoes, at neat hair.  Yet now, I love it all.  If only he had lived to see the day I stepped away from grunge for good.  And if he knew I was finally growing out my natural hair colour?  Well, the excitement would have been overwhelming.

God bless,

Elise.

The Daily Bread #9 - Favourites New, Favourites Old

 Jeans - Topshop

Top - River Island

Coat - Topshop

Boots - Bianco

Bag - Oasis

Hat - Vintage

Scarf - Paris, unknown

Last night, I was forced to face every girl's worst fear - or, at least, every disorganised shopaholic's worst fear - when I had to log into my online banking to pay my rent.  It was every bit as unsightly as I had imagined as I saw the reality of the astronomical amounts of money I've spent lately laid before me in black and white.  I'm not yet at the medical trials stage of poverty (yes, that happened) but my summer 2013 funds are dwindling rapidly so I'm on a complete non-essentials spending ban (and it's taken a lot of self-persuasion to accept that lipstick and shoes aren't essentials).  Therefore, you will be seeing a lot of the same items mixed and matched until Christmas which hopefully won't get too boring for you.  To get through these tough times, I'm going to refer to Prickig Katt's advice and "dare a little more, stretch you extra" in order to appreciate the fruits of my wardrobe that already exist.

I'm never sure whether I should take outfit pictures of simply the outfit or once it has been adorned with outerwear.  Given that today involved a pretty boring top (a sheer navy blouse I bought last year and have worn too many times) I thought I'd take the opportunity to add in the coat, bag etc which made the oufit, I think.  I found this mac in a Topshop sale here in Sweden a few weeks ago down from 1400sek to just 400sek (around £40) and, as I'd been looking for a good mac for a while, I found myself at the till straight away.  When it's done up, it has a lovely swingy shape which I love because it adds a bit of a feature to an otherwise very classic choice.

I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship with these jeans.  I've loved them always - of course I have: paisley, my favourite Leigh style, great autumnal colours - but there was a time when I'd eaten a few too many pies and they didn't seem to want to cooperate with the whole 'doing up' activity.  One day though, I woke up and decided that enough was enough and they were being worn.  It was a struggle, let me tell you that, but they did up and have fitted perfectly ever since.  I did make the mistake of going on a plane journey the day of the battle though and they did actually bruise me... once again, no pain, no gain?  They also have them in quite a few UK Topshop stores marked down to £20 now, or they did last week, if you're interested in adding a little paisley cheer to your legs.

Both the hat and scarf are old favourites.  I bought the hat from a vintage stall in Camden, back in the glory days of 2008, and it's been much loved ever since.  Somewhere along the way it became known as my 'Russian hat' and I'm pretty sure my best friend would disown me if I ever got rid of it, although it's starting to look a little tatty.  The scarf was purchased in Paris at the very beginning of a 6 week inter-railing trip.  It was cold, it was raining, we were sad and we only had shorts.  I think I've mentioned before about needing a bit of a comfort blanket on hangover days and the same goes for any kind of bad mood.  We wandered into a shop, came out with these scarves - mine in olive green, Georgia's baby blue - and became very attached to them thereafter.  Mine's not really left my person for any long stretches since.  Am I the only one who relies on various items of clothing to care for my emotional wellbeing?

The colour quality of these pictures is atrocious, I'm sorry.  When I went to take pictures at midday I discovered that my camera batteries were dead and, being me, I of course did not have any spares so had to wait until after my class.  The details of all the pieces I'm wearing have been lost a little due to this but I can assure you, if it's any consolation, that they will all be featuring many more times, so if you want to see them in detail you'll just have to tune back in (wink wink nudge nudge).

The Christmas lights are being switched on in Gothenburg this evening so we're going for a festive evening in the city centre then back here for a dinner party which I'm looking forward to.  Have any of you embarked on festive activities already?

TGIF,
Elise.