Thrift Inspiration....Doing it Net-A-Porter Style in Thrifted Gap Dresses

Hi everyone!! I hope you are all well and having a lovely weekend! My week has been filled with working, general housework and being around for my youngest who is currently sitting some of his GCES and end of year exams. He has been working extremely hard and with the World Cup on the horizon this is a much welcome distraction for enjoying his downtime! 

My blogging reading and posting has been very sporadic due to a major life change imminently on the horizon which of course is taking top priority at the moment. I do try my best to read your blogs even if I'm not leaving comments and to try and get my own life back into a normal routine I am hoping that I'll eventually be able to start blog posting and thrifting more regularly too, so do please bear with me!!

Anyhow, back to all things style and this post has been in the making for a couple of months as both items that I've thrifted were found this Spring season. Like everyone else I love Summer style and each year I always eagerly look out for dresses as my main outfits of choice. Being such an avid jeans lover for the other three seasons means I'll favour either a vintage or modern, designer or high street dress that over the years has tended to follow one main theme- floral or patterned.

When the trends for Summer were being shown in winter, one particular item caught my interest which was the denim/chambray summer dress. I already have a chambray denim maxi dress thrifted from last year but as the new year came in I really wanted to find 'the' denim dress. 

Inspiration wise there are so many fabulous chambray and denim dresses around for Summer, not just in a variety of different washes ranging from bleached to indigo, but styles range from shift to belted to cowboy to corset. Here are my favourite that I've picked from Net-A-Porter if money were no object and are pretty indicative of the styles that I like to thrift too:

ACNE Studios, £400

Sea, £340

Current/Elliott, £280

See by Chloe, £240

R13, £430

Theyskens' Theory, £320

So here are the dresses I found which I've already started wearing and are proving to be well worth the buy!! This first one is a very light blue chambray linen blend thrifted Gap shift style dress which is actually even lighter in colour than the photo suggests and was from the Sense charity shop for £3.40:

I first wore it for my lovely blogger meet with Michelle a few weeks back and funnily enough whilst we were eating lunch I managed to drip garlic butter on it-oh noo!! Thankfully a dose of fairy liquid and vanish got rid of the big blob in question and now laundered and pressed is ready for action again!!

This next purchase was from the boot sale back in March or April and is a dark indigo western style denim dress by Gap and was only £2:

It's quite a slim fitting dress and comes just above the knees, but again is a perfect summer day dress and with both dresses coming in at just over a fiver they are my perfect denim style investment pieces this summer!

Did you indulge in a chambray or denim dress for this coming season? I'd love to know what style of summer dress you are currently favouring, be it plain or patterned, floral or stripes, shift or fitted, do share!!

Thank you as usual for stopping by with your wonderful comments, opinions and observations- they are so welcomed and appreciated and I do look forward to catching up with you even if it's later rather than sooner!

Wishing you all a great week ahead and enjoy the sunshine if you're lucky to have it with you at the moment!!

Outfit Post & Current ThriftMyStyle Summer Style Obsessions- Lace, Embroidery, Espadrilles and Denim

 Hi everyone! After hearing the weather report on Wednesday evening for Thursday to Saturday I was really ready to embrace summer dressing-bare legs, dress and some summer sun ready to sit out in and enjoy. Alas, the outfit was there on Thursday but definitely no summer sun to radiate in! 

Style obsessions are currently lace, embroidery and denim and in various mixes for good measure. This outfit features a thrift find from last Sunday- a Gap slim fit denim jacket in exactly the shade I've been looking for this coming summer. I was at a local boot sale on Sunday and saw it on a ladies rail, so I asked the price and she said £2. Definitely cheap enough but for some reason I said to her 'Will you take £1.50?' We both burst out laughing at the same time and I'm sure it was because of my cheek but she said yes and off I went!

I'm wearing one of my items from the clothes swap party a couple of months ago, a Topshop blush pink lace dress. It's sleeveless and backless and is an ideal length for me and so perfect as a daytime summer dress if I wear it with denim. I'm also wearing some tan sandals which I thrifted a couple of summers ago- they are Clarks and were from my local Sue Ryder charity shop for around £8:

My new pinterest board, Crafted Style-Embroidery, Lace et Al is quickly expanding with images of everything embroidered, lace and summer boho orientated:

With this inspiration in mind I stopped off in another local town for a spot of charity shop thrifting this morning as the boot sale didn't appeal weatherwise and found this charming embroidered lace cotton camisole by Fat Face in the £1 Sense charity shop:

It's a replacement for one I stupidly put in the charity shop bag a couple of years ago for no good reason and will be perfect under denim jackets and waistcoats and summer blazers too.

Another style inspiration that's been hot on my mind are espadrilles and slides so how chuffed I was to find an unusual mix of the two earlier as well- they are Pare Gabia espadrilles made in France and were in the Sue Ryder charity shop for £3.95:

Brand new too and a much needed addition to my summer wardrobe, these will get worn a lot and will go with so much that I have already.

Unfortunately the sun shows no sign of returning any time soon where I am and my feet are freezing- I may have to get the socks and boots out  ;- (

What is on your style radar at the moment- are you shopping for summer and if so do you have current obsessions of the moment?

Have a lovely Easter weekend and I hope the sun is shining for the rest of you, wherever you are!!

Thrift Inspiration....Singing The Blues in All Saints, Reiss and Vintage Yves Saint Laurent

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a great week so far-my day today has been so up and down, I don't know if I've been coming or going! Firstly this morning saw me running late for work, completely run out of petrol on the way, problems parking which led to me being late and then on my return to the car park later a parking ticket! I was rather stressed by the time I got home early afternoon but it got better with a meet up with girlfriends for a meal and catch up at a local restaurant and with hubby cooking and washing up for himself and younger son I feel like I'm now fully calmed down, hehe!!

I was really chuffed to have been nominated for 'best thrifty blog' by The MAD Blog Awards for Mums and dads 2014 this weekend. I've displayed a 'Nominate Me' badge on my sidebar and would deeply appreciate it if you could take time out to nominate me please! IF I get through to the next stage then more voting is required and I could be in with a chance of attending a lovely finalist awards evening and winning an iPad Air, woo hoo! Anyhow, it's been lovely to have been nominated and any further nominations and votes will be much appreciated!!

Back to style matters in hand, I thought I would show you some fairly recent thrift finds that seem to be very much on a recurring theme-blue to be precise.

As you all may be aware I am very much a denim enthusiast-ok, addict might be a better word if 25+ pairs of jeans is slightly more than the norm! I'm thinking that it's not so much jeans I'm into but the colour more so? I pretty much love denim jackets, waistcoats, skirts shirts and jeans and all in different shades of blue but particularly this year faded blue has definitely been on my style radar a lot, very evident on my denim inspiration pinterest board if you fancy taking a look!

My latest thrift finds were from a couple of Saturdays ago- I found this fabulous vintage cheesecloth Yves Saint Laurent mens shirt in a neighbouring town's St Francis Hospice charity shop for just £2.50!!

It's such a great fit and is definitely my current favourite go to shirt for summer, to be paired with faded jeans, cut offs and white jeans (if I find a pair that I like):

My next find that day was in the afternoon at my own local Sue Ryder charity shop, which was a pair of Reiss high waisted skinny zip ankle jeans for a bargainous £1 in their sale!! In my size too and another pair of perfectly shaded blue jeans that I can't wait to start wearing!

The middle pair are some Gap boyfriend jeans that I thrifted in January for just £3.99-again the perfect distressed lighter shade of blue that will be perfect once ankles can be shown in warmer weather!!

The 3rd pair are some Levis demi curve straight leg jeans which if I can remember were also less than £2, thrifted last year in Autumn from a neighbouring towns Sue Ryder charity shop:

Left to Right: Reiss, Gap, Levis

The last picture features more shirts that I've thrifted and been gifted since Autumn last year:

From top to bottom: All Saints checked shirt, £2 from the St Francis Hospice,  River Island acid light wash shirt from the DEBRA charity shop for £3.99, my gifted degrade denim shirt from the swap shop party and dark wash thrifted H&M chambray shirt from the Sense charity shop for £3.50.

So you've seen a sneaky peek into my denim obsession and what sort of items are making their way and staying in my wardrobe.

What style and items are actually making their way into your wardrobe this season? Please share I'd love to know! 

Outfit Post: Jean Paul Gaultier and Double Denim

Hi everyone! I hope the weekend weather has been kind to you-where I am it's been getting warmer over the weekend and it stayed dry yesterday for the boot sale. It was slim pickings on the bargain front but I did manage to get some All Saints jeans for just £3 which are the perfect darker blue shade for Autumn and Winter. My outfit choice was a mix of double denim and my Jean Paul Gaultier 90s stretchy dress which I wore as a top. This was originally a boot sale find and was only £1 a few years ago:

The Gaultier top is ideal for wearing with blue denim and I wore my yellow neon hoop earrings to go with the yellow in the top. My denim jacket is by Gap and was a charity shop find earlier this year for around £4.99:

I also wore my trusty grey skinny jeans from River Island which are one of my favourite pairs to wear when it's not so hot. Grey jeans for me are an essential in a denim wardrobe, they are a great neutral and work with virtually any other colour for any season too:

I'm currently debating what items I want to invest in for the Autumn/Winter season- a couple more pairs of jeans and some knits definitely feature and of course as soon as I make my thrifty purchases I'll be sure to share them here first!! Look  out for my thrifted All Saints jeans in an upcoming outfit post on LiveToLoveDenim.com

I'm linking this post to the lovely Patti at NotDeadYetStyle for Visible Monday and the gorgeous Claire-Justine oxox for Creative Monday. Wishing you all a great week ahead too. I know there are some of you that are not even thinking of Autumn purchases but for those of you that are, what is on your style radar for the coming new season?