Time for Tights Lesson 3 Sock It to them kid!

Photo from The Cut

I have spent the last 4 Wardrobe Angel appointments waving various photos showcasing feet-encased-in-socks at clients imploring them to try this new styling trick. I'm not talking about a pop-sock (dear gawd, no) or your A-typical black ankle sock seen on most commuters. I'm talking about the rise of the fashion sock: a fish netted or metallicised beast of an ankle grazer which can add a layer of awesomeness to the most pedestrian of winter outfits. Imagine your everyday jeans and a jumper worn with a tasty sock and heel. Well, for me that's heaven!

Here are my top picks:

1. ASOS Micronet Fishnet Ankle Socks - If you want to jazz up the area at the bottom of your leg without going full fish net then these are the guys. Great with a navy shoe, a silver shoe, a trainer. I just added these to my basket. I've worn mine with a metallic silver heel and mom jeans and I got a raging compliment (more on that later.)

The 80's called. They want their look back.

Image from ASOS

2. ASOS Pothole Fishnet socks - a looser, more blousy affair than the micronet fishnet. Again, added to basket. I'm wearing mine with a vintage navy and gold striped court shoe for the texture. These socks are genius as you can layer another sock underneath - warmth and style?! Be still my beating heart!

Image from ASOS

3. ASOS Gold Glitter Socks - Cute stuffed into white trainers for the school run and worn with party shoes. These would look cracking with a white heel (yes, white heels are back. Again.) If gold isn't your bag then try a coloured sock. Swap your black socks for a shot of colour and match them across the colour spectrum. Yellow socks and blue shoes, navy socks and burgundy heels.

Image from ASOS

John Lewis opened recently in Leeds to much fanfare. I waited a week to venture forth and when I did....my my John L, you outdid yourself: Baum und Pfundgarten and Hush just 2 juicy labels to get your hands on. My favourite part of visiting the new mall on the block was walking around COS and &OtherStories. Ye Gods how long us northerners have waited for these shops, Talk about the north/south divide! You guys south of Watford Gap are swimming in Scandi brands whilst us heathens up here on the moors have a had a mere whisper of these gods of clothing with the COS concession in Selfridges and only recently a full brace of &OtherStories opened up where French Connection used to be. Anyway, as I drifted up the stairs to COS menswear the assistant on the fitting room said

"Your sock and shoe combo is to die for."

Did I blush? Heck no, I bloody loved it! Who doesn't love getting a compliment?! So go forth, enjoy your socks and shoes this season. The man in COS have given us his blessing.

Til next time ...x

The Wardrobe Angel

How to Shop on Black Friday

I'm not sure whose image this it - please let me know if this is your image and I'll attribute it!

We all love a craze, a band wagon to jump on - snap bands and Swatch watches in the 80's, grunge and Nirvana in the 90's and Trinny & Susanna telling us What Not To Wear in the noughties. Over the past few years us Brits have opened up our arms and embraced Halloween with a fervour that frankly didn't exist when I was a kid (I distinctly remember a couple of teenage lads trying their luck at "trick or treating" with just their hoods pulled up for a costume and my Dad telling them where to go in no uncertain terms.) And I think Black Friday is just that - a trend, a craze, an awkward phase in our shopping history. Black Friday has been a 'thing' in the UK for about 5 years but this year some retailers have gallantly bowed out of the Black Friday retail race including Asda, John Lewis, Oasis and Mothercare.

I was in the Trafford Centre doing a Personal Shop on Monday and there was already plenty of 'Black Friday' merchandising tickets on clothes. Many retailers manufacture items especially for Black Friday - think of these items as the less well designed, less well made, cheaper cousins of what's already on the shop floor. All I'm saying is:

don't be swayed by what deal you THINK you are getting ...

If you are shopping this Black Friday plan ahead and do your research: better deals may be available online verses what's instore. And ask yourself this:

1. Do you really need it? Or do you just want it? 
2. If it wasn't on offer would you still desire it as much? Are you panic buying?
3. Can you afford it? 
4. Is it essential?

Take care out there this Black Friday - shopping can bring out the worst in people!

Til next time...x

The Wardrobe Angel

#WeddingWednesday - If your names not down, you're not coming in

Apologies for the lack of wedding related updates; I have been down to Telford, Bath, Bristol and Essex visiting new clients and sorting out many a wardrobe. Then there's the not so small matter of a TV show pilot in the pipeline. Wedding plans have been bubbling away in the background like a hearty stew on the stove nonetheless, and Rich & I sat down last weekend to write the final jobs "to do" list. The fact it is 5 sides of A4 has given me sweaty palms to say the least!

So what have we been doing? Our invites have been designed, ordered and printed. Penny, my sister and Maid of Honour, has her dress. I finally had a breakthrough with my flowers after what seemed like months of self-diagnosed "flower blindness" and our table centres have been crossed off the list with a huge sigh of relief. Searching for 10 vintage teapots in the land of Yorkshire where tea runs thicker than blood has been a tall task. We've managed it (albeit with a few broken lids and various expeltives along the way).

If you see any teapots like this on your travels let me know - better have too many than not enough.

Bar Christmas, I think we picked the worst time ever to register our Gift List with John Lewis: The Trafford Centre on Spring Bank Holiday weekend. Even the overflow car park was full as we queued to find a space amongst the off-roaded vehicles (or abandoned? Hard to tell) and the throng of shoppers. John Lewis know how to treat you right - they gave us a voucher for free tea and cake, set us up with a scanner and let us loose on their shopfloor. We scanned away amongst the throng of bank holiday shoppers. Dear God what a day! So. Many. People.

Wedding schizzle just got pretty real pretty quickly!!

When we moved in together it seemed like over the subsequent months we made endless trips to the charity shop to donate bedding, kitchenware, stuff. We are 2 adults in their 30's who have both set up homes and we have the material possessions to prove it so writing our wedding Gift List proved interesting: lots of things that would be lovely if we receive them but equally happy if we don't. Shopping for them was quite romantic, even though we shared it with what seemed like a gazillion other shoppers. It was also our 2 year anniversary that day so I was feeling the love as we picked out our matching toaster and kettle and some epic Cath Kidston mugs.

Finding my shoes has taken another huge weight off my mind and making some decisions about my make-up has set my mind at rest. There's less than 4 months to go and I alternate between "AAAAARGH!!!" and "I've got this."

Til next time...x