Exposed Zip Pencil Skirt / Polo Neck Top / Vintage Gold Chain

Hello all!

At the risk of sounding like I'm really bad at small talk / a pensioner / a Springwatch presenter ... how incredibly beautiful is this weather we've been having? I fully intended yesterday to comprise of nothing but sitting inside surrounded by papers, working on my university assignments - as you can see, I didn't quite succeed. This is outfit number 2 of 3 for my styling project with Voucher Codes (you can see Outfit 1 here!) As I said along with my first outfit, Voucher Codes challenged me to buy 3 items, creating an outfit around each piece - fitting under the two categories I chose; 'Modern 60s' and 'Monochrome'. 

Being a Mad Men fan, creating the 'Modern 60s' look was the one I've been the most excited about. Initially, I planned to practice some wide-eyed expressions and seek out a geometric pattern a la Twiggy but decided that the opportunity of dressing up as a modern version of Mad Men office-goddess Joan Holloway might be too fun to pass up. So, I created this outfit around this futuristic, secretarial pencil skirt with an exposed zip detail.

p.s. I've finally given in and created a Facebook page for my blog, although with Arabella being my actual name.. inviting my friends to 'please like Arabella' doesn't exactly sound great..

 Top, Belt & Skirt : River Island c/o Voucher Codes. Necklace : Vintage. Sunglasses : c/o eBay. Earrings : Topshop. Shoes : ZARA.

P.S. I'm aware the necklace is decidedly more 80s (it actually belonged to my mother!) but I couldn't resist incorporating it! I would also not recommend this belt to you... despite it's beautifulness, you can see from the photos that the size SMALL (?!) is too big for my waist by a good couple of inches so I'll have to return it, which is ridiculous and disappointing. ALSO, Beehive-making is so much harder than it looks. I definitely need some tips from beehive queen Olivia.