PJs

What makes men's clothes more classic and enduring? Is it because the styles don't change as much as female trends? Nonetheless, if it can work for Coco, it can work for me.  

Pyjama top: Topshop

As I've mentioned before, I have a bit of an affinity towards men's clothes. I lost my grandad when I wasn't young enough to really appreciate and be grateful for the time I spent with him. When you are young you just laugh and joke around when he tickles you and he lets you have all the treats you want even if your nan and mum say no. You don't stop to remember their every word and revise the contours of their face at eight years old. I don't think there is a day that goes by when I don't think about him and imagine what he thinks about what is going on in my life. Wearing masculine shapes remind me of him a great deal and because of this I am a true advocate of the pyjama trend. 

We aren't walking around in nightgowns, that just sounds absurd. What can be more chic than sleeping in a shirt? I own silk pyjama bottoms to wear outside of the house but now I dream about having a shirt too. I want to feel like I'm Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window (without the broken leg, the feelings of emasculation and a killer living in the same apartments as me), just maybe not so much Hugh Hefner. 

Soft curls.

Like mother like daughter.

Playsuit: Topshop

They say that when you grow up you become your mother like it's a bad thing but my mum's my best friend and is the loveliest person I know henceforth I am going to do everything in my power to turn out just like her.

Mother Nature is obviously getting lots of appreciation from her children today as the sun is shining and the skies are clear, spreading happiness all over.

I'm in this pretty little playsuit adorned with dainty water-brushed flowers fit for springtime today.

Mum & Dad

Like peas in a pod.

It's trending to make your outfit compliment each other, like peas in a pod. Matching prints to create a dress of separates like at Family Affair with this zesty ensemble swarmed with zebras. The twin set is a pure delight for me especially so after gathering together a small wish-list, then did I realise that I have a desire for a skirt of longer length. The shirt and skirt, both from Confezioni Crosby send me off in to a daydream where I'm Rizzo from Grease hidden behind a pillar, books welded in my arms against my chest, contemplating through chorus what my neighbours will think of me (I don't however daydream about her circumstances).  

Orange zebra set: Family Affairs/Peach shirt & blue and white striped skirt: Confezioni Crosby
Brogues & white dress: Jack Wills/Zig-zagged suit: Concettas Closet 

When the sun peeps through the broken skies and nature begins to breathe, showing first signs of new life, I relish the thought of white cotton and seasons beginning in 'S'. White cotton means waving goodbye to winter for a while and replacing the worry of being snowed in with taking refuge under a shady tree to escape the heat. 

Pedal to the metal.

Image via Behance

I really love seeing this kind of ladylike charm resurfacing in to a younger generation. Scarves tied around your hair like this makes me envision roadtripping in a convertible across an isolated wasteland, dust and sand fogging the sky and the road knowing no end. 

The type of dream that only appears in films because I only ever see this use of scarf tied around elderly ladies heads on day trips to the bingo hall. This old hollywood glamour is all about emphasising the woman and their femininity. 

Battered but not lost...

I am drawn to the past and romantic eras that have been frozen in time.

I often look back through films, words on a page, items housed in glass cases deep inside museums and through faded photographs to admire and fantasise over bygone moments that always appear so much more glamorous than the present. I often wonder will people look back and think this of us and of the world we are shaping today, shaped yesterday and will shape tomorrow? History isn't just made up of facts but also of fiction, often an elaboration of what we desire it to have been. We choose to forget the mundane and the boring. 

Literature aids our fanciful imaginations and today I dug out my copy of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises , having already started it I was determined to immerse myself back into a generation lost in Twenties Paris & Pamplona. 

The look of the Twenties has been set in stone and is so distinguished within the world of fashion.

Books allow you to stretch your imagination, deciding for yourself what characters look like and how they dress without any rules or restrictions, just some guidance from the author.

The character within the book, Brett Ashley, is such a liberated woman with two divorces already under her belt, sexually promiscuous, she is unable to commit herself emotionally to the antagonist Jake and other men who lust after her. She is native to the Parisian nightlife and the primary social butterfly within the book although a lost and lonely little girl sometimes subtly reveals itself through small cracks in her personality. 

This publicity shot of Kay Francis for the 1934 film, Mandalay, I believe fits perfectly alongside Hemingway's description of the Circe, Lady Ashley.

Absent from the surrounding company and carouse, captivated by her reflection longing for a way out and a transformation of present society to a world where she can break free from this rigid exterior and performance and display her true emotions the beau monde had forced her to closet.

What I love about the Twenties youth is how they rejected the generations that came before, abandoning antecedent attitudes and freed themselves of prior constrictions of youth.

This Kate Moss for Topshop flapper dress adorns my wardrobe but I have just been unable to wear it despite owning it for a couple of years now (the label is still attached). It is one of my most treasured items but the length just makes me feel so fraught with unease that I haven't been able to wear it outside the confines of my bedroom walls. 

I hope one day to build up the courage and embrace the spirit of Twenties youth, pump it through my veins and step out in this coruscating number and maybe even indulge in the Charleston.

Etsy Finds

I adore Etsy.

I can't say I really live in the perfect place to find vintage one off pieces at a local market or at a charity shop so Etsy is the next best thing. Maybe even better as I get to find vintage one off pieces all over the world and get them ordered to my front door.

I am always following trends from the catwalk but I'm also drawn to working individual pieces into my wardrobe to make it more unique and so I feel like less of a clone when walking down the street.

At first I really found it hard to find anything on this website and for ages didn't see what the attraction was for many people but after creating an account and understanding the benefits of favourited items and shops, I was hooked.

Below is a small collection of some recent items I have favourited.

To look at more and visit the shops for the items below visit my favourites here:

http://www.etsy.com/people/pickleisatreat/favorites?ref=si_fav

Images via Etsy

My mum and I have started making bracelets recently and this week we have been toying with the idea of opening up our own Etsy shop so keep a look out.

P.S. I finally got round to dying my hair ombre, following LLYMLRS' instructions and I love how it has turned out, it fades in so naturally and I didn't have the anxiety that comes with a hairdresser doing it. Cheap and leaves me feeling oh so cheerful!

suitcase, stripes and sunshine

After doing my usual and searching Alexa on tumblr to see her latest outfits I was shocked to see she had attended the Hop Farm!? Why didn't I know this and see her, sad but wonderful at the same time.

Normally what happens when I give her name a search, I end up with a wet top from all the dribbling, adoring her hair and clothes and ten minutes later I am in my room searching through all my clothes fixing up outfits.

I dug out my old pinafore style dress last night, from Zara a good few years ago now, and having also worn it more dressed up I decided to throw it over my breton jumper [Uniqlo] today with my tan loafers [Zara].

At home we often go through phases with programmes on the tv and overdose on them until my parents and I feel like we know the stars of the shows personally and we've seen all of the episodes. We did it once with CSI and now we do it with the History channel and it's programmes, Pawn Stars and American Pickers. Now because of this my parents have succumbed to visiting boot fairs every weekend to dig out interesting items for the house including a rusty old garden hoe to prop against the wall by my mothers vegetable patch for decoration and the other day they nearly fell owners to an old wooden false leg, decided against it and then spent the rest of their day at home wishing they had purchased it. They treated me the other day however and purchased me an old issue of Vogue and picked up these two old vintage suitcases for me, for free. I have wanted some for ages to use in my room as storage and these ones are perfect, thank you History channel for your influence over my parents.