The Uniquely You Challenge

The Uniquely You challenge is a blogger challenge set up by Mod Cloth.  Each week, an item from their website is selected as the item of the week, and bloggers have to style it with their own personal twist!  I have heard of Mod Cloth, but honestly it's not a site that I had visited prior to the challenge because it is based in America.  But, since carrying out the challenge, I've found that shipping to the UK is easy peasy, and they have some really nice bits in a huge range of sizes!  (My favourites are the graphic tees, but lordy they have some nice things!)

So this week, the chosen item was Bouquet of the Season dress.  In all honesty, when I saw this I was a little worried how I would style this to make it more me.  I'm not a major lover of pink or florals, and this is very girly with pink and florals.  Looking at the dress, I first thought it would be nice for a Wedding or maybe a day at the races - not something I go to, and Weddings I tend to stick to plain dresses.  But when I thought about how I would wear it...well I think it'd be the perfect base item for festival wearing.

The fitted bust, but floaty bottom is perfect for festival style and the colours are beautifully suited to beach sunsets, or lazing on the field.  I chose to team this dress with the Totally Boss Jacket, which is a light acid wash denim to give a girly dress a bit of an edge.  I really love this jacket, and it seems to have a slight crop to it which I think is perfect for a dress of this style - I wouldn't want the jacket to swamp over the dress.

Festival shoes are a tough one...for a casual day in a pub garden, I might put this outfit with some nice sandals or flip flops.  But festivals in England, where the weather is really unpredictable, I'd need a closed toe.  I've chosen some pretty grungey boots, which are the Long Strides Forward Boots, and would slip these over a nice pair of girly, frilly socks like the Dancing on Flair Socks.  I've not seen frilly socks this frilly in the UK - I really, really love the huge frill!  (Doesn't 'frill' look weird when it's been written so many times...frill...frilly...)

I love a good necklace, so when I spied the Bead Still My Heart Necklace, I needed to fit it into this outfit!  I was a bit unsure at first, but you know what, festival style is almost an anything goes.  I want to wear this necklace with this outfit, and I want to clash the cobalt blue with this dress.  I love how chunky it is, and the cord gives it an amazing boho feel.  To really finish the festival vibes, I've chosen the Safari Finesse Hat!  I probably prefer hats to sunglasses, because I find sunglasses that actually suit me really difficult to find, but hats...well I really love this big rim hat!

So that's my outfit!  I hope you like it; it's been fun doing a challenge!  You can find my outfit on Wanelo here!

How would you have styled the Bouquet of the Season dress?

Outfit Planning #1

So on Saturday, I'm going out for a meal with friends followed by some drinks around town.  I've been pretty good lately, and haven't been spending as I'm taking part in the #roseenospend spending ban!  I have done so well and I don't think I've bought anything I shouldn't have since I went shopping in Meadowhall, and that was pre spending ban!  I might have made a couple of cheeky purchases since my thirty days have been technically up, as in starting from my last spree, but maybe I've not quite reached my thirty days from joining the spending ban.

Anyway, I've been outfit planning and I've been trying to keep it cheap and cheerful, whilst still getting a good casual outfit in there.  I didn't want an outfit especially for this occasion, but one that I could get plenty of wear from.

1/2/3

The first thing I have bought, which arrived today, is this tartan dress.  I was a bit wary in case it didn't match the photograph; I specifically picked this tartan dress over all the others on eBay, as it had the dark running through, which I thought didn't make it quite so garish and in your face compared to other tartan dresses that just use the red and black.  I am 5 ft 7/8 and I will point out that this dress is so much shorter than I wanted it to be!  It definitely looks longer on the image, so I want to team it with some thick black tights, probably Primark Super Cosy, and some chunky boots.  Enter Heel Berry.

My last Wednesday Wishlist featured Topshop Argo boots, but these are well out of my price range right now, so I spotted these beauts on Heel Berry.  They're very similar to what I initially wanted, minus a strap or two, but they are so nice!  I've just ordered these tonight, and they come with free delivery, so I shall report back on the quality of these once they arrive!

As the dress is patterned, I wanted a plain but striking necklace.  I hate plain necklaces when you have a statement piece of clothing on that blends in, and you might has well have not bothered at all.  This is a raw crystal necklace which is on a twenty inch chain.  I am so excited to get this!

What do you think of this Saturday night plan?  Anything catch your eye?