Black Friday - catch yourself on, petal

Last time I checked we folk in the Great British Isles (you too Scotland) were British. Yet as the Black Friday hype enveloped Social Media this week and more and more retailers promised Black Friday discounts, it appears we have gone all American. Black Friday is a day of sales following the Thanksgiving holiday in America. Yet like proms and Twizzlers (Twizzlers are ace, though) Black Friday has found its way to our shores and we have jumped on it like a bouncy castle and bounced until we have our monies worth.

But are we getting our Black Friday monies worth? Two other Conscious Style Pioneers whom I mightily respect think not and I agree. A Thrifty Mrs dispenses wonderful advice today:

Catch yourself on, petal

Meaning just because something has a name which authenticates it, doesn't mean you have to join in with it. And over on Antiform's website they are saying NO THANKS to Black Friday and have closed their online shop for the day, boycotting the mindless consumption that Black Friday brings.

I'm all for a bargain, I love finding the perfect item at a reduced price BUT Black Friday is akin to one HUGE sale to me, and I know how many people go to pieces in a sale:

"It was only a fiver"

"I'll get loads of wear out of it."

"It looked great on the hanger."

The average British woman has £71 worth of unused SALE ITEMS in her wardrobes.

Before you make a clothing purchase this Black Friday step away from the mindless confusion of the sale shopfloor today. Breathe. Is the garment you are holding:

A) Worth the price tag - seriously, even at 30% off is it worth it?Will you wear it?
B) Something you need and have been looking for for a long time?
C) Are you buying the price or the garment? Get the two confused and you'll end up with a wardrobe full of reduced price tags that you can't wear.

Finally, is the garment YOU - is the garment YOU? Does it truthfully and authentically represent YOU, your style, your visual signature? Nope? Catch yourself on, petal. Better leave the shop.

Tis the season to be sequinned

Christmas always means extra magic and sparkle to me - magic and sparkle in the sequin sense. One of my wardrobe staples, I err on the side of sequins on a regular basis but ramp up the sparkle come Yuletide. Most of my vintage sequinned pieces have come from….wait for it….charity shops! The quality of the vintage sequinned garments far surpasses anything I've found on the high street. With some high street sequinned garments the sequins shed – this is because they are sewn on in a sheet. Vintage sequins normally would have been individually hand-stitched so you won’t leave a trail of sequins behind you on the dance floor!

I found a cracker of a sequinned top in a charity shop in Holmfirth last Saturday, made even more special due to the fact that it is a bit of a designer steal! Oleg Cassini no less! Not heard of him? He worked for Paramount Pictures, 20^th Century Fox and dressed Jackie Kennedy no less:

For the PresidentKennedy's Inauguration in 1961, Cassini dressed the First Lady in a fawn beigewool coat with a small sable collar and a matching pillbox hat. Mrs. Kennedywas the first one to be seen on every TV in the world. Soon, it seemed, womenall over the world followed the First Lady's image. In 1963 the world sawanother pink pillbox hat by Cassini on Mrs. Kennedy, when she was next to thePresident when he was assassinated. In less than 3 years Cassini created aboutthree hundred outfits for the First Lady. His creativity was inspired byRussian, Italian, French, Oriental, and Native American cultures. 

I think I've got a faint whiff of Debby Harry here!

Not getting swayed by the designer label I've found most charity shop vintage sequinned numbers, including Oleg’s offering, come with a few downsides....

Massive issues with massive shoulder pads

1.    The shoulder pads – you can see from my face the shoulder pads have scared the bejesus out of me. If you are small of frame, don’t fancy looking like a transformer and don’t want to be mistaken for an extra in an 80’s film then it may be worth removing said pads of horror and inserting smaller ones. I turned the top back-to-front and found that the deep V took the attention away from the pads and gave the top a softer line.

2.    The weight – man are they heavy! These designers and dress makers certainly didn’t skimp back in the day! Get ready to heft around your glitter ball outfit!

3.    They can look old fashioned – and they can look very square. You have to put your own modern twist on them. I wear one of my sequinned tops with a denim shirt underneath. I paired the top I bought on Saturday with bright lime heels, to add a pop of colour, and wore my Jamie High Waisted jeans from Topshop. You could try wearing leather leggings, culottes or layering over dresses.

And like a nice brew, turning the top back-to-front has made everything better!

The great thing about having vintage sequins is that they make your party wardrobe truly unique – no one will look like you; you won’t have the style death moment when you enter a party and see someone wearing the exact same high street dress as you. Party on!

Christmas Baubles Part deux!

So we've had caring for pearls, now we have caring for sterling silver! 

Open air/oxygen and humidity encourages Sterling Silver to tarnish, therefore, avoid just leaving your jewellery lying around when you’re not wearing them.  To slow down the tarnishing process and reduce the risk of scratching against other jewellery, always put the pieces into their own jewellery bag and store in an air-tight cool dry place. 

Extra tip – for the best results, pop into a little plastic bag too for extra O2 protection! 

Sterling Silver, stored properly, can be worn often and with minimal cleaning required making it very easy to care for.  Silver polishing cloths are impregnated with jewellery cleaner and are an excellent choice for cleaning your Sterling Silver jewellery.  If you wear the items daily, Dee and Gee Designs highly recommends that you just ‘buff’ clean them every day to keep them sparkling!  These polishing cloths are inexpensive, widely available and very easy to use and it‘s a good idea to have one cleaning cloth for gold and one for silver!

Avoid Silver/Gold Plated Jewellery

One of the reasons Dee and Gee Designs only uses precious metals e.g. Sterling Silver, is that whilst plated metals maybe cheaper, there is a huge difference in quality between real sterling silver and silver/gold plated jewellery/components.  For example, silver plated merely has a very thin layer of silver bonded to a base metal, such as brass or copper, which is less durable. Even with little wear or use, the layer wears off quite quickly revealing the unsightly base metal.  Sterling Silver, however, has a more attractive colour and shine as well as the ability to last a lifetime.   When purchasing Sterling Silver jewellery, look out for a hallmark i.e. it should be stamped 'sterling silver' or '925'.

A little care invested in your jewellery pays off in the long run!!

Dee and Gee Designs is an exciting luxury brand focused on bridging the gap between designer and high street.  Their collections, all named after family members, are classical with a contemporary twist and distinctive look and style. Check out their website by clicking here!

Christmas Baubles

Fed up with tarnished and scratched jewellery? Well, you’re not alone. A question the Wardrobe 

Angel gets asked regularly is‘how are you supposed to look after your jewellery?’ So, I decided to find out and get some advice and tips from GillianTinney who owns 

Yorkshire based Dee and Gee Designs selling luxurious yet affordable jewellery made from

precious metals, stones and pearls sourced from all around the world. 

“When we get ready to go out, there’s a tendency to spray on our perfume and put the finishing touches to our hair at the end,”says Gillian. “The trouble is direct contact with liquids and 

aerosols, including perfume, insect repellent, creams, makeup and hairspray, can really affect the 

quality and condition of pearls, precious metals etc, so really need to be avoided. We realised a lot of people don't know how to care for their jewellery so we included a little 'Care and Cleaning' card as standard with each item purchased as well as having a page on our website (click here to be transported!) dedicated to jewellery cleaning. "The simplest advice I can give anyone, " Gillian explains, "is jewellery should be the last on and first off as it makes an amazing difference. Also there are slight differences in how to care for you pearls and precious metal jewellery."

Gillian's top tips for Caring for Pearls:

Before putting on your pearls make sure your body cream, perfume, hairspray have all 'dried' first. To remove natural body oils prior to putting your pearls away, just gently wipe them using a soft lint-free cloth. If dirty, use a lightly dampened lint-free cloth. Always make sure they are air dried before storing though. 

NEVER clean your pearls:

• Using an ultrasonic cleaning machine
• In solutions that contain ammonia or harsh detergents
• Using an abrasive cleaner or by rubbing them with an abrasive cloth. 

You have been warned!! One of the reasons Dee and Gee Designs places all of their pieces in their very own jewellery bag is that jewellery, particularly pearls, should be stored separately as they can get scratched. Store your pearls in their own slot in your jewellery box. If you don't have a jewellery box then store them in a small drawer. 

If you are thinking about Christmas presents then I can highly recommend Dee and Gee Designs: they bridge the gap between high street and designer jewellery so effortlessly and are classical with a contemporary twist. 

Next up: looking after Sterling Silver!!