How to Wear: Spring (Bold Stripes)

The lovely folks at Voucher Codes approached me recently to take part in a series on how to wear Spring trends. I was given a few options, from which I chose bold stripes! I love stripey things, I'm sure long term readers will have realised this by now!

We were given £80 to go and find options from which we could make 3 outfits (using pieces from our own wardrobe where we wanted). I liked this challenge because it was budget friendly too - £80 is probably more than I'd spend otherwise for 3 items, but still a fairly reasonable amount. I found three items, and here's how I wore them:

Look 1: Casual

 Stripey jumper, Maine New England at Debenhams, £22.40 - available here
White button up shirt: Clothes swap
Jeans, ASOS, £16 - available here
Necklace, Topshop, £12.50 - available here
Dunlops, car boot sale, £2

This is a look I wear pretty frequently these days - it's comfortable, warm and still stylish (I think?!). The stripey jumper is a classic for me, though surprisingly I've not owned one in ages! I have lots of stripey tops though. The jumper is a generous sized 22, has lovely cable detailing and is thick. Definitely one I'll be wearing constantly until March gets nicer. The necklace is something I bought with a gift voucher over Christmas and have been wearing with lots of things. Feature necklaces are definitely something I'd like more of!

Look 2: Smart:

 

Chevron striped work dress, £32, Collection at Debenhams - available here

Cardigan, clothes swap

Chunky necklace, £2, Primark

Belt, £7, Dorothy Perkins

Tights, M&S

Shoes, ASOS, £30 - available here (for £16 now, gah)

I went for a more discretely striped item with my second choice - this chevron striped work dress from Debenhams (okay, there were other places selling striped things too....). You can't see but it has these cute red panels that I covered up with the cardigan and belt because I wanted to wear my pink flatforms! It's made out of ponte fabric which is my favourite fabric for workwear, though annoyingly it's also lined making it not stretchy at all! Thankfully it fits really well and the lining isn't constricting. The 22 is pretty generous so would fit size 24 too.

Look 3: smart casual. 

Jersey dress, Very, £16 - available here
Cardigan, c/o Curvissa - available here and customised with these patches
Tights, M&S
Boots, Primark
Necklace - Fable and Fury

My final look revolved around this cute long sleeved jersey skater dress I found on Very. £16! I got the tall version and it's about the right length for me. I thought it'd be cute clashed with my spotty cardigan from Curvissa, which I recently customised with some patches from eBay. A bit obnoxious but hopefully still nice.

Phew! Hope you enjoyed, and thanks to Voucher Codes for letting me take part!

I'm fairly certain that this dress might have been the stuff of my teenage self's wildest dreams (polka dots, PINK and TULLE), so when I saw it at the last clothes swap I ran with the Yorkshire Rad Fat Collective I decided to try it out. I like swapping for that, it often makes me pick up things I wouldn't in a shop, and try them out. Both the dress and the cardigan are from the swap actually - I normally hate cropped cardigans but after finding this realised that they make a lot of sense because they don't overpower a dress like a full length one. Opinion = firmly changed. 

Anyway, I got a bit fancy to go eat Thai food with my partner - the first of a few food stops we're making around Leeds before heading down to London, spending a last evening eating some of my favourite things. 

Dress and cardigan, £free from the clothes swap!

Bag, 99p, charity shop

Shoes, flatforms via ASOS, £28

Also editing to add a picture of my rats being the cutest things ever, because lots of you wanted to see more of them, and also because they are total babes! 

As you can probably tell, I'm packing at the minute! My partner and I are due to move to London in a little over two weeks time, where I'll be going in postgrad education. As a result outfit posts may well seem a little cramped for a while as I try and fit them in around boxes. You might also get a few silly poses like this!

This is a really old dress, which I cut up a bit originally to make it a little more boob friendly. I felt like being incredibly pink today, which is apparently my favourite colour at the minute, so I'm ridiculously co-ordinated, probably to a new level of obnoxiousness.

You can't really see them, but I also have new shoes!

I bought these in the ASOS sale for £28. They're basically flats, but with a small platform, and they're seriously really comfortable. I like them because they're slightly fancy but I can still run about in them without noticing them. They're still on site here  in most sizes, and in leopard print too here. I love them so much I'm considering owning the leopard print too! FYI, the size 8 is pretty generous.

Cardigan, £7, Dorothy Perkins
Dress, £4, charity shop (DIYed neckline)
Shoes, £28 ASOS (buy them here)