TRANSITION: DAY NINETEEN

DAY NINETEEN: Blue striped knit, River Island

The sun came out again on Sunday, so to celebrate the the last few hours of glorious weather before it all goes downhill this week - I mean, snowing at Easter? You've got to be kidding me - I whipped out another purchase from my night of influenced shopping last week. Again, another pastel. WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME??

I don't know how it happened but not only was I wearing pastels again, I'd somehow ended up wearing more colour than I ever have - pink chinos, the blue sweater and a yellow bag. My multi-hued look definitely got some stares as we pottered around the park.

Worn with: pink chinos, Zara; grey vest, American Apparel; Yellow satchel, Asos; tortoiseshell Wayfarers, Ray-Ban.

TRANSITION: DAY SEVENTEEN

DAY SEVENTEEN: Pastel floral tuxedo trousers, River Island

While I would never advocate being drunk in public, sometimes a little bit of, ahem, influenced shopping can lead to very interesting purchases finding their way into my wardrobe. A prime examples is the really rather extraordinary sunglasses that I bought on the last day of term at Uni after a celebratory lunch with one of my flatmates that I most definitely not even looked at otherwise.

Last night, after the whirlwind of press days and launches that had been my afternoon, I found myself in River Island on Oxford Street standing in front of these trousers and thinking 'oh yep, totally'. When I'd been in there the other day with a friend, I'd checked them out but as I pointed out to my friend, they broke the two biggest rules in my book:

1. They are a proper floral. Not some weird abstract/neon/watercolour floral but an actual proper 'oh look, petals' kind of floral. Look!:

2. They are pastel. As many of my regular readers will now probably know, I have a weird thing against pastels. Having been brought up on a diet of monochrome and never allowed to wear sugary colours as a child, I developed an allergy to any pale candy colours that has lasted into adulthood.

So not only do these trousers have pastel coloured flowers all over them, they also have a lavender tuxedo-style stripe down the sides. Now, tuxedo stripes are very flattering to the leg, so this time I'll allow the lavender even if it is a colour that I absolutely detest normally simply because it works here.

To end this story, imagine my surprise when all sensibility went flying out of the window and I found myself at the till, ready to spend what little money I have on PASTEL FLORAL TROUSERS.

The mind boggles. But the legs like.

Worn with: grey tee, H&M; necklace, Nocturne; Satchel, Marks & Spencer; Nude pumps, Office. Tortoiseshell Wayfarers, Ray-Ban; jacket, unknown.

AUTUMN: DAY TWENTY

DAY TWENTY: Prince of Wales check jacket, River Island


I tend to do all of my winter jacket and coat shopping in August and I bought this jacket during one of those mini-heatwaves in the summer. Of course, trying on wool jackets in 30C heat during the Friday afternoon madness that is Oxford Street seemed like a totally sane thing to do at the time. God only knows why. I wish I could say I'd been high because that would be a slightly more believable excuse rather than the reality of the sudden desire to buy my winter wardrobe as I systematically sweated through my summer wardrobe as I tried to navigate the gormless tourists.


I don't know quite what drew me to this jacket, maybe I'd been listening to my 80s playlist too much that week but there was something about this really rather retro style that sucked me in and made me think of Princess Diana. Whether it's the double breasted style, the slightly padded shoulders or the PoW check, I'll never know but now whenever I look at it or wear it, I'm reminded of her. I'm not sure if that's a good reason to buy a jacket or not but it worked for me.


Plus, it's a great jacket for now as it's thick enough to keep me warm on the grey drizzly days that seem all too frequent right now but doesn't make me overheat on my daily commute from hell on the packed tubes.


Worn with: neckline detail jumper, New Look; Grey denim shorts, Zara.