i was expecting the day to be a warm, sunny one but it turned out to be foggy and grey! i was most inappropriately dressed for it. this dress makes me so happy though! when i was 10 i had a dress in a similar colourway which i loved the shit out of. it was also my last dress, before i got too big to fit into children’s clothing and dresses as clothing for women was not a concept india was familiar with at the time. of course by the next year i would get too big to fit into women’s clothing as well (although i was smaller than i was now!) but that’s a different story. this dress brings me back to that one and puts me in mind of a far happier time.

winter.

spring.

a duck!

and a lamppost!

dress - vintage via clever nettle on etsy

cardigan - corazones rojos blog sale

satchel - the cambridge satchel co.

clogs - ebay

hat -vintage via fabgabs on etsy 

Like I have mentioned before, children’s book illustrations are one of my biggest inspirations. A lot of the books I grew up with were from the 30s and 40s with period illustrations. When it comes to dressing, I am inextricably drawn to this period. A while ago, one of the set texts for my children’s literature course at University was Ballet Shoes, and I chanced across this text with the original illustrations from the 30’s by Ruth Gervis, the sister of Noel Streatfield, the author. So utterly inspiring! I love the adorable coats and the berets and the shirt, skirt and jumper combos paired with brogues and socks. 

for me, one of the joys of dressing as i do lies in a subversion of the colonial process. for instance today i feel like a female student in cambridge in the 40s (considering these pictures were taken at cambridge!) now, being a woman of colour from the third world, this would not quite have been possible back in the day. but as a postcolonialist, the idea of dressing like i might have been so is an extremely powerful one for me. i think of it as another instance of the empire writing/striking back, this time in modes of sartorial appropriation. subverting notions of englishness - such a joy!

apparently i have jumped onto the midi skirt bandwagon! there’s something about the length that strikes me as so retro that i had to style the rest of the outfit to look true to the period. 

this is my lovely new satchel from the cambridge satchel company. i was going the get the brown one, but there is something about red leather that i simply cannot resist. and i’m glad! the red is gorgeous, as is the styling and the craftsmanship. again, this is one of the most beautiful things in my closet. 

when all at once i saw a crowd/a host, of golden daffodils.

there was something so english about shooting this post, with the daffodils on a spring day that the theme of the empire really struck me.

And then there was a coconut hanging on a ribbon for birds - something i’d only ever read about as a child, in books written for little english boys and girls that all children of my generation in india were given as staple reading. i think the birds in question were supposed to be tits. (haha. er.)

the loafers are from office. i love how the styling is so incredibly retro! i got these on sale (baaaargain!) and when i first got them they made my feet seize up because they were still too tiny at a 41. thankfully my new shoe stretchers helped!

spring.

while i was sitting on the bench, a flock of seagulls landed on front of me!

dress (worn as a top) -asos

skirt -asos

loafers -office

satchel -the cambridge satchel company

hat -vintage from fabgabs on etsy

i don’t remember if i have mentioned this before but one of my biggest inspirations is children’s book illustrations from the victorians/edwardians to the 40s, sometimes the 60s. studying children’s literature in an academic context as i have been doing means revisiting a lot of the books i read as a child. and so the urge to dress up like a picture from a book i read as a child has mostly taken over my style! 

i find this coat perfect for the purpose. i bought this to replace a similar one i had but which was too small for me. i had actually been looking for a replacement for ages and so when i chanced upon this from one of those sites that bulk sell clothing from south east asia, i knew i had to have it. the quality is not the best, and it certainly would not have kept me warm when it was colder but you can’t deny the cuteness factor! 

sadly, it is also too big for me now, since i was more of a 18 when i bought it but i can’t bring myself to let go of it! i should probably look into getting it altered. 

and since no outfit post of mine would be complete without ducks, here are some geese! my boyfriend loves taking photos of ducks. 

coat - china? i don’t even remember where i bought it from! it was all of $20 though!

tights -we love colors

mary janes - vintage via lisazain on etsy

beret -accessorize

brooch -vintage

Or my Valentine’s day outfit. i decided to steer away from the usual cliches of red and pink and stick to something that i love. enter my vintage rothschild coat. now from what google tells me, rothschild used to (and still) always make coats for children. i can occasionally find one on etsy in a child’s or a very tiny adult’s size but a vintage rothschild in a plus size? that’s surely a creature from a medieval bestiary. i don’t know how i ended up with one but this really is a vintage rothschild coat in a size 18 or so! i bought this in 2004 when i had no idea of the rarity of it, along with a fair bit of vintage stuff, most of which i never wore. not much of it is extant now (also because it doesn’t fit me now) but this coat and a pair of equestrian boots (which are still back home) are two of the most prized items in my wardrobe. 

i think this outfit feels very like a cross between something victorian and something depression - era. i feel like the offspring of victorian and depression-era time travellers who somehow got together and produced a child before they died in a bizarre time travelling accident and left her the legacy of a huge trunk of the most beautiful clothing. the orphan theme is exaggerated by the child’s coat and also by the fact that that i am currently studying a lot of victorian children’s literature at university. being able to look at the books i read as a kid in an academic light has been fascinating and has served to push my dressing into the realms of the utterly absurd. my coat and bowler hat got quite a few stares as i wore this while travelling from york to cambridge to see my boyfriend and the next day too when i wore this to take pictures of! 

the playsuit is dahlia and i bought it at a time i was convinced that i would never fit into dahlia since they only go upto a 14. i bought this with every intention of returning it - since it was from asos and they had a super easy international returns policy, i just wanted to take the chance, slim though it might have been. but then it did fit! on my body but the arms were way too tight. as you can see the arms are still too tight but it is wearable now. i’m glad! this is one of the loveliest things i own. 

i love the buttons on the playsuit. aren’t they gorgeous?

we took photos of swans!

and a black swan which was too busy eating bread to pose!

the lace on the front is exquisite too. i have wanted a bowler for so long now and i had my eye on one at asos which was about 30 quid, i think. imagine my excitement when i saw this on sale at accessorize for 6 quid or so! ofcourse it had to be mine. 

the rothschild logo on the sleeve! this coat actually came with the tag attached too, so i’m guessing it is deadstock. i should probably treat it better! it is my to-go coat when i need to put something on top of my boxers and cardi to go to the cornershop to get fags :\ 

aaaand i got river mud on my new clogs! (20 quid on sale from office, yeah!) oh, and the tights were destroyed after one day’s wear. destroyed utterly. worst buy ever. 

aww! love pigeons on valentine’s day!

coat - rothschild (vintage)

playsuit - dahlia

tights -asos

clog sandals -office

bowler - accessorize

on sunday morning, the boy and i hit the parks at cambridge (where i ran away to) where we shot pictures of my outfit from the day before. i was too shy on saturday to ask anyone to take pictures of my outfit, so the next day it was! i switched the brogues-that-killed-my-feet for my favourite t-straps which i was carrying with me and which i had planned to wear in the evening, and surprisingly the heel felt better on my achy feet. different angles i suppose.

i bought this cape the day before i went to london! it was a complete impulse buy but essentially i had been eyeing it since november and on friday i finally saw it on sale at 30 quid, reduced from 80. baaaargain!

the bag is my trusty weekend bag from asos. it’s an essential component of my wardrobe now. i bought it back in november when i realised that i couldn’t possibly fit everything into one of my satchels when going to see the boy (long distance relationships!) but since then it has even travelled with me as hand luggage all the way to india! 

this is what i wore underneath. someone (i forget who) remarked on saturday that i essentially had a spring outfit on under a winter one! 

it’s strange to think that i never used to wear skirts but of late their sheer versatility has been revealed to me. also, this is my favourite shade of the season.

haha i have no idea why my eyes were closed! it was hella windy!

after a while, david went off to take pictures of trees and one of his favourite subjects, ducks. i didn’t notice him going, and suddenly i had no idea where he was and i had this very surreal moment where i was standing alone in the middle of a park in cambridge wondering where i was and whether my boyfriend had merely been a figment of my imagination and that i was schiezophrenic after all. (turned out i wasn’t, thankfully!)  

this photo amuses me. the birds look like they are two self important victorian gentlemen out of the pickwick papers engaged in conversation!

eventually though, david resurfaced and took more photos of me!

the brooch is vintage and one of my favourites. yesterday i saw an elderly lady on the bus who had a similar style of brooch pinned to her coat. i guess i do have tendencies toward grandma-chic! 

we got a few more action shots of birds.

not an action shot of a bird!

outfit details:

sweater - primark

skirt -asos

brooch - vintage

tights -tabio

t straps - biviel

cape -topshop

tam -topshop

carpet bag -asos

on saturday i established myself as the worst fashion blogger in the history of fashion blogging at pluslondon when i essentially ran away from the evening party in favour of warm showers and footrubs, among other things. i had an amazing time during the day, though, and i only wish i wasn’t too tired to make it till the evening! 

some photos from the day, then. i so wish i had taken more, but even so, this is quite photo-heavy!

anika! i <3 <3 <3 you!

i love this pic of lauren! she is adorable!

deena’s blog was one of the first i ever read. it was so awesome meeting her!

i loved amy’s outfit.

lauren and stephanie! so much <3 to both you guys!

i loved val’s all black look and sequinned hairbow.

i initially excluded this picture on account of it being blurry but devon liked it and so i put it in! 

caaaarla! her outfit, her hair and her! all of it: awesome. 

i couldn’t stop taking photos of anika! she is so lovely!

by now i think it is quite clear i was stalking anika :P

donna and polly, with donna making a silly face for the camera. you guys are UH-MAY-ZING. <3 

i wish i could have gotten photos of everyone and gotten over my crippling awkwardness and talked to everyone as well, but, ah well. i’m glad to note though that despite my social retardation i had a thoroughly lovely time! :) so much, much, much thanks to lauren and everyone else who made this possible - i had never thought in a million years that i’d get to meet you all and i’m so glad i did!

the point of this post is the coat. this coat is probably the hardest working item in my wardrobe (hence the title of the post, am i not clever etc.) i have essentially been wearing it every. single. day. this winter and pairing it without fail with my fur peter pan collar (although the other day, i wore it with a black ribbon bow- pics sometime soon!)

this coat has an entire history of acquisition behind it. it’s a ben sherman and i fell in love with it when i first saw it on asos early in 2009. however, at 140 or so quid, it was wayyy out of my budget. and then there were the january sales and suddenly this item of extreme covetability was marked down to 26 quid! i needed no other incentive. it was mine, miiine!

i tell this story to everyone who asks me about the coat. when i first arrived in york (actually the day i first met my boyfriend) i was wearing this and i got photographed by some street style blog (who never actually published the pic - boo) and i told them the story as well! (i probably told it to my boyfriend too, but i don’t think he remembers. are you listening, david? 26 quid ben sherman coat!) 

we took these photos in the museum gardens which are beautiful. 

this is probably the most accurate colour of the coat - it’s a lovely chrome yellow/mustard. 

after we were done taking pictures of my outfit, my boyfriend wanted me to take pictures of his! apparently i had convinced him to post on lookbook!

yes, that’s a dinosaur comics t shirt! (i love my nerd boy :D) 

he seems to have perfected the emo pose (tm) in a very short while as well. he learns fast!

top (not pictured) -asos

coat - ben sherman  via asos

skirt -asos

beret - accessorize

gloves - accessorize

collar - asos

satchel - next

fake animal tail - h&m

tights - tabio 210 denier tights

brogues - asos

in other news, #pluslondon tomorrow! so excited eeeee!

having suffered from a complete and utter lack of people to photograph me (and not wanting to go the tripod and self timer route again), outfit posts have admittedly been very thin on the ground of late. hopefully this should be rectified soon!

this is a pretty good example of how i have been dressing of late. the fur collar is one of the hardest working items in my wardrobe and i have been pairing it up with almost everything i wear for the past few months!

the hat. o, that hat! the hat one of those very rare vintage hats which actually fit my humongous head and is one of the most beautiful things i own. i don’t wear it everyday but once in a while i do break it out, at times when i want to feel especially classy and like something out of a 40’s period piece. i think it has a very school/working girl vibe to it!

the gloves are from accessorize and are rather lovely. you can’t really see it but they have a leopard print lining as well!

we first tried shooting in the shrubbery but the lights was fading and that made it rather impossible. in the end we did it at the quiet place which is near one of the lakes. (this was on campus!)

eventually the light faded altogether and i took a few last shots of the lights over across the lake.

top - asos

skirt - asos

jacket - new look

collar - asos

tights  -tabio

brogues - asos

hat -borsalino (vintage)

gloves - accessorize

satchel - accessorize

pin - some…charity…thing?

all photos except the last two by the boy <3

this outfit reminds me of the 60’s so much! it’s probably the bright mustard yellow with the black peter pan collar - such mod colours! the tights are actually navy, although the pictures make them look the same colour as my black gloves. for me the combination of navy and bright yellow is something that transports me right back to my childhood, when my school uniform was navy and white, with yellow accessories.

i would have loved to not belt the dress, but asos’s sizing - agh. i got this in my usual 14 and it is too loose around the waist. this is not the first time a 14 at asos has fitted weirdly - a while ago a red dress a bought for my freshers ball tore when i tried to get into it, and i had to stitch it back looser so i could wear it. and a while before that i had to take in another dress i got by 2 whole sizes. both were in a 14.

this dalmatian brooch is one of my favourites - isn’t it adorable?

it was a beautiful autumn evening, shooting in the dying light was incredible :)

dress- asos

tam - topshop

belt - next

tights - marks and sparks

gloves - edinburgh woollen mill

brooch - vintage

brougues - asos

all pictures taken by my friend owen who is a photographer as well as an incredibly talented animator and illustrator!