Whole Lotta Sylvie - Part 3

My beautiful Sylvie Belle is about to turn five months old this weekend, I can't believe that the time has gone so quickly. Sylvie can now roll over and attempts to heave herself out of her pram - danger baby!  She is trying to grow up so fast and wants to be running about like her brothers! Sylvie is not a lover of milk and is yet to be weaned, I'm not entirely sure where she is getting all this energy from. She has started to sleep a bit better both night and day so I'm sure that has helped this energy burst.

Sylvie would now like to show you what she has been wearing for the last month or so. She is showing no signs of growing out of most of her outfits (except babygro's, she's long - like her Mummy) so this post is more about mixing outfits up to make new ones! Sylvie has an extensive range of tights and dresses.

 3 Months old - I love Sylvie's little quiff in these pics, I didn't style it like that, honest! Sylvie is wearing stripe bodysuit and white cable knit dress both from Baby Gap, tights from Boden & legwarmers from H&M.

 Orange bunny knitted dress from Debenhams and flare jeans from Next. I don't usually like jeans on a baby but these were begging me to buy them for weeks before Sylvie was even born!

 Check out Sylvie with Totoro who we picked up in Tokyo on our honeymoon in 2009.

 Dolly print dress from The Pippa and Ike Show boutique, short sleeve yellow cardigan from John Lewis and tights from Boden. http://www.the-pippa-and-ike-show.com/

 Super cute!

Floral dress a gift from my friend Claire's shop Miss Trudy, pink cardigan from George at Asda, tights a gift and legwarmers as before. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Miss-Trudy-Ltd

 Smiley Girl.

Pink top by Tapete and bloomers both from The Pippa and Ike Show, floral bib from Mothercare.

  Sometimes I actually think Sylvie is actually posing for her blog pics! Bam!

Tartan puffball dress a gift from Nan-Nan from Mothercare, red bolero cardigan from Next and tights from Boden.

 Denim and Stripes

Dress from M&S, bodysuit gift, knitted leggings from H&M

 4 months old - Sylvie during the freak mid March heatwave, I found it hard to not add long sleeves and a pair of tights to this outfit, bare legs in March seemed wrong somehow.

Knitted dress, bloomers and socks all from H&M

 Super Sylv's extremely long legs with the cutie Boden skull shoes that were a gift from Nan-Nan at Christmas and finally fit!

I love dressing a baby girl!!! NDxx

My Style Icons - Amanda Warner of MNDR

It has been nearly a year since I compiled a list of my Style Icons and it seems to have taken me a lot longer than I thought to post about each one (I've clearly had a lot to say).
The next Icon on my list is Amanda Warner of MNDR. I first noticed Amanda on the UK TV show Jonathan Ross performing with Mark Ronson for his latest record Bang Bang Bang. I loved her style it was super geek mixed up glamour, the 1980s Deirdre Barlow (google her) glasses and a cute lipstick pout. Amanda seemed a bit odd and had a look that was pretty unique, so of course, I was bound to love her! Ronson was sporting a high quiff at the time which was pleasing to the eye and then you had Q-Tip rapping over it, that mans voice is the coolest. Amanda inspired me to actually buy my large framed Deirdre Barlow glasses that I had been pondering over for a while.

Q-Tip, Mark Ronson and Amanda Warner from the Bang Bang Bang music video. 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bwli1LOnn4

I love this photo, permed hair, big glasses and stonewash jeans?

 Cute!

Amanda has obviously changed her look over the past two years but it's the Bang Bang Bang era that I love! She has an undercut now, I don't think I shall be copying that one....three years with an undercut is quite enough.....that took a lot for me to say out loud...My name is Emma and I have been undercut free for nearly a month! Thank you....ND xx

Gnarly Boy - I Hate Myself When I'm Not Skateboarding

Did I ever mention that my husband Phil is obsessed with skating? That's on a skateboard not on in-liners or retro roller boots (perhaps a little too camp or twee for Phil) So yeah, skateboards, he loves them, he skates.

 I tried to 'encourage' him to do something with all his old skate decks that have been gathering around our home and garage for the past 10 years.

 'Perhaps make a shelf with them', I said 'or display them?'

This was my downfall........Phil, instead, was inspired to pop up a bit of vintage 80s skate art on our walls, sounds OK, but was he using up the old decks? Oh no, he's just bought more....the ones he wanted but couldn't afford when he was 14 years old!

Luckily I managed to have a say on which of the designs he liked, were actually gonna get up on our walls and then he imported them from America!

 Here they are.

We decided to hang our new pieces of art next to the stairs, so you can't actually miss them from the minute you walk through our front door. Our hallway has had Granny's wallpaper for years and, to be honest, we have actually grown to like it, it adds to the charm of our 1930s home, as we slowly begin to push Ikea further out of our lives. 

The decks themselves are all re-issues of Phil's childhood favourites and each have their own stories....

The first white deck is by Vision and is a great design that reminds me of the late 80s and early 90s. Vision decks and clothing were everywhere as far as I remember as a non-skater.

 The black deck with the dragon (my least favourite, but all the boys favourite!) is the Bone Brigade's  - Steve Caballero deck Phil most wanted as a kid.

 Check out the leopard print Alva deck! I, of course, was drawn to this one, who could resist the leopard print? You also need one of the original Dog Town Z Boys decks on your wall, don't you?

Keeping on the Skate theme, here are our gnarly kids with all their latest skate items. The boys are sitting on Lucian's first deck, it's a smaller Santa Cruz deck with The Screaming Hand Logo both boys wearing Vans skate shoes, of course!

Sylvie Belle and Daddy. Phil bought this Santa Cruz bodysuit for the baby before we even knew whether she was a boy or a girl. Luckily she was a girl as the print on the bodysuit looked more pink than red when we received it. Phil in Independant sunglasses and Powell Peralta tee.

Below -  Mika sporting his Santa Cruz 'Screaming Hand' tee.

It's lucky I've always had a soft spot for skaters, aint't it! ND xx

It's too early for that dress -Post Pregnancy Fashion Dilemmas - Part 5

It's been over a week since my last post, I've been busy with all my children over the Easter hols, on days out and visiting family and friends. I'm writing this with my little Sylvie Belle on my lap, she must be used to me using the laptop now as she often nods off to the sound of the tapping keys! Poor thing!

A breakthrough has happened to me over the past month, I am excited to announce that I am back in my old jeans....yey! The post pregnancy weight is really starting to shift now and I am grateful for this. For this post I am mainly wearing all my old high waister jeans and have mixed this up with my latest buys from cheap as chips Primark and my new 1950s style favourites from Vivien of Holloway. I am working the Vintage Americana trend to the max!

Vintage Cute - White gypsy top from Vivien of Holloway, yellow cardigan from H&M, highwaister tapered jeans from Tokyo, Japan ( bought on my honeymoon, 3 years ago), cherry print socks from Topshop, red Converse low tops, swallow necklace from Accessorise.

The Primark Prada copy top as featured in my Vintage Americana post at the beginning of April. I'm not looking quite as good as Dakota Fanning on that Elle cover but hey ho, she's 17 and I'm old enough to be her mother....which shocks me slightly! 

Pastel Pales Geek - More Primark, the leopard print cardigan is the new item. You know, I do love a cardigan...and those Deirdre Barlow oversized glasses, how I love them!

Here's an example of how to create a peplum effect out of a top. I have used my oversized Xray Spex tee which somehow got ruined by a paint stain (children do these things to your clothes) so to hide it I have added a belt and taa daa...we have peplum.

Jeans from Topshop, Xray Spex tee from 8ball, black catseye sunglasses from asos.com, Neon pink belt a gift.

A close up of my new Primark sandels, which I haven't worn since as the weather here has been too cold. I do look a lot paler than usual too!

The 4 photos above are of me Djing last Friday at my club night Bang (based at The Big Chill Bar) here in Bristol. I was much more awake this month and there was a great atmosphere in the club. I was happy that I fitted into the tightest of my high waister 'old' jeans and teamed them with my new Vivien of Holloway Gypsy top, red elastic belt from ebay and red Converse low tops. The top pic features my brother Mike who (coincidently) is also rocking the Vintage Americana look. We didn't do it on purpose...we didn't!

The Primark Prada rip off  Americana top again worn with my high waister tapered jeans from Tokyo.

A quick snap shot taken at the in-laws about 10 seconds before we had to leave to visit my good friends in Leicester (I went to Uni there and then stayed on for 6 years, I made a lot of good friends, including my good friend and fellow blogger Dilly Foxtrot - and her sister Di, who was pregnant when I left that day but had her lovely baby -a few hours later!! Congrats Di and well done!!! I miss them).

Gingham bustier top (also featured in my Americana post) from Vivien of Holloway, high waister skinnies (as before), red belt (as before) and red Converse.

I have finally managed to get through the back log of my Post Pregnancy style pics, I think we've seen enough of me for a bit so a current obsession or Style Icon post is on the cards...Thanks for stopping by! ND xx

It's too early for that dress -Post Pregnancy Fashion Dilemmas - Part 4

I am a little delicate today as I was out Djing last night and may have indulged in one or two drinks....Here's the next installment from my post pregnancy posts.

Sportswear? What's that all about? Well, I had become inspired by a photoshoot fashion story from Pigeons and Peacocks magazine named Ganguro Girl, I have talked about it before on my Pigeons and Peacocks post from last year. (Find it here http://no-debutante.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/my-latest-magazine-obsession-pigeons.html ) The styling is a mix of Japanese street style and British chav style, which sounds bizarre but looks cool.

I decided to try and wear a bit of sportswear each day, to see how many looks I could come up with, using the clothes I already own. I needed to incorporate sports styling with bright colours and prints, the same way as the P&P fashion story. Sportswear inspired fashion is also massive this Spring/ Summer including high tec anoraks, cycle shorts (yes, cycle shorts), glossy bright colours, jog pant cut trousers and racer back vests. I will deffo do a post about what's on the high street and how to wear sportswear very soon.

Outfit 1  -Khaki anorak from Primark, purple sweatshirt, leggings & sunglasses from H&M, Socks from American Apparel, red Converse low tops. from Office.

Wear an oversized anorak with everything this Spring Summer!

Outfit 2 - Mickey Mouse sweatshirt and bodycon dress from H&M, Floral leggings from Versace for H&M, red Converse low tops.

Outfit 3 - Purple sweatshirt (as before) digital floral print trousers and red socks from Topshop, Leopard print Converse low tops from Office.

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Outfit 4 - Sonic Youth t-shirt from Urban Outfitters, low front bodycon dress from American Apparel, floral leggings and red Converse (as before) yellow cardigan from H&M.

Outfit 5 - Black vest and leopard print trousers from Topshop, yellow sunglasses and cardigan from H&M, red Converse (as before).

I am classing these trousers as sportswear as they are cut the same as jogging bottoms with the baggy leg and gathered hem, so it's sportswear inspired clothing for the Sportswear trend as well as traditional sportswear.

 Outfit 6 - Bloomers from American Apparel, name necklace from Tatty Devine, Mickey Mouse sweatshirt and Converse (as before).

I love my American Apparel bloomers! I went shopping to Primark on this day and a mother said to her daughter 'what on earth is she wearing?' which made me smile....

I guess, on this occassion, I didn't really have any post pregnancy fashion dilemmas as sportswear is comfy and fits you even if you go up a couple of sizes, it's a dangerous thing to wear as you may not realise you are putting on the pounds! Sportswear - wear with caution! ND xx