High Street Offerings

More and more now I stay well away from the big names on the high street. Whilst you can be pretty confident in finding something, the idea of spending quite a lot of money on something that a lot of people will have slightly discourages me from making a purchase. Call me a typical, emotional woman spender, but in my books, it really is all about the experience. I particularly love vintage shopping in Brighton. As I delve deeper into the Lanes, I become immersed into the atmosphere and filled with determination to find a vintage treasure of my own. Suddenly, trailing around the chains on Western Road seems a million miles away.

However, I decided to go against my usual habits and sample what the high street has to offer, as I was very kindly given vouchers for Topshop and River Island for Christmas.

I began my search in Topshop. Upon entering I was greeted by rows of sales rails...score! This excitement quickly diminished into feelings of dismay when I looked a bit closer and discovered these were for sizes 8 and 10. I am a size 12, and found a smaller rail towards the back for sizes 12 and 14! I wasn't impressed, and there wasn't a great selection so out I went.

I then hot footed it over to River Island to see what they had to offer. I find River Island to be very hit or miss, I have had some of my favourite day dresses from here but there are also some not so great clothes in there. This time though, my luck was in!

I had £20 to spend and have to say, I think I did pretty well! I first saw a black pencil skirt reduced from £25 to £10. It is size 12, and fits down to just below my kness, my favourite length! I think it can look so chic; it can be dressed down with a jumper and brogues on a cold winters day, or dressed up to give a shapely look in the evening. I then had a look at the accessories for my remaining ten pounds. I have previously purchased my favourite Pretty Polly seamed stockings from here in the past, but it seems they have stopped stocking them in favour of the perhaps more popular patterned ones. However, I was very pleased to find three lovely pairs of retro inspired earrings that made up my remaining money. The Sugar Skull and old school heart earrings were £4 each and the pearls £2.

Off I went a very happy girl, and then made a few cheeky purchases in HMV (this post was written before the news of its sad closure!). As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, Some Inspiration, I loved the styling in two recent BBC dramas, Restless and The Girl. I was lucky enough to find a Hitchcock boxset and Gilda (the inspiration behind the styling in Restless) for £6 each so snapped them up too!

Now just to decide what to watch first...

 

Until my next post,

 

Lots of love,

 

Hannah xxx

Some Inspiration

Over the Christmas period I have been absolutely hooked on the period dramas that have been on the BBC. For me, Christmas is all about settling on the sofa with the Quality Street, getting gripped by an amazing drama and gaining some fantastic style inspiration at the same time.



Boxing Day brought 'The Girl', about Tippi Hendren, Alfred Hitchcocks' muse and obsession who was played by the beautiful Sienna Miller. The drama is set in the early sixties, and Tippi is the ultimate starlet; a blonde bombshell in her flattering and classy belted wiggle dresses like above.  I noticed that her make up was very simple. Hitch recommends, perhaps through personal preference, that she always wears a girly sheer pink lipstick which I feel is very typical of the early sixties, as the bright pink of the fifties began to evolve with the change in eras. I also noticed that she either has beautiful long eyelashes naturally, or there were individual fake lashes applied to the outer corners of the eyes to give a flirty, sexy look. Other than that there wasn't much more make up, perhaps a small bit of brown eyeliner smudged in. I just love the effortless beauty and glamour that Sienna has taken from Tippi herself.

 

Some divine Wartime inspiration came from two part drama Restless. Based on William Boyd's novel, this added some suspense and a little history lesson to my Christmas! The beautiful, curvaceous Hayley Atwell plays Eva Delectorskaya, a British spy. I am obsessed and amazed by women who were spies in wartime. The intelligence, glamour and guts of these heroines is something I aspire to even now and how integral they were to our wartime effort is so commendable. I particularly love the resilience of these ladies; the attitude towards women was so different and nowhere near as equal as it is today, yet they defied any preconceptions and proved themselves time and time again.

I have become slightly obsessed with the style in this drama over the past days, with my hair seeming to be in rollers for longer than it is out! I love every part of the look you see in this drama, right down to the hats and silk vintage underwear. I have done some research and believe that the styling for this drama was based on Rita Hayworth in Gilda, so that film is at the top of my shopping list to get even more inspiration.

Over the next couple of days I imagine that I will begin to frustrate my boyfriend even more by watching it all again on Iplayer! I definitely have some reading and watching to do now, and I highly recommend that you check both of these dramas out this New Years Day if you are suffering on the sofa!

I would also love to know what you thought if you watched either of these over Christmas, or if you can recommend anything else for me to watch or read!

 

Wishing you a gorgeous and glamourous 2013,

 

Lots of love,

 

Hannah xxx