Fashion For Home - Home Love Photo Contest Posted by Unknown |

I've been waiting to take this picture for a while...

Read more »

#PassionForFashion2 - MoneySupermarket - Three Looks Under £200 Posted by Unknown |

Another competition, another styling challenge. I love getting my teeth into these – pulling together new outfits, especially to a budget, means exploring new brands, style ideas and wardrobe possibilities. What's not to love? This one is MoneySupermarket's second PassionForFashion, the brief being to style three looks – holiday, casual and party – each under £200. Judged by three fantastic fashion bloggers (the kind you regularly check back in on to see their latest post) – Natasha from Girl in the Lens, Jen from A Little Bird Told Me and Olivia from What Olivia Did – the competition's top prize is £1000 to spend on a spring/summer wardrobe and for the category winners, £200 to buy the outfit they styled. The competition is open until April 8th, so there's still time to enter! Let me know if you do in the comments below. And I'd love to know which is your favourite of the three outfits I've styled. 

1. Pleated top £59 - Cos  2. Shopper £17 - & Other Stories 3. Sandals £25 - Office
4. Kitty bandeau bikini £32 - Topsop 5. Bracelet £30 - Street Princess

So, first up, is my holiday outfit. This started with a fabulous holographic kitty bandeau bikini from Topshop. Pretty much my dream bikini. It evolved with the sandals and bracelet chiming in on the colour palette of pinks, turquoise-green and oranges. Such an intoxicating array of colours should be anchored by a strong neutral, and in this case, I chose a black panelled and box-pleated voluminous top, which I think could quite successfully be worn as a thigh-skimming dress. Which is fine, cos' it's holiday time! And just imagine this mix of colours against a golden tan... heavenly! The cloth shopper – a print which makes me think of the sea, the sea – is from the newly-opened and by all accounts brilliant new sister brand to H&M, & Other Stories. Great selection of decently-priced bags they have there. 

1. Floral trousers £20 - Boohoo 2. Grey sweater £45 - Cos  3. Jana belt £6 - Monki
4. Expensive Habits clutch £58.18 - Nasty Gal 5. Superga plimsolls £50 - ASOS

Next is my casual look. I'll start with the floral trousers from Boohoo. I already own a pair of these in a slightly different pattern – they are a great fit and for only £20, well, what more can I say? Brilliant spring buy. Not only do they boost your mood magnificently – a wonderful mix of jaunty confidence and bright hellos – but the rest of your outfit follows nice and easy. I'm also a big fan of grey marl, this sweater from Cos has just the right relaxed wide neck and oversized fit and the bright white of a Superga plimsoll (I wore these when I was a kid and I'm loving this new understated high-top style) sets off the print wonderfully. I thought I'd add a bit of edge with a chain clutch (the priciest item in this ensemble). I don't know why but I love how gold chain mixes with jersey, kind of street but weirdly classy at the same time and I think the green holographic belt (how super affordable is Monki btw?) while possibly walking the line, ultimately works when you consider the strength of the neutrals. 

1. Dress £74.95 - Nelly 2. Lips clutch £48 - Dahlia 3. Ring £6 - Monki
4. Small peacock eyelashes £10.50 - Paperself 5. Wedge heels £59.99 - H&M

Last up is the party outfit. The most expensive of the three. The Kling dress is way out of my comfort zone with its creamy prettiness and pleats but I wanted to try something different. And I've brought things straight back to my happy place by contrasting with a bold red, sharp-shaped clutch and pointy black wedge heels. I love the brutalist design of the copper and gun-metal coloured ring but to echo the dress's daintiness I've chosen ever-so-delicate paper eyelashes by Paperself (the brand made famous by Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games). Anyway, I love that this outfit is breaking my style boundaries and getting me to consider a slightly more complex game of soft pretty teamed with tough elegance. 

#NextGuestBlogger - My Second Outfit Post - Monochrome & Camo Posted by Unknown |

For my second #nextguestblogger post I decided to work two Spring Summer 2013 trends – first off, monochrome proper (my last post was a softened version). Probably one of the biggest trends doing the rounds at the moment, you'll have seen monochrome on practically every top blogger during fashion week. And second, a trend I've seen bubbling up on quite a few blogs, especially in the US – camouflage, or camo. Christopher Kane breathed fresh life into camo with his blue shades take for AW13, so this is definitely a trend that will have a long life. So, the outfit – I chose some pretty classic pieces, black skinnies (rolled up to show a bit of ankle), a perfect pair of pointy-toed courts (I realised my wardrobe was severely lacking without a pair) and a long white collarless shirt (ideal for dressing up trouser and top outfits). The exciting pieces of this outfit are, of course, the cute camo jacket, which, you may have noticed, I chose to shoulder-robe in homage to the fashion week peacocks (actually shoulder-robing is something I've seen Italians – I'm half Italian btw! – do for many years) and the quite fabulous laser-cut iPad clutch. I really like how the clutch and heels turn what could be a very casual outfit into something verging on the glamorous. Teaming monochrome with a carefully chosen print or bright colour is a easy way to make a statement this spring and one I'm going to be doing again and again. What do you think? Do you like the outfit? Have you been wearing monochrome? And how do you feel about camo?

ps. All these pieces also come in Petite, which is what I'm wearing. I sized the shirt up to give a bigger shape and brightened up with a dash of red lippy.

pps. You can see my first #nextguestblogger post on the Next blog here and this one here.

What I'm Wearing - Botanical & 3D Flowers - Boohoo #globalstyler Posted by Unknown |

Oh, it's so cold and windy outside! But still I feel like spring is on its way, hence the colour-popping outfit I bring you today as part of Boohoo's #globalstyler competition. I was thrilled to be asked to take part in the campaign (along with lots of other bloggers from all over the globe) and it's fantastic checking out all the entries – see the #globalstyler hashtag on instagram and twitter. For my outfit I teamed a pair of floral trousers (such a bargain at just £20) with this Boohoo Boutique 3D flower top (so Christopher Kane AW13 btw!). I wasn't sure if the look would work at first, but actually I'm really pleased with the result. A bit flower crazy for some maybe, but oh it feels good! Ah yes, the prize. The prize is a trip for you and a friend to a 'fashion destination of your choice', which I'm guessing could be just about anywhere. For me, it would have to be New York, I have NEVER BEEN, which feels like madness in this day and age. How about you, where would you pick? And what do you think of the outfit? I may have neglected to mention that come the spring I drop my sombre winter colours and tend to go a bit colour and print crazy. More to come. Enter the competition here at Boohoo.com

#NextGuestBlogger – My First Outfit Post Posted by Unknown |

Wow! I could not believe it when I received the email telling me I had won the #NextGuestBlogger competition. After a few (read: many) yelps of delight and a cup of tea plus some celebratory chocolate (natch) I sat down to properly re-read the prize details. Three outfits from the Next SS13 collection of  £150 each, which I would then get to blog about. Pretty amazing! So here you have it, my first guest post for Next and my first outfit. To begin, I was in a bit of tizz about what to choose. There are so many options and what's more, a lot of the Next pieces come in Petite, which is brilliant when you are just 5"2, but required even more careful choosing. So I browsed and browsed. I knew I would definitely go for the biker jacket (wardrobe staple and I love the padded slim sleeves on this one) so I decided to build an outfit around it. However, I didn't want to take the easy option and team with skinny jeans, so instead I chose a pair of jersey pants. Then the look started to take shape – suddenly I knew I wanted to create the kind of outfit you could wear while travelling, hanging around an airport looking stylish, a little bit cool, but ultimately feeling comfy. The ankles boots and slouchy spacious bag were obvious choices and then, of course, a slub tee. My original intention had been to do a full black and white monochrome look – it's everywhere right now, and understandably so, it is such an effective look and so easy to do – but I thought I'd soften this outfit up with grey. So, below you have a collage of the original outfit concept and the photographs bringing it to life plus a short You Tube video talking you through each piece. What do you think? Do you like the look? Is this the kind of thing you would have chosen? 

ps. See my post on the Next blog here and my winning entry on SS13 key trends here.

pps. Necklace by Portuguese Heart.

My Next haul just arrived! #nextguestblogger @nextofficial vine.co/v/bvzQXq2gUdn
— Stylonylon (@juliarebaudo) February 9, 2013

{I've just joined Vine. This is one of my first videos – follow me!}

My Key SS13 Trends For The #NextGuestBlogger Competition Posted by Unknown |

Spring/Summer '13 is looking like a whole lotta fun and I think I can already feel it in the air. Trendwise there's a lot to choose from – print-clashing, sports luxe, the 60s, blue, voluminous silhouettes, lace and graphic florals to name a few. Where to start? Fear not, as part of the #NextGuestBlogger competition I bring you my SS13 trends edit taking inspiration from Next's Spring/Summer '13 collections. Take a look, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!  

Shop the monochrome trend

Monochrome
You just can't go wrong with a black and white combo – it's an amazing mix of laidback cool and statement, both at the same time. So striking in its appearance, with monochrome you have a number of options – channel a 60s vibe (a strong SS13 trend) with scallops and polka dots, go wild with snow leopard print, cover your iPad with a floral laser-cut case (bottom left) or get all sophisticated with printed trousers (middle left & right) and a boucle jacket (middle top) – this jacket is so amazing, I've already featured it once before.

Shop the graphics trend

Graphics
The world's your oyster here, and you can build your outfit around your chosen graphic piece. I adore the forest blouse (top middle), the green is so fresh and perfect for spring. Camo is another great choice for spring – it's doing the rounds on the fashion blogs right now and is failsafe when teamed with denim. The giraffe print on the heels (top middle) is perfectly club 80s and also ties into the monochrome trend. And every girl should have a NY-London–Paris cityscape tee (left middle) to her name.

Shop the leather trend

Leather
Leather is everywhere this spring and so the biker jacket will reign supreme. Though the biker is cropping up in all sorts of brights (coral, acid green, pink) I can't help but think the best option – style and sensible shopping-wise – is to stick with black, that way keeping your outfit options much wider. Next has some fantastic bags right now; I love the tan bucket (right middle), definitely a forever piece  and for something structured but not black, the navy tote (left middle) is perfect – a fashion blogger friend had such great success with this, everyone thought it was designer.