AT THE RACES

I'm interrupting this usually scheduled Brights blog with a bit of an off-piste post. What with the outdoor events calendar firmly under way and several of my friends asking what I'd recommend for a day at the races or the polo, I thought I'd do a little post about what I wore to the Investec Epsom Derby Ladies Day last week.

I was there helping to pick stylish race-goers for WhatBestToWear.com's competition and of course, we had to adhere as much as possible to the dress code - smart dresses and hats, etc.

Now, I love a good hat but I've never really worn a formal one as up until last week, I was a race day novice if I'm perfectly honest - luckily, I picked up my hat the other week in preparation for Ascot later this month but still had no appropriate dress! Cue a good level of panic, including the standard race around Topshop the night before to see if I could find anything to wear as most of my dresses are either black or casual.

Having panic bought a structured black dress, on the tube home I had a sudden fashion epiphany (fash-iany?) - the perfect dress was hanging in my wardrobe.

This navy structured skater dress with lace overlay and little grosgrain cap sleeves from Warehouse fitted the bill perfectly, matched my navy and black hat and was comfortable to boot. It had been languishing in my wardrobe since Christmas and I figured it that if ever there was an occasion for it to make its debut, Ladies Day was the one.

Unfortunately, the navy version is long gone but a very summery cream version is still available [here]. The best part? It's now on sale, from £80 to £60. I may very well need to get it to wear to Ascot.

Worn with: Cream and navy stripe jacket, Primark; cream and gold pumps, Office; hat, Marks & Spencer; bag, Marni; Wayfarers, Ray-Ban.

BRIGHTS: DAY TWO

DAY TWO: Mesh ballet pumps, Nelly

Heatwave - YEAY! New shoes - DOUBLE YEAY! First up, apologies for the lack of posts over the weekend, our ever delightful internet connection decided to up sticks and piss off on holiday, meaning that I was at the mercy of my 3G connection which does nothing for my laptop. I spent the whole weekend trying to do things on the rest of my Mac stack to no avail. Coupled with a ridiculous workload, I have been incommunicado from most of the internet world. And the real world for that matter.

But let's talk about shoes, yes? I love shoes. Behold the newest addition to a shoe collection that means that I will very soon need an extra room just for footwear. They are from Nelly.com, which is kind of like a Swedish ASOS and has just launched in the UK to massive fanfare and an awesome party not long ago at one of my favourite venues, Aqua London.

I picked up these particular shoes for three very specific reasons:

1) I have had orange ballet pumps on my mind for quite some time now. They have seeped into my consciousness like a bad smell and I could not get rid of the thought. I think this is a run-on from my obsession with orange at the beginning of the year, but on a more manageable and less look-like-a-plague-victim level.

2) The mesh. Thanks to my dodgy grandma knees, I have to wear insoles in my shoes at all times or risk the wrath of my joints. This means that most styles of sandals are out of the question when this plus my freaky toe-post hating toes factor into the equation, meaning I spend most of summer in ballet pumps and with stinking feet. I bet you wanted to know that, right? Well, the mesh on these means that my feet can breeeathe this summer. Hurrah!

3) They are only £14.95. Amazing.

They are so amazing in fact, that I am giving serious thought to buying them in every colour combination that they come in. You can buy this particular fetching orange and blue combination [here], blue and pink [here] and my next purchase, neon yellow and green [here].

Worn with: grey skinnies, Topshop