How to dress like Clarissa Darling.

Time for a 1990s fashion comeback! In the style of who else but Clarissa from Clarissa Explains It All...

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Shortsleeve Tops by Whistles
Boots by Dr. Martens

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Leggings by Markus Lupfer
Boots by Dr. Martens

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what a 1990s icon!

Long, Black and Flowing

I never fail to be impressed by ASOS.com's delivery service. I ordered a skirt on Tuesday afternoon, got an email the following morning saying it had been despatched and it arrived on Thursday morning. Brilliant! And that was the standard 3-5 day option.

Anyway, the skirt I bought was one of the MANY maxi skirts available at the moment. I have yet to venture properly into the maxi trend; I recently bought a maxi dress but have not yet got round to wearing it. But I think this ASOS skirt is going to get a lot of wear - though I might wait until the rain has stopped to avoid soggy hems!

ASOS's maxi skirt collection can be found here. Enjoy!

Shoe Sales!

Right now is a brilliant time for sale shopping, particularly for shoes. And I am finding it incredibly hard to resist; having been away travelling for over 6 months and having just received my first pay check in a long time, for some reason the only thing I want to spend it on is shoes... House of Fraser shoe section is currently my favourite destination for bargain shoe hunting - their combination of the Kurt Geiger brands and the Shoe Studio brands is unbeatable and they tend to have a wide selection of styles and sizes included in the sale. Bertie just have sooo many gorgeous shoes; here is my sale shortlist:

(Stan, Oaklahoma, Gambia, Gold Coast all from Bertie at The Shoe Studio)

And here is the one pair I went with in the end. Gorgeous right? And really comfortable (so far), thanks to the elastic straps and platform heel.

(Santa Fe, also from Bertie at The Shoe Studio)

If you don't mind last season's styles in the bid for cheap shoes, Amazon has a pretty good and ever increasing selection of popular shoe brands on their site. This includes Carvela, Rocket Dog, etc etc. I couldn't resist this pair of Rocket Dog heels, as I figured they should be as comfortable as Rocket Dog tends to be and they are also a bit quirky to cheer up an office outfit.

(Rocket Dog Mariella from Amazon.co.uk)

Slight shopping guilt set in after my 2 shoes purchases - after all I have just returned from travelling with no money and plan to save up over the summer to go away again at the end of the year. So, to balance out the shopping, I have been selling old clothes and shoes on eBay. I have sold plenty of clothes on eBay in the past as I generally find myself with a lot of clothes I either don't really like / don't fit anymore / get bored of. I have never sold shoes before though, and I have the perfect pair to try and sell. It is a pair of Carvela "Agadoo" heels that I had my eye on for ages, but when I finally bought them found that they are just a bit too small and cut my feet open every time I wear them... So after keeping them in my wardrobe for 2 years, optimistically (and painfully) wearing them twice, I decided I could try and get some money for them to cancel out the new shoes. Fingers crossed with that one!!

Matt & Natt

My absolute favourite brand for bags at the moment is Matt & Nat. Ever since getting a gorgeous grey Marais bag for my birthday at the beginning of the year, I have been keeping an eye on and drooling over every new collection that emerges.

And Matt & Nat are also doing their bit for the environment - every bag they produce is partially made from recycled plastic bottles (for more information on this please see here)

Here are some of my favourites:

Asos.com are also now stocking a small range of Matt & Nat bags, as are Revolve Clothing.

Wellington Boot Obsession

I found out not long ago that I am lucky enough to be getting a free ticket for Glastonbury this year :o) I'm very very excited, but at the same petrified about the camping/toilets/lack of showers. I have focused all of this fear into my latest obsession - wellies. Not being the type who is often found in muddy fields or campsites, I have never owned a pair of wellies... until now. Since yesterday, I am now the proud owner of a pair of Hunter boots in Aubergine (of course, with a staple festival accessory like a welly it just HAD to be purple). There are loads of cute patterned wellies around that I checked out, but (probably slightly irrationally) I decided I wanted Hunter ones as they are the only welly brand I had heard of so obviously must be the best quality. Wouldn't want to get a holey welly and wet toes halfway through the festival now would we? But on my research travels, I discovered a few great websites for all your welly needs...

www.discountwellies.co.uk - This is where I bought my Hunter wellies. They sell a few different brands, and Hunter wellies in a huge range of colours. They are also priced at £39.95 instead of the RRP of £55. I ordered my wellies on a Wednesday afternoon and they arrived recorded delivery on Friday. Fab!

www.asos.com - They have a fantastic Festival section on the site, selling all the essentials from Solar Showers and Dry Shampoo to Denim Shorts and Ponchos. They do also stock a range of wellies, from brands such as Cath Kidston, Hunter, Ju Ju and their own brand. If you go to the Outlet section of the site, they also have last year's styles at discounted prices.

www.wellieart.co.uk - This really is the place to go if you are looking for funky wellies. They stock all sorts of patterned, bright coloured and even metallic wellies, from a range of different brands. Not a dull green boot in sight.

www.wellieboots.com - The biggest range of wellies I have ever seen, ranging from serious Leather Shooting boots to funky festival wellies and children's boots.

I am loving...

... ASOS Outlet. I know I have mentioned this before, but they have some fab stuff (once you search through a leetle bit of rubbish). My faves at the moment, some of which will be winging it'sway to me shortly:

American Retro Horse Print Top £28

Arrogant Cat Silk Spot Dress £41.50

Arrogant Cat Harem Pant £24.50

Mischa Barton Handbag £32

Sass & Bide Dress £95

All at www.asos.com/red

The latest addition to my wardrobe...

This Matt & Nat Marais bag was my birthday present from my boyfriend :o) I had had my eye on it for aaages, and it does not disappoint in reality!

I then bought these Nine West boots in the never-ending House of Fraser sale. Was a bit of an impulse buy, but they are very lovely...

Going a bit batty...

Following on from my previous post about my new batwing cardigan, batwing sleeves have been on my mind a bit. I never used to be sure if I liked batwing sleeves. Having always been a fan of the kimono sleeve, batwing sleeves just looked a bit odd to me and I think I had seen too many bad examples of batwings. It’s all about the proportions – there’s always the worry that it’s going to make you look like you have very short arms, or a very wide body. But recently I keep coming across batwing tops that I really like the look of. I think I prefer the look of kimono sleeves, but batwings do have the advantage of being a bit more practical and not dangling in your dinner! Here are some lovely batwing tops I have seen recently:

From French Connection:

From Urban Outfitters:

From American Apparel:

The latest addition to my wardrobe...

...is this gorgeous Antik Batik batwing cardigan from Net-a-Porter.com. It was one of those things that the first time I saw it I knew I had to have it - luckily I didn't see it until it was in the sale! So far I have worked out it goes perfectly with skinny jeans and heels, and looks fab with a black mini dress, tights and flat boots. Yum!

I Heart Legs

So it's not long until Valentine's Day... Time to get all those red and pink clothes out and cover everything in hearts! Personally I despise Valentine's Day - and not because I'm single as I'm not - I just don't like the idea of being romantic because we're told to be. I'd rather go for a nice romantic dinner because we feel like it at a time that suits, that will probably end up being much more romantic when you're not surrounded by a whole restaurant full of couples also being "romantic". Not to mention cheaper when the prices aren't hiked up specially for said couples.

Anyway, rant over. And despite my dislike of Valentine's Day, there is something deep inside me that really likes the idea of all the girly hearts and red and pink decorations. Strange as I'm not normally a girly red and pink kind of girl. But check out the range of Valentine tights on mytights.com. Celeste Stein, known of course for having a huuuuge range of different patterned tights, has come up trumps with some lovey dovey leg adornments. My personal favourite is the rose pattern, although I am far too chicken/they are far too colourful for my legs.

Emilio Cavallini is also providing some Valentine's legwear - in the shape of some nice subtle hearts-up-the-back-of-the-leg tights, as well as some very cute heart print ankle socks: