Pork Jelly

To be honest, I'm not impressed. This was lurking in my wardrobe,tags still on, shiny and pink, a little like a big shiny pink...piece of pork jelly. I didn't want to put it on, but to be true to my blog I had to do it. Look, I didn't even bother doing my quiff or kohling my eyes. My spirit wasn't  in it. SELL. 

Prints

Oh, this is exciting. This was a chase and a race that I nearly lost. I happened, by chance, to find that Orla Kiely was doing a collaboration with Uniqlo just a day before it went on sale. I set my alarm ready for the sale start time the next morning, but somehow missed it and by the time I did log on almost everything had gone. I did manage to get this dress and I have to say I love it. The cotton is a kind of starched quality that leaves the shape held perfectly. It is a simple shift, no zips or fastenings, just straight over the head.  I will be stalking ebay for more in different colours. Love it. KEEPing it.

Yay more pockets.

As I've  mentioned before, I love a pocket on a dress. Adding a little bit of cas to a dress that could otherwise be a bit too showy. This ebay bargain works on so many levels. The pockets, the little vest that is attached to the dress itself, not too tight but not shapeless, this is a lot of fun in such a little package. The dress is so lightweight that the package it came in was barely there at all. Love it, so glad I bought it. KEEP.

Sunny day, sunny dress

Okay, this feels a little more me. I never thought I'd shop at Wallis , but I started looking when they hooked me in with their Yasmin Le Bon collaboration and I discovered their 50s inspired dress shapes. I bought a few last summer and wore them to death. This is the one I liked least, the print's a bit bright and busy, but today I like it. Perfect for hanging around a sandpit in the sunny, watching the boys digging.

KEEP

ello Sailor

Okay, this would be lovely, if I was pregnant! Ha haha, I'm not! Though you coukd be forgiven for thinking otherwise. SELL . Deasr oh dear, not a successful few days. May tomorrow be pretty or sexy or just anything not blah.

With a little help from my assistant.

I bought this dress early in my pregnancy with Wilbur, I'm not sure I like it anymore. I love the colour but having babies means that the top no longer really contains what lies beneath!

It would be for sale, except it has the tell tale signs of a rather nasty fall in a station car park, which make it not so desirable.

So BIN it is then.

Just in time

With 5 minutes left of today, no time for much, just this:

KEEP! Shame, there's nothing I can do about my face, apologies!

And we hit 20 degrees.

So out come the little dresses.

I love love love this.

I love it more because someone else braved the sweaty aisles of Primark to buy it, put on ebay and even posted it to me.

No queues, no giant shop with two toddlers causing havoc, no looking through 20 tonnes of crap to find the gem. It keeps it's shape, it's cute and a little bit suggestive.

KEEP KEEP KEEP, forever.

Chickened out

The skirt I wore with this Orla Kiely top today was so unflattering that I am not even going to put up the photo. It's sad, it's a skirt I really loved when I first saw it on Asos and I decided not to send it back for a refund (as I do with 80% of the stuff I buy from them), hoping that it would miraculously turn into what I wanted it to be, but it didn't. It never lived up to its Mad Men potential of turning me into Christina Hendricks, sashaying between desks, turning heads. Dammit! I should never have kept it, I was being a little too hopeful. So, now, I have to admit, this lovely skirt, with its nipped in waist and chiffony layers is FOR SALE.

As for the top, I like it. Well, let's qualify that. I love the print and it's super softness, but I have reservations when anyone with boobs wears a round neck top. It's not a great look really, is it?So, perhaps optimistically, I am going to add this to a new pile: ADAPT!

Oh, and because I hate to cheat, here's all I'm willing to show, a very blurry photo. That's all you're getting.

Hawaii oh no.

I'm not going to say much about this. The cardigan is the biggest mistake here, making my shoulders look huge and putting me totally out of proportion.

I bought the dress itself because I had a sling with a Hawaiian print and wanted a dress to match. Not the best dress in the world, a flimsy material from which the belt pulled off.

There is no pile for the dress or cardi.

BIN

Better from behind.

So another day, another Ebay find. This time a lovely Whistles dress that also came to me brand new. Now, I admit from this front I am probably looking a little like I'm wearing a potato sack. It does nothing for my boobs or waist, but...From the back, oh I love it so. Love love love the cowl back and the suggestion of a big hood for going incognito (it's not a hood, it just looks like one). I love the exposed zip. I love the fact this dress has pockets, I love a pocket on a dress. The best girls would wear dresses with pockets, still girly, still sweet, but somewhere to keep your catapult. I bet Scout Finch would have worn this, had she been real and grown up.

For this reason and because it just feels right, this is a KEEP.

Not exactly Mouret...

Another Ebay purchase, this came brand new with the tags still on (obviously someone else out there has unloved lurkers in her wardrobe too). To look at its shape, I'm guessing it was one of the many attempts at a a high-street take on a Galaxy Dress. One of the many that didn't quite cut it. The dress is actually really nice, but it didn't quite have the guts to cut as tight on the hips as it could have done. (Should have done?). I could take it on the hips I guess and get it a bit closer. But this is an exercise in getting to grips with my wardrobe and looking at how it seems to breed clothes. So, for this reason this is in the To Be Sold pile. So long, it's been good, it's not you, it's me.

I'm a little teapot.

Mothers' Day, what better excuse to wear a Teapot Dress?

This was made for me by a lovely lady I found on ebay. I wanted a teapot dress and tried to buy one, but she didn't have anymore, so made this one just for me! This was its first out of the house outing and it loved its little escape. It's a bit too brrrr to wear it as was intended with the halter neck leaving my shoulders bare. So here I have thrown an old polka dot cardi over it and tied it at the waist.

I like it. It's going in the KEEP pile. Don't ya think?

And so..

I have decided that I am either an addict, an idiot or a just in denial. Every 6 months or so I do a wardrobe overhaul, sell half of my stuff on, cut right back down and then, a month later I've spent the money on a restock. A load of things look beautiful on the hanger, or they tell me how to be someone I want to be, or used to be, or maybe never should be. But the time has come to drag the rails from obscurity and to challenge myself to wear every last piece in my wardrobe. Leave no hanger unmoved, no tag in place, no skirt unswished, no dress unworn. So starting today, here goes, to my clothes. I loved you all once and shall do again.