Autumn Uniforms

I've spent all day tidying, cleaning and generally fumigating my room from it's hovel-like state back into something more resembling a bedroom (-cum-loung-cum-study-cum-kitchen).  I succeeded fully on this front, if I do say so myself - when I uploaded a picture to Facebook, my friends thought I'd just gone and photographed somebody else's room - but it did mean that my day was spent looking like a swamp monster.  When I eventually finished the long tidying slog, I was very excited to shower and transform myself back into a human but then realised that all my towels were wet from the washing machine.  As I'm pretty sure that none of you want to see the jeans and sweatshirt wearing mess that I am today,  I'll spare you an outfit post.  

Instead, I thought I'd do a round up of my favourite "uniforms" from Autumn 2012, as its drawing to a close now and heading towards an all together chillier winter.  I really do subscribe to the whole concept of uniforms; I think it's so useful to have a few outfit templates to fall back on each season on days when you haven't got much time or you are feeling particularly uninspired.  I've been kind of badly dressed this week (which was terrible timing I know, given that this was the week I chose to start blogging outfits) but this is the sort of thing I've been wearing.

Outfit #1:

Blazer - River Island; Shirt - H&M; Trousers - Topshop; Shoes - Jeffrey Campbell

I love trousers.  I love everything about them: the practicality, the comfort, the often androgynous style, the political statement (yes, out comes my closet feminist once again).  I love them.  However, I have a bit of a problem with jeans quite often; I think they look great on other people but when it comes to myself I just feel a bit like I'm giving in, being lazy, falling into a rut.  For this reason, this season's influx of tailored trousers suits me down to a tee.  I love pairing patterned trousers with a plain blazer and, equally, I like pairing block coloured trousers with a novelty blazer, such as my blue and yellow Topshop boating blazer that I'm a little/a lot in love with.  Add my other  seasonal favourite of a slightly sheer button down shirt into the mix and you've got the perfect outfit, as far as I'm concerned.  This will work equally well with brogues, loafers or my absolute favourite, which I like to call "the wearable wedge".  When I was trawling the internet for inspiration for this post, intending to put in a picture of the tan JCs I own, I found this and I'm now lusting after a colour pop shoe for my blazer and trouser combinations.

Outfit #2:

Jacket - French Connection; Jumper - Mango; Skirt - Mango; Boots - Bertie

As much as I love smart dressing, sometimes it's raining and you're tired and you want to stay in bed, and on those days I always opt for something as close to a duvet as possible that I can wear.  In comes the chunky knit.  It just manages to make the least comforting of outfits into something so cosy and that's how I've styled it here, and a lot in real life this autumn.  I bought this exact skirt at the end of the summer and, being pretty poor at the time, really uhmmed and ahhed as to whether I could keep it.  Eventually I did and I'm so glad.  It's served me well on endless nights out but also adds a lovely touch of the 60s to a daytime outfit.  I think that ankle boots and a leather jacket are both autumn essentials and I just love the casual yet slightly edgy feel they give to the jumper and mini combo.

Outfit #3:

Blazer - River Island; Blouse - Topshop; Skirt - H&M; Boots - River Island

I've always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with high waisted, skatery style skirts.  I pull together an outfit that I love out of them but then it comes to adding outerwear and shoes and suddenly it just doesn't work for me anymore.  I've always tried cardigans but they just make me feel a bit like my Gran, and not in a good way, and no shoes or boots ever seem quite right.  Last winter, I solved the latter problem with my heeled Chelsea boots from River Island which worked perfectly and I think these brogue style boots could be even better.  I was still having a problem with cover ups though until I finally fully boarded the blazer bandwagon, at long last, and I've never looked back.  To me, they  add some maturity to such a feminine skirt and the fitted styles that I favour also enhance the silhouette created.  I lusted after this skirt from H&M for weeks, finally had the money to buy it and found I was between sizes.  Usually this wouldn't be too much of an issue but I find that H&M sizing is often erratic and this was the certainly the case here, with the 10 being far from even buttoning up but the 12 making me look like I'd been swallowed by a material monster.  It was a sad day.

As I've said and you can problem feel, autumn is sadly drawing to a close meaning that I need to conjure some new uniforms for the coming winter months.  I imagine that they'll be somewhat similar to these but swapping blazers and jackets for winters coats and adding tights/socks into the mix.  I had a little spree in the Mango sale yesterday for some essentials which I'm excited to show you over the next few weeks/months.  I promise to actually get dressed tomorrow, ha!

From a very tidy room (and mind),

Elise.