The Orange Revolution

    COS dress, Miista shoes, vintage clutch, belt & necklace
Along with the rest of the country I'm rejoicing over this week's glorious weather, and used the sunshine as the perfect excuse to wear a sunny dress. Hardly an orange revolution as the title suggests - far from it, as this is one of my favourite colours to wear. This evening I had an epiphany over its drapes, however; I've owned it since Christmas and this is the first time I realised I was wearing a piece of material on the wrong side. Duh. After a little repositioning it now fits and looks a whole lot better.
Wore this for a dinner with Annabel and Adam of The éditeur and Clare of tweet. Lots of exciting goings on - we dined with the new England football manager (well, sort of, he was on the other side of San Carlo), a prominent purchase was made from the online store during the main course, and arrangements began for an event, which will remain up our well-tailored sleeves for now.. but expect to be hearing lots about it in the very near future!

Carpe Calciamenti

  H&M via Red Cross shop blazer & jeans, Chris's tee, ASOS sandals, vintage (can we call ten years old vintage?) New Look pleather jacket
"Have you got any hi-tops?" asked Chris as I got dressed this morning. "Because you look very 80s, very John Hughes."

We decided today's bleached jeans and white tee was totally Winona Ryder in Heathers, but forget the hi-tops - I'd already been convinced to wear sandals by Bottega's Sam.

"I'm embracing summer, I'm just dealing with it" she tweeted. Well, I already tried that yesterday wearing shorts and bare legs, and ended up freezing; but today the sun tried its very best to come out, hence my ancient ASOS Surface To Air knockoffs took a turn around Manchester.

I don't own any sandals in-between Havaianas and heeled (or wedged) sandals, so I'm now on the lookout for a chunky pair of flat ones. I'm rather keen on the Acne Ambrosia (though the name makes me hungry - darned diet) but I'm not so keen on the price tag. I hit Zara today after hearing a rumour of something similar but no such luck. Any ideas, Team Shopaholic..? (that's you guys!)





PS. Google tells me "carpe calciamenti" means "seize the sandal", but I have a sneaking suspicion there isn't really a latin word for "sandal"...

Gossip And A Dressing Gown

This vintage dressing gown was donated to me by my now-departed Auntie Jean, and has been hanging around in my wardrobe waiting for an occasion (and for me to gather the courage) to be worn outside the house. I've been easing myself into it lately, wearing it little and often, finding that it works a treat with my Aldo Rise shoes and lemon jeans; in the summer I'll be wearing it with cut-off denim in a relaxed pretending-I'm-at-a-festival fashion.

Yesterday I had a makeover at Illamasqua (thanks to Fashion Catalyst) and the make-up artist went a little crazy on me, as you can see here, then I went a little crazy and bought the deep teal lipstick she had applied.  I was told that the eye perceives it as a sexy colour, especially when paired with white eyeliner, as it is the exact negative of the usual red-lip-black-lined-eye combo. I'm more into its quirky qualities than its sexiness but if it comes with the territory then I suppose I'll just have to cope. Please excuse my hair which is in the extremely irritating growing out stages of a bob, flicking out in all the directions I expressly don't want it to flick in. And yes, it's all one colour now!

I have a few tidbits of gossip for you. Firstly I have recently started writing for the newsicmoos Fashion pages; there are only a few pieces up so far - including one about awesome up-and-coming shoe designer Cleo B - but we have some exciting bits in the pipeline, so stick with us for cool music and fashion crossovers.

I was photographed ages ago so I assumed it would never go live, but last week I had a picture and a tiny write-up about me in the London Evening Standard. 

Sarah Harradine is an international fashion marketing student from Manchester. Sarah is wearing a customized denim shirt from New Look, an ASOS skirt, Topshop Boutique coat, a Versace for H&M neck scarf, Zara bag and Kurt Geiger shoes.

“I’m very trend-led, so I tend to look at an editorial or a catwalk and then find a way to emulate it through high street purchases. My favourite designers are Miuccia Prada and Christopher Kane, but it’s the people on the high street that are the most interesting.”

So there you go!

Finally, and most excitingly, details dropped about London store LN-CC's latest giveaway a few days ago...

LN-CC are offering flights to London (who cares that you're in Essex? Travel in style), a three-night stay in a hotel, and fifteen thousand pounds to spend in store. Can you imagine what you could do in LN-CC with that much money? I can, and it involves a whole load of Haider Ackermann's shiny tailoring. Enter here by providing your email address and that of two friends you feel may be interested in the retailer. Feel free to use my email as one of those interested parties, but I will be expecting an Ackermann-shaped thank-you gift if you win..

Stay tuned this week as Fashion Dotty takes another road trip to Cheshire to visit The éditeur's pre-races fashion show, and Mr Dotty will be making a very special guest appearance, playing reporter for the night at Emporio Armani's Elliott Landy exhibition!

All Rise For J.W.Anderson

Along with the rest of the fashmosphere I am keeping a beady eye on J.W.Anderson's rise to fame, particularly those paisley print pyjama pants (accidental alliteration, there; I think I like it). Of course, to me his collections are completely inaccessible price-wise, so I am very grateful to Aldo Rise for the chance of purchasing a piece of this up-and-coming designer's history. 

I suffered a great internal battle choosing between these and the Preen pair, but in the end the fact that these are nothing like I've ever owned before - plus the heel hair - won me over. Worn with an outfit thrown on this morning to pick them up (Zara shirt, Vero Moda sweater, charity shop jeans) I'm looking forward to wearing them with a plain white tee and leather skinnies, à la Elin Kling.

Tuesday Shoesday: What The Doc Ordered

A mere week into my pledge to "buy less", I have bought a pair of shoes. Though being a pair of Dr. Martens I feel they fit the "buy better" and "buy smarter" categories: they will not go out of fashion - for quite some time at least - and will last upwards of ten years. The brand also have a pretty solid Corporate Social Responsibility policy, and it appears some shoes are still made in England, though it is quite vague which pairs are and which aren't.

Ethics aside, I am pretty crazy about these shoes. Clumpy enough to make pretty dresses look awkward, plain enough to wear with prints, interesting enough to wear with jeans. My ragged heels may hate me as I break them in (I'm informed this can take some time and have been advised to carry plasters) but I foresee myself wearing these with everything. Yellow may not be everybody's cup of tea but to me it is a wardrobe staple!

Teamed with outfits for uni and an event last night - I don't think it's quite time for bare legs so wore tights in the end.

(Also check my new "Dotty" necklace, handmade by Stephanie Hamer, discovered via the Wardrobe Angel!)

The LFWeek in Outfits

Day 1: customised charity shop shirt, Versace x H&M scarf, ASOS skirt, Kurt Geiger shoes (image from Fashion156.com)
Day 2: H&M jumper and trousers, George shirt, ASOS shoes, Vivienne Westwood bag, Meadham Kirchhoff x Nail Rock wraps, Wired Jewellery chalkboard ring (such a good idea - mine stated "love LFW")
Day 3: H&M jacket, Meadham Kirchhoff NEWGEN t-shirt, Oasis jeans, Miista boots
Day 4: H&M kimono and studded bustier, Topshop shorts, Acne shoes, Zara bag

It's been exciting keeping up with Milan Fashion Week - the biggest trend there seems to be baroque, which we saw a lot of in London, too. I was really disappointed with my long-standing favourite Prada; did I miss something? Were the inferences too subtle? Miuccia's signature of injecting humour into her collections seemed to be missing. Very cute shoes, though.

Designers appear to be playing musical chairs - Raf Simons out at Jil Sander, Jil herself to return; Stefano Pilati out at YSL, Hedi Slimane in (who I'm sure said he didn't wish to design again, but I can't find the exact quote). I wait with baited breath to hear the next movement in this complex game!

LFW Day 1: Vibes & Street Style

Image of me from the Missguided Facebook

I've never had my picture taken so many times in one day.

You can read my micro-witterings about shows I've seen in (almost!) realtime at the BlackWhiteDenim blog - click over for Corrie Nielsen and Bora Aksu for today.

Now.. time to pass out.