Spring Fever

Edited by Jennine Jacob

Do you get spring fever? Oh man… the itch to run around outside in flowery prints and frilly laces gets greater and greater each passing day. To heck with chunky sweaters! This week we have a load of great spring style posts, Holier Than Now checks out cape coats, if you’re strapped for cash Out of Order gives the perfect 45min spring skirt tutorial, so cute! And girly clothes not your thing? The Demoiselles has a great homage to genderbending unisex looks. I’ve been thinking of doing a couple of days in menswear myself. Well, as soon as I learn how to tie the half Windsor knot.

There were so, so many great links this week, it really was hard to narrow it down to 2o. Check out the full listing of Links à la Mode here.

Links à la Mode : March 11th

• 39th and Broadway – Death By Over-Scheduling
• Agent Lover – Mad Crushin’ on Pebelle
• Bobbins and Bombshells – Shop News…Hand Recovery Sale AND Give-Away!!
• Denim Debutante – Denim Advice: Why Should I Buy Premium Denim?
• Diary Of A Girl Left Behind – Sorry We Don’t Have Your (Shoe) Size
• Fashion Pulse Daily – London Fashion Week: Vivienne Westwood, Mark Fast & Burberry Prorsum
• Fete a Fete – The Frye Company SS 2010
• Glossary – Sipping tea with Sandra Beijer
• Grechen Blogs – Isabel Marant, the Internet & Social Media
• grit and glamour – Return to pretty, please!
• Hello Beauty! – Shu Uemura Spring 2010 Égérie Collection: Sparkling, rock star chic (with makeup lesson video)
• Holier Than Now – Spring (Transition) Shopping : Caped Crusaders
• Independent Fashion Bloggers – What does your ideal workspace look like?
• M.I.S.S. – Women Making History: Elisa Palomino
• Oranges and Apples – Sustainable fashion part 1: conceptualising the issues
• Out Of Order – DIY Tutorial – Spring Skirt
• Previously Owned – a PREVIEW of Private ARTS la shooting for MINT mag!
• Retro Chick – Vintage Hair Video Tutorial
• SF Indie Fashion – Good Looks: Moody Winter-Almost-Spring
• Shrimp Salad Circus – how to rock orange lips
• Smiles Go With Everything – How to Search Effectively on Etsy
• The Demoiselles – Gender-Bending: Menswear

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It was the 90s. I was a teenager, she was 4 or 5 years older than me and the rock n roll Princess of grunge glamour. With visible roots, risque outfits, bright red lips and a hell of an attitude. I wanted to *be* her. Occasionally people used to tell me I looked like her. I didn’t, I just had bleached blonde hair and a similar face shape, but it made me happy anyway.

As she’s grown up, her style has grown up too, but she still retains that playful attitude that made me love her 15 years ago.

Just recently her red carpet style has been channeling every decade from the 20s through to the 80s. But she always looks like she’s just having the best fun playing dress up.

I never get the feeling Drew Barrymore is aiming for a best dressed list. She doesn’t care about “fashion forward”, “classic elegance” or “retro glamour”. She almost looks like she’s playing fancy dress, that she picked on a “look” and then just went for it.

Off the red carpet is a different matter. That’s where we see grunge Drew, and the 90s grungey teenager with bleach blonde hair and the T Shirt with the huge daisy that still lives in my head loves that too.

Stuff age appropriate dressing, Drew Barrymore is the fashion rebel that says it’s OK to wear pink heart shaped sunglasses at 35. It’s OK to occasionally still just wear the first thing that you find on the floor when you wake up, and it’s definitely OK to enjoy dressing up.

With Drew Barrymore as a style icon I can have a wardrobe full of comfy jeans that I won’t get rid of, channel Audrey Hepburn one day and Debbie Harry the next, dye my hair crazy colours and wear killer sunglasses.

Not that I probably wasn’t going to do that anyway….

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I’m merely popping out to the pub for a quick drink.

I rarely wear trousers, but I found these gorgeous, high waisted, check wool Hobbs trousers and really felt the urge to build an outfit around them. I actually think they’ll probably be a bit more flattering when I’ve lost a few of the pounds I’m still hanging onto after Christmas/Burns Night/Valentines Day/Insert excuse here but more on that whole kerfuffle another time maybe!

❤ Scarf (around head) - vintage ❤ Batwing jumper - Topshop ❤ Wool Trousers - Hobbs via a Charity Shop ❤
❤ Lace Up Brogue Shoes - New Look ❤ Brown Leather Handbag - Vintage ❤

The jumper I haven’t worn for years. I know nude is a huge trend now, but I just can’t get past the feeling that I look a bit like I’ve gone out without a top on, so I’m not sure it’ll go back into regular wear. I’m being pretty negative about this outfit, but I actually quite like the look. It feels nicely understated, simple and comfortable, but still smart.

I quite like the landgirls vibe too. Can you spot the one who isn’t really pulling her weight?

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Well, I thought you might like a tutorial as to how to achieve this look yourself. As I’ve mentioned before I’ve had short hair since I was 14. The longest it ever got was around shoulder length before I’d run screaming to the hair dresser to have the lot chopped off. It’s now around mid shoulder blade length on me, which feels VERY long and I’m still debating whether to chop the lot off again. Opinions on this are welcome! There’s plenty of photos of me with shorter hair in the outfit post archives.

I never wear it down as my hair is incredibly fine and straight and it simply goes static and sticks to my head. The fact that it is so fine and straight also means it’s actually quite difficult to do anything with and I have to rely a lot on back combing, dry shampoo and hair spray to get it to do anything fun. I am enjoying experimenting with hair styling though, so maybe I’ll keep it long for a while.

Any hair tutorials I post will naturally be geared towards people with fine hair and come with the understanding that I have little experience with hair styling, so, frankly, if I can do it so can you!

This tutorial is really easy, the “roll around your thumb” technique I find far easier on my hair than trying to roll it from the ends. The key, as always, is practice makes perfect. If you think the roll looks a bit messy then just unroll it and try again till it looks right.

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Advance apologies for the out of sync sound. I shall be experimenting with different editing software I think, or maybe a new camera is in order!

Enjoy….

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It was also freeeeeezing. So sunglasses and my massive furry coat were the order of the day. A combination that always makes me feel a little bit movie star.

I also layered up, adding warmth by wearing a black pinafore dress over a fine knit polo neck and tights, as you can see in the smaller picture.

❤ Sunglasses - Vintage ❤ Coat - Next ❤ Green Polo Neck - Primark ❤ 

❤ Black cotton dress with collar - ESPRIT, given to me by a friend ❤ Boots - Shoe Zone ❤ Bag - Vintage ❤

We set off intending to go on a Boot Fair Hunt, except it turned out that the Boot Fair wasn’t on, so we impulsively headed off to Great Yarmouth to visit the sea side. That’s Scroby Sands Wind Farm in the background. Wind farms get complained about a lot, but I actually think they’re quite beautiful, especially when the sky is so blue and clear. Plus, you know, it seems kind of churlish to complain about the ugliness of wind farms considering how notoriously attractive a traditional fossil fuel power station is….

We wandered along the beach and admired the kind of brightly coloured random things you only ever see in seaside shops.

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We stopped for a cup of tea and a cooked breakfast in a cafe to warm up and then headed home again.

It’s lovely to do something completely unplanned and completely pointless occasionally. I love the sea side in winter when it’s nearly empty and half the shops are shut. I was only slightly disappointed that I wasn’t able to buy a stick of rock to take home.

What did you do this weekend?

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Unlike previous Friday Frocks these dresses are all from different Fair Trade retailers. They are all utterly gorgeous, with the added bonus that you don’t have to worry that some poor child in India spent hours sewing on beads for a penny an hour.

Fair Trade and Organic used to mean tie dye and little silver jingly bells that you bought from slightly Indian themed shops on the High Street, like Shao Lin. It was worn by teenagers who thought they looked mysterious and eastern and middle aged women in Birkenstocks who were 15 years ahead of their time, drank herbal tea and read “The Female Eunuch”.

I think we can all agree this is no longer the case. With Estethica in it’s 7th season at London Fashion Week and High Street retailers like H&M introducing organic ranges Fair Trade is now High Fashion, and this, thankfully, means we call buy pretty frocks made by friendly people.

Currently I’m loving.

Roisin Umbrella Dress by Bora Aksu £65 from People Tree

Coming soon this says. COMING SOON? How soon? I want it now. Cute print, flattering cinched waist and comfortable jersey. For some reason I feel the urge to wear this with bright pink tights and my two tone mary janes.

Komodo Lola Abstract Print Dress £70 from Fashion Conscience

Available in Periwinkle blue, but I like this picture of it. This is a cute summer dress that I’d wear (if the sun ever comes out) with a white belt and wedge heels.

Scoop Back Party Dress £61 from Annie Greenabelle

Lovely spring florals. Teamed with black so I don’t feel too much like a girl. I’m thinking ballet flats and a cute cardigan for when it (inevitably) gets chilly.

Olwen Frill Neck Dress £39 from All Things Green

I love the frill neck. Personally I’d wear it with a belt, but I wear everything with a belt, so that’s no real surprise is it?

Baby Doll Dress by Sika Designs

I can’t find an online stockist or price for this, but it’s pretty so I’m putting it in. If you find an online stockist let me know. I still won’t be able to afford it, but I might be able to pretend I can.

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