London Fashion Week Day 3 // Pinstripes, Checks and Miu Miu

Blouse : c/o French Connection. Coat & Shoes : M&S. Trousers & Earrings : Topshop. Jacket (under coat) : H&M. 

Sunglasses : Miu Miu. Bag : Chanel.

Hello all!

Marks and Spencer, you have done it again. First, there was THAT dreamy pink coat, and now they've created this (in my opinion) pinstriped masterpiece. I decided to go for a rather mismatched suit look, by going with some Prince of Wales Check cropped trousers, a grid print jacket and my much-loved oversized pussybow blouse. The weather had also brightened up considerably, so I thought it acceptably sunny enough to get the sunglasses out. I thought it'd be  a shame not to wear something a little bright and colourful on such a beautiful day, so I went for some cobalt blue, pointed shoes also from M&S. I won't lie, they weren't the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn despite the heel being pretty 'sensible' - but I think that's to be expected with pointy shoes as feet don't tend to be naturally pointy..

 I was also super happy to catch up with some more bloggy/YouTube friends like Becca & Naomi and to meet some more lovely people! 

On another note, I've been toying with the idea of doing a few 'beauty' type posts. So, things like favourite lipsticks, skincare or everyday makeup products I use. Would you be interested in that kind of thing? If so, please let me know and I'd love it if you suggested some things you'd like to see!

London Fashion Week Day 1 // Black and Gold

Hello all and Happy London Fashion Week!

What do you think of my new 'big photo' format? As you can tell by my use of technical language, my technological knowledge is extensive. 

I suppose by now your blogger, instagram and twitter feeds are likely full of all things hashtagged #LFW, and it's only the end of day 2 (is hashtagged even a word?). This is what I wore on the first day, where I met up with several of my wonderful bloggy / YouTube friends and also made some new ones! As usual, I spent the week approaching the start of London Fashion Week panic buying almost every item of clothing on the internet - only to try it all on the night before and declare that I despised it all. I was having a mild nervous breakdown. Eventually, I turned to my pre-exsiting collection, rejecting all new purchases and put this together and I loved it. What a joyous moment of relief that was! My mother had been saying to me the entire week 'stop buying clothes Arabella, wear something you've already got!' It turns out she was right, as not one item I wore was 'new' (in the sense that I've owned everything here for about 2+ months). She then enjoyed basking in the fact that she was right.

You might be able to tell by the appearance of the umbrella, it RAINED. SO. MUCH. Imagine the windiest day ever, the most rainy day ever and then combine them. Then double it. That was Friday's weather. AWFUL. You can see from my shoes in the last photo that my feet were SOAKED and absolutely frozen beyond all belief. The only plus was the fact that some rather lovely (BLOODY FIT) men had been hired to escort people around Somerset House, holding ginormous golf umbrellas to keep them dry. At one point one of them approached me and asked if there was somewhere I needed to get to, I said no, but you can walk me around for a bit anyway... and so he obliged and we did a few laps and I just stared at him. He said he thought I was funny but I think he probably meant 'a bit mental'.

(Top & Shoes : ZARA. Earrings & Bag : Chanel. Skirt : Coast. Belt : H&M. Hair by Toni & Guy.)

Polo Neck Knit / Frilled Hem Dogtooth Skirt / Necessary Umbrella...

Top & Coat : ZARA. Skirt : Missguided. Shoes : ASOS. Bag : Chanel. Umbrella : Accessorize.

Hello all, it's me again... sloping back, late again. 

Guess why I've been gone? I caught Glandular Fever, with the delightful side effect of jaundice! Yes, jaundice is the thing where you turn yellow. YELLOW. EVEN YOUR EYES. I went from Snow White to Marge Simpson on the skin colour chart. I even took my false eyelashes off, people. This was serious. Suffice it to say I was not looking my best, but please, hold the 'who've you been kissing?!' jokes - as you may know, Glandular Fever is often referred to as 'The Kissing Disease' - caught by the exchange of..... saliva. Oh, the shame of it. Am I now a medically certified tart? (I'm really not a tart I promise.) P.s. how wonderful is the word 'tart'? I'm not endorsing calling other women tarts, it just reminds me of when I've got a ladder in my tights and my Granny tells me I look like a slut or a tart and I laugh, of course. These words meant something very different back in ye olden days.

Now we've gotten that out of the way, lets move on shall we. After not having dressed up in my usual manner for several weeks, when I came to preen myself for my reintroduction to general society (it was  only a trip to Cafe Nero..) I found myself selecting a rather more understated outfit. For me, anyway. Let's bear in mind that I usually like to layer on the jewellery like the mad woman that Jack draws on The Titanic. Nevertheless, this lovely little drop waist, frill hem skirt has become my new favourite AND I've taken to just wearing a pair of earrings OR a big necklace rather than both at once. I know. I'm not entirely sure what's come over me, but I quite like it. 

Embellished Shoulder Dress / Turquoise Jewel Earrings

Dress : c/o Lashes of London. Earrings : Miss Selfridge. Shoes : ASOS.

Hello all! 

I feel well and truly inspired after the lovely reception I had in the comments, on Twitter & Instagram in response to my 'I'm back!' blog post. So, thank you to everyone who read, commented and took the time to message me, welcoming me back. 

Today I'd like to share this dress, kindly sent to me by Lashes of London. I love the heavy embellishment on the shoulders. I just think it's utterly beautiful and wonderfully extravagant. Since moving in with my friends from university, I've had so many more opportunities to go 'out' ('out out' - not just 'out') and I've already worn this dress three times in the 4 weeks or so since it's been in my posession, which is seriously repetitive for me! It fits perfectly, and I'd be just as happy wearing it out for a few civilised drinks as I would wearing it to a rather less civilised club. In fact, I've done both. It's now found itself in the position of being my 'go-to' going out dress, which is odd as it's not really something that can be dressed up in massively different ways. I'm just THAT fond of it. Do you have a particular go-to going out dress? 

I'M BACK - Ombre Coat / Marble Print Shirt / Leather Trousers

Coat : Jonathan Saunders for Debenhams. Shirt : ZARA. Trousers & Earrings : Topshop. Bag : Chanel.

Why, hello there. 

You may or may not remember me from a little style blog called 'Arabella'. I dissapeared for a bit didn't I? I won't bore you with the reasons why I was gone, but I will tell you that my passion for blogging remains unwavering and I'm back now, AND I promise to behave myself in the future. I'm starting this new year in a positive frame of mind and I've even got plans to make my first YouTube video. I feel like I've got an annoying voice and you all might hate and leave me upon hearing it... but please let me know if you'd like me to do this!

Over the last 3 months I've accumulated a rather shamefully large amount of new pieces that I can't wait to share with you, although you might have already seen sneak peaks of some of it if you follow me on Instagram, where I've become rather a prolific user (@arabellagolby). 

The more beady-eyed amongst you might have noticed a subtle change to my hair; it's a shade or two darker and the dip-dye is gone. I can already tell I'm going to look back on my dip-dye in 20 years in the same way that people of a certain age look back on The Mullet; 'oh god why?' but it made me happy at the time so I won't regret it.

Finally, (here comes my emotional Oscars acceptance speech) I want to say thank you to those of you who've still been enjoying my blog while I've been away and those who (prepare to vom) 'stuck by me'. Sometimes the blogosphere can be a bit fickle, with people coming and going all the time. So, I feel grateful that while I wasn't posting I only gained followers. So whether you only followed me yesterday or you've been here since the beginning, THANK YOU. I truly appreciate you and I hope you enjoy this outfit. 

Dogtooth Coat with Leather Sleeves / Plum Fedora / Checked Shirt

Coat : ZARA. Hat : Whistles. Necklace : Accessorize. Shoes & Faux Fur Collar : ASOS. Shirt : Primark. Trousers : Topshop.

Hello all!

You may or may not know, I have trouble finding hats that fit my somewhat bulbously large head (if you follow me on Twitter you'll definitely know this because I spend 60% of my time whinging about it.) I've always been a big fan of hats and in the last year it seems that everyone and their Aunt Mildred has bought a Topshop fedora. However, since these hats are 'one size fits all' (this is a despicable and hurtful lie) I'd been scouring the internet for that elusive size L. I eventually found and ordered three Whistles fedoras in various colours, all size M/L. Strangely enough, only the plum colour fits me despite all being labelled as the same size. It's a mystery, but I'm planning a trip to a Whistles store to right this wrong.

Moving on from my head, I've been back at uni for 3 full weeks now and so am trying to acclimatise myself to a living-away-from-home student budget. It's not going well so far but I'm trying. In an attempt to cut costs I ventured into Primark and found this shirt, a lovely pair of pointed toe heels and an adorable tartan dress, both of which I will be sharing with you in due course. This may even be the first time I've featured Primark on my blog as quite frankly the cavernous-ness of the shop and the size-8-garment-on-size-14-hanger situation frightens me quite deeply. Anyway, I'm incredibly pleased with my new Primark purchases and will definitely be exploring the store more often. What do you think of the whole Primark shopping experience?