Inspiration for Life and Wardrobe V3.0

I was recently browsing the What Elle Wears blog and was pleasantly surprised by the pared-back style that most of the staff was rocking. I suppose I shouldn't be shocked, but having based most of my fashion-office-wear assumptions on The Devil Wears Prada and various streetstyle photos of editors wandering around at fashion week, I was expecting something a little more intense and 'fashion-y'.

By far the stand out for me is the style of Emma Sells, the fashion features director. Pared back, lots of my favourites: shirts, blazers and brogues, in a healthy mix of high street with a touch of upscale designer thrown in for good measure.

all images: elle.com

Inspired, I wore my khaki pants rolled up at the ankle with my brogues today. Loving it.

Who's style are you girls loving right now?

Wardrobe 101

 In an effort to organise my rapidly-descending-into-chaos wardrobe I have been busily dividing it into two sections: classics and trends. These are then divided by item type. Can you tell I’m a Virgo? Depending on my passion for a particular garment these can be very large or very small selections. 

By far the biggest is my blazer section. Given my uniform of skinny jeans, white tees and heels/boots/ballets (depending on the weather and/or occasion), I find my blazers are indispensible when it comes to dressing up an outfit and adding some interest. Given the neutral colours of most of my collection I will also team them with a bright silky scarf.

The scarves are an interesting feature of my wardrobe. I used to be a necklace girl. I was never seen without at least one or two brightly beaded necklaces and often contrasting bangles too. But three or four years ago I suddenly segued into scarves – brights, patterns, scenes, you name it I have it – and I wear them like jewellery to add colour to my outfits. Now, if my friends see me without a scarf they get worried that something is terribly wrong. Although I still have all my beads, I really need to sell them because they are packed away in a box and never ever used.

So, anyway, the pic shows my blazers. The camel and the check are new additions, both from Zara. The camel is ‘inspired’, shall we say, by Stella McCartney-style tailoring, while the check satisfies my urge to dress like a modern-day Laird in cream trousers, white shirt, said blazer, wellies and a silver stag’s head brooch. (I often wonder which fashion planet I was actually born on – my parents’ love of period BBC dramas seems to have had an interesting effect on my sartorial development.)

The jacaranda-coloured blazer is a lightweight summery one that comes out when I feel the need to be bright and cheerful. I also have an electric pink pin-stripe one that I forgot to photograph. It is eye searing-ly bright and only comes out if I am having a particularly good hair day because it is a serious “look-at-me” colour. It is still on the maybe list for eBay. We’ll see how it goes.

Is there a particular item of clothing that seems to collect in your wardrobe or is it just me?