Christmas Wrapping - The Dilemmas Of What To Wear To The Work Christmas Party

I had the chance to write and extra blog post this week due to having the house to myself, well, nearly myself there are a few workmen about the place adding the finishing touches to my lovely new loft conversion, which will be finished before Christmas......won't it? So, yeah the reason we are having the loft conversion is to give us an extra floor in our home which was very much needed after filling the house with children, whom are currently out of the house so let's get on with blogging!

Anyone who follows me on my social networking pages will know I had a big fashion dilemma with what I should wear to my work Christmas party. I realised my error when I agreed to attend this work do without taking any consideration about what the hell I would wear. Generally I do not attend these kind of corporate events, I usually get to dress down everywhere I go, even when I'm dressed up, I've managed to dress it down, in a glamorous way, of course. Still confused? Well, let's just say, I understand how to dress for a wedding but a sparkly and glamourous outfit with heels for a Christmas party??? I realised I was out of my comfort zone.......that is until I remembered I had the most amazing colourful, sparkling, sequined covered Louise Gray X Topshop shift dress!!!!!!!! How could I forget it???? I have worn this dress out, only once, when I sang and DJ'd at my club night Bang's tenth Birthday party nearly two years ago. The dress also made a brief appearance on the No Debutante blog in a photo shoot collaboration but that doesn't count.

So, I have the dress, problem solved you may think? No sorry, there where more issues. The first being the strategically placed stars that may appear a bit risque for a work do? I did take a moment or two to consider this but then decided against it, it's not a problem, it's just a fantastic dress! End of....Not quite, this is when things got really scrambled (in my head) I thought I would just wear some shimmery sheer tights which are very flattering and added sparkle to the whole Glam outfit, I had already decided I was definitely wearing my platform heeled white sandals from Topshop, bang on trend and frankly I just love them and don't get to wear them, plus I really cannot stand to match up my accessories with my outfit too much, it's too twee for me, as I have said before I just buy an item because I like it, I never consider if I have anything in my wardrobe to go with it, so really the outfit was sorted. 

 I then I thought I'd just try on my glittery, very colourful and stripey Meadham Kirchhoff  X Topshop tights, now this look was totally No Debutante style, a Fash Clash Mash up of colours, prints and sparkles! If I was attending any other event (perhaps not a wedding) a would wear this outfit. It looked fabulous! I then did a very un-No Debutante thing and went for the first more flattering, less outrageous outfit. Why you may ask? I did it because, although I know I have blue hair and never wear the clothes I probably should wear to work and always want to be a fashion outsider, I think the dress with the stars on the boobs, with a smiley face covered in pink, blue, red and gold sequins worn with blue bouffant hair and white platform shoes was quite No Debutante enough, I love standing out, of course, but I do not want to be a clown, I didn't want to wear what everyone would expected me to. Well, you always have to leave an element of surprise in there somewhere, don't you? The name of this look? Sixties Underwater Mermaid Alien.....Its catchy.

Apologies for the random snap shots about my home with messy worktops, I am a mother of three who barely goes out, doesn't have hours of time to get ready and take lots of blog photographs before leisurely heading out. It was more leave work, pick kids up from school, throw a small birthday tea party for my three year old, hand over the gauntlet to my husband Phil and get ready to party in 30 minutes (including hair and nails) so you can understand my predicament! As long as I looked good doing it eh?

All clothing from Louise Gray X Topshop, Topshop & Meadham Kirchhoff  X Topshop

Thanks for joining me today.

ND xx

Fox in Socks

As much as I love a bit of Dr Seuss, this post is actually about my ongoing obsession with socks, tights and footwear in general.

 

For years now I have had a serious (problem) obsession with socks and tights, I'm more obsessed with them than shoes, shoes are a mere accessory to wear with your wonderful socks and tights! It's all about the colour, the print and the styling, a simple hosiery item will not do!

 I think I can pin point the obsession to the late 1990s. It was the Harajuku girl that had caught my eye and a bit of styling from The Face Magazine, which was also an obsession around that time (RIP The Face....I loved you). Both for me, made me want to start taking notice of socks and tights, I would buy every interesting pair I could get my hands on. This seems extreme now as it's easy to pick up interesting hosiery wherever you go but in those days it wasn't. The reason for this was simply that socks and coloured tights were not a big consumer thing- god, if you want interesting socks go to Sock Shop...Er, no thank you.... I remember over knee socks (nearly always in black) made a few comebacks during the early 1990s but coloured socks and legwarmers hadn't been a big thing since the 1980s and bright coloured tights hadn't been seen for years! It seems mad now but I used to get very over excited if I found a pair of red tights in the late 1990s let alone anything else!

Since the weather is about to change here in England, I have been looking forward to more socks and tights layering and trying to find new ways to wear them! I have collected a load of images on pinterest of how I would like to wear them. I hope you like these images and are inspired to take a bit more interest in your socks and tights!!

Let's start with the good old sporty tube sock. I always get mine from American Apparel, they are frankly the best and probably one of the only suppliers of the tube sock these days. This is why it would be a complete tragedy for me if American Apparel was to shut down, I'd have to buy a life time supply of tube socks!

The king of the tube sock is the Z-Boys skater Tony Alva circa mid-late 1970s -see skate image below. No-one rocked a pair of tube socks, Vans and shorts better than Tony Alva. My husband Phil pretty much works his look whenever we are on holiday, let me add Phil rarely decides to put on a pair of shorts, this never happens in England, it has to be sweltering hot and then he'll wear shorts....with some tube socks....

 Layering tights, socks and wedges...Love it!

A couple of retro images found on pinterest. I'm loving the bright colours, mix prints and platforms! The above image is very Chorlton and The Wheelies (1970s UK kids programme -well worth a youtube glance) and I'm loving the high top boxing wedge boots below!! It's a great image!

Inspired by the above retro image and Meadham Kirchhoff's Autumn Winter Collection, I bought the above Lulu wedge baseball boots by Rocket Dog from Office. It was the stripey wedge that won me over! Below is one of my current style icons Susie Bubble from the Style Bubble blog - find her here www.stylebubble.co.uk (I shall be doing a Style Icon blog on this fantastic fashion outsider very soon) although Susie has forgotten her socks, I do love them high top wedges!

Eley Kishimoto always has fantastic collections of tights and socks, they often cost a fair bit but look great! I haven't posted any Henry Holland images this time but let's not forget his fantastic hosiery collections too! You can find both on asos.com. and the styling on Asos is worth a look for inspiration.

Catwalk Trends

Here are a some images that had caught my attention for the current A/W collections. The first image is from the inspiring Meadham Kirchhoff collection, I had originally posted about this  in September, I love the stripey socks worn with rolled up jeans and wedges.

The second two images are from Bernhard Willhelm's A/W collection, I shall be blogging about this collection very soon so here's a quick look at the footwear. It's more urban this time with strappy, comfy trainer boots and graphic mix print tights, the collection is a full on print clash which will always catch my eye!

Hey! This obsession isn't just for adults, check out the kids images above that I have collected on Pinterest (mostly from my friend Selena I imagine -she's kids pinterest obsessed!!) I'm loving the mix print leggings, stripey tights with boxing boots and spots, stripes and Dr Martens. You can't go wrong!

 

All images are from my pinterest boards find them here http://pinterest.com/nodebutante/ but a quick thank you to these sources office.co.uk,  ipaddock.it,  stylebubble.co.uk, bernhard-willhelm.com, eleykishimoto.com,  backtothefiveanddime.tumblr.com http://store.americanapparel.co.uk  indiansummervintage.wordpress.com  matildajaneblog.com  petithood.com pauletpaula.com 

I hope I have changed your mind about your footwear attire?? Next post may possibly be a look at what I have been wearing lately....It's been a while....ND xx