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 EIGHTEEN

DAY EIGHTEEN: Grey chinos, Banana Republic

Just when I was getting into the swing of spring things, y'know, breaking down my preconceptions of pastels, florals and the such, nature has a way of throwing you a curve ball. It's like someone somewhere decided that you can have too much of a good thing and it was time to reign in the sunshine. Whoever that person was, I'd like to take a moment to say YOU BASTARD.

When I woke up this morning to grey skies, an icy wind whipping through the open windows and an insanely sore throat building, it was like the light had just gone out of everything - even my previously jolly neon orange toenails looked a little sad in the lacklustre light. However, I'm a firm believer in silver linings - finally a chance to wear my favourite black waffle jumper again without looking like a tool and the opportunity to wear my new grey chinos from Banana Republic which arrived at the office yesterday.

When we were offered the choice of either pink or grey at the press day, I went for grey simply because I already owned a pink pair - my bright pink pair of chinos from Zara that I bought last summer. I then spent the next few weeks regretting my choice, thinking that actually the dusky deep raspberry would've been great but when they arrived, I knew I'd made the right decision - I need some smarter, preppier trousers in my wardrobe for when jeans, pajama pants or bright colours aren't appropriate. I get the feeling that I'll get a lot of wear out of these.

Worn with: black waffle jumper, Topshop; Black high tops, Converse.

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.

TRANSITION: DAY SIXTEEN

DAY SIXTEEN: Neon stripe tee, Giles by Giles Deacon for New Look


More sunshine! Hurrah! With a morning full of appointments in town, I figured it was only fair to play another round of blind-the-commuter with this striped neon tee from Giles Deacon's range for New Look. This is from the debut menswear collection from a few years ago - I just cut out the neck to make it fit better, although it's doing something funny in this photo, as is my mouth.


You know, for someone who wears a lot of black and grey, this whole new found love of neon is a little disconcerting...


Worn with: grey skinny jeans, Topshop; black pumps, Office; studded blazer, Zara; metallic leather bag, Topshop; degradé wayfarers, Ray-Ban

TRANSITION: DAY FIFTEEN

DAY FIFTEEN: Diamante necklace, Nocturne

So, I'm cheating a little bit today. As you might be aware, that's not me in the photo above but a rather glamourous looking dachshund. Holly decided that it was time to make her contribution to this run of thirty days and what better way than to model this lovely sparkly necklace from Nocturne?

I'm a big fan of statement jewellery, particularly necklaces. As much as I love big bracelets and rings, I have to take them off the second I get to the office so that they don't impede on my typing skills or get in the way of editing through piles of samples. However, a necklace is great as it stays put and doesn't infringe on everything else I do and it glams up the most basic of outfits. 

You might've noticed this necklace popping up in lots of recent posts so I thought it was time to dedicate a post to it. This necklace is from Nocturne AW collection and is now sold out but you can still pick up a glittery bargain in their discounted section on the website [here] or peruse their SS12 collection of magpie delights [here].

Worn with: everything lately