Tag Archives: cashmere

Cashmere for Christmas

I think my appreciation for the finer things in life has definitely developed over the past 5 years or so. At one point I would have considered cashmere an unnecessary indulgence. These days I can’t live without it at this time of year (well of course I could live without it, but I’d prefer not to have to!!).

My most favorite pieces of cashmere are my Marks & Spencer Rosie for Autograph cashmere lounge pants/pajama bottoms. I call them lounge pants because I never sleep in them – they are purely a winter alternative to sweatpants. I currently have 2 pairs that I have had a couple of years and last night was their first wear of the year. Absolutely blissfully soft they are just gorgeous for slobbing out in, watching the Sunday night football, with a cup of peppermint tea, admiring the Christmas tree!

This year I have treated myself to these additional pieces.

This wrap is beautiful and perfect for throwing over my pjs in the morning – I always have the heating off at night so it can be chilly when we get up!

wrap dressing gown

These are similar to the pairs I already own but have the cuffed hem instead of the straight leg. Just throw a t-shirt on and your done – perfect for after dinner when your waistline needs some sympathy:)

cuffed hem Rosie pajama pants

Finally – these are similar to those that I already have in light grey and black. These days I much prefer grey for around the house – white boxer hair is no friend of black knitwear!

straight leg rosie pajama pants

If you deserve a treat or know someone who does I can’t think of anything more perfect to find under the tree this year!

Finally I’m jumping for joy as the cold has arrived here in Atlanta! Time to get the coats out!

Thank you to Sylvia for featuring me this week in her 40 Plus Style round up!

camelBoots – Sam Edelman on sale here (discounted by $90!!) // Jeans – Zara // Coat – &  Other Stories // Scarf – New Look

militaryBoots – See by Chloé on sale here // Jeans – Zara // Jacket – Mango (similar here) // Jumper – Uniqlo // Bag – Stella McCartney (similar on sale here) // Sunglasses – Tom Ford (on sale here)

I bloody love TheOutnet.com

I’ve recently purged a tonne of stuff from my closet – selling some and giving other stuff to charity. It’s been fun – my closet is clearer and my purse is fuller. I’ve come to realize that, maybe with age, my tastes are changing. I am no longer tempted by a ‘quick fix’ on the Zara website. Instead I am happier buying less, less often, but maybe at a slightly higher price point. Instead of writing a specific list of items on my wish list, I have created more generic themes, such as a long winter coat, dressy-going-out boots etc. I am then browsing TheOutnet.com periodically hoping to find the bargains of a lifetime, and do you know what? – It’s paying off!

Now a word of warning you do need to be picky and quite narrow in your searches. There is a lot of random stuff on TheOutnet.com. However, if you know which brands you love that makes it far easier to target a potential bargain.

In the past month I have struck gold twice! Recently I found one Helmut Lang coat just waiting for me at 60% off. This is a real classic coat with leather trims, and I am thrilled with it – far more so than I’d be with a couple of Zara coats!

Helmut Lang

As for the boots – again just one pair were left at 60% off – but how about these brown/khaki Isabel Marant Andrew boots. It had to be – one pair of FR 39 left with my name on them!

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They are not on TheOutnet.com anymore but you can also find some sizes left on sale here.

Of course you will remember I always find fabulous sunglasses on sale too on TheOutnet.com, and this calf hair Alexander Wang Rockie is beautiful with 55% off!

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So there we are – my new approach to shopping. I’m finding it thoroughly rewarding. Nothing like a bargain – if you stick to a budget of course! Now if I can just find the Chloé Susannas discounted 😉

As for recent outfits I’ve omitted a few rushing here and there, but here are a few recent ones I’ve enjoyed wearing!

allblackShoes – Adidas Superstar slip-on // Jeans – ASOS Thea (on sale) // Sweater – Everlane cashmere

camel_edited-1Shoes – Golden Goose // Trousers – Zara // Sweater – ASOS

R13Shoes – Golden Goose // Jeans – R13 (25% off at ShopBop.com) // Top – AllSaints (previous season sale) // Jacket – Regent Linen blazer J.Crew (now on sale)

 

On the same wavelength

Eve and I often send each other links and give each other advice on what to buy or not to buy (mainly the former!). We’re true enablers. We have very similar wardrobes – maybe because we have similar body types or just similar tastes. We have joked in the past how much more we could cram in our closets if we were close enough to share clothes. Yesterday we were each wearing our Mango culottes on different sides of the Atlantic.

Mango have another code right now too – purchase one item and get 30% off – purchase 2 or more items and get 40% off! Just use code 6DISCOUNT7 in the US and 6DISCOUNT in the UK. All sizes in the culottes are still available in the US!

You can click here to see Eve’s interpretation and here is mine – I was scared of chilly ankles 🙂

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culottes no gilet

Culottes – Mango // Sweater – Everlane v-neck slouchy cashmere // Gilet – JohnnyB (last year but similar here with 25% off till Thursday midnight!) LOVING the jacket version too here! // Boots – Zara

As Eve mentions they are incredibly comfortable and fit on the larger side for Mango – though their sizing is all over the place! These are a UK 12/US 8 and fit great especially on my waist where I sometimes struggle with waistbands being too tight!

I seem to have a thing for grey at the moment and I can’t get my hands on enough grey sweaters! My new love is the Everlane sleeveless chunky knit. Being sleeveless makes it easy to wear under jackets and it’s also dressier to wear with leather pants or skirts for a night out. The knit is so soft – I am obsessed. I dug out my old favorite Diesel Fayzas – the best jeans ever.

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Sneakers – Golden Goose (similar here) // Jeans – Diesel Fayza jogg jeans // Sweater – Everlane sleeveless chunky knit // Jacket – Zara

I’m hoping to go for a cheeky curry for lunch with my Husband today – it better be a hot one as our Polar Plunge arrives tomorrow 🙂 Just in time for my trip to Charlotte for a wedding bbbbrrrrr!

Oh and one last note – if you haven’t already then make sure you invest in the Urban Decay Naked palettes! Mine arrived and I LOVE them! Yes they are $50 – but you can buy 5 single shadows for that price and here you get a highly pigmented, non-dusty, easy to apply, long lasting eyeshadow palette with 12 colors. I am wearing the pinkier hues here from the Naked 3 palette.

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25% off everything at Boden!

Now you all know I don’t buy nearly as much from Boden as I used to – Boden used to dominate my closet! I was the Queen of Boden tunics! These days I like to be a little more daring and eclectic. Having said that there are still items that I always turn to Boden for and now is the ideal time to do it with 25% off till Thursday midnight!

Here are my picks and a few things I’ll be stocking up on. First of all for my Husband – he LOVES their lounge pants and all I can say is, given how fussy he is with clothes, they must be fabulous! They’d make perfect a Xmas present.

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Now for me. I find Boden’s Cashmere to be some of the best on the market. Far superior to J.Crew. It never bobbles and I wash all mine on the wool cycle in the machine with no shrinkage. I have a cashmere hoody from last year but absolutely love this cashmere lounge sweater – I adore the neckline. Again a perfect Xmas present.

14WWIN_BK015_NAV_W01I’m wearing my Westbourne jumper today. It’s one of my all time Boden favorites and I have it in black and grey. I am particularly loving the brighter colors that it is now available in.

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This toasty roll neck is a bit of a curve ball – especially in this colorway. I have ordered it – I LOVE the yellow – it makes it far more wearable for me that the yellow is away from my face.

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I am smitten with the Skye scarf in yellow. I have ordered a couple of yellow scarves this season and returned them as the yellow has been to bleurgh – this looks perfect fingers crossed! I absolutely love the pink in it too!

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Poppy will be glad to hear that I managed to order her red boots. She’s been hounding me for these for weeks!

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To get your 25% off make sure you enter 8A8C (F2J7 in the UK) at checkout. Now is the time to get those Xmas lists in order!

As for what I’ve been wearing well Saturday was definitely a comfy day at home nursing a little hangover after our night out.

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Boots – Uggs // Jeans – J.Crew (25% off with GETWARM) // T-shirt – Mango // Cardigan – AllSaints (old but similar here)

Today I am bracing for the Arctic blast that is due to hit us this week. More layers and coats!

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Jeans – Zara // Boots – AllSaints Bonny Cuban (similar here) // Jumper – Boden Westbourne // Coat – Mango (old) // Bag – Zara

Stay warm!

 

Date night

My Husband and I cheered with relief once Halloween was done with last week. It’s safe to say neither of us enjoy the trick or treating much – maybe because we never did it as children in England so there is no nostalgia for us. Our children, however, love it and had a fabulous night, but for us it just meant we could now look forward to our night out belatedly celebrating my Husband’s birthday!

Before heading out I was in desperate need of a haircut – short hair always feels like it grows 20x faster! I headed to the salon on Thursday wearing this outfit designed for comfort and warmth. We have an Arctic chill arriving this week – I cannot wait…not.

IMG_9902Jacket – Mango // Jeans – Zara // Cashmere tunic – Everlane // Boots – H&M Isabel Marant (old)

I’m thrilled with my hair – a super short undercut and I have gone black for the winter – you know how I like to make a statement. I’m continuing to experiment with my makeup to keep the look feminine and I’m having fun with it! The best thing is my Husband loves it – it really is great to have his support when I try new looks! Last night we headed to our regular joint to finally celebrate his birthday and we had an amazing night as always. Great food, great service and amazing company – I am sometimes surprised that after 23 years we can still laugh at each other’s jokes (and our own for that matter) and scintillate with our conversation 😉

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Dress – Agi dress AllSaints // Boots – Stuart Weitzman Highland

A little worse for wear today so I spent it holding the sofa down watching football and movies – a perfect Fall Saturday!

 

 

Happy Birthday!

I love my friends but they sure can be a bad influence. Sue has introduced me to Everlane. Ironic as they don’t ship to the UK yet (except via me for Sue!). They are online only, with plans to ship internationally next year, and because they have no bricks and mortar their focus is on cutting costs for the consumer while providing incredible quality – which they do. I am a huge fan of their sweatshirts and cashmere.

Their short sleeve sweatshirt in particular is fabulous – a great boxy cut – and I think quite generous in size. They claim a medium is a US 4-6 but mediums fit me great I am definitely a US 8 on top. It comes in grey, black, navy and vanilla.

everlane short sleeve

 

Their cashmere is divine and a great price. I love their slouchy v-neck and now have 2 of them – the black will be on it’s way to me soon I hope! It’s beautifully cut with a longer back and plenty of drape. Again I am in a medium.

v neck sweater

 

IMG_9764Sweater – Everlane // Jeans – Zara // Boots – Newbury by Rag & Bone // Bag – Coach (old)

Today is my brilliant Husband’s birthday and we have just been for an indulgent lunch. Dinner has been postponed till all the Halloween celebrations this weekend are done with.

IMG_9781 IMG_9778 IMG_9776 IMG_9775Boots – Zara // Skirt – Mango // Jumper – AllSaints Haff 

Happy Birthday gorgeous!

 

A cashmere onesie.

No I am not going to wear it outside the house, but inside the house I may never, ever wear anything else again.  This Marks and Spencer cashmere all-in-one is sold out online – I stalked and stalked till a medium came into stock and it is now mine!  Many of my UK friends are terrified that I am turning completely chavtastic – but I promise you over here a onesie, or all-in-one as I prefer to call it – does not have the same connotations.

And here it is in all it’s glory:)  The comfiest, snuggliest item of clothing I’ve ever owned – perfect for cold, dark winter evenings.

M&S cashmere all in one

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Dress down Friday.

Well it was quite an eventful day yesterday.  I have to say I wasn’t nervous, more excited than anything.  I pierced my own nose years ago at University.  Crazy, and after yesterday I’ve no idea how I did it myself – I must have been determined and drunk, and the bag of frozen peas must have helped.

I made my decision on Monday that I was finally going to do some piercings, and I made my appointment with Piercing Experience in Atlanta.  I know piercings aren’t to everyone’s taste, just like tattoos, and oddly much as I love piercings, I’ve never wanted a tattoo mainly as I don’t know what I’d have tattooed – there’s nothing of significance that I want to preserve in ink.  At first I wasn’t going to have my nose re-pierced, then I thought ‘what the hell, while I’m there why not?’.  I also had wee diamond tragus and helix piercings.

Ear-Piercing-Diagram

 

The photo that inspired me to begin with – I think this looks so pretty:

Cartilage piercong

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Christina was amazing – she explained everything, and was incredibly professional.  It was not intimidating at all, some pain of course – but far less than I’d prepared myself for.  Piercing Experience don’t use clamps or guns so it’s all completely sterile and as gentle as piercing through a tough piece of cartilage can be!  I was also really impressed with their choice of jewelry – from fine jewelry like I chose, to tribal and glass jewelry – it’s also all surgical implant grade.  I’m thrilled – I can’t wait to scare the PTA:)

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Now I just have deal with my Husband’s silly little jokes about avoiding magnets and the like – he’ll tire of it soon I hope!

It’s freezing here in Atlanta this week so I wrapped up well yesterday.

white and grey

Boots – Grey Nubuck Newbury boots // Jeans – H&M (old) // Jumper – Boden dropped shoulder v-neck (old) // Knitted jacket – Zara // Striped scarf – Boden (old)

Today is very much a dress down Friday after a few glasses of wine last night to calm the nerves:)  Also – very manky – but I wanted to keep my piercings dry for another day to help with healing so I didn’t wash my hair – that definitely made it a hat day!  The jumper has to be the BEST cashmere sweater ever.  It is a men’s Uniqlo crewneck size Medium.  Perfectly soft and slouchy.  I want one of these in every color – this is the dark grey.

Uniqlo cashmere

JCrew cap

Sneakers – Golden Goose // Jeans – Diesel Fayza Jogg Jeans // Sweater – Uniqlo Men’s cashmere // Hat – J.Crew

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So share – what did you nab in the Isabel Marant fervour yesterday?!  I did have a twinge of regret that I missed out on the fringe boots but hey ho…I got new bling instead:)
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New pyjamas/pajamas.

One of the problems with blogging is it can be disastrous for your saving plans.  When you read a post by a blogging friend and see something you like you know you have to act quickly – you snooze you lose.  Being 5hrs behind of the UK can sometimes be a pro and other times a con – I can shop while the UK sleeps and while new stock is loaded on websites, but conversely something can be sold out by the time I wake up.  So yes I hold my hands up – I am guilty – I ordered Rosie’s cashmere trousers as soon as I read about them in Kat’s blog last night.  It’s great that my UK friends can keep me abreast of new lines in M&S, River Island and TopShop for example – but imagine how much I’d save if they didn’t!?  Oh well they’re winging their way to me as we speak.

Rosie cashmere trousers

Unfortunately being on the M&S site spells disaster for me.  ‘While I’m there’ I tend to nip to various other categories – just to see if there is anything new – you know – just in case…Darn it of course I migrate to one of the most expensive items on the site.  Don’t laugh but I bloody need these – perfect for curling up in front of the telly on a dark winter evening.  I’m flabbergasted at how quickly they are selling out – at £199 a pop too!  I am cruising the site every hour or so just in case the grey medium comes back – obsessed much – yes indeed.

M&S

Now there must be something in the air as I am also cruising the Zara site every couple of hours to see if this beauty has arrived.  Assured by Kat that it is not a onesie – it has a belt – I am convinced it can be glamorously styled for winter nights out.  Stand by – I know there are doubters out there – so let’s see what transpires…

Zara

Now my obsession with comfy knitwear led me to start thinking about sleepwear.  The Rosie trousers are really more loungewear than sleepwear, and in my mind it seems a bit ridiculous to lounge in cashmere only to change into a 5 year old nightie from M&S, slightly greyed from washing, shrunken and totally unflattering and definitely un-err-are-you-up-for-it-tonight-honey as I usually wear them with big knicks – TMI I know…but I try to keep decent around the house for my son’s sanity.

So this afternoon the hunt for sleepwear began.  Nordstrom as ever came up trumps.

These Steve Madden pjs are super fun and I love the pink trim.

SteveMadden nordstrom

I love a good night dress (is there a way of saying that without sounding 90?) and this is my favorite – again I love the pink and grey.

PJ Salvage

And here’s what I ended up ordering:

Almost a onesie, but not quite – this is from Splendid – I think it perfectly straddles (poor choice of word I realize) comfy yet sexy-ish (though I’m already slightly concerned about logistics with an all in one…).

Splendid Nordstrom

And these pjs from Eberjey look lovely – I hope they are.  What’s my fascination with grey marl though?

eberjay top

Eberjay trousers

So there we are – new loungewear and new sleepwear.  I can now throw out those greying cotton nightdresses and my velour sweats…my Husband will be thrilled – we’ll see how he adapts to the onesie (sorry Mum!).

Talking of M&S again I wore their new checked biker coat yesterday.  Their shipping service to the US is great and it’s free – this arrived really quickly – about 5 business days I think.  It’s gorgeous – very English looking according to my friends and really soft and warm.

I’m totally in love with my pink Boden boots – perfect for cheering up a grey day.  I am normally a US 8 and these are a Eur 39 – if anything they fit slightly on the small size so size up if in doubt. Don’t forget their 22% discount finishes Thursday night.

Pink Boden Boots M&S coat

Boots – Boden // Coat – Marks and Spencer // Jeans – Hudson Collin // Tank – H&M // Sweater – Boden Westbourne jumper // Scarf – Marks and Spencer (old)

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Off to the Braves!

Not really pool weather here today so we’ve decided to head off to watch the baseball.  I love going to Turner Field.  It’s even more fun now the kids are old enough to sit through the whole 9 innings – as long as I take enough snacks to feed an army.  I ran this morning so I’ve earned my pretzel and beers:)

It’s hot here but last time I wore shorts to the Braves game I sweated like a very sweaty thing on the plastic seats – nasty – I walked out looking like I’d had an accident…so today it’s neon jeans in an effort to stay cooler, or at least drier on the plastic seats!  The planning that goes into an outfit can never be underestimated!

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Jeans – Gap neon flamingo // Sneakers – Golden Goose Francy // T-shirt – Zara (old)

Before I start chanting at the Ted – as I was perusing the Boden Preview (20% off PRV3) yesterday, I thought I’d take a gander at the clearance section for this season.  There are so many fabulous items currently discounted.  I grabbed three sweaters that, in my eyes, are absolute bargains for the coming Fall.

This Cashmere crew neck in almond is divine – reduced from $148 to $88.80 – a bargain for cashmere.  If it works out I may order more colors.

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I’ve had my eye on this drop shoulder jumper in yellow all season and now it’s reduced to just $34 so I snapped up the yellow and the silver thank you very much.

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Finally today is a very important day for a very dear friend – Happy 40th Birthday Mrs. School Gate Style – you’ll love your 40s I promise!

 

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