Dr. Martens x Liberty

I've had a pair of Dr. Martens for well over four/five years now and I've always been keen to get another pair. You can't go wrong with a pair of chunky footwear in my books, it always looks very Nineties with a girlier outfit. 

In recent times, I've been more inclined to the actual shoes themselves, resembling something of a school child I like to envision, paired with some little socks. My boyfriend told me off once and said I shouldn't need more than one pair but alas I feel I do and have just sat and waited for the right moment. 

That moment, I believe, has finally arrived. Well, it will do come June as Dr. Martens has teamed up with Liberty to create a range of boots, shoes and satchels. Yippee I hear you cry. I definitely did at least. I always love the clashing of the tough and rebellious with florals, beauty and nature.

Annoyingly I'm not currently at home or on my own laptop so I am unable to be a whizz with some photos but to actually go and view the items click here. 

I've got my eye on the '1461' 3-hole shoes in the primary coloured floral.

Perfect for summer days.

Free-spirit.

If you have followed my blog for quite some time now you would know that my style jumps in and out of phases. Just over  a year ago I went through a phase of being head over heels for Free People, I dressed quite free-spirited and dreamed of dedicating my final project at university on the company and hopes of moving to Philly to work for them. As I weaved into another phase though I left it all behind and began admiring different shapes and new styles. 

Having recently found myself in employment (which explains my absence) I have spent days of late thinking about what to treat myself to now that I will actually have some pocket money to spend come the end of this month. Feeling uninspired by the places I normally elope to in times of need and inspiration, I looked up my old pal Free People to just have a browse. The sunlight always gets me feeling quite bohemian gypsy-esque, dreaming of travelling the world so this weekend I took a trip back to the site I had long deserted. 

Unfortunately car insurance payments for my boyfriend this summer has left us unable to getaway to foreign lands this coming August. The site left me dreaming of distant shores and heat waves, places to wear the clothes I found myself admiring. 

I'm not a very revealing person with the clothes I wear. I used to be as a teenager, out at the weekend in a short skirt but now I tend to shy away from this. Saying this, I have fallen for all four of these dresses from Free People that are apparently not so lengthy and quite body-con-esque. 

There's a sporty jersey dress which is really just a long, casual t-shirt. I am very much a t-shirt person so this really appeals to me, it just looks so cosy and quite effortless. 

Then there's the ditsy red stretch dress, perfect for days out during the summer. (I've been eyeing up my National Trust membership card).

An off the shoulder black and white striped number, although a lot of  skin on show which would be quite daring for me these days, I have always enjoyed off the shoulder items, reminding me of Grease's Sandy and a red dress Erin Wasson once wore.

Finally the chiffon, drop plum dress. Another off the shoulder item, this dress is really quite dreamy, I believe they styled it on something worn in Almost Famous. 

My dad has big birthday coming up next month and so I really have been keeping my eye out for a new outfit and I think this is the dress. I have never had a dress like this before so I thought as it was something that caught my eye straight away, perhaps I should try something different. The frills across the top, I imagine will make me feel a little flamenco. Arriba.

On another note, the competition I collaborated on with Bear & Co. finished yesterday, thank you to everybody who entered. I will announce the winner sometime this week so keep you eyes out. 

Wishlisting in a new direction.

It's taken me from Saturday to Monday to go from basics to full on vibrant colours. A few bits I collected from around the web today were peacefully sitting on my desktop, not enough to make a fulfilling post but they sat their patiently. 

I was very good today and despite Wednesday being my submission deadline for my freelance writing I work on each week, I got it all completed and submitted by lunchtime (Go me!). I finished up a few other pieces on my to-do list and I then found myself with nothing to do. What do you do when you've checked off everything on your check list? You go window shopping online in anticipation of payday. This is what led me to have a few items laying around on my home screen, that was until I decided to have a browse on Anthropologie. Always so refreshing, shying away from fashion's current trends the site left my computer completely cluttered and a wishlist exploding with colour. Basics are definitely absent in this post. 

My favourite prints this season are definitely lush green leaves and ferns, strangely insects - something I have never paid an interest in but now I just can't get enough and finally, graphic checks. Besides from the last, it's all very nature focused and quite often in a repetitive form. 

So without further ado, from top left:

1. Botanical pencil skirt, the perfect camouflage for Spring's new life. 

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2. Thinking about socks and sandalled shoes, slithering through the seasons in these python capped beauties.

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3. A long lost Monki discovery which I stumbled on via Pinterest and is no longer in existence. Neutrals and neon, always enjoyable. 

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4. Another appearance from the fluorescent, in the form of sheer baroque lace. I'm thinking a simple white t-shirt with a bright pink heel?

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5. Anthology magazine because you can't get more inspirational than interior design. Especially when it looks like tidy clutter.

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6. Mirrored Monki Bag. 

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7. Introduced to Brian Vanden Brink's photography through Liebemarlene and her beautifully chronicled memories of Illinois. Influenced by the deserted and decaying and natures relationship with architecture when it is free to roam. When possible, I enjoy collecting photography books to lose myself in and this book makes me wonder how people could possibly leave these charming structures behind.

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8. This Beetle book which I discovered via Anthropologie (of course), has left me even more head over heels for the little mites and I found my searching on Etsy for brooches and framed creatures. 

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9. More inspiring interiors, this time from modern California circa 1930-65.

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10. Powder pink and snakeskin heels. 

Holly Hobby.

Apart from writing & blogging, my other interests include reading classic literature, watching films with emphasis on French new wave and Hitchcock (I'm pretty much game for anything unless it is horror or the ones where they mock other films), the usual hobbies for a lass like me. 

However, one hobby I enjoy that you may not have known about me though is, when the weathers right, gardening. I admit, I was a bit lax last year with it but I am pretty adamant about getting back into it this year. Whilst at university, I worked on my own gardening magazine focused on getting it into the lives and minds of younger people. The magazines you get in the shop are ridiculously boring and are aimed at a much older audience, trust me, I know I did my research. I focused on DIY's and growing your own food, the aesthetic side as well as the sustainability. Does anybody else enjoy gardening? I am heavily influenced and inspired by nature and the outdoors, being environmentally friendly, growing your own foods .etc. which sometimes isn't always seen as a cool thing for young people but I don't think you should ever be ashamed of something you like, be it gardening or cross stitch. (I like both) Don't ever care what other people think, do what makes you happy. 

Anyway, I want to get back into gardening this year as we have our own allotment in our garden and it's just lovely to get outside and it always feels good to taste the fruits of your labour at the end of it all. 

It is quite an obscure object to dream of owning but I've fallen for this Victorian-esque terrarium from Terrain (on the right) which I believe would look a treat perched on my side table. 

Other than gardening, I would like to get into playing the ukulele as a hobby. Man, if it was my birthday, it would so be on the top of my list but unfortunately, that doesn't arrive until the end of the year. 

So, it's just sat on an invisible wishlist, ready to be worked through when I am in the position to do so. It's either that or I luckily just find one at the side of the road one day, lonely and cold and in need of a home. I doubt that will happen though. 

I played the piano through a lot of my child/teenage life, for many years come to think of it, so I have always wanted to return to my musical side. The piano dreams haven't gone forever, I plan to face them at an undisclosed time, later in life, when there is room and space for such an instrument in my abode. Thus, for now, a ukulele is an appropriate size and has become a new ambition in life.

Share your hobbies, it would be lovely to read what any of you enjoy spending your time doing?

Excuse my absence.

I apologise but I am feeling quite under the weather at the moment and have spent all day in bed, falling in and out of sleep. My head feels ready to explode and so I've found myself unable to blog in fear of it doing so, so that is the reason behind why it has been on quiet on here the last couple of days. Lonely apart from that piece of tumble weed flying around.

I didn't think a sick Holly would make for suitable outfit photos so I am showcasing some Anthropologie beauties I came across. I've got a obsession lately with bugs, I have found. The other day I was wanting drinking glasses with them on and now I am eyeing up bumble bee and ant printed dresses. Enjoy your bank holiday Easter weekend and I promise we will speak soon :)

Bronze medal.

As I mentioned the other day, last night I went to a Arts quiz my brother and a group of his friends put on in London in a small pub by the Barbican. We (my best friend Hannah, an old friend of my brothers and I) came third which we were pretty impressed with and all together, the evening was a success. I wore a striped jumper (which may not come as a surprise, I am addicted to breton stripes) with my navy blazer, red jeans and my tan penny loafers. Particularly preppy, if I do say so myself. 

 I went into town with my mum today as she needed to get some crafting bits and pieces but we also ended up having a look around a few shops. Slightly disappointing to find there wasn't much to inspire us out at the moment from the high street. However, I have completely fallen for this white and black polka dot dress from Topshop pictured above and below (double the fun) and I've added it to my wish list.

Other pieces added to my wish list: Tomboy Style coffee table book, Lancelot blue bow shoes and this Ditte Sofa from Anthropologie which is so out of my price range but isn't it just so pretty?

Merit Badge.

Ever feel like you deserve a medal for 'being a smart cookie' or 'rolling with the punches'? I'd never really thought about it but now I believe I do, purely for the sake of a badge. I discovered this shop Lee Meszaros via Etsy this morning, it sells handmade merits for you to be proud of the moments you may normally consider not worthy of an award.

I'd normally be offended if a certificate for 'tooting my own horn' was bestowed upon me by a friend but these badges are just too darn cute. I'd wear it with pride.

Rethink those metallic pleats.

Image via The Electric

There is something almost amusing about the way a person can captivate you and alter your views in a matter of minutes. I woke up this morning to take the time, like I do every morning, to read through some blogs like a gentleman would do with the morning papers (I am imagining the kind of gentleman that wears subtle check, smokes a pipe and peers over his glasses, not through them whilst sat at a desk in a study pretty similar to Dermot Mulroney's in the new New Girl episode). 

Coming across this recent image of Alexa at Austin's SXSW festival, like always, I admired every piece that embraced her frame and realised how influential people can really be, for I had just two minutes previously been checking out Topshop's New In section and had been taken aback by the sheen of this skirt. It was so lustrous I almost reached for my sunglasses, I tried to but really couldn't imagine who would wear this and how but alas, as you know, shortly after, I stumbled upon Alexa and fell deeply in love like I do every time and found myself wanting to begin a love affair with her skirt. It had sheen and it had lustre and I'll be damned I had answered my own question, I would be the kind of person who would wear that Topshop skirt. 

A Grecian getaway.

Built by Wendy

Shift dresses and sleeves with the perfect puff to them, I adore the shape to Built by Wendy's Spring 2012 collection and as today is Spring's first day, never a better time to share these images.

The collection is fit for summer vacations around Europe, with the brand being inspired by Greece and it's 'sun-drenched, white stucco walls, brilliant blue ocean, languid seaside days and hot clubby nights'

Handpicked trends.

Obviously not every trend is suitable for a person and there are some that don't just work for me based on my personality and style. Off the top of my head the one trend I can say I have never really pursued is the sports look, I have never been athletic to begin with so I would be a walking oxymoron and secondly I much prefer to go for something innocent and feminine.

I have pulled together my most favoured trends from photos and images I have stored on my computer from recent collections. 

Roseanna, Blak, Gat Rimon, Samantha Pleet, Vivetta, Blak

I take fashion as a chance to dress up, take on a new persona. It tends to be quite subtle but in my head I always have a reason for wearing something in connection to perhaps a character in a film or book, an era .etc. and put myself into character for the day. As I mentioned in a previous post, throughout my teens I can't say I was very girly in the way I dressed but now I am more inspired by the dainty looks above, I have a very young looking face so pastels, florals and collars that make me imagine I'm a clown, tend to work for me over tight body-con dresses.

Lonely Hearts, Need Supply Co., Something Else, Wood Wood, Suno

I think it's important to fill your wardrobe with staple items but I am far from taking my own advice on this one, I get so drawn into the details and colours of patterns and prints that I am quick to desert the staples items. I've selected the images above because they bring together the different aspects of a dress which I enjoy wearing: shift, collared, fifties prom, tea and oversized. 

Strummer, ilflor, Lonely Hearts, POP, Strummer, Twenty Seven Names

I don't think I've made it that clear about my enthusiasm for dressing like I'm a young foolish girl caught up in a world of the uniformity of school and seeking adventures. I admit, I've recently gone back to reading Famous Five as a breather between other books and the excitement and mystery filled within the pages equals me wanting to dress like the photos above. Last summer I read Swallows & Amazons and I'm pretty sure this is how the Blackett sisters would have dressed.

Soldier soldier.

Now I'm not particularly interested in the modern Royal family, purely because they aren't as exciting as monarchs that have reigned before. Mad, greedy, married to your country, not the kind of things you get today but nonetheless, I can't deny I am quite excited about the Diamond Jubilee. The way the country comes together to celebrate for these events gets me feeling quite patriotic and musters up images of street parties, the kind you see in old black and white images with tables lining the streets hidden beneath mounds of cucumber sandwiches and delicious cakes. Everybody pitching in together and just living for today, no worries about tomorrow. Unfortunately, there isn't the same sense of community today as there was back in those vintage photographs and as much as I dream of organising one for my street, sadly I doubt many people would be interested or enthusiastic. It's a shame but shops like Cath Kidston and Liberty allow me to have a little slice of that street party cake with all the lovely delights they are selling. 

Similar to the cute swimmer printed skirt I wore today, this sweet skirt from Cath Kidston is suitable for the Jubilee and of course, the Olympics. Perfect for flying the patriotic flag this summer.

Take a trip.

The sun has got his hat on and with Discotheque Confusion in Jamaica, Calivintage in Hawaii and these effortless and very uncomplicated pieces from Le Mont Saint Michel all over my laptop screen, I am yearning for a vacation. 

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. 

As pretty as a picture

Two delightful polyvores [click on each, to visit] that put together really interesting and unique styled ensembles. I highly recommend you visit these if you are in need of inspiration.

Paper Moon

Inspired by the film Paper Moon, the simplicity of  the1930s silhouette is showcased in Colenimo's S/S lookbook.

Fit for an adventurous tomboy, I adore the use of plain shapes, the dropwaist's and sailor collars. 

 

Parseltongue.

A few new items featured on the Zara website. Zara is without a doubt my favourite shop, it offers both preppy, classic pieces along with more bohemian, ethnic inspired items which hits the nail on it's head when it comes to describing my style.

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I can always rely on Zara for great striped, Breton-esque t-shirts and comfortable knitted jumpers.

These turquoise snakeskin heels are beautiful, my wardrobe is filled with shoes and only of late have I realised how they all follow a similar pattern of being black. I have always believed when it comes to shoes and bags, that they should always be adventurous but have clearly failed to open my eyes and follow this myself.

Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face...

...stars to fill my dreams.

All items via Topshop

Got to give it up.

A mixture of fun things I have favourited on my etsy account.

From left: Lake Print / Vintage Aztec Trim / Girl & Boy Head Pillows /

Vintage Decorative Arrows / Tiger Head Brooch / Moon Chart Print /

Vintage Alarm Clock / Oil Painted Ball Locket / 1950's Turquoise Portable Typewriter

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!

Starry-eyed.

These dresses make me happy but my wardrobe desolate.

Dresses via Nastygal