The English Mademoiselle Diaries: pretty

Showing posts with label pretty. Show all posts

//Dress - Misguided//Socks - Topshop//Shoes - Primark//Glasses - Radley London//Necklace - Homemade//Hair Bow - Crown and Glory//

I didn't attend a prom this year as my college doesn't have one, but this dress was the one I wore to my Secondary School prom. Which was held at a local golf club and naturally I arrived with my two best friends in a TVR sports car, duh. This isn't exactly how I styled my dress for prom but this is how I would style it now. Very preppy as always but I also took inspiration from The Wizard of OZ and Taylor Swift's album RED.

I love the way the socks went with these shoes and the bow on them matches the hair bow I am wearing. I am a strong believer in neutral prom dresses with colourful accessories so you can wear the dress again. I feel like Spencer Hastings from Pretty Little Liars in this dress, I can imagine her wearing it!

XO, Miriam

For me a good pair of brogues are absolutely essential, maybe that is because I will forever be in love with classic, hard wearing and preppy items, and maybe it is because I wore a shirt, blazer and tie to school everyday for as long as I can remember. I prefer brogues with a heel, not the cutsey flat ones you see in highstreet fashion shops - New Look I am looking right at you - so for these beautiful shoes I went to clarks. Yes they are real leather, I just hope that the animal was reared in a friendly environment, and dies quickly.

Yes those are insoles you see in there, I have posture and calf muscle issues....

XO, Miriam

"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" - Kate Moss

So many people disagree with this, and I can see why, it fuels eating disorder communities, e.g. the #ana tag on Tumblr which I have scrolled though a few too many times. I also get the feeling that it can be taken in a positive way, meaning that you should do what feels best for you and if that is being slim and healthy then do that. For me this quote is really, I love food as past blog posts have shown, but I am also very proud of how far I have come with my body, I used to be the stick thin model type and I loved it. Over the last year I couldn't keep up the exercise that I could at school so over the course of April I have been becoming more active and I am really proud of the results so for me nothing really does taste as good as skinny feels, but for others nothing tastes as good as body confidence feels. What Kate Moss said was specific to her and her body type.

Kate Moss is one of my favourite models, even if she is controversial at times. So naturally I could not wait to see her new collection for Topshop. And I found the perfect little sundress as I was flicking though the website, and luckily for me it was in my local shop. I cannot wait to wear this during the summer months for years to come.

I thought for the first wear I would style it really simply by itself with some tan brogues from Clarks with frilly socks also from Topshop. What could be better on a spring day?

Oh just look at the detailing on the bottom of the dress!

A change of perspective is all it takes to begin the day with a positive outlook, there have been times over the last few weeks when I have just wanted to quit what I am doing right now. But why would I give up what I have worked for over the last 2 years because I feel like I cannot do this on one day of the week or in the small hours of the morning. So I guess I should learn from the next 2 and a half weeks of exams that you need to work for want you want to do in life.

XO, Miriam

How can it be that the world is both so very real to us, but society creates a plastic coated version. Go and live your small adventures, nothing it truly real until you believe it to be, when you experience it in vivid colour. Of course daydreams count as adventures, but I suffer from permanent Wanderlust so travelling to new places, and bringing back a thousand memories, of the sights, smells the books I read on the plane and the music that I sang with the people I met.

How is this relevent to an outfit, well I am am jetting off to India this year and I have finally created a list of things that I can and cannot wear while I am out there... but this scarf from Zara will be coming with me, along with the trousers both of which I invested in this week on payday ;)

Life is only in focus if you live the way you want to, and if the camera lets you capture it that way.

These photos were taken on the 22nd of March, following that I promptly watched 6 episodes of Downton Abbey with my best friend and my mum, I am not even a little bit sorry. There were sultana scones and copious amount of tea.

XO, Miriam

and violets are blue right? Well yes, but the the roses that I would decorate my imaginary flat in Paris with would be white, or maybe even yellow, just not red. And violets they maybe one of my favourite colours according to the rhyme but nope they make me sneeze.

If you read yesterday's post then you know I went to a fashion exhibition at Killerton House, and well I couldn't miss an oppotunity to dress up like the lady of the house. Boy have I been watching too much Downton Abbey..

I will never get bored of wearing this jacket, I will be sad to leave it at home when I go to university, it is my mum's after all. I will however be bring this cosy jumper that I bought last year in Bath from a street stall, not far away from the train station. Yes the roses are red, but they are also pink and knitted from a soft fuzzy wool/thread.

Of course I wore my chelsea boots and a black maxi skirt, so effortless and chic. Chic actually means elegant in french so I have rediscovered my love for the word again.

Underneath the cosy and rought outer layers there is a more elegant touch, layering my black maxi skirt over what is now a too short dress to create a more put together look seemed so right on a Sunday morning, and even if I do say so myself it was a good choice.

What on earth happened to my face? errrmmmm help

Yay a black and white selfie to showcase the bow on the dress and the pearl necklace that my boyfriend surprised me with on Valentines day! I feel like Audrey Hepburn outside Tiffany's as Holly go-lightly

#shadowselfie

XO, Miriam

I made a mistake with a photo shot of and outfit, I am sorry. This was going to be a somewhat short post, but I just wasn't happy with the way the photos turned out of this outfit, so I made way with a strong selfie game and moved on. This was meant to be a post about experimenting, mixing blue with black, and layering etc. I just think there are so many better ways this outfit could be shot I will give you a selfie and a small piece of advice for finding your own personal style.

Try everything, but the things that you keep coming back to, those are your style.

- I can't remember where this quote is from...

XO, Miriam

P.S. Yes I use an old receipt from Zara to blot my lipstick...

I suppose I shouldn't really be writing this instead of revising but one must always take a break from such things right? Anyway moving on, I was really struggling with the lighting today for these photos, but I really wanted to take photos of a simple outfit with a statement piece!

I spent the morning at my boyfriends house, lying in pyjamas and talking about nothing much, followed by a brunch of scrambled eggs and baked beans on toast. I love Sundays for moments like those not being lazy as such but just taking your time to be happy and be around people you love.

I was taking inspiration from some of the photos of #NYFW on Instagram and pretended that the forcasted rain was going to be snow, so it would be okay to wear my massive faux fur coat by DKNY Jeans (thank goodness for TkMaxx). Paired with my acid wash skinny jeans from Topshop, a generic white shirt, complete with a t-shirt for that perfect "street-style" layered look, I felt ready to face a day of drinking tea and writing essays... Naturally I am doing that thing where I wear my new shoes more that all the other shoes and have yet again donned my chelsea boots for a preppy touch.

I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday.
XO, Miriam

A few days ago there was a rare moment of sunshine, so I grabbed one of the many outfits I have been waiting to get photos of and headed to a place of iron wrought gates and arches covered in ivy. AKA. the front garden. In amongst the almost romantic and spring garden I danced around in a casual, dare I mention it, Valentines day outfit.

How did I forget the terracotta bricks and the holly? I have been styling skirts over dresses quite a bit recently, as shown in my last post, here. I think that when done with the right mixture of colour and textures it can look just as good as the trusty band-tee and jeans combo.

How I managed to have my eyes shut in every single one of the shots I did in similar poses I haven't a clue... Anyway back to the clothes, I chose my velvet skirt from Topshop over this lacy dress from Chelsea Girl @ River Island, because you can see the hem of the dress peeking out from underneath. For me that helped complete the outfit, making the look both seamless and both pieces stand out.

This shot reminds me of the disposable cameras I had so much as a child, they were so much fun it was guess work as to whether the pictures would be good or not. What I would really like is to have one of those to take pictures of my IB class before we all go our separate ways to university. Which is going to be in September hopefully!

Dappled sunlight through the ivy leaves and arch, I am yet to decide whether I like the wear a jacket as a cape thing. I always imagined it to be a thing that happened when a guy gave you his blazer on a cold night and he walks you home.

I am a hopeless romantic until they buy me something and it isn't an occasion. Not even sorry.

How could I resist adding a preppy twist? On with the knee high socks (borrowed from my boyfriends sister) and my lovely reliable brogues from Clarks. I only just noticed the lawn could do with a trim...

One final note on this look, the jacket. It was featured in several posts last year, but I never really told it's story. This is important because the jacket isn't mine, it is my mums, but before that is was my dads. I love the way it looks on outfits like this as it extenuates the waistline!

XO, Miriam

P.S. Do you prefer the outfit posts without such an explanation or with it? I want to explain so I can go back and see my style progression and for anyone who actually reads it to be able to recreate the look with their wardrobes.

Either you have never read my blog before or you haven't been paying attention, but I went to see Taylor Swift's Red Tour on Saturday. And this is what I wore, along with a few photos of the concert! I have other photos but don't feel like sharing all of them, too many photos...

This is going to be a post of many photos and little writing, not that anyone here looks at my blog for the weird anecdotes ;)

The Vamps

I layered a 50's style black circle skirt form Red-Herring over my 50's style summer dress, similar to that which Taylor has worn before. I added a belt and some handmade cat ears to complete the look and BAM I am ready to party hard at a concert.